With a thought, immediately put it into practice,

Wang Congshan took out the Axis Cube and expanded it,

Due to limited spirit energy value, the factory formed by the expanded Axis Cube seemed to be smaller than before,

The factory’s assembly line was now attached with dark green square safes,

Hundreds of miniature cutting machines started devouring the eight corners of the safes.

Fizzing and crackling.

Sparks flew, the noise was piercing,

The metal paint on the surface of the safes kept peeling off, revealing the solid metal core inside, 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

But the efficiency of this devouring was still pathetically slow.

Not long after, Wang Congshan’s face turned pale as paper, and Li Ang immediately told her to stop.

"Huff..."

Wang Congshan took a deep breath and whispered, "The Axis Cube seems unwilling to devour the safes,

The assimilation efficiency is much slower than in the real world devouring other objects, and it consumes much more spirit energy."

"Unwilling to devour?"

Li Ang frowned slightly. He had observed Wang Congshan before as she explored the limits of using the Axis Cube,

Whether it was living or dead objects, mundane substances or extraordinary elements,

The Axis Cube always accepted anything that came,

And the higher the quality of the material, the more proactive the Axis Cube’s devouring was.

However, when it came to rotten meat or nutrient-less mud, the Axis Cube’s desire to devour drastically decreased, almost sluggishly.

"Put the Axis Cube away, it seems we must find the corresponding password."

Li Ang asked Wang Congshan to pack up the cube,

The safes were too heavy to transport, so they temporarily left them in the corridor and continued exploring elsewhere.

They found that the kitchen faucet wouldn’t deliver water—it was likely connected to the closure of the washroom, refusing to let the two manage.

They grabbed two sharp kitchen knives as backup weapons,

After entering the backyard through the kitchen’s small door, they discovered something unusual in the garden.

A patch of ground had a distinct color difference compared to other areas, the soil was lighter in color.

The two pushed aside the soil and found a wooden trapdoor.

The trapdoor was a meter square, with a metal lock at the opening mechanism,

Under the house’s lights, through the wooden gaps of the trapdoor, one could see that beneath it lay a sloping stone staircase of unknown destination.

Restrictions preventing people from seeing faces, a shoe cabinet hiding a ghost, a TV that screams, advanced combination locks appearing in a normal residence, trapdoors hidden in the garden...

Unable to destroy or pick the lock of the trapdoor,

Li Ang and Wang Congshan had to ponder their current clues and returned inside, ascending to the second floor to continue their next step of exploration.

The area on the second floor was much smaller compared to the first, with only two rooms,

One was a bedroom for children, the other a study/workroom.

In the children’s room were two desks with lamps, a bookshelf holding comics and elementary school textbooks,

There were two sets of bedding and two stacks of clothes in the partition, with the clothes being of similar size—

Photos showed Fujimura family’s two children were of close age and height, suggesting their parents placed the children’s clothes in different partitions.

Li Ang and Wang Congshan rummaged through the room and discovered the names of the two children through tags on their clothes.

Their names were Yangyi and Ryo respectively.

The workroom, however, was more special.

A large bookshelf was placed against the right-side wall of the room,

With dozens of Noh masks hanging on the left-side wall,

These masks commonly used in Noh drama, carved from cypress, were light and thin, and slightly smaller than a human face.

The masks on the wall depicted men, women, animals, demons, monks.

Dozens of masks hung on the wall with empty eyes watching the two players who entered the room, their grinning lips seemingly smiling.

Wang Congshan, feeling uncomfortable, gripped her handgun tightly. She wasn’t familiar with the mask-making process of the Japan Islands,

However, the craftsmanship of these masks was indeed exceptionally exquisite,

With smooth and clean surfaces,

Paint resembling human skin,

Appearing both real and fake from afar, giving a disturbing feeling of being watched.

In one corner of the room was a desk, covered with a mat, holding a lamp, wood materials, carving knives, and drawing papers, where these Noh masks were likely carved.

Wang Congshan turned her head away from the unsettling Noh masks and said, "Is the male owner of this Fujimura family a Noh Mask Maker?"

"He probably is."

Li Ang approached the desk and took a glance, finding the things on it to be quite normal.

But why does this room have a peculiar feeling...

Li Ang frowned and carefully inspected the room, as if noticing something, he went to the bookshelf against the wall and fumbled through the books on it.

Wang Congshan asked, "What’s wrong?"

"The distance isn’t right."

Li Ang succinctly said, abandoning the bookshelf, returning to the corridor, and starting from the children’s bedroom, pacing back and forth.

Wang Congshan blinked, initially confused, but soon understood Li Ang’s intention.

Observing from outside the house, the structure of the second floor was essentially a neat rectangle,

The workroom and children’s bedroom were divided by a corridor, with a window at the end of the corridor.

This meant the sizes of the workroom and children’s bedroom were essentially the same,

But the dimly lit workroom was noticeably narrower and more cramped than the children’s bedroom.

"The depth of that large bookshelf is clearly insufficient to account for the missing space. Thus, there must be a hidden secret room within the room."

Li Ang estimated the location of the secret room using the pacing distance, which should be right behind the bookshelf.

After confirming this, he returned to the workroom to continue searching.

He and Wang Congshan moved all the books on the bookshelf, but found no change upon moving certain books,

So they removed all the books from the bookshelf and knocked on the shelves, yet there was still no change.

"The room is only so big. If there’s a secret room, it certainly can’t have mechanisms placed too far, nor can they be in the children’s bedroom..."

Wang Congshan frowned slightly and focused on the wall with the Noh masks, "Could the mechanism be on these masks?"

"It’s possible."

Li Ang’s eyes lit up, brought over a chair, had Wang Congshan hold it steady, and stood on it to take off the masks, discovering a groove structure similar to mortise and tenon joints at the back of the masks,

Some Noh masks could be taken off the wall, while others were fixed onto wooden pegs.

The removable masks accounted for exactly half of the total number of masks.

"If we rearrange according to the categories of Noh masks, such as the male, female, ghost, Divine System, etc...."

Li Ang mused, rearranging the Noh masks and pinning them onto the wooden pegs,

After several attempts, a click was heard as all the Noh masks returned to their places,

And the bookshelf behind them creaked and began to move.

The left side of the bookshelf slid backward, revealing a narrower secret room.