Journey In A Fantasy World
Puzzle Lock

We froze to see the red dot. It was not a long pond let alone ferocious beasts, but rather a huge door that covered the entire labyrinth hall. We can't get through our path, unless we can open this giant ice door.

"What should we do?" Rui asked in despair.

"The keys are weird, man. This is not a key that should exist in a magical world like this." Neo returned after checking around the door.

"What key is that?" my many.

"Sort of a password."

"The password? Who here used the password to lock the door? It's ancient," Rui clucked in annoyance.

"You said old-fashioned? The door of your house is not even necessarily this sophisticated," Neo chuckled amusedly.

"Let me see." I went forward, seeing how the door looked like it was locked with that password.

But Neo is right, this is not the usual password we encounter before opening the safe box or opening the phone.

It's more like a puzzle. Where should we answer three questions before opening them.

"What if Neo's open?" I have an idea.

Neo glared in disbelief, "I don't even understand what the door is talking about, Jian. How am I gonna open the door?"

"You won't understand, not because you don't understand it, but because this door doesn't speak, Neo. Someone who created it may want to test how sincere we are. To ask us such questions. While it was a sincere and loyal affair, I knew you were the right person," I grinned wide, pushing Neo's shoulder to the icy door.

Neo murmured, "Even most of the quarrels happened because of me. How can I be the most sincere person here?"

"You are indeed the most sincere person, Neo. Anyway, you're willing to jump into Pubu City to save us, right?" Rui stood up for me, she smiled a little.

Neo exhaled in annoyance, asking me to hold his magic wand for a bit. He stood in front of the door with those three puzzle questions. He stretched his muscles, then straightened his hands up, then exhaled again, like he was warming up a sport.

"What are you doing?" I hit him in the head with his own magic wand.

"Patience, Jian. Don't disturb my concentration," Neo exclaimed in annoyance.

His hand moved to touch the number one button. The first question has already come up.

"If one of your friends gets poisoned, and the other friend is the antidote, you're gonna let your poisoned friend die, or your antidote friend die?"

Rui and I stared at each other, Neo was silent at the door, he had not yet given an answer to what he chose.

Before long, he turned his body around, "I'm afraid my answer wasn't sincere enough to answer this one question. Just you," Neo pulled Rui forward.

Rui immediately pulled my arm, "You alone, Jian."

"Hey, this is the same name as throwing your own friend into a crocodile pit" I grumbled in annoyance.

"Like you guys were gonna do to me when the map fell, right?" Neo said, I told him to shut up and not have to talk about it anymore.

"You're the one who answered, Jian," Rui again urged me to answer that strange question.

Besides, where could I possibly choose between Rui and Neo? Both are important to me. This is not a question worth asking just to open the door.

I began to write on the glowing board, "I chose to sacrifice myself to save both."

That's what I wrote there. Rui and Neo were taken aback by the answer I gave.

I chuckled, "That's just a question, guys. No need to think about it any further."

Suddenly the glowing board on the door removed my answer and showed a red screen.

"Not passed the sincerity test."

God fucking.

I cursed in my heart, how could such a perfect answer not be considered so sincere?

Looking at the red-colored screen, Neo immediately laughed, "That means you're lying, Jian. After all, who would be willing to sacrifice his life for the life of another? I'd rather be honest and sacrifice the life of one of you to save one of you too."

"You're being too honest, Neo." Rui came forward again, trying to answer the question that when I answered he said less sincerely.

"I'll sacrifice Neo to save Jian."

Neo glared in disbelief, "Hey, Rui. Even though I don't like you much, you can't hate me to the extent! What if it turns out that your answer is too sincere so we don't have to answer other questions?" shouting protests.

"Then that includes good news," Rui replied unconcernedly. Making Neo almost lose his patience.

I laughed crisply, "Look, Neo. It's your turn to answer, Rui's answer is still considered insincere," I said again, he should know that the screen turned red again even after Rui issued the most honest answer he had.

"Could the machine be broken?" Neo went forward again. He with his arrogant face started fiddling with the square screen that was plastered in the corner of the door.

"It's possible that he's broken, Jian. He says it's been thousands of years that the heirloom was sealed in a box. Hundreds of people who tried to find the key did not succeed before reaching this labyrinth. Aren't we the first after a thousand years?"

Rui and I looked at each other. Neo might be right. We are the first after thousands of years, so how could we be considered insincere despite having survived to enter this labyrinth?

"Because we are first, we should have been sincere enough, right? We've even gone through a lot of red dots in this labyrinth. It's impossible to fail just because you can't answer one question, right?" Neo is still fiddling with that screen.

"You try it first, Neo. One person has not tried it, then can not claim anything because it has not seen the final results," Rui gave advice, he was anxious because Neo was only good at talking but did not want to do anything.

"Alright, alright. I'll try."

"Ehm!" Neo cleared his throat, then brought his finger closer to the screen.

Rui and I started peeking, but she covered the entire screen with her body, making us unable to see her.

"You're so stingy, Neo," I looked at him lazily.

"Not stingy, Jian. It's called alert. Nobody wants to show their debit card password to someone else, right?" Neo keeps covering up his answers from us.

But it is not a debit card password, and not another password that is privately owned.

"Wow!" Neo exclaimed in shock, the screen turning green after Neo wrote down his answer.

Rui and I looked at each other, what exactly is this young man?

"Then, go ahead, Neo. Answer the next two questions!" Rui jumped up excitedly.

I was curious half to death, what answer made this screen blink green?

The next question arises.

"If only two people are allowed to enter the portal, will you give up and stay for the sake of your friends?"

"Wow. This one is no more extreme than the previous one," Neo closed the screen again.

A few seconds later, the screen went green again. Neo smiled broadly, putting on his arrogant face, "I am indeed very sincere anyone's head."

"Did you choose to stay, Neo?" I asked him.

"That's a secret," Neo shook his head firmly.

"If you don't choose to stay, there's no other answer that shows sincerity, Neo," Rui refuted, she looked at Neo lazily.

"Forget it. We continue." Neo pushed the button again. The last question came out.

"One of your friends betrayed, and planned to enter the portal alone. You attacked each other, even the traitor was planning to kill you. Are you going to attack and kill him too?"

Neo fell silent, then turned to look at us. His gaze was serious and there were no joking strokes in his eyes.

"Dian, Rui. Have any of you ever thought that way?" he asked with a face down.

Me and Rui reflexively shook their heads strongly, there's no way we're like that. We will do anything together no matter the situation.

"I hate it when someone betrays me." Neo lowered his head, he had yet to write down his answer on that screen, "I don't want to lose anyone else in my present life, Jian, Rui." Neo looked up at us.

I don't know what he's talking about, and why is it so serious all of a sudden?

"Well, if you never think of betraying me. You know how much I did to help you. I'd hate it if you betrayed me." Neo threw away his face, his body covered the screen again, and wrote down the answer.

"In addition to love affairs, we are not easy to betray," I cursed the origin.

Rui reflexes glared at me, "What did you say, Jian?"

"I said, except for love affairs, we are not easy to betray. Right, right?" I repeated my words.

Rui shook her head, "I didn't ask you to repeat it, but asked about what it meant?"

"The point is, I love betraying my partner. Every time I change comics, my partner changes too." I shrugged my shoulders, not caring.

Rui pounded my head, "Stupid base!"

Lookie! The last answer is also correct!

Rui and I put on empty faces, Neo is great. He proved to be the most sincere person among us.

"Thank you, Neo. You know, without you, this team wouldn't be anything."

"The sincerity test is over. Good-bye."

The door simply disappeared, showing us the path we had to cross to head towards the middle of the labyrinth.