Chapter 24 Escape Room (2)
When Lin Qing and Lin Hong returned, Zhang Mo was alone in the dressing room looking at the line graph of scream decibels.
Zhang Mo looked up at the two people at the door, a faint smile playing on her lips: "Not bad, five guests, and you scared three of them to tears."
Actually, that's not all; it's said that even some of the staff watching the surveillance footage were so frightened they cried.
Zhang Mo was smarter; she stayed in the dressing room and didn't go out, thus avoiding any unnecessary trouble for herself.
Lin Qing looked somewhat lost: "Why didn't you let me gouge out their eyes? I could have made all five of them cry."
Lin Hong also felt regretful: "Exactly! Isn't it said that people in the entertainment industry are very willing to sacrifice for art? Can't they handle this? What happened to the saying 'No madness, no life'?"
"No madness, no life" is a core saying in the Peking Opera industry, emphasizing that artists must devote themselves to character creation with almost obsessive focus to achieve an artistic realm where the actor and the role are indistinguishable.
Zhang Mo: "...Give ordinary humans a way to survive."
Lin Qing and Lin Hong exchanged a glance, both seeing the grievance in each other's eyes, and could only sigh in the end, "(︿), okay."
"Sigh." Zhang Mo sighed, "What stage are the guests on the other side at?"
Lin Hong: "We've arrived at the east wing, the single-player horror mission location."
Lin Qing: "I heard from Master Lu that this level is the most terrifying."
.
The term "most terrifying" wasn't actually chosen by Lu Zheng, but rather by the production team during the first rehearsal, as unanimously selected by them.
Coincidentally, the five guests in the "adventure" team had acquired a skill called "spying" in a previous mission, which allowed them to learn about the difficulty of all the missions through the production team.
So, this most difficult task was naturally assigned to the male celebrity with the most courage among the regular guests.
The male celebrity's name is Li Zhe, a well-known actor and fitness enthusiast, famous for his daring and strong physique. He is known as the "King of Daring" on this show.
When he heard that this mission was the most terrifying, it didn't deter Li Zhe. Instead, it made his eyes light up. He rolled up his sleeves and headed towards the east wing: "The more exciting, the better. I'm afraid it won't be scary enough!"
The other guests, who had already been terrified by Lin Qing and Lin Hong, were trembling and saying things like "Good luck, Brother Zhe" and "Be careful, Brother Zhe."
Only Zhang Chenxiao shook his head with pity: You know nothing of the horrors our company can inflict.
.
When Li Zhe pushed open the door to the east wing, the creaking sound of the hinges was particularly jarring in the empty room, like someone grinding their teeth in his ear.
The room was at least five degrees colder than the yard. The cold wind made him wrap his jacket tighter. His gaze swept around—the wardrobe door was closed, the rattan chair in the corner was covered with a thin layer of dust, and only the dressing table in the center was lit by a dim yellow lamp. The light just circled the tabletop, like an invisible cage.
"That's it?" Li Zhe scoffed, walking fearlessly to the dressing table and sitting down.
The copper-framed mirror gleamed with a cold light, the fox pattern on the edge blurred by green rust, and the mirror surface was excessively clean, without a speck of dust.
The drawer was open, and inside were thick stacks of wooden puzzle pieces neatly arranged.
The pattern is very complex, uneven, and there are small grooves engraved at the joints. It is preliminarily speculated that it should be a talisman after being pieced together.
This was too easy for Li Zhe. He had no taboos and treated it as a very ordinary toy puzzle. He hummed a song as he started to put together the puzzle. His movements were so fast that he quickly completed half of it.
The room was quiet, save for his breathing and the clattering of the puzzle pieces. The shadow of the old locust tree outside the window cast a soft glow on the glass, like someone peering through the window, but he dismissed it as mere "atmosphere building," even wondering where the NPC might emerge from—
Is it in the wardrobe? Or under the table? Is it Bai Tianjiao or another guest?
The more he thought about it, the more interesting it seemed, and he quickened his movements.
Just as he was putting together one of the puzzle pieces, the puzzle in his hand was suddenly pulled by a huge suction force. Before he could let go, he was forcibly pulled toward the mirror!
Before Li Zhe could react, he subconsciously looked at the mirror in front of him and saw that he had turned into a "fox spirit": snow-white fox ears stood up on both sides of his cheeks, with "blood beads" on the tips of his ears; his lips were blood red, and the corners of his mouth were split to the roots of his ears, revealing sharp fangs; his green vertical pupils stared at him intently, and even the frequency of his blinking was exactly the same as his.
"Ah!" Li Zhe released the puzzle piece in his hand and sprang back. The chair leg scraped against the blue brick floor with a screeching sound. His heart rate instantly soared to 130, and the monitor beeped.
However, as soon as he moved, he realized that the "fox spirit" in the mirror was also moving along with him.
Thinking back to this episode, with the help of Zhang Mo, a tech expert, he quickly figured it out: "This shouldn't be a mirror, but a screen that has added scary special effects to me."
Li Zhe rubbed his cold cheeks, trying to cheer himself up: "It's okay, it's just a scary version of Meitu Xiu Xiu, nothing to be afraid of!"
As for the puzzle piece that had just been sucked away, Li Zhe rationally analyzed: "Was there something like a strong magnet inside the puzzle piece?"
Even the staff behind the monitor couldn't help but exclaim: "No wonder he's been a regular guest for five years, Li Zhe really has something going for him. His mental fortitude is amazing."
Once he figured it out, there was nothing to panic about. Li Zhe took a deep breath, walked back to the mirror, and waved to his reflection.
The "fox spirit" in the mirror, who had the same face as him, was also greeting him.
However, the makeup and atmosphere were too eerie, making even such a friendly gesture seem sinister.
"Haha." Li Zhe chuckled dryly. "I never thought I could look so terrifying. It's quite creepy to see it so often. Oh well, never mind, I'd better hurry up and finish the puzzle."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
