Chapter 98 My Love (3)

"Anyway, let's observe the surrounding situation first."

Li Ang scanned the room. In addition to the lampshades, the ceiling also had grid-like air outlets for the central air conditioner, smoke alarms, and sprinkler fire extinguishing devices.

If the smoke detector senses heavy smoke, it will sound an alarm, and at the same time, the lotus-shaped sprinkler fire extinguisher will start spraying water or fire extinguishing agent.

"Sending an alarm may disturb the real culprit, and letting the sprinklers start spraying does not seem to help my current situation - these handcuffs are very tight, and even if water or fire extinguishing agents are sprayed, it is unlikely that my wrists will be broken." Use lubrication to break free from handcuffs.”

Li Ang glanced around the room, and finally his eyes rested on the padlock.

In terms of shape, this padlock is the most common straight-opening padlock.

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

The whole body is made of stainless steel.

The keyhole is a straight-shaped lock core

It is no different from the locks commonly used to lock bedside tables and wardrobes.

"There are obvious scratches and polishing marks on one side of the lock body. In other words, the label was deliberately polished off."

Li Ang frowned slightly, used the light to observe the lock more carefully, and said silently: "You don't want me to know the brand of the lock?

But does this make sense? Even in modern times, the range of use of this kind of direct opening padlock has been greatly reduced.

There are still many of them in supermarkets and shopping malls, which are convenient to buy and have many users.

Lock brands, large and small, are difficult to measure, and it is impossible to judge the geographical location of the buyer through the brand.

What's more, the lock cylinder technology used by each brand and each model is very different, and you don't know how to open and pick a lock just by seeing the brand..."

Li Ang shook his head and continued to observe.

There are three metal rings with smaller diameters on the lock beam. On each metal ring, there is a complete or incomplete key hanging.

A key is in perfect condition,

The B key only has the upper part,

The C key has only the lower part, which is connected to the metal ring through a small hole.

Li Ang thought for a moment, slowly stood up against the wall, then let go of his hands and let the flashlight fall down.

He bit it with his mouth, just enough to hold the flashlight.

He sat down against the wall and pointed the light of his flashlight upward.

With hands that had a slight blood supply imbalance, it took a lot of effort to remove the three keys together with the metal rings.

Li Ang is still very confident in his lock-picking skills. He can easily open an ordinary mechanical padlock with a small steel wire, a small iron piece, and an iron hook.

Even for slightly more difficult lock cylinders, there are a variety of lock picking methods that can be used.

Screwdrivers, tinfoil, chewing gum, mud, matches, pumps, lime... nothing is impossible to unlock.

The small book kiosk that book lovers used before has been discontinued, and now they are basically using \Mi\Mi\Reading\app\\.

But the problem is, it’s hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice.

The closest thing to a lock picking tool on hand is a metal ring.

The three metal rings are small in diameter and strong in hardness. Li Ang's hands, which have a slightly imbalanced blood supply, do not have the strength to straighten them.

Because of the position of the head, the teeth cannot cooperate with the hands to bite open the metal ring.

"If you don't give me any tools, you can only open the lock normally."

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

The three are all straight-shaped keys made of imitation copper, with key teeth, corresponding to the marble structure in the padlock.

"Um?"

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

Both the B key and the C key have fracture cross-sections. Judging from the shape of the cross-section, the two can match, and the tooth shape can also match.

It seems that the BC key should be able to form a key consistent with No. 1.

However, the number of teeth of key A is six,

The BC key has only five teeth.

And there is a certain difference in the length of the two - the total length of key A is longer than the sum of key B and C.

"BC is not two broken pieces of a complete key? Or do they not correspond to the lock? Or,

Is A the key to another lock? "

Li Ang hesitated for a moment,

If you rush to insert the key into the lock cylinder without any auxiliary tools, the key may be wrong.

Stuck or even broken situations cannot be remedied.

"Then let's try the B key first."

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

The entrance to the lock cylinder is a little loose. The B key can be turned back and forth to open a distance of two to three millimeters, but it cannot be turned to 90 degrees.

"I did hear the sound of marbles moving in the lock cylinder just now. Although the key failed to turn and I don't know how many marbles moved, the B key was not stuck inside."

Next, is the A key.

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

"Huh? What does this mean?"

The lock cylinder is the heart of the lock.

Generally speaking, mechanical locks can be divided into two types: blades and pins according to their structures, with the former being better than the latter.

The more marbles and blades in a lock core, the more complex the structure is, and the more difficult it is to pick the lock. This is because the marbles and blades in the lock core are arranged unevenly in a canine-tooth shape. Can be moved up and down.

When the key is inserted into the lock cylinder, the tooth shape of the key squeezes the blade of the lock cylinder, causing it to lift upward.

If it is the correct key, all the blades can be returned to their positions at the same time to complete the lock opening - that is, one key opens one lock.

The basic principle of lock picking is to use iron wire, iron sheets and other foreign objects to lift the marble blades in the lock cylinder and return them to their original positions to complete the lock opening - the same principle applies to master keys.

"Key A won't work, so we have to use key C."

Li Ang took a deep breath, pushed the C key into the lock cylinder bit by bit, listened carefully to the sound of the marbles moving inside, and at the same time kept turning the C key, trying to open the lock cylinder.

Unfortunately, the lock did not open until the C key was almost completely inserted into the lock cylinder.

"If you push the C key in, you won't be able to get it out. I tried just now. The other two keys and the metal ring are not magnetic and cannot suck out the broken C key..."

Li Ang hesitated for a moment, and just as he was about to take out the C key, the shape of the A key flashed in his mind, "Wait a minute, I just remembered that when the A key was inserted to the end, part of the key handle was exposed, and it did not completely match.

The error length is exactly equal to the difference between the combined lengths of A key and BC key.

In other words, this is a hint,

It means that the lock cylinder that cannot be completely matched by the A key can be matched by the addition of BC keys. "

Li Ang was refreshed and no longer hesitated to push the C key into it. At the same time, he also inserted the B key.

The key handle fits the lock body exactly.

"Ah."

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

Still not moving.

"Um?"

Li Ang narrowed his eyes and turned the key back and forth in the forward and reverse directions. After a lot of effort, he could not turn the key.

"What did I miss? It shouldn't be. Just now I clearly heard the sound of all the marbles bouncing upward, whether it was the lower half or the upper half.

Wait, can you say..."

Li Ang moved only the upper part of the B key along the side of the lock body and pressed it slightly backward.

Just listen to a "click" sound,

As if a switch had been triggered, key B could suddenly be turned.

"Sure enough...if the C key has completely entered the second half of the lock cylinder and all the marbles have been opened, then the problem lies with the B key.

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

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

The vertical marbles inside the structure opened by key B will act like a door bolt, locking the rear structure that key C is responsible for.

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

This is also the reason why the key entrance of the lock body is a little loose - it is originally a movable switch. "

Li Ang bit the flashlight, took a deep breath, and turned the B key to the end.

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

The lock is unlocked.

"Ah..."

Li Ang shook his head and slowly turned the padlock so that the curved lock beam no longer tied the handcuff rings.

Break free!

Li Ang took off the padlock, stood up straight, shook his wrists that were so painfully squeezed, and took off the flashlight from his mouth.

Although the cuffs have not been completely removed and are still a little twisted, at least he has regained his ability to move freely and does not have to worry about an imbalance in the blood supply to his hands.

"call."

Li Ang casually pulled out the B key from the padlock.

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

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

The pockets of the high-end suit were empty, cleaner than Li Ang's face, and could not give any information.

He observed the house with a flashlight, first lightly knocked on every floor, then on every wall, and pulled off the wallpaper, but found no hidden door.

The metal pipe that Li Ang was tied to just now is firmly fixed to the wall through iron nails and cannot move. It is obvious that it cannot be removed and used as a weapon for self-defense.

"The next thing to search is...these boxes in the corner."

Li Ang took two steps and squatted down in front of the box. He rummaged through it several times and found four open cartons filled with records, including vinyl records and CDs.

Through the album covers, you can find that most of these songs come from American stars in the real world at the end of the twentieth century.

Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson and many more.

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

There is no time limit for the first stage mission objective, and there may be other clues throughout the room.

Li Ang was not in a hurry to escape. He first looked through all the records, then took them out and put them on the ground, and looked through the record packaging and cartons.

I searched it inside and out, and even tore the carton into small pieces.

Finally, it was confirmed that this was an ordinary box containing records, and there were no key props such as passwords, keys, and screwdrivers hidden.

"Okay, so what about the other stuff?"

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

He walked forward, held the wall with his left hand, stepped on the metal pipe with his right foot, slowly pushed his left arm, and shifted his body weight to the right.

He leaned against the wall, stood on the metal pipe, and touched the grid-shaped air outlet of the central air conditioner with his hands.

At this angle, he could just barely reach the air outlet and stick his fingers in for about two or three centimeters.

Li Ang fumbled for two minutes and found nothing except his hands full of dust.

There is nothing near the air outlet.

Moreover, the grid-like air outlet is made of metal, and the nuts inside need to be unscrewed with a crank screwdriver, which Li Ang cannot do with his own hands.

No more clues could be found, and Li Ang was not too disappointed.

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

"After searching them all, this door is the only one left."

Li Ang took out the heavy padlock body from his pocket with his left hand, used it as a weapon, and approached the door with great vigilance.

With your right hand, hold the door handle through the paper packaging of the vinyl record (to prevent the small probability of the door handle being smeared with poison, and also to prevent your palm from leaving fingerprints on the door handle), and slowly pull it down.

The door handle turned downwards, surprisingly smoothly;

Without any obstruction, the door opened.

"Um?"

It was a little weird to be so smooth. Li Ang frowned slightly, slowly opened a gap in the wooden door, and looked outside.

Different from what he imagined, the scene outside the room was a very ordinary American-style residential corridor.

Spherical light bulbs hang from the ceiling,

There is a carpet on the floor,

The walls are covered with beige patterned wallpaper, and there are several landscape paintings hanging on them - the frames of the landscape paintings are not high-end, and the paintings themselves are just mass-produced printing products.

Directly opposite the room where Li Ang was, there was a wooden door of the same shape, which was not opened.

On the left side of the corridor, there is an L-shaped corner. The light at the corner is not on.

You can vaguely see the half-height stool placed in the corner, as well as the landscape plants placed on it.

The right side of the corridor leads to the open kitchen of the house.

The lights in the kitchen are not on;

Through the corridor light, you can vaguely see the worktop in the middle of the open kitchen, as well as the dining table and chairs in the dining room behind the kitchen.

“Nordic style decoration, economic conditions are not particularly good, but it can be seen that it is relatively warm and the owner of the family is quite diligent - there are no oil fumes and unwashed dishes and chopsticks on the operating table, the tables, chairs and stools are arranged in an orderly manner, and the corridors The carpets were also very clean and tidy.

A couple lives together and may have children. "

Li Ang silently thought about everything he saw, and suddenly,

A dim light lit up on the left side of the restaurant, and an adult male's voice broke the silence of the house.

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

The voice was low and magnetic, coming from the left side of the restaurant. It sounded like a male host on a TV station.

Is someone watching TV in the room?

Li Ang raised his eyebrows and pressed the flashlight button twice - once the flashlight was pressed, it was always on, and when pressed a second time, it was in anti-riot mode. It would continuously emit flashes of bright light, enough to blind people.

Press the third time to close.

He turned off the flashlight, tiptoed out of the room quietly, and blocked the door with pieces of cardboard to prevent it from closing completely.

Then he walked to the left of the restaurant where the light source came from.

And walked towards the door directly opposite.