The single door to the secret room was open, and the older boy who had led the way said to them, "We've arrived. You can go in now."
All that could be seen was pitch blackness, and the three boys who had been shouting earlier hesitated.
Nangong Yu: "It's so dark, I can't even see the road."
Qiao Xiangdong took two steps inside, "It's like a bottomless pit."
Qi Yu asked the older brother who was leading the way, "Isn't this supposed to be a scene from the Republican era? It just looks like a corridor."
The older brother replied, "The escape room is just beyond the corridor. If you're really scared, you can still get a refund now, but once you're inside, you won't have that chance."
The talkative duo had already walked some distance inside when they heard this and called out to them, "You guys are dawdling! We've already come this far, don't let us look down on you!"
Zhao Jiayan walked past Qi Yu and went inside, saying, "Who do you think you are! I'm not afraid of anything except needles!"
Qi Yu also looked at Lu Chuqing and Qu Fusang, "You girls go in the middle, I'll be at the back."
Lu Chuqing looked at Qu Fusang, the little girl holding her hand tightly, and moved inside step by step.
After everyone went inside, the small door was closed, and there was no way to go back; they could only go forward.
With their vision completely dark, it took them a while to adjust before they could barely make out each other's outlines.
Nangong Yu reached out and patted the wall. "This is too dark. Even an ambient light would be nice!"
The words had barely left their mouths when a sharp cracking sound came from above, startling the talkative duo so much that they blurted out, "Holy crap!"
Zhao Jiayan chuckled mockingly, "You're already this scared before it even starts, you coward."
Nangong Yu: "I was caught off guard!"
Qiao Xiangdong: "Exactly! It's so dark, who would have known it was making a sound from above?"
Zhao Jiayan: "Being timid is being timid! Explanations are just a cover-up!"
Amidst the three arguing, another hissing sound came from above, followed by a hoarse, aged voice.
"Welcome, explorers, to the Republic of China-themed escape room—Who Picked My Rose...?"
After the sound rang out, the three noisy people instantly fell silent.
Qu Fusang held Lu Chuqing's arm tightly, listening to the sound echoing in the darkness.
"It was terrifying, it felt like someone was talking right next to my ear."
Lu Chuqing patted her hand to comfort her, "Don't be afraid, this is coming from the speakers, the volume is deliberately turned down a little."
"The scenes in the escape room are different, and each scene contains story clues. Only by finding the clues and solving the mystery can you get the password to the exit."
"Flashlights will be distributed to all players before the game officially begins. We wish all explorers a pleasant gaming experience!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a section of the wall behind Qiao Xiangdong suddenly bulged out. The boy yelled "Holy crap!" and jumped directly to Zhao Jiayan's side, startling Qu Fusang so much that she trembled as well.
Zhao Jiayan raised her hand and slapped him. "Are you sick? What are you yelling about? You've scared the ghost to death before it even comes out!"
"There's something sticking out of that wall!" Qiao Xiangdong was clearly startled, and his words were stammered.
After being inside for a while and their eyes adjusting to the darkness, the group looked up at the sound and discovered that the protruding object was a prop brick containing a flashlight.
Nangong Yu took a small flashlight, held it to his chin, and turned it on, illuminating his pale face. "You're scared like this?"
Zhao Jiayan went over and grabbed a flashlight, then distributed the rest to Lu Chuqing and the others, not forgetting to mock him, "You're such a coward, yet you have the nerve to laugh at others."
After saying that, he turned on his flashlight and walked forward first.
Lu Chuqing pulled Qu Fusang along, saying, "Let's go."
Nangong Yu, still in the same manner, deliberately changed his voice to scare Qiao Xiangdong, "Qiao~Xiang~Dong~I~looked~for~you~so~hard~~~~"
"Get out of my way!" Qiao Xiangdong shoved him aside and ran towards the three girls with a flashlight.
Nangong Yu took his expression as cowardice and was about to laugh when someone patted his shoulder from behind.
The moment he turned his head, a deathly pale face appeared, accompanied by a roar, which startled him so much that he jumped up on the spot.
"Damn it!"
Qi Yu laughed twice without trying to hide it, then walked past him and chased after the main group.
Nangong Yu took off after him, yelling, "You little brat, Qi Yu! I'll kick you when I catch up!"
The group chatted noisily as they walked through the corridor and finally arrived at the first scene.
What came into view was a chaotic and dilapidated opera house, with tables and chairs scattered about, microphones on the stage overturned, and curtains on both sides mostly fallen off. A white banner hung diagonally on it, with a few words written crookedly in red paint. The banner was half-rolled up, so it was impossible to make out what it said.
"Didn't you say there were clues? Let's look for them first." As Qi Yu spoke, Lu Chuqing and Zhao Jiayan had already begun their work.
"Phew!" Zhao Jiayan flipped over the nearest chair, the dust she kicked up making her wrinkle her face.
"The scene is quite detailed, with so much dust sprinkled on it."
Lu Chuqing had played escape room games in her previous life and knew the tricks all too well. She glanced at the overturned chair and said, "Did you guys notice? This chair is a different color."
Hearing her words, Qi Yu also noticed the difference: "Some of the chairs have red bases and rose patterns on the backrests."
Qu Fusang noticed something odd about the overturned chairs: "Only one of the overturned chairs had a red base; the others were all ordinary."
Upon hearing what his companion said, Nangong Yu casually picked up an ordinary chair and discovered numbers underneath it.
"Look! There are numbers under the ordinary chairs!"
Qiao Xiangdong punched him in the back, "Can't you keep your voice down? You're so jumpy."
Qi Yu, the action-oriented one, had already started flipping over the chairs, and then discovered that the numbers were used for sorting. After he shared this discovery, everyone started flipping over the chairs and sorting them as well.
"9...there is no 9."
After turning over all twenty or so chairs and arranging them in numerical order, it was discovered that one chair that should have the number "9" on it was missing.
A few people huddled together looking at the chairs arranged in order, unaware that something was hanging down from the stage behind them on a rope.
Lu Chuqing pondered for a moment before speaking, “In the opera house, the red chairs with rose patterns and the ordinary chairs with serial numbers represent people of different statuses. Obviously, the red chairs with rose patterns represent wealthy and powerful people.”
Qi Yu continued, "Now the red chairs have been flipped over, and the number 9 of the regular chairs is missing. Obviously, whatever happened here, these two are definitely connected."
Zhao Jiayan said admiringly, "Being good at studying makes a difference; she figured out the routine right away."
Qiao Xiangdong originally wanted to say a few words of praise, but he was poked twice on the back of his left shoulder.
Without turning around, he went straight to Nangong Yu on his left and said, "Why did you poke me?"
Nangong Yu looked completely bewildered. "Who poked you?"
Qiao Xiangdong blurted out, "If it wasn't you, then who was it? You're the one standing to my left!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the group fell silent.
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