CH 35

Chapter 35 – Sheep In The Mouth Of A Tiger

Xiao Pei, Xiao Pei, definitely won’t suffer any losses today

After learning that he had mistaken a little dog for Pei Tingsong’s girlfriend outside the entertainment circle, Fang Juexia keenly felt that  he had made a fool of himself all day long. So in the attempt to avoid Pei Tingsong, he sequestered himself in the practice room, immersing himself in dance practice.

Even when his cellphone vibrated, he never looked at it. It was only after returning to the dorm late at night did he discover that all the messages he had received were from Pei Tingsong.

[Kaleido Pei Tingsong: Shared a picture]

He had sent out nine photos in one shot, all of which featured a dog. It was a small snow-white dog with long fur; her fur had even been twisted into small braids, her eyes were very round, and she was especially pretty. 

So this was Lily.

Fang Juexia was a bit surprised; he hadn’t thought that Pei Tingsong could actually raise such a cute little dog. After all, with a devil incarnate like him, raising even a Tibetan mastiff was possible. 

[Just a pretty face: Cute.]

Pei Tingsong had waited for an entire night, and after receiving only that word in lieu of a proper reply, he nearly died from anger. 

[Kaleido Pei Tingsong: You are too perfunctory ba]

[Kaleido Pei Tingsong: Courtesy demands reciprocity, let me see Little Abacus]

Then came another good long wait. Nearly 20 minutes later, Pei Tingsong’s cellphone finally let out a half-dead vibration. 

[Just a pretty face: Shared a video]

He clicked on the video, which looked to be about three minutes long. The scene in the video was of a beautifully arranged little garden. Fang Juexia was wearing a white baseball cap and half-kneeling on the grass. With one hand, he pulled a husky into his arms, and using the other hand, he then smeared some doggy shower gel over its body. He kept saying, “Little Abacus is so good. How about going out to play after the bath?”

How was it that even a husky could become so obedient and sensible under his hands?

At the end of the video, he heard Mama Fang’s voice, “Juexia, look here.”

The next second, Fang Juexia turned to face the camera, and it seemed that he was a bit younger than now. It was at this time that Little Abacus, who was completely soaked, suddenly shook himself and splashed water all over Fang Juexia’s whole body. At this, Fang Juexia began to laugh, smiling helplessly, but very beautifully.

This was a Fang Juexi radiating life that was filled with firework-like sparks.

For a reason Pei Tingsong couldn’t explain, he ended up watching the video repeatedly for a long time, wearing headphones throughout, so that Fang Juexia’s voice, as he coaxed the dog to bathe, was right by his ear. 

His uncontrollable thoughts kept veering back to the memories of that particular night.

The wider these folding windows opened, the more curious he became about the scenery on the other side of them.

“Escape” had a large number of fans and was a common topic of conversation. On the second day after the contract was finalized, the marketing accounts online suddenly began to release information about the show one after another, mostly pointing at the lineup of program guests, with mixed accuracy. There was only one marketing account that implicitly mentioned that popular boy-band members had been invited to star in the new season.

This piece of news soon set off a huge wave. Some people in the comments said that Seven Luminaries had contacted the program group very early on, but their fans refused to acknowledge that, and so these two groups tangled for awhile. Later, a long anonymous thread was built up in the forum, which stated that the newly signed guests were Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong, the pair who had recently become popular by selling a rotten CP.

With this, the fans of Seven Luminaries and Kaleido collided again. Fang Juexia, for some reason, became the main target, being regarded by the Seven Luminaries fans as the one who had stolen their idol’s spot, and so they did their utmost to discredit him. It got to the point that Star Chart had to send out a lawyer’s notice that night, demanding that these fans stop slandering their artist. Normally, since such wars were a frequent occurrence in the fan circles, passers-by didn’t pay much attention to it. In addition, nothing about the line-up was really known, so the program fans were just watching from the sidelines.

But the next day, the posts on this topic suddenly doubled. All because Liang Ruo had released a selfie on a foreign social network platform.

He seemed to have been photoshopped in this selfie. His face was covered with a painted-on grimace as he showed an aggrieved expression, and there were even photoshopped tears added to his face. 

Such a selfie would usually account to nothing much, and would be considered to be just a way to keep himself trending and give some cuteness to his fans. However, when such a selfie was published right in the middle of a heated debate revolving around the guest line-up for the show, this crying face took on a whole new meaning in the netizens’ eyes.

[@23CHIWE: 7L C, he’s implying something here ba?]

[@Little angel is me: From the perspective of a passer-by, posting up such a selfie at this time is too coincidental, and I don’t believe that it wasn’t done on purpose. If the official guest really turns out to be FJX in the end, then 7L C is really… He’s so popular, why does he need to touch porcelain?]

[@3000 scoops of the Yalong River: Laughing to death, a top artist from the most popular group accusing a 38th parallel line idol, I’d really like to know what touching porcelain really means?]

[@kumakuma replying to @3000 scoops of the Yalong River: Don’t put it so badly. The netizens still remember the scene of your family’s group being abused by that obscure group two days ago. You can’t do anything, so first place hatred you bring.]

[@Is the second season of Escape For Your Life out yet: Anyway, I believe in the program group’s vision, and it’s impossible for them to destroy their own brand. In the first season, the score of a certain team exceeded 9, and the guests were all super strong, so the program group will definitely take word-of-mouth as the top priority. P.S. new people can be added, no problem, but can you also let the original teams all return!]

[@Beautiful Fine Jeweled Xeriscape: Other people posting up selfies can even land on FJX’s head, FJX is really miserable. I’m carrying away my beautiful Gege, not enjoying any success, and not accepting any stigma. On March 17, Kaleido ensemble show will premiere everywhere online. Welcoming everyone to come and watch!]

[@Fleet-footed little fool: Previously, the leaks always said it was a popular boy-band member ah, some 18th rank small obscure group shouldn’t try to get close to the word “popular” ba.]

[@Never lllllb: Shit, Liang Ruo is really bitchy, hahaha]

[@Shipping fun things to save my dog life: Not a fan of either, but based just on their faces, I’d pick Fang Juexia.]

Online, fans kept increasingly sniping fiercely at each other, and ‘Escape For Your Life’ ended up hanging on the Hot Search list for the whole day. This continued until the evening of the next day, when the program group’s official Weibo finally released the list of the guests for the first episode, thereby confirming the fact that Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong were joining the new season of “Escape”, a topic that aroused a heated discussion again.

Cheng Qiang specially comforted these two people by saying, “You guys have gotten more and more popular, so there will also be more and more disputes. This is very normal, don’t take it to heart.”

Fang Juexia didn’t really care about it. He knew very well that the fiercer the debate, the higher the popularity they would accumulate before the broadcast of  ‘Escape 2’. Anyway, such a thing posed no problem when it came to their path to the ultimate goal, and he didn’t really mind all the twists and turns they would have to face en route to it.

Different from his cold-eyed bystander, Pei Tingsong was a thorn that would never suffer losses.

On the night the most vicious curses were being rained upon them, he was still updating his Weibo by posting a photo. However, the picture he had taken was his palm with his five fingers outstretched. Interestingly, he had used a graffiti brush to paint all four fingers, except the middle finger, black. Only the finger in the middle stood out, vivid and eye-catching.

Of course, this Weibo post was also gathered and recorded into a certain forum named “Pei Tingsong’s recklessness incident log”, which was full of his repeated victories.

“These poor fans think they can seize the initiative by swearing a little bit more.” Pei Tingsong laughed scornfully and commented, “They’re being used as pawns for gaining popularity, and they don’t even know it. Letting them rip into each other like this, when the whole world knows that the second season of Escape is about to start shooting.”

It was also because of Pei Tingsong’s picture, that thegroup of crazy fans were attracted over to his Weibo, and almost all the firepower was now concentrated solely on him.

Pei Tingsong wasn’t afraid of this at all and even posted a sentence in the comments—

[You guys don’t really want to compete with a rapper in terms of cursing people out ba?]

He was an aberration in this circle. Possessing both background and personal strength, he used all the methods, which most PR teams would avoid, to smash people online relentlessly. Crushing this ant colony with his heavy fist was very much consistent with his aesthetics of perpetrating violence without sticking to any bottom line. 

Three days later, Fang Juexia and Pei Tingsong went to the location where the reality TV’s program group was going to be shooting. Fortunately, the second season of “Escape For Your Life” was set up to be shot in Beijing this time. After recording an episode, they could go home; it was really very convenient. They took Cheng Qiang’s car to get to their destination early in the morning, and their Kaleido groupchat was in full swing by this time—

[@Your Fire Ge: @Kaleido’s Only Big Boss, can you bring your cellphone in? If you really can’t figure things out, come find your Fire Ge, me. I’m really good at unlocking things.]

[@Sexy Teacher Yuan Doing Flower Hand Dance: Unlocking things hahahahaha. There won’t be any horrifying places ba? Damnit, I’m so timid, my blood freezes just thinking about it.]

[@Water Water Water: There may be a little dark room or something. What if you two can’t get out? By the way, can you guys bring water in? When they’re halfway through with filming, will they give you anything to eat?]

[@The Original M-Dash: My God, it’s too hard if they don’t give you any food. Fortunately, they didn’t ask me to go (even if they did, I wouldn’t be able to get out of the room) Juexia, you mustn’t be in the same room as Xiao Pei. I’m afraid he’ll fall into a hurry, then pry open the door, and accidentally hurt you.]

Pei Tingsong was left speechless when he read the chat record. 

[@Kaleido’s Only Big Boss: I’m going to film an escape room, not a picnic. Besides, I’m sure I can get out of there. All of what you said has rebounded!]

Just after he sent that out, Pei Tingsong looked up to see Fang Juexia fishing through the pockets of his jacket. 

[@Just a pretty face: I’ve got milk candy and little cakes.]

[@The Original M-Dash: Great! Don’t give them to Xiao Pei, starve that little cub.]

[@Kaledio’s Only Big Boss: ….]

“Here we are. Get out of the car ba.”

As soon as they arrived at the building where the filming  was to take place, they were guided to the hairdressing room first by the staff. Fang Juexia couldn’t help but sigh; well-funded programs were just different. 

“Your skin is really good ah.” The stylist was a young man, and he then asked, “Do you want to cover up this birthmark?”

Fang Juexia looked at his reflection in the mirror and shook his head. “No need.”

“Alright.”

His clothing style didn’t seem to contain any distinctive features. He was wearing a white shirt paired with suit pants, and a knitted sweater vest on top of that. The stylist also specially placed a pair of non-prescription glasses on him, thereby giving him a very bookish air. Fang Juexia, as a loyal viewer of ‘Escape For Your Life’, soon realized that this get-up might have something to do with his identity on the show.

“My role couldn’t be that of a teacher or a student ba?” Fang Juexia looked up at the stylist.

“You are too clever.” The stylist sprayed a little bit of styling gel onto his hair before declaring, “Done. I really like styling good-looking children, no matter how I do it, I just can’t fail.”

Fang Juexia smiled in embarrassment. Before handing in his cellphone, he read the message he had just received. 

[Kaleido Pei Tingsong: In case we end up in a small dark room in a moment, remember to call me.]

The corners of his mouth rose.

[Just a pretty face: If you’re the killer, wouldn’t I become the sheep being sent straight into the mouth of a tiger?]

It didn’t take long for him to receive a reply.

[Kaleido Pei Tingsong: My tiger mouth has already been bitten by you, where is there any other tiger mouth now?]

Fang Juexia’s fingers stopped moving and for the next few moments, he was at a loss on how to respond. This person was just too good at stirring up his emotions, especially when it came to guilt and compassion.

But this feeling of guilt didn’t persist for too long, because Pei Tingsong soon sent another message—

[Kaleido Pei Tingsong: Besides, if I really am the killer, I can kill you any time.]

“Okay la, Juexia, we have to go over now.”

“En.” He could only give up and hand the cellphone over to the crew member, and then he followed them into the elevator to head to the designated floor. Before getting out of the elevator, the crew member covered his eyes to mask his vision. 

Masking his vision this time wasn’t as simple as covering his eyes with an eye mask. Instead, a square hood was placed over his head, and in the blink of an eye, everything went dark, and there was someone supporting him and guiding him forward. 

This kind of operation easily increased the tension felt by the guests, but Fang Juexia was rather familiar with this feeling, so he didn’t feel anything. He just felt that it was a bit of a pity; according to the schedule, he should be entering the escape room directly, that was to say….

He wasn’t the killer. 

This made Fang Juexia feel rather disappointed. Although he looked like he had a mild personality, he also very much  wanted to try playing a villain-like role, like that of the killer who needed to possess nerves of steel and a strategic mind. It seems that he had missed this opportunity by just a little bit for this first episode. 

Fang Juexia heard the sound of a door opening. He was then helped into the room by the crew and was seated into a chair. He could feel that it was a very comfortable leather sofa. Subsequently, they tied him up with ropes and also fixed his legs in place, but they didn’t remove his hood.

“This is your cellphone, specifically designed to let you receive text messages from the program group.” The crew member put the cellphone into the pocket of his trousers.

“Yes, thank you.”

Once in the dark, Fang Juexia, who had lost his sight, would usually become extremely sensitive. He could easily judge the trajectory of the rope based on the crew member’s movements, and quickly outlined out a mental sketch of the way he had been tied up. 

The clock in his heart rotated for only ten minutes before Fang Juexia heard the door open again.

It seemed that he wasn’t the only one present in this escape room. However, he wasn’t sure whether this was a good thing or not. Although more people possibly meant more help, no one could tell whether the other party had a good identity.

Listening to the sound of the movements, Fang Juexia was sure that the newcomer was sitting right opposite him, and that the distance between them shouldn’t be more than 50 cm, because he could clearly hear the sound of clothes rustling. There were also some sounds of metal clanging, which probably came from handcuffs. 

Once all sound disappeared, and the door of the room was closed for the last time, was when this escape room was finally initialized.

The next moment, a rather familiar and slightly metallic sound filled the room, which was the intro theme to ‘Escape For Your Life.’

“Welcome to the second season of ‘Escape For Your Life’. Now, please forget all about your original identities. In this game, your only identity is that of players who are currently trapped in the escape rooms. Please note that this game consists of not just a single escape room, but rather of many such rooms connected to each other, which means that when you open the door of your own escape room, you will enter a new escape room. There may be other people, who are just like you, trapped in there.”

Fang Juexia possessed a good memory. Just after listening to the beginning bit, he noticed that this monologue was a complete copy of the first season’s.

“Please allow us to introduce the rules of our game. The person who escapes all the escape rooms and leaves the house in the shortest amount of time will be the winner of this game, and will thus gain the highest number of points. The rest of the players will be allotted points calculated in accordance with their escape durations, and one point will be deducted from the player’s score for every extra ten minutes taken after the winning duration.”

The voice paused for a moment, and then continued, “I think we all know that the difference between ‘Escape For Your Life’ and other escape room games is that there is a killer present among the players. Unlike ordinary players, this hidden killer holds the right to “kill” other players, and the killed players will be able to attain no points for that round. However, in each episode, the killer can only kill off one player.”

“Ordinary players can also deduce the identity of the “killer” through reasoning. Once all the players have gathered together, they can vote to “kill” this specific player. The players who manage to successfully vote the real killer out of the game will gain 1.5 times the points they would originally accrue. However, if the “killer” becomes the final winner in the game, then every other ordinary player gains the status of being killed. Their points for that round are completely cleared, and the killer will get double the amount of points then.”

Listening to this, the only difference from the first season seemed to be the change in the calculation of points. In the previous season, players who had correctly voted to oust the killer wouldn’t be rewarded; this was the new mechanism that was added in the second season of the show.

But if this was the case, wouldn’t players go all out to find the killer’s identity in order to get the reward, so wouldn’t the game become more difficult for the killer?

“None of you have any supporting decryption equipment on your bodies, and we hope that you won’t use any physical means to break open the escape rooms. Each player has been equipped with a modified cellphone designed so that they receive their group information, get information on countdown timings, and for voting. Please note,” Here, the narrator paused for a moment, “the only thing you can rely on in this game is your own intelligence and teamwork.”

“Then good luck to everyone. Commencing the countdown—”

Was that it?

“Three…”

“Two…”

Fang Juexia still felt that it was a little strange.

“Wait a minute.” The narrator suddenly stopped the countdown and laughed. “Just joking around with you guys. There is still another key rule, one that wasn’t stated just now. Attention, please.”

“There is a new character being introduced for all players in this season— the double-faced knight.”