HCILH Ch. 72

Chapter 72: Escape Room (Part 2)

Lu Yanxin suddenly felt at peace.

The man she and her friends couldn’t get was destined to be out of reach for other girls, too.

Looking at the “couple outfits” on those two, the way they clung together, and recalling Deng Yiheng’s remarks about “the sleep-aid spirit” and the “insomniac’s” dependency… these two were definitely a couple!

Whether they’d admit it or not, she was already rooting for them in her heart.

Just the thought of it thrilled her.

The excitement even made her laugh.

Seeing Hou Mo so scared only amused her further, making it impossible to stop laughing.

The most helpless person at this moment was Deng Yiheng. He and Shen Junjing stood before the grid formation, holding various clues and studying them for a long time without making any headway. They even considered just breaking down the door.

Feeling exasperated, Shen Junjing looked pleadingly at Hou Mo: “Senior Brother, can you hold someone else? Hug Deng Yiheng for a bit and give us Brother Yu back; we need someone with a brain.”

“No!” Hou Mo refused stubbornly.

Lu Yanxin laughed until tears streamed down her face. If Uncle Gu were watching the surveillance footage, he’d probably think their storyline wasn’t compelling, seeing someone laughing like this.

Once she laughed herself out, she finally walked over to join the analysis, but after more than ten minutes, they were still at an impasse.

Deng Yiheng asked in frustration: “Are we stuck on the very first level? I’ve thought so hard my head hurts.”

Lu Yanxin glanced over at the two and remarked: “Brother Yu is sleeping soundly, and Senior Brother is happily hugging him. Are we disturbing them?”

Shen Junjing tried persuading Hou Mo again: “Senior Brother, once we open the door, we’ll clear some space for you two. Lend us Brother Yu for a bit.”

Hou Mo hesitated for a moment but eventually agreed, not wanting to stay there any longer. After waking Sui Houyu, he didn’t touch him again.

Sui Houyu opened his eyes, looked around blankly, and finally shot a glare at Hou Mo.

He walked over, grabbed a clue, and examined the grid formation. In two minutes, he solved it.

The moment he solved it, the others weren’t excited; instead, there was a stunned silence. The contrast made them feel like their brains might just be a decoration—otherwise, how could there be such a gap? He solved it as if it were child’s play.

But then, seeing Hou Mo so terrified he could barely function, they felt a little better; at least they weren’t that scared.

Sui Houyu directed Hou Mo to follow Deng Yiheng and the others as they moved into a long corridor, searching for the next room.

Meanwhile, he explained the backstory to the others: “This escape room has a theme story. It’s set in the Republican era, and the decor reflects that. The general idea is that a wealthy family fell into ruin because of a woman.”

Lu Yanxin couldn’t help but complain: “Why is it always women blamed for causing chaos?”

Sui Houyu explained: “It’s actually a cliché story. A wealthy family’s young master falls in love with a girl, but their social statuses are worlds apart, so his family forces him to marry someone else. The girl was prepared to move on, but the young master’s wife grew jealous and conspired with the head of the family to marry her off to a violent widower. The young master would often see the girl suffering abuse, unable to intervene. I suspect the story ends with her exacting revenge.”

Lu Yanxin scowled: “That story is so unsettling.”

Sui Houyu asked her: “What if she later killed the entire family, including that worthless jerk? What do you think?”

“That’s not bad.”

“So… the place is set up as a haunted house, where many people died gruesome deaths.” As Sui Houyu searched the hallway, he noticed some old newspapers and took a look at them.

They had been artificially aged, complete with ink smudges and blood stains for realism.

He read for a moment, then continued: “I was right—the entire family was killed, and they died horribly. Each corpse had scratch marks all over from nails, and they bled out slowly and painfully.”

He flipped to the back and went on; “And the police never found the killer. Rumor has it that a ghost was behind it, and the house was sealed off. Later, a thief tried to rob the place but ended up dead in the same gruesome way.”

After hearing this, Hou Mo attempted to cling to Sui Houyu again, only to be restrained by Deng Yiheng and Shen Junjing, yet he stubbornly reached out with his hand.

Seeing this made Lu Yanxin laugh again, leaving Hou Mo even more terrified.

Hou Mo asked helplessly: “If that’s the case, why are we even here?”

Sui Houyu, brimming with excitement, replied: “For the thrill! Isn’t this fun?”

Hou Mo shook his head: “Not fun at all.”

“Killjoy.” Sui Houyu rolled his eyes in frustration.

Just then, they suddenly heard a strange noise.

The five of them fell silent at once, now clearly hearing the sound of high heels clicking up the stairs.

They all turned their gaze toward the staircase ahead.

The entire building had been deliberately decorated; every window was sealed, blocking out sunlight, leaving them to rely solely on dim interior lighting.

Ahead lay a dark corridor, and the only light came from the stairway below, casting an eerie red glow. The light was positioned so that shadows on the floor appeared as if they were crawling up the stairs.

The owner of the high heels was coming up from the basement.

They first saw a hand gripping the wooden staircase’s railing—a pale, slender hand with long, red nails.

The sight of that hand alone gave them all goosebumps.

Standing on the outside, Hou Mo was the first to see the woman’s face.

She wore a red embroidered qipao and red high heels, with her black hair pinned up in an elegant style that gave her an air of grace.

If only, when she turned to look at them, her excessively pale face wasn’t streaked with bloody tears and her eyes weren’t solid white, they might have found her somewhat attractive.

As if timed with a lighting effect, the dim corridor lights began to flicker rapidly, then went completely dark.

The entire house plunged into darkness.

Then came a woman’s scream, speeding closer with unnatural swiftness, sounding as if it were coming from right beside them.

In that instant, Hou Mo’s actions were almost instinctive.

It’s said that in moments of extreme terror, people reveal their true nature, sometimes even pulling others as shields to save themselves.

Hou Mo was different. With his mind blank, his first move was to run over, hoist Sui Houyu onto his shoulders, and take off.

Meanwhile, the other three were also fleeing.

In the dim light from the first room, they saw Hou Mo carrying someone while somehow overtaking them, sprinting into the room at a speed that surpassed even his 800-meter dash time.

Hou Mo clearly had untapped potential.

Lu Yanxin was stunned: “He really took off running with his ‘wife’ on his shoulder, huh?”

Deng Yiheng didn’t hear clearly: “What?”

“Nothing.” Lu Yanxin answered and was promptly pulled into the room by Deng Yiheng, who shut the door behind them, still catching his breath.

“Put me down!” Sui Houyu struggled until Hou Mo finally snapped back to his senses and set him down.

As Sui Houyu tidied his clothes, he complained: “I never found escape rooms that scary before, but with you adding to the atmosphere, it’s way more terrifying. The owner doesn’t even need actors; if customers go in with you as a teammate, they’ll be scared enough.”

Deng Yiheng leaned against the door, seemingly afraid that the woman might break in.

Once the room fell silent, they heard the high-heeled footsteps again, stopping at the door without any further sound.

No knocking, no forced entry, just a stillness that made it all the more terrifying.

Hou Mo wanted to grab Sui Houyu’s hand but was coldly rejected.

Left with no choice, he curled up in a chair, hugging his knees, and pitifully said: “I don’t want to play anymore…”

Deng Yiheng whispered: “She can’t just stay at the door, right?”

Sui Houyu shook his head. “In games like this, there’s usually a main boss who appears at the beginning to scare players. She’s the key character in this story, so I’d guess she’s the final boss. She scared us once at the start, then smaller enemies will follow, with her returning for the final showdown.”

Deng Yiheng still whispered, fearing that a louder voice would draw the ghost’s attention: “Will there be a jump-scare if we open the door?”

“My guess is that she’ll be gone when we open the door. The game continues.”

“But we didn’t hear her high heels leaving!”

Sui Houyu looked at him like he was an idiot: “She could just take off her shoes and tiptoe. Haven’t you ever snuck out to play as a kid?”

Imagining this calmed Deng Yiheng, and he suddenly laughed: “Thinking about it that way makes it less scary.”

Sui Houyu began searching the room and remarked: “They’ve probably left us some sort of lighting equipment.”

As he spoke, he glanced over to a corner and chuckled. There, right on the desk, was an oil lamp that they had all assumed was just part of the room’s decor.

He picked up the oil lamp, examined it, and then found an instruction sheet in the room. He lit the lamp, which seemed meticulously authentic. 

The flame flickered, casting wavering shadows around the room, heightening the eerie atmosphere.

Sui Houyu held the lamp and said: “I’ll lead as the tank. You all follow behind me.”

At that moment, Hou Mo spoke in a soft, almost pleading tone: “Brother Yu…”

Sui Houyu turned, glanced at Hou Mo, then sighed and gestured for him to come over.

When Hou Mo approached, Sui Houyu took hold of a small decoration on Hou Mo’s shirt and said: “I’ll hold onto this, okay?”

“Mm.”

Sui Houyu opened the door first, and as expected, no one was there. He moved the lamp around to illuminate the area, scanning for clues while keeping hold of the decoration on Hou Mo’s shirt.

Spotting something odd, Sui Houyu raised the lamp to get a closer look and directed Hou Mo: “Bring that over here so I can see it.”

“I’m scared…”

“Then I’ll let go.”

Hou Mo eventually gritted his teeth, brought it over, and held it up for Sui Houyu to inspect.

Watching all this, Lu Yanxin couldn’t help but comment: “A strong tank carrying a scaredy-cat healer…”

Deng Yiheng, meanwhile, looked on with some disdain: “Look at that—the two school bullies holding hands. Suddenly, the bullies at our Fenghua school feel so disappointing in comparison; they’re just not impressive at all.”