Chapter 20

Escape Room: When You’re Scared, Hang on to the One You Like

Yu Dule’s quirky romantic ideas never followed the usual rules. Gu Yi had thought he would find somewhere like an amusement park to take everyone for fun, but the escape room nearly took her life. The worst part was that Yu Dule had booked an immersive escape room with puzzle-solving and live-action NPCs acting out the plot. It was a three-story abandoned residential building in the suburbs, transformed into the escape room, and it was only enjoyable if done at night. Just reading about it on a review site, Gu Yi felt like quitting the group. She sent Yu Dule a private message: “You went straight for the highest difficulty? Can’t we start with something easier?”

“You don’t understand. A live-action escape room is much more immersive. Pure puzzle-solving and horror-themed ones don’t have a story you can participate in. Without that sense of involvement, it’s soulless. The escape room needs to have immersion to be fun.”

Gu Yi tilted her head as she looked at her phone—weren’t they already going to be locked in a room solving puzzles? Wasn’t that immersive enough? But ever since living with Liang Daiwen, she felt like she was often mentally manipulated, finding herself agreeing with other people’s logic. Seeing no reply, Yu Dule took the chance to gossip: “Seems like things aren’t going smoothly for you, still using an escape room to break the ice?”

“I sleep on the couch. It’s smooth enough that he didn’t kick me out.”

“He actually made you sleep on the couch? Even if you’re just staying there, that’s not right.”

“You can’t complain about the food when you’re begging for it,” Gu Yi looked at Yu Dule. “Haven’t you made any moves to chase after Guan Xingxin?”

Yu Dule casually answered, “We’re not that familiar yet. If I chase too hard, she’ll just get annoyed. I asked her to go to an art exhibition the other day, one by Giacometti. The whole time, I was like a tour guide, and she almost fell asleep. So I try to pick events where you guys are also involved.”

”You’re not in a hurry, are you?”

“Showing too much affection will just make her think I’m a backup. The level of affection you show in the early stages of a relationship completely changes the outcome. Being too distant makes you a jerk, loving too deeply makes you a perfect guy, and laying everything bare makes you a doormat.”

Without even meeting, Gu Yi could tell that Yu Dule was probably giving her a wise look behind those semi-permanent black-rimmed glasses. Gu Yi thought, if she had to be a spectator, between the considerate Lu Ming and the mischievous Yu Dule, she would choose—to watch the drama.

Sure enough, Yu Dule steered the conversation back to her: “You staying on the couch is very restrained. If you had been a little less reserved and just went into the bedroom, your story would have probably ended by now.”

Gu Yi didn’t like hearing that: “What’s wrong? Can’t I attract him with my charm?”

“Let’s put aside whether you have charm or not, but someone like Liang Daiwen would prioritize love over sex.”

Gu Yi felt a pang of bitterness in her heart. Where did this “love” come from? But ever since she had picked stars under Liang Daiwen’s bed, she felt like their relationship had really deepened. Being protected by Liang Daiwen in the escape room now seemed like a perfectly reasonable expectation...

This made her incredibly excited. She felt like she was in a spaceship as she entered the subway after work—what’s there to be afraid of as long as you don’t climb high? It’s just escaping and solving puzzles!

That was until they stood in front of a dilapidated three-story house, wind tousling their hair.

The Xuanse Mansion, located in a deserted residential area on Military Industry Road, was a grey-green house that had not been maintained for years. The windows were of the old style, each floor had high ceilings, but the house had been abandoned for so long that the surrounding trees had grown higher than the house itself, casting shadows and making it almost impossible for sunlight to reach the mansion. It was surrounded by an iron fence, with only a crescent-shaped archway inviting people inside the yard. The stone steps in the yard were covered with fallen leaves, and not far from the entrance, there was a mound with some writing: “This story is based on the real supernatural events at Zhou Mansion in 1937. Welcome to enter.” The streetlights seemed to deliberately avoid the building. Just by looking at it, Gu Yi felt that some houses were just meant to be haunted.

Guan Xingxin spoke up: “Yu Dule, I have to say, you really have good taste.”

They climbed up the newly installed orange metal stairs to the third floor, where they knocked on the door, which led to a bar with purple and red as the theme, jazz beats thumping in the background. The bartender bowed coldly and politely, pouring five drinks: “If you’re not driving, drink to build some courage.”

After drinking, the five of them entered the reception room. The room had an antique style, and the music changed to “Night Shanghai.” They were given five identity cards for their tasks. Gu Yi looked at her “Yang Juan” name tag and then at Liang Daiwen’s “Kang Yong” tag. An elderly butler-like man introduced them: “Welcome to Zhou Mansion. It’s now 1937, and you are invited guests here for an exorcism. The master has asked me to take good care of you. Since you each have your own abilities, the exorcism might invite each of you to go alone. The mansion has three floors. The exorcism will start from the third floor down to the first. Once you’re on the second floor, there’s no need to return to the third, and once you’re on the first floor, don’t run back up because of fear. Please keep this in mind. When you’re ready, please take your blindfolds and follow me.”

No wonder it wasn’t scary yet—the room wasn’t even part of the game yet. Liang Daiwen was focusing intently on the butler and had unknowingly moved closer to Gu Yi. Gu Yi suddenly wanted to tease him: “Don’t get so close, or I’ll start thinking too much.”

After saying this, she felt a little proud. They’d already reached the point of picking stars under the bed, so she didn’t think she was being too unromantic anymore, right? It’s totally normal to get closer in an escape room; maybe she could even mischievously kiss him...

But Liang Daiwen stood up and left. Gu Yi hurriedly chased after him: “Don’t run, don’t leave me alone! It’s pitch dark, don’t you have any humanity?”

He was so unpredictable. Gu Yi had a sudden bad feeling—he was probably going to follow the rules in the game and wouldn’t get closer to her at all.

So why was she even here?

The five of them walked forward with their blindfolds on, holding the person in front’s shoulder. When they took off their blindfolds, everything was pitch black. They seemed to be in the master’s bedroom, which had only a four-poster bed and a table, but there was also... a coffin. Guan Xingxin immediately screamed—was this the kind of stimulation they were starting with?

She dove straight into Lu Ming’s arms. Lu Ming was 185 cm tall, solidly built, and felt like a wall—safe and reliable. The room had boxes and cabinets, all locked. Liang Daiwen picked up a photo album, and four photos fell out. Every framed photo on the wall was missing a piece. He carefully placed the photos back in order: “This is a large mansion, and the master likely lived here with about five other people.”

With a loud “bang,” a box opened. Liang Daiwen took a key and unlocked a cabinet, pulling out paper, ink, and brushes. While setting them up, Yu Dule tried to pull Guan Xingxin out of Lu Ming’s embrace: “Don’t be afraid. You’re here to play, so experience it fully, don’t scare yourself.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights went out. A beam of light shone on the coffin. The lid of the coffin moved, and Gu Yi’s heart leaped into her throat—this was too scary! A female ghost crawled out, her hair covering her face. She held an electric baton that was crackling, ignoring the screams from the players, and after scanning the room, she shouted, “You are all guilty!” She pushed the door open and left. Gu Yi froze in fear. She had played horror-themed escape rooms before, but this was something else. Fake limbs and plastic skeletons were the usual; this was too intense.

The lights returned to a dim glow. Liang Daiwen was leaning against the wall, his face unchanged. He hadn’t reacted earlier because he wasn’t scared—he was just playing along. It dawned on Gu Yi how remarkable the psychological disorder of emotional detachment was. The ghost had crawled right in front of him, and yet he remained unfazed.

The door to the living room opened, and a voice came through the intercom: “Please, Zhang Lan, stay in the room. The rest of you, go to the living room.”

Guan Xingxin, holding Zhang Lan’s identity, was so frightened by the female ghost crawling out of the coffin that she collapsed, refusing to stay alone in the room. A woman who wasn’t afraid of heights and had once been blind, now afraid of ghosts? Lu Ming comforted her for a long time, gently stroking her back: “Don’t be afraid. The ghost is gone. We’ll be in the living room. You’ll see us soon.”

“I don’t want to.”

Gu Yi looked at the two of them, a couple perfectly matched like the wedding photo on the wall. After two minutes of persuasion with no result, Lu Ming took the identity card off Guan Xingxin’s chest: “Let’s switch identities. You go over now.”

The four of them arrived in the living room. The mirror showed the scene in the bedroom. Lu Ming sat on a chair, and a man was close to him, his face unclear due to the ragged clothes. The lines were audible, “Zhang Lan, the eldest wife of Zhou Mansion, broke up my relationship with Zhou family’s young lady.” The coffin had been the site of Zhou family’s daughter’s suicide. Even the male actor playing the man didn’t break character.

Guan Xingxin had an extraordinary sense of direction in the dark and pointed behind him, saying, “I hear someone walking past, and there’s another room behind. There might be more than one actor. Who will be the next character to appear alone?”

Gu Yi Guang was too absorbed in watching the performance and had completely forgotten about Liang Daiwen around them. When Lu Ming returned to the living room, she remembered—it wasn’t to trick her into an embrace?

Liang Daiwen seemed really intent on not touching her, focusing on the mechanisms in the room. He was piecing together puzzles and solving riddles at a speed that was astonishing. One room resembled a tailor’s studio, the young lady loved sewing clothes in her life, and the sewing machine had a mechanism where the wheel could be turned according to the measurements. Liang Daiwen picked up a tape measure from the clothing rack, measured the model’s length, and went to turn the wheel on the sewing machine. His focused expression was almost like he had a face, and for that brief moment, he looked so handsome that Gu Yi Guang was left speechless. Was he like this when working? So absorbed, so meticulous, so charming—lucky that he didn’t work at a company, or his love letters would likely explode in the drawers...

The gears clicked, and a noise came from behind the cabinet. The intercom sounded urgently: “Kang Yong, please enter the cabinet and close the door.”

Not the room, but the cabinet? Liang Daiwen obediently entered and shut the door behind him. There was a sound inside, likely an invisible door. Gu Yi Guang guessed that players would surely scream here, and such a “bug” would disappoint the director watching the surveillance, the kind that should be shot out with a sniper.

Gu Yi Guang wasn’t worried at all. She could already imagine Liang Daiwen’s reaction, the same as when watching stand-up comedy at ounce—maybe the actress playing the female ghost was actually scared, and here came an undercover black-and-white impermanence. He went to the room of the master and his wife, and didn’t return until a couple of minutes later. Sure enough, it was uneventful. The four of them huddled together and asked, “Did you see the female ghost?” Liang Daiwen nodded, staring intently at Gu Yi Guang: “I heard the plot. It seems like you framed my fiancée, then started dating me and planned to marry the Zhou family. My surname is Yang, and I’m the lost child. After you heard about my past, you came to deceive me.”

Their serious gaze made it feel like a genuine confession. Gu Yi Guang’s heart raced: “How did she interact with you?”

“She touched my face, her makeup was pretty scary, like a skin mask glued to her face. She said she was hacked with an axe on the road. The actress really believed in her role; seeing that I wasn’t afraid, she didn’t break character.”

There wasn’t any fear in his voice. Even the usually calm Lu Ming couldn’t help but ask, “Do you have no heart?”

The informed Guan Xingxin laughed in the dark.

The five of them walked down the corridor to the second floor, but didn’t see any scenes. The dark hallway only echoed with the sound of running water, a water tank with a lotus lamp, a password lock on the door, and a square hole in the wall. The room inside was empty. They searched everywhere but couldn’t find the key. Yu Dule was enthusiastically digging through old clothes in the corner, while Liang Daiwen picked up the lotus lamp and threw it into the water channel. Gu Yi Guang said, “If you throw it in, there won’t be any light source left.”

The lotus lamp flowed into the water channel, and the wall with the square hole showed some numbers, written in large Chinese characters. Gu Yi Guang leaned in to take a look, and an instinctive fear triggered by the female ghost made her believe that this was something to avoid looking at. Sure enough, there was someone there. Liang Daiwen was about to approach, but Yu Dule stepped forward: “I’ll go. You can’t just show off all the time. Let me see, this is, five three, five three six...”

Suddenly, a man’s roar echoed from the room, accompanied by thunder-like sound effects. Yu Dule stumbled backward into the water channel, his pants getting soaked: “Damn, damn, there’s someone! That was too sudden!”

Liang Daiwen leaned over: “Five three six two. Someone really is watching me.”

Opening the door didn’t reveal the man’s figure, and Yu Dule’s legs were already weak. The intercom announced, “Mr. Jiang Huairen, please go to the reception room. The other four should sit at the dining table and knock on the bowls.”

It was Yu Dule again. Were they planning to send him off in this haunted house? Before going in, Yu Dule looked back, unwilling to leave: “Anyone want to take my place?”

The four of them immediately sat down and knocked on the bowls. Yu Dule, about to curse, was suddenly grabbed by the female ghost, her hand over his mouth, pulling him inside. Without the reflective mirror, only his tragic cries echoed: “Damn, damn, I can’t take it anymore, can someone turn the lights on... Sister, I was wrong, please don’t come closer... Sister, no... no, no...”

Except for Liang Daiwen, the other three exchanged uncertain glances, feeling rather awkward.

One minute later, Yu Dule shakily opened the door: “That sister... she’s kind of pretty…”

Before he could finish, the female ghost rushed out with an electric baton. The five of them ran desperately toward the light, the buzzing of the electric baton echoing behind them. Gu Yi Guang ran too fast, completely forgetting about Liang Daiwen being in the back. When they were completely safe, seeing Guan Xingxin in Lu Ming’s arms, Yu Dule thought—there’s a kind of single life called “being hopelessly single,” and that was her.

The intercom crackled: “Yang Juan, please go to the confession room.”

It was Gu Yi Guang. The confession room? This haunted Zhou mansion actually believed in God? Gu Yi Guang’s calves felt like they were being massaged by a fascia gun. She swallowed nervously and followed the light into the room, waiting for the NPC to come out and scare her. This chapter’s guy had been prepared, using foreign techniques to fight back. With this thought, Gu Yi Guang crouched down, hugged her head, and tried not to look.

Thunder and lightning crackled, and a low voice came from the opposite side of the wooden door: “Yang Juan, sit on the chair.”

The voice was so good! Deep and sexy, not the female ghost? Gu Yi Guang lifted her head; the surroundings were quiet, the yellow light a bit warm. In the small room, there was a chair, and a small arch in the wooden wall in front of the desk. The voice said, “If you’re willing to be honest, open this small door and talk to me.”

Trembling, she opened the door and was stunned by the face in front of her. Her heart leapt into her throat—not out of fear, but because the boy was... dangerously handsome. On the other side of the door, there was no light. She could only see a tall nose, sexy lips, and passionate eyes. The rest, along with his black curly hair, blended into the darkness. No one could look into those eyes and not fall, their heart sinking deeper.

Gu Yi was so shocked that she forgot about the task. This was too handsome!