In Song Qiuyu’s understanding, Jiang Xiao should be afraid of ghosts.
He had once been chased around a haunted house by an NPC playing a red-clothed female ghost, screaming and shouting for Xi’er, so scared that he cried.
Yet, at this very moment, Jiang Xiao stepped out from behind her, and instead of being afraid, he stood protectively in front of her.
“Lao Xie, Lao Lin, are you nearby?” Jiang Xiao’s voice was calm as he spoke.
Song Qiuyu seemed stunned, tilting her head as she looked at Jiang Xiao in disbelief.
Something was off—way off. The Jiang Xiao who should be a coward was standing there steady as a tank.
This was the same guy who always sold out his teammates in CS and never reloaded his gun. How was he suddenly so brave today?
Jiang Xiao quietly observed her reaction.
Suddenly, a cold breeze swept through, and an eerie tune straight out of Liaozhai’s underworld soundtrack began to play.
The red veil of the Ghost Bride fluttered faintly in the wind, and faintly, there seemed to be the sound of a woman crying—or was it laughter?—drifting out from beneath the red veil.
“Eek!”
Qiuyu couldn’t hold back any longer and, terrified, hugged Jiang Xiao tightly from behind, pressing her entire body against his.
It’s said that players of escape rooms share a common trait: once frightened, they huddle together as a group.
Qiuyu didn’t usually like hugging others.
Even when scared, she’d try to avoid instinctively hugging or being hugged.
But if it was Jiang Xiao, she strangely didn’t feel that resistance…
Feeling the softness behind him, Jiang Xiao’s body stiffened slightly but maintained a calm exterior.
“Here! Here! Here!”
The voices of Xie Zhuran and Lin An came from the next room.
Shortly after, the Girls’ Team’s voices also rang out.
It seemed that aside from those two being sent into this room separately, everyone else was in the next room.
“Before the escape room officially begins, all players must take turns reciting a line of poetry containing a building. No repeats allowed.”
A Staff member’s voice came from somewhere in the room, clearly audible.
Though they said ‘in order,’ there was no clear sequence—it was more a first-come, first-served basis.
“Jiang Xiao…”
Song Qiuyu was convinced Jiang Xiao was just pretending to be tough, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of the guys and girls, so she racked her brain trying to feed him an answer.
After all, under extreme fear, people often stop thinking and just babble nonsense!
Even top students would.
And the worst students would definitely.
Teachers always say knowledge, once learned, can never be stolen, but Qiuyu found that wasn’t true—she drew a blank at the critical moment.
While she strained to remember, Jiang Xiao calmly and confidently was the first to recite a line and moved on.
Qiuyu was deeply shocked.
Was her past memory playing herself? Or was Jiang Xiao playing her?
After Jiang Xiao finished, the people in the next room also began reciting poems one by one.
Jiang Xiao quietly listened, not looking back at the trembling figure clutching him tightly.
When everyone was nearly done, he asked Qiuyu, “Need help?”
“No, I can do it myself,” Qiuyu said confidently.
But just as she was about to recite her line, someone beat her to it.
So, she gave up in less than three seconds.
“Jiang Xiao, I’m counting on you. Answers, save me.”
Jiang Xiao sighed softly.
The rules weren’t transparent, but to avoid the Staff catching on, he didn’t say this out loud. Instead, he turned his head and whispered into her ear.
“‘If the East Wind doesn’t favor Zhou Lang, the Bronze Sparrow Terrace will lock the Two Qiao sisters in deep spring.’”
Jiang Xiao lowered his voice to a level only the two of them could hear.
Warm breath accompanied the words as they leaked into her ear.
Qiuyu’s ear flushed slowly, and her heartbeat quickened.
It felt as if a few rabbits were hopping wildly inside her chest, or a nest of ants crawling nonstop.
Only then did she realize she was still hugging Jiang Xiao from behind—but it was too late.
If she let go now, she might go weak in the knees and fall flat on her butt, legs sprawled out.
That would be embarrassing.
She collected herself, but she was amazed she’d forgotten such a familiar ancient poem!
She immediately recited the line.
Then, the Staff handed them the time to proceed.
“How’s it going over there?” Lin An adjusted his glasses, looking around. Unfortunately, the light was too dim, but one thing was clear—the Shop had put thought into this; the Chinese-style horror atmosphere was palpable.
“Over here… there’s a suspected Ghost Bride sitting on the bed right opposite us.”
Qiuyu took a deep breath, rubbing the oddly itchy ear—her ear that Jiang Xiao had just whispered into.
“Phew, a Ghost Bride, huh!” Xie Zhuran stroked his chin.
“Why don’t you try talking to her? She should be able to speak, right?”
“That’s what I think, too.”
Qiuyu nodded and braced herself to walk out from behind Jiang Xiao.
“I’ll do it.”
But Jiang Xiao looked calm and took the initiative to take on the task.
“Jiang Xiao, how are you so calm?”
Qiuyu couldn’t hold back.
Jiang Xiao ignored her.
“Miss, we apologize for disturbing you. If you have any grievances, please tell us. We will clear your name.”
Before the game started, the Staff had told them some backstory.
A few years ago, the Village Head of Zhujiazhuang had married off his daughter to bring good luck, but soon after, the entire village vanished without a trace.
Given the Haunted Mansion Terror theme, Jiang Xiao guessed the bride before him was a very important NPC.
As soon as he finished speaking, the bride stopped crying or laughing and returned to a deathly stillness.
Not only the bride but also Qiuyu fell silent.
What was going on? Normally, it was hard enough for her to talk to strangers, but now chatting with the Ghost Bride suddenly felt… normal?
She was inexplicably annoyed.
“Miss…” Jiang Xiao calmly tried to speak again.
“Miss, if there’s nothing else, we’ll leave now and not disturb your rest!” Qiuyu cut him off quickly.
Since the Ghost Bride was ignoring them, they’d withdraw and regroup with the others.
Time to make a quiet exit.
Qiuyu grabbed one of Jiang Xiao’s large hands tightly with her small one.
In the dim light, she hurried toward the door, a bit anxious.
Jiang Xiao lowered his eyes, looking at the small hand holding his, lost in thought.
However, no matter how they pushed, the door wouldn’t open.
Obviously, some kind of puzzle or mechanism needed solving first.
The others in the next room must have heard the door noise because they came over and pushed hard from their side.
Still, it wouldn’t budge.
“Useless. Let’s keep looking for clues.”
Jiang Xiao said, shifting his gaze back to the motionless, unusually quiet bride.
“Jiang Xiao, what are you going to do?”
Qiuyu blinked, stunned as Jiang Xiao strode straight toward the bride.
She followed him in a daze.