【It’s obvious that the duo on LuSu Street are a bit socially awkward.】
【Why pair a disgraced celebrity with the Lu clan head? Can this team even break free?】
【Lu fans, don’t struggle. Look how happy Lu Huanjin and Su Ran are teaming up. Their IQs even seem to drop together.】
【Husband sings, Husband follows】
Lu Huanjin and Su Ran not only failed to intimidate the players into completing the mission, but also ended up gifting away two kills and becoming Great-grandfather’s captives.
Su Weisheng calmly tapped the table and asked, “Can the lights be turned on in this room?”
“…Yes.” Lu Huanjin flipped out the hidden switch, and with a click, the room finally lit up. With the light, the eerie atmosphere was greatly lifted, and the three little lambs completely relaxed their tense nerves.
Su Anyao looked at the stone table again and felt extremely unlucky. She had even thought about the tablecloth issue back then, but mistakenly assumed it was just an NPC rest area. Turns out, the tablecloth was deliberately arranged to hide people inside! And they had just happened to sit right there… Wait?
She suddenly remembered the earlier scene, “Great-grandfather, you deliberately told us to sit down!” Su Anyao shouted, pointing at him in disbelief and questioning. The other two victims also turned to look at him in unison.
Exposed, Su Weisheng remained calm, propping his chin with one hand and smiling: “I only said sitting down might help solve this stage. Look, the progress bar is speeding up, right? No problem.”
But he clearly could have just pulled out those two hiding under the table.
Damn it, Great-grandfather really has a twisted sense of humor! The three little lambs looked at him full of resentment, angry but unable to speak.
Su Ran groaned in frustration: “If I had joined Great-grandfather earlier, I wouldn’t have been locked up and intimidated by those NPCs for an hour!”
On this topic, Su Anyao asked with concern, “Did you guys get your scripts and props? And what identity did you get?” After all, this topic was very important for when they could escape the maze.
Su Ran subconsciously touched the props in his pocket. When it came to identities, he opened his mouth but suddenly realized something. He turned his head and exchanged a glance with Lu Huanjin. The latter took over the topic casually and asked back, “What identities do you all have?”
“The three of them are humans, the two of us are ghost hunters.” Su Weisheng’s voice was low as he directly revealed the identities of a few people, simply and bluntly cutting down the probing phase. At the end, he looked at Lu Huanjin and Su Ran, smiled slightly, and said, “You two don’t need to guess anymore, you must be the ghouls.”
Su Ran’s eyes showed shock, and he instinctively retorted, “I’m definitely not…”
“You two just went through the ghoul NPC training, plus the special role of scaring ordinary people. If you’re not their companions, then what else could you be?” Su Weisheng spoke with disdain, looking at him. “Zhaocai, isn’t it a bit late now to remember to hide your identity?”
Su Ran: “…” His underwear had already been stripped completely, leaving him no strength to argue.
Lu Huanjin sighed, knowing such details couldn’t be hidden from great-grandfather. He stopped struggling pointlessly and straightforwardly explained the information he knew: “Yes, the two of us are ghouls, the indigenous residents of the old castle, arranged to deal with the uninvited guests trapped in the maze, then…”
Su Ran replied softly, “There is no then. We failed to eliminate the humans just now and have already been transformed into prisoners.”
Lu Huanjin held his forehead with one hand, feeling very embarrassed.
Seeing this, Wen Ye couldn’t bear it and comforted them: “It’s okay. You can share a mission with us, form a group of eight people, and then escape from the maze.”
“There’s still one person missing. Where did the last player go?”
When this question came up, everyone looked at each other in confusion. Right, there’s still one more player?
The most ridiculous thing happened: their noise was so loud, they even searched the entire maze, but still couldn’t find and regroup with the last player. Especially now, no one even knew that person’s name or what they looked like, because he was a solo player, joining the game by himself.
Maybe because the moment he got the script, the game had already officially started. Now, when trying to contact the DM, no one responded. The situation had now reached a deadlock here.
“What do we do now? We can’t really spend the whole night in the maze, right?”
After Wen Ye asked this question, everyone instinctively looked toward Su Weisheng, habitually seeking the correct answer from the great-grandfather, even Li Lang, who usually likes to argue, was no exception.
Clearly, the backbone of this game had already been found.
Su Weisheng sat on the stone bench, thinking for a moment. He adjusted his sitting posture slightly and slowly said, “Since the game officials currently have no more hints for us, why don’t we talk more about the contents of the script and exchange information?”
Obviously, there was no better way than this.
Li Lang spoke up: “I have a fiancée whom I am already engaged to, and our feelings are very good. But three years ago, on the day we agreed to go try wedding dresses, when I went to pick her up, I just couldn’t find her anywhere. Later, I found out she was eaten by a ghoul. Because she died in a small alley, there was no surveillance footage. When they found her, there was only a pool of blood on the ground.
Therefore, all these years I have been searching for the whereabouts of that ghoul. Not long ago, a person named A-Ye, who had a similar experience, came to me and said she found the ghoul’s location. So we came here together.”
Su Anyao had A-Ye’s script. Hearing this, she nodded in agreement, confirming the truth in his words: “My brother was killed by a ghoul, but after death, only the internal organs were hollowed out; the torso was left behind. After tracing the ghoul’s whereabouts, I made an appointment with Li Lang and met Wen Ye, who also came down from the mountain, and the three of us entered here together.”
Wen Ye flipped through his own script again. Suddenly, inspiration struck, and he said, “I might know who the last player is.”
Everyone immediately perked up at his words: “Tell us.”
Wen Ye explained: “My purpose in coming to the old castle is to find someone. Not long ago, the girl I secretly liked, An Yingying, was attacked by a ghoul. But she wasn’t killed immediately; instead, she was taken away by that ghoul. I followed the traces of where the ghoul appeared all the way here and came up the mountain with everyone. So is it possible that the last player is the princess imprisoned in the old castle, waiting to be rescued?”
Su Weisheng nodded, seeming to somewhat agree: “That is indeed possible. Then our next mission should be to find the place where the princess is held and open the final stage.”
Speaking up to this point, he turned to ask Su Ran and Lu Huanjin, “Do you two prisoners have any related clues?”
“Uh…” Lu Huanjin, the ghoul who was captured and now forced to spill clues, fell silent.
But the great-grandson, hearing great-grandfather ask him, immediately forgot they were on different sides and happily started to spill information: “I have, I have! I remembered! After I left the makeup room, I was caught by two ghouls and taken to a prison cell. Vaguely, I think I heard knocking on the door of the next cell. Maybe the princess is being held inside!”
Yes, they had all started to call the last player that—the princess waiting for the princes to come rescue her by default.
After Su Ran finished speaking, he even nudged Lu Huanjin, taunting, “What about you? Do you have any clues?”
That damn competitive spirit—top star, even when reduced to such a state, still had to compare. “I have clues to tell great-grandfather, you don’t.”
Lu Huanjin slowly said, “I have no clues, because I spent the whole time listening to you being scared by ghosts, crying and screaming, and constantly clinging to my clothes begging me to save you…”
Su Ran’s face darkened as he stiffly retorted, “Nonsense, that’s slander!”
“Stop arguing.” Su Weisheng’s two calm words immediately made the great-grandson quiet down, then he asked, “Do you still remember where the prison cell holding you was?”
Su Ran happily stood up: “I remember, I remember! Great-grandfather, I’ll take you there!”
Lu Huanjin looked at him speechlessly, seeing how eager he was. “Do you still remember that you and the ghouls are on the same side, my friend? Although this must be part of the process, aren’t you betraying your teammates a bit too quickly?”
Obviously, Su Zhaocai had no psychological barrier about selling out his own people.
They followed Su Ran, twisting and turning, and soon found the hidden secret room of the second stage. The left side was where Su Ran had once been imprisoned, and naturally, the right side was the prison cell he mentioned that had some activity. In front of the door was a password lock that could only be unlocked with math.
Seeing the electronic screen that required a password, Li Lang finally jumped up excitedly: “I can do this one, let me, let me!” Saying that, he immediately squeezed to the front.
This was a “cow eats grass” engineering problem. Li Lang took out his phone’s memo app and busily calculated for a while before giving the correct answer. After entering it, the big door automatically and slowly opened. Everyone rubbed their hands in anticipation, ready to rescue the princess.
Taking a closer look…
“Why is it empty inside? Where’s the princess?” The group was shocked.
Su Weisheng looked around carefully. It was clear this was a carefully arranged prison cell. Various torture instruments hung around, and there were signs someone had sat by the stone table, but the princess was already gone.
Lu Huanjin suspected, “Could it be we arrived too late, and the princess has already been moved? Or maybe our original approach to the puzzle was wrong and there never was a princess to rescue?”
Su Weisheng turned to look at You Sui, “Do you think there really was a princess waiting to be rescued?”
You Sui stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, “Maybe there was.”
But obviously, the storyline that was supposed to happen had already taken a turn.
Su Weisheng glanced again toward the corridor outside the room. He suddenly realized he hadn’t seen the NPC that scares players standing far away for a long time. Looking back at the prison cell situation, the electronic lock obviously could only be opened from outside. So there was only one possibility left…
He searched around the room and indeed found the back door of the prison cell. As the small door slowly opened, a brand-new environment came into view.
“Wow, there’s even a hidden door!”
Curious, everyone walked out and looked around. This corridor was designed with more advanced technology. On both sides, stone doors each had doorplates labeled “Lounge”, “Storage Room”, “Props Room”, and so on. Clearly, this was the staff backstage area and shouldn’t have been discovered by players.
But they had already discovered it.
Su Weisheng vaguely heard the sound of knocking on the door.
He followed the sound forward, walking through the winding corridor and past the corner. From afar, he saw the sign at the end of the corridor marking the surveillance room. The door was tightly locked, and outside the door sat a tall, slender young man. Behind him, the door kept echoing with knocking sounds—boom, boom, boom.
“Open the door! Hurry up and open the door for us!”
“This is too much! How can players lock NPCs inside? This isn’t where you’re supposed to be! Quickly open the door for me! Your mission is to wait in the prison cell for the other players to rescue you!!!”
Grant’s voice was full of grief and despair, tearing at the heart.
Looking back at the player who locked the DM and NPC inside, he was lazily sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, reading the script. Hearing the DM’s accusations, he chuckled lightly and said, “Don’t be anxious. My teammates will definitely find this place to save me. But since I’m just killing time, why don’t we have a little chat?”
Everyone fell silent.
This young man looked more like a playful version of Director You rather than the delicate princess they imagined waiting to be rescued.
The DM locked inside the surveillance room was stomping angrily.
The “princess” put down the script upon hearing footsteps, revealing a delicate and handsome face. When he looked at Su Weisheng, who led the group, his eyes were especially bright. With a charming smile on his lips and a tone completely different from when he bullied Grant before, he called out, “Great-grandfather!” and then walked right up to Su Weisheng.
The plot took a sharp turn. The players stared at him in amazement.
Only Su Ran’s face went pale and flushed repeatedly, then, with anguish, he pounded the wall and strongly condemned, “I knew it! I knew it! If I hadn’t come along, today would have been your whole family’s reunion. No way!!!”
Great-grandfather raised an eyebrow. He reached out and patted Su Ning’s head. Su Ning stood obediently by his side without moving. Su Weisheng turned to look at You Sui, whose fox-like eyes sparkled with a smug smile, and said, half amused, half annoyed, “You arranged for him to come, didn’t you? So childish.” To tease Zhaocai, the great-grandmother really knew how to come up with all sorts of sneaky tricks.
You Sui, however, spoke seriously: “I just told him in advance that we would be filming this commercial. But I didn’t invite him. He came with his own purpose, unrelated to me.”
Su Ning explained obediently, “Great-grandfather, I came here on official business.”
Su Ran glanced at the surveillance room door being slammed shut with loud bangs and sneered, “Is this your official business?”
Su Ning didn’t even blink and replied with a smile, “Cousin, you’re right. This really is related to my official business, and it’s a task arranged by my great-grandfather.”
“Who’s your cousin? Don’t just claim relatives at random!” Su Ran flared up. Especially that last part, “official business arranged by great-grandfather,” really broke his defense because great-grandfather never once assigned Zhaocai to do any official business!
Damn it, this wild great-grandson was even showing off to him!
Comments were rapidly flooding in:
【What’s going on? The top star’s cousin?】
【OMG, the top star’s look at great-grandfather is so pitiful.】
【Hahaha, great-grandfather trapped in a love triangle with two great-grandsons. What’s he going to do?】
Great-grandfather ignored Zhaocai’s accusing gaze as if nothing had happened. Because once Su Ning spoke, he knew—this must be related to the Underworld’s wish list and that Grant person inside.
So he casually changed the topic: “The one we’re looking for is the princess waiting to be rescued, An Yingying. Is that you?”
“It’s me, it’s me,” Su Ning said cheerfully, lifting the script in his hand. On the cover, a bright and sunny girl was making a heart gesture toward the viewer, and the name written below was clearly visible. He didn’t mind it at all and instead answered as if it were perfectly natural: “The DM was messing around and gave me a female role so I could crossplay. To thank him for letting me play the princess, I made sure he got plenty of rest in the surveillance room. I’m the kind of person who always repays kindness, of course.”
【This is repaying kindness? Isn’t this just holding a grudge and getting revenge?!】
【Good grief, not only is the cousin good-looking, he’s also the scheming type. Ranbao’s in trouble.】
No wonder Grant hadn’t been speaking to them through the surveillance after that. At first, they’d thought it was to help them stay immersed in the game, avoiding unnecessary interruption. But it turned out he was also playing the escape room game with them.
While they were outside solving puzzles and fighting to survive, Grant was inside the surveillance room yelling, “Let me out!” with the NPCs. Truly, a DM who shared their hardships.
Su Weisheng suppressed a laugh, cleared his throat, and gave the order, “Alright, then let them out now. Since we’ve gathered all eight players, it’s time to start the next phase.”
The mischievous little devil Su Ning obediently complied upon hearing this.
The surveillance room door slowly slid open, and the bloodcurdling shouts finally stopped. Grant and a group of NPCs poured out at once—some ran to the bathroom, some guzzled water like mad. Only Grant stood at the door with a look of existential crisis, trembling as he pointed at them. “You… you guys didn’t come to play the game. You came to play me!!!”
After being chased three kilometers by Su Weisheng with a chainsaw, and then locked up in the control room for hours by Su Ning—seriously, who was the one playing the escape room here? Who was the NPC and who was the player? Did someone mess up the roles!?
He sat down heavily on a chair, muttering in despair, “What kind of karma am I paying off…”
Su Weisheng thought about it, then even earnestly offered him a piece of advice: “Don’t rush to feel bad. Maybe think carefully—could it be that you really have done something that earned you this karma?”
Grant looked up and glared at him, his pair of peach blossom eyes round and glaring, the corners red with frustration, looking so pitiful it was almost cute.
There was a kind of aura, as if he had just been ravaged.
Hmm… Su Weisheng and Su Ning sized him up, feeling a bit puzzled. Could someone like this really be the scumbag gong described by the wish-making vengeful spirit—the one who had forced love on him, cheated on him, and even found a substitute?
But fortunately, that segment was finally over. Everyone had gathered all the props and could finally leave the maze. And it seemed that Grant’s suffering for the day had finally come to an end, too. They all rode the backstage elevator together up to the castle’s ground floor.
Grant weakly announced, “Congratulations, everyone, on successfully escaping the maze. The kitchen has already prepared a lavish dinner for you all. Mealtime will continue until the later part of the night. You can go back to your rooms to freshen up first, and come down to eat whenever.”
Su Weisheng even invited him, “DM, do you want to eat with us? If you’re free, we could chat for a bit, too.”
Grant glared at him, grief-stricken and furious, and resolutely refused his offer. Then he took his leave!
Su Weisheng and Su Ning watched him walk off at a near-run, as if avoiding a plague, and sighed with regret. What a pity. They had originally wanted to take this opportunity to probe his bottom line. It looked like they would have to find another chance.
But there was no need to rush. After all, the castle belonged to him. A monk might run, but the temple stays put. Grant would eventually have to return to hand out the script.
Everyone was exhausted from playing until midnight. After exchanging a few words, they each followed the servants back to their respective bedrooms.
Su Weisheng’s room was on the second floor. The sun-facing arched window was entwined with dark green vines, giving off a poetic air. He looked outside for a bit, briefly taking in the surroundings, then pulled the velvet drapes shut before heading into the bathroom for a shower.
Afterward, he changed into a clean shirt and slacks, then went downstairs for dinner. When he arrived at the dining room, he found that only Su Ran had gotten there before him. The great-grandson was clearly famished. He had only changed into a short-sleeved shirt and was already devouring the pizza in his hands with great gusto.
After Su Weisheng sat down, he ordered a serving of hand-pulled noodles. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Su Ran’s arm and was slightly surprised. At some point, a dark blue-black circular mark had appeared on the boy’s wrist. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing at the mark.
Su Ran followed his gaze over and froze for a moment—he clearly didn’t know either. He scratched his head, thought for a bit, and said, “I think it was stamped on me by the NPC when I was caught and thrown into the cell today. Maybe it’s something like how when you become a ghoul, they brand you with a mark or something?”
No… clearly, it wasn’t that.
Su Weisheng shook his head, sighing at his dullness. “You’d better wear long sleeves for the time being.”
Su Ran looked at him blankly. “But I’m not cold.”
Su Weisheng was speechless. “Then do whatever you want.” Maybe what Zhaocai needs isn’t long sleeves—it’s a brain supplement.
Only after Su Ran had eaten his fill did his thoughts start moving again. But instead of getting hung up on the mark or the long sleeves, he started whining, “Great-grandfather, if you have any serious tasks for me, I can help with those, too…”
“You should just focus on shooting commercials, singing, and making money. Don’t worry about anything else,” Su Weisheng mercilessly shut down his complaint.
The untrusted great-grandson looked at him with a miserable face, but since Su Anyao had also come out to eat, he couldn’t keep whining and acting spoiled in front of others. Having finished his food, he left resentfully.
Su Weisheng enjoyed his noodles in peace.
Seeing that no one else was around, Su Anyao started eating while whispering mysteriously to Su Weisheng, “Great-grandfather, have you seen your new mission for the second round?”
“I’ve seen it,” Su Weisheng replied calmly. “It’s fairly simple.”
“Of course, everything seems simple to you,” Su Anyao sighed.
Su Weisheng lifted his eyelids and looked at her with curiosity. “Is your mission very difficult?”
Su Anyao thought for a bit. Considering that her great-grandfather was a ghost hunter and definitely someone trustworthy to ally with, she voluntarily revealed, “My mission is to find the ghoul that killed my brother before midnight tomorrow. I’ve been given a prop—a coin that can tell whether one statement is true or false.”
Su Weisheng’s hand holding the chopsticks paused for a moment, but he quickly replied to her with composure, “First, you need to determine whether the ghoul that killed your brother is an NPC or a player—only then should you use the prop.”
“Mhm, I was thinking the same,” Su Anyao nodded, then added softly, “Great-grandfather, let’s form an alliance. If you find out who the killer is, tell me, and if there’s any information you need, I can help you look for it, too! I might be kind of bad at this, but I’m sincere, okay? Let the boss take the noob under their wing!”
Su Weisheng looked at her thoughtfully. In the end, he nodded. “Alright. Leave the prop with me, and I’ll find the killer for you.”
“Thank you, little Great-grandfather!” Su Anyao was full of gratitude as she directly handed over the prop from her pocket. After all, with or without it, she couldn’t find the killer on her own. But clinging to the right boss would definitely help her complete the mission.
Gradually, the other players came in for dinner, too. Seeing that, the private topic between them tacitly came to a natural stop.
Li Lang didn’t even eat before waving at Su Anyao, clearly wanting to have a private chat and form an alliance. He asked about her mission and her props, but Su Anyao couldn’t be bothered. Not only did she not tell him anything, she even advised him, “There’s no point in allying with me. I’m just an ordinary human. If you want to complete your mission, you’d better go ask little Great-grandfather for help!”
She spoke with conviction: “Think about it—his script is so thick. I bet he’s got information on all of us in it. And he’s a ghost hunter, too—he’s clearly the chosen one, the central C-position in this game. The only true carry in the team. Director Li, as your cast member, the kindest help I can give you is to tell you: hug the right thigh!”
Li Lang thought it over and nodded in agreement. “Makes sense… I’ll go talk to him later, too!”
Su Weisheng had already gone back to his room, carrying the prop that Su Anyao had offered up.
The one unanimously recognized by the group as the chosen central C-position looked down at his thick script and let out a slow sigh. Thankfully, none of the players in this game had much experience with murder mystery roleplays. Otherwise, he would’ve been exposed a long time ago.
He opened the first page. Written in large characters were four words: You’ve lost your memory.
Second page: Don’t show any unusual expressions for now.
Third page: Even though you don’t know who you are, what your identity is, or even your name, it’s okay.
Page Four: Time to start piecing things together. Isn’t the fun of a murder mystery game all about digging into your teammates’ backgrounds and making up your own story?
Page Five: Your script contains much less information than everyone else’s.
Page Six: To prevent them from realizing something’s off based on the thickness of your script—
Page Seven: I’ve prepared a ton of blank pages for you.
Page Eight: Charge ahead, my dear player! Go recover your memory!
Page Nine, Page Ten, Page Twenty…
This thick character script of his was made that way.
