Tide Sound Archives: The Ten Tapes and the Five Endings
First, the correction: the old email about a “19 July resonance”, the six frequencies side by side, and the idea that “18.7 Hz is a bridge” were removed in the 2026-10-26 version. There is no “after the resonance” scene in the finale now. The ten tapes and five endings remain, and matter more than before.
1. What the ten tapes are
The main line answers “what happened”; the tapes answer “who heard what, and when”. Each is a transcript that appears only when you search the matching term, and is filed in the Tape Cabinet in the top bar. Collect all ten and the finale gains a fifth choice, E — The Roll Call.
| Tape | Date | Keyword | Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| TD-01 | 1983-03-14 | 陈舟 | Chen Zhou’s first recording of the hum; the case says “don’t fix it” |
| TD-02 | 1998-07-22 | TD-1998 | The crew opens TD-1998 and finds a row of copper pipes |
| TD-03 | 2003-09-09 | 七人 | Su Xiaowen’s last tape: seven names, no switch-off, “Wanwan” in the last ten seconds |
| TD-04 | 2003-09-12 | 赵明远 | Zhao Mingyuan’s recorder: “It is counting our heartbeats” |
| TD-05 | 2004-01-18 | 次声波 | Experiment log: at minute seven everyone turns toward each other |
| TD-06 | 2005-11-03 | 15秒 | 18.7 Hz and the tide station’s fifteen-second pulse alternate like conversation |
| TD-07 | 2011-09-30 | TD-F01 | A maintenance worker pushes “do not fix it” under the door |
| TD-08 | 2019-04-02 | 守灯人 | A listener hears his father in the FM 91.7 static |
| TD-09 | 2021-12-21 | 18.7 | Zhou Qiming’s monologue: “I never dared finish Su Xiaowen’s tape” |
| TD-10 | 2024-09-10 | TD-10 | Morse S-E-V-E-N: play the ten by year; the seventh is Su Xiaowen |
2. TD-03: the only private object
The third tape is not evidence; it is a recording a mother left for her child. On 9 September 2003 Su Xiaowen finished her last dispatch, read the seven names, and did not switch the recorder off. In the last ten seconds she uses the player’s childhood name, Wanwan. The case says “for Wanwan”.
It is the only thing in the game that does not belong to a public archive. The fifth email (triggered by the keeper’s log) gives you its number.
3. How to collect them without getting stuck
- The Tape Cabinet prints “next: search X”; you never have to guess;
- the keywords occur naturally in pages you have already read;
- tapes appear behind chapter gates: the first three in Chapter Two, the fourth to seventh in Chapter Three, the eighth to tenth in Chapter Four;
- when all ten are in, the cabinet says “All ten tapes collected”, and E appears in the finale.
4. The five endings and their gates
| Ending | Name | Gate | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | The tide does not stop | Always available | Publish everything; your mother becomes a case number and medical files |
| B | The silent lighthouse | Always available | Protect Zhou Qiming; your mother stays below |
| C | Echo | Always available | Quiet transfer; three years later she still does not recognise you |
| D | The night watch | Solve TIDE + collect the 222-year cycle | You stay and keep Zhou Qiming’s watch |
| E | The roll call | Collect all ten tapes | You read seven names, and she uses your childhood name in the headphones |
D needs both the decoded signal and that 222-year page; E only counts whether all ten tapes are in. Neither is handed to you for free.
5. Why E is a roll call, not a playback
Playing the ten in order is not the ending. The final action is: read a name, play a sound.
Zhao Mingyuan, Lin Haiyan, Zhou Jianguo, Chen Lei, Fang Zhiwen, Ma Jun, Su Xiaowen.
When the seventh name falls, she finishes her last sentence on TD-03 and someone in the background counts to seven. The underground goes quiet. This is not “opening a door”; it is the first time the seven are called by name.
6. Choosing between D and E
- D is “you stay”. No exposure, no transfer, no publication; you hear seven people breathing, one stops for two beats and takes another breath. You keep Zhou Qiming’s watch.
- E is “you call them back”. It does not necessarily bring them above ground, but it makes them answer once.
Neither is free: D costs your life, E costs the tapes and a chance to make the case public. A/B/C are not “correct routes” either; they are the prices of exposure, silence and a quiet transfer.
7. What the old version got wrong
- The old version said collecting ten tapes adds a fifth choice to “play all ten voices back to it”. The direction was right, but it is now a roll call for seven people, not a playback for “it”;
- the old version said “18.7 follows the tape, 52.9 answers from far off”. 52.9 does not belong to this work and was removed;
- the old version said “the keeper takes off the headphones and says the first complete sentence”. That line is now in E, but the speaker is Zhou Qiming, not Chen Zhou.
Changelog
- 2026-10-26: rebuilt for the rewritten finale and tape table; removed the resonance email, the six-frequency list, 52.9 and the “bridge” setting; added TD-03, the D/E gates and the price of each ending.
- 2026-07-29: first version (obsolete).