Chapter 21

With that Indian accent, God wouldn’t bless us with eternal love.

The boy seemed to have expected it and stayed in character: “Yang Juan, as the young master’s fiancée, is there something you want to confess?”

Gu Yi recalled the scene mentioned by Liang Daiwen: “Yes, I have a sin. I should be nailed to the pillar of humiliation in history...”

Inside, the boy was taken aback: “Oh?”

“I lied to someone, to marry into... the Zhou family?”

The priest, looking at Gu Yi, who was waiting for affirmation, couldn’t help but laugh: “What are you doing? Waiting for me to announce the answer like in a quiz show?”

She stared into his affectionate eyes, falling into the scene. Perhaps because she was used to Liang Daiwen’s emotionless face, seeing such eyes made her feel somewhat sad: “But I like him, so I want to do something for him. It seems like he has never been loved.”

The lines weren’t in the script at all, and the boy was also surprised. He quickly understood but didn’t show it: “I understand. Then, do you have any wishes?”

“I want to make money, buy a new house, get a raise, and win the love of someone who seems impossible...”

The air fell silent. His affectionate eyes flashed for a moment before calmly saying: “What are you talking about?”

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself when I saw you...”

“Are you nervous when you see me like this?”

Gu Yi finally realized she was still in the escape room. She felt so unworthy—just because the NPC was handsome, she treated him like a wishful thinking pool! Staring directly into his eyes, the boy blushed from the gaze: “You can leave now.”

“Do you have someone you like?” Gu Yi leaned closer to the wooden door, growing more and more upset. These eyes must have many stories behind them, right?

“No.” The wooden door slowly closed.

Gu Yi walked out sadly. The four people sitting in the reception room looked at her: “Your expression doesn’t seem like you’ve seen a ghost at all.”

She looked at Liang Daiwen’s indifferent face, feeling the contrast strongly, and felt a wave of sadness in her heart. Gu Xingxin went off to do a solo task, quickly adapting to the dark and accustomed to the fear. She walked faster than the others. After two minutes, they met again. She shook her shoulders and returned: “Liang Daiwen, I mentioned you to that female ghost, and she even laughed, what’s going on?”

The four of them went downstairs, as the game seemed to be coming to an end. Gu Yi kept following Liang Daiwen and didn’t expect to get too close to him. Liang Daiwen noticed her unusual behavior and coldly asked: “Are you okay?”

“No...”

Liang Daiwen extended two fingers and gently pushed the corner of her mouth: “Smile.”

She had taught him that!

The scene on the first floor was very eerie. In the final hall, the boy from earlier was acting with the female ghost, just one mechanism away from escaping. Surrounded by darkness, Gu Yi found the key to open the fuse box, noticing that the latch on the fuse box seemed unusually large. The intercom crackled: “Now two people need to complete a task, please Kang Yong and Yang Juan enter the church.”

Was there a couple task?

Gu Yi and Liang Daiwen fumbled in the dark, finding each other. They followed the red nightlight arrows into the church. The so-called church was only a small room of about three or four square meters, with three rows of white benches, and a row of pure white plastic roses under the light. At first glance, it looked more like a mourning hall than a church.

No NPC appeared to play the priest, and instead, the sound system played a deep female voice from the wall, saying, “To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer…”

The accent was peculiar. Gu Yi thought this setup was really down-to-earth. In the eerie environment, everything in the mansion had a local touch, even the priest’s English had a rustic flavor. To avoid being scared by the female ghost, she leaned close to Liang Daiwen: “I never thought an escape room could have this. Does God know this room is decorated like a ghost marriage?”

“I don’t know if God knows, but with that Indian accent, God wouldn’t bless us with eternal love.”

Gu Yi, amused by his sudden remark, had a strange thought: If she said “I do” in this haunted escape room, would it count as a marriage? She heard God’s voice through the broadcast asking, “Yang Juan, do you take this man to be your husband, to love, honor, and cherish him, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, and forsaking all others, until death do you part?”

At that moment, she could pick apart a thousand things wrong with this sentence, but she was almost feeling pious with the wedding music: “I do.”

Now, would Liang Daiwen say “I do”? Damn it, as long as he said it, even a ghost marriage would be fine!

God sent the same question to Liang Daiwen: “Do you take this woman to be your wife, to love, honor, and cherish her, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer…”

Waiting eagerly for Liang Daiwen’s answer, the electric rod buzzed again, the lights in front of the roses went out, and the female ghost, not knowing when she had arrived, suddenly screamed, banging on the windows and smashing the benches. Gu Yi was so scared she tripped on her right foot, her shoe half slipping off, and she screamed, “My shoe! My shoe!”

Liang Daiwen didn’t hear her at all. Gu Yi finally understood: This kind of person either doesn’t get into character or does so in a way that he becomes more focused than human. Life with him would turn absurd—not a comedy actor, but better than one.

From the office to the county committee building to the hospital, they ran through a tiny corridor. Liang Daiwen protected her in his arms. She heard him crash into the doorframe and knock over a lightbox, completely unafraid but determined to keep her safe…

A robot set with 0 emotional settings, walking calmly through the terrifying, dark environment—he could just stand still and let the ghost scare them. Now, he was desperately running to protect her, all for the game’s experience…

At this moment, they reached the end of the path. Liang Daiwen calmly said, “This should have been the road leading to Kang Yong’s house, but the mechanism has been altered to a blocked wall.” The sounds of the female ghost and the electric rod were getting closer. Liang Daiwen spoke to the female ghost, “Don’t electrocute her, electrocute me. You can electrocute me however you want.”

The electric rod was still sizzling. Liang Daiwen reached out to block it, his hand brushing against it. Reflexively, he flinched and frowned. At that moment, Gu Yi saw it—he wasn’t a robot. He had flesh and blood and could feel pain...

The female ghost smirked with a twisted smile, “Did you really think you’ll be happy? The road ahead is long, and no one will bless you…”

“It doesn’t matter if no one blesses us. I’ll protect her,” said Gu Yi.

Gu Yi was stunned.

Even the guiding signs in the dark lost their color. In the pitch-black environment, eerie music suddenly filled the air, and blue light shone from the ventilation shaft. Behind them, the secret door slowly opened, revealing Guan Xingxin and Yu Dule, hiding in a small room, one on each side of Lu Ming’s embrace. Liang Daiwen wrapped his arm around Gu Yi’s back to pull her away. The booming sound effects, like in a movie, came from behind, and the female ghost appeared in the ventilation shaft. The lights dimmed, and the next moment, she was on top of the refrigerator, then on the washing machine. As a huge crash and lights flared up in the fourth second, Liang Daiwen suddenly took a step to the left, causing Gu Yi to almost trip. What was he doing?

When the lights brightened again, the female ghost was right in front of Liang Daiwen.

Finally, the ghost revealed her face. Her makeup was terrifying, with blood-red gums and scars on her face that made it look like her face had been split in two by an axe. Liang Daiwen remained expressionless, standing face-to-face with the female ghost while Gu Yi, trembling behind him, felt her legs grow weak. Liang Daiwen was standing in front of her to shield her from the fright…

The female ghost had incredible agility, able to leap and climb as if in a 4D movie. This thrilling special effect seemed to be the climax of the Black Mansion. Gu Yi secretly opened her eyes. The dim lights on the floor flickered, and the final puzzle needed to be solved to get the key to escape. After being scared this badly, no more doors would open, and no NPCs would appear. Guan Xingxin hid behind Yu Dule, scaring him while he solved the puzzle. Yu Dule covered his head, shouting, “Sis, don’t…”

So weak.

Gu Yi hobbled, “Isn’t the clock the first thing to figure out? The clock has a huge belly, and it feels like there’s something inside.”

Behind them, a door cracked open, and the five of them huddled together. A tall, thin priest appeared in the doorway, gesturing to Gu Yi. Gu Yi was puzzled. This escape room seemed to offer a lot of perks. She straightened in front of Liang Daiwen, “Are you looking for me?”

The priest slowly reached into his robe and pulled out the shoe she had dropped. It seemed like this was directed by the off-stage director. The three others laughed, “Gu Yi, are you playing Cinderella in the Zhou mansion?”

Gu Yi felt utterly embarrassed, and Liang Daiwen walked over to take the shoe, “Are you the priest with the Indian accent?”

The priest turned and left without saying a word.

After solving the puzzle and restoring the clock’s movement, a hole appeared beneath the ventilation shaft. They needed a lever to open the door. Gu Yi had suspected the pull lever on the electric box was strange. Feeling around in the dark, she pulled the lever out and handed it to Lu Ming, “Is this the right one?”

They turned the lever, and the door slowly opened. It was the bartender from the third-floor bar, and they successfully escaped. The five of them returned to the bar and celebrated with non-alcoholic champagne, before being brought back to re-do the game. They were invited to perform an exorcism, but in reality, they were the offerings for the haunted house—a representation of five of the seven deadly sins. The other two sins were the female ghost and the priest in the confessional.

Due to Liang Daiwen’s misleading direction, everyone thought the priest had an Indian accent. Gu Yi couldn’t stand it anymore and said, “Liang Daiwen, are you jealous that he brought me my shoe?”

The other three laughed, making “oh” sounds. Lu Ming thoughtfully said, “Oh, he’s the one who was scaring me earlier. He didn’t break character when he saw I was a man, his voice was so low.”

The bartender smiled knowingly, “Yes, he’s our most famous actor here.”

Gu Yi glanced at Liang Daiwen’s hand, noticing a small crescent-shaped mark on his thumb. She pointed at it, “He got shocked.”

“Sorry about that. Actually, the female ghost won’t touch you unless you move, so if you stay still, they’ll be scared too. Earlier, this gentleman was doing his task alone, and the ghost was scared by him. She said he seemed like a strange person who calmly listened to her sob story, then smiled and comforted her. That smile was even more frightening than hers…”

Who else could it be but Liang Daiwen? Just as she was still feeling sorry for his thumb, Gu Yi laughed, slapping her thigh. Liang Daiwen simply replied, “This non-alcoholic champagne is really just Guangdong herbal tea with baking soda, right?”

The five of them left the escape room and walked into the cold wind. Lu Ming took off his jacket and draped it over Guan Xingxin. She happily let her hair be blown in all directions, “This time, I learned something big in the escape room: Yu Dule peed his pants.”

“I didn’t! It was the water pipe! Stop saying that, I’m freezing with these wet pants.”

But Guan Xingxin squeezed her way into Yu Dule’s side, their oversized coats pushing them together, “But the way you begged for mercy when you were scared was so cute. Escape rooms are all about ‘babying’ you.”

Lu Ming just smiled at the two from behind.

Gu Yi, completely forgetting her own intentions for physical contact, stood there in the cold wind. She couldn’t shake the feeling that it was her comment “don’t come near me” that made Liang Daiwen keep his distance. Feeling uneasy, she chased after him a few steps, “Hey, Liang Daiwen, I was just joking at the bar earlier, you can come closer, I don’t have poison.”

“Oh.”

“Did you mean it when you said you’d protect me?”

Liang Daiwen replied, “When did I say that?”

Damn it! She’d been played! Just as she was about to explode, she saw the actor and crew members walking out from the haunted house, their night shift done. A tall, thin figure in black appeared, and Gu Yi said, “Wait a minute, I’ll go say hi to that priest.”

Liang Daiwen’s voice was filled with dissatisfaction, “Why are you going?”

“He knows my secret. I need him to keep it quiet.”

This made Liang Daiwen even more hostile, “A stranger can strike at your sore spot?”

Had his tone become more varied? Was this jealousy? Was it the rivalry between handsome men feeling the sting of love?

Gu Yi felt a little pleased but didn’t pay attention to him, just running toward the boy. The boy stood in the wind, his black curly hair gently swaying on his forehead. He looked just like a character straight out of a comic.

“Do you need something from me?”

“You… acted really well.” Gu Yi thought for a while before saying, “You represent the sin of ‘envy,’ don’t you?”

The boy nodded, his eyes filled with a mischievous smile. There was something naturally flirtatious about him, making Gu Yi feel a bit restless. “You really are a born actor.”

“I’m not the protagonist in your story.” The boy with black curly hair pointed toward Liang Daiwen in the distance. “It’s him, right?”

Gu Yi smiled and nodded. “Let me tell you a secret, he doesn’t smile.”

The boy was not surprised. “Who would willingly smile if they aren’t moved?”

Gu Yi’s heart skipped a beat. “Will I see you again next time?”

“Today is my last day on the job.”

“Then, what’s your name?”

The boy politely and restrainedly avoided the question. “If it’s meant to be, we will meet again.”

She had wanted to invite him to a comedy show and make a friend, but decided against it. Gu Yi smiled. “If fate allows, we’ll meet again. You’ll definitely find someone you like too.”

The boy’s eyes flickered for a moment.

In February 2018, during the late spring chill, Gu Yi ran against the wind toward Liang Daiwen, who was wearing a black trench coat. The boy behind her might have been watching, or maybe not. Liang Daiwen’s gaze did not land on her; instead, it was directed toward the old house and the boy in the distance. The cold wind tightened the corners of his mouth, giving him an air of hostility.

It was the first time Gu Yi saw a subtle expression on Liang Daiwen’s face.