Chapter 6

　Xia Xiqing originally thought that the so-called escape room reality show would simply involve setting up a semi-open studio, placing the guests inside, having a bunch of VJs follow them around, and then everyone would just follow the script to act out the escape room scenario step by step.

　Little did he know that things turned out completely differently. They weren’t even told what kind of escape room it was. Instead, they were blindfolded with a black cloth and taken to some unknown location. Before leaving, the director specifically instructed them, “Please don’t speak until the cameras start rolling.”

　He felt himself being carried by two people for a long time, then seated on a chair, thinking that was the end of it. But then they tied him up tightly with a rope, leaving him unable to move. He faintly heard the sound of metal clanging, and felt a chill on his wrist.

His hands were cuffed and held in front of his chest.

　If he hadn’t been certain it was a TV show, Xia Xiqing would have suspected he had been kidnapped.

He now understood what the director had been saying earlier: “This show aims for authenticity. The staff will never interfere, so we don’t know what will happen here either.”

　Zhou Ziheng faintly heard the footsteps of several people. His hands were tied with rope, hanging above his knees, and his ankles were also tightly bound, leaving him unable to move. Just as he was feeling confused, the black cloth over his eyes was removed by the staff.

　The sudden clarity of his vision caused him a strong sense of discomfort, and Zhou Ziheng squinted slightly. Before him was a sealed room, unlike the many terrifying escape rooms he had seen before. The room was relatively bright, with a dim yellow light shining from the ceiling. However, aside from the two rows of bookshelves along the walls, most of the furniture was covered in white cloth, giving the place an odd appearance.

　But none of this was enough to surprise him.

Because the scene before him was even more unexpected than the escape room.

Xia Xiqing, who had been joking around with him in the studio two hours ago, was now tied to another chair, less than half a meter away from him.

　Perhaps to capitalize on the online buzz from earlier, the production team had arranged for Xia Xiqing to wear a white shirt paired with black trousers once again. His eyes were covered with a black cloth, and a strand of hair had escaped from his half-tied hair, hanging down the side of his face, with fine strands brushing against his slender, delicate jawline.

　With the light in his eyes obscured by the black cloth, the small mole on his nose stood out even more, making him appear helpless and docile.

Despite Zhou Ziheng being fully aware that these two words did not belong to him.

　The handcuffs on his wrists gleamed coldly in the dim light, his wrist bones slightly protruding, as if they could clink against the metal. The ropes wound around his body like slithering snakes, tight and constricting, as if one could see the contours of his muscles beneath the fabric.

　The black cloth obscured Zhou Ziheng’s view of those playful eyes. This seemed to be the first time he had dared to observe the man before him so freely—a man he deemed both hypocritical and cunning.

　He looked a bit pitiful, Zhou Ziheng thought sincerely, or rather, he evoked an odd desire to make him even more pitiful.

For some reason, at that moment, he suddenly understood the psychology of those with certain peculiar preferences.

　“The game officially begins.” A voice with a metallic quality, distorted by a voice changer, emerged from above, interrupting Zhou Ziheng’s wild, unchecked fantasies.

　”Welcome to Escape from Heaven. Now, please forget your original identities. In this game, you are players trapped in a locked room. Note that there is not just one locked room here, but many interconnected ones. This means that once you open the door to your current locked room, you will enter a new one, where there may be others trapped like you. The person who escapes all the rooms and leaves the house in the shortest time will be the winner of the competition and receive the highest score. The scores of the remaining players will be calculated based on their escape time, with one point deducted for every additional ten minutes.”

“How cliché,” Xia Xiqing smiled, but the prompt did not end there.

　”There is one important point to note: the biggest difference in ‘Escape to Survival’ is that this is not a simple escape room reality show. Among the many players, there is a ‘killer.’ Unlike ordinary players, the killer must hide their identity and has the right to ‘kill’ players. Players who are killed have their points for that round reset to zero, and in each episode, the killer can only kill one player. Of course, ordinary players can also use deduction and judgment to identify the ‘killer’ they believe to be the culprit. When all players gather together, they can vote to ‘kill’ the suspected killer. If the ‘killer’ emerges as the final winner, every ordinary player in the game is considered dead, their scores for the round are reset to zero, and the killer receives double points.”

　“During the game, you must fully utilize your intelligence to think and deduce. If you encounter a puzzle you can’t solve, you can use advance time to exchange clues, which means your escape time will increase, and your points will decrease accordingly. The player with the highest total points will become the champion of this season and win a mystery grand prize.”

　”Each of you has no auxiliary decryption equipment, only a modified phone. This phone has four functions: first, to receive information from the program team. Second, to use advance time to purchase clues. Third, to start the timer after the first player completes the level. Fourth, to submit a list of suspect killers and complete an anonymous vote for execution. Note: Players cannot communicate with each other via the phone; you can only communicate through on-site dialogue if you wish. The rules have been explained.”

The voice paused, followed by three ticking sounds resembling a clock’s countdown.

Three.

Two.

One.

“Now, the game begins.”

　Upon hearing those words, Xia Xiqing exhaled in relief, collapsing into his chair with his head tilted back. Zhou Ziheng watched his every move, realizing that he was unaware of his presence, making this “peeping” seem entirely justified.

　Though Zhou Ziheng’s moral compass deemed such behavior unworthy of encouragement, Xia Xiqing was an exception. He was cunning and treacherous, with no sense of shame or boundaries. Zhou Ziheng had never encountered anyone like him before, so when faced with him, his usual behavioral patterns inevitably broke down.

　Xia Xiqing tried to reach up with his hand to remove the black cloth over his eyes, but his arm was completely bound and he couldn’t lift it. After several failed attempts, he couldn’t help but sigh and mutter to himself, “Can’t even see. Are we just waiting to die in the first phase?”

　Zhou Ziheng felt like laughing. For some reason, observing Xia Xiqing now seemed to have diluted the urgency of escaping the room.

　Completely unable to see and with his limbs immobilized, Xia Xiqing could only gently tap the ground with his heels, tilt his head back, and lazily lean against the chair, saying nothing. The room was deathly quiet, an eerie silence. Zhou Ziheng deliberately made no sound. Even though he was also trapped, helping each other was the best strategy, especially since they were still recording the show. They couldn’t just keep going like this, but all he wanted to do now was watch Xia Xiqing make a fool of himself.

Perhaps it was because he was so thoroughly evil that, in Zhou Ziheng’s mind, such a person deserved to be punished.

　A delusion of doing justice.

What he never expected was that the person who had been so lazy he was almost ready to give up struggling suddenly sat up straight, staring directly at Zhou Ziheng, as if the eyes hidden beneath the black cloth could pierce through the barrier, fixated on him.

　Yes, “staring” at him.

Zhou Ziheng furrowed his brows; he was certain he hadn’t made a sound.

Suddenly, Xia Xiqing tilted his head and curved his lips into a very gentle smile.

“Help me remove the blindfold.”

Impossible. He couldn’t see anything.