0713: You who shine in the parallel world

Seven people who had never met before cooperated to obtain five friend cards in the second game, which were then divided equally among the three winners.

After two competitions, each of the seven players received a card, which may be another way of "balancing".

As expected, the Joker's cutscene reappeared after the game ended, and the lines in the cutscene were still pre-recorded, because his line "some people have very few friend cards" didn't match the fact that everyone had one at the moment.

Of course, that's not the main point. The main point is that after the cutscene appears, it means they are going to the next destination to start the next round of the game.

This game tests intelligence and logical thinking skills rather than physical strength, so the guys didn't choose to continue resting. When the clown announced in the cutscene that the next round of challenges awaited them, they stood up and headed to the next room.

Wang Zhengliang, unaware of what he would encounter in the near future, was still cheerfully teasing Zhang Yuan, telling him to keep the formation and be the first to leave. Meanwhile, Lu Hu was chatting with Yu Yu, saying that the pace of this escape room was quite good, not too scary, and that it combined physical and mental exertion, so that even without using his brain, he could understand how to play.

He hopes that the subsequent activities will also be as relaxed and enjoyable, combining work and rest.

Yu Yu remained noncommittal about Land Rover's prediction of a comeback. He felt that there was an interactive clown NPC in the escape room, and that the NPC's appearance was not the comical type. It seemed a waste for the production team not to make good use of him.

The next round of the game is not a competition. According to the Joker in the cutscene, the next round is a chance to get an extra friend card, and it remains to be seen whether they can seize it.

The group entered a study. The bookshelves on both sides of the room were filled with books that looked quite realistic. However, these were not physical books, but just covers, some of which were still firmly attached to the bookshelves.

On the desk in the room was a box filled with gifts they had given to their NPC friends, and all of these gifts were red.

Below the gift was a diary of Xiaoyu, in which he wrote that everything was out of control, but some key information had been crossed out, and he needed "your friends to decide who deserved to stay the most."

Unable to decipher the meaning of the diary for the time being, Wang Yuexin turned and walked into the study. Soon he found an openable box on the bookshelf, inside which were several scrolls.

Zhang Yuan walked over, picked up one of the scrolls out of curiosity, and opened it to find that it had the words "Do not open" written on it. He was so frightened that he threw the scroll back.

The next second, an alarm suddenly sounded in the room, as if warning them of something.

An alarm went off as soon as I opened a piece of paper that couldn't be opened. Is this a trap? Will the floorboards open and they fall through, or will the ceiling collapse? Will the bookshelf topple over?

Yu Yu glanced around but didn't find anything strange. However, since the trap box was right in the middle of the bookshelf, and they had all walked between the two rows of bookshelves, it didn't seem like a good omen.

"Get back!" Yu Yu had barely finished speaking when the alarm suddenly stopped.

He grabbed Wang Yuexin and Zhang Yuan by the arm and pulled them back quickly, also pushing Wang Zhengliang and Lu Hu out of the bookshelf area.

Meanwhile, Chen Chusheng and Su Xing, who were walking ahead, reacted quickly enough, or rather, they trusted Yu Yu enough. When he told them to leave, before they could even figure out why, they had already taken a few steps forward and left the area of ​​the bookshelf.

Just as the seven people in front and behind stepped back, the bookshelves on both sides suddenly tilted inward. Due to the mechanism, the bookshelves stopped collapsing at 70 degrees, but the movable books and props on the bookshelves fell to the ground due to inertia.

If they had been a second later, those books would have hit them.

"This is outrageous," Wang Yuexin muttered. "Luckily, Xiaoyu reacted quickly."

“This fish is quite reliable when it’s not swimming,” Zhang Yuan nodded.

Stepping over the books and props on the ground, the group arrived at the desk inside. Being rebellious by nature, they decided to see what was written on this supposedly unreadable scroll.

At this moment, the Joker's cutscene appeared again, as expected. Wang Yuexin looked at him on the screen and was used to it, and could even say that he was here again.

He appeared only to explain the rules: the seven of them needed to draw lots to form groups and find boxes with clown patterns. The friend cards were placed in those boxes, and the scrolls they held were maps of the rooms corresponding to the boxes.

There are two boxes on this floor, in the room next to the study. The next floor, which was the former living room, also has two boxes, but these two boxes are separate, located in two separate rooms at opposite ends. The remaining three boxes are on the bottom floor, the floor of their initial solitary confinement cells.

Zhang Yuan felt like the sky was falling when he saw this: "A side quest, it's actually a side quest!"

"How many groups are we going to be divided into?" Su Xing leaned over to look at the map.

“It’s obviously four groups. The bottom floor is for two single people. This map belongs to you and Yu Yu.” Zhang Yuan said, unilaterally deciding that Su Xing and Yu Yu would complete the two single-line tasks downstairs. His plan backfired spectacularly on Yu Yu and Su Xing.

"Hu Zi, Yue Xin, and I went to the bottom floor, which is the three of us. Sheng Ge and Liang Ge are on this floor. Perfect."

Chen Chusheng stood aside and watched him happily finish dividing the groups before suddenly interjecting, "We need to draw lots."

He took out the lottery bucket from under his desk.

"Brother Tiger, is this what you meant by a relaxed and enjoyable work-life balance?" Yu Yu looked at Land Rover with great sincerity.

Land Rover's eyes often welled up with tears: "Look at this mouth of mine!"

After the draw results came out, Xiao Liang, who had been teasing Zhang Yuan, could no longer laugh. In fact, when he saw what was on his slip of paper, his smile froze, and when he secretly glanced at Land Rover's slip of paper, his face turned several shades pale.

He drew a box.

Zhang Yuan was the happiest because he had drawn three boxes, and he was with two tanks, Su Xing and Wang Yuexin. As long as he hung between the two of them, he could walk sideways in the secret room!

"Who is the other solo mission?"

Su Xing was a little curious. He really wanted to draw a solo mission, but unfortunately his luck wasn't good. What was the point of a three-person mission other than scaring his teammates?

"Here it is." Yu Yu waved the note.

"It's you! We should have changed the outcome," Su Xing said with great regret.

Yu Yu understood what he meant. Su Xing preferred solo missions, but Yu Yu felt that it was more fun with teammates, especially when the teammate was a timid and humble weak man.

“Xiaoyu is fine, Xiaoyu can do solo missions.” Wang Zhengliang didn’t want them to switch. He grabbed Yu Yu’s arm like an owl grabbing its own tree branch. “We’re on the same floor, so we can go together.”

Although both of them are called solo missions, what kind of proper solo mission is it when both rooms are on the same floor?

The remaining two, Chen Chusheng and Lu Hu, are on a two-person mission, which takes place in the next room.

After being divided into groups, everyone embarked on their respective side quests.

Apart from Chen Chusheng and Lu Hu, the remaining five people's mission locations are all downstairs. They can walk together for a short distance, but after going down one floor, Yu Yu and Wang Zhengliang have to leave the group and stop on this floor.

Watching Su Xingzhang, Yuan Wang, and Yuexin leave, Wang Zhengliang stood at the top of the stairs. The lights in the stairwell were still on, but the dim light from the incandescent bulbs could only slightly illuminate the small area around the doorway. The vast darkness deep inside the room prevented the light from getting any closer.

Looking at the completely dark room, Wang Zhengliang couldn't help but start muttering to himself.

"Oh no, I forgot to memorize the map. Which way do we go after we come down to the single-player mission room? And how do we get to the treasure chest in the room? Go upstairs, turn right, go in a straight line, then turn left..."

Yu Yu couldn't help but laugh as she watched Xiao Liang try to persuade her, taking several deep breaths but not wanting to step out of the light zone.

If Yu Yu hadn't been by his side, Wang Zhengliang might have dared to venture out on his own, but sometimes that's how people are; once they have someone to rely on, they're unwilling to take any more risks.

"Brother Liang, I'm here, you don't need to memorize the map, I know where to go," Yu Yu reminded him with a smile.

"I know, but we're all on solo missions, so we can't complete the mission together," Wang Zhengliang said, still somewhat worried.

"It's true that only one person can enter a single-player mission room, but I can just not go in, right? I'll just stand at the door and wait for you."

After Yu Yu said that, Wang Zhengliang realized that it was indeed possible to exploit a loophole in the game rules. The rules only allowed one person to enter the room to find the treasure chest, so the other person could just stand outside and watch.

As for what can be observed in the dark, that's another matter.

Having figured this out, Wang Zhengliang felt less scared. Following the principle of proximity, they decided to check out the room on the left side of the porch first.

When I came here before, this door was closed and I couldn't pass through, but now the door is open, leading to an inner corridor. At the end of the corridor, there is another door, and the small room behind that door is the single-player mission area.

The aisle was narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time. Yu Yu walked in front, while Wang Zhengliang held tightly to Yu Yu's clothes behind him, as if afraid that a clown would suddenly jump out from behind and snatch him away.

Yu Yu wasn't scared at all. He walked to the door, pushed it open, and found that it was a small bathroom. The space was very small, no more than five or six square meters. Moreover, the door couldn't stay open; it would close automatically if you let go of the pressure.

"What's inside?" Wang Zhengliang asked. On the one hand, the space was small, and Yu Yu standing in front could block most of the view; on the other hand, he didn't dare to look inside.

“Inside is a typical home bathroom, complete with a bathtub,” Yu Yu replied. “Let’s go take a look at the other side; I don’t think this place is quite suitable.”

The dark, cramped, enclosed space was hellish for Wang Zhengliang, who was already afraid.

“If you think it won’t work, then it definitely won’t work,” Wang Zhengliang said. “Go, you go first.”

Unlike before when he teased Zhang Yuan and told him to go first, this time Wang Zhengliang really wanted Yu Yu to hold the line.

After shifting to a different position, Yu Yu led Xiao Liang Ge out of the corridor, past the living room sofa area, and to the door of the room on the other side.

This room was previously a grid-stepping game room, but after the side quest started, it became a treasure hunt room, and the door is now open.

At this moment, in the dark space, a clown sat on a bench against the wall, an eerie red light illuminating his unsettling and terrifying face, as well as the small box at his feet.

Compared to the restroom on the other side, the solo tasks on this side look much more "friendly".

If he had to choose, Wang Zhengliang would choose this side; at least it's spacious, and he can run away with the box.