Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 22

Approximately seven minutes ago.

He Xiaowei shouted, saying that he had found two bullets. After Gao Shan and Yun Xiangrong failed to find anything in Room 701, they went to the corridor to look, leaving Zhou Qian alone to search the room.

After seeing the bullets, Gao Shan noticed that Situ Qing raised her hand, holding a bell, and approached the door of Room 3.

She seemed to be constantly tapping and knocking in the corridor, checking every tile. Now, she was inspecting the gaps between every two rooms. Finally, she focused her attention on the doors of the 12 rooms themselves.

Approaching the door of Room 3, Situ Qing took a sniff and then asked, “Do you smell anything unusual?”

He Xiaowei was the first to respond, “Huh? What smell? All I can taste in my mouth is the stench of a corpse and cleaning agent… It’s so pungent. I won’t be doing this job again. I feel like throwing up!”

The door of Room 701 faced Rooms 12, 1, and 2.

Three corpses entered these rooms and died, respectively, and thus all were piled up on this half of the circular space.

So Situ Qing turned and walked to the other half of the corridor.

“I noticed that all 12 room doors have a strange smell. There are corpses here; if you can’t smell it, then come with me and sniff there. Actually, this clue I found… should be related to the side quest. Even though I don’t want to solve math problems and can give up the side quest at any time, it seems we’ve already found a way to clear the side quest, so let’s give it a try.”

He Xiaowei wiped his hands and, without hesitation, followed Situ Qing.

At this moment, Lu Mengmeng stood up, imitating Situ Qing’s actions, and approached the door of Room 3.

He gently held the door and carefully leaned his hand over. He made a sniffing motion and then said, “The cleaning agent on the floor is indeed very pungent, affecting our sense of smell. But my nose is quite sensitive, and the smell at this door is indeed different.”

Leaving Room 3, Lu Mengmeng went on to smell the doors of Rooms 4 and 5.

At this point, the fog in the corridor became a bit thicker. Gao Shan and Yun Xiangrong wanted to get a clearer view of Lu Mengmeng’s exploration, so they clasped their hands and followed.

Within those two minutes, the corridor hadn’t grown as long as it would later. The five individuals split up and quickly circled around Room 701 before gathering back at its door.

He Xiaowei blinked and said, “There seems to be a scent, quite different from cleaning agents. What do you all think?”

Lu Mengmeng confidently replied, “There is a smell. Every door has a strange odor.”

After discussing briefly, the dense fog started to thicken, and the corridor began to stretch, making the entire circular space grow larger.

At this point, footsteps could be faintly heard near Room 701’s door. He Xiaowei quickly inquired if Zhou Qian was coming out.

Zhou Qian responded, saying he wanted to check Room 7.

Upon hearing this, He Xiaowei immediately followed.

Once both of them moved away from the vicinity of Room 701, Gao Shan realized he couldn’t see them anymore.

The fog obscuring the view was unsettling.

With this thought, Gao Shan gripped Yun Xiangrong’s fingers even tighter. “Rongrong, be careful.”

Despite being so close, he could barely see her clearly and felt comforted only by holding her hand tightly.

Moments later, after discussing with Yun Xiangrong, the two followed Zhou Qian’s direction to see his results in Room 7.

During this, they could hear faint footsteps from behind, likely Lu Mengmeng and Situ Qing following.

In this order, with Zhou Qian leading, followed closely by He Xiaowei, and then Gao, Yun, Lu, and Situ, all six players moved in the same direction towards Room 7.

Due to the heavy fog, even though they knew it was harmless, the psychological burden on Gao Shan and the others increased significantly.

No one took any chances, and they all moved slowly.

Shortly after, while on their way to Rooms 6 and 7, Gao Shan heard Situ Qing’s voice.

The strange dense fog in the corridor seemed to muffle sounds. Even though Situ Qing was just a few steps away, Gao Shan had to focus intently to hear her clearly.

Logically, Zhou Qian should be nearby, but Gao Shan couldn’t discern if he had opened the door to Room 7 or if he had already entered, as he couldn’t hear any sound from Zhou Qian’s direction.

Situ Qing’s voice came in a distant, ethereal manner. “This is just the first side quest of the second-level instance. Actually, deciphering the so-called ‘pattern’ is quite simple. I feel that this whole floor is just full of smoke and mirrors—I suspect the method to pass through is directly written on the door.”

Yun Xiangrong’s voice rang in Gao Shan’s ears. “Do you mean… there are symbols on each door made with some chemical agent, and when the temperature rises or falls, words will appear on them?”

“This floor seems to be a mental space related to Jiang Yuqing. Isn’t Jiang Yuqing a scientist? I think this guess about the chemical agent matches his identity. Moreover, haven’t we all played escape room games? This is a very common trope. I can help you all out.”

As Situ Qing’s cold words fell, Gao Shan felt the sound of crisp bells ringing.

“Jingle jingle jingle…”

” Jingle jingle jingle…”

With the sound of the bells, the surrounding temperature suddenly dropped.

Snow suddenly began to fall in the corridor. Gao Shan spread his hand and watched a snowflake land in his palm, then melt away. However, he couldn’t see the other snowflakes clearly. As soon as they landed, they disappeared into the fog.

The temperature rapidly dropped, and soon after, from the direction of Room 6, faint sounds from Lu Mengmeng could be heard. Even though he wasn’t far away, the weird fog made the sound seem as if it came from the clouds.

Gao Shan, holding Yun Xiangrong’s hand, followed the sound and saw Lu Mengmeng standing in front of a door not far away. Due to the thick fog, only when they approached the door did Gao Shan realize that there was a symbol on it that hadn’t been there before—an “S”.

“I am an assassin, and I’m very fast. To save time, I will check all the rooms for you.” After saying this, Lu Mengmeng drew a short dagger, and in a flash, he disappeared from Gao Shan’s sight.

“He’s really fast,” Yun Xiangrong couldn’t help but exclaim. Just after she spoke, a shadow approached, stopping in place. To their surprise, it was Lu Mengmeng, who had returned. Although he seemed not very strong in attack and appeared weak in defense, holding the dagger made him move faster than Gao Shan and Yun Xiangrong could imagine.

Lu Mengmeng quickly said, “I found it! On the 12 doors, each door has a secret! Rooms 3 4 5 6 7 all have an ‘S’ on the door, and the other seven rooms all have a ‘7’. So, so…”

“I get it! Even though we haven’t found a specific clue related to status or the story plot, we can find the answer from the demonstrations of those three janitors!”

“Firstly, rooms 6 and 7 are definitely safe! Didn’t Zhou Qian say that Room 7 is safe? He’s going to Room 7! I just searched and didn’t find him, which means he’s already in Room 7, searching for evidence. But he didn’t die! So, Room 7 is safe, and so is Room 6!”

Lu Mengmeng’s voice became excited. “Rooms 6 and 7 are safe; their doors have the ‘S’… Since 3 4 5 6 7 all have ‘S’, but other rooms have ‘7’, we can infer from this that the squad with the ‘S’ rank is lower in status than the squad with ‘7’. So, 3 4 5 6 7 are safe rooms! Zhou Qian has already entered Room 7. Let’s go into Room 6 now!”

With that, in the fog, Gao Shan faintly saw Lu Mengmeng turn and head towards Room 6. He was about to push the door but hesitated and seemed to turn his head, possibly looking at Gao Shan. “I’m a bit scared on my own, how about we go together—”

“No, stop!” This voice was Yun Xiangrong’s. She said seriously, “This symbol on the door is strange, it’s definitely a trap!”

Not understanding his girlfriend’s meaning, Gao Shan immediately asked her, “What’s wrong?”

Yun Xiangrong explained the conditions set by the system for the players. “…So, Shan Ge, the safe rooms change. They can’t be constant. We need to find what will cause the gunman’s status to drop; only then can we solve the puzzle.”

“I see…” Gao Shan’s eyes sharpened, and he immediately took a step towards Room 6, saying in a stern voice, “Lu Mengmeng, stop! Don’t go in!”

“Ah, ah, oh… okay… so that’s how it is…”

From in front of Room 6’s door came such a voice from Lu Mengmeng.

After that, Gao Shan couldn’t hear anything.

Gao Shan felt that what Lu Mengmeng said was strange.

Logically, he almost died when he nearly entered Room 6; his voice should be filled with relief from having a narrow escape from death, or maybe filled with fear and afterthoughts. Yet, for some reason, Gao Shan sensed a hint of disappointment and hesitation in his words.

After this, for a long time, Gao Shan didn’t hear Lu Mengmeng speak again.

Concerned about his situation, Gao Shan, holding Yun Xiangrong’s hand, took a few more steps forward and saw the frail figure still in front of Room 6, which reassured him. He shouted, “Lu Mengmeng, are you okay?”

“Cough cough…” After a while, Lu Mengmeng’s voice came. “I’m fine! I was just pondering a question… If everything just said was a trap, then someone is plotting against us? Could it be that the S and 7 were drawn by someone?”

Hearing this, Gao Shan leaned close to Yun Xiangrong, their foreheads almost touching.

In the thick fog, at such a close distance, they could see each other’s eyes.

Their understanding was impeccable, and Gao Shan grasped Yun Xiangrong’s meaning—the one who plotted against everyone is probably Situ Qing. After all, she had been wandering the corridor from the beginning, had ample time to fabricate clues, and was the first to claim that there was a chemical smell on the door.

Gao Shan replied, “That’s probably it. Someone wants us dead.”

Then he heard Lu Mengmeng say doubtfully, “But… who is it? Who would do this? What is their purpose? But… regardless, I’ll look for clues. This space is getting bigger. You’re too slow. I still have MP, so leave it to me. I’ll quickly run around the corridor and check all 12 doors to see if there are any traces that reveal the identity of the plotter. Someone so malicious… I must find them!”

After saying this, Lu Mengmeng used his skill again; his shadow flickered and disappeared in front of Gao Shan.

Holding Yun Xiangrong’s hand tightly, Gao Shan frowned and said, “This is really strange. Why does Situ Qing want to kill us? What does she gain from killing everyone?”

At that moment, they heard a faint noise from the side.

However, as the entire space was continuously expanding, standing at the entrance of Room 6, they couldn’t immediately determine whether the sound was coming from the adjacent Room 7 or somewhere farther away.

Yun Xiangrong, sensing something, pulled Gao Shan in the direction of the noise and whispered, “Killing us doesn’t make sense; maybe Situ Qing is targeting Zhou Qian.”

Gao Shan frowned. “Why?”

Yun Xiangrong said, “Our game video can be seen by Rank S players and high-level gamblers. I believe we didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t know about He Xiaowei and Lu Mengmeng, so let’s not discuss them. But Dong Xiang’s death had something to do with Zhou Qian. Maybe someone hired the Rank C Situ Qing to kill Zhou Qian for revenge on behalf of Dong Xiang. Otherwise, why would she, a Rank C player who claims to have no interest in hidden instances, come here?”

“Right! That’s probably it! She wants to kill Zhou Qian!”

Gao Shan immediately became serious and pulled out his shield. “Zhou Qian wasn’t fooled by the traps she set on the doors. So, she might use direct force. Now, with this thick fog, it’s a good opportunity for her to act!”

“Jingle jingle jingle…”

“Jingle jingle jingle—”

The bell rang again.

Gao Shan felt Yun Xiangrong grip his hand tighter. “The previous snowstorm was a smokescreen by Situ Qing. Based on her previous actions, we might think her bell is continuing to lower the temperature using a skill. But her real intention is to kill with her skill. This is a bell that can kill!”

Listening to his girlfriend, Gao Shan felt the bell ringing all around; its continuous “jingle jingle” sound was so distracting that it could drive someone mad. Meanwhile, snow seemed to be gathering, forming a visible shadow in the fog.

After a glance at Yun Xiangrong, Gao Shan took her hand, and together they followed the sound of the bell and the snow, moving through the fog.

After a while, a massive snowball formed from the swirling snow, directly hitting the direction of a door. Approaching quickly, Gao Shan noticed a “7” carved on that door.

That was Zhou Qian’s room!

He should be searching for evidence inside right now.

The Ice Queen Situ Qing had unleashed a powerful attack on him; she was trying to kill him!

Thinking of this, Gao Shan released Yun Xiangrong’s hand and raised his shield with both hands. “I’ll rush into the room and unleash my power, helping Zhou Qian block some of it!”

“Wait, Shan Ge, I…”

Yun Xiangrong felt something was amiss, but her thoughts lagged behind her instinct. She couldn’t immediately articulate her concerns.

In truth, she couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.

No matter if the other rooms could be entered, Zhou Qian just said he entered Room 7. Room 7 should indeed be relatively safe…

“Rongrong, we need to save him. First, it’s in my nature not to stand by and watch someone die. Second, we genuinely need his help to move forward.”

Turning back to Yun Xiangrong with a smile, Gao Shan said, “Sorry, I’m not smart enough to guide you smoothly all the way to the end by myself. Fortunately, we met Zhou Qian. I believe he can lead us all the way, achieving hidden accomplishments, earning gold coins, and eventually… obtaining what you desire most.”

“Shan Ge…”

Yun Xiangrong’s eyes widened.

The next moment, a giant ice ball fiercely smashed towards the door of Room 7.

Fearful that the Ice Queen’s powerful attack would harm Yun Xiangrong, Gao Shan pushed her aside and quickly charged into Room 7 with his shield raised—

“Bang!”

The sound of a bullet firing.

……

Time rewound to that moment.

Zhou Qian quickly pulls open the door and looks to the side.

Through the dense fog, he vaguely saw a figure rushing out. The situation resembled that of the previous three cleaners. The shadow fell heavily onto the ground. What followed was an ear-piercing, heart-wrenching cry of despair from a woman, which sent shivers down one’s spine…

Without the time to identify the face of the figure, the combination of his silhouette and the despairing cry echoing in the corridor made Zhou Qian’s heart skip a beat. He roughly inferred what had transpired.

Reacting swiftly, his first action was to draw out the [Rib of God], utilizing the unique ability of this weapon.

Yun Xiangrong’s crying became incredibly elongated, but her pace towards Gao Shan never arrived.

The corridor, walls, and ceiling all began distorting in the thick fog, and both the corridor’s lengthening and the fog’s thickening became exceedingly slow.

Zhou Qian had decelerated the flow of time.

Everything was slowing down, including Gao Shan’s impending death. The blood from his gunshot wound almost stopped flowing.

Within this space, the only person seemingly standing outside of time was Zhou Qian himself.

His first move was to raise his left hand, enter the system’s trading interface, and attempt to contact Qi Liuxing.

He needed Qi Liuxing to send over the [Tick Tock Clock], which had the power to resurrect, to save Gao Shan.

However, after waiting for a while, there was no response from Qi Liuxing. Given that the ability of the Rib of God had a time limit, Zhou Qian quickly shifted his attention from the system and, clutching the bone in his hand, quickly approached Gao Shan.

Crouching in front of Gao Shan, Zhou Qian held one end of the Rib of God, placing the other end in Gao Shan’s hand.

In this way, Zhou Qian temporarily pulled Gao Shan out of the normal timeline.

Everything around them came to an almost complete standstill.

The only ones who could move and speak were Zhou Qian and Gao Shan.

Lowering his head and peering through the fog, Zhou Qian immediately saw the blood oozing out from Gao Shan. This color, which he despised so much, mixed with a strong scent of iron, made his temples throb uncontrollably.

Some restless element deep within his bones and blood, after repeatedly seeing blood and especially realizing it came from Gao Shan, seemed unable to be suppressed any longer.

The dense fog in front of him was no longer white but appeared blood-red.

Zhou Qian didn’t feel anger or sorrow, only intense irritation.

It felt as if millions of ants had crawled into his bloodstream, causing every nerve in his body to ache. He needed to vent this frustration forcefully.

Previously, when he fell ill in reality, it was always Li Xuehai who rushed over to inject him with a tranquilizer.

But now, inside the game, he didn’t have that tranquilizer.

He could only rely on himself.

Closing his eyes and forcing himself to exhale a long breath that tasted almost like rusty blood, Zhou Qian managed to suppress the surge of discomfort.

Then he quickly spoke to Gao Shan. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t grant you a quick death, making you suffer and talk to me through the pain. But I need to know what happened to you. Tell me everything. I’ll help you take revenge.”

Exhaling slowly, Gao Shan lay on the ground, one hand weakly holding the Rib of God that allowed him to stand outside of time. He spoke softly, recounting everything that had just transpired to Zhou Qian.

Then he said, “I was sure I went to room number 7, why would…”

Zhou Qian quickly looked behind Gao Shan.

The door there had closed again, and the number plate indeed showed a “7”.

But Zhou Qian knew he had entered the real “Room 7”.

The room Gao Shan entered was the deadly “Room 6”.

Someone had swapped the number plates for these rooms!

In that moment, Zhou Qian immediately understood what had happened.

He had previously suspected that Situ Qing had collaborated with someone. Now it seemed that person could only be Lu Mengmeng.

Situ Qing and Lu Mengmeng conspired to deceive Gao Shan and Yun Xiangrong, leading them to the so-called safe Rooms 3 4 5 6 7.

However, Yun Xiangrong was alert and wasn’t fooled.

So the two quickly changed their strategy.

Using the thick fog that obscured vision and affected hearing, and the rooms that changed position because the corridors kept lengthening, they swapped the plates of adjacent rooms 6 and 7, luring Gao Shan into room 6, where a gunman would shoot.

The faint, distant “jingle” sound was made by Situ Qing.

Yun Xiangrong had previously judged that Situ Qing was ringing the bell to kill Zhou Qian.

But she was wrong.

Situ Qing’s real intention was to simply distract Gao Shan and Yun Xiangrong, disrupting their sense of distance.

The fog and the elongated corridor, combined with the distant and near bell sounds, led Gao Shan and Yun Xiangrong to believe they had walked a similar distance in the fog. When they saw a room with a “7”, they didn’t doubt its authenticity and mistook it for Room 7.

The only one who could swap the numbers of these two rooms so quickly was the assassin Lu Mengmeng.

With his exceptional speed and the cover of the fog, he moved swiftly, swapping the numbers, making it incredibly hard to notice.

In the end, the two of them succeeded.

They successfully lured Gao Shan into what he believed was room 7, which was in fact room 6, where he was shot.

However, originally, Gao Shan and Yun Xiangrong wouldn’t have been deceived.

Deep down, Zhou Qian knew—the reason Gao Shan went to room 7 was to save him.

A brief pause in his gaze, looking through the bleeding Gao Shan, Zhou Qian seemed to see someone else.

Then, looking deeply into Gao Shan’s eyes with utmost seriousness, Zhou Qian said coldly, “Do you know what I hate most? Owing someone a life.”

Struggling to lift his head to look at Zhou Qian, Gao Shan sighed. “Zhou Qian, you said earlier… you would take revenge for me, but I don’t need it. This was my mistake. It has nothing to do with you.”

Zhou Qian stared coldly at him. “What? Even now, you still want to play the good guy?”

The agitation inside him was becoming unbearable.

Zhou Qian’s feelings about joy, sorrow, love, and hate were usually subdued, but now he felt a surge of irritation and anger.

If this continued, his condition might flare up again.

Staring intensely at Gao Shan’s eyes, Zhou Qian said through gritted teeth, “Most people in this world are villains. There are hardly any true good people. In my life, I’ve only met two genuinely good people. One was Bai Zhou, and the other is you.”

Earlier, what Zhou Qian had said to Zhi Liuxing was incorrect.

During the “Apple Paradise” instance, he did try to threaten Gao Shan and Yun Xiangrong with a deal. If they didn’t help, he would lure the cultists to them and let everyone die together.

But before he sent that message, he received one from Gao Shan.

Gao Shan said he was worried and had convinced Yun Xiangrong to help. They would be there soon.

At this moment, in this frozen time, even death seemed to have paused.

But Zhou Qian knew it was an illusion, like a fleeting dream.

Soon this brief pause would end.

And the inevitable death would eventually arrive.

Looking at Gao Shan, Zhou Qian said in a very hoarse and deep voice, “I’ve only met two good people in my life. But Bai Zhou is dead, and now you’re dying. It seems that in this world, good people die young, while the wicked live long. So I—”

Gao Shan interjected with a bitter smile, “So, you want to become one of those wicked ones?”

“Right.” Zhou Qian’s fingers clenched the Rib of God so tightly that his veins nearly popped. “So I want to become a bad guy, a villain. I…”

Gao Shan waved it off, immediately cutting him off. “Zhou Qian, I don’t need you to avenge me. Nor do I want Rongrong to seek revenge.”

“Thank you for buying me some time. Using this time, I’ll leave part of my gold and items for you and the rest for Rongrong…”

Taking a deep sigh, Gao Shan continued, “I’m giving you these gold and items to ask you a favor. Rongrong might seem gentle on the outside, but she’s more stubborn than anyone. You must persuade her not to seek revenge for me. Otherwise, I’m afraid she’ll go astray…”

Hearing this, Zhou Qian’s eyes went dark and deep.

After a moment, he stared at Gao Shan with emotionless eyes. “I’m afraid I can’t convince her. You’re right. She’s very stubborn deep down, and she’ll definitely seek revenge.”

Faced with his impending death, Gao Shan was calm.

But now, he became anxious.

Enduring the severe pain, he reached out and tightly gripped Zhou Qian’s wrist, almost trembling as he spoke, “You… You try to persuade her for me. I know you’re good at convincing people; you have a knack for it…”

“It’s impossible to try and convince Yun Xiangrong to give up on avenging you. So—”

Before Gao Shan could interrupt, Zhou Qian shifted his words, saying something that left Gao Shan stunned.

“Then, let her hate me.”

Zhou Qian said this emotionlessly.

He calmly continued, “Your and Yun Xiangrong’s analysis is wrong. For a scum like Dong Xiang, I don’t believe someone would set up such a scheme for revenge on his behalf. Or rather, someone of his caliber can’t afford to hire Situ Qing.”

“Situ Qing and Lu Mengmeng are eerily in sync, suggesting someone else might be pulling the strings.

“So, behind all this, there might even be an organization that’s best not to mess with.”

“Of course, regardless of the truth, the assassins were definitely targeting me.”

“You and Yun Xiangrong got involved because of me. If Yun Xiangrong tries to avenge you alone against such an organization, it’s very risky. So, I promise you, I won’t let her get involved.”

“First, Gao Shan, I’ll try to contact Qi Liuxing to get the ‘Tick Tock Clock’ to save you.”

“If that doesn’t work, I’d ask you to sleep a bit longer and wait for me. I’ll definitely make it to the end of this game and find a way to save you. In the meantime—”

In a tone that sounded utterly indifferent, Zhou Qian said, “Let Yun Xiangrong hate me and come after me.”

After a long pause,

The effect of the Rib of God wore off.

Time resumed its normal pace.

In a pool of blood, Gao Shan closed his eyes forever.

And the moment Zhou Qian pulled the Rib of God from Gao Shan—

A faint white shadow floated out of Gao Shan’s body, eventually being absorbed into the bone.

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Kinky Thoughts:

Well, they do say, nice guys finish last.

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