Luogu Puzzle Hunt 2
Luogu Puzzle Hunt 2 (LGPH 2,link) is the second edition of LGPH. This edition is jointly organized by the founder of LGPH and the 16 finishers of LGPH 1. Its main part took place from 2024-04-30 to 2024-05-07. LGPH 2 allowed team participation, with a maximum of 3 members per team. There were 123 teams in total, and 18 of them successfully completed the competition.
The prologue part of LGPH 2 includes twelve puzzles and one meta. Its main purpose is to familiarize participants with the evaluation environment or usage methods of the website it uses, so this part will not be counted towards the total score of the contestants.
Plot[edit | edit source]
The plot of the prologue part continues from the plot of LGPH 1, introducing the plot of LGPH 2:
Walking out of the maze, gazing at the rising rainbow, listening to the song, entering the dream.
In the dream, puzzles reappear, and you need to know the "final answer" to wake up from the dream.
Although the storyline of the prologue may seem insignificant, it plays a significant role in the .plot after final meta.
This is the plot presented in the main part of LGPH 2:
You accidentally trigger a time anomaly and find yourself transported to an unfamiliar time.
During the journey, the timeline becomes chaotic, fragmented into individual time points.
You must find a way to return to the time just before you triggered the anomaly. Additionally, because you caused the time disruption, you are obligated to collect energy and repair the fragmented time.
Your adventure begins as you extract node energy to connect and repair the time.
Within the temporal turbulence, you discover four pairs of separated time nodes, forming four branches. Each node in a branch continuously transfers energy to another node, maintaining a connection.
"I can freely travel among these eight nodes!" Although the four branches are disconnected, it seems you can reach any node at will. However, the remaining nodes not connected to the branches appear inaccessible.
You realize that each time node holds a puzzle, and solving these puzzles activates the node's energy, allowing it to connect to the next new node.
It seems that to repair the time, solving these puzzles and connecting all time nodes into one unit is of utmost importance!
List of Puzzles in LGPH 2[edit | edit source]
You can see the puzzles of the prologue part here.
The main part of LGPH 2 is divided into five sections: the first branch, the second branch, the third branch, the fourth branch, and outside the branches.
Each of the first four parts contains 12 "time nodes," 2 "time protrusions," and one "time endpoint." There is a schematic diagram for each branch on each question. From this, it can be seen that the branch protrusions are a part of the branch that extends from the branch, occupying the positions of the 5th and 10th questions on the branch, but the answers to these two questions are not used in the meta of the branch endpoint, and they will be unlocked together with the 6th and 11th questions, respectively.
The time endpoint is the meta of the 12 time nodes. The branch endpoint of the third branch is relatively special, which will be mentioned in the solutions of the puzzle. Unlocking a branch endpoint will connect this branch to the next branch, and the fourth branch will connect to the first branch. At this time, if the previous branch has new unlocked puzzles, new puzzles will be unlocked in the next branch.
The puzzles in the fifth part will be unlocked when all time points are connected. Specifically, all sixty questions from the first four branches are unlocked, and three branch endpoints are solved by the participants. At the beginning, the first two questions will be unlocked. They are meta-meta, which will use the answers from some time points. More importantly, they represent morning and evening of a day, so they are called AM and PM.
When these two Meta Metas are solved by the participants at the same time, or one of them is solved and all branch endpoints of the four branches are solved by the participants, a new plot clipboard will be unlocked outside the branches, guiding the participants to find a new link, which is the link to the Final Meta. Solving the Final Meta means completing the game, but the plot is not over yet, there is still an Easter egg section, which will be introduced later.
In total, there are (12+1)+((12+2+1)*4+2+1)+2=78 puzzles in LGPH 2, including the prologue part.
- Puzzles marked (c) require some Chinese knowledge apart from simple translation.
- Puzzles marked (C) require a large amount of Chinese knowledge apart from simple translation.
The First Branch[edit | edit source]
The puzzles numbered 5 and 10 are branch protrusions, and the puzzle numbered 15 is the endpoint, or the meta of this branch.
The Second Branch[edit | edit source]
The puzzles numbered 5 and 10 are branch protrusions, and the puzzle numbered 15 is the endpoint, or the meta of this branch.
The Third Branch[edit | edit source]
The puzzles numbered 5 and 10 are branch protrusions, and the puzzle numbered 15 is the endpoint, or the meta of this branch.
The Fourth Branch[edit | edit source]
The puzzles numbered 5 and 10 are branch protrusions, and the puzzle numbered 15 is the endpoint, or the meta of this branch.
