Chapter 88 The shock is over, you won’t cry anymore
After he finished speaking, Zhu Yingning felt a strange feeling in her heart, as if she had accidentally knocked over a pot of warm water. The warm water flowed into her heart. It wasn't hot, but she could still feel the temperature that was very different from that of the human body.
However, this strange feeling didn't last long before it was broken by someone else present. Zou Hao glanced down at his watch and reminded them, "We need to leave quickly, otherwise we won't have time to complete our tour of the Temple of Heaven."
"Temple of Heaven?" Zhu Yingning murmured in confusion.
"Yes, we are going out to play for a day today." Wu Bo pulled her up.
Later, looking back at the photos Zhu Yingning took at the Temple of Heaven, she mostly looked dull, her smile dull, even her joyful emotions dull. Her lips pursed, dimples faint, her canine teeth visible, her eyes narrowed to the point of near-miss. There was a certain simplicity about her that didn't excel at still shots, yet everyone encouraged her to stand in the middle, and so this simplicity was faithfully captured by the camera. The sky was vast, the scenery vast, and the people small. In the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, on the Circular Mound Altar, by the Echo Wall. They were such a small group, like a few ants, so tiny that even their expressions required a magnifying glass to discern. Yet, they weighed heavily on her memory.
The photos inside KFC were much more relaxed. Guo Yingying realized she wasn't good with a fixed camera, so she simply forgoes posing and opted for candid shots. So, as the entire KFC blared "Happy Birthday," her flattered expression was captured by the camera. The same expression was captured when she received the toy from the children's meal, when the birthday cake was brought out, and when Sun Mingyuan unexpectedly smeared cream all over her face while she was making a wish.
Sun Mingyuan even urged her to go on the KFC slide. Although she didn't understand why, she could tell the people playing and laughing there were all children, so she said shyly, "...I don't want to."
"Hey, go ahead!" Sun Mingyuan urged her on like a duck, and he took the lead by shamelessly sitting at the end of the slide, causing several children playing nearby to look at him curiously, "Look, I'm sitting on it, it's very simple, no big deal." After demonstrating, he wanted to stand up, but his butt was too big and got stuck on the slide. He couldn't pull it out for a long time.
Xu Sirui almost convulsed with laughter and motioned to Guo Yingying, "Take a picture quickly."
Sun Mingyuan's ugly behavior was recorded clearly.
In the afternoon, they went to the escape room. Zhu Yingning had never played one before, and even after listening to Wu Bo and Guo Yingying's explanations, she still had a vague understanding of it. Meanwhile, the boys were checking the activities Xu Sirui had booked in advance.
As soon as Sun Mingyuan saw the project introduction, he couldn't help but exclaim: "What the hell is this? The disappearing homework books - the homework books of all the students in Class 2 (6) of Senior High School have mysteriously disappeared. As the student on duty, you are responsible for tracking down the whereabouts of the homework books... Friendly reminder, this project is lit throughout, the horror level is zero stars, and the decryption difficulty is four stars. What the hell is this? It's not scary at all! Is this for elementary school students?"
Xu Sirui defended himself calmly, "The purpose of playing an escape room is to solve a mystery. Why does it have to be scary?"
Sun Mingyuan hissed at him: "Tsk—I don't think you dare."
"I'm doing this to take care of the girls." Xu Sirui said righteously.
"Yo yo yo~ Are you trying to take care of girls? Bullshit! I don't believe girls would be scared."
Sun Mingyuan first asked the front desk staff if he could change to another game. The staff member said that the only game left was "Zombie Island," which had a five-star horror rating and a four-star puzzle difficulty rating. It had lights on throughout the game, and staff members dressed as zombie NPCs would come out to catch people. Anyone who was encountered by the NPCs would be eliminated early. He perked up when he heard that, holding a notebook, and walked over to the girls, asking them which one they wanted to choose.
After reading the title and introduction of "Zombie Island," Guo Yingying made her decision without hesitation: "I want "The Disappearing Homework Book."
"Are you scared?" Wu Bo raised his eyebrows in surprise. He turned to Sun Mingyuan and said loudly, "I'm not afraid. I want to play Zombie Island."
This gave Sun Mingyuan a headache. On the one hand, he wanted to high-five Wu Bo and praise his taste, but on the other hand, he didn't have the heart to scare Guo Yingying. The two were at an impasse, so he had no choice but to look at Zhu Yingning: "What about you?"
"I..." Zhu Yingning was about to say anything, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see Guo Yingying looking hesitant, her brows knitted into knots, clearly genuinely frightened. Considering that non-scary activities are accessible to everyone, while scary ones can leave a psychological scar on those who are afraid, Zhu Yingning softly changed her tone and said, "I'd rather play 'The Disappearing Workbook'..."
Wu Bo and Guo Yingying looked at her at the same time. Guo Yingying's eyes were filled with relief, while Wu Bo's were filled with disbelief and disappointment. "Ah? Aren't you very brave?"
Zhu Yingning could only smile awkwardly.
Sun Mingyuan scratched his head: "Why don't I ask other people."
Zhu Yingning had originally thought Zou Hao would also choose "The Vanishing Homeworkbook," but he surprisingly chose "Zombie Island." His reasoning was, "The puzzle difficulty is the same, four stars, so the one with the lights on and a higher scariness rating is definitely the harder one overall. Since we're already playing, how can it be called a puzzle if we don't choose a more difficult one?"
Wu Bo waved his fist excitedly. "Squad Leader, this is the first time I've seen you so well."
Two to two, only Sun Mingyuan and Xu Sirui had their opinions left.
After all, he was still a teenager. No matter how much he took care of the girl, he couldn't resist his playful heart. Sun Mingyuan glanced away, not daring to look at Guo Yingying, and said vaguely, "Well... I think 'Zombie Island' is pretty good."
Guo Yingying was about to cry, and subconsciously looked at Xu Sirui, the only one who did not express his opinion. Zhu Yingning also gave him a look without any expression.
But unfortunately, they don’t know Xu Sirui as well as their childhood friend Sun Mingyuan.
Sun Mingyuan simply said, "It's okay, Brother Xu. Take your pick. If you're scared, let's go play 'The Vanishing Homework Book.' With so many of us, we're definitely going to prioritize the feelings of the scared person. Everyone's very understanding." Xu Sirui took the bait and said nonchalantly, "Who's scared? Zombie Island is Zombie Island. I don't care."
Zhu Yingning: “…”
He's obviously afraid of the dark and ghosts. Will he die if he's honest?
In the end, the minority was defeated by the majority, and the project was finalized as "Zombie Island." Zhu Yingning leaned over to Guo Yingying's ear and said, "If you don't want to play, I can stay outside with you. You don't have to go in." Guo Yingying shook her head and sighed, "Forget it, let's play. You see, this project requires at least six people. If the two of us don't join, the others won't be able to play. How disappointing!"
Before she could finish her words, Sun Mingyuan came running over like a monkey and flattered her, "Don't be afraid, goddess. I'll protect you when we get in later. I promise those zombies won't even touch you."
Guo Yingying forced a smile and didn't respond.
The staff asked them to leave their phones and watches with lights in their lockers and gave them an electronic candle that was almost useless. The light it produced was barely enough to illuminate a palm-sized space. Since Guo Yingying was the most afraid, the candle was naturally given to her.
Everyone lined up in a long queue, put on blindfolds, held walkie-talkies, and were led into the first secret room by the staff in a daze.
The secret room was dank and damp, with an unexplained eerie soundtrack playing. The people ahead of Zhu Yingning were taken away one after another by the staff, and she was eventually locked in a separate room. She was wearing a blindfold, unable to see where she was. All she heard was the crisp, sharp click of the lock closing.
Two minutes later, the staff said to them through the intercom: "The game has begun, you can take off your blindfolds, and I wish you a safe and happy escape."
When I pulled off the blindfold, it was still pitch black all around.
Xu Sirui spoke first: "Who has the candle? Light it up."
"Oh, yes! Goddess, are you there? Please turn on the candle."
"I'm... turning it on." Guo Yingying's voice was a little shaky. "It's so dark in here. I can't find the candle switch."
Zhu Yingning felt around and comforted her, "It's okay, take your time. I feel like I'm locked in a prison cell, surrounded by iron bars. I can stretch my hands out, but I can't get out. How about you?"
"Me too." Wu Bo said.
Others followed suit.
Guo Yingying finally turned on the electronic candle, but unfortunately it only barely illuminated her face, which was suspended in the air like a ghost face, and scared her cellmate Zou Hao in the prison opposite her.
"First, take a picture of what's in your own prison, and then describe it to us clearly." Zou Hao pushed his glasses and gave the order.
"Oh, okay." Guo Yingying took the electric candle and walked around the prison. "It's very small here. There's nothing here. There's only a lock hanging on the door, which needs a key to open it... Oh! I saw a key on the ground." She picked up the key and tried to insert it into the keyhole, but it wouldn't go in at all. "It's over. This key won't open my door."
At the same time, Sun Mingyuan also found a key on the floor of his prison. He tried to open the door with it, but it also didn't work. "Fuck! I can't open it either. What's going on?"
Others also found the key on the floor of their own prisons.
"Maybe the key doesn't open your prison door, but someone else's." Xu Sirui spoke faster than usual. "Check your prison to see if it has a number, and then check if there's a number on the key. If there is, the key with the corresponding number should open the prison door with the corresponding number."
Guo Yingying shone a candle and said in despair, "There's no number on my key." She then shone it on the prison door, "There's no number on the prison door either."
Wu Bo was close to her and held out his keys to her through the iron fence, but he also didn't see any marks on the keys.
Zou Hao reasoned, "Maybe the keys were distributed randomly. They need to be thrown to each other and randomly tried to see which key can open which door."
"...This is too stupid." Xu Sirui wanted to curse the rules of the game. "How long will it take to try these permutations and combinations? Whoever designed these rules must be crazy."
At this time, Wu Bo weakly interrupted, "Everyone, I think we need to move quickly... because..." She swallowed, "I just found a secret door in the back wall of my prison. It can't be opened from our side, so it must be opened from the outside. I think this is the passage for the zombies to come in. You can feel around your own back walls to see if there's one. It's very likely everyone has it."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the secret room fell silent.
In the dead silence, Sun Mingyuan was the first to speak. "Fuck... I actually have a secret door here. Hurry up, hurry up, holy shit! We need to speed up the process. Who throws the key to whom first? Oh, right, throw all the keys to Guo Yingying first. She has candles, so it's easier to locate. And if she finds it first, she can get closer and light the way for the rest of us."
Everybody agreed, and for a moment all that could be heard was the clattering of keys. If you listened carefully, you could hear faint sobs.
Wu Bo leaned over and said, "Really? Why are you crying? Come on and try the keys! We threw them all to you!"
"I don't want to cry either! But I'm really scared..." Guo Yingying squatted down to pick up the keys while crying. She picked up one tremblingly and tried to insert it into the keyhole with trembling hands. However, she tried several times and couldn't aim it at the keyhole because her hands were shaking too much.
Wu Bo quickly lost his patience. "How long are you going to keep trying like this? Give me the key. I'm quicker than you. Let me try!"
Guo Yingying could only throw a few keys to her first.
Sun Mingyuan was next to Wu Bo. Seeing her successfully open the door after trying twice, he was ecstatic and instantly forgot what he had just said, "Give the key to Guo Yingying first." His eyes lit up and he said, "Hey, hey! Wu Yifei, throw me a few keys too, quick!"
Wu Bo threw the other keys he had to Sun Mingyuan.
Zou Hao on the other side was quite speechless: "You guys are messing up everything like this."
"Who cares? As long as it works." After trying a few times, Sun Mingyuan finally got it working and shouted, "I got it working too!"
Zou Hao immediately changed his words: "Give me the key."
"No, I want to give it to the goddess first." Sun Mingyuan held the key and planned to give it to Guo Yingying first. At this moment, the spooky background music in the secret room suddenly stopped, and was replaced by a low growl of zombies, slowly approaching them.
Zou Hao's voice became urgent: "Give me the key quickly! After that, you and Wu Bo should figure out how to escape from the first secret room first. Don't dawdle!"
Sun Mingyuan was stunned by his yelling and unconsciously handed the key to him. He and Wu Bo began to explore the open space outside the prison.
The first secret room is square in shape, with a row of prisons in the north and south directions, with three rooms in each row. Sun Mingyuan, Wu Bo and Guo Yingying are in the north row, and Xu Sirui, Zhu Yingning and Zou Hao are in the south row. There is a corridor between the two rows of prisons. Sun Mingyuan and Wu Bo found a tightly closed door on the west side of the corridor with a combination lock hanging on the door, which was obviously the exit of the first secret room.
While the two of them were busy looking for the password, Zou Hao was trying the key.
He tried the three keys he had but couldn't open it. He looked at Guo Yingying and said, "Do you have another key? Throw it to me!"
"Yes, I have one..."
"That must be my key, throw it to me!"
Guo Yingying threw it over, but unfortunately her grip wasn't strong enough and the key fell into the corridor.
Zou Hao cursed for the first time, yelling for Sun Mingyuan and Wu Bo to come and pick up his keys. Zhu Yingning said, "Give me the three keys you have first." However, Zou Hao ignored her and continued to shout at Sun Mingyuan and the others. Sun Mingyuan and Wu Bo were so engrossed in finding the password, they casually said, "Wait! Wait!" The zombies' roars grew closer, sometimes to the south, sometimes to the north, and sometimes right next to them. Guo Yingying cried even harder across the street. Xu Sirui remained silent for a long time, and it was unclear whether he was still alive or frightened to death. The scene was extremely chaotic.
Zhu Yingning held her forehead and saw that Zou Hao had completely lost his mind and would not listen to her. She had no choice but to call Guo Yingying first and ask her if she had a hairpin. If so, she would throw it to her.
Although Guo Yingying was crying, she was still able to listen to what was said. She tremblingly took off her hairpin and threw it in her direction. The hairpin was a common black wire hairpin that Guo Yingying used to fix loose hair. It was very light, much lighter than a key, so this time she threw it at Zhu Yingning's feet without much effort.
Zhu Yingning bent down to pick it up, bent the wire into a suitable angle, inserted it into her keyhole, and twisted it lightly.
With a click—
The lock is open.
Zou Hao was surprised when he heard the sound of unlocking: "How did you get out?" Zhu Yingning did not answer, but walked out of her prison, picked up the key that fell on the corridor and threw it to him, then walked to Guo Yingying and opened her lock with wire.
Guo Yingying was stunned and instinctively took a step closer to her, grabbing her clothes tightly.
Zhu Yingning brought her to Xu Sirui's prison and also used wire to pry open his lock.
Xu Sirui's eyes were blank, as if he was in a daze, or as if his soul had left his body. Only when he heard the click of the lock being unlocked did he regain his composure and walk out with his hands and feet together.
Zou Hao also came out, and the four of them walked over to Sun Mingyuan and Wu Bo. Zou Hao moved forward and worked on the code with them, while the two cowards stood behind Zhu Yingning like guards, looking around suspiciously.
Two beeps.
The combination lock opened.
"It's open, it's open!" Sun Mingyuan shouted excitedly, threw the lock away and pulled the door open with force.
Just when everyone thought that the next scene to appear before their eyes would be the second secret room, a hideous and bloody zombie face poked in from outside the door and directly appeared in front of Sun Mingyuan who was standing in the front.
After a second of silence, screams broke out one after another.
Not knowing who was shouting, Zhu Yingning's head was buzzing from their shouting. She grabbed Xu Sirui and Guo Yingying who were standing next to her and dragged them to a nearby prison, slamming the door and locking it.
With a click, the roaring zombies chasing in were perfectly isolated outside.
She was just trying to attract the zombies' attention to buy time for the others to hide in the prison when she was hugged by someone. She turned her head and saw it was Guo Yingying, who was hugging her and crying loudly.
Zhu Yingning didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He freed his right hand, patted her back, and said in a gentle voice, "Okay, don't cry."
After comforting him, he realized that his left hand was a little painful. He looked down and found that Xu Sirui had pinched it tightly. He glanced up along his arm and saw a pair of tearful eyes. His thick lower eyelashes were moistened by the tears and looked crystal clear, like butterfly wings wet by a rainstorm.
She cried like a beautiful woman with tears streaming down her face.
“…”
The corners of her mouth twitched, and she patted his shoulder with her backhand, suppressing the urge to burst out laughing and said, "Okay, don't cry anymore."
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