Chapter 39

The Secret Room Is Indeed a Hotbed of Ambiguity

WeChat was silent as if the phone had no signal. Diao Zhi Yu pretended not to see, refusing to reveal the escape room’s location or name, only saying they’d meet at a subway station on Line 4.

There were so many escape rooms around, Hu Xiu spent a long time but couldn’t figure out which one Diao Zhi Yu had chosen. She’d just have to wait until the meeting to find out.

Hu Xiu had done her homework on the types of escape rooms. The chase-type rooms involved unexpected face-to-face ambushes or NPCs relentlessly chasing, which she couldn’t handle. The immersive role-playing rooms were probably not of interest to Diao Zhi Yu, while mechanical puzzle rooms were a bit difficult, but Hu Xiu wasn’t scared. At most, they’d be at the level of civil service exam questions. As long as there were no sudden horror elements, she could manage.

The four of them stood in front of the THRILLER door, and Hu Xiu helplessly closed her eyes.

She never expected that Diao Zhi Yu would choose one of Shanghai’s famous “extreme fear” escape rooms. She had seen it on Douyin before. In this room, even a toxic drink could turn into milk, and the toxic milk could kill instantly. Diao Zhi Yu must have brought her here because he didn’t want her to see the light of tomorrow.

“You’re joking, right?”

“What’s there to be afraid of? I’m the NPC.”

“This has nothing to do with you. It’s… THRILLER.” Hu Xiu’s chin nearly touched the ground. “We’re probably going to break up today.”

Zhao Xiaorou indeed brought a companion for the double date. With hundreds of thousands of fans, he was affectionately called “little puppy” by them. Under the Douyin filter, his face appeared small with well-defined features, and he often flirted with a sexy edge—wearing nothing but a Santa Claus costume and showing off his abs while cooking, or wearing low-waisted pants to flaunt his V-line. In short, he refused to dress properly.

In real life, he did indeed look like a younger brother, but his gaze was pitiful, and when entering the escape room, he clearly needed Zhao Xiaorou to protect him from behind.

Zhao Xiaorou stood to the side eating a lollipop, looking rather indifferent, not particularly expecting physical contact inside the escape room.

When asked why she wasn’t interested, Zhao Xiaorou clicked her tongue and said, “He’s too skinny. He just doesn’t look powerful. Originally, I asked him on WeChat if he was up for some benefits. If he wasn’t, I wouldn’t have met him. He said he was, but he’s so skinny, and his little muscles don’t even look as good as mine. I can only comfort myself by saying ‘young chickens don’t get stuck in teeth’.”

What else could it be? Although Li Ai is a cripple, he’s a real man with chest and back muscles. After seeing men with a strong presence, Zhao Xiaorou found the boy, who was now acting coquettish in front of the hostess giving the briefing, hard to bear. Standing behind him, she rolled her eyes dramatically and muttered, “Damn it, yin is overpowering yang!”

As soon as the boy turned around, Zhao Xiaorou switched to a smile and patted him, “Did you get in? You better protect me later.”

THRILLER is a famous horror escape room in Shanghai, with a jailbreak theme. Players (4 to 8) enter, and the NPCs are a warden, a bully in the prison, a killer who infiltrated the prison, and a former coroner planning an escape.

The legend has it that due to a coup, all the people in the prison will be assassinated. The four players must escape with the former coroner in 90 minutes. Before entering, everyone changes into prison uniforms and takes a photo with an info board. Hu Xiu stood in front of her sign, and Diao Zhiyu smiled, “You’re actually 165 cm!”

He proudly stood in front of the number 184, with a mischievous smile for the photo.

The four of them were blindfolded and locked in separate cells. Diao Zhiyu whispered to Hu Xiu, “First, try to escape your cell. Once you’re out, call me, I’ll protect you.”

Though it sounded thoughtful, Hu Xiu was about to burst into tears. With the blindfold on and handcuffed, and hearing the eerie background music, she felt cold under her feet. Protection? Taking off the blindfold would lead to failure before even starting.

As expected, once the signal came to remove the blindfold, Hu Xiu lifted her hand but was hit in the forehead by the handcuff. The walls were grey cement, covered in cobwebs, and outside the door, an actor holding a baton looked ominous.

All four actors were foreigners, averaging around 1.9 meters tall, with bulging muscles and speaking in English, while rolling subtitles in the room translated for the players.

The horror theme was truly immersive, akin to scenes from American Horror Story and Prison Break.

Within seconds of dropping their guard, a dispute broke out. The officer took out a baton and beat a criminal, the sound of flesh hitting flesh was real. The criminal didn’t stop cursing, and the officer fired a shot in the distance.

Blood spread across the floor, and before Hu Xiu could figure out where it was coming from, she was dragged away.

The floor was littered with blood stains, and some rooms in the distance were too dark to make out. The NPCs disappeared outside the cells, and Hu Xiu heard Zhao Xiaorou’s voice asking, “Should we try to escape now?”

“How do we do that?”

“Find the key...” Diao Zhiyu’s voice.

Looking around the room, the only things in the cement-walled cell were a bed, a toilet, and a small box.

The box had a sequence of shapes to solve, and after focusing for a few seconds, Hu Xiu figured out the code. Inside, she found a handgun.

She hid the gun in her pocket, trying not to be distracted by the sound effects. She opened the toilet lid, and then the tank, pulling out the key to unlock her handcuffs.

Under the bed, there was a key stuck with tape, but before Hu Xiu could retrieve it, footsteps were heard outside. Zhao Xiaorou screamed in panic, “Shit, someone’s coming! Pretend to sleep!”

Lying on the hard cement bed, it was a bit cold, and the other three cells were completely silent, except for the sound of footsteps.

Hu Xiu thought to herself that the storyline of this escape room was so tense, there wasn’t even time to space out. The hard bed was really uncomfortable.

Outside, there was more commotion, and the four NPCs were speaking loudly in English. Hu Xiu could understand clearly: To cover up the fact that an official had been killed in prison, the prison planned to make the criminals in this area all “accidentally” die together, and in one hour, they would release poison gas. The four of them were within the scope of the poisoning plan.

Twenty minutes had already passed in solving the puzzle. The priority was to escape the cell.

Once the officer and the guard left, Hu Xiu found the key and escaped, only to unexpectedly run into Diao Zhiyu waiting at the door.

Zhao Xiaorou had only just unlocked her handcuffs, but they were still locked on the prison bars. “What did those foreigners say?”

“That if we don’t escape within an hour, we’ll die.” Hu Xiu gave a simple translation.

The three of them waited another ten minutes for the clumsy little puppy to show up. Diao Zhiyu, having surveyed the surroundings, returned: “We’ll follow the ventilation pipes to escape the guard zone and head to the laundry room. There should be secret intel and a map left for us there.

Once the chief realizes we’ve escaped, the alarm will go off. We need to get to the laundry room within ten minutes, grab the map, and then escape through the ventilation shaft. If we’re still in the laundry room, we’ll most likely be caught.”

“That sounds terrifying?” The little puppy looked somewhat excited. “I like it...”

Indeed, the bravery of the post-00s is hard to imagine.

The four of them crawled through the ventilation shaft. Inside, there was a strong wind that made it hard to keep eyes open, along with a damp, dusty smell.

Hu Xiu followed Diao Zhiyu, but the prison uniform was too big for her, making her movements slower.

Before they could crawl out of the shaft, the piercing alarm went off. The four of them huddled in the shaft, and Diao Zhiyu said, “They won’t be here so soon, let’s get the map first.”

He then jumped down from the shaft. Hu Xiu was about to turn around and go down the stairs but was suddenly grabbed by Diao Zhiyu and pulled down. “No time! Follow me, we’ll grab the map as fast as we can.”

The laundry room appeared cleaner than the cell, though the tiles were still stained with water, and clothes were scattered all over the floor.

The alarm filled the room with flashing red lights, and Hu Xiu’s hands were shaking as she frantically searched through the clothes.

A gun was hidden in the washing machine drum. Diao Zhi Yu, with the gun in his pocket, asked Hu Xiu if she had found any information.

As Hu Xiu rummaged through the pockets, she heard footsteps. She was practically panicking when Diao Zhi Yu dragged her into a corner of the laundry room, covering her body with clothes.

One of Hu Xiu’s shoes was still sticking out, but it was too late to pull it back in. Diao Zhi Yu held her tightly, with his arms around her, her face pressed against his chest.

A new NPC appeared with a deep voice, followed by the sound of something being thrown in the room. Another officer stormed in and fired a shot, causing Hu Xiu to jump in fright. Diao Zhi Yu whispered softly to calm her, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, they’ll leave soon.”

Her heart was pounding. Even outside the scene, this proximity wasn’t new, but pressed against Diao Zhi Yu’s chest muscles, Hu Xiu could clearly hear his strong heartbeat, echoing in her ears.

At that moment, Hu Xiu couldn’t exactly say she was afraid. Instead, strange thoughts came to her, teeth chattering from fear, yet excited and... her heart racing.

She reached out to grab the intel, and as Diao Zhi Yu pulled her hand to lead her back to the vent, Hu Xiu understood. The “suspension bridge effect.”

The scene was indeed larger than expected. Aside from the laundry room, there was also the cafeteria, the workshop, the officer’s office, and the execution chamber...

The final task was to retrieve the key from the officer’s office to escape.

Gunshots rang out outside the vent. When Hu Xiu peered out again, it was completely dark. Diao Zhi Yu took out the only flashlight and said, “We’re going to go down from the same vent we came up. The four of us must not get separated.”

When they climbed down, the little puppy stumbled. Zhao Xiaorou’s legs felt weak, and in the dim light, she clung to the little puppy. Diao Zhi Yu held Hu Xiu firmly and eventually pulled her into his arms. Hu Xiu thought to herself, the escape room truly was all about physical contact. Diao Zhi Yu, who always tried to avoid it outside of the game, was now proactively close, proving once again how crafty the little boy was.

When she slipped on something beneath her feet, Diao Zhi Yu held her even tighter. Hu Xiu’s fear made her... smile with excitement.

She had heard that escape rooms were a new way to meet people, but now she truly understood!

There was a large lock between the cafeteria and the workshop that required solving a puzzle. Suddenly, someone tapped Hu Xiu on the back. She turned around and felt a rush of warm air, as an NPC approached, shining a flashlight in her face, looking menacing.

Hu Xiu screamed and ran as fast as she could, terrified. Forget the puzzle, escaping was the priority!

Realizing that she had run farther away from the escape route, Hu Xiu was now being followed closely by footsteps. Frightened, she slipped and fell to the ground, tears streaming down her face. “Forget the escape room. I’m done, I’m done. If they catch me, I’ll surrender, can they just use the poison gas to get rid of me?”

Someone bent down and helped her up—it was Diao Zhi Yu. “It’s me, you’re going the wrong way.”

“The guy who was so close to my face earlier...”

“Though it’s immersive, they’re all just actors. The control team can see that you’re the most scared, so they instructed the NPCs to scare you. Just scream a little and don’t actually run.”

“But...”

“If you get lost, you’ll never escape. It’s pointless to go down the wrong path.”

This sudden philosophical insight. Diao Zhi Yu took Hu Xiu’s hand in the dark as they groped forward. Even though she couldn’t see anything, the warmth in his palm gave her a sense of dependence, as if it were the first time they met, like a rose thrown by Qin Xiao Yi, giving her an illusion of safety.

Hu Xiu followed behind, growing more impulsive, almost unable to hold back her confession.

The alarm blared, and the sounds of shouting and cursing came from behind. Suddenly, Hu Xiu blurted out, “Qin Xiao Yi, I like...”

Before she could finish her sentence, the officer behind her grabbed her, shouting in slang. Hu Xiu was furious, “I’m confessing here, can’t you tell the time and place?!”

Rage swelled in her chest. She shoved Diao Zhi Yu’s hand off, pulled out a gun, and shouted, “Back off!”

She pulled the trigger. In the darkness, she wasn’t sure who she hit, but she heard a thud as someone fell.

From a distance, Zhao Xiaorou yelled, “Hu Xiu, what are you doing? Are you acting? Let’s go, hurry up!”

The people around her stood frozen. Hu Xiu finally realized—did they freeze after hearing her confession?

Diao Zhi Yu chuckled softly. “Impressive, you’re really something.”

He then pulled Hu Xiu forward. Ahead, the faint light of the flashlight illuminated Zhao Xiaorou and the little puppy.

The little puppy anxiously asked, “Did you get anything useful to bribe the bully ahead? We’re being blocked, time’s running out.”

Diao Zhi Yu pointed to his pocket. “I have the intel, we can trade it for the key.”

The bully, smoking a cigarette in the dark, glanced at the intel with a look of annoyance before handing the key to Zhao Xiaorou.

At this point, most of Hu Xiu’s fear had subsided. She just wanted to escape in the little time they had left.

She wasn’t sure if it was because Diao Zhi Yu was by her side.

Finally, the officer’s office wasn’t very dark. The dim light from the screen gave the room a grayish hue, and the inner execution room had mechanisms, with guillotines and chainsaws hanging from the ceiling, likely for torture.

One person needed to distract the officer, while another had to lie on the execution bed. Once on the bed, the guillotine would start falling. The remaining people had to solve a puzzle and input the answer to stop the guillotine.

The game, which was meant for eight players, might have been faster with more people. The puzzle was a sliding puzzle. When solved, it would reveal a number.

The little puppy was quick on his feet. “I know this path, it’s a circle. I’ll go distract the officer. You lie on the bed, the girls will be too scared.”

He took the flashlight and rushed out, shouting, “Hey!”

Diao Zhi Yu turned back to Hu Xiu. “Are you ready?”

His look had a feeling of the apocalypse. Hu Xiu felt like the heroine of a sci-fi film, bidding farewell to the male lead as they headed into space to find a chance of survival. Diao Zhi Yu, following her gaze, made up a line. “One minute, I believe you can do it. If not, don’t forget our vow.”

Zhao Xiaorou raised her arm: “What vow? You two have already formed an unbreakable bond after just a short time?”

After pushing open the door to the inner room, Diao Zhiyu lay down, and the guillotine began to fall. With each move in the sliding puzzle, there was the sound of an electronic password, beep, beep. The squares on the screen moved with Hu Xiu’s finger, and within a few seconds, her palms began to sweat.

The urgency made Zhao Xiaorou fluster: “This one should be moved to the bottom, right?”

“This one can’t be moved. The one at the bottom horizontally would block it.”

Thirty seconds passed, and the sound of alarms and footsteps came from outside — the sheriff was back.

Zhao Xiaorou became anxious: “Hu Xiu, hurry, they’re coming back…”

Don’t panic, don’t panic, there’s always a way. The block in the middle can’t be moved, so the most urgent thing now is to move the smaller blocks to free up the rectangle.

Only ten seconds were left on the timer. Hu Xiu thought to herself, don’t rush, you can do this…

Three, two, one…

Just as Hu Xiu successfully solved the puzzle, the sheriff grabbed the little puppy and entered the room. The game ended.

The guillotine above Diao Zhiyu stopped. If the sheriff had been one second late, they would have escaped successfully — they were just a little bit short.

“The game is over. Players, please exit through the open passage in an orderly manner.”

The light returned, and the four main players and the NPC police officers stood outside the door. They still had mud and blood on their clothes and applauded the four players. Diao Zhiyu patted Hu Xiu’s shoulder, looking at her with an unsatisfied expression: “You did well. Even though we lost a lot of time at the beginning, we still managed to escape.”

“Not enough…” Hu Xiu gritted her teeth in frustration. “Just one second. I think the sheriff did that on purpose.”

The game master came out to recap the game, but Hu Xiu couldn’t pay attention to it, only watching as the other three players gasped at the storyline.

At the beginning, they were too slow, causing time to be tight in the later stages. The reason they still managed to reach the final stage was because players were supposed to hand the gun over to the assassin to have them kill the police officer. But the assassin didn’t wait for the players and, upon leaving the cafeteria, found that the police officer was already dead.

The actor playing the officer laughed and pointed at Hu Xiu: “It’s ridiculous, I’ve never seen this before, but it’s fun. I like you.”

What else could it be? Her confession was interrupted, and in her frustration, she killed the officer.

Hu Xiu didn’t expect that she had fast-forwarded the plot. Diao Zhiyu tilted his head: “How did you bring Snowpiercer’s tricks into this?”

“Because I…” It was probably better he didn’t hear the confession. Hu Xiu stuck out her tongue and thought, “Because I’m smart.”

Diao Zhiyu just smiled and shook his head. Once the game ended, he turned into a gentleman, likely not initiating any further intimate contact with her. What a pity!

Her unorthodox behavior meant there would probably be no second escape room date — taking advantage ended too quickly, and Hu Xiu felt even sadder as she thought about this.

Zhao Xiaorou whispered into Hu Xiu’s ear as they walked out: “I’ve used this chance to take advantage a lot. I’ve noticed, this scrawny little puppy is pretty solid, not stupid either, and quite manly.”

“So?”

“He’s a post-00s kid. I’m planning to… give it a try.”

When Hu Xiu looked up, the little puppy was nearby buying ice cream, indeed a quick-witted and lively boy. Diao Zhiyu stood behind the little puppy, pointing at the sign: “Do you want one?”

“Of course…” She thought about the heartbeat she heard when he held her close. This was bad; after experiencing all that excitement together, her heart rate was now irregular.

And what was the vow he mentioned?