Of course, Liu Xing felt that Wang Si Yi's so-called "gender separation" was nothing more than an excuse. To put it bluntly, she simply disliked Bai He Cheng...
Liu Xing checked his phone. It was only around three thirty in the afternoon, still quite early, with several hours left before the dinner.
So Liu Xing decided to take a stroll outside the Main Building. Of course, he definitely would not be going to the Back Garden.
"Chen Ling, look after Bai He Cheng for now. I want to go out and get some fresh air. Does anyone want to come with me?" Liu Xing stretched and stood up as he spoke.
In a Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG, being alone was never a good choice. After all, handling every kind of trouble, crisis, and enemy alone was the stuff of fantasy novels.
Wang Qi naturally understood this. Among the five Players in this session, only he and Chen Ling were combat-oriented Players—Bai He Cheng had already been classified as a Troublemaker Player. Since Chen Ling needed to look after Bai He Cheng, Wang Qi knew Liu Xing was inviting him to gather clues outside the Main Building.
Thus, Wang Qi stood up and stretched as well. Smiling, he said, "Then I'll go with you. I've been stuck in this castle for so long that I want to stretch my legs too."
Chen Ling knew that his current responsibility was to protect—monitor—Bai He Cheng, so he nodded. "Yeah. You two go get some exercise. I'll be responsible for looking after Bai He Cheng here, so nothing should go wrong."
As for Wang Si Yi, she remained as sparing with words as ever. She merely nodded to indicate that she understood.
As Liu Xing and Wang Qi were leaving the Main Building, they ran into Old Wayne, who was cleaning. "Butler Wayne, the two of us want to take a look around outside. Are there any restricted areas in the castle that we should avoid?"
Old Wayne chuckled. "This isn't a movie. How could this castle have any forbidden areas? But then again, the Back Garden hasn't been maintained for a long time, so I personally wouldn't recommend going there. There could be venomous insects or snakes. Besides, the Doctor in Ains Town passed away some time ago. If anything happens to you, you'll have no choice but to go to Manchester."
Liu Xing nodded and made an agreement with Old Wayne to return to the Main Building within two hours to prepare for the dinner.
After saying goodbye to Old Wayne, Liu Xin led Wang Qi away from the Main Building and over to a fountain in front of it.
"Wang Qi, how about we go take a look at the Castle Gate? I want to know how it opens. Is it really like in the movies, opened with a winch?" Liu Xing said as he looked toward the Castle Gate in the distance.
As mentioned before, there were only two ways to leave the castle: either go through the Castle Gate directly, or jump down from the Castle Wall.
If they chose the second option, the risk factor was simply too high. The Castle Wall was visibly seven or eight meters tall, nearly four stories high, and the ground below was concrete. If they jumped from that height, they would probably all need immediate treatment at German Orthopedics.
So the second option could be ignored outright.
Therefore, what Liu Xing needed to consider now was how their group could leave through the Castle Gate.
Of course, the Castle Gate could actually be divided into two separate gates. One was the main wooden gate, while the other was a small iron door for people to pass through.
The small iron door clearly used an electronic lock, and Old Wayne naturally had the key. Liu Xing and the others could use all sorts of methods to get it from him, such as using the Persuasion skill, persuasion by force, persuasion by money, or simply grabbing it directly. After all, Old Wayne was only an ordinary elderly human.
However, the Castle Lord, the big boss, stood behind Old Wayne. Liu Xing did not think the Castle Lord would just sit back and let them take Old Wayne's key. So leaving through the small iron door was bound to be a long and difficult road.
As for the wooden gate, Liu Xing had noticed its thickness when he entered the castle through the small iron door. It was probably around ten centimeters thick. A wooden gate that thick and roughly five meters tall would be unimaginably heavy.
However, Liu Xing remembered seeing tracks left by various vehicles on the road from Ains Town to the castle. There was even a vintage car parked beside the Main Building.
Clearly, those vehicles could not have entered and exited the castle through the small iron door. So this wooden gate could definitely be opened. And given Old Wayne's frail build, Liu Xing did not think he could open the wooden gate alone using a winch. Therefore, Liu Xing could now be certain that the castle's wooden gate had an Electric Door Opener installed!
Now, Liu Xing wanted to investigate the specific location of that Electric Door Opener, preparing for their eventual escape from Ains Castle.
Wang Qi naturally understood what Liu Xing was thinking, so he nodded decisively. Liu Xin and Wang Qi then headed together to the Castle Gate.
KP004 did not even make Liu Xing and Wang Qi roll Investigation, directly giving them a piece of information instead. "You arrive in front of the Castle Gate and discover a small room on the Castle Wall. Inside it is the Electric Door Opener for the Castle Gate."
Liu Xing and Wang Qi looked up and saw a small wooden room that stood out sharply against the Castle Wall. It was the kind of thing that obviously looked suspicious at a glance. No wonder KP004 could not even be bothered to make them roll Investigation.
Thus, Liu Xing and Wang Qi climbed the stairs to the Castle Wall and entered that small room.
Inside the small room, Liu Xing saw a very old-fashioned wooden winch connected to an iron chain. It had since been modified so that the Electric Door Opener could pull the chain and open the gate. (I'm making this up, because I have no idea what an Electric Door Opener actually looks like.)
Liu Xing also noticed a small tag hanging from the plug of the Electric Door Opener—MADE IN CHINA.
Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, not knowing what to say for a moment.
"Now then, you may choose to roll Investigation." KP004 stepped forward again.
Was there even a choice? Of course they would roll.
Liu Xing, 4/60, Critical Success. Wang Qi, 21/65, Success.
"Uh, then you discover a small booklet containing instructions for using this Electric Door Opener. And fortunately, the booklet is written in Chinese." After saying that, KP004 sighed...
Clearly, if Liu Xing's Investigation roll had not been a Critical Success, the Operation Manual for the Electric Door Opener would most likely have been in English instead, or they might have needed to make a Luck check.
PS: Two updates tomorrow. Everyone is welcome to join the group.
Before you continue