New Tales of the Great Wall
Ryan Shih, Group 2: Fiction, Kingston International School
t all started because of a letter.
dete
nam
the
But
My name is Norman. I am a detective in the year 2113. I work alongside my partners, who are all
ctives as well. Their names are Cyrus, Bruce and Simon. Cyrus is the smartest of us all. Bruce, as his
e suggests, is a strong man who was once a champion weightlifter. Simon excels at finding objects that
naked eye is unable to see. My six senses are amazing and together there is nothing we are unable to do.
one evening, we happened upon a mystery that turned into an expedition, one that we can never forget.
We were watching a basketball game on television, when suddenly a headline butted in across the middle
of the screen.
I
“
BREAKING NEWS! The Great Wall of China collapsed overnight!”
We did not even finish listening to the report because we were already outside, climbing into our private jet,
ready to go to China.
After 5 hours, we arrived in Beijing, China. We rented a car and drove to the scene. The police had arrived
just a tad earlier than us and could not figure out how the Great Wall had collapsed. “I think I know what
happened,” said Simon. He held up a piece of rubble which was left on the floor. “This may look and feel like
rock, but look at this corner: it is soft and some of it is falling off. It is Styrofoam crusted with rock. Since
Styrofoam is soft and cannot take much weight, it probably fell down under the weight of the rocks. Wait! What
is that?” Simon pointed at a pile of rubble. There was a white envelope sticking out. I walked over and picked
up the envelope. Inside was a letter. “To whomever who reads this letter: I have set up this fake Great Wall and
had hidden the real Great Wall somewhere else. Give me $200,000,000 or I will blow up the Great Wall. Do not
inform the police, or I will detonate my explosives. I am a man of honor. Put the money in this envelope and I
will return the Great Wall untouched. You have two days. Signed, Anonymous.”
“
How in the world are we going to obtain $200,000,000 in two days?” yelled Bruce.
“
I have no idea,” said Cyrus, looking frustrated. “We are better off looking for the real Great Wall.”
“
This is hopeless.” Simon said. We had been searching for the past 3 hours in groups and there was nothing
to be found. When we had examined the Styrofoam, we noticed that it was still a bit soft, so it had not been
placed there for a long time. The Great Wall should have been close, but we still had not found any sign of it.
Suddenly, an idea flashed in my head.
“
I just had a thought.” I said. “We looked above ground, but have we looked
underground
?”
“
That’s it!” Cyrus yelled. “That is probably why we don’t see it. The Great Wall could be hidden under
objects or maybe covered. Let’s go find it, but this time, together!” With this new thought, our hopes were up
and we began searching again.
After an hour, we were still searching for the Great Wall. When we were about to give up, Bruce pointed at
a colossal boulder and yelled: “Look at this!”
We all ran to the boulder. Bruce, with his superior strength, pushed the boulder aside to reveal a hole in the
ground.
“
That’s one mighty big hole.” I said. Without hesitation, we jumped in.
I landed hard on my rump. At the bottom of the hole, it was complete darkness. After quite a few moans
and groans, we were back on our feet again. I reached into my backpack and found the exact thing I was looking
for. I flicked the switch and the flashlight came on.
“
Thank goodness you brought light.” Simon said. We looked around our surroundings and found passages,
leading to the unknown.
“
I think we are in a labyrinth, which is a complex maze that is nearly impossible to solve,” Cyrus said. “If
we’re to find our way through this maze, we need a clue to start with.”
“
Then, how about that?” Bruce said, pointing at the floor. Looking down, we found a message carved into
the stone floor.
“
ogtsomtfel, nehttsomthgir, elddim, tsomtfel, tsomtfel.”
“
Is this some ancient language?” Bruce said.
“
Somehow, this seems suspiciously quite like English to me. There must be some kind of catch… Wait a
minute…”
“
I think I figured it out.” I said. “Do you see the English letters on the floor? Read each word from the right.
It says ‘go most left, then most right, middle, most left and most left!’”
“
That was excellent, Norman. I can now see that your theory was correct,” Simon said. “I say we should
follow the instructions.”