"Only the sll of mothballs..."
Li Ang sized up the wardrobe and took out two stacks of clothes.
The two stacks belonged to a boy and a girl, both quite normal, with sumr and winter clothes included, without signs of damage or bloodstains from dostic violence.
"The issue isn’t with the clothes, but with the wardrobe itself?"
Li Ang murmured, grabbed a flashlight, and crawled inside the wardrobe, knocking on different wooden panels but finding no hidden doors or chanisms.
"Hmm...why do I feel like I often crawl inside wardrobes? A long ti ago in the Philippines with The Foolish Husband in the Dangerous Building, the Alchemist incident, and now this.
I never even buy clothes from Heilan Ho—they always refuse to let take them for free. Weren’t n’s wardrobes supposed to be inclusive?"
Li Ang muttered to himself, inspecting every detail of the wardrobe,
and even tried saying spells like "Open Sesa" and "Alohomora," but to no effect.
Ti ticked away bit by bit, as Li Ang’s fingers brushed over scratch marks inside the wardrobe, his eyes squinting, "The Chronicles of Narnia, could it be..."
He hesitated, stood inside the wardrobe, and slowly closed the doors while holding them from both sides.
In the enclosed space, the flashlight’s beam was dazzlingly bright,
Li Ang listened to his own breathing, his gaze fixed on the crack between the wardrobe doors.
The wardrobe’s doors shut perfectly, leaving no gap, unable to see the outside scene through them.
Suddenly, rustling sounds arose outside, transmitted through the wardrobe’s wooden panels into Li Ang’s ears.
"Robin, are you asleep?"
A little girl’s voice sounded deliberately hushed.
"No, Rin, we’re not supposed to talk."
The responding voice was of a young boy, coming from the direction of the two children’s beds in the room.
Could this wardrobe enable ti travel? Or simply allow hearing conversations from a past ti period that occurred in the room?
Li Ang’s thoughts raced, picking up the flashlight aid at the wardrobe door, ready to defend against potential threats, while listening intently not to miss any sound.
"I know, but..."
The little girl paused, "Is Hope doing okay with you there?"
"She’s fine, just seems a bit scared. Do you want to hold her?"
The sound of a blanket being lifted,
slippers stepping on the floor,
soft cat sounds.
It seed like the two children in this household brought a cat into their children’s room at night.
The boy is called Robin, the girl is called Rin,
As for the black cat, it’s female and nad Hope?
"Shh, Hope, shh."
Soft cat sounds accompanied by the little girl soothing the cat.
"Today... I was scared too."
Robin took a deep breath and said softly, "While you and Dad were outside fixing the lawn, I sat on the sofa watching TV,
Mom suddenly ca down from upstairs with her doll collection, talking to the TV endlessly,
things like we shouldn’t have been born, everything was a mistake, she should set the house on fire, and Dad took Grandma and Grandpa away from her...
I sat on the sofa without daring to speak until Dad returned and took Mom back upstairs.
Last night, I overheard Grandma and Grandpa discussing with Dad about sending Mom sowhere far away, but Dad disagreed."
"Mom will get better."
Rin said, "She’s the best mom in the world..."
Doll? Shouldn’t have been born? Set the house on fire?
Hiding in the wardrobe, Li Ang instinctively raised an eyebrow, without saying a word.
Click.
The sound of the doorknob turning ca from outside, not the wardrobe door, but the children’s bedroom door.
"Robin, Rin, are you asleep?"
A woman’s voice sounded calm and normal.
"Quick, Mom’s coming, quickly hide Hope!"
Rin’s voice was low and sounded a bit panicked,
A series of footsteps sounded quickly approaching the wardrobe door.
"Hmm?"
Li Ang frowned, about to pick up the flashlight, when he heard the wardrobe doors open, close, along with a few soft cat sounds,
But the wardrobe itself remained unchanged.
"What I’m hearing is only sounds from so point in the past?"
Li Ang’s heart thumped with realization, he didn’t rush to open the wardrobe door but kept listening.
From the direction of the footsteps, it seed Robin hid the black cat nad Hope inside the wardrobe, then quickly ran back to his bed, covered himself up, and pretended to be asleep.
Soon after, the door opened and a heavier footstep ca inside.
A woman, wearing hard-soled cotton slippers, of average weight.
"Robin? Rin? Are you asleep..."
The woman called "Mom" didn’t turn on the light, walked slowly near Rin’s children’s bed, sat down gently beside it, whispering softly, "Rin, my daughter, you look so much like .
Big eyes, small mouth, blue pupils.
I long to watch you grow up, to see you wear all kinds of dresses, to watch you go to middle school, attend prom, go to college, find soone you love..."
As she spoke, she suddenly halted, issuing a chanical-like choke from her throat, spoke in a low, hoarse voice, "But it’s all wrong, none of it should happen; I’m going to die, Rin, Robin, can you co keep mom company?
Rin?
Rin?
Rin?"
She repeated her daughter’s na more frantically and muddied,
But neither Rin nor Robin scread or resisted—it seed they had beco used to this sudden occurrence.
"ow!"
A distinct cat sound suddenly arose from within the wardrobe,
The woman’s frenzied call abruptly ended, returning to her previous relaxed tone, "Ah, Hope.
Did you bring her into the room?
Naughty, how many tis did mom tell you, you mustn’t bring Hope into the bedroom, she might feel uncomfortable.
Hmm, let see where she’s hiding~"
The woman stood up from Rin’s bedside, walking toward the wardrobe in her slippers,
With a resounding click, she seed to step on so toy, stumbling slightly and grabbing hold of the children’s desk edge.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
The woman yelled furiously, "Robin! Why didn’t you put away your toys?! Huh?! How many tis have I told you! Put your toys in the box!!"
She hamred the desk forcefully, making the pencils and erasers on it bounce,
Pretending to sleep, Rin and Robin seed shocked, not daring to make a sound.
In a past ti fra, the cat hidden in the wardrobe also beca uneasy due to the noise, frantically scratching the door.
Rip, rip.
Li Ang listened to the scratching sounds next to him, pondering that the scratches inside the wardrobe door were left by the black cat.
The woman’s roar lasted for a while,
then there was a heavy stomping on the ground as she rushed towards the wardrobe.
Just as Li Ang was on high alert, ready to use a strobe light to shine outside the wardrobe,
a hurried footsteps sounded from outside.
"Darling?"
A man’s voice ca from the doorway, and Rin and Robin called out, "Dad!"
Were all four family mbers here?
Li Ang whispered to himself, "If my previous guess is correct, I’m playing the role of the father in this family. If I open the wardrobe door now, perhaps I might see another version of myself?
No, that’s unlikely.
This wardrobe isn’t so advanced that it has a ti-travel function."
He pondered and continued to listen.
"Ah, Steven, you’re here."
The woman’s voice turned calm again, as if it wasn’t her who had suddenly turned frantic before, "I got up and saw you weren’t here,
so I ca to check on how the kids were sleeping."
"I was downstairs looking for the study key just now."
The man, called Steven, walked quickly over, hugged his wife, and said gently, "Next ti you co into the kids’ room, rember to knock first, okay?"
"I don’t like knocking."
The woman pouted like a teenage girl and said, "It’s too troubleso."
"I know, I know."
The man held his wife and comforted her for a while, then walked towards the children’s bed.
The two kids seed frightened, jumping from the bed to hug their father.
The man comforted the kids again, put them back to bed to continue sleeping, and then left the children’s room with his now cald-down wife.
After a while, the man returned, ca to the wardrobe, opened its door, took out the cat from inside, and breathed a sigh of relief, "Phew, Hope is safe too."
Rin timidly said, "Dad?"
Steven gently asked, "Hmm? What’s the matter?"
"I’m so scared of Mom."
"...Phew."
Steven let out a heavy sigh, sat on the edge of the children’s bed, and gently said to the two kids, "It’s okay, your mom is sick, and we are trying to find a way to cure her.
Once she’s better, we can live happily like before, okay?
Alright, be good, get to sleep early, kids.
By the way, Robin, the study key is lost, turn on the bedside lamp, and I’ll look for the spare key."
"Okay, Dad."
The sound of the lamp switch, shoes being taken off, feet stepping on the bed, and a squeaky tal friction sound could be heard.
"Alright."
Steven let out a breath, jumped off the bed, and after comforting the kids once more, he left the room, accompanied by the sound of the door closing.
After the sounds settled down,
Li Ang stayed quietly in the wardrobe for a while longer, confirming that there were no subsequent sounds before pushing open the wardrobe door.
Outside, the scene was as before,
there was no one on the children’s bed.
"So, the wardrobe just played a recording for ?"
Li Ang muttered, "To summarize the information, there are four family mbers, the father is nad Steven, the son is nad Robin, and the daughter is nad Rin.
The mother’s na is unknown, but clearly, her ntal state isn’t good.
The lithium salts found in the downstairs bathroom cabinet are sedatives used to treat manic disorders.
Lamotrigine, or rather, Lamictal, can significantly extend the interval between mood episodes,
Carbamazepine, Quetiapine, are also psychiatric dications.
The wife had said that the children shouldn’t have been born, that it was all a mistake, that she should have set the house on fire, and sothing about the husband taking her parents away...
But judging from the interaction between the husband and wife, the husband is gentle and patient,
unlike a story of a confined girl forced to bear children—the wife’s personal freedom wasn’t severely restricted, and the husband’s parents have also visited this house.
So, it’s simply a scenario where the wife has a ntal illness, is manic-depressive, and the husband is striving to maintain the family?"
His feet stepped on the bedroom floor, looking around, frowning, "If it’s just this, it’s not enough to construct such a script task.
There must have been so key plot developnt afterward.
Like the wife killing the husband, the husband killing the wife, and so on."
He pondered as he walked out of the children’s room and ca before the study,
The lock cylinder on the study door was a flathead, smaller in size than the previous A key for the padlock.
"The study and the master bedroom are the two places needing exploration.
There’s no clue yet for the master bedroom’s password lock.
As for the study,
Previously, the man nad Steven told his son that the study key was lost and asked his son to turn on the bedside lamp to find the spare key.
With such a large house, finding the original key is a bit difficult, and it’s uncertain whether the original key is still in the room,
so the spare key..."
Li Ang turned back and returned to the children’s room, looking at the solar system model shaped chandelier above Robin’s bed.
The chandelier consisted of eight celestial body models of varying sizes and colors,
from inside to outside, they were the Sun, rcury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
each planet has its orbit, which can be slid past each other.
Of all the planets, only the Sun is a real lamp and will light up when the button is toggled.
"If the key is hidden elsewhere in the children’s room, then there’s no need for Steven to take off his shoes and step onto Robin’s bed—there’s nothing in the space above the bed.
aning, the study key must be related to this solar system model."
Li Ang fiddled with the lamp button for a while, seeing no change, he turned off the lamp, took off his shoes, stood on the children’s bed, reaching across the pillowcase to take the celestial spheres.
"Can’t take them down, the wires are as sturdy as those downstairs.
There’s nothing resembling a key outside or above the sphere."
He murmured, let go of the celestial sphere in his hand, and continued to observe,
rcury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, all correct.
Each planet’s color and size differ, Jupiter has its great red spot, Saturn its rings, all celestial bodies arranged according to the standard solar system model position.
"Is there so kind of chanism, like a hidden box in a Chevrolet SUV, requiring to adjust the solar system’s orbit to a specific angle?
Let all the planets align correctly,
to reveal the key?"
Li Ang envisioned the possibility but quickly dismissed it, "No. Very unlikely.
Unless you are a computer or a professional astronor, it’s impossible to draw from mory the position of every planet in the solar system at a certain mont, especially since I don’t even know when that mont is.
There’s no clue provided in the house.
If only I had an expensive watch that cos with a real-ti solar system model, it might be possible, but there’s no such item in the room either..."
Li Ang gazed at the chandelier model, pondering silently, his line of sight suddenly swept across and paused at the astronomy book with a Copernican illustration on the ground.
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