ALWARFC Chapter 62

Moonlit: I made a Discord server. You can join the server for pinged updates, schedules, sudden announcements, etc… ♡⸜(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)⸝♡

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This immersive escape room game had a total of eight players. Besides Su Weisheng and three others, there were three friends of the boss, and one unsuspecting passerby who joined at the last minute.

At this moment, in the winding, maze-like underground corridor, eerie ghostly wails echoed now and then. The three players who had entered the game earliest were currently huddled in a surveillance corner behind a stone door, trembling with fear.

Su Anyao, dressed in an imperial-style gown, clutched the director’s sleeve tightly, so nervous she couldn’t even speak clearly. “Wh-what do we do? This is way too scary. How are we supposed to escape upstairs?!”

Yes, the director, Li Lang, was a friend of the castle owner. He had accepted the invitation specifically to help the lead actor and actress find inspiration by participating in this three-day, two-night immersive escape room event.

Li Lang had just opened his mouth to say something when a terrifying dragging sound came from outside the door. The three of them were so frightened they didn’t even dare to breathe. They squatted down simultaneously, covered their mouths, held their breath, and stared nervously through the crack.

They saw a female ghost in white moving forward with a twisted posture, dragging her feet. Her blood-red eyeballs turned slowly as she looked left and right, seemingly trying to sense the presence of humans. When she found nothing, she slammed her palm angrily against the wall and let out a piercing scream.

The three people behind the wall were so scared they nearly fell flat on their backsides.

Fortunately, the ghost, having found no trace of humans, soon ended her patrol and staggered off into the distance.

The three let out a breath of relief in unison.

One was the famous director Li Lang from the entertainment industry, the other two being the recently awarded Best New Actor Wen Ye and the popular actress Su Anyao. These three public figures cowered like quails in front of a petite female ghost. Only after she left did they hunch over and tiptoe away.

“Go, go, go… hurry! If we don’t move now, that ghost might come back!” Li Lang quickly urged them to follow him.

Just then, a sudden scream rang out. The three of them jolted in shock. When they looked up, they saw Grant—the sinister DM who had earlier tricked them into coming down to the underground corridor with a smiling, gentlemanly demeanor, only to have female ghosts chase them—now running down the hallway in a panic, his face full of terror. And behind him were three white-robed female ghosts tumbling and crawling in pursuit.

One of the female ghosts who had just been crawling through the shadows and scaring them so badly they didn’t even dare to breathe was now sprinting with her two short legs at lightning speed, as if a second’s delay would doom her forever.

What the hell. What’s going on?!

Before anyone could figure it out, the sound of a saw suddenly rang out. In the distance, a demonic figure wielding a chainsaw was getting closer and closer…

“Run!!!” There wasn’t even time to see what that chainsaw demon really looked like. Li Lang let out a shriek and bolted, with Wen Ye close behind, not even daring to look back.

So no one noticed that Su Anyao hadn’t followed. Instead, she stood there in shock, staring at the tall figure approaching with a chainsaw in hand—and then, her eyes suddenly lit up with intense joy!

Led by Grant, the group ran round and round through the twisting, maze-like corridors of the castle. Eventually, someone began to slow down, gasping for breath. Her footsteps grew lighter, her breathing heavier, and she asked, “Boss… did a real killer get into the castle?”

“No, no!” Not hearing the sound of the saw anymore, Grant was panting heavily and jogging with small, difficult steps while leaning against the wall. As he ran, he explained breathlessly, “I-it was… the chainsaw guy dropped his saw while chasing a player, and the player picked it up and started chasing us…”

After running three full laps with the crowd, one of the female ghosts finally sensed that something was off. “Aren’t all our chainsaws props? They only simulate the sawing sound when you press the switch. The blades are actually blunt…”

“Holy crap!” Grant came to a sudden stop, exclaiming in shock, “You’re right, the chainsaws are props…”

Another female ghost suddenly came to her senses, too. “Also—we’re the NPCs. He’s a player! Why is a player chasing the game staff? The most ridiculous thing is that the chainsaw’s terrifying enough, but boss, your blood-curdling scream was so scary I couldn’t even think straight!”

Li Lang was on the verge of breaking down: “Then why the hell were you all running?!”

“Yeah, why were you all running. Was it for exercise?” A lazy, mocking voice came from behind. Everyone turned their heads and saw the player with the chainsaw leaning casually against a wall, watching the chaos with great interest. The flickering lights cast eerie shadows across his already striking features, making him look even more ghostly and sinister, like a devil king playing games with mortals, using a toy to toy with humans.

Everyone who had been fooled fell silent.

All that running in this underground labyrinth felt like such a waste.

It was Li Lang who finally broke the silence, pointing in disbelief at Su Anyao, who was standing next to Su Weisheng like a little tail. He demanded, “What are you doing there?!”

“What else? Run with you guys?” Su Anyao replied earnestly. “Director Li, I was actually going to call out and tell you to take a break with us, but you all ran too fast. I didn’t have time to tell you. The one with the saw is Great-grandfather.”

Li Lang: “…” Thanks. I recognize him now, too.

Some people enter the game only to be chased by NPCs, screaming like banshees, while others are already hunting down the NPCs for fun. The difference was just too absurd.

Only after having his fun did Su Weisheng slowly begin to get back to business. He casually handed the prop chainsaw back to the NPC and asked, “So, what’s next? What are we supposed to do?”

Grant straightened his disheveled collar, took a deep breath, and tried to restore his composure, attempting to reclaim his crumbled persona. He adjusted his glasses and said to Su Weisheng, “The next part requires you to figure things out on your own. Please find the way out of this boundless maze-like corridor. Otherwise, you’ll be trapped here… forever.”

He gave a slight bow in a gesture of farewell, forced a smile, and said, “My dear players, I wish you good luck.” With that, he decisively led the remaining NPCs behind one of the stone doors and disappeared down a hidden path.

They had to find a way out of the maze or be trapped forever? Everyone looked at each other. What kind of setup was this? This was clearly revenge!

Wen Ye looked troubled. “Not even a single clue? How long are we supposed to take to figure this out?”

Su Anyao instinctively turned to look at Su Weisheng. “Great-grandfather, what do we do now?”

Director Li Lang thought seriously for a moment and said, “There’s no way there aren’t any clues. Though President Chou loves to mess around and jinx things, he’s not the kind of person who doesn’t know where to draw the line. He must’ve left hints, we just didn’t notice them.”

Su Weisheng glanced over the three people in front of him. After Li Lang finished speaking, the remaining two simpletons simultaneously showed confused expressions. Clearly, they were no help at all.

Li Lang suddenly asked him, “Mr. Su, what do you think?”

Su Weisheng didn’t answer, but asked in return, “You all arrived earlier than I did. What did you do after coming down here?”

Su Anyao counted on her fingers and replied, “Got chased by a female ghost, ran around in a panic, then the three of us regrouped and hid in a surveillance blind spot to avoid being caught.”

“Take me to that surveillance blind spot,” Su Weisheng instructed.

His tone was so matter-of-fact that the other two couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed. But before they could say anything, Su Anyao very naturally replied, “Okay,” and trotted off eagerly to lead the way.

Su Weisheng followed her to the so-called blind spot behind the stone door. He walked around inside, then looked up at the position of the camera. A general idea was already forming in his mind.

Su Anyao stood off to the side watching him, when suddenly Wen Ye tugged on her sleeve and whispered, “He bosses you around like that and you’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad?” Su Anyao replied matter-of-factly. “It’s not like he only bosses me around. Once you meet the other guests, you’ll see—there are plenty of people like me who don’t think for themselves and just follow great-grandfather’s lead. That way, everything’s super easy!” As she spoke, she even tilted her chin up a bit proudly.

Wen Ye looked at her and couldn’t help but feel a bunch of question marks in his head. Seriously? Is he really that impressive?

As he was still mulling it over, Su Weisheng had already found a hidden compartment in the wall. Inside were three scripts and their corresponding props.

Wen Ye was stunned. “It’s really here?!”

Just then, a voice suddenly came through the overhead broadcast: “Would the three guests please take their respective scripts and props. Do not share your script with others under any circumstances. Any consequences will be your own responsibility. Furthermore, all guests must be gathered and have found their own scripts and props in order to unlock the condition for leaving the maze.”

“Of course, if players are unable to complete the task tonight, you are welcome to rest in the maze. Don’t worry, our NPCs will bring you food and blankets.”

Su Anyao gritted her teeth and muttered, “Is that the DM talking? Sounds like he’s begging for a beating.”

Grant’s voice came cheerfully through the speaker, “If you want to beat the DM, you’ll have to clear the challenge first before you can see me. Until then, good luck finding the remaining scripts and reuniting with your teammates.”

Su Weisheng raised a brow and asked, puzzled, “The clues are laid out so clearly. How hard could the scripts be to find?”

The DM clearly didn’t believe his confidence. “Then, do you know where your script is?”

Su Weisheng replied coolly, “Isn’t it right where you first got chased by the toy chainsaw?”

DM: “……”

The host took a critical emotional hit of 10,000 points, and the conversation was cut off unilaterally.

Su Weisheng had an excellent memory—this so-called maze was nothing to him. Within a few minutes, he led the other three through twists and turns and quickly returned to the spot where Grant had originally hidden to scare him.

He pushed open the stone door and stepped in, raising an eyebrow as he said, “What are you doing here?”

You Sui pointed to the opened hidden compartment and smiled. “Look—your script’s inside. I figured you’d come back here, so I decided to wait like a hunter by the tree. Sure enough, I caught you.”

Su Weisheng collected his script and props, then turned to ask, “Have you seen Su Ran?”

“No, but I bet he’s having a great time right about now,” You Sui said with a lazy smile.

Su Weisheng tapped his head lightly with the small jade hammer to remind him: “Quit gloating. Act a little more like an elder, will you?”

While Su Weisheng and the others were inside reading their scripts, the trio of Su Anyao remained outside reading theirs.

From a short distance away, the people outside stared at the two interacting inside with strange expressions on their faces. The more they looked, the weirder it seemed. Slowly, Wen Ye quietly leaned in close to his two companions and whispered, “That’s Director You, right? He and Mr. Su seem… pretty close.”

Having had dealings with You Sui before, Li Lang found it even more unbelievable. “Why does it feel kinda flirty? Is it just me?”

Su Anyao stood between the two of them, face perfectly calm, and very seriously advised, “Wen Ye, you’re clearly seeing things through a rotten lens. They’re obviously just really good brothers. Shipping everything you see will only ruin you.”

Wen Ye scratched his head, thinking, I’m not even into that stuff… could it really just be my own perception that’s off?

Unable to resist, he peeked into the stone door again. Inside, he saw You Sui lazily seated on a stone bench while Su Weisheng flipped through his script, casually using his fingers to twist and loop the strands of hair on top of the man’s head. After a while, several little curls stuck up from Director You’s head—and the man didn’t seem the least bit bothered. In fact, he even leaned in from time to time as if to cooperate.

This was like seeing a ghost.

Wen Ye rubbed his eyes in disbelief, then turned and demanded of Su Anyao, “You still think I’m just imagining things through a rotten lens?!”

Su Anyao: “……”

Hey! You two in there! If you’re going to read your scripts, just read them properly, okay? Can you not act like a clingy couple the whole time? If this keeps up, I won’t even be able to cover for you anymore!

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