However, things were not as simple as Xiao Lou had imagined.
He placed the deceased's right thumb on the phone, but the screen did not light up. Instead, a warning message popped up: "Fingerprint cannot be recognized. Verification error. The phone will be locked after five incorrect attempts. 2 attempts remaining."
Unable to recognize? Is it because you put the wrong finger, or is there some other reason?
Looking at the deceased on the bed, Xiao Lou suddenly realized a key point—after a person dies, the body will become cold and stiff within 3 hours, the stiffness will reach its peak after 12 hours, and will begin to ease after 24 to 48 hours.
Judging from the stiffness of the deceased's muscles and the state of livor mortis, her time of death should be between 24 and 48 hours ago. The water in the vase of roses in the restaurant was still very clear, which also proves that the roses had been in the water for no more than two days.
The principle of fingerprint unlocking is that the microcurrent carried by the human finger activates the capacitive sensor of the phone. The uneven surface of the fingerprint will draw a unique pattern code on the sensor, which corresponds to the registered fingerprint pattern, thereby unlocking the phone.
After a person dies, the metabolism of cells stops. Moreover, Zou Xiaomei had been dead for more than 24 hours, and there was no longer any electrical current in her body. Her fingerprints could not activate the phone's sensor.
The fingerprints of a dead person are different from those of a living person. He was a forensic doctor, yet he overlooked this crucial point!
If the numeric password is incorrect and fingerprint unlocking doesn't work, what other ways are there to unlock the phone?
After entering the wrong birthdate twice and trying the wrong fingerprint once, most people would subconsciously switch to another finger to try again. However, Xiao Lou thought that there was no electric current in the deceased's body, so he simply gave up on trying the fingerprint.
He only has two chances left and must find another way as soon as possible.
Xiao Lou carefully examined the phone and noticed a small button on the back, next to the camera. Pressing it lightly would display a scanning frame on the screen. After a moment's thought, he aimed the scanning frame at the deceased's face.
—Face scanning in progress.
—Unlocked successfully, 100% of clues collected!
Xiao Lou's spirits lifted!
In the Red Heart 2 Secret Room, the cell phone is the most crucial clue, and the password is definitely not unsolvable.
Numbers, patterns, fingerprints, faces—there are only a few ways to unlock a phone, and surely one of them will work.
Unable to unlock the phone using the birthdate number is the first hurdle, and most people would panic at this point. Trying random numbers like 6666 or 8888 will only waste opportunities. Unable to unlock using fingerprints can also lead people astray, causing them to try other fingers, thus exceeding the five-unlock limit and locking the phone.
Actually, the real unlocking method is hidden on the back of the phone.
Facial recognition next to the camera!
Facial scanning typically involves combining features such as forehead width, eyebrow distance, and lip size into a geometric shape to serve as an unlocking code. As long as a person is not disfigured, their facial features will not change much even after death.
Of course, if the phone has a high-tech liveness detection system that needs to detect liveness features such as pupils and retina, then it becomes an unsolvable dead end.
Fortunately, the female protagonist's phone didn't have such advanced unlocking technology. Facial recognition only required detecting the distance between various points on the face. After most of the facial features matched, the phone was finally unlocked.
With only one bar of battery left, Xiao Lou quickly opened the photo album.
Her photo album is full of selfies, each one photoshopped to look like a celebrity's. Clearly, Zou Xiaomei is somewhat narcissistic, and she posts selfies on her WeChat Moments every day. Besides her husband Zhao Sen, her contacts also include "the lover." Aside from He Yongqiang and her best friend Liu Yun, who are listed as starred friends, everyone else is in the colleagues/classmates group, so they are probably not closely related to this case.
Xiao Lou scrolled through her WeChat Moments and saw that she had liked all of the recent posts in "Three of a Kind".
The first post was from her husband's WeChat Moments on July 15th at noon: "I'm going on a business trip on the 16th to attend the Medical Association's Cardiac Surgery Academic Conference. I won't be back until the end of the month. I won't be able to celebrate my wife's birthday with her again this year [sad]".
Zou Xiaomei liked his post and left a comment: "Work is important, have a safe business trip, and take good care of yourself!"
The second post was a gym photo posted by her lover, He Yongqiang, on July 16th. The man was tall and deliberately showed off his chest muscles in the photo, captioning it, "Results of a month of training." Zou Xiaomei liked the post and commented, "Great physique."
Then came a message from her best friend Liu Yun on July 17th at noon: "Happy birthday to my best sister, the beautiful Zou Xiaomei [cake][cake]" The female protagonist liked the message and commented: "Thank you."
Xiao Lou closed her Moments and opened the WeChat chat interface to continue searching for clues.
He opened the chat history between the deceased and He Yongqiang, scrolling to the top—the two first met in March of last year. He Yongqiang added Zou Xiaomei first, saying, "Sister-in-law, you looked so beautiful and sexy at today's wedding!" Zou Xiaomei sent a row of shy emojis: "Thank you, Xiao He. I heard from your brother that you're still single, and my best friend is single too. How about we get to know each other?" "Sure, give me her contact information."
At first, Zou Xiaomei was introducing his girlfriend to his cousin, who politely called her "sister-in-law." But as they talked, the conversation took a turn for the worse.
In March of this year, on their wedding anniversary, Zou Xiaomei's husband was away on a business trip, and she was feeling down at home. He Yongqiang said he had bought too much fruit and couldn't finish it, so he would bring her some on his way, and she didn't refuse.
What happened when a lone man and woman delivered fruit?
Well, even a fool could guess. From then on, the chat history became increasingly ambiguous, and the terms of address changed from "sister-in-law" to "beauty" and "little baby"... It gave Xiao Lou goosebumps!
Xiao Lou quickly scrolled past this cringe-worthy section and went to the bottom.
July 16, 18:00
"He said he has to go on a business trip for half a month. Can you come to my house tomorrow night and celebrate my birthday with me?"
"No problem, I'll come after get off work, around 7 pm."
"I'll cook you something delicious, and we'll celebrate with dinner together."
This was the last conversation between Zou Xiaomei and He Yongqiang.
Xiao Lou then opened her chat history with her husband and best friend.
There was nothing wrong with the chat history with her best friend. Her best friend said that she couldn't be with her for her birthday because she was working overtime on the 17th, and even specially sent her a bottle of Rose Perfume by same-city express as a birthday gift. It seems that her best friend had no idea that she had been cheated on.
Zhao Sen's recent chat history with her husband has three messages. The first one was from when she saw his post on WeChat Moments and asked him how many days he would be away on a business trip. Zhao Sen replied that he would be away for half a month. The second one was from noon on July 16th when she messaged him: "Sorry, honey, I'm at work today and can't see you off at the airport. Have a safe trip." He replied: "It's okay, I'll contact you when I get to the hotel."
The last message was sent to her by Zhao Sen at exactly 00:00 on July 17th: "Honey, I've arrived at the hotel. Happy birthday. I can't be with you for your birthday this year, but I'll prepare an unforgettable birthday gift for you [smile][smile][smile]"
Those meaningful smiling faces sent chills down Xiao Lou's spine.
At this point, the collection of clues regarding the case has reached 100%.
He Yongqiang was ruled out as the first suspect. Zou and He were having an affair, constantly exchanging sweet words and never arguing; there was no reason for He Yongqiang to suddenly kill her on her birthday. That left two suspects: the best friend didn't show up at the scene on her birthday, and her husband, Zhao Sen, was ostensibly "on a business trip," but his mention of an "unforgettable gift" on WeChat was highly suspicious.
This case clearly shows that it was planned for a long time.
Zhao Sen was meticulous; he hired a private investigator to study her for a long time and even installed surveillance cameras in their home to monitor Zou Xiaomei's movements at all times. More importantly, he was a doctor, which allowed him to act so swiftly and decisively, killing her with a single blow. His claim of a business trip was likely a ploy to lower his wife's guard, allowing for a surprise attack and catching her in the act.
At this point, there are 12 minutes left in the countdown.
Xiao Lou sorted out his thoughts and reached out to press the "Killer Confirmed" option that had been constantly displayed in the floating window.
System: "Confirm the murderer?"
Xiao Lou: "Yes."
System: "Who is the murderer of the deceased? He Yongqiang / Zhao Sen / Liu Yun?"
Xiao Lou selected Zhao Sen, and a "ding" notification sounded in his ear.
Congratulations, Challenger! Xiao Lou perfectly cleared the D-class secret room [ Rose Funeral ] in 18 minutes, achieving a score higher than 99% of all players.
—Unlock all hidden storylines and receive the reward [Story Card: Rose Funeral ]
—The guaranteed reward for clearing this escape room is [ tool card: Fruit Knife ] [ tool card: Rose Perfume ].
—This level is rated S. A perfect level completion will grant you an extra chance to win a prize. Please return to Personal Space to claim your reward.
The murderer was indeed surgeon Zhao Sen.
The difficulty of this locked room isn't actually about who the murderer is. Even if someone can't unlock the phone, clues in the safe can lead to the conclusion that the murderer is likely Zhao Sen. The real challenge lies in finding all the clues and understanding the murderer's motive and methods. Only with 100% clue collection can you achieve a "perfect completion."
Xiao Lou's score was higher than 99% of the players, which means that a group of people were stuck on the phone password.
In this eerie, locked room with a female corpse, people's minds would naturally be under extreme tension. Few would be able to calmly gather clues and immediately think of using fingerprints, facial recognition, or other methods to unlock their phones.
Thanks to his Forensic Doctor status, which makes him unafraid of corpses, and his extensive deduction experience, he was able to complete the game perfectly within 18 minutes.
Xiao Lou breathed a slight sigh of relief, took one last look at the female corpse lying on the bed, and then was forcibly teleported out of the secret room of Red Heart 2, returning to the white Card World.
The massive card wall in front of me had undergone a noticeable change—all the video animations playing on the cards had disappeared, as if the window to Card World had been closed.
The front of the card only shows four suits, arranged in the order of 2-K: hearts, spade, diamonds, and plum blossom. The card with the " red heart 2 " shines with a soft glow, and the words "Passed" are displayed in the lower right corner.
Xiao Lou remembered the system notification that he would be rewarded with a Rose Funeral story card, Red Heart 2. There was a red rose printed right in the center of the card. Out of curiosity, he reached out and touched the card. The next moment, the card suddenly flipped over and quickly enlarged into a wall of LCD screens, starting to play a video.
Xiao Lou became increasingly alarmed as she looked at the card—it actually presented the entire murder process in its entirety!
Just as he had predicted. At noon on July 17, Zou Xiaomei received two birthday gifts. One was a Rose Perfume sent by her best friend. After seeing it, she crossed out the word "best friend" and put it in a drawer. The other was 99 roses sent to her by a florist by Zhao Sen. She cut off the card and threw it into the trash can, while putting the roses in a vase.
At 7 PM, He Yongqiang arrived home. Zou Xiaomei had left her phone on the table when she came out of the children's room, so she went to the kitchen to get it.
They enjoyed a romantic candlelight dinner together.
After dinner, Zou Xiaomei went to the kitchen to cut a watermelon, accidentally splashing watermelon juice on her clothes. She took a shower, changed into a sexy silk nightgown, and returned to the dining room. The two were making out in the dining room when Zhao Sen suddenly opened the door and walked in. Caught red-handed, the two turned pale with fright. Zou Xiaomei frantically dressed, while He Yongqiang's teeth chattered: "Cousin, cousin, let me explain..."
"No need to explain, I came back specifically to fulfill your wishes." Zhao Sen smiled, pushed up his glasses, walked behind He Yongqiang, and the next moment, he took out a clean white handkerchief from his pocket and suddenly covered He Yongqiang's mouth.
He Yongqiang stared in horror as the strong man quickly fell unconscious under the influence of the anesthetic.
Zou Xiaomei trembled and backed away: "W-what are you going to do?"
Zhao Sen dragged the unconscious He Yongqiang to the kitchen. He put on clean gloves, took out surgical instruments from the medicine box, and swiftly cut open He Yongqiang's chest, carefully removing his heart. He placed it on a plate and handed it to Zou Xiaomei, saying calmly, "Didn't you often tell A-Qiang that you hoped his heart would only belong to you? Now I'm giving you his heart, so he belongs only to you—is this birthday present unforgettable enough?"
Zou Xiaomei saw the bloody heart in the plate, screamed, and turned to run out like a madwoman. Reaching the door, she found it locked with a key by Zhao Sen. Zou Xiaomei frantically searched for the key to open the door, her whole body trembling.
The man walked up behind her, smiled, and asked, "Don't you want to go and be with him?"
Realizing the man's intention, Zou Xiaomei cried out in despair, "No—don't kill me!" But the next moment, Zhao Sen grabbed her hair and dragged her back to the kitchen like a corpse. Zhao Sen held the Fruit Knife in front of the woman's eyes and asked softly, "Do you want to do it yourself, or should I help you?"
"Ahhh, don't kill me... I..." The woman's struggle came to an abrupt halt the moment he accurately plunged the Fruit Knife into her heart.
Zhao Sen used a tap to rinse the blood gushing from her chest until the blood had drained and her body was completely cold and stiff. Only then did he slowly put her clothes back on, smear some of He Yongqiang's blood on her clothes, turn around and wash the Fruit Knife, then put the Fruit Knife in He Yongqiang's hand, leaving He Yongqiang's fingerprints on the handle, and then put the murder weapon back into the watermelon.
He carried Zou Xiaomei to the bedroom, picked roses from the dining table, and arranged them into a beautiful rose-flower bed.
He then went back to the kitchen to clean up the scene, put He Yongqiang's body into a huge suitcase, turned around, and casually picked up the suitcase and left the house.
Before leaving, he stopped in the entryway and slightly raised the corner of his mouth at the camera installed in the corner.
The smile was directed at the screen.
When Xiao Lou saw the enlarged, eerie smiling face on the screen, he felt the hairs on his entire body stand on end.
The Rose Funeral story card reveals a hidden storyline.
In the Secret Room World of Red Heart 2, Zou Xiaomei wasn't the only one who died; He Yongqiang also died!
Author's Note: Zhao Sen: Double Kill~ Didn't expect that, did you?
Regarding facial recognition systems, many phones on the market can recognize faces even with eyes closed. This is because many phone manufacturers haven't yet reached the advanced technology of scanning pupils; they only scan the distance of facial feature points to draw geometric patterns, which is very risky. Hackers have even unlocked phones with facial recognition using photoshopped images, demonstrating that this technology is currently not mature enough.
Card World's technology is similar to that of the real world.