Chapter 41

Ruan Xiao’s signal still hadn’t connected. Xia Xiqing looked at the time on his notebook; there were only three minutes left until the first round of voting.

This one-on-one setup was really torturous. If the other party didn’t choose him, he would have no way of connecting the signal.

With two minutes remaining, Xia Xiqing turned off the red knob and selected the only blue knob.

What he never expected was that the moment the blue knob was turned, the static on the radio disappeared.

“…Zi Heng?”

“I’m here.”

His voice instantly calmed Xia Xiqing’s restlessness from waiting for Ruan Xiao. Xia Xiqing took a deep breath and said, “The vote is about to begin.”

“Hmm.” Zhou Ziheng’s voice was calm. “I hope no one is voted out in the first round. No one has figured out the situation yet, so voting rashly is too dangerous.”

Zhou Ziheng’s words were cautious yet friendly, which was also what Xia Xiqing had been thinking. He had originally intended to abstain in this round, but to be honest, abstaining also carried risks. If someone voted for him, he wouldn’t even have the chance to resist.

“Don’t abstain,” Zhou Ziheng suddenly spoke up, as if he could read minds, immediately discerning his thoughts.

Xia Xiqing furrowed his brows, abandoning the question of “How did you know I was going to abstain?” and instead chose to ask the next question directly, “Why can’t I abstain?”

“I just spoke with Ruan Xiao. I know you really want to contact her to fill in the information about the third space, but she probably won’t be able to connect with you for now.”

“Why?” Although he asked this, Xia Xiqing had already noticed that he had only connected with Ruan Xiao once, and after she forcibly cut the connection, he had never been able to contact her again. If he followed the strategy of casting a wide net and trying everyone else, there was no way he wouldn’t be able to contact Ruan Xiao at all.

“She believes you are the killer.” Zhou Ziheng’s tone remained calm. “We have all clarified our identities now, but the criteria for being a ‘killer’ are unclear. There was no murder this time, no literal murderer, but in Ruan Xiao’s view, there is a mastermind behind it all.”

Xia Xiqing suddenly understood Zhou Ziheng’s meaning. “She thinks it was the first me in this timeline who caused all this? Oh, I get it. If I hadn’t turned off my phone, committed suicide, or chosen to travel through time, none of this would have happened.” At this point, Xia Xiqing smiled sarcastically. “That line of thinking is logically consistent. No problem.”

The next moment, his tone changed. “But why should I believe you?”

Zhou Ziheng remained silent.

Xia Xiqing continued to ask, “What if you’re playing a divide-and-conquer strategy? If I vote for Ruan Xiao, and add your vote, we can vote her out.”

Zhou Ziheng’s tone remained flat, “Do you think I’d use such a stupid tactic? If I’m just trying to divide you, Ruan Xiao isn’t really going to vote for you, and you didn’t vote for Ruan Xiao in the end, neither of you would leave, and I’d be exposed.”

Xia Xiqing remained silent. Though he suspected Zhou Ziheng’s motives, it was true that this divide-and-conquer tactic was too direct and too clumsy, with a failure rate too high to be chosen by a smart person.

“Rest assured, I’ll abstain, and Shang Sirui will definitely abstain. If you also abstain, you’ll be the one to leave.”

“What if you’re the killer?” Xia Xiqing remained skeptical of Zhou Ziheng’s motives. “Then I can’t trust anything you say.”

To his surprise, Zhou Ziheng directly rebutted, “Even if I were the killer, I wouldn’t lie to you.”

He paused, seeming to give up on persuading him, “Anyway, it’s just a matter of risk. If you’re willing to bet your life on my sincerity, I don’t care.”

The last sentence was too ambiguous.

Despite Xia Xiqing’s intelligence, his heart couldn’t help but tremble upon hearing those words. He silently took a breath, pretending he hadn’t been affected.

The two-minute countdown ended, and the program’s announcement sounded again.

“All players, the first round of voting is now underway! Please enter your choice for the killer.”

Zhou Ziheng didn’t say anything else to interfere with Xia Xiqing’s choice. Xia Xiqing took out the production team’s phone and clicked on the input box.

If Zhou Ziheng wasn’t lying, this decision could very well send him out of the game.

But if he was lying, he might end up voting out Ruan Xiao.

“Please confirm your choices. The countdown has begun.”

“Three—”

“Two—”

“One—”

Xia Xiqing finally clicked send.

“Voting results submitted. Please wait for the settlement.”

The world suddenly fell silent. This minute of silence felt extremely long and agonizing to Xia Xiqing. Until the program crew’s announcement sounded again.

“In this round of voting, the one to be executed is—”

He couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

“No one. This round of voting ended in a tie. Please continue playing, everyone. The next execution will begin in half an hour. Please hurry and find the killer!”

“Let’s discuss the issue of the timeline plot now.” Zhou Ziheng didn’t mention the previous vote and immediately moved on to the next topic. “To be honest, I’ve only found two plot lines so far, one of which aligns perfectly with Ruan Xiao’s. So if you want to know Ruan Xiao’s plot, I can tell you.”

Xia Xiqing smiled meaningfully, “First you save my life, now you give me clues.” His tone rose slightly, with a hint of playful teasing, “Don’t you think you’re being too biased?”

If this were the old Zhou Ziheng, he would have been so annoyed by the teasing that he wouldn’t have bothered to respond. But to Xia Xiqing’s surprise, Zhou Ziheng simply admitted it.

“I’ve always been biased.”

This direct statement caught Xia Xiqing off guard, and he almost stumbled.

“I think we can consider ourselves allies,” Zhou Ziheng added, making the previous statement seem less ambiguous.

“Allies…” Xia Xiqing smiled, “Then may I ask you, what is your first plotline? If you dare to lie to me, I will refuse to ally with you in every episode of Escape from Heaven after this one.”

Hearing this kind of threatening remark, Zhou Ziheng couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m not lying. My first plotline, to be honest, starts with the time travel after you commit suicide in the first timeline. In simple terms, it’s the plotline of the second timeline. By the way, Si Rui should have mentioned your suicide, right?”

“Hmm.” Xia Xiqing corrected him again, “It wasn’t me who committed suicide; it was the male lead. Professional actors shouldn’t confuse fiction with reality.”

“It’s clearer when you put it that way.” Zhou Ziheng’s voice carried a hint of laughter. “The purpose of my time travel in the second timeline was to save the female lead, Ruan Xiao, who committed suicide at the train station. So I traveled back to the time before Ruan Xiao went to the train station. At that point, Ruan Xiao was on the 420 bus.”

“I drove to catch up, but the car was going too fast, and I nearly collided with a truck loaded with oranges at a corner. The orange packaging scattered, covering the ground, so I had to help them pick them up. By the time I arrived at the train station, I couldn’t find Ruan Xiao anywhere. Later, I heard the news on the radio: the truck that had nearly collided with me had collided with the 420 bus heading to the train station at another intersection. The truck overturned, and ten people on the bus were injured, with two fatalities.”

Zhou Ziheng took a breath and said the conclusion with a hint of sigh, “The female lead played by Ruan Xiao was one of them.”

Sure enough… it really was the butterfly effect.

“Which number is this plot line in Ruan Xiao’s clues?” Xia Xiqing asked.

“Number 2.”

Number 2… In the number 2 clue, Xia Xiqing stayed at home, turned off his phone, and didn’t go out. He was the boyfriend who originally existed in the number 2 timeline, but he didn’t do anything.

The time traveler Zhou Ziheng entered the 2nd timeline, attempting to alter the outcome but failing. Shang Sui didn’t have the 2nd clue, meaning Shang Sui didn’t travel to the 2nd timeline.

What happened to Zhou Ziheng after the failure?

“Then what? Where did you go?” Xia Xiqing hurriedly asked.

“I committed suicide. I wanted to try again, this time to stop the truck from appearing on the road where the 420 bus would appear.”

“So… did you enter the third timeline?” The clues from the third timeline were what Xia Xiqing had always wanted, and he was somewhat excited. “What was the outcome of the third timeline?”

“I didn’t die, and neither did Ruan Xiao.” Zhou Ziheng calmly defined such an ending, “A happy ending in a certain sense.”

Twice.

As the initial girlfriend, Ruan Xiao had experienced two deaths.

Soon, the fax machine’s screen displayed an email response.

[Congratulations, you answered correctly.]

Soon, the fax machine transmitted a piece of paper. Zhou Ziheng seemed to have heard the sound of the fax machine and asked, “Is there any new clue?”

“Hmm.” Xia Xiqing waited for the paper. “Are you almost ready to leave? Your storyline only has two branches; you should be able to fully piece together the puzzle by now.”

“…Almost.”

Xia Xiqing recalled what Shang Sirui had said earlier—he had only obtained half of the ultimate clue. Therefore, Zhou Ziheng must be in the same situation. Relying on his own strength alone, he couldn’t escape. Could his current overtures be because he knew there was another half of the clue in his room?

But that didn’t make sense. If the production team followed the principles of the butterfly effect and plot consistency, the ultimate clues from the male and female leads should be combined to form the final key.

He should try to find Shang Siru, see if their clues matched, and eliminate Shang Siru’s guard against him.

Apart from that, Zhou Ziheng only mentioned the ending of the third timeline, which he hadn’t experienced, while in Shang Siru’s account, what happened in the third timeline was far from a simple happy ending. As a time traveler, he died in the third timeline.

Everything seemed calm on the surface, but beneath the surface, the currents were turbulent.

“I need to catch up on my progress,” Xia Xiqing said self-deprecatingly, holding the white paper. “I won’t talk to you anymore; I need to cut the signal now.”

“Are you looking for Shang Sirui again?”

“You’re so smart,” Xia Xiqing laughed, his cheerful laughter sounding especially pleasant through the electrical transmission.

Just as he was about to shut off the signal, Zhou Ziheng suddenly spoke up, “Wait a moment.”

“What’s wrong?”

“After obtaining the third clue, switch time periods.”

Xia Xiqing was puzzled, “Why?”

Before he could get an answer, Zhou Ziheng cut off the signal himself. Xia Xiqing was left crouching by the radio, staring blankly.

What did he mean by that? What disadvantage would the third spacetime pose to him?

There was no time to waste on Zhou Ziheng’s cryptic remark. Xia Xiqing immediately turned on Shang Siru’s knob and walked over to the fax machine. He realized he had overlooked a clue: when the fax machine displayed a blank page, a prompt had actually appeared on the screen.

[Without light, how can you see the words?]

It seemed like a meaningless statement, but Xia Xiqing felt it must have a deeper meaning.

“Xiqing?”

“How did you get here so fast?” Xia Xiqing replied, “Are you still in the room?”

“Yes, I received a hint. If I leave the room, the door will close, and I won’t be able to get back in.”

“There’s no going back. The production team is too twisted.” Xia Xiqing’s fingers traced the white paper, sensing something was off. “What are you going to do now?”

From Shang Siru’s tone, Xia Xiqing couldn’t tell if he suspected anyone. He cautiously asked, “Is there no hint about the other half in the clues?”

Shang Sirui fell silent for a moment. “You’re asking that question too directly. It makes me wonder if you already know something.”

Xia Xiqing hadn’t expected her casual guess to hit such a sensitive nerve with Shang Sirui. “If I knew something, I wouldn’t still be stuck in the third timeline’s clues.”

“You haven’t completed the plotline of the third timeline yet?”

Shang Siru’s counterquestion made Xia Xiqing furious. “Why don’t you try playing the hardest dungeon? You have to collect clues from all three timelines without being affected by the butterfly effect, and it’s all useless information.”

“No, but it should be soon. Just now, Zhou Ziheng said his ending in the third world was happy—he didn’t die and saved Ruan Xiao, but you died. You’re just cannon fodder, aren’t you?” As he teased, Xia Xiqing, sitting at the desk, rested his elbows on the table, holding the edges of the white paper with his fingers. He had intended to lean in closer to examine it under the light, but inadvertently caught a whiff of a sour, bitter scent.

This smell was so familiar.

“Me, cannon fodder? Do you think I went to save someone? If you hadn’t played around with suicide in the first timeline, would I have ended up crossing over?” Shang Sui complained, but still in that childish tone, “But I died too unfairly in the third timeline. If it had been a car accident, that would have been fine, but it was a traffic jam and I ran myself to death.”

Xia Xiqing was amused by him. What? Are you actually hoping for a car accident?

Car accident?

“Wait, you were on the 420 bus and got stuck in the accident?”

“Didn’t I tell you?”

“I get it… You were on the 420 going in the opposite direction, and you were coming back to my house to save me…” The information was overwhelming, and Xia Xiqing couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “So he used some method to change the truck’s route, and the truck didn’t collide with the bus, but it had an accident with another vehicle, blocking the 420 going in the opposite direction…”

“Did you just contact Zi Heng?” Shang Siyi heard Xia Xiqing muttering to himself and grew increasingly suspicious. “What are you talking about?”

Xia Xiqing hadn’t fully sorted out his thoughts yet and could only give a half-hearted response, “Yeah, I just lost contact with him.”

“The tie in the last round of voting must have been between you and Ruan Xiao.”

The topic suddenly shifted to the voting execution, and feeling suspected by Shang Sirui, Xia Xiqing sharply asked, “You already know, so why are you asking me?”

“I guessed. Zi Heng mentioned it, saying that if the next round of voting isn’t secure, he’ll abstain.”

He really is a good guy. Xia Xiqing laughed, “You say he’s been persuading this person and that person, but what’s he really after?”

Shang Sirui smiled and asked in return, “You really don’t know what he’s after? If he hadn’t mediated in the middle, who would have died in the last round?”

Xia Xiqing was speechless, forced to laugh awkwardly. “You don’t understand. He’s doing this for the sake of the game experience. He can’t let an innocent player like me get eliminated in the first round like last time.”

“Are you really an ordinary player?”

“Questioning someone who just narrowly escaped death is a bit cruel, isn’t it?” Xia Xiqing sighed. “If you keep pushing me like this, by the second round of voting, I’ll be like a mad dog biting everyone.”

Shang Sirui laughed incessantly on the other end, while Xia Xiqing stared at the words on the screen, feeling more and more that something was off the more he thought about it.

He sniffed the paper again.

It was the sour smell of lemon.

The words had been written in lemon juice, and once dried, nothing could be seen.

Xia Xiqing finally realized what had happened and placed the paper under the lampshade of the desk lamp, pressing it against the hot bulb.

The acid in the lemon would make the paper easier to carbonize, leaving burn marks.

After holding it there for half a minute, Xia Xiqing finally took the paper out.

“I’ve decided to leave,” Shang Sirui suddenly blurted out, and Xia Xiqing’s hand holding the paper couldn’t help but tremble.

“Why suddenly…” Xia Xiqing was about to tease him, but after seeing the marks on the paper, he forgot to finish his sentence.

The originally snow-white paper now bore several lines of scorched yellow characters. It wasn’t the plotline he had expected, nor was it the direct ending of the third timeline he had imagined.

[Do you believe in so-called destiny?

The converging timeline, the inescapable determinism, the cycle of cause and effect—will you become the savior, or the executioner?

Remember, two ‘I’s cannot coexist in the same timeline; the ending must be a matter of life or death.”

These seemingly cryptic words instantly connected all of Xia Xiqing’s previous doubts and confusions.

What is the fate of each version of himself in every spacetime? Why does it seem like he is an outsider excluded by the butterfly effect? Why can’t he find his fate in the third spacetime no matter what?

Why is Zhou Ziheng so obsessed with making him switch spacetime?

“Hey? Xiqing? What’s wrong?”

As Shang Sui asked, a beep sounded, and a new question appeared on the fax machine’s screen.

“Wait a minute.”

The screen displayed a single sentence.

[What is the ultimate fate of the male protagonist originally present in the third timeline?]

Xia Xiqing didn’t hesitate for a moment and entered the answer in her heart.

[Congratulations, you answered correctly. Please take your reward.]

A square cover on the upper right corner of the fax machine opened, revealing a small box with a four-digit combination lock. Without a doubt, the final piece of the puzzle was inside. If it were someone else, they might have cheered with joy, as they were just one step away from completing the puzzle and escaping the room.

But Xia Xiqing knew all too well that this game was lost.

He felt a bit sorry for himself, as this copy was simply too difficult to solve, while the other party had all the advantages of time and place, and was even going out of their way to protect themselves.

Such behavior was nothing but charity in the eyes of the proud and competitive Xia Xiqing, embarrassing and pitiful, yet he couldn’t help but praise them for a job well done.

Zhou Ziheng was truly unmatched.

The sound of machinery filled the silent room. To Xia Xiqing’s surprise, the fax machine, which he thought had completed its mission, once again spat out a new sheet of paper. He didn’t care much anymore and casually took the paper out, only to find a single sentence written on it.

[You, who have been defeated in the same spacetime, will sleep in endless darkness.]

Upon seeing this sentence, Xia Xiqing suddenly curved his lips into a smile.

There is always a way out.

The tactic of removing the fuel from under the pot is a powerful move no matter how many times it is used.

“I can actually leave right away.” ” Xia Xiqing said calmly to Shang Sirui on the other end.

“Are you serious? Then what are you going to do now…”

“I’m not going out.” Xia Xiqing cut off Shang Sirui’s words. “Sirui, if you want to win this round, there’s only one path to take. In the next sentence, Zhou Ziheng will go out—he’s the killer.”

“How do you know?” Shang Sirui was highly skeptical of his sudden change in tone. “Do you have any evidence? No, even if you say you have evidence now, I can’t see it with my own eyes. Come out first and show us the evidence.”

“It’s too late.” Xia Xiqing held the puzzle piece in his hand and placed it back into the fax machine. “I have only one way to verify that he’s the killer, and it’s also the only way to win. If the situation I’m about to describe happens, we’ll win.”

He told Shang Sui what he had anticipated, though Shang Sui didn’t understand why Xia Xiqing was so certain, he still agreed. “Your method is really strange. Speaking of which, your last move was also a suicide attack. You’re truly the self-destructive player Xia Xiqing.”

“I’m taking a gamble too. If I lose…”

If I lose, it just means I took myself too seriously. What he was betting on was whether Zhou Ziheng cared more about the outcome of their competition or his moral compass.

Or rather, whether he cared at all…

“If I lose, just vote me out.” Xia Xiqing smiled. “Do it quickly; don’t make me suffer too long.”

After saying that, he cut off Shang Sui’s signal, leaving the final communication opportunity to Zhou Ziheng.

Strangely, their signal connected instantly once again.

“Ziheng, have you gathered all the pieces of the puzzle?” Xia Xiqing spoke to him in the most casual tone, as if chatting about everyday matters.

“Yes, I’m ready to go out.”

“Then you won’t be able to call me once you’re out.” He laughed, “So let’s hang up now.”

“Wait a moment.” Zhou Ziheng hesitated, stammering, before finally asking, “Which timeline are you in now?”

Xia Xiqing glanced at the numbers on the fax machine, then at the already blackened laptop screen.

“Timeline 2.”

The program crew’s announcement suddenly interrupted the silence, reminding everyone struggling in the room, “Please note, players, there are fifteen minutes left until the second vote for execution. Please hurry and find the killer.”

His words were cut off by the program crew, and Zhou Ziheng simply remained silent. Xia Xiqing interpreted this silence as doubting the truthfulness of his answer.

“You can go out first.” Xia Xiqing stretched lazily and walked over to lie down on the bed.

“Alright.”

After a few seconds, the signal cut off.

Xia Xiqing stared at the ceiling, silently counting the seconds. One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Suddenly, everything in his field of vision turned into endless darkness, with no beginning and no end. That boundless darkness felt like a mountain collapsing in an instant, crushing him and leaving him unable to breathe.

The program crew’s announcement sounded.

“Players Shang Sui, Zhou Ziheng, and Ruan Xiao successfully escaped the room. Player Xia Xiqing was trapped in Space-Time 3, losing his chance to escape. The room was locked from the outside, and he waited for the other players to finally clear the level.”

The adverse reaction came too quickly, causing his brain to feel dizzy.

Those despairing memories lurked in the darkness, waiting for an opportunity to strike. The young version of himself, locked in the darkness, had a soft and timid heart that was slowly consumed by fear.

No one cared whether he was afraid.

When they discovered his weakness for the dark, they used it as a tool to force him into submission.

Every second in the darkness was excruciating, and with infrared cameras recording, Xia Xiqing could only endure the fear, clenching his teeth until beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead.

He knew it would be like this, but he still wanted to take a chance.

In the room with the power cut off, there were no tools to measure time. Since meeting Zhou Ziheng, every time he found himself in the dark, he would reach out to help himself. Although Xia Xiqing knew he shouldn’t rely on others, he couldn’t help but test the waters.

Xia Xiqing didn’t realize that at this moment, he had undergone a subtle change compared to previous times he had been plunged into darkness. Besides the fear he couldn’t hide, there was now a hint of anticipation. The darkness that swallowed everything now felt more like a lure, tempting him and the person outside the door.

But no matter what, this merciless lure still covered his mouth and nose, gradually taking away his breath.

Expectations kept dropping, constantly being devoured by the darkness.

In the hallucination without light, Xia Xiqing was just one step away from falling into the abyss.

“Player Xia Xiqing, death.”

“Player Xia Xiqing, death.”

The long-awaited death notice finally appeared. Xia Xiqing, drenched in cold sweat, exhaled deeply and couldn’t help but let out a weak yet triumphant smile in the darkness.

The door clicked open, and light sliced through the darkness like a blade.

“Please leave the room, Player Xia Xiqing, and proceed to the elimination area to await elimination.”

Xia Xiqing suppressed the violent rise and fall of his chest, taking slow, deliberate steps toward the door. As expected, he saw Zhou Ziheng standing outside the door, his brows tightly furrowed.

He wanted to speak, but having been killed, he had lost the right to do so. Sweat trickled down from his forehead to his jawline, making him look as though he were gravely ill. With a pale complexion, he gave Zhou Ziheng a faint smile, then walked past him, his gaze meeting Shang Sui and Ruan Xiao behind Zhou Ziheng.

“It’s exactly as you said…” Shang Sirui was a bit confused.

Seeing the confusion on their faces, Xia Xiqing couldn’t explain any further, so he just smiled and tilted his head, signaling them not to forget what he had said, then walked confidently to the circular area marked “Elimination Seat.”

The program crew counted down three times, and the floor of the circular area opened, sending Xia Xiqing plummeting downward.

Zhou Ziheng, who had been facing the dark room, finally turned around. He licked his lips, crossed his arms, leaned against the wall, and looked at Ruan Xiao and Shang Sirui.

The outcome was crystal clear.

“Once my vote is cast, you’ll get the evidence I have in my hands.” His sharp gaze made his already sharp features even more aggressive.

“Are you really the killer?” Ruan Xiao couldn’t help but ask.

“That’s right. The male lead I represent did save the female lead, Ruan Xiao, in the third timeline. Additionally, I indirectly caused Shang Siru’s death. However, none of this is sufficient evidence to prove that I am the killer.” He curled the corners of his mouth into a smile, like a true murderer, “After achieving what I considered a perfect ending, I killed the male lead who originally existed in the third timeline, Xia Xiqing.”

“Because two versions of me cannot coexist in the same timeline.”

He continued, “My original plan was going smoothly: deceive your trust, escape my room, obtain the other half of the clue, and kill the holder of the other half of the string before opening the door. It was almost a sure win.” At this point, he gave a self-deprecating smile and lowered his head.

Almost a sure win. But he hadn’t accounted for the fact that Xia Xiqing, despite being so restricted, had instantly seen through everything. He also hadn’t accounted for Xia Xiqing’s intense desire to win, which drove him to sacrifice himself as a bargaining chip to prevent Zhou Ziheng from becoming the winner.

Shang Sui, unaware that Xia Xiqing suffered from nyctophobia, couldn’t understand why Zhou Ziheng, who had clearly already guessed Xia Xiqing’s plan, would still jump into the fire.

The second round of voting began, and as expected, Ruan Xiao and Shang Sui, who knew the killer’s identity, cast their votes for Zhou Ziheng, who was just one step away from winning, taking away the last clue in his hands.

“Losing this round has nothing to do with ability,” Zhou Ziheng said as he willingly walked to the elimination seat.

The winner of the previous escape room game had become the killer in this round, but despite expecting to retain his title, he was outmaneuvered by Xia Xiqing. Shang Sirui still couldn’t fathom why Xia Xiqing had spoken with such certainty at the time.

“Once Zhou Ziheng exits, I will be killed within ten minutes. If everything goes as I said, you should vote for Zhou Ziheng in the second round; it’s a sure win.”

Why did Zhou Ziheng have to kill Xia Xiqing? If he didn’t kill him, Xia Xiqing would still be locked in the room and couldn’t pose any threat to him. Why would he risk exposing his identity to kill someone who had no chance of escaping?

These two people are truly strange.

Zhou Ziheng, who had fallen into the basement, never expected that the first person he would see again would be Xia Xiqing. Whether it was the victorious him from the previous episode or the defeated him from this episode, the first person he saw upon exiting was always Xia Xiqing.

In the previous episode, this person had chosen to self-destruct to let him escape, but in this episode, he used self-harm to force him to reveal himself.

Xia Xiqing’s complexion had not yet recovered, especially his pale lips. This time, he did not rush forward to hug Zhou Ziheng, but stood less than a meter away, smiling at him like a child who had succeeded in a prank.

Zhou Ziheng, with a gloomy expression, removed the microphone from his body. “What are you laughing at?”

Xia Xiqing, who had been scolded by him, stepped forward and tilted his head. “I’m laughing because we both died together.”

“If you keep doing this, I won’t bother with you anymore.” Zhou Ziheng lowered his eyes, refusing to look at the smile on Xia Xiqing’s face. Xia Xiqing couldn’t possibly imagine how worried he was, which was why he kept begging him to switch timelines. But he never expected it would become a leverage point for Xia Xiqing to blackmail him.

This self-destructive approach of harming oneself to harm others was something Zhou Ziheng hated, deeply hated.

Seeing Zhou Ziheng’s displeasure, Xia Xiqing, with his hands in his pockets, gently kicked Zhou Ziheng’s calf with his foot. “You’re an adult. Is losing one game really worth being so upset about?”

As they passed by a few staff members moving props underground, Zhou Ziheng nodded and greeted them, then walked around Xia Xiqing and headed toward the underground passageway to leave. “It’s not about winning or losing; it’s because you took advantage of me.”

It’s because you don’t care about yourself.

Xia Xiqing turned around, looked at Zhou Ziheng’s back, and chased after him for a few steps. “Is that using me? I just…”

“Don’t deny it.”

Xia Xiqing stopped in his tracks. “Fine, let’s say I used you.” He wore a rather indifferent smile on his face. “You could have chosen not to jump into the fire pit.”

After saying this, he regretted it. In fact, more than using him, he was testing him, but even Xia Xiqing himself didn’t want to admit it.

Zhou Ziheng stopped walking, turned around, and quickly walked toward him. Perhaps because he had been in the dark for too long, his mind was playing tricks on him, and Xia Xiqing felt like Zhou Ziheng’s body was on fire.

He grabbed his collar tightly, his voice low and strained with anger.

“I willingly submit to your demands, but that doesn’t mean you can harm yourself carelessly.”

His heart felt as though it had been struck by a flame, burning fiercely and intensely with each beat.

The collar loosened, and Xia Xiqing stood there dumbfounded, as though Zhou Ziheng’s overwhelming presence had sapped his strength. The man who was usually so eloquent could not resist.

Seeing Xia Xiqing frozen like this, Zhou Ziheng, who had been furious moments ago, sighed, glanced at the sparsely populated surroundings, and used his impeccable acting skills to feign a playful banter with a friend.

He embraced Xia Xiqing tightly, their hearts pounding wildly against each other’s chests.

In his ear was his deliberately softened voice, carrying a sigh of helplessness lighter than the night breeze.

“This won’t happen again, I promise.”

Author’s Note:

I’ve posted this all at once because I felt there was no need to split this part into separate chapters. Combining it into one chapter allows readers to experience the game’s ending more seamlessly. (And you all said you couldn’t understand it and just wanted to see the romance, so no need to rush.)

Hengheng is the gentlest killer in history. Everything he told Xiqing was true (though he did withhold some information). Did you notice that no matter what happened, Xiqing could always connect with him immediately because he was always keeping Xiqing’s dial open? He never wanted to kill Xi Qing and has always been protecting him. Although if Hengheng wins, Xi Qing loses, he at least didn’t want him to be voted out or killed. In the end, he was afraid that Xi Qing’s room would lose power, so he had him switch timelines and not stay in the third timeline.

Xi Qing’s copy this time was truly hellishly difficult. Let’s break it down.

First, this script is divided into three timelines, which we will refer to as Timeline 1, Timeline 2, and Timeline 3.

Timeline 1: This is the original timeline, as you all know. Due to the conflict, the male lead shuts down, the female lead falls ill, and the male lead regrets it deeply and commits suicide.

The time travel begins. The most important point to understand about this script is to always remember—Zhou Ziheng is the time-traveling male lead, while Xia Xiqing is the original male lead. Additionally, death is the trigger for time travel.

Timeline 2: The male lead (Zhou Ziheng) arrives in Timeline 2, where the tragedy has not yet occurred, attempting to prevent the original tragic ending. He drives to find the female lead (Ruan Xiao). At this point, remember that Timeline 2 also has an originally existing male lead (Xia Xiqing), who is in the room and has already shut down. The male lead (Zhou Ziheng) encounters a truck on the road, alters its trajectory, causing the truck to collide with the bus the female lead (Ruan Xiao) is riding, resulting in her death.

Shang Sirui does not time travel to the 2nd timeline; he directly travels to the 3rd timeline.

Timeline 3: At the same time, the male lead (Zhou Ziheng) also arrived in Timeline 3 to complete his second time travel. This time, he learned from his mistakes and stopped the car at the corner where he encountered the truck. The truck passed unimpeded, the orange did not fall, and he successfully went to the station to pick up the female lead (Ruan Xiao), achieving a happy ending.

However, he affected the truck’s trajectory, causing it to have an accident at another intersection and blocking the female lead (Shang Siru)’s vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. The time-traveling Shang Siru attempted to save the suicidal male lead but died from an illness on the way.

Time Space 3 seemed perfect, except that a time-traveling female lead who did not belong in that time space had died. So what was the most terrifying thing?

This timeline now has an extra male lead.

To avoid violating the time paradox, only one person can survive in the same timeline. Therefore, the time-traveling male lead (Zhou Ziheng), who knows everything, kills the original male lead (Xia Xiqing), who is unaware and has shut down at home. This allows him to stay in this timeline without any qualms and achieve a happy ending.

The male lead in the third timeline also died, the male lead in the first timeline committed suicide by gas, and the male lead in the second timeline (Zhou Ziheng) also committed suicide. This is actually the “worldline convergence theory.” If you’re interested, you can look it up.

So the first, second, and third timelines all have similar endings.

So, will the male lead from the third timeline, who was killed, trigger a new time travel event due to his death?

(I don’t know if you understand this plot. I’ve simplified it a lot. You can refer to the clues in the text or discuss it in the comments section. It’s really tough to watch such a complex and convoluted plot! Thank you all.)