“In short, let’s observe the surrounding situation first.”

Li Ang scanned the room. Besides the lampshade, the ceiling also had a grid-like air conditioning vent, a smoke detector, and a sprinkler fire extinguishing system.

If the smoke detector sensed thick smoke, it would sound an alarm, and the lotus-shaped sprinkler would spray water or fire extinguishing agent.

“Sounding the alarm might startle the real culprit, and having the sprinkler system activate doesn’t seem to help my current situation. This handcuff is very tight. Even if water or fire extinguishing agent is sprayed, it’s unlikely that my wrists will be lubricated enough to break free from the handcuff.”

Li Ang’s gaze swept across the room, finally settling on the padlock.

This padlock, judging from its shape, was the most ordinary straight-opening padlock.

The lock beam was silver-white, and the lock body was copper-yellow.

The whole thing was made of stainless steel.

The keyhole was a straight-shaped lock cylinder.

It was no different from ordinary locks used to lock bedside tables or wardrobes.

“There are obvious scratches and polishing marks on one side of the lock body. That is to say, the label was deliberately polished off.”

Li Ang frowned slightly, and under the light, he observed the lock more carefully, silently saying, “They don’t want me to know the brand of the lock?

But is there any point to that? Even in modern times, the use of this kind of straight-opening padlock has greatly decreased.

There are still plenty of them in supermarkets and shopping malls. They are convenient to buy and widely used.

The number of lock brands, large and small, is countless. It’s impossible to judge the buyer’s geographical location based on the brand.

Besides, the lock cylinder technology used by each brand and model varies greatly. It’s not like seeing the brand tells you how to unlock or pry it open...”

Li Ang shook his head and continued to observe.

There were three smaller metal rings on the lock beam, each with a complete or broken key hanging on it.

Key A was in good condition.

Key B only had the upper half.

Key C only had the lower half, connected to the metal ring by a small hole.

Li Ang thought for a moment, then slowly stood up a little against the wall, and released his hands, letting the flashlight fall.

His mouth bit down, just managing to hold the flashlight.

He sat down against the wall, shining the light of the flashlight upwards.

His hands, slightly suffering from blood supply imbalance, took some effort to remove the three keys along with the metal rings.

Li Ang was very confident in his lock-picking skills. He could easily open ordinary mechanical padlocks with small steel wires, small iron pieces, and iron hooks.

Even for slightly more difficult lock cylinders, there were many different ways to pick them.

Screwdrivers, tin foil, chewing gum, mud, matches, air pumps, lime... nothing couldn't be used to unlock.

But the problem was that a clever woman couldn’t cook without rice.

The closest thing to a lock-picking tool at hand was the metal ring.

But the three metal rings were small in diameter and strong in hardness. Li Ang’s hands, slightly suffering from blood supply imbalance, didn’t have the strength to bend them straight.

And his teeth, due to the position of his head, couldn’t cooperate with his hands to bite the metal rings open.

“Without any tools, I can only unlock it normally.”

Li Ang pinched the three keys between the thumb and index finger of his left hand, and observed them carefully.

All three were straight-shaped keys made of imitation copper, with key teeth, corresponding to the pin tumbler structure inside the padlock.

“Hmm?”

Li Ang put the three keys under the light and compared them carefully, and discovered the problem.

Both key B and key C had fracture cross-sections. Judging from the shape of the cross-sections, the two could match up, and the shape of the teeth could also match.

It seemed that keys B and C could form a key identical to key A.

However, the number of teeth on key A was six.

And the number of teeth after keys B and C were combined was only five.

And the lengths of the two were also different. The total length of key A was longer than the sum of B and C.

“B and C are not two sections of a complete key that broke apart? Or do they not correspond to this lock? Or could it be that A is the key to another lock?”

Li Ang hesitated for a moment.

Without any auxiliary tools, rashly inserting the key into the lock cylinder could easily lead to the key being wrong,

getting stuck, or even breaking, making it impossible to remedy.

“Then let’s try key B first.”

Li Ang took a deep breath and inserted the upper half of key B into the lock cylinder, trying to rotate it.

The entrance of the lock cylinder was a little loose. Key B could rotate back and forth for a distance of two or three millimeters, but it couldn’t turn ninety degrees no matter what.

“I did hear the sound of the pin tumblers moving inside the lock cylinder just now. Although the key couldn’t turn, I don’t know how many pin tumblers moved, but key B didn’t get stuck inside.”

Next was key A.

Li Ang inserted the complete key A into the lock cylinder, but it still wouldn’t turn.

“Hmm? What does this mean?”

The lock cylinder was the heart of the lock.

Generally speaking, mechanical locks can be divided into two types according to their structure: wafer and tumbler, the former being superior to the latter.

The more complex the tumbler structure inside a lock cylinder, the greater the difficulty of picking the lock—this is because the tumbler structure inside the lock cylinder is arranged in a jagged, uneven manner and can move up and down.

When the key is inserted into the lock cylinder, the teeth of the key squeeze the lock cylinder wafers, causing them to lift upwards.

If it is the correct key, all the wafers can be returned to their positions simultaneously, completing the unlocking—which is the so-called one key opens one lock.

The basic principle of lock picking is to use foreign objects such as iron wires and iron sheets to pry up the pin tumblers inside the lock cylinder, causing them to return to their positions, thereby completing the unlocking—master keys are also about the same principle.

“If key A doesn’t work, then I only have key C.”

Li Ang took a deep breath, pushed key C into the lock cylinder little by little, listened carefully for the sound of the pin tumblers moving inside, and kept turning key C, trying to open the lock cylinder.

Unfortunately, the lock didn’t open even when key C was almost completely inside the lock cylinder.

“If I push key C in, I won’t be able to get it out. I tried it just now, and neither the other two keys nor the metal ring are magnetic, so I can’t suck out the broken key C...”

Li Ang hesitated for a moment, just as the shape of key A flashed through his mind, “Wait, I remember just now that when key A was inserted all the way, part of the key handle was exposed and didn’t completely fit.

The length of the error is exactly equal to the difference in length between key A and the sum of keys B and C.

In other words, this is a hint.

It’s hinting that the lock cylinder that key A cannot completely match can be matched by the sum of keys B and C.”

Li Ang’s spirits lifted, and he pushed key C into it without hesitation. At the same time, he inserted key B as well.

The key handle just fit against the lock body, perfectly.

“Heh.”

Li Ang grinned and turned the handle of key B again.

Still nothing.

“Hmm?”

Li Ang narrowed his eyes, rotating it back and forth, and after some effort, he still couldn’t turn the key.

“What am I missing? That shouldn’t be. I clearly heard all the pin tumblers popping upwards just now, whether it was the lower half or the upper half.

Wait, could it be...”

Li Ang pressed the upper half of key B slightly backward along one side of the lock body.

With a "click,"

it was as if some kind of switch had been triggered, and suddenly key B could be turned.

“As expected... If key C has completely entered the rear half of the lock cylinder and opened all the pin tumblers, then the problem lies with key B.

The lock cylinder of this lock should be divided into two composite structures, one in the front and one in the back.

The front and rear structures can be opened by B and C, but at the same time, the front and rear composite structures interfere with each other.

The vertical pin tumblers in the structure opened by key B will lock the rear structure responsible for key C, like a bolt.

Only by pressing key B down can that hidden bolt be opened.

This is also the reason why the key entrance of the lock body is a little loose—it was originally an active switch.”

Li Ang, biting the flashlight, took a deep breath and turned key B all the way.

With a "click," the silver-white lock beam of the padlock popped upward.

The lock was open.

“Heh...”

Li Ang shook his head and slowly rotated the padlock so that the curved lock beam no longer fastened the handcuff ring.

The restraints were broken!

Li Ang removed the padlock, stood up straight, shook his wrists, which were sore from being squeezed, and took the flashlight out of his mouth.

Although the handcuff ring hadn’t been completely removed and was still a bit awkward, at least he had regained his freedom of movement and didn’t have to worry about blood supply imbalance in his hands.

“Whew.”

Li Ang casually pulled out key B from the padlock.

Perhaps because the lock cylinder was divided into two parts, the silver-white lock beam also fell out.

He put the AB keys, the padlock lock beam, and the lock body into his pocket.

The pockets of the high-end suit were empty, cleaner than Li Ang’s face, providing no information.

He observed the room with the flashlight, first gently tapping each floorboard, then tapping each wall, and tearing off the wallpaper, but found no secret doors.

The metal pipe that had been securing Li Ang was firmly fixed to the wall with iron nails and couldn’t be moved. Obviously, it couldn’t be taken down as a weapon for self-defense.

“Next to search is... these boxes in the corner.”

Li Ang took two steps, squatted down in front of the boxes, and rummaged through them several times. He found that the four open cardboard boxes were filled with records, both vinyl records and CDs.

Judging from the record covers, these songs mostly came from American stars of the late 20th century in the real world.

Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, and so on.

“The records are all in good condition. Is the owner of this house a music lover who just moved in?”

The first stage mission objective didn’t specify a time limit, and there might be other clues in the room.

Li Ang wasn’t in a hurry to escape. He first looked through all the records, then took the records out and placed them on the ground, looking at the record packaging and the cardboard boxes.

He searched inside and out, even tearing the cardboard boxes into small pieces.

Finally, he confirmed that these were just ordinary boxes for storing records, and there were no key props such as passwords, keys, or screwdrivers hidden inside.

“Okay, then what about other things?”

Li Ang stood up and looked at the metal pipe on the wall.

He walked forward, holding the wall with his left hand, stepping on the metal pipe with his right foot, and slowly pushing his left arm, shifting his body's center of gravity to the right.

His whole body was close to the wall, standing on the metal pipe, and reaching out to touch the grid-like air conditioning vent with both hands.

From this angle, he could barely reach the vent, probing his fingers in about two or three centimeters.

Li Ang groped for two minutes, but found nothing except for a handful of dust.

There was nothing near the vent.

And the grid-like vent was made of metal, and the nuts inside needed to be unscrewed with a crank screwdriver, which Li Ang couldn’t do with his bare hands.

Unable to find more clues, Li Ang wasn’t too disappointed.

He brushed the dust off his hands and looked at the only door in the room.

“Having searched everything, there’s only this door left.”

Li Ang took out the heavy lock body of the padlock from his pocket with his left hand, using it as a weapon. He approached the door extremely cautiously,

and with his right hand, held the doorknob through the paper packaging of the vinyl record (to prevent small-probability events such as the doorknob being coated with poison, and incidentally to prevent fingerprints from being left on the doorknob), and slowly pulled it down.

The doorknob turned downward, unexpectedly smoothly.

Without any obstruction, the door opened.

“Hmm?”

Such smoothness was rather strange and bizarre. Li Ang frowned slightly, slowly pulling the wooden door open a crack and peering outside.

Unlike what he had imagined, the scene outside the room was just a very ordinary American-style residential corridor.

The ceiling had spherical light bulbs hanging from it.

The floor was carpeted.

The walls were covered with beige wallpaper with patterns, and several landscape paintings were hung—the frames of the landscape paintings were not high-end, and the paintings themselves were just mass-produced printed products.

Directly opposite Li Ang's room was a wooden door of the same style, which was not open.

To the left of the corridor was an L-shaped corner, where the light was not on.

He could vaguely see a half-height stool placed in the corner, and a landscape plant placed on it.

To the right of the corridor, it led to the open kitchen of the house.

The kitchen light was not on.

With the light from the corridor, he could vaguely see the work surface in the middle of the open kitchen, and the dining table and chairs in the dining room behind the kitchen.

“Nordic-style decoration, not particularly good economic conditions, but it can be seen that it is relatively warm, and the family owner is quite diligent—there is no oil smoke or unwashed dishes on the work surface, and the tables and chairs are arranged in an orderly manner. The carpet in the corridor is also very clean and tidy.

A couple lives here, and there may be children.”

Li Ang silently thought about everything he saw. Suddenly,

a dim light lit up on the left side of the dining room, and the voice of an adult male broke the silence of the house.

"...Welcome back, this is Monterey Television..."

The voice was deep and magnetic, coming from the left side of the dining room, and sounded like a male host on television.

Someone was watching television in the room?

Li Ang raised his eyebrows and pressed the flashlight button twice—the flashlight was on constantly with one press, and in riot mode with the second press, constantly emitting flashing bright light, enough to blind people.

The third press turned it off.

He turned off the flashlight and tiptoed out of the room quietly, blocking the door with pieces of cardboard, preventing the door from closing completely.

Then, instead of walking toward the left side of the dining room where the light was coming from,

he walked toward the door directly opposite.