The time in Moon City is exactly 2:00 PM on Tuesday.
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou immediately drew Diamond 8 to unlock the next level. Their teammates were very supportive of this decision, since Diamond levels are usually mazes with traps and don't take as long as Hearts or Spade levels, usually taking less than an hour to complete.
In the previous Diamond Secret Room, Xiao Lou had broken records by clearing the game in just a few minutes. Yu Hanjiang had great confidence in Xiao Lou's ability to solve puzzles. Moreover, this time they also had Lao Mo, who had a strong sense of spatial awareness, and had drawn some cards suitable for mazes. The A-level maze should be no challenge for them.
With Professor Xiao and Lao Mo around, everyone is ready to win without lifting a finger.
As the card was drawn, a familiar red vortex appeared in the center of the Diamond 8 playing cards, and a countdown began in everyone's floating boxes.
Ten seconds later, everyone felt a sudden darkness before their eyes—
Everyone was simultaneously transported to a world that was both familiar and strange.
The reason it feels familiar is because everyone has just left the world of Red Heart 8. The streets, buildings, and the attire of the passersby are very similar to the world of [ Turmoil of War ] in Red Heart 8 —it's in the style of the Great Qi State.
They've actually traveled back to ancient times?!
The unfamiliarity stemmed from the fact that the street in front of them was filled with lanterns, countless large red lanterns dazzling everyone's eyes.
Just as everyone was wondering what was going on, several lines of prompts appeared simultaneously in the floating window in front of them—
Welcome to the world of Diamond 8: Lantern Festival
[The first month of the lunar calendar is called "Yuan Yue". In ancient times, "night" was also called "Xiao". Therefore, the fifteenth day of the first month, as the first full moon night of the year, is called "Yuanxiao Festival" or "Shangyuan Festival".]
Today is the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Since ancient times, there has been a custom of "lantern viewing" on the night of the Lantern Festival. The ten-mile-long streets of Kyoto, the capital of the Great Qi State, are filled with all kinds of lanterns. Young men and women like to stroll through the lantern fair on this day. Who knows, if you suddenly turn around, you might see your sweetheart on the other side of a lantern.
[ Diamond 8's secret room is a "Lantern Festival Maze." Please find the lantern mechanisms hidden within and hang the lanterns you obtain on the lantern trees beside the stone bridge. The more lanterns you collect, the higher your score will be.]
[The lantern festival will continue until midnight (24:00), and you can explore it on your own before it ends.]
Everyone was completely dumbfounded after reading the prompt.
The ancient Lantern Festival? This must be the modern Lantern Festival!
Ye Qi glanced down at his " Tianxiang Tower Top Model Suit" and wished he could take it off right then and there. He tugged at the complicated skirt and couldn't help but complain, "I thought I'd never have to wear this again, but they made me wear it again at the Diamond Secret Room!"
Shao Qingge glanced at Ye Qi, who was dressed in women's clothing, and, fanning himself, commented with a smile, "You look quite good in this. No wonder you're the top courtesan at Tianxiang Tower."
Ye Qi knew he was joking, rolled his eyes, and ignored him.
Looking around and finding his teammates missing, Ye Qi couldn't help but wonder, "Where is everyone else? And... this lantern market... something feels off to me, like something's not right?"
Shao Qingge said, "This is not like a typical lantern festival. There are many forks in the road; it should be a maze."
Ye Qi paused for a moment, then quickly realized, "That's right. Most lantern festivals involve hanging lanterns along a main street for tourists to enjoy, but this lantern festival... from my vantage point, I can already see five streets. The roads are crisscrossed, all covered with lanterns, and there are so many pedestrians. It's easy to get lost walking through it, isn't it?"
Shao Qingge nodded: " It's not surprising that the Diamond Secret Room is made into a maze. The key question is, where are the mechanisms?"
Ye Qi frowned, looking around but finding no mechanism. Recalling the hint he'd received, a question lingered in his mind—finding a mechanism in the lanterns? These thousands of lanterns all looked almost identical; what distinguished the mechanism? Could the hint have been any more vague?
Ye Qi couldn't figure it out, so he simply asked, "Which lights do you think are traps?"
Shao Qingge smiled and waved his fan: "Riddles are not for me. If I were to complete this world, I would have to buy all the lanterns on this street and try them one by one."
Ye Qi: "......"
The mindset of a nouveau riche when it comes to clearing levels is incomprehensible.
Ye Qi thought about the hint he had just received, his eyes lit up, and he said, "Let's meet up with our teammates first. Didn't we say we were going to hang the lanterns on the lantern tree outside the stone bridge? What exactly does the lantern tree look like? Let's go take a look."
He hurriedly ran forward, but because he was wearing women's clothing, he accidentally stepped on the skirt and almost fell flat on his face.
Shao Qingge chuckled and helped him up, whispering, "Slow down, you're Miss Ye now, don't be so impulsive."
Ye Qi blushed and said, "Crossing the women's clothes is so annoying. I'm going to burn this card when I get back!"
Passing customers whispered among themselves, "That girl is so pretty, with such bright, sparkling eyes." "That young man is quite handsome too." "They must have gone to the lantern festival together..."
Ye Qi didn't hear him; he was still frantically adjusting his skirt.
Shao Qingge smiled slightly, covered Ye Qi's flushed face with his fan, and helped him walk towards the lantern market.
***
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou also changed into their outfits from Red Heart 8.
Looking at Xiao Lou, who was dressed in a long robe, Yu Hanjiang paused for a moment, then asked in confusion, "Why?"
What is this ancient world again?
Xiao Lou immediately realized: " Diamond 8 and Red Heart 8 are linked, right?"
Yu Hanjiang looked at the long street ahead and nodded: "The architectural style and the clothing of the pedestrians are indeed very similar to the Great Qi State we experienced before. We were teleported to the Lantern Festival in the Great Qi State?"
Xiao Lou said, "It seems that Diamond A directly took the background setting from Hearts and made a lantern festival maze."
Yu Hanjiang looked up thoughtfully and glanced at the nearby lanterns: "We're supposed to find the lantern mechanism... among the lanterns hanging on both sides of the street?"
—The street was adorned with large, round, red lanterns, all made of traditional gauze. The warm candlelight shone through the red fabric, illuminating the street and casting a festive glow on the faces of passersby. Some children rode on their fathers' shoulders, carrying exquisite lanterns; others, young men, presented lanterns to their beloved girls.
Ancient lantern festivals were incredibly lively, but Yu Hanjiang observed for a long time and still couldn't find any hidden mechanisms.
These lanterns all look exactly the same, and there are at least several hundred of them on one street. How are we supposed to find them?
Just as he was completely confused, Xiao Lou suddenly said, "The theme of this escape room is very likely a riddle."
Yu Hanjiang turned to look at him: "A riddle?"
Xiao Lou explained, "In ancient times, Lantern Festival often held activities such as 'guessing lantern riddles.' Some vendors would hang up the lanterns they made, and the riddles could be in the form of pictures, poems, words, etc. Visitors could guess the riddles, and if they guessed the answer correctly, they could win a lantern. The vendors would give away the lanterns as a way to bring good luck."
Yu Hanjiang suddenly realized: "I have heard of this tradition before."
Xiao Lou carefully observed the surroundings and said, "This is a lantern festival maze with crisscrossing paths, which is very complicated. The path we are on now is the main path, and there are round gauze lanterns on both sides of the path. They are all the same shape and have no patterns on them. These big red lanterns are just decorations. The real lantern mechanism should be in other side paths, most likely in the form of paper palace lanterns."
He turned to look at Yu Hanjiang and said seriously, "There are rectangular palace lanterns made of paper, which can be used to draw and write, making it easy to write out riddles. Let's meet up with our teammates first, and then find where the riddles are."
Yu Hanjiang: "..."
Yu Hanjiang gets a headache whenever he encounters the Diamond Secret Room.
Looking around, he saw countless large red lanterns and bustling crowds, and he didn't know where to start.
Upon hearing Xiao Lou's words, he immediately understood.
Thinking back to my experiences with Xiao Lou in Diamonds 3 and 4 —every time, while he was still figuring out the question, Professor Xiao had already given the answer. Anyway, in the Diamonds maze, following Xiao Lou was always the right thing to do.
Meeting Xiao Lou's clear eyes, Yu Han immediately said, "Okay, I'll do whatever you say."
Xiao Lou said, "Let's go find the lamp tree first. I guess Xiao Ye and the others will also go to the vicinity of the lamp tree to meet us."
Yu Hanjiang nodded and followed Xiao Lou forward.
Along the way, some court officials recognized them and greeted them with smiles: "Lord Yu, are you and your wife strolling through the Lantern Festival?"
Yu Hanjiang calmly replied, "Yes, I'm accompanying Madam for a stroll."
Xiao Lou smiled in agreement and nodded politely to the other person. The passerby's question confirmed their speculation— the collaboration between Diamond 8 and Red Heart 8 shared the same background and setting.
In fact, the effect would be the same if this Lantern Festival were placed in the real world. Obviously, The Diamond-Suit Guardian was lazy and simply used the concept from Hearts Sister to make the maze.
The crowd was so dense that Xiao Lou was almost knocked over by a child. Yu Hanjiang immediately put his arm around Xiao Lou's waist, pulled him closer, and whispered, "Don't get lost."
Xiao Lou's heart skipped a beat, but she pretended to be calm as Yu Hanjiang held her in his arms and they walked forward.
This lantern market is huge...
As Xiao Lou continued along the main road, he saw at least eight side roads, each adorned with lanterns. The constant flow of people made it difficult for them to judge directions, and it was easy to get lost in the crowded lantern market maze.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang kept walking forward, searching for the location of the lamp tree.
The tree with lanterns isn't hard to find. Just walk to the end of the main road, cross a stone bridge, and you'll see a 10-meter-tall ancient tree in the distance, covered with various red wishing charms and a colorful lantern hanging from it.
There weren't many people around the big tree. Xiao Lou quickly glanced through the crowd and soon spotted Ye Qi in a red dress and Shao Qingge dressed as a noble young man.
A moment later, Long Sen and his wife Qu Wanyue, Lao Mo and Liu Qiao also arrived.
As everyone progressed through the levels to Diamond 8, they knew to carefully read the hints when entering the secret room. The hints pointed to the "light tree" as a key location, so naturally, they should come here first to meet up with their teammates.
None of the teammates wandered off; they assembled very quickly.
Once all eight people had arrived, Xiao Lou immediately called them aside.
He found a secluded spot and whispered, "Check all the card holders and see which cards are usable."
Everyone checked their cards, and Liu Qiao was the first to say, "My [ Light as a Swallow ] still works, but Invisibility Cloak and Twin copy cards are invalid, and all the fairy tale cards like Poison Queen and Little Red Riding Hood are unusable."
Long Sen said, "Soccer and badminton are unusable, Chameleon is useless, only Long Jump Master is usable!"
Old Mo was both amused and exasperated: "I only just..."
The [Perspective Converter] I drew works.
Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang, who said, "All modern, high-tech cards are banned."
It seems that the S-class tool [drone] that Mr. Tang just gave them is also banned.
Ye Qi said, "My teleportation card still works, but only the first skill is usable. That means I can only teleport myself, and I can't teleport with a 200-kilogram object, so I can't teleport with anyone else."
Xiao Lou checked Li Qingzhao's skills and said, "The carrier pigeon could carry objects, but that's been banned this time. The skill of accidentally entering the lotus flower's depths has also been banned."
Ye Qi was stunned: " Li Qingzhao's 'Mistakenly Entering the Lotus Blossom' skill, isn't that a divine skill for mazes? It can directly return to a designated maze marker location, and we're in the Diamonds maze right now, so why is it banned?"
Everyone was puzzled by the pattern of card bans in Diamond Secret Room — Diamond A seemed quite capricious, banning whatever they wanted. Some cards that worked in the ancient world of Hearts were inexplicably unusable here?
Xiao Lou thought carefully for a moment and quickly found the pattern. He analyzed carefully: "Strictly speaking, this maze is not a pure mechanical maze, but a riddle maze. What we need to do is to solve as many riddles as possible within a limited time and hang the lantern props we get on this tree. It's a mini-game of collecting maze props."
Upon hearing Xiao Lou's words, everyone couldn't help but look up at the large tree not far away.
A lantern was hanging on the tree, a fairly obvious hint that the collected lanterns would be hung up later. As Xiao Lou summarized, it was indeed a "maze item collection game".
Xiao Lou continued, "If Ye Qi can move 200 kilograms of things using a teleportation card, then we can solve dozens of riddles in a row, put the lanterns together, and have Ye Qi move them all over... That's probably why all skills involving moving things are banned."
Ye Qi suddenly realized: " This is probably why Li Qingzhao's location marking skill is banned, right? If it were usable, we could just mark this tree as the target point, solve the riddle, and then teleport to the tree. That would be so convenient!"
Xiao Lou nodded: " Tao Yuanming's The Peach Blossom Spring was also banned. For the same reason, it prevents us from directly teleporting to the tree to hang lanterns, even from marked points. However, movement skills were not banned. Does anyone have any ideas?"
After thinking it over carefully, Liu Qiao realized that her [ Light as a Swallow ] skill was still usable, allowing her to continue using the Lightness Skill of buildings to leap; Long Sen could jump long distances, and Ye Qi could teleport... Her eyes suddenly lit up: "Shall we use quick movement to relay the baton?"
Xiao Lou gave her an approving look and said, "That's right. Judging from the idea behind The Diamond-Suit Guardian's forbidden card, this secret room requires us to divide the work and cooperate. Those who are good at solving puzzles should find riddles in the lantern market as quickly as possible and hand the lanterns they get to their teammates; those who have movement cards should pass through the crowded people as quickly as possible and take the lanterns they get out of the lantern market and hang them on this tree—this secret room includes three parts: solving puzzles, relay race, and hanging lanterns."
Upon hearing this, Yu Hanjiang finally understood the difficulty of this secret room.
The lantern market will close at [midnight]. Will you get an S rating with 50 lanterns or 100? Nobody knows the scoring rules, so we can only try to solve as many puzzles as possible.
It is currently around 9 PM, which is the hour of Hai (亥时). There are still 3 hours before the lantern market closes.
To retrieve the lantern from the bustling crowd, they would need to use some movement cards. With time limited, Yu Hanjiang decisively said, " Xiao Lou, you arrange it. Let's get moving as quickly as possible."
Xiao Lou didn't stand on ceremony. He glanced at his teammates and quickly divided them into groups: "Lao Mo and Xiao Liu are in one group. Lao Mo is more familiar with the maze route, so he will take the [ Light as a Swallow ] card and pass the lantern. Liu Qiao will be responsible for solving the puzzle."
The two nodded, and Liu Qiao immediately handed the card to Lao Mo.
Xiao Lou followed up, saying, " Long Sen and Teacher Qu are in a group. Teacher Qu will find the riddles, and Long Sen will be responsible for taking the lanterns away."
The couple, Xiao Lou and Qu Wanyue, didn't want to break up. Qu Wanyue was smart, and Long Sen was physically strong and fast. Neither of them had any objections to the arrangement.
Xiao Lou looked at Shao Qingge and Ye Qi: "You two can work together. Ye Qi can solve the mystery, and CEO Shao, I'll trouble you to run errands."
Shao Qingge smiled and said, "No problem."
The last two remaining were naturally paired up, and their teammates seemed to have gotten used to them being paired together.
Yu Hanjiang readily agreed, saying, "I'll run the errand."
Xiao Lou took the speed shoes out of the card holder and handed them to him: "Here, this card is for you."
After dividing into teams, Xiao Lou continued, "Now everyone enter the Lantern Market and split up to figure out the road layout. Remember to mark the roads you've traveled with the [ Four-Way Arrow ]. Lao Mo, if you encounter any complicated forks in the road, use the perspective converter to take a look. In 15 minutes, we'll meet up back at the big tree."
Everyone nodded and quickly entered the lantern market.
Watching Xiao Lou calmly direct and arrange the operation, Yu Hanjiang couldn't help but think that with such a smart partner by his side, he wouldn't have to worry about the Diamonds maze in the future, and he could continue to win without lifting a finger.
******