Chapter 33

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Present\nThe maze wasn’t complex, but the darkness increased the difficulty of navigation. The mercenary captain took the flashlight and walked to the very front, still holding hands with the priest. Du Jing and Zhou Luoyang walked behind them, while the professor and botanist brought up the rear.\n

The space was very narrow. In order not to fall behind, they followed closely behind the priest and captain, but the light up in front was obscured by their bodies and couldn’t reach the very back. Just then, Du Jing suddenly spoke.\n

“Remember that time we went to Universal Studios?”\n

“Can you not bring that up all the time?” Zhou Luoyang was finally at the end of his rope. At the Walking Dead attraction at Universal Studios, his entire person had practically hung off of Du Jing, and in the end, Du Jing had had to carry him out.\n

“This isn’t a good idea. I’ve noticed that you bottoms are all pretty scared of the dark,” the professor said.\n

“I’m not,” said the priest walking up front.\n

“I’m…honestly not either,” Zhou Luoyang said. “I’m not scared of the dark on its own. I’m just scared of what might pop out of the dark…”\n

“Stop talking!” the botanist yelped.\n

“Okay, okay,” Zhou Luoyang quickly soothed. “I’ll stop. There aren’t any employees here with so much free time that they’d dress up as ghosts and scare us.”\n

<hr class="wp-block-separator">\n“We’ve arrived,” the priest announced cheerfully. “My mission is complete.”\n

“This is a dead end,” the captain said, feeling the wall. “But it moves.”\n

“Let me see?” The professor squeezed over, and the botanist subconsciously grabbed onto Zhou Luoyang. \n

Zhou Luoyang gave him an understanding pat on the back and received a “thank you” in response.\n

“Crap,” the professor said. “It’s almost out of battery.”\n

The flashlight was beginning to grow dimmer and dimmer, clearly a calculated effect—perhaps it would only last an hour once fully charged. A moment later, everything was dark again.\n

“This pedal is part of some mechanism,” the captain observed. “Maybe you’re supposed to stand on it with the person you teamed up with?”\n

“Do we need to split into new groups?” the professor asked.\n

“Nah, this is fine,” Du Jing said.\n

The other three players, including Zhou Luoyang, offered no input, a fact which Du Jing suddenly realized. He asked Zhou Luoyang, “Do you have an opinion?”\n

“Aren’t you guys calling all the shots? We’re just doing what we’re told. Even now, I have no idea what we’re supposed to do.”\n

“Then it’s settled,” the captain said. “The two of us first? Let’s go.”\n

The priest was beginning to grow nervous. Their surroundings were just so lifelike, and no one knew what would happen once they stepped onto the pedal. But in the end, this was only a game, so the priest forced himself to keep his voice steady. “Let’s go.”\n

The pedal was situated in a very cramped space. The others backed off as the captain held the priest in his arms and the two of them stepped onto it. The weight of them—which Zhou Luoyang estimated to be around one hundred kilograms—seemed to trigger some mechanism.\n

Of course, there was also the possibility that there were employees watching through the cameras and were manually operating it.\n

In any case, it was a hydraulic pressure lift, a very cramped one. The two standing on top of it stayed upright with difficulty as the lift slowly descended.\n

“Next pair,” the professor reminded.\n

Zhou Luoyang and Du Jing stepped onto it and were slowly lowered down. Light gradually flooded Zhou Luoyang’s vision, making it hard for him to open his eyes. Next, the professor and botanist joined them, and thus, the third challenge was over.\n

So there still remained a fourth challenge! Zhou Luoyang had assumed they were done. The new room contained five strange, maneuverable iron frames, on which hung human-shaped iron sheets. The bases of the frames were fixed to a track on the ground.\n

Before the big, central door, there was an embedded trough that was missing a portion of itself.\n

In front of a statue, there was a spot wide enough for one person to stand. The walls of the room were covered in faded murals.\n

Zhou Luoyang thought the room had a rather average design, but the reactions of the other players were very entertaining.\n

“This should be the final challenge,” Du Jing said. “My turn.”\n

He took out a metal gear wheel and fit it onto the embedded trough.\n

“This will probably be the hardest challenge,” the professor said. “They said online that the final challenge of this escape room is the toughest.”\n

“What does this mean?” Zhou Luoyang noticed the look Du Jing gave him, as if he were an idiot. Unhappy, he grumbled, “Let me guess it myself. Don’t tell me. It’s no fun doing escape rooms with smart people.”\n

The professor shut his mouth as well.\n

But Zhou Luoyang alone wouldn’t be able to come up with an answer, no matter how hard he racked his brain.\n

“Maybe once these metal frames are moved to a certain spot,” the captain mused, “the door will open.”\n

“Yes, but the tracks are so complicated; there must be a hint somewhere,” Zhou Luoyang said.\n

The captain looked up and around the room. Suddenly, he said, “A projection on the wall.”\n

Everyone suddenly understood. There was a light in the center of the final room, and once the frames with the iron sheets were placed in certain positions, they would cast projections onto the walls, completing the murals!\n

“That’s hard,” the professor said after giving a couple experimental pushes. Some parts of the track were higher and some parts were lower, so if you weren’t holding the frames in place, they would slide away.\n

Zhou Luoyang counted the frames—there just so happened to be five. “I get it. The final challenge requires all of us to work together. I’ll check the positions; you guys push.”\n

Thus, the five players each went up to a frame and pushed, causing the thin sheets on the frames to form projections on the murals. Zhou Luoyang backed up a bit and surveyed the walls.\n

“Professor, move a bit to the left,” he instructed. “Du—Groot.”\n

“I am Groot,” Du Jing deadpanned.\n

Amidst the sound of laughter, Zhou Luoyang continued, “Back up some. Don’t block the light. Uh…mercenary captain, Ma Wang? Move forward a bit.\n

“Priest, pull backwards. Emigrant…botanist, you stay where you are and don’t move. Alright, everything’s in the right spot.”\n

But nothing happened.\n

Each person stood in place next to the frame they were responsible for. After a beat, Zhou Luoyang demanded, “Hey! Open up! Is it broken?”\n

Everyone remained in place. From where they stood, they could only see one or two of the murals. Zhou Luoyang walked up to the statue and examined the side of it. There seemed to be a door there, but it didn’t open.\n

“Something’s wrong,” the mercenary captain said. “The ground here isn’t connected to any opening mechanism. There hasn’t been any clicking.”\n

The priest looked totally lost. He made to let go of the frame and walk over, but the captain said, “Wait a moment.”\n

He turned to Zhou Luoyang. “What do you see from there?”\n

Zhou Luoyang looked at the murals. “I understand now…This is a hint.”\n

With the added projections, the murals now painted a complete picture. Zhou Luoyang had to admit that the designers of this escape room had really put their all into the final challenge—\n

“One person has to die,” Zhou Luoyang murmured.\n

Now that the characters were all filled into the murals, the story it presented was this: six people came to a lost temple, searching for the ultimate, undiscovered treasure. But one person must stand in the middle of the altar and be struck dead with an arrow so that his blood could be offered in sacrifice to its deity. Only then could they obtain the treasure they pursued so arduously. \n

“Oh? Who’s going?” Du Jing asked.\n

No one volunteered.\n

“Does someone need to be killed off before we can leave? It’s just for show, right?” Zhou Luoyang wondered.\n

The others stared at him. Over the course of this escape room, everyone had used their props to help solve the puzzles. Zhou Luoyang was the only one who had practically done nothing at all the entire time.\n

He relented. “That’s fair. Their goal in designing the tourist character was to have him be the sacrifice…”\n

Just then, Du Jing drew a gun from his bag.\n

Everyone went silent.\n

“Take this a little more seriously,” he said.\n

From the start, Zhou Luoyang had treated everything as nothing more than a game and hadn’t been very drawn into the experience. The others hadn’t taken it very seriously at first either, but gradually they became immersed in the storyline. The moment that Du Jing pulled out the “gun,” though, Zhou Luoyang felt as though he really was inside of a temple, just for a split second.\n

“Bodyguard, that’s yours?” the professor inquired.\n

“It’s the tourist’s. Come here, tourist, you take it,” Du Jing said.\n

Du Jing handed the gun to Zhou Luoyang. Zhou Luoyang weighed it in his hand; it was very light and had a very distinctive build. It was possible that there was nothing more than a remote control inside, which was crucial to opening the final door.\n

Zhou Luoyang gazed at the other players.\n

“Do I pick? Do I kill someone?” Zhou Luoyang found that very unfathomable.\n

“In the final challenge, your character’s objective is to kill one person at random and take a share of the treasure. After killing them, you must put the gun on the altar for anyone who might need it,” Du Jing explained to Zhou Luoyang. “I just didn’t show you the game instructions as we were coming in.”\n

“Don’t kill me. You and I have no enmity. My mission is to have the botanist die—his true identity isn’t a botanist; he’s a North Korean biologist, and he’s going to develop a terrible quantity of chemical weapons in order to kill us American soldiers and civilians,” the mercenary captain said.\n

“So your character is an American,” the priest noted.\n

“My mission is to look into the professor, kill him, and then take the formula from his corpse,” the botanist supplied.\n

Zhou Luoyang: “……”\n

Zhou Luoyang scratched his head. The priest spoke up again. “You can’t kill the botanist. His character’s a woman—my older sister. I need to kill the mercenary captain because he’s an army commander and he’s slaughtered many of my nation’s people.”\n

Zhou Luoyang: “……”\n

“I need to protect you, tourist, because my character’s a theologian, and I’ve vowed not to let civilians come to harm. I urge you to kill your bodyguard because he has ulterior motives. He’s with the captain. They want to snatch all the treasure for themselves and kill off everyone else,” the professor said.\n

“Yes, my character has to take away as much of the treasure as reasonably possible, but I can’t kill the mercenary captain because he and I were once comrades,” Du Jing said.\n

“Why are all of your characters so complicated? You guys knew everything from the start? Am I the only one without a character?!” Zhou Luoyang exclaimed.\n

“You are the only one without a character,” the priest confirmed. “But you have the power to decide everyone else’s fate. The game instructions included a reminder for us to pay special attention to you.”\n

Zhou Luoyang was completely baffled by what everyone was saying. “Let me get the story straight. So first, no one wants to die. Next, you all have to try and convince me to kill your own target.\n

“The professor wants to kill my bodyguard.” He looked Du Jing up and down. “You want to kill the botanist or the priest. The mercenary captain wants to kill the botanist, the botanist wants to kill the professor, and the priest wants to kill the mercenary captain.”\n

“Correct. Now, the time has come for us to slaughter one another. Now that I’ve made sure you’ve arrived here safely, my contract is up, and I can now kill you,” Du Jing informed him.\n

Goodness gracious, Zhou Luoyang thought, looking back at everyone else. But the captain turned to the priest and promised, “I’ll protect you. My role is also to protect you.”\n

“Then you can’t kill my sister. Your mission is doomed to failure,” the priest responded.\n

“This was all prearranged by the game. Among each of the five of us, we all have grievances and reasons why we must kill someone.”\n

It wouldn’t be the right decision for Zhou Luoyang to kill any one of the players. If he shot the professor, then once the professor died, Du Jing and the botanist would be free. Mission accomplished. But the mercenary captain still needed to kill the botanist, while the priest, in turn, needed to protect the botanist. So if the captain killed the botanist, the priest would kill the captain in revenge.\n

The only ones left alive would be Du Jing, the priest, and himself.\n

If Zhou Luoyang killed the captain, then Du Jing would have to avenge the captain and kill Zhou Luoyang. Then the professor would avenge Zhou Luoyang by killing Du Jing. The ones left alive would now be the priest, the professor, and the botanist.\n

Kill the priest, and the captain would kill Zhou Luoyang in revenge, the professor would kill the captain, and Du Jing would kill the professor. The ones left alive would then be the botanist and Du Jing. \n

Kill the botanist…and the priest would avenge his sister by killing Zhou Luoyang, and the professor would subsequently kill the priest. The ones who would successfully escape would be the captain, the professor, and Du Jing—the three tops. \n

This setup is so sadistic, Zhou Luoyang thought as he clutched the gun. All of a sudden, he found his interest piqued.\n

“You guys take a vote,” he suggested. “The first round, for whoever you guys think I should kill and sacrifice. But after I shoot, it’ll be out of my hands.”\n

“That’s very fair,” Du Jing said.\n

“My identity has determined that I can’t vote for a civilian. So either the captain or the bodyguard. I pick your bodyguard,” the professor said.\n

Du Jing received one vote.\n

“The one who has to shoot can’t die, the captain is protecting me, and the botanist can’t die. So I can only vote for either the professor or bodyguard…” He mulled it over for a moment. “But if the bodyguard lives, he’ll kill the civilians, which means I may die. So I’ll vote for him too,” the priest said.\n

Du Jing received two votes.\n

“I vote for the botanist,” the captain said.\n

“I vote for the professor,” the botanist said. “My character requires it.”\n

Only Du Jing’s vote remained. Zhou Luoyang asked, “What happens if there’s a tie? Kill both?”\n

He tossed the gun in his hand, watching the others. The professor replied, “In the event that there’s a tie, you’re the only one who can make the final decision.”\n

“I vote for the professor,” Du Jing finally decided.\n

So Zhou Luoyang had to decide whether to kill Du Jing or the professor.\n

Of course I’m gonna pick the professor, Zhou Luoyang thought to himself. But just as he was about to announce his decision, Du Jing interjected, “Forget about the relationships we have outside of our roles here. What you need to focus on is the characters in the story. Think about who you should kill so that you can still live. You also need to figure out how to attain the optimal outcome, which will push everyone else into killing each other, so that you can obtain the most treasure in the end. Of course, I might still eliminate you and keep all of the treasure for myself.”\n

If Zhou Luoyang killed the professor, the mercenary, priest, and botanist would all kill each other. Then Du Jing would kill the priest to avenge the mercenary. In the end, he and Du Jing would make it out alive.\n

“You and I aren’t enemies. I need to protect you. Are you sure you want to send me to heaven for the sake of the bodyguard?” asked the professor.\n

Zhou Luoyang: “………………”\n

The choice that he faced was much too difficult. What he ultimately had to deal with was in fact the responsibility of setting off a chain of murders. Zhou Luoyang looked at the other three people and debated selecting one of them. The best option would be to kill someone that had minimal relation to himself and cause the rest of them to kill off each other. That way, he wouldn’t have to bear too much of a moral burden.\n

But as he brooded over the decision, he realized that according to the tourist’s character, killing Du Jing was the optimal solution that came with the lightest moral burden—because the bodyguard wanted to betray him.\n

Killing the professor was the optimal solution for him to obtain the most treasure.\n

But given his relationship with Du Jing, Zhou Luoyang found that in the end, he couldn’t turn the gun on him. He had to admire the boss; they must have planned this out in advance. The reason he and Du Jing had an independent relationship within the game was in anticipation of this final moment. Aside from that, the other pairs of players had also more or less formed bonds throughout the course of the game.\n

They weren’t that close, but it did play a vital role in determining who would live or die. In that case, the mercenary captain was the one Zhou Luoyang was least familiar with.\n

“Three minutes left,” the professor reminded them. “The grand finale is quite interesting.”\n

“I’m overturning the results of the vote,” Zhou Luoyang declared. “I’m killing him.” He pointed at the mercenary captain.\n

“Me?” The captain was dumbfounded. “Why are you killing me?”\n

“No reason.” Zhou Luoyang cracked a smile.\n

“We don’t have any enmity. If you kill me, your bodyguard will avenge me. How about we team up instead?”\n

“Then that’s on him.” Zhou Luoyang just needed to kill the captain, and then the botanist, priest, and professor would all survive. Du Jing could handle the subsequent ethical trial himself. \n

“Get up,” Zhou Luoyang ordered. “Time to make the sacrifice. The story is drawing to a close.”\n

“Alright. Since you want me to die, then I guess I have to die.”\n

The captain had no choice but to step onto the altar as the priest laughed kindly, watching him. The captain shook his head helplessly.\n

Zhou Luoyang pointed the gun at him. He suspected that the statue behind the captain was remote controlled. Maybe once he pulled the trigger, the door would swing open.\n

Just as he raised the gun, the eerie music surrounding them suddenly stopped. Tension spiked within the room; a chilling ambience spread quietly. \n

<hr class="wp-block-separator">\nTranslated by beansprout.\n

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