Chapter 92 Escape Room (Part 2) - Murder Mystery Game Ends...
People of all kinds wore the same smiles. Those without expression seemed to have been thrown into a furnace and turned to ashes, or perhaps they too had the same smiles painted on their faces. It was clearly a wedding, but there was no bride.
In the desolate mountain village, the overly pungent smell of pig's blood was already unbearable for some. They tried their best to maintain their composure. The closer you got to the house, the heavier the smell became. You could even see that the red silk had lost its flowing and lively appearance, and was stiff as if it had been put on pause.
“It’s all stained with blood.” Jason’s voice was full of certainty.
Hearing Jason's words, Enid was also puzzled. The environment here was too strange and out of place, completely different from the wedding scene she had imagined. They were laughing, but they were clearly crying. Enid frowned and expressed her feelings, a sentiment that Bruce agreed with.
"This was a hasty wedding that had to be held. Most importantly, I think Ms. Ophelia's purpose in inviting us was not as simple as a wedding."
Bruce remained calm and even asked them later if they could walk around the neighborhood. The woman in white said they could look around a little, but they had to be back in an hour.
"There are rules to follow at a wedding. First, you can't go empty-handed. Second, there must be guests, the groom, the bride, and the parents. Third, red is the color of the wedding."
Her stiff, halting voice spoke slowly, and then she left without hesitation. Enid paused, realizing she couldn't leave empty-handed. What was she supposed to take? She glanced at the two of them. Jason, arms crossed, noticed Enid's gaze and reached out to tap her forehead.
"The first thing they want us to do is bring gifts, which should be obtained from around here." Jason paused. "If I'm not mistaken, do we also need to help them find the bride and groom?"
This remains to be confirmed, as they didn't see a more conspicuous red house among the hurried crowd. "Let's look for the bride and groom first," Bruce said calmly. The other two nodded in agreement, and Enid followed Bruce excitedly, her steps light and quick.
But soon, their ease vanished, for they had searched every house in the area. It was as if the guards could look inside, but not inside—or rather, the doors were locked. Of course, this was easy for them; the two of them opened the doors with ease. Enid could sense that the guards showed no surprise whatsoever, as if they had no expression or eyes and were blind to everything.
There was nothing inside the door; everyone was outside, and the house was completely empty.
There was no bride, but it seemed there was no groom either. Perhaps they had found their parents; the names on the memorial tablets placed at the wedding site simply indicated their identities. Although there was no one in the house, there were books—books about gifts and books about ghosts and monsters. The gift book said that gifts were usually fresh fruit, and there just happened to be plenty of fruit on the trees outside, so climbing the trees would be easy.
But, we have guests and gifts, but what about the bride and groom?
"That's strange, why aren't there a bride and groom? Are we supposed to play them?"
“No,” Jason countered Enid’s conjecture, “it’s a trap.”
The book about ghosts contains information about substitutes, which easily leads to this connection. If I'm not mistaken, perhaps the bride is actually Lady Ophelia herself, and she needs a foreign companion to stay here in her place, and they are the best choice.
“Perhaps we should find out the cause of Ms. Ophelia’s death,” Bruce suggested, offering another approach.
Hearing Bruce's words, Enid's eyes lit up. Looking at him, Bruce smiled, patted Enid's head, and gave a brief explanation.
“This might be a murder. The layout of the house seems fine at first glance, but there’s a gap between the interior and exterior, with a secret room in the middle. Also, I just heard the sound of footsteps on the floor, so it’s not solid underneath…” Bruce gently explained some information about the house’s structure and the secret room.
Enid was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but applaud her father.
"That's amazing, Father! You're so amazing!" Hearing Enid's exclamation, Jason gave a light scoff, but didn't say anything to refute it, since what she said was true. He simply changed the subject quickly. "It's that most dilapidated house. Although the exterior structure looks broken, the building materials are excellent, even better than the village chief's house."
Enid felt a little happy, sensing that she was close to making progress, but she still felt that people weren't that bad, so she hesitated for a moment before slowly speaking.
"But perhaps, Ms. Ophelia simply wants us to take her home? Is that even possible?"
“Okay, that’s possible,” Jason didn’t argue. “Then let’s do it your way.”
After all, it's a game with 12 endings, so the competitive spirit wouldn't be ignited here. Jason readily agreed to Enid's suggestion, and Enid, having received Jason's affirmation, looked at Bruce. Bruce quickly nodded in agreement with Enid's opinion.
Enid smiled broadly, her eyes crinkling, her smile as warm and gentle as the Gotham sun – a perfectly sunny day.
As the basement door opened, as Enid's words and their resolve were conveyed to Ophelia, and as the blonde girl shed tears, a white light opened another door to the basement. All they could hear was Ophelia's weak voice, filled with overwhelming gratitude.
"The ceremony hasn't even started yet, and it's not over yet. You've come too early... It's too late for me; I have to go home. But thank you anyway for taking me home."
——"People who don't have time to go home"
When Ending 1 was unlocked, just as they had predicted, Ophelia's death was a complete accident, yet she was trapped thousands of miles away and unable to return home. The ending contained no information about the wedding, and the path down the mountain seemed to not exist, but they clearly saw it.
"Old man, this isn't working. I only got the most ordinary ending." Jason said with a slightly mocking yet relaxed smile. Bruce smiled back, feigning helplessness. Well, actually, neither of them was taking it too seriously.
Hearing their words, Enid hurriedly tried to explain, but when she realized that Jason was actually teasing Bruce, she wasn't too worried. Bruce, who was being teased by Jason, even teased back. Jason remained silent. Well, after all, they were the ones who helped Enid get to the end.
"No, this isn't about Father and Jason, it's about me! But next time we can get the true ending! Didn't Lady Ophelia mention some kind of ritual?"
In fact, Enid had to admit that they hadn't really put much effort into the game, as they had come with a relaxed attitude. Enid had also expressed beforehand that she hoped they wouldn't approach it with the same mindset they usually had when investigating, but rather with a normal mindset. So, this outcome was expected.
But once the competitive spirit is ignited, the next one will probably be the real ending.
“Clearly, this is related to some strange ritual, and there are probably places we haven’t been to yet, like the path down the mountain.” Jason thought about the environment he had just been in. Some parts of the scene were fake, but some parts were real. For example, part of the area outside the forest was actually a set, but coincidentally, the path down the mountain was real.
"So what we just completed was actually a side quest, right?"
“There’s a simple map in the village chief’s house.” Bruce had actually noticed it before; sometimes you don’t need to do it consciously, your brain will just start analyzing it subconsciously.
“Hmm, very good! These are all clues for next time,” Enid said as she walked out of the murder mystery building with them. The car was already waiting for them outside. Enid spotted Afu immediately and waved, “Afu, you’re here!”
"Yes, I came as soon as I received your message, sir. How are you? Sir, young master Jason and Miss Fia."
"Barely...not bad, I guess."
"I'm so happy, next time we can get the true ending!"
Once in the car, Enid happily began sharing parts of the murder mystery game plot. Jason leaned back in his seat and added details that Enid had missed. Naya, who had been hiding in her shadow, couldn't help but jump out when they got in the car and instantly landed on Bruce's head.
Bruce, who was listening to the children's conversation, reached out and touched Naya's paw, indulging the cat's little whims, and also condoning Enid's act of taking pictures of him with her phone.
“You have a real talent for photography, Fia.” Bruce picked up his phone, saw the photo on the family channel, and praised Enid’s talent in a relaxed tone.
"The photos are pretty good."
Jason reluctantly agreed, but he still saved the photo. Well, actually, Bruce saved it for himself too. Enid was a little happy. Naya, the cat who was perched on Bruce's head, became curious, flicked her tail, and swayed restlessly behind his shoulder. Seeing that they weren't paying attention to her, she obediently jumped off Bruce's head and onto his lap.
"Meow." She called softly.
Seeing Naya lying on Bruce's lap being stroked, Enid held out her phone to show the kitten a picture of herself. The kitten was surprised to see herself in the photo and even stood up, completely unconcerned that Bruce had caught its tail. Then Enid spoke up triumphantly.
“Isn’t he cool?” Cat understood the gist of Enid’s tone and raised her chin proudly. Then Enid’s unfinished words were played, “Um… of course I wasn’t talking about you, Naya.”
The cat, which had been so smug, froze for a second and curled up in a ball, looking aggrieved.
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Author's Note: Skip, skip, skip! Hmm, there's no need to go into detail about this plot, and I won't be going into detail about the rest either, hahaha.
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