Chapter 699 - 699 FEMALE PROTAGONIST SYNDROME

699 FEMALE PROTAGONIST SYNDROME

Hu Lei returned to Zhong Feng with an expectant smile on her face. He was a little amused because he knew she wanted to be praised for her performance, even though it was hardly a show of her true abilities. Still, he patted the head with the mussed-up hair lovingly.

“You did well.” He said.

“Of course.” She raised her nose into the air. “I am the best.”

He chuckled and pinched her cheek. In all these years, she still behaved like a cat with her tail in the air. It reminded him of that first meeting in his office when she walked in with an overconfident attitude. She was his treasure.

“Something is happening,” Inei shouted. “Look at the floor leading to the sliding door. Some tiles are turning purple.”

The group gathered in front of the area and saw the tiles were indeed changing colour. It created a scrambled path, presumably with safe and dangerous areas. Finally, they had a way out. The sense of relief was high.

“I will go first in case there is danger,” Inei said.

He was afraid Emi would offer to go forward before everyone else and cause more trouble. So far, she had fallen into two dangerous traps and offended the bigshots with her mouth. It was hard being a big brother to a girl with female protagonist syndrome.

However, his arm was caught by Shi. “No, let me go. If something happens, you can take care of your sister.”

.....

Inei was a little touched by the gesture. He was not close with Shi, but they interacted quite a bit. Unfortunately, it was hard to get to know a robot person like Shi. This was the first time Shi acted in a non-mathematical way.

Or maybe, he had a hidden motive.

Before Inei could think more, Shi had already stepped on the closest purple tile. Everyone was anxious, but he did not fall through to the pool. There was a collective sigh of relief at confirming the way out of the room.

The cold and the toxic ammonia fumes were already making it difficult to breathe. If any of them were regular people, they would already be coughing and labouring for breath.

Shi moved from the first purple tile to the next one and stood firmly. Then, something unexpected happened; the tile he left disappeared. He was ready to move again, so he did not notice the problem.

“Stop!” Yagi ordered.

Shi stopped and looked behind. Of course, he noticed the problem.

“I will use as few tiles as possible.” He said before turning back.

With this new challenge, the path to freedom looked even longer. However, Shi could not go back. He needed to keep moving before the others suffered poisoning.

“Even if he uses a few tiles, they are far from enough to get us all to the other side.” Inei pointed out the obvious problem.

Everyone knew it.

“You should carry Emi across on your back. I doubt the tiles have a weight limit. That way, we will use fewer tiles.” Yagi said.

“What about you?” Emi asked him with worry before casting a furtive glass at the couple standing some distance away. The two seemed uninterested in crossing, but the room was quickly becoming a freezing, gas chamber.

No one would want to remain in such a dangerous place.

“I will manage. Do not worry.” Yagi comforted her.

“What about them?” Emi asked in a low voice.

Yagi turned to look at the couple. He was a little apprehensive, but he would not back down when it came to protecting Emi. And Inei was his future brother-in-law. He had already failed when he let Emi be injured by the ammonia fumes.

He could not let anything else happen.

“Neko and Tori.” He called out. “Can you two find a different way out?”

Hu Lei and Zhong Feng turned in unison from each other and looked at Yagi. Their synchronicity was almost telepathic.

“Do you want to fight us for the chance to leave?” Hu Lei asked with a strange smile.

“Fighting would not benefit anyone. The countdown is almost hitting zero.” Yagi said.

“So, you are willing to die?” Hu Lei asked.

“No.” Yagi was firm. “I have things to do. I cannot die here.”

“You know this is not a game, right? If you die here, you will not respawn and get a chance to try again.” She lifted a brow in question.

“Yes, but it is still a game.” Yagi countered. “I cannot respawn, but something tells me you two will not die.”

“Are you asking us to sacrifice ourselves for the survival of you, your little girlfriend and the other guy?” Hu Lei did not let up. “Why should we? If we decide to leave, none of you can stop us.”

“I will owe you one if we can leave.” Yagi relented because he knew the woman did not have a sympathetic bone in her body. And the man… He was content with letting his lover do whatever she wanted.

“Very well.” She smiled brightly. “Remember, I always collect.”

The explosive situation was defused immediately. Inei carried Emi across the floor with ease, and Yagi used the remaining purple tiles to go after them. When all the purple tiles were used up, the remaining white also fell out, revealing the pool with circling piranhas.

Yagi looked back at the couple after he crossed the threshold as the door was closing. He wanted to see what they would do. In truth, he expected the main door to open, and a flood of bodyguards to come in and rescue them.

However, what happened next was out of his expectations.

The celestial man leaned in and kissed his lover on the lips in the middle of the cold, toxic room. Then, the woman reached into her sleeve and took out a knife. With a simple twist of her fingers, that knife turned into three throwing blades.

Yagi was frozen for a moment as he looked at those knives and their familiarity. He remembered the invitation cards for the escape room exhibition. The embossed symbol on the black card was a bouquet of knives.

Could it be?

The man held the woman in his arms, and she nodded. Like a magician, she threw the knives at the piranhas with impeccable speed.

Then, the couple fell together into the reddening water in each other’s arms as the piranhas cannibalised their injured members.

With that, the door closed.