Yan Qingwen was silent for a moment, then smiled faintly.
“Yes,” he nodded. “This is only the second round. Only after autumn passes can we truly say we’ve beaten the game.”
Li Li encouraged everyone, “We managed to get through such a difficult summer, what’s there to fear about autumn!”
Lü Ang also nodded in agreement. “Even if the third round is difficult, we’ve gained experience from passing spring and summer. When dealing with autumn, I believe we won't be clueless.”
The crystal ball sat quietly on the chest of drawers, observing them discuss their next strategy.
Shen Mo walked over and wound the music box. The familiar nursery rhyme drifted through the room with the music:
Spring, the bear awakes,
So worried about its two lost cubs;
Summer, the rain pours,
So dark, where is the treasure to be found?
Autumn, who has come?
Look, the Nailtooth monster opens its mouth, where are its teeth?
Winter, winter has finally arrived~
Which doll will see the snowflakes?
…
Shen Mo leaned against the window. The half-open pane faintly reflected the figure of the guest at the door. He said softly, “It really is the Nailtooth monster… Autumn, who has come? Look, the Nailtooth monster opens its mouth, where are its teeth? Just like in the nursery rhyme.”
Everyone gathered at the window to see what the guest looked like.
The window and the door were on a parallel line, and the door was flanked by pillars and other obstructions, so they couldn't see directly from the window. They could only use the reflection in the glass to expand their field of vision.
The autumn guest, in terms of size, was not as large as the bear or the anglerfish.
It looked a bit like an upright walking shark, only without fins or a tail. It had smooth, bluish-gray skin, strong lower limbs, thin claws, and an oversized head.
It stood at the door with its mouth wide open, revealing a sparse set of sharp teeth, about seven or eight of them.
The teeth looked like they were made of nails.
Shen Mo looked at the others. “This round, our task seems to be finding nails.”
Yan Qingwen carefully observed the image reflected in the window and slowly nodded. “And… the number of nails we need to find should be quite a few.”
Li Li, still traumatized by the previous round, looked uncertainly at the two leaders and asked, “Are you sure? Is it really just finding nails? Could it be something else…?”
He turned to Bai Youwei. “Do you also think it’s nails?”
Bai Youwei gave him an impassive look. “Whatever it is, the 1-minute rampage in the first round is unavoidable.”
Whether it was the bear or the anglerfish, without actually interacting with them once, it was difficult to discover their true needs based solely on the clues provided by the nursery rhyme.
Su Man, standing beside them, anxiously tugged at her dress.
She was getting sick of this game. Dressing like this greatly hindered her performance, but if she didn't, she would be attacked by the guests.
Zhu Shu asked, “If it’s nails, how many do we need to find?”
“Its mouth is very wide…” Yan Qingwen narrowed his eyes slightly. “Just from this angle, there are about 26 upper teeth and 24 lower teeth. It has six nails in its mouth, leaving 44 missing.”
Bai Youwei gently shook her head. “The game won’t be that simple. We can’t rule out the possibility of double or multiple rows of teeth.”
Shen Mo looked away and surveyed the furnishings in the room. “If it’s double rows, that’s 100 nails. Triple rows, 150. Four rows, 200… In other words, the more nails we find, the better.”
Li Li's scalp went numb listening to these numbers.
“That’s too much! We’ve searched this house thoroughly. Apart from the dozen or so nails in the storage room, there are none anywhere else!”
Tan Xiao clapped him on the shoulder with one hand and patted his own chest with the other, saying earnestly, “You have to search with your heart. As the saying goes, nothing is impossible for a willing heart! We must be unswervingly devoted until death!”
Li Li broke down. “It’s unswervingly determined! Who the hell wants to be unswervingly devoted to you until death?! Get lost!!!”