0713: You who shine in the parallel world

Getting off the bus is out of the question. Once they're on this pirate ship, they're doomed. Su Xing can only complain that Wang Zhengliang and the others told tired jokes on their "first" meeting. Is this some kind of special way he makes friends?

The last person to introduce himself was Wang Yuexin, a 25-year-old postgraduate entrance exam candidate named Xiaoxin, who had a top-performing friend from a prestigious university named Xuexue. Given his postgraduate entrance exam candidate persona and his academically gifted friend, Wang Yuexin adjusted his decorative glasses, indicating that he wouldn't go easy on anyone in the individual competition if there were any intellectual challenges.

"Hey, what are you saying? With my intelligence, do I need you to let me win?" Zhang Yuan curled his lip. "If you say that, I'm going to get serious. You all need to be serious, especially you, Yu Yu, don't mess things up. I didn't want to be serious before, but today I'm going to show you what real genius moves are!"

Yu Yu blinked innocently as Zhang Yuan singled him out for criticism and education. He hadn't done anything yet, but Yuan Yuan was still scolding him. Stereotypes were indeed unacceptable. If he didn't do something, he would be letting Yuan Yuan down.

“I didn’t play seriously before because of the show’s effect,” Land Rover puffed out his chest. “The show’s effect made you lower your guard. It’s okay, I’m the most powerful brain.”

“That’s true, Tiger, I’m always following you around.” Su Xing nodded seriously.

"Even the most eligible bachelor follows Thirteen's lead and always protects Thirteen's position within the group." Yu Yu cupped his hands in greeting.

Land Rover's hard-earned confidence instantly crumbled, and he collapsed in his seat laughing, causing everyone else to burst into laughter as well.

The conspiracy theories and nonsense spouted by those haters make me laugh every time I see them. Although I don't understand how they came up with such misconceptions, creating such laughs is a small contribution to the comedy world.

The production team watched the brothers laughing hysterically in the car, and seeing that the program had only just begun its first segment, they felt a mix of helplessness and amusement. The advantage of a gathering of familiar faces is that there's never any worry about awkward silences, and there's never any doubt about their chemistry and bond. But the downside is also obvious: they can easily veer off-topic in an instant, even on a simple topic.

Therefore, the production team had to maintain the atmosphere on set and wait for them to quiet down before starting the second segment.

They stated that they would not be selecting a team leader for this escape room mission, as this mission places greater emphasis on individual combat, with individual scores determining the final outcome of the story.

Next, they will play a small game. The winner will not only be able to decide the order in which they get off the bus, but will also receive some game bonuses in the following game segments.

Upon hearing this, Yu Yu was no longer sleepy. Whether or not there was an extra bonus didn't matter; the main thing was the order in which people got off the bus.

He turned his head and glanced at Land Rover and Zhang Yuan.

Just a moment ago, Bird Tiger was boasting that he would definitely shine in this escape room, transforming from the "idiot brother" into the "super brain brother": What are you looking at! You're not allowed to look!

"This isn't a horror game, so what are you all afraid of?" Yu Yu smiled innocently.

Even if it wasn't you, you're not allowed to even entertain that thought! Don't even think about it! Zhang Yuan glared at Yu Yu with a fierce but weak expression.

Land Rover pretended not to know anything and looked out the window: Wow, the weather is so nice today, the sun is shining brightly.

While Yu, Niao, and Hu were exchanging glances, the production team handed game props to Wang Yuexin, who was sitting in the front row. These props were a selection of memes of the seven people from the last episode, one for each person.

The game is quite simple. The production team will ask questions to each person one by one. The person being questioned and the other listeners need to answer using the emojis they have. If the emoji of the person being questioned is different from the emojis of the other listeners, then the person being questioned gets a point. If the emoji of a listener is the same as the one being questioned, then that listener gets a point.

The winner will be determined by each person's score.

"What am I doing with this emoji?" Yu Yu looked at the male ghost emoji standing in the darkness, with a red light faintly illuminating his face from below, revealing a sinister smile. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he had taken the screenshot.

“I know that!” Land Rover said confidently. “I’m telling you, after I decided to participate in this episode of Escape Room, I went back and reviewed the previous episode several times, just to find clues about Yu Yu in the early stages, to learn from and refer to. So I remember very clearly, this is the screenshot in the later flashback where you threatened the hide-and-seek teacher in the secret passage!”

Wang Zhengliang gave Land Rover a knowing but impressed look: "Oh, Tiger, you're quite ambitious. It seems you're really going to impress us this time. But is it really useful for you to learn and improve yourself by reviewing Xiaoyu's video from last time? His mind-blowing techniques aren't so easy to learn."

"Since that's the case, why don't you show us your recent learning achievements and demonstrate a fish-like sinister smile—" Su Xing extended his palm towards Land Rover, gesturing for it to proceed.

Land Rover cooperated by winking, grinning, and smirking.

"Tiger, is your face alright? Fish shouldn't twitch like this, right?" Chen Chusheng laughed so hard he almost turned into a wrinkled shark.

"Ouch, my face is cramping..." Land Rover yelled and covered his face.

"What is this? It's so oily!" Zhang Yuan screamed.

Wang Yuexin showed the original image on the spot, holding up a meme of herself laughing with her mouth wide open.

“Brother Tiger, Brother Tiger should look like this.” Yu Yu took out her phone, turned on the flashlight, and restored the male ghost’s smile from before. However, in broad daylight, the smile did not look sinister at all. Instead, it looked a bit eerie and bewitching.

Land Rover looked at him and then realized, "I get it. This is all about looks."

“Also, observe the lighting. Wait until we enter the pitch-black secret room, then turn on the light and smile. That smile will definitely be different,” Yu Yu said.

"Then it's not that my smile is different, it's that I can't smile anymore." Land Rover is very self-aware of his own limitations.

I don't know how many times the topic has gone off-topic, but the director following the car could only helplessly steer the conversation back on track, again.

This game isn't actually that difficult; it mainly tests a psychological game. It doesn't matter what emoji the person being asked the question thinks they should use; what matters is considering what emoji responses the other onlookers might use, and then taking a different approach by doing the opposite.

The same applies to bystanders; they also need to understand the psychology of the person being questioned and judge whether the other party will choose a conventional or special answer.

The psychological game was quite interesting, and having Zhang Yuan and Land Rover start first and second was also quite entertaining. However, Yu Yu was just teasing them out of a mischievous mood. If they really didn't want to, he wouldn't force them. Besides, this time he didn't have any special identities or special missions, so he didn't need to play as "aggressively" and proactively as last time.

So, Yu Yu, who was half-lying down and didn't want to think too much, only managed to get third place.

In the end, Wang Yuexin was the one who got the right to make arrangements and the game bonus, which just proved what he said before: he would not go easy on anyone in the game.

Yu Yu let go of the two most timid brothers. Wang Yuexin did not intend to let them go, but he softened for a moment and put Zhang Yuan first, then Yu Yu immediately, followed by Lu Hu, Wang Zhengliang, Wang Yuexin, Chen Chusheng and Su Xing.

"Without using a tank like Yu Shao and instead using Zhang Yuan, we'd probably be lingering outside for half an hour without being able to get in," Su Xing said with a smile, blindfolded, readily accepting his fate of bringing up the rear.

When Yu Yu placed his hand on Zhang Yuan's shoulder, he felt that Zhang Yuan had shrunk considerably. Even with his eyes covered, Yu Yu could imagine that Zhang Yuan was crouching down with his butt sticking out, groping forward, and that the other man was clearly startled when Yu Yu's hand touched him.

Yu Yu chuckled and reassured him, "Brother Yuan, it's me. Stand up straight and you'll walk more easily."

"I can't, I really can't." Zhang Yuan bent over with his entire upper body bent over.

"It's okay, listen to me. I'm right behind you, so I'll definitely react faster than you if anything unexpected happens. We've only just started entering, so nothing too serious will happen. The NPC is leading you. Ahead is the Escape Room building we visited last year. The interior layout has been rearranged, but the exterior is basically the same. Next, you'll walk up the steps and then go inside. There's air conditioning inside, so you'll feel a bit cool, and then the light will dim. That's all normal."

Yu Yu could feel that Zhang Yuan gradually calmed down under her comforting words. After entering the room and noticing that the light had dimmed, he simply said that it was dark, and his emotions seemed relatively stable.

The warmth from the hand on his shoulder provided him with a steady stream of strength, preventing Zhang Yuan from continuing to walk with a hunched back. Yu Yu's gentle yet firm voice and solid, reliable back also gave the Land Rover, which was pressed against him, a sense of security.

"Yuexin, your arrangements this time were really good, really. Yuyu's back feels so safe, I really want to hang on him." Lu Hu couldn't help but praise Wang Yuexin.

"Then take a look," Wang Yuexin said with a touch of pride. Although he had a wicked sense of humor, he still cared about Niao Hu and knew that the two of them needed a strong backer.

"It would be even better if you and I switched places, Tiger!" Zhang Yuan shouted from the front. Yu Yu's back was great, who wouldn't want to hang on him? He also wanted to hang on Yu Yu's back instead of clearing the way here. Even with Yu Yu backing him up, he was still a little scared.

"Yuanyuan, Yuanyuan, how about this, let's sing 'Happy Birthday' to Brother Sheng?" Lu Hu, who was completely unafraid behind Yu Yu, came up with a way to divert Zhang Yuan's attention.

Then, the seven people sang "Happy Birthday to You" in the eerie environment of the escape room, with a full range of low, mid, and high harmonies. This may be the last stubborn act of musicians playing escape rooms.

Unfortunately, just as they finished singing "Happy Birthday" and were about to switch to "Auld Lang Syne," someone suddenly removed Yu Yu's hand from Zhang Yuan's shoulder and took him away alone.

"What's going on?! What's going on?!" Zhang Yuan cried out in panic.

“We’ve been separated, maybe locked in different rooms, but I can hear your voices clearly, so we’re still in the same space.” Yu Yu felt himself being led to a room by the NPC, and he looked to his left. “Yuanyuan, you’re to my left.”

"Is that Brother Liang on the right?"

"Yes, it's me. Have we been locked up in solitary confinement?" Wang Zhengliang's voice came from the right.

"This feels like a solitary confinement cell," Su Xing's voice came from the other end.

"I'm locked up, is that normal?" Land Rover's voice came from the far right.

“Me too!” Wang Yuexin was also on the left. “We might have to figure out how to unlock it later.”

"Can you smell something? The smell of peaches. You can take off your blindfolds now," Chen Chusheng said, his voice coming from the other side.

Yu Yu also smelled the peach scent. The NPC had previously told him that he could remove his blindfold if he could smell the scent. He looked around and sure enough, the seven of them were locked in seven rooms with the iron gates locked outside.

The first beginner level is about how to escape.