Two maids carried the fruit platter out.

Just as Xiao Cheng was about to find a chance to leave when no one was around, a strange dizziness suddenly struck her. She looked at the pear in her hand that had instantly turned to powder, and before she could react, everything went black, and she completely lost consciousness.

A ball of light slowly emerged from the center of the pear.

Countless tentacled unidentified mediums emerged from the center of the light cluster, flamboyantly binding Xiao Cheng's limbs, like cold, sticky ghostly hands, pulling her deeper into the light cluster.

After an unknown amount of time, the white light finally dissipated, and Xiao Cheng gradually regained consciousness. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a completely unfamiliar environment.

This is a small living room, with long sofas placed against all four walls.

There were no windows; the only entrance was a wooden door in the northeast corner, which was tightly closed and secured with a heavy, bronze-colored metal lock.

The room wasn't brightly lit, but it wasn't dark either. A small light bulb shone in each of the four corners, casting a warm orange glow that even made it seem cozy.

At this moment, Xiao Cheng was sitting on the sofa furthest from the door on the south side of the room.

Less than 30 centimeters to her right sat another person, who was the only other person in the room besides her at that moment.

He's a very handsome man.

Xiao Cheng tilted her head and carefully examined the other person, following her heart.

His features were perfectly placed, giving him a rather aggressive look, but the light shining on the side of his face cleverly softened his cold appearance.

"Hello?"

She tried to take the initiative and greet the man, who she wasn't sure if he was a player.

The man turned his head and looked at the person who had suddenly appeared beside him. He didn't show any surprise. Instead, he responded to him in a very good-natured manner: "Hello."

His pupils were a deep, dark black, making them appear particularly profound, which made him look especially serious when he looked at others.

Then Xiao Cheng didn't know how to communicate with him, and the atmosphere became a little awkward for a moment.

Fortunately, their wait was not long, and soon other people began to appear.

First, there was a shy girl with double braids, and then a slightly older boy with a buzz cut. The two sat side by side on the sofa on the east side of the room.

The two must know each other; they were standing very close together, with the girl almost leaning on the boy's shoulder.

The two men who appeared on the sofa to the west were clearly brothers, with strikingly similar features. The older brother had a sour face and seemed to have a bad temper, while the younger brother was rather thin and appeared to be underage.

In the last spot, on the north-facing sofa, sat a woman in a suit who looked very sophisticated. She seemed to know the man who appeared first, and she nodded to him with a cold expression.

The other one is Fang He.

Seeing him appear, Xiao Cheng felt a little relieved. It seemed that coming here might not have been related to her being so rude as to eat a pear.

The elite woman approached and offered to switch seats with Xiao Cheng. Xiao Cheng readily agreed, sitting down next to Fang He and asking him in a low voice, "What's the situation now?"

Fang He, however, was equally unsure and simply shook his head slightly.

They waited there for a long time, but no one else appeared.

"It seems we are all the players who have survived until now. Why don't we get to know each other first?"

The elite woman spoke first, breaking the silence.

Her voice was the kind of cool, aloof goddess voice that's typical of wealthy heroines in novels; in a word, it was "noble."

Extremely expensive. Su Pei felt that anyone with less than a billion dollars in assets wouldn't deserve such a soothing voice.

The woman seemed used to giving orders; she sat on the sofa with her legs crossed, her hands casually folded above her knees.

"My code name can be temporarily set as Number One. This is my partner, you can call him Number Two."

The man who had spoken first then smiled and nodded to the crowd.

“In that case, number three.” The older brother pointed to himself, speaking succinctly, then pointed to his younger brother, who stood to the side with a blank expression, “My brother, number four.”

“We’re a couple. My code name is Number Five, and my girlfriend’s is Number Six.” The buzz-cut guy’s tone was surprisingly gentle. “She’s mute and can’t speak. I hope you can all be understanding. If you need anything, just come to me.”

The girl with the double braids blushed slightly and nodded shyly, as if in response to his words.

Then everyone's attention turned to Xiao Cheng and Fang He.

The elite woman looked at them knowingly: "You two are a couple too?"

Xiao Cheng: "..."

Fang He: "..."

The fact that they were paired up meant that the two of them, being alone, seemed quite out of place.

The elite woman's patience was clearly not very good. She got up from the sofa, walked a few steps to the wooden door, and tried to open the metal lock.

The result was naturally that they returned empty-handed.

"There's no key here, we're locked inside," Number Two reminded him.

"Wait a bit longer. This isn't an escape room, and it seems to have nothing to do with the storyline. They shouldn't lock us here for no reason and waste our time doing meaningless things."

"Hehehehe, I didn't expect to encounter something so interesting this time—"

Where is the smart person?!

A shrill voice, deliberately amplified by the loudspeaker, suddenly rang out. Then, accompanied by exaggerated background music, a crack slowly opened in the center of the ceiling, from which a…

A dazzling disco ball.

Colorful lights swayed and danced, shining on everyone's ever-changing faces. Coupled with the rhythmic drumbeats coming from the loudspeaker, the entire reception room instantly transformed into a giant disco.

Directly below the sphere, at the center of the intersecting colored lights, a dwarf's silhouette suddenly appeared.

The dwarf was less than a meter tall, wearing a large, bright red and green performance costume, and sporting a messy yellow wig.

He wore a half-white mask, and the lower half of his face was covered with thick, mixed-color paint. His lips were highlighted with purple pigment, and the corners of his mouth stretched all the way to his ears, forming a strange smile.

"Hello, guests!"

The dwarf, keeping time with the drumbeats, swung his limbs in exaggerated arcs: "As everyone has expected, I am your host!"

As soon as he finished speaking, thunderous applause rang out over the loudspeaker, making the reception room even noisier.

Xiao Cheng felt pain in both her eyes and ears.

Fortunately, the broadcast didn't last long, nor did the lights.

The dwarf may have gotten tired of jumping, or perhaps he had no one to have fun with, so he stopped, losing interest.

"The most important thing in life is to be happy. This is a trial ground that I have carefully arranged for a long time. Even the opening remarks were overturned several times before they were finally settled."

"Well then, in return, you all have to participate fully and play to my satisfaction, okay?"