The Puzzle at Midnight
It wasn't until late at night that the bus returned to town.
The Mayor's Office Building stood on the western edge of town. It was a two-story building, with the mayor's office on the second floor and the Exhibition Hall on the first. Inside were a scale model of the town and a few exhibits.
Lin Pei had come with Xu Huo this time. He fumbled around until he found the main switch for the building, and the little two-story structure lit up all at once.
"There's still electricity here?" Xu Huo paused with his hand in his pocket, reaching for his lighter.
"Throughout the whole town, this is the only building with power besides the Riddle Mechanisms that go off at irregular intervals. These places must have their own separate wiring," Lin Pei explained. Then he walked over to the scale model. "We've looked at this model many times."
The buildings on it matched the town exactly, scaled down at a fixed ratio. Just by looking at the model, you could get a rough sense of the town's layout.
"Are there Riddle Mechanisms at every spot marked with a little flag?" Xu Huo paid close attention. There were far too many of them in this town—nearly half the buildings had one.
"That's right." Lin Pei nodded. "In the game's backstory, Clock Master Nice was the mayor of this town. In his later years, he became obsessed with puzzle games, and Riddle Notes could be found all over town."
"But honestly, those riddles hardly count as riddles. They're just simple questions about things that should be common knowledge to the NPCs in the game. For example, how many clocks Nice made in his lifetime, or his favorite flower or color."
"Some are even stranger. Things like