PS: Thank you; this gives me a glimmer of hope. Thank you all for your support, and special thanks to Alliance Leader Zhuangjohn for his strong backing. In the end, I still have to ask for monthly votes; if you can give them, please do, I beg you.

At this moment, Elder Qian presented the side of the mechanical box adorned with patterns. Everyone looked on with intense... close observation, seeing that the carvings were exquisitely intricate, composed of countless small dots starkly separated into black and white, arranged within a square frame in a pattern devoid of any discernible regularity.

"What does this mean?"

Yu Feibai glanced at it and felt a wave of dizziness, instinctively rubbing his temples. He muttered perplexedly, "Do these dense little dots hold any significance?"

"It looks like Go..." Wang Guan mused thoughtfully, "These small dots are slightly raised; they should be pressable."

"Go."

Yu Feibai’s spirits lifted: "The Tricky Go Problem?"

"Wang Guan, your eyesight is sharp," Elder Qian praised. "This is indeed a Go problem lock. In ancient times, it would have been extremely difficult to crack, but things are much simpler in the modern era."

As he spoke, Elder Qian gestured, "Feibai, fetch the Go stones. Arrange a matching position based on the distribution of the black and white dots, then go to the Go Academy and ask Mr. Nie for help in looking at it."

"Got it," Yu Feibai readily agreed. And without needing such trouble, he directly took out his phone, snapped a picture of the pattern, and prepared to leave as instructed.

To be frank, if this were ancient times, this Go problem lock would surely have stumped a great many people. While many in antiquity knew how to play Go, they certainly couldn't ask someone for help unlocking something for no apparent reason.

Now, it’s different. Even if one is hesitant to ask someone face-to-face, one can simply arrange the board setup and post it online, and surely some enthusiastic netizens will help crack it, all without charging a fee. How fortunate.

"Wait... Feibai, don't go yet!"

Just then, Wang Guan suddenly remembered something and urgently called Yu Feibai back, his expression turning strange. "Elder Qian, you don't understand Go?"

"I know a little, but I'm not proficient," Elder Qian chuckled. "It's faster to ask an expert."

"Since that's the case, why look far afield?" Wang Guan couldn't help but smile. "Boss Fang is right here; he surely knows the trick to unlocking the third layer. Since you need to ask someone for advice anyway, just ask him directly. Why go through the trouble of finding someone at the Go Academy?"

"Oh, right."

The others suddenly realized it too. After exchanging glances, they burst into laughter.

"I was being dense," Elder Qian admitted his mistake readily, laughing sheepishly. "I was talking about cracking it myself, never thinking the best approach was to ask for help after all."

"Elder Qian, it's not just you."

At this point, Fang Mingsheng quickly shook his head. "Actually, Elder Zeng also spent a long time studying when cracking the third layer. Only then did he realize it was a Go problem lock. After discovering his own lack of Go expertise, he also sought assistance to unravel the puzzle."

Hearing this, Elder Qian smiled faintly and handed the mechanical box directly to Fang Mingsheng, asking him to open the third mechanism.

"Actually, these black and white dots represent a relatively famous ancient Chinese Go problem, but compared to that one, this Go problem lock has a few extra dots that shouldn't be there."

Taking the mechanical box, Fang Mingsheng explained as he pressed down a few small dots, some black and some white.

In that very instant, there was another click, and all the black and white dots in the square frame retracted, forming a dense field of minute holes, barely the size of pinpricks.

"Elder Qian, this is the fourth layer," Fang Mingsheng said, giving a wry smile and sighing in frustration. "Elder Zeng was stuck on this layer and couldn't break through."

"No way," Yu Feibai exclaimed, staring closely and complaining, "What do these holes mean? There’s no room for maneuvering—are they messing with us?"

"They aren't trying to mess with us, but they are certainly making things difficult," Elder Qian’s expression grew more serious. He picked up the mechanical box and examined it carefully but found nothing. After a few minutes, perhaps because no pressure was applied by triggering the mechanism, the mechanical box began to reset itself, performing a rapid transformation show.

"This is truly defying the heavens," Yu Feibai gasped in amazement. "Elder Qian, where did this thing come from? It's more advanced than some modern technology."

"That's hard to say,"

Elder Qian frowned. "Since there are no obvious period characteristics, it's difficult for me to judge. But I heard that the craft of making mechanisms like this started to be lost during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, so it’s certain this predates that era."

"What a pity."

Yu Feibai looked genuinely regretful, clearly contemplating learning this marvelous art of mechanisms. However, since nearly a thousand years had passed, it was a miracle that any physical artifact survived; the technology simply couldn't be passed down.

Elder Qian nodded slightly in agreement, then beckoned, "Go fetch a few needles."

"What, you know how to crack the fourth layer, Elder?" Yu Feibai asked curiously.

"No."

Elder Qian shook his head. "Just testing something."

"Oh." Yu Feibai nodded, immediately running off to ask Grandma Lu for her sewing needles, returning to hand them to Elder Qian. At the same time, he was quite curious: "By the way, a question just occurred to me—how did Elder Zeng know the mechanical box had five layers? Maybe cracking this layer will open the box directly."

"He scanned it..."

"That's common knowledge!"

Fang Mingsheng and Elder Qian spoke simultaneously, but their answers were distinctly different.

"Uh?"

Yu Feibai paused, surprised. "What you said doesn't match. Who should I believe?"

"It's common knowledge,"

Elder Qian spoke first, explaining with a smile: "Didn't I mention it earlier? Mandarin Ducks Linked, Three Yangs Flourish, and then the Qian-Kun Five Elements. Because the number four sounds like death, ancients paid close attention to it and deliberately avoided the number, so there are usually three or five layers, rarely four mechanisms designed."

"After Elder Zeng couldn't solve the fourth layer, under my suggestion, he took it to be scanned by equipment."

Simultaneously, Fang Mingsheng explained: "...The instrument could see that beneath the fourth layer, there was still another layer before reaching the inner space of the box. So Elder Zeng speculated there were five layers—the legendary Qian-Kun Five Elements Lock."

At that moment, Yu Feibai had an epiphany. At the same time, Elder Qian had bypassed three layers, presenting the mechanical box in the state of the fourth layer. Examining the dense array of fine holes closely, Elder Qian picked up a thin needle and carefully inserted it, measuring the depth.

Click!

Just then, perhaps the needle tip touched a switch, as the black and white dots that had retracted suddenly sprang back out, pushing the needle up, followed by another wave of transformation, restoring the box to its initial appearance.

"Elder Qian, that method doesn't work,"

At this point, Fang Mingsheng sighed wryly. "Let me tell you the truth: Elder Zeng already studied these holes thoroughly. Just like a Go board, it’s nineteen lines vertical and nineteen lines horizontal, totaling three hundred and sixty-one points."

"And because he studied it for so long without grasping the pattern, Elder Zeng resorted to the most clumsy method: testing one hole after another. He probably probed all three hundred and sixty-one spots. Every time he inserted the probe, it was ejected just like before, and the mechanism reverted to its original state."

As he spoke, Fang Mingsheng sighed lightly. "It was the same every time, without exception. Elder Zeng has immense composure, but a few times he was nearly driven mad by this hurdle. If he hadn't controlled himself at the very last moment, he might have truly decided to smash the mechanical box to end it all."

"Is it really that hard to crack?" Yu Feibai blinked, his mind whirring. He speculated, "Perhaps it’s not about inserting just one needle; maybe many needles must be inserted simultaneously..."

"He tried that," Fang Mingsheng shook his head and sighed. "One needle, ten needles, a hundred needles, even three hundred and sixty-one needles. Elder Zeng tried them sequentially from one to three hundred and sixty-one, but the result was the same—failure to unlock!"

Instantly, Yu Feibai was speechless. Thinking about it, testing so many tiny holes one by one would surely be tedious and dull. More importantly, repeated failure would be torturous, making it understandable why Elder Zeng considered smashing the mechanical box.

If he were in that position, with Yu Feibai’s personality, he would have lost patience after about ten failures, throwing the mechanical box on the floor and kicking it. Of course, that was assuming he had the ability to damage something made of ironwood.

"Later, Elder Zeng also thought that the method to crack the layer couldn't be this complicated."

At this point, Fang Mingsheng continued, "After much consideration, he felt the key might involve the few dots across the three layers, inserting needles at corresponding positions, but this also failed."

"No way," Yu Feibai was stunned. "I thought that method sounded promising."

"Not only that," Fang Mingsheng smiled wryly. "After failing, Elder Zeng felt his initial idea must be correct, and since simultaneous insertion failed, there might be a sequence involved—pricking one spot first, then another, with the order corresponding to the unlocking sequence."

"Yes, that makes perfect sense."

Hearing this, the others nodded in agreement with Elder Zeng's speculation.

"Then he had someone generate a sequence combination and tested them one by one. You can probably guess the result, and failure was triggered immediately upon the insertion of just one needle. Elder Zeng wouldn't give up; he tried two needles simultaneously—failure. Then he continued with three, four, five needles..."

Speaking up to this point, Fang Mingsheng’s expression was complicated, mixing admiration with helplessness and an inexpressible sigh: "He experimented repeatedly for a long time without success, which made Elder Zeng very agitated, so he threw it... he tossed the mechanical box onto the sofa."

Hearing this, no one could laugh. Firstly, they admired the dedication Elder Zeng poured into his research, and secondly, realizing that Elder Zeng had studied it for two years without cracking the mechanism, everyone naturally couldn't laugh. Instead, they felt a chill run down their spines.

At this moment, Fang Mingsheng said quietly, "Since Elder Zeng had completely given up hope of personally solving the mechanism, he only wished to understand how this layer worked, which is why he sought Elder Qian's help."

"Hearing you say that, I fear I may not have a solution either."

At that moment, Elder Qian frowned in deep thought, finally shaking his head. "It seems I thought this mechanical box was too simple. Three days will certainly not be enough to unlock its secrets. No choice, we'll have to call in reinforcements."