No wonder “Desperate Escape Room” was so popular. Just creating the escape rooms required considerable time and effort, and the production team was very dedicated to designing the settings.
The car drove into the underground garage, and Xu Baichuan introduced them to the staff.
“This is Director Liu,” Xu Baichuan said.
“Hello, Director Liu.” Everyone bowed at a 90-degree angle, neatly in unison.
“Haha, such polite young people,” Director Liu said with a smile. “Your last variety show was particularly popular—I’ve seen so many memes. You all have quite a talent for comedy.”
“They’re just rookies without experience on their first variety show,” Xu Baichuan said politely. “For today’s show, they also don’t know how to play.”
“Don’t worry, there will be process guidance,” Director Liu said. “Our show typically involves puzzle-solving and completing challenges. If you ‘die’ within half an hour, you’ll be given a revival card for another chance—otherwise, we can’t fill the time slot, haha.”
“…” The five all laughed at the director’s joke.
Livestreamed variety shows indeed faced this issue. If there was a death judgment and the guests were too inexperienced and all died shortly after starting, they couldn’t just end the broadcast after 30 minutes.
To control the duration, the production team had various countermeasures, such as giving guests revival cards, providing hint clues, one-touch help buttons, and so on.
The show usually lasted about 3 hours.
If participants couldn’t complete the challenge within 3 hours, they failed.
“Don’t worry, our backstage control room will keep an eye on you to ensure the safety of recording guests. Just follow the system’s guidance,” Director Liu said, becoming serious. “This episode is quite difficult—try your best to complete it.”
“Get ready, recording starts at 8 PM sharp.”
The five immediately prepared, collectively making a trip to the bathroom.
At 7:55 PM, they arrived at the recording site.
Staff members blindfolded them and led them into a room before removing the blindfolds, but the hall was completely dark without any light.
The five didn’t dare make a sound, anxiously waiting while clearly hearing the ticking of a clock.
Until a “ding” sound indicated the hour hand had reached the hour.
Then, a beam of light suddenly illuminated the hall.
Fang Yinnian found himself standing in a spacious circular hall with a huge LCD screen in front, displaying a spherical icon.
As if sensing their gaze, the sphere suddenly began to rotate.
A cold, processed mechanical voice sounded: “Welcome to Desperate Escape Room Episode 8. I am the escape room control system.”
“Loading challenger information.”
“Mo Xun.”
After the system called out the name, a beam of blue light projected down onto Mo Xun, like a character logging into a game.
Mo Xun was startled, thinking: That’s impressive.
Excitement was clearly visible in Fu Fei’s eyes.
This looks so fun!
System: “Fang Yinnian.”
With each name called, ceiling lights projected down to gently envelop them, truly giving the feeling of playing a sci-fi game.
No wonder this escape room survival show was popular.
Fang Yinnian quietly listened as the system “read” through all five team members’ names.
At this point, the challengers’ profile cards would appear in real-time in the livestream.
For example, when the system announced “Challenger Fang Yinnian,” a transparent information box would appear on screen—Fang Yinnian, FTM boy band member, age 18, height 181cm, specialty piano, etc.
This information was provided by their manager, consistent with their wiki profiles, serving as a promotional method.
Seeing the information boxes, many viewers began posting bullet comments.
[Today’s guest participants are a bunch of young idols!]
[Seems to be an idol group? FTM group, never heard of them]
[They’re quite handsome though!]
[I bet they won’t survive 10 minutes]
[Let’s see who dies first hahaha, I’m guessing the one with gold hair]
[The golden head is too obvious in the dark]
Fu Fei, with his short golden hair, was currently very excited—this was much more fresh and thrilling than the mobile games he played.
The system began announcing the game background.
“In a beautiful castle lived a talented genius music producer named Allen. He was obsessed with creating music throughout his life, leaving behind countless moving melodies and producing hit music albums for numerous singers.”
“However, on his 30th birthday celebration, guests arrived at the castle to celebrate but only found a body lying in a pool of blood.”
“Outside, a rainstorm began, cutting off transportation.”
“The castle doors closed, and no one could escape. Guests who entered the castle died one after another, as if cursed by some unknown force.”
As the system read to this point, a rustling sound suddenly came from nearby, along with a woman’s piercing scream that could penetrate eardrums.
The five simultaneously paled.
No way? Were they so unlucky to encounter a horror-themed escape room? And a music-themed one at that.
No wonder the production team looked for a boy band as guests.
For a music-themed escape room, without any vocal music foundation, many puzzles would be difficult to solve.
“Next, you will enter this cursed castle.”
“Hope you can make it out alive.”
After the system finished this sentence, the dilapidated door in front of them suddenly opened with a “creaking” sound. In the darkness, this sound was like sharp nails scratching across a blackboard, making one’s scalp tingle.
The five looked at each other with bewildered expressions.
The dark passage at the doorway was like a monster opening its mouth, ready to devour all living things. Fang Yinnian could hear his own heart beating violently.
So exciting!
Are variety shows this intense now?
System: “Escape from the cursed music castle, 3-hour countdown, game officially begins.”
A countdown clock appeared on the big screen.
Mo Xun quickly said: “Let’s all go in together—stay close to your teammates and don’t get separated.”
As the castle gate opened, it was pitch black inside with nothing visible. Mo Xun took the initiative to grab Fang Yinnian’s wrist. Tan Junwen, afraid of getting lost, lightly held onto Fang Yinnian’s clothes. The five formed a vertical line and moved forward, feeling along the walls.
After they entered the castle, the door behind them closed once again with a “creaking” sound. Fu Fei’s scalp tingled as he quietly asked: “Is there any lighting tool? We can’t just keep walking in the dark, right?”
Mo Xun calmly said: “Search along the wall for a switch.”
While his teammates searched in the dark for a switch, Fang Yinnian crouched down to feel the floor. The floor felt like marble. He groped forward and touched something long, like… a stick.
Just then, Mo Xun finally found the switch on the wall and turned on the lights with a click. The dazzling crystal chandelier light shone onto the marble floor, allowing the team members to finally see the scene before them.
Fang Yinnian was lying on the ground, and less than half a meter away from him was a… human skeleton.
His hand was currently holding the skeleton’s leg bone, with a large amount of dried blood around the skeleton.
Fu Fei screamed in terror: “Ahhh—”
The skeleton appeared so suddenly that Xiao Fei immediately made a “cracking” meme expression, triggering a flood of “hahaha” in the bullet comments.
Fang Yinnian blinked his eyes, very calmly withdrew his hand, and said: “I thought it was a prop like a stick.”
Everyone: “…”
Mo Xun quickly walked over, and seeing Fang Yinnian’s calm expression, couldn’t help laughing: “Aren’t you scared?”
Fang Yinnian said: “What’s there to fear about a skeleton? It’s completely dead and won’t stand up to attack us.”
The bullet comment section was filled with question marks.
[???]
[I got scared just watching the livestream, but he’s face-to-face with a skeleton and just blinks, so emotionally stable]
[This rookie has such courage!]
[Could Yinnian be FTM’s puzzle-solving specialist?]
[Xiao Fei is definitely the atmosphere team, hahaha, without him, the brothers wouldn’t find it scary]
[His scream is the most terrifying~]
Tan Junwen scratched his hair and looked at Fu Fei saying: “You hurt my ears.”
Fu Fei took a deep breath, hiding behind him and saying: “You—you guys carry me to victory, okay? I’m most afraid of ghosts, corpses, and things like that!”
Tang Che looked around and said: “This is the castle’s living room. The skeleton must be someone who died at the music party back then, right?”
Fang Yinnian nodded: “Yes, according to the backstory, none of the people who came to the castle survived.”
Tang Che said: “Adult male, 176cm tall. Let’s look for the fatal wound.”
Fu Fei peeked out his head curiously and asked: “How can you determine height and gender just by looking at a skeleton?”
Tang Che calmly explained: “Narrow pelvises indicate males, wide and round ones indicate females. The floor tiles here are standard 80×80 squares. When laid flat, his body length covers 2.2 floor tiles, making him 176cm tall—very easy to determine.”
Tan Junwen gave a thumbs up: “You’ve turned the floor into your measuring tool.”
Fang Yinnian crouched down to carefully examine the skeleton and pointed to the back: “There are sharp weapon marks on the ribs here, on the left side—the position of the heart.”
Tang Che summarized: “Someone stabbed him in the heart from behind?”
The two exchanged a glance: “Murder case?”
Seeing these two analyzing the cause of death, Tan Junwen also walked over with a smile and said: “Have we turned into the FTM detective squad?”
Fu Fei had just been scared into becoming a meme by the horrifying atmosphere, but as Fang Yinnian and Tang Che quickly entered “analysis and deduction mode,” his emotions finally settled a bit. Taking a deep breath, he continued to curiously observe the situation.
Mo Xun said: “It’s a serial murder case, right?”
Fang Yinnian turned to him and said: “Yes, musician Allen held a birthday party and must have invited his friends. Everyone should have been quite close—I suspect the murderer was among the music party guests.”
Tang Che agreed: “In a plot-driven escape room, to leave this ‘cursed castle,’ we definitely need to solve the truth behind the murder case from back then. First, we need to find all the guest information to better analyze who’s most suspicious.”
Mo Xun nodded: “Let’s search this room first. Everyone split up and search—we’ll gather all the victims’ bodies first.”
Viewers watching this were quite surprised.
[These idols have such clear thinking!]
[My impression of boy bands has slightly improved—Fang Yinnian and Tang Che seem quite intelligent]
[Xiao Fei continues to be the meme king hahaha, he just cracked up]
[Go small unknown group, I’m enduring my fear to watch this show with you]
[This castle is really creepy]
Just then, an eerie piano melody suddenly rang in everyone’s ears. In the dark, silent castle, the unexpected piano music startled everyone.
Fang Yinnian pointed to the ceiling: “It seems to be coming from upstairs.”
Fu Fei’s face turned pale: “Is there—is there still someone here?”
Tan Junwen also broke out in goosebumps: “Could it be… the murderer playing the piano? That’s a bit terrifying, brothers.”
Mo Xun decisively said: “You all continue searching for clues in the living room. Yinnian and I will go upstairs to check.”
With limited time to complete the challenge, splitting up was the fastest approach.
Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian exchanged a glance, quickly walked to the corner of the living room, and went up to the second floor via the stairs.
