Chapter 1 Taking the Box

Li Ang picked up the wooden box.

The box itself was slightly larger than his palm, square, and covered with a layer of brown paint.

On the six faces were printed some colored starbursts, like the kind kindergarten teachers stick on children's foreheads.

On the bottom of the box was a piece of paper, on which was written in somewhat hasty English:

[We were born, grew up, and went to school in the same place, but never knew each other's names or existence until fate brought us together. I made this box; it is a testament to our first meeting. I hope everything is not too late. s]

"Hmm?"

Li Ang frowned, examining the small piece of paper under the light.

This piece of paper was undoubtedly part of the wooden box as a whole.

"Judging from the tone of the description, this should be a gift someone made for his or her lover.

The 's' at the end could be some kind of code, or the name of the person who made the gift.

s...

Samuel? Stephen? Stone? Sandy?

If it was the male owner of the house giving it to the female owner, then it would mean that they were from the same hometown.

But what does the last sentence, 'I hope everything is not too late,' mean?

Caught cheating, about to get divorced?"

Li Ang muttered to himself, shifting his gaze to the wooden box. The six faces of the box were assembled seamlessly, but running his fingernail along the edges, he could still feel the traces of the joints.

Li Ang picked up the wooden box, gently weighed it in his hand, and rotated it, feeling that the weight was off.

The inside of the square box was hollow.

And the center of gravity of the box was not exactly in the center—one face weighed more than the other faces.

"Something hidden inside? A diamond ring? Earrings? Necklace? Jewelry? It can't be a divorce agreement, right?"

Li Ang narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then put down the box and scanned the garage.

The Chevrolet SUV had no car keys, and the garage door also had a system marker that said [Cannot Pass], meaning that even if Li Ang broke into the car, he couldn't drive through the garage door and force his way out.

Li Ang studied the box as he left the garage and walked back to the living room.

The wooden puppet was still covered in the ceramic pot for planting flowers, without any signs of movement.

If the tattoo that suddenly appeared on his arm wasn't lying, the puppet should have 16 minutes left before it woke up from its seal.

Li Ang carried the wooden box, took the flashlight, and walked to the stairs leading to the second floor from the living room.

Across the middle of the stairs was a silver-white steel gate. The upper half of the gate consisted of dense, solid iron pipes placed vertically.

The lower half was a whole piece of thick steel plate. The position where the doorknob should have been was replaced by an LCD screen.

The LCD screen was printed with a black handprint outline pattern, which looked like it was for fingerprint scanning.

Li Ang stood in front of the gate. Through the iron pipe structure of the upper half, which resembled a prison gate, he could see a small part of the stairs behind the gate.

However, the iron pipe bars were placed very densely and were indestructible. Even a child's arm could not pass through.

Li Ang barely stretched the photo frame behind the bars and used the mirror of the photo frame to see that there was also an LCD panel for fingerprint scanning behind the gate.

This meant that the gate could be passed through in both directions.

"So what does this family do, exactly? Are they the Smiths? Installing such exaggerated anti-theft doors at home."

Li Ang complained. "The fingerprint panel is dark and lightless. Lightly pressing the corners has no response. It looks like it's out of power or damaged.

This gate can be used as a riot shield without any problems, and there are no signs of damage. It shouldn't be broken yet.

Considering the gate's own bulk and difficulty in disassembling it, it is likely to use an external power supply, rather than an internal battery..."

"Hmm?"

He looked up at the ceiling and found a thin wire wrapped in white insulating rubber in the gap between the ceiling and the wall. The wire extended from the wall and led to the top of the iron gate. It should be the cable that supplied power to the metal gate.

However, the middle of the wire seemed to have been deliberately damaged, and a large section of it, about three meters or so, was missing.

"The wire is broken? On purpose, so I can't go upstairs?"

Li Ang frowned and said, "The task is to find a way to get to the second floor. Does that mean I have to find a long enough wire?"

He pondered for a moment, moved a chair from the dining room, and placed it on the stairs.

Stepping on the chair, he pried the broken wires at both ends off the ceiling.

The broken wire was relatively thin, and the white insulating rubber was printed with the words 12v.

The earliest voltage standard in the United States was 100v, which originated from Edison's personal hobby (the light bulbs he developed worked well under this voltage). Later, in order to save losses, it was changed to 110v, and then, in order to facilitate calculation, it was further increased by 10v to become the standard voltage of 120v.

The fingerprint unlocking gate was obviously not connected from the standard household power supply system, but was installed by the owner of the house himself.

Li Ang pinched the wire and looked at it for a moment, then got up and returned to the living room to search for other wire materials.

He had noticed earlier that there were still quite a few electrical appliances in the room, such as televisions and lights. Cutting the wires off and stripping them himself should work.

However, when he used the insulated scissors from the kitchen to cut the wires, he found that he couldn't cut them no matter what.

After cutting for a long time, the insulation on the surface of the wire was still not breaking.

"Did the American tech tree in this world grow in the wrong direction? Why are the wires so strong? Do you hate civilians who install their own wiring so much?!"

Li Ang complained incessantly, but he wasn't too agitated. This was obviously the underlying setting of this script mission.

If he couldn't connect the wires himself, then how about using water to conduct electricity?

Li Ang stood in place and jumped, but he didn't feel the urge to urinate at all. When he turned on the faucet in the kitchen sink, no water flowed out either.

"Is this path also blocked..."

Li Ang sighed and unhesitatingly turned and left, walking towards the only door in the room that had no known purpose, to the right of the living room.

This door had no doorknob or keyhole, only a circular groove. The edge of the groove had a circle of retractable iron pieces, which looked like something had to be put in to open it.

There were 10 minutes left before the puppet broke free from its seal and woke up.

Li Ang calmly calculated the remaining time and looked down at the wooden square box in his hand.

According to the convention of puzzle games,

When all the items that can be collected in a level have been collected, and you are still stuck,

The way to solve the problem must be among the collected items.

"Could it be that the box contains a long enough wire?"

Li Ang pondered for a moment, then carefully stabbed the surface seam of the square box with a meat-cutting knife, turning the blade to try to pry the box open.

However, before he could apply force, a clear and unmistakable sound of glass breaking came from the box, as if some container was cracking.

Li Ang hurriedly stopped the force on his hand.

Some classic puzzle boxes have a [self-destruct when forcibly opened] setting. For example, in *The Da Vinci Code*, the cryptex contains a papyrus with a secret written on it, and a fragile glass bottle containing vinegar.

If someone opens it forcibly without knowing the password, they will destroy the glass bottle inside, causing the vinegar inside to spill out and dissolve the papyrus next to it, ensuring that the secret will not be leaked.

If this wooden box also has the same design idea, then it cannot be forcibly destroyed.

"A puzzle box..."

Li Ang took a deep breath, calmed his agitated mood, and carefully examined the box.

The box itself didn't have anything particularly strange about it. The six surfaces were covered with some decorative star patterns, and the patterns on each face were different.

Li Ang moved the box closer and further away, squinting and staring, but he couldn't see any numbers, letters, or patterns from the star patterns.

"Six faces... Could it be that I have to throw the box on the ground like a dice?"

Li Ang pondered for a moment. Theoretically speaking, this was possible—if the wooden box was made with a mortise and tenon structure, and it contained several hidden bolts that could move on their respective planes, then it could indeed be achieved.

Rotate the box back and forth, allowing the thin wooden stick-shaped bolts to move along the grooves on their respective planes.

Since the bolts on different planes will get stuck with each other in the corners,

When the box is rotated in the prescribed order, causing the last bolt to return to its position, one face of the box can be opened, allowing the items hidden in the box to be taken out.

Shua la shua la.

Li Ang picked up the box and shook it gently, carefully listening, but there was no sound of the bolts hitting the wood.

If it wasn't bolts, what could it be?

Li Ang placed the box on the ground, rotating each face back and forth, constantly pushing and pulling the surface of the wooden box with his hands, but without any gain.

Time passed little by little. Li Ang gently pressed the wooden box, his fingers unconsciously scraping the decorative star stickers on the surface of the box.

"Wait, these stickers..."

Li Ang's eyes lit up, and he picked up the wooden box and quickly rushed to the French windows in the side hall. With a pull of his hand, he opened the French windows.

The brilliant starlight from outside shone in through the glass.

Li Ang raised the wooden box, comparing it to the stars in the sky.

"Heh, the star stickers on the box correspond to the star map in the sky."

Li Ang rotated the wooden box and said softly, "The four surrounding faces are Ursa Major, Libra, Piscis Austrinus, and Aries.

The two faces on the top and bottom are Cygnus and Puppis.

These star patterns are of different sizes, marking the star magnitudes of these stars themselves..."

Li Ang ran back and forth between the side hall and the living room, matching all five faces of the star map—the Puppis on the bottom was not visible, but it should be directly opposite to Cygnus.

"But, it's a bit strange."

Li Ang frowned and muttered to himself, "At this moment, the approximate direction of these constellations in the sky does correspond to the position on the wooden box.

The star map that I observed is also roughly the scene that can be seen in California at night in the real world.

The problem is, how did the maker of the box make it so accurate?

If it were a different time or a different season, then the star map on the box would not correspond to the scene in the real world.

And the star stickers on the surface of the box are glued very tightly and are not easy to tear off.

In that case,

There is only one possibility—the maker of the box wanted to give the box to his or her lover at a specific time, which is now, at this moment."

It must be said that this concept was indeed very romantic: opening the box under the witness of the stars in the sky, and taking out a ring or a rose or other love tokens from it.

But knowing this didn't help Li Ang much in solving the puzzle.

"Knowing the design idea of the box is correct, but what method should I use to open it?"

Li Ang thought, and once again took out the piece of paper that was previously attached to the bottom of the box.

[We were born in the same place...

But never knew each other...

Until fate brought us together...

I made this box; it is a testament to our first meeting. I hope everything is not too late. s]

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"The star map on this box is roughly the same as the nebula patterns in the sky in the real world,"

Li Ang pondered, "No matter where the maker of the box made this box, he definitely wanted it to be opened at this moment.

Perhaps it would also require opening the box in a specific location, such as the place where the maker of the box and ta's lover first met.

Could it be that there is a GPS positioning device inside the box?

No, that's unlikely.

Even if a GPS positioning device was installed, I can't even walk out of the house now, and it's impossible to explore outside.

And if the positioning location was in the house, I have already walked through every corner of the house, and it would have been opened long ago.

Excluding these possibilities, what is left..."

He was immersed in the train of thought of solving the problem, and possibilities kept jumping out in his mind, only to be overturned and rejected by reason and logic.

"Wait, s? Could it be..."

As if realizing something, Li Ang placed the box on the ground, with the side with the Cygnus nebula pattern facing up and the side with the Puppis facing down.

He pinched the side of the box with his left hand, gently rotating it.

His right hand pressed and pushed the front of the box.

Ka.

Finally, when the box was rotated to a certain angle, the wooden block on the front side, which was printed with the Cygnus pattern, was pushed open, revealing the structure inside.

On the back of the lid on the front of the box was a fragile square glass bottle, which was filled with some gravel.

On the bottom of the box, below the glass bottle, was a compass.

The compass had no lid, and the north and south pointers were intact, but there was an extra, longer pointer in the five o'clock direction.

This extra pointer was connected to a windmill-like structure inside the box.

Li Ang gently took out the glass bottle and compass and glanced at the outline of the circular compass, which exactly corresponded to the circular groove on the surface of the wooden door of the room to the right of the living room.

He already understood the working principle of this box.

The s written at the end of that piece of paper was not a person's name, but south, for the compass.

The bottom of the box was glued with a compass.

First, the box needed to be placed in the correct posture of "Cygnus facing up and Puppis facing down."

Then, continue to rotate the box.

Because the compass in the box will continue to point in the north-south direction,

When the box is rotated to a certain angle, the extra pointer in the five o'clock direction of the compass will be rolled into the windmill-like structure, driving the windmill structure to rotate.

So that the mortise and tenon structure connected to the windmill structure, located under the lid of the wooden box, will put a raised tenon back into the groove, so that the box can be opened.

Since it was a hidden tenon,

Even if Li Ang shook the box before, he did not hear the obvious sound of the bolts.