CH 1.1

Outside the window, black clouds filled the air and the wind rolled furiously. The mottled leaves were blown by the wind into messy shapes, as if large trees were about to rise from the ground at the next moment.

Lightning fell, illuminating the lonely, strange hotel in the middle of the wilderness.

Bai Lixin lazily leaned on the back of a chair in silk pajamas, his eyes sweeping around.

This was in the lobby of the hotel, and a total of seven people, including him, were sitting around a round table. They each had a piece of paper and a pen in front of them.

The old man, the high school boy, the middle-aged man in a suit, the girl in the long floral dress, the short-headed young man with a flower tattoo on his arm, and the young man in a surgical suit; everyone’s eyes were filled with confusion and panic.

They were confused because they didn’t know why they were here and panicked because there was a large rattan suitcase in the middle of the hall.

The suitcase was open and a long-haired woman was folded inside. Her face was pale and her limbs were in an extremely twisted position.

The woman was wearing a red dress, and there were obvious five-finger pinch marks on both sides of her neck, as well as varying degrees of bruising and corpse spots on her body.

She must have been strangled.

The crowd panicked as they surveyed the bizarre room and the unfamiliar people around them. A look of amazement appeared in everyone’s eyes when they saw Bai Lixin, and the fear on their faces was even washed away.

Bai Lixin looked only about twenty-one or twenty-two years old. He had stunningly beautiful features, but without a sense of femininity.

His physique was slender and handsome, and he had a lazy, aristocratic air about him as he moved his hands and feet. He attracted all the attention just by sitting there idly.

His slender black eyes were like the sea covered with a layer of mist, looking mysterious and unpredictable.

Perhaps because he had just woken up, the young man leaned lazily against the back of his chair. His eyes were downcast, his thick black lashes were trembling slightly in the air, and there was a slight ripple at the end of his eyes. The dim light swept down on his soft flaxen hair, casting a hazy golden glow.

Absolutely beautiful and pure.

He was like a stunning work of art to be admired in a museum, or like an ink fairy stepping out of a scroll.

[Ding!]

While several people were lost in thought, an abrupt beep suddenly rang in the crowd’s minds.

In the next second, an electronic tone rang out.

[Welcome to the Immersive Escape Game. I am the service system that will accompany you until the end of the game. This round is a warm-up mini-game, and after passing it, you will be able to enter the first trial mission. After the trial mission is completed, you can then enter the game hall.]

[A rainy night traps seven strange travelers in a hotel where they find a female corpse. The murderer is among the seven of you.]

[Passing condition: Find the murderer; fill in the suspect’s name on the paper. The one who fills in the correct name wins the game and will be rewarded with points.]

[Friendly reminder: Points can be redeemed for game props.]

[The player who receives the most votes or enters the incorrect name will be considered to have failed the game, and they will receive punishment.]

[The time limit is 24 hours. Please do not leave the hotel during the game; otherwise it will be considered a foul and the violator will be punished.]

[Punishment: beheading.]

[The game process has been synchronized to the newbie section of the live game room. Enjoy the game.]

The electronic sound came to an abrupt halt.

The radio in the hotel emitted a rather dated electric static current tone, “Around… long hair… age 20… wearing a red dress at the time of disappearance… slight history of mental illness… anyone who finds her should call 01-XXXXX, a heartfelt thanks will be extended.”

The announcer’s voice was chilly. A sudden burst of thunder rumbled outside the window, causing the girl in the floral dress to cover her head and scream, “Where the hell is this? I was just in my office, have we been kidnapped?”

However, her line of questioning obviously had little effect, and she only got five faces of confusion as a response.

Everyone had no idea how they had gotten here, and their faces didn’t look good.

The man in the suit looked around and took a deep breath. “How about everyone tell us how they got here? Even if we were kidnapped, getting certain information would at least tell us what was going to happen. ”

The electric static sound had come from above their heads, but he looked up and saw that there was no wiring overhead except for the triangular beams that were about to fall apart. Even the lights that illuminated this part of the hotel were old kerosene lamps.

The man in the suit saw that no one was paying attention to him, and he continued, “Since I’m the one who suggested it, I’ll go first. My name is Zhou Guang, I’m a lawyer. I had just finished a court session today and was driving home a second ago. ”

The air fell silent once again after the man in the suit finished speaking.

He licked the corners of his dry lips in embarrassment and looked around before setting his eyes on the girl in the floral dress. He was about to say something when he was interrupted by an angry roar.

The man with the tattooed arm slammed the table, “Fuck, kidnapping my ass! How can we sit here if we’re kidnapped? Doesn’t every TV show have kidnappings where people’s hands and legs are tied and their faces covered? ”

The crowd looked at each other.

“Are you guys stupid?” The man said again, and casually took out his mobile phone from his pocket, “If you’re in trouble, can’t you call the police?”

Zhou Guang was stunned for a moment.

A mobile phone? It was surprisingly still there. Why hadn’t he thought of it?

Not only Zhou Guang, but even the old man, the girl, the man in the surgical uniform, and the high school boy also took out their mobile phones from their pockets.

Not long after, five mobile phones were placed on the table, but the signal in the upper right corner showed a big “x”.

“What kind of shitty deep forest is this? There’s no signal! ” The man with the tattooed arm threw the phone down on the table, “I can’t get through, don’t waste your effort.”

The hope that had just been ignited by the crowd was extinguished again.

“My name is Shen Gudao. I’ve been a retired university teacher for many years.” The old man opened his mouth when the atmosphere had returned to a freezing point. “I was practising calligraphy before I came here.”

“Also, I’m not the murderer.”

The old man pushed his right sleeve towards the middle of the table, revealing the ink-stained cuff.

His hand kept shaking. “I have Parkinson’s disease and I can’t even hold a pen, so how could I kill a young woman and stuff her in a suitcase?”

The first two spoke up, and the girl in the floral dress said, “My name is Li Cancan. I’m 25 years old and I’m interning at an information company. I was working overtime at the company before I came here. ” She finished and added, “I’m not the murderer either.”

High school boy, “My name is Xia Chi, I’m a student. I have just finished my college entrance exams, I haven’t killed anyone.”

The man in the surgical suit still had bloody medical latex gloves on his hands. He hurriedly took them off when it was his turn, and he pulled out a stiff smile, “I..I’m Liang Xi. Yes, I’m a veterinarian, and I was cutting a male cat’s balls before I arrived. This blood, it’s cat blood, not human blood! I didn’t kill that woman. ”

Although the introductions were very sketchy, at least the name and profession were known.

Only the tattooed man and the good-looking youth remained, and they still hadn’t introduced themselves in the hall.

The man with the tattooed arm spoke with some annoyance, “My name is Yang Hao. I’m in the money lending business. I don’t care about killing people.”

Li Cancan repeated, “Money lending?”

The man in the suit pursed his lips and explained, “It’s what folks commonly call ‘loan sharking’. I’ve been in a few of these lawsuits before. Loan sharks like to give themselves a good name.”

The tattooed man glared at Zhou Guang, “That’s all a matter of your own accord. What’s the problem?”

“Could the murderer be you?” The retired teacher, Shen Gudao, paused and said, “Aren’t there cases where debt collectors get the debtors killed because they can’t pay back the money they borrowed?”

The crowd looked at the man with tattooed arms in unison.

The tattooed man wasn’t happy. He glared at Shen Gudao, “Damn old man, don’t spout blood here. Which one of your eyes saw me killing someone?”

The man with the tattooed arm tapped his fingertips hard on the table top as he anxiously took out the soft leather *Huazi from his pocket. He took a cigarette and lit it up before holding it between his index and middle fingers and cursing at the old man, “One more word and I might actually kill someone.”

White smoke rose from the cigarette in wisps and into the air.

The old man’s face went white, and he shivered. He didn’t say another word, but everyone’s faces changed as they looked at the man with tattooed arms with suspicion.

In the hall, there was no sound other than the whistling wind outside.

The girl covered her nose and said stiffly, “That… can you put out the smoke?”

The tattooed man glared at her, “This is a Huazi!”

Then he swept a fierce gaze around the room, “What kind of eyes are you looking at me for? You suspect me? Wait for me, I’ll call the police. It’s the 21st century. How can there still be places where the signal isn’t covered? ”

With a cold snort, he picked up his phone and walked over to the window, abruptly pushing it open.

A fierce wind instantly poured in from all directions.

The kerosene lamp was blown from east and west, and the shadows of the crowd were reflected on the walls like the frenzied barking of an alien with fangs and claws.

The wind was blowing loudly at the window, and the man with tattooed arms was moving around with his mobile phone to find a signal. The cold, chilly wind poured in through the window, making Li Cancan shrink her shoulders from the cold.