After the program recording ended, the production team specially arranged a dinner gathering for filming. Everyone had been recording for several hours and were already hungry. They had originally planned to go to a private restaurant for dinner after wrapping up, but the production team had already made arrangements, so they all enjoyed a happy meal together.
“Let’s have hot pot!” Shang Siyi sat down and excitedly wiggled his body, “Poor cameraman, have you eaten yet? Oh, you have? Then I won’t feel sorry for you.”
Xia Xiqing sat to his right, “Feel sorry for yourself, silly.”
Zhou Ziheng sat next to Xia Xiqing and massaged his shoulders for a while. Pei Tingsong sat to Shang Siru’s left, and Fang Juexia followed suit. The last to arrive, Zhai Ying, walked over to Zhou Ziheng’s side. Everyone was present, and they began ordering.
“Pei Tingsong grew up abroad, so he probably can’t handle spicy food, right?” Xia Xiqing asked.
Pei Tingsong was pouring water, “I’m fine, I can eat it.” After saying that, he suddenly thought of something, “But Fang Juexia can’t handle it, so if possible, let’s order half red oil and half tomato soup.”
Fang Juexia was still arranging the utensils in front of him when he was suddenly called out. He raised his head and looked at Pei Tingsong.
Pei Tingsong found it particularly amusing and suppressed a smile. “Do you want to eat spicy food, handsome?”
Fang Juexia immediately shook his head and said to everyone, “I can’t eat any chili at all. I used to think I could eat spicy food, but after Ling Yi took me to eat Sichuan cuisine, I realized that the spiciness of Guangdong and Sichuan is on a completely different level.”
Everyone else laughed heartily.
“Alright, then half tomato soup and half red oil soup.”
“Order some wine. Everyone’s been so tense lately; let’s have a drink to relax.”
Pei Tingsong spoke up immediately, “Fang Juexia can’t drink alcohol.”
Xia Xiqing laughed, “How do you know everything?”
“It’s okay, I can drink.” Fang Juexia looked over, “Xiqing, you order.”
“Don’t you know whether you can drink or not?” Pei Tingsong sighed, “Anyway, you’re not allowed to drink later, or you won’t be able to go back.”
“Then order some juice for Juexia.”
The six of them chatted while waiting for the food to be served. Xia Xiqing tapped the table with his chopsticks. “Really, the Escape from Heaven crew is the most scheming crew I’ve ever seen. It’s so hard for me!”
Zhou Ziheng nodded heavily twice.
Zhai Ying, who rarely spoke, chimed in, “I knew it would be difficult when I joined this show, and I felt I had prepared myself mentally, but I didn’t expect it to be this hard.”
“It’s mainly the script,” said Pei Tingsong. “As I was collecting clues and reconstructing the script, I couldn’t help but marvel at it.”
Fang Juexia also agreed, saying that he had strayed off track several times and turned it into a different story, but luckily the clues brought him back on track.
Everyone laughed along with him.
“While he’s not here, I need to vent.” Shang Sirui hugged his drink bottle. “I really want to lock our dear Xu Editor in a secret room—oh, no, along with the family members who provide him with all the puzzles. We’ll lock them in separate secret rooms, and I’ll watch them on the surveillance cameras. I’ll see…”
“Hello, here’s your tofu skin.” A waiter walked over and placed the plate in front of Shang Sirui.
“Thank you, thank you.” Shang Sirui didn’t even look up and continued, “What was I saying just now? Right, lock them up…”
But the waiter didn’t leave. Instead, he asked, “Lock who up?”
“Our screenwriter.” Shang Siru blurted out, then realized something was off. He looked up and saw the waiter take off his hat and smile at him.
“Chen Chen?!”
Zhou Ziheng laughed, “I noticed as soon as I opened the door. You were just standing there talking to yourself like an idiot.”
“Hey, are you alone?” Xia Xiqing looked at the door, “Where’s my mischievous nephew?”
Xu Qichen said, “He’s working overtime. There’s a new version of a game launching tomorrow, so he’ll probably be up all night.”
Fang Juexia saw Xu Qichen in person for the first time. He looked more refined than he did on TV, and also younger, with an intellectual air about him, like a college student who hadn’t yet left the ivory tower.
Just as he was thinking about this, a pair of waving chopsticks suddenly appeared in front of her. Fang Juexia turned his head and saw the real college student, Pei Tingsong. He put down his chopsticks and asked, ” What are you looking at?”
Fang Juexia shook his head.
“Welcome our Escape 2 screenwriter Xu Qichen to the behind-the-scenes dinner,” the director behind the camera said. “Everyone can eat while reviewing the footage. We’ll edit it into a special program for the VIP channel.”
“The director is so clever.” Xu Qichen greeted everyone, took off his waiter’s jacket, and sat next to Zhai Ying. “I’ll spill the beans first—the narrator for this episode is me.” He laughed after saying that, “The voice changer is so much fun.”
Shang Suiwei widened his eyes, “Ah! I knew it! He’s already joking around at the beginning, and his style is completely different from the previous season’s narrator!”
“So that’s how it is…” Fang Juexia realized belatedly, “I was wondering why the rules were still the same as the previous season, even though they said they would be revised. After he joked around, I felt less nervous.”
Pei Tingsong had just dropped a piece of beef tripe into the pot and hadn’t even had time to cook it when he saw Fang Juexia staring at Xu Bian and couldn’t help but stare at him too.
“Little Pei, your beef tripe is getting old. That’s disrespectful to beef tripe.” Shang Sui helped him pick out the beef tripe and put it in his own mouth.
Xu Qichen smiled and said, “I asked Yin Jie to let me participate in the recording of the program. I wanted to watch it.”
“I would like to make a statement to the audience first. In this episode, each player starts with the same amount of information. In other words, everyone only knows that they are an ordinary player, a knight, or a killer. No one has a script or additional plot. All the plot is gradually revealed through the process of solving the mystery. ”
“Now I’ll briefly explain the plot of this episode. The most crucial clue, and the only one reflecting reality, is the news article in the old newspaper. The main character is a single person named Tan Ji. As a child, he was sexually assaulted by a neighbor, causing severe trauma that led to paranoia and multiple personality disorder. He imagines himself as Dr. Tian, the best psychiatrist in the city, rather than Tan Ji, the patient being treated. At the same time, he splits off his most painful childhood memories into a separate personality named Zaozao.”
“Similarly, all the players are his alter egos. However, Zaozao’s personality has endured too much and is constantly on the brink of collapse. She is also oppressed and controlled by the dominant personality, the doctor, so she seeks help from the other personalities. A phone recording captured her entire plea for help, which was the voice recorder Jue Xia found. However, the resistance was discovered by the dominant personality, who then hypnotized Zao Zao to choose suicide. The hypnotic note was a cryptic poem hinting that the doctor killed Zao. But Zao Zao’s suicide note was not finished before she was killed by the doctor’s personality.”
“So that’s the story,” Shang Sirui sighed, “Really, if one part of the plot is missing, it’s completely different. But why Tan Ji?”
Xiao Pei said, “Actually, when the appointment list came out, seeing Yan Teacher, Zao Zao, and Xiao Xi, I thought of word puzzles. The character ‘Tan’ is clearly a surname, and if there’s a surname, there must be a given name. I went into each room with the purpose of finding names, like solving a puzzle.”
“Obviously, Zoe and the detective don’t have Chinese names, so the puzzle pieces can’t be their names. They must be related to them. Zoe’s band is called ‘Together,’ which means ‘together,’ and the book in the detective’s room safe has only one word on the cover: ‘North.’ Combine ‘North’ with Dr. Tian’s ‘Tian’ and ‘together,’ and you get ‘Ji.’”
“That’s impressive literary sensitivity,” Xia Xiqing praised generously.
“Just as Xiqing has a natural sensitivity to art, Xiao Pei has the same with words,” Xu Qichen reminded them. “Didn’t you notice that all the clues Xiao Pei collected were word games?”
Fang Juexia noticed that almost all the textual puzzles in this episode were found by Pei Tingsong, from the initial hypnosis word puzzle to the later name puzzle and the most critical news clue.
Even the seemingly trivial remarks he made on the show were wordplay used for hints and double meanings.
Shang Sui suddenly clapped his hands. “I remember now. When Xiao Pei and I were chatting in the dark room, he kept looking at that book. Later, he even flipped the book upside down on the table, deliberately exposing the cover. You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
Pei Tingsong nodded, “Yes, I wanted to show it to Juexia Ge, but later I thought I had almost gathered everything, so it would be better to give him the answer after gathering everything.”
Just as he finished speaking, Pei Tingsong saw Fang Juexia accidentally eat some spicy beef and rush to drink water, grabbing his wine glass. He quickly grabbed Fang Juexia’s hand and whispered, “That’s my glass.”
“I made a mistake.” Fang Juexia pulled his hand away and poured himself a cup of Sprite to drink.
Xu Qichen continued, “There are many more details in between, let’s talk about them slowly. Everyone’s performance today was amazing. The script is just the framework; what truly enriches the entire episode is the performance of each guest. Different players will play in different styles.”
Xia Xiqing poured himself a drink and said, “Really, this episode was the most enjoyable one I’ve ever played. Although I didn’t win in the end, winning or losing doesn’t matter at all when you play to this level.”
“Hahaha, did you ever think you’d be caught off guard by your own flashy moves?” Shang Sirui dipped a large piece of beef tripe, “But seriously, low-level players focus on the results, while high-level players focus on the process. This time, even I, a low-level player, had a blast.”
“I’ll drink to my empiricism.” Zhou Ziheng touched Xia Xiqing’s wine glass before drinking, then downed it in one gulp. “But I’m curious, Xiao Pei, when did you realize that Jue Xia was a knight?”
Pei Tingsong recalled, “It’s a long story. We were both in the examination room at the time, and our heads were covered with hoods. I reached out and felt some metal blocks. One of the metal blocks was actually pressing down on a piece of paper. I instinctively felt something was wrong, so I secretly pulled the paper out and put it on my person, then restored the metal blocks and cracked Jue Xia’s hood.”
Fang Juexia was eating noodles when he heard this, and his eyes lit up. He quickly slurped the noodles into his mouth and mumbled, “So you already had my medical records back then!”
“You’re pretty good at guessing,” Pei Tingsong laughed. “After removing the hood, I immediately looked at the paper. It was indeed Yan Teacher’s medical records, which stated bipolar disorder, also known as bipolar affective disorder. I immediately realized that Fang Juexia must be the double agent arranged by the production team. I knew he might choose the Black Knight, so at that time, I had to hide his medical records. Otherwise, if Xi Qing saw them, Juexia’s knight identity would be exposed.”
Xi Qing hummed a few times, “You’re so thoughtful, little Pei.”
Little did he know that Shang Sui suddenly exclaimed, “So bipolar disorder is actually bipolar disorder!”
Fang Juexia took a bite of frozen tofu from the tomato hot pot, which was so hot it made him stick out his tongue. “I guessed my senior didn’t know, so I gave him Yan Teacher’s medical records directly at the end.”
“Ah! Juexia, you!”
“It’s too late to know now.” Xia Xingqing interrupted and asked Fang Juexia, “Actually, at that time, you had already compiled all the evidence and pieced together the entire story, right?”
“Yes.” Fang Juexia looked at Pei Tingsong, “The most crucial clue was found by Xiao Pei, but he kept it hidden.”
Zhou Ziheng was puzzled. “I was there when he went, so how could I…” He suddenly remembered halfway through his sentence. “I know, it was when you were playing the guitar!”
Xu Qichen laughed first. “I almost died laughing when I saw it on the surveillance camera. Ziheng actually asked several key questions.”
Zhou Ziheng was puzzled, “Really?” But as soon as the question left his mouth, he realized it and slapped his forehead in frustration, “Oh, I’m so stupid. I even asked you what kind of guitar it was.”
Pei Tingsong smiled with a touch of childishness, “Yeah, when you asked me, I specifically told you it was an acoustic guitar, and you could reach inside and feel the newspaper stuck to the inner wall.”
“The news article was about the real-life protagonist Tan Mou, who was diagnosed with delusional disorder and multiple personalities. When he committed the crime, he was wearing a white lab coat, clearly deluding himself into thinking he was a psychiatrist named Tian, the best psychiatrist in the city, and all the other players were his alter egos.”
“Is the detective also one of his alter egos?” Shang Sirui was a bit confused.
“Yes,” Zhou Ziheng said. “I later reviewed it backstage, and the detective persona is very likely a newly split one. That letter actually hinted that she had already been on the brink of collapse, with no one to turn to for help. The detective was a new persona that split off because she desperately wanted to be saved. The letter mentioning the fugitive is also a reflection of Tan Ji’s reality—he himself is the murderer on the run. Is that right, Qi Chen?”
Xu Qi Chen gave him a thumbs-up. “Impressive. In cases of multiple personalities, some personalities may recognize each other, while others may not. In this scenario, Tan Ji imagines himself as Dr. Tian, the dominant personality, who controls the other personalities through psychological counseling. Thus, each personality is his patient, receiving his treatment or even hypnosis. However, the detective personality is newly created and can be seen as an protector of the early personality, most closely reflecting reality.”
“Now look at that news. Almost every personality can be traced back to a real-life counterpart. The band’s lead singer might represent some of Tan Ji’s childhood dreams, since the early personality represents his childhood, and the early personality really liked Zoe…” Zhai Ying was unusually surprised, “That’s amazing. Even the guitar has something hidden inside…” No wonder the production team went out of their way to find a hollow guitar—they’re so meticulous.”
Xu Qichen asked, “Did Xiao Pei notice the newspaper when he was playing the guitar? I heard you mention it specifically when I was watching the surveillance footage—the sound quality was good.”
Pei Tingsong nodded, “As soon as I started playing, I noticed the guitar’s tone was off. After all, I’ve been playing for so many years; I know guitars. I immediately guessed there was something inside. When Zi Heng turned his back, I reached in and took out the clue.”
Shang Sui sighed, “Not knowing how to play an instrument really… Who would reach into a guitar? The props team is too good.”
Fang Juexia couldn’t help but speak up, “There are many unreasonable details, which seem to be intentional on the part of the program team. Teacher Yan’s appointment time was 5:52 a.m. How could someone see a doctor at that hour? This implies that everything is fake—the doctor is fake, and the patient is fake too. There’s also a small hint from the styling team. I don’t know if everyone noticed, but even though we’re playing different roles, we’re all wearing shirts.”
Shang Siru looked down at his floral shirt, then looked up at the others. “Amazing. So, we’re actually all the same person.”
“The production team is really good.” “ Xia Xiqing reviewed the hints from the props. ”Think back—every room except the examination room has an item representing a character. For example, the guitar in Sui Rui’s room corresponds to the ukulele in the examination room, the textbooks in Zi Heng’s backpack correspond to the astronomy books on the bookshelf in the examination room, and the art supplies and paintings in Zao Zao’s room correspond to the paintings in the examination room.”
“And the magnifying glass representing the detective,” Pei Tingsong added.
“Right,” Xia Xiqing nodded, “This is actually hinting that all the rooms are just one aspect of the protagonist’s personality. The examination room is the main personality, containing all the items representing the personalities. I just didn’t notice it at first. I was too quick to assume that Zaozao was the main personality.”
“Including that painting, ‘The Death of Marat.’ That was also a key clue. Chen Chen had already given me a hint, but I was too eager to prove my own point of view and overlooked the second layer of meaning in the painting, which was inversion. The painting is inverted, and the roles of the assassin and the victim in the painting must also be inverted. Similarly, the diary in the painting must also be read upside down.”
Xu Qichen said, “You finally realized something was wrong, and your reaction time was astonishing. In just half a minute, you overturned all the plot theories you had previously established and brought the plot back to the correct path. That’s impressive.”
He put down his chopsticks, “This time, I also took advantage of Xi Qing’s habitual playing style. I knew that even if Xi Qing had an ordinary identity, he would definitely jump to the knight, so I deliberately gave him an ordinary player identity to stir up the waters. Because if Xi Qing were the real knight, the program effect might not have been as good.”
After saying that, he looked at Pei Tingsong, “The facts prove that this is indeed the case. If Xi Qing had been the knight and Xiao Pei had been the killer, one would have self-destructed and the other would have stabbed themselves…”
Everyone laughed, but Pei Tingsong leaned back in his chair and smiled, “No, I chose to commit suicide only after confirming that the black knight was definitely Fang Juexia.”
Fang Juexia’s chopsticks paused.
Was this statement implying something else?
The others began to cheer, led by Xia Xingqing, “Oh, so you had everything prepared, even handed over your belongings, before sacrificing yourself so nobly?”
What belongings?
“How did you know Juexia was definitely the Black Knight? Even if you had his medical records, he could still be the White Knight!” Shang Sirui asked.
Pei Tingsong laughed, “Impossible. Xiqing stepped forward to claim he was a knight to deceive Juexia’s identity. I faced off against him with two objectives: first, to make the senior doubt Xiqing and prevent him from securely holding the knight position; second, I was also testing Juexia’s camp.”
“Think about it. Two fake knights confronting each other, and their statements before the public vote were also confrontational. A real knight, if he’s white, would never just hand over his knight identity so easily. For the victory of the good players, he would definitely stand up and confront them.” He looked confident, “Especially Fang Juexia.”
“That’s right. Otherwise, the white knight would have to take the blame.”
Fang Juexia lowered his head slightly, listening to Pei Tingsong’s confident words, but his mind was on the scene from earlier when the other party had slipped a note into his front pocket.
“I’m particularly curious, Juexia,” Xu Qichen asked. “I didn’t see when you two completed the handover in the surveillance footage. How did you know he hid the clue in the ukulele?”
Fang Juexia raised his head. “At the time, Pei Tingsong was teasing me by the display wall, constantly messing with me. But he usually likes to joke around and tease me, so I didn’t take it seriously. Later, when he was leaving, he patted my chest. At that moment, I heard a sound coming from the pocket on the front of my shirt—the kind of sound made by a piece of paper being crumpled. I realized what was happening, but I pretended not to notice and waited for the right moment to check.”
“I see…” Xu Qichen nodded. “You know, Juexia is actually a bit beyond my expectations. At first, I just thought he was someone who was very suitable for playing the role of someone who hides their identity, so I gave him this role. But in fact, his strongest points aren’t just his math skills and composure; he’s also particularly good at finding the right timing.”
Xia Xiqing also understood this point, “Right, right. I was just about to say that this little straight-laced guy is too good at distracting people. Looking back, I really underestimated my opponent. At first, he deliberately let me win, and in the end, Zheheng was voted out, wasn’t he? At that time, I thought I could win, but then Juexia deliberately told me the handkerchief password on the cabinet and asked me to solve it.”
Xia Xiqing felt a bit embarrassed and nodded, “I really needed some time to find the ukulele, but Xiqing was too smart. If I had just walked away, it would have given me away. So I had to use the chessboard password on the door to distract him.”
“And your reason was also very convincing,” Xu Qichen laughed. “You said you were going to find your medical records. Actually, if you hadn’t mentioned that, it would have made Xi Qing suspicious.”
Xu Qing nodded, “Right, because you’re the only one without a medical record. That’s been bothering me. Even though you speak so cheerfully and don’t make any suspicious moves, the medical record issue has been stuck in my mind.”
“Any dark character would naturally keep the medical record a secret, but you just blurted it out and said you were going to look for it. My suspicions vanished instantly, and I focused on solving the chessboard puzzle.”
Zhai Ying shook her head. “Maybe it’s because Jue Xia looks too kind—he really doesn’t make you suspicious. When I got the draft paper, my first instinct was to go find Jue Xia too.” She looked at Fang Juexia. “Actually, you noticed the problem back then, right?”
“No,” Fang Juexia shook his head with a smile, “I was also caught up in my habitual thinking at the time, focusing only on solving the double integral. In fact, besides the math problem, the set also hinted at the issue.”
Xi Qing nodded heavily, regretting his actions, “Ah, I was too busy competing with Zhou Ziheng. When everyone was focusing on the clues, I only checked the answers to the double integrals and didn’t notice the set. Later, when I went back to the sofa after entering the final answer and saw that draft paper, I finally realized the significance of that set.”
Zhai Ying asked curiously, “What’s wrong with the set?”
Fang Juexia explained, “In set theory, a set cannot contain duplicate elements. However, every set on that paper had a duplicate element. In the extension of set theory, there is a concept called a multiset, where the number of times an element repeats is called the multiplicity or repetition degree. All the sets on the draft paper had a multiplicity of 6.”
Shang Sirui was shocked, “Wow, even the sets on a piece of scrap paper are hinting at six personalities.”
“Xi Qing was just a little late,” Xu Qichen laughed, “Because Xi Qing is someone who is very good at defending his own views, he can find various clues to support his own views, so he ended up getting stuck in the plot loop.”
Xia Xiqing agreed, “That’s why I said I didn’t lose unfairly. Everyone played well this time. I sat on the sofa at the end, and all the details that didn’t match up before flooded into my mind. That feeling was so satisfying; I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”
“Don’t say anymore,” Zhou Ziheng laughed uncontrollably. “You guys don’t know, I was dead, right? After I died, I went to check the surveillance footage and ran into Xiao Pei. I complained to him, saying, ‘It’s over, Xi Qing pulled off another one of his crazy moves. He played the killer like that, and people still followed him.’”
Pei Tingsong laughed so hard he leaned back, and Fang Juexia looked a bit worried, afraid he might fall over, so he instinctively reached out to support him from behind his chair.
“Can you imagine how funny it was at the time?” Zhou Ziheng also laughed, “I said, ‘I’m so angry that Xi Qing is playing Killer so dirty. I was supposed to carry this game,’ and then Xiao Pei patted me on the shoulder,”
he imitated Xiao Pei’s actions, “‘Senior, actually, I’m the Killer.’ Do you know what? I almost died on the spot.”
“Hahahahahaha!”
Zhou Ziheng was still marveling, “I play Werewolf, and self-killing is a common tactic. But Escape is different from Werewolf. In Werewolf, even if the killer self-kills, other werewolves can still kill. But once the killer dies, they’re dead. The only chance to kill is wasted on themselves. This is really something few people dare to do. Especially a newbie—that’s too bold.”
Pei Tingsong laughed enough and sighed deeply, “I was also a loyal viewer of the previous shows, so I’m familiar with the strategies of the seniors and Xi Qing. When I saw that I was the killer card and there were no extra clues provided by the production team, I had to plan ahead.”
“After I bluffed that Jue Xia was the Black Knight, I knew the only way for me to win was to pit Senior and Xi Qing against each other.”
After saying that, he looked at Zhou Ziheng, “So I had to jump the Knight and commit suicide. That way, Senior would grow more suspicious of Xi Qing. Only when they were at odds could Jue Xia survive.”
Xia Xingqing couldn’t help but clap for him. “True love. I finally understand what it means when they say, ‘As long as the alliance isn’t dissolved, I’m your knight.’ Production team, director, remember this line—make sure it’s in the trailer, okay? This is the biggest spoiler.”
Under his reminder, Fang Juexia belatedly realized the meaning of the words, and was momentarily lost in thought. It turned out that every word he had thought was just business talk or a joke was actually a hint from Pei Tingsong.
“I also want to say that Xiao Pei has been slacking off with me the whole time,” Shang Suiwei picked up a piece of beef with his chopsticks and placed it in his oil dish, “and he was the first to die, so he’ll definitely be mocked by the fans. You guys don’t know, but Xiao Pei was once famous for being a gaming black hole.”
The director couldn’t help but interject, “He was slacking off to find clues, but you were just slacking off for real.”
“Don’t be like that, director. My slacking off is high-level slacking off, okay?”
“That’s true,” Zhai Ying analyzed. “If we don’t pit Zi Heng and Xi Qing against each other, it will be difficult to win this game. These two gods represent two completely different playstyles, and it’s hard for them to trust each other; instead, they’re more likely to kill each other.”
“Once the two logic masters are pitted against each other, we can only passively choose to follow one of their logics when listening to their speeches, and we wouldn’t even think there’s a third logic hidden beneath. At that point, I had already narrowed down the suspects for the killer to just these two.”
Xu Qichen laughed and said, “Jue Xia is actually quite kind. When he saw Zi Heng and Xi Qing clashing, he reminded them, ‘Your logical analyses are both correct, but don’t forget that the killer’s identity is tied to the plot. Don’t be so rigid—focus on the plot first.’”
After saying that, he couldn’t help but praise, “Zi Heng’s speech was truly the best in the entire venue. The logic was flawless and seamless. If it weren’t for Xi Qing being there, Zi Heng would have definitely been able to uncover Jue Xia’s identity.”
Zhou Ziheng sighed, “Who would have thought that the youngest player in the room, who had just joined the game, would exploit Xi Qing’s uncertainty and my logical thinking to execute a diversionary tactic?”
Pei Tingsong curled the corners of his mouth. “It was precisely because Senior and Xi Qing were strong enough that my suicide tactic could work. They were indispensable to this plan. If my opponents weren’t this strong, I wouldn’t have resorted to such a desperate, unconventional method.”
After speaking, he looked at Fang Juexia, “Of course, there’s also my knight. I wouldn’t have committed suicide if anyone else had been the knight. Because to avoid all attention, secretly gather clues, smoothly meet up with me, and stabilize the vote pattern perfectly in every vote, then seize the opportunity to decrypt and escape—only Fang Juexia could accomplish all of that.”
Fang Juexia couldn’t deceive himself. During the hours they were trapped in the secret room, even though they weren’t always together, it seemed as though an invisible thread bound them together. Beneath the mutual suspicion and deceit lay Pei Tingsong’s unconditional trust in him.
He looked up and returned Pei Tingsong’s smile.
Fang Juexia spoke up, “Actually, we won this time by sheer luck. At first, I was torn between Xiao Pei and Xi Qing. Even though Xiao Pei kept hinting at me, I was still unsure whether Xi Qing was my true ally. So when I found the recording, I invited Xi Qing. But he refused, which made me completely give up the idea that he was the killer.”
Zhai Ying asked again, “But you can’t control the voting pattern, right? What if Xi Qing or Xiao Pei leaves in the first round, then everything will be chaotic afterward.”
“I can’t control the voting pattern, but I can calculate it,” Fang Juexia said with a smile. “Before the first round of voting, I hadn’t yet determined who the killer was, so neither of them could leave. At the time, you and your senior brother had doubts about Xi Qing’s motives, but your senior brother is experienced. He knows you can’t use conventional logic with Xi Qing, and he’s always cautious when voting, so it’s likely he abstained.”
“Zhai Ying, your statement leaned toward voting for Xi Qing, so I spoke last, urging everyone to vote. I believed you would vote for Xi Qing. Zi Heng’s logic was very sound; he only trusted himself and didn’t believe that one of them would definitely be a knight, so he was likely to vote for someone else. Xi Qingge and Xiao Pei vote for each other. Currently, it’s two votes for Xi Qing and one vote for Xiao Pei. I cast my vote for Xiao Pei.”
Shang Sirui was amazed by this set of assumptions, “I did indeed abstain from voting at the time. You’re too strong. Who would have thought that the Black Knight would vote for the killer in the first round?”
Fang Juexia looked at Zhou Ziheng, “You voted for me in the first round, right?”
Zhou Ziheng admitted openly, “You guessed right. I targeted you in the first round, but you hid too well. If Xiao Pei hadn’t died later, my attention wouldn’t have been entirely on Xi Qing.”
“Right, Xiao Pei saved me and disrupted your plans.” Fang Juexia nodded with a smile, “In the second round, I wanted to eliminate Ziheng, so I sided with Xiqing. On one hand, Xiqing had gained some trust in me, and on the other hand, Ziheng was the one who discovered the chessboard code with me. Known facts are hard to shift someone’s attention away from.”
Xu Qichen couldn’t help but praise them, “I first saw your interview and really liked your attitude and speaking style, so I asked Yin Jie to invite you on the show. But you’ve exceeded my expectations. That silent understanding between you is truly remarkable.”
Everyone chatted and ate, beginning to discuss predictions for the next episode, until the director spoke off-camera, “Everyone’s almost finished eating. I’ll say a few words.”
“The proceeds from this episode will be donated to the Child Protection Association. We also thank the companies and sponsors who supported us. We sincerely hope that this episode will raise awareness and concern for the protection of adolescents, particularly regarding child sexual abuse prevention, because protecting children is protecting our future.”
“That’s great!”
“Well, everyone, you’ve worked hard today. The first episode of the second season of Escape from Heaven is officially wrapped up!”
Everyone ate and drank well, and added each other on WeChat. Xia Xiqing created a group chat and renamed it “Today We’re Still Battling Wits with the Production Team.” They tidied up and prepared to go home.
Zhai Ying’s agent came to pick her up personally. At the back door of the restaurant, he bumped into Fang Juexia and recognized him.
“…Juexia?” The middle-aged man looked a bit awkward. “How have you been lately?”
Fang Juexia didn’t show much emotion and nodded. “I’m fine.”
Zhai Ying glanced at the two of them, then pulled her agent away. After getting into the car, she rolled down the window and smiled as she bid farewell to Fang Juexia.
Fang Juexia waved at her, watching Zhai Ying’s car drive off into the distance. His mood was somewhat complicated. After all, before he could put his hand down, someone came up from behind and wrapped their arms around his neck. “I feel so dizzy, Juexia.”
Even now, Fang Juexia still wasn’t used to Pei Tingsong calling him “brother,” but he seemed to enjoy it a little.
“You stopped me from drinking, yet you drank so much yourself.” Fang Juexia pushed him away, just as Xiao Wen pulled up in the car and flashed his lights at them.
Helping Pei Tingsong into the car, Xiao Wen was still excited. “I’ve been watching the surveillance footage all this time. It’s so intense, it’s definitely going to go viral. It’s a surefire trending topic!”
Fang Juexia remained as calm as ever, saying little. His mind was still filled with the events that had unfolded in the locked room, constantly replaying them.
Pei Tingsong seemed to have drunk a lot, his neck flushed red, and his speech slowed, but he appeared fully conscious. His drinking manners and tolerance were far superior to his own.
“Oh, right,” Xiao Wen suddenly remembered something, “I forgot to tell you guys, you might have to stay somewhere else tonight. Qiang Ge asked me to take you to a hotel.”
“Why?” Fang Juexia was confused, “What’s wrong with the dorm?”
“Sigh, the electronic locks in the dorm were suddenly hacked today, luckily none of you were there. The company suspects it was because of you guys—maybe some unauthorized fans or something. They’re still fixing it and will replace the locks for you. Because of this, Qiang Ge even argued with the property management, saying someone had bribed someone inside the property management. Anyway, they’re handling it urgently now, so you won’t be going back tonight. We’ll find a hotel near the company and stay there for the night.”
There’s nothing we can do about it.
Fang Juexia was about to respond, but Pei Tingsong beat him to it, “I’m not staying at a hotel.”
“Then what do you want to do, young master?”
“If it really is an unauthorized fan, a hotel is even less suitable.”
Safety.“ Pei Tingsong looked out the car window at the night view. ”Let’s go to the apartment where I used to live.”
Fang Juexia suddenly turned his head to look at him.
Pei Tingsong, who was half drunk, grinned and bumped his forehead against Fang Juexia’s. “What’s wrong? Are you scared?”
Fang Juexia covered his forehead, which had been suddenly bumped, and stared at Pei Tingsong with wide eyes. The colorful neon lights outside the glass window cast a glow on his handsome face. He was still smiling, leaning against the other side of the car window, his deep pupils reflecting his own face.
“I even killed myself for you, black knight.”
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