CIATB Chapter 484 Handling Fox's Fault
Chapter 484 Handling Fox's Fault
Treasure hunting is a long-standing activity and game.
Participants collect various clues, or use certain props and other means to find hidden clues, and then unravel the mystery from these clues to find the real treasure.
"Captain—look, look! Xin Yuehu and the others are playing Kalia's treasure hunt game in Snow City!"
Somewhere in Shanghai, a magical girl in deep green raised her phone and floated towards a pure white girl who was dealing with the remains of a monster not far away.
Magical Girl Clover, and its captain, Lily White.
"Kalia's treasure hunt?... Oh, the one we went on last time, right?"
"Yes, yes, exploring a non-existent room in a snow-covered hotel and then solving an amazing puzzle... Oh, I want to do it again, but it's no fun if you already know the answer."
The four-leaf clover tiptoed, then stomped back down with a thud, saying in distress.
After reading the animated content from Magical Girl Fox Official on her phone, Bai Lili handed the phone back to Clover while raising her long-handled magic wand and crushing the remaining monster remains into a handful of flying magical particles.
"Yeah, it's like those escape room games. The first time you play one, it feels really new, but once you know the answer, it gets boring."
"But, but, it's also quite interesting to see how other people react when they play it for the first time."
Clover excitedly moved closer to Lily.
"We spent the whole day at the stargazing station agonizing over this, Captain, do you remember?"
"...Let's not talk about this anymore. Who would have thought that Kalia hid the barrier node in the telescope?" Bai Lili's eyes twitched slightly as she replied helplessly.
I searched the observatory for a whole day until Clover had a sudden inspiration and discovered that the barrier node was hidden inside the giant telescope.
No wonder Kalia confidently stated in her message that it was absolutely impossible for an ordinary person to accidentally dispel the concealment barrier she had set up—
The price of that telescope was also astronomical, in the hundreds of millions.
Aside from magical girls, who else could remove the node without damaging the telescope itself?
"I've cleaned this up. Tell Tanuki and the others to call it a day. I have some business to attend to at the Hero Association."
"Okay—"
Watching the four-leaf clover fly to its other companions, Lily put away her wand, preparing to call it a day and go home, when she suddenly remembered something else.
Speaking of which, is Snow City currently experiencing a magic storm?
If that's the case... Xin Yuehu and the others might actually run into some trouble.
Although Kalia's actual combat ability is not that great, as a genuine Russian girl from the northern neighboring country, she has unique skills in magical abilities that are characteristic of magical girls from the north.
Simply put—
Under normal circumstances, magic allows magical girls to exert 100% of their combat power, while a magic storm can amplify magic power to 200% or even higher, greatly improving their endurance.
For example, one magic cannon can fire two shots, or five magic missiles can fire ten shots.
Another spellcasting technique is popular among the magical girls of the Northern Lands: when their magic power is abundant, they can convert their endurance into a direct boost to the effectiveness of their magic.
A magic cannon with 100 power can be transformed into one with 200 power, and a five-shot burst of magic missiles can be transformed into a five-shot burst of super-large magic missiles.
The main theme is "Great strength makes bricks fly, and great power creates miracles."
The non-existent Room 105 might become quite terrifying due to the abundant magic power brought by the magic storm.
Extremely, extremely terrifying.
……
Xia Taotao did not hear the inner monologue of a magical girl in distant Shanghai.
She stared intently at rooms 104 and 106, lost in thought.
Just as Jin Lanshuang said, there was no room 105 in this hotel at all. The key machine for this room had also turned off the key slot, as if it never existed.
"Why is this room being demolished?" Xia Youyou asked curiously.
Jin Lanshuang shook her head.
"I don't know either. This shelter hotel has been built for more than 20 years. The Hero Association has renovated it several times, but no one knows exactly which renovation removed room 105."
"I see... Maybe they just changed the house number, and the current 106 is the former 105?"
Xia Taotao raised this possibility.
But there was no sign of the doorplate being altered. Moreover, if only the doorplate was changed, how do you explain the closed key slot on the self-service key machine?
Thinking about this problem, the three of them were stumped again at the door.
"Hmm... how about we investigate the hotel? Maybe we can find some new clues," Jin Lanshuang said.
Without further ado, the three split into two groups, one going left and the other right, searching the room and corridor. Sure enough, they found a magical light screen at the top of the stairs.
To enter the non-existent Room 105, explore the locations indicated in the prompts.
A star that shouldn't exist was observed on the rooftop.
[Self-service key machine: Find a key that shouldn't exist]
[On the second-floor balcony, I heard a song that shouldn't have been playing.]
There's no need to conduct investigations at a specific time; simply travel to different places, and you will naturally find out everything.
The three clues point to three different locations.
It even specifically pointed out that there was no set time, directly solving the biggest problem in star observation—weather conditions.
"One puzzle leads to more puzzles, requiring you to travel to more places to solve these newly emerging puzzles in order to find the correct answer."
Xia Taotao frowned slightly and muttered to herself.
She didn't know what kind of personality the magical girl Kalia was like—even as a huge fan of magical girls, Xia Taotao couldn't possibly know all the magical girls in the world.
Judging from these classic treasure hunt elements, Kalia is definitely a fan of reasoning or detective activities.
"Anyway, let's go check those places first; maybe we can find some new clues."
They hit it off immediately, and the three went their separate ways.
Xia Taotao went to the self-service key machine, Xia Youyou went to the second-floor balcony, and Jin Lanshuang went straight to the rooftop.
"These puzzles are quite troublesome."
As soon as Xia Taotao walked up to the key machine, she heard a soft complaint.
A tiny squirrel familiar stood at the doorway, gesturing to itself with the same expression and tone as a certain golden fox.
"Ah...you are—"
"Shh, keep your voice down, don't let your sister and the others hear."
The squirrel familiar quickly stopped Xia Taotao from speaking.
Fortunately, the wind and snow outside were heavy, and the sound of their footsteps going upstairs masked their faint conversation, so they were not discovered.
Xia Taotao reached out and picked up the squirrel familiar, saying in confusion:
"What are you doing here?"
"I was worried about you. You suddenly said you wanted to go treasure hunting and came running here. I had my familiar search for ages before we finally found you."
The familiar pretended to be angry and reached out to pat Xia Taotao on the shoulder.
"Sorry... but since Yu-Yu really likes magical girls, I thought I'd come treasure hunting with her..."
"What do you mean 'Youyou likes it'? It's clearly you who likes it!"
"It doesn't matter." The rabbit girl, whose trick was seen through in a second, awkwardly pricked up her ears and chuckled as she answered.
"In that case, Momo, good luck with your treasure hunt! I'll also get my familiar to lend you a hand!"
"That's what the familiar said."
Xia Taotao was overjoyed.
With Fox's help, wouldn't a mere treasure be within our grasp?
Very good, let's begin the decryption!