Fang Yinnian followed Mo Xun to the second floor. The corridor had many bloodstains, and the two advanced on opposite sides, vigilantly observing their surroundings.
There were three rooms on the second floor, all with closed doors. The piano sound was coming from the innermost room.
Mo Xun said: “Let’s go take a look.”
Upon reaching the door, Mo Xun tried to push it but couldn’t move it. He looked down at the digital lock on the door: “A password—could it be related to the piano music in the room?”
The two listened carefully to the melody being played inside. The musical phrase was very complex and couldn’t be directly summarized into simple numbers.
Mo Xun turned and asked: “Can you tell what piece it is?”
Fang Yinnian confidently said: “It’s Liszt’s piano piece ‘Liebestraum’ (Love Dream). What’s being played inside is the third movement in A-flat major, which is also the most famous melody from the piece.”
“This piano piece was inspired by poetry—Ferdinand Freiligrath’s famous lyric poem: ‘Love as long as you can love, the hour will come when you will stand at the grave and mourn.'”
The bullet comments in the livestream immediately surged.
[666! Never heard it before, learned something]
[Standing at the grave? Could it be related to the murder case?]
[This young man has quite a rich knowledge base!]
[Fang Yinnian is from Jiangzhou Music Academy, so professional~]
Mo Xun wasn’t surprised by this. Yinnian had studied piano since childhood, so he could immediately recognize the piano piece and even explain the story behind it.
Since he identified that “Liebestraum” was being played inside, it would definitely be very helpful in solving the escape room puzzle.
Mo Xun thoughtfully looked at the locked room: “The theme of the piece is related to love—could it be a crime of passion?”
Fang Yinnian nodded: “That’s possible.”
The piano piece continued playing inside the room.
The eerie melody continued to drift out from the locked room, echoing throughout the blood-stained villa, sending chills down one’s spine.
Who was playing the piano?
Mo Xun frowned and said: “We need to find clues to the password. Let’s check the other two rooms first.”
Of the two other rooms on the second floor, one was the master bedroom. The door wasn’t locked, and Mo Xun adopted a defensive posture as he kicked it open.
No terrifying ghosts appeared inside.
The light switch was on the wall beside the door. When he turned on the lights, he saw that the room was decorated as a bridal chamber, with a large bed and wedding photos hanging on the wall.
However, the faces of the bride and groom in the wedding photos had been smeared with fresh blood.
The bloody scene was chilling, further confirming their “crime of passion” hypothesis.
The two exchanged a glance and split up to search the room for clues.
Fang Yinnian went over to check the bedside table drawers, finding a small flashlight which he slipped into his pocket. There were also several photo albums and wedding invitations. The albums contained wedding photos with faces similarly obliterated by bloodstains.
Mo Xun went to search the wardrobe.
Just then, the lights in the room suddenly dimmed.
From downstairs came Xiao Fei’s scream: “Ahhh—”
Fang Yinnian immediately jumped up and ran to Mo Xun’s side: “What happened?”
Mo Xun said helplessly: “Xiao Fei is easily startled. All the lights went out simultaneously—it might be a circuit breaker.”
Just as he said this, a jumble of footsteps suddenly sounded from outside, along with a rustling sound like an animal crawling.
The sound came closer and closer, approaching the bedroom door. Mo Xun’s expression changed as he quickly opened the nearby wardrobe, grabbed Fang Yinnian’s wrist, and pulled him inside to hide.
Something unknown crawled in from outside.
The sound of an animal crawling and squirming on the ground sent shivers down their spines.
Fang Yinnian’s heart was racing. In “Desperate Escape Room,” if challengers were discovered by pursuing NPCs, they might be immediately judged dead and eliminated.
The theme of this escape room was “The Cursed Music Castle” where no one could escape the death curse. Before solving the puzzles, if they were touched by the “curse,” they might fail the challenge.
The interior of the wardrobe was cramped, with Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun’s bodies pressed tightly together. The heat from the young man’s body radiated from his wrist. Fang Yinnian tried to regulate his heartbeat, holding his breath as much as possible, waiting for “that thing” to leave the bedroom.
The entity seemed to be searching for prey in the bedroom.
After circling around, it stopped in front of the wardrobe and approached, sniffing at it.
Fang Yinnian’s skin broke out in goosebumps.
He clearly felt Mo Xun’s grip on his wrist tighten. If that thing dared to open the door, Mo Xun would surely launch an immediate attack.
Both of them seemed to hold their breath.
Tick, tock…
The sound of the wall clock pendulum clearly reached their ears.
After about five seconds, the “thing” moved away from the wardrobe and crawled back outside. From downstairs came Fu Fei’s scream: “Ahhh! What the hell! Don’t come near me, ahhh!”
Then Tan Junwen’s voice: “Oh my god! Is this a battle royale in the dark?”
Tang Che calmly said: “Quickly find a room to hide in and close the door!”
[Atmosphere team, Xiao Fei is the loudest]
[Che and Junwen have already hidden, they reacted so quickly~]
[Fu Fei is being chased around everywhere hahaha]
[Xiao Fei: Scared the hell out of me, I’m never coming to this damn variety show again]
Chaos erupted downstairs.
Fang Yinnian could hear Fu Fei running, cursing, and “fighting monsters” all at once.
On the second floor, a hidden camera in the wardrobe captured Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun hiding inside.
The wardrobe space was far too small. Mo Xun’s left hand gripped Fang Yinnian’s wrist, their bodies pressed tightly together, their heads nearly touching.
The CP-shipping fans on the forum collectively got excited.
Post 101: “So sweet! The captain is holding Nian Nian’s hand, pulling him to hide at the first sign of danger—such a sense of security~”
Post 109: “The couple snuggling together, hehe”
Post 130: “If Nian Nian suddenly turned around, Mo Xun could kiss his lips directly, hehehe. This distance is too ambiguous, right?”
Post 148: “Magic Cube CP is truly something else—even in a horror escape room there’s so much sweetness to feast on?”
Post 159: “You’re all posting so quickly. Looks like this thread will be HOT again tonight!”
Meanwhile, Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian were still hiding in the wardrobe. After the monster left, the room finally fell silent.
Being so close, they could hear each other’s breathing. The silence lasted for a few seconds before Fang Yinnian suddenly said: “I think there are two hands grabbing me?”
One was obviously Mo Xun’s hand—fingers long, strong, dry, and warm. But the other hand was ice-cold, not like a living person’s…
The moment he realized this, Fang Yinnian hurriedly pushed open the wardrobe door and pulled Mo Xun out.
He took out the flashlight from his pocket and shone it back into the wardrobe—
There stood a skeleton in the wardrobe, head tilted, mouth open, showing the two an eerie smile.
The two: “…”
Mo Xun directly swore: “Holy shit!”
The production team was so twisted—hiding a corpse in the wardrobe?!
Fang Yinnian recalled that what his skin had touched was this skeleton’s fingers. His scalp tingled as he quickly rubbed away the goosebumps on his arms.
Mo Xun glanced at him with concern: “Are you okay?”
Fang Yinnian shook his head: “It startled me. I was wondering why there was another hand grabbing me besides yours—turns out it was its hand.”
The skeleton grinned at Fang Yinnian, as if saying: Yes, I was grabbing you.
Fang Yinnian: “…”
The CP-shipping netizens on the forum: “…”
Terrifying!
Fortunately, Fang Yinnian had strong psychological resilience. Someone more timid would definitely have screamed loudly upon encountering a skeleton hiding in the wardrobe.
Fang Yinnian softly exhaled and moved closer to examine the skeleton.
Mo Xun also leaned in to observe.
Fang Yinnian said: “Judging from the pelvis and height, it should be a female. There’s a scarf tied around the neck—was she… strangled?”
Mo Xun: “Possibly. Her cervical vertebrae seem a bit deformed.”
Fang Yinnian looked at Mo Xun: “How are Xiao Fei and the others?”
The two exchanged a glance and hurried out. Fang Yinnian shined the flashlight downstairs and asked: “Xiao Fei, what’s your situation?”
Mo Xun asked loudly: “What happened? Are you all right?”
Fu Fei’s voice came through with a tearful tone: “Huh? I don’t know what’s going on! It’s pitch black with many things chasing me. Brother Che and Brother Junwen hid away, and I grabbed a mop and beat those things away!”
The “things” Xiao Fei mentioned should be the same as what crawled into the second-floor bedroom earlier—NPCs disguised as monsters, deliberately meant to scare people.
Mo Xun decisively said: “Xiao Fei, I’ll light the way with my flashlight. Go to the right of the main door. There’s a painting there, and behind it is the electrical panel. Pull the switch—it might have tripped.”
Fu Fei took a deep breath: “Oh, okay!”
Hearing Mo Xun’s voice calmed him considerably. He had been so frightened his heart almost stopped—what ghostly thing was crawling on the ground chasing him?
Mo Xun took the flashlight from Fang Yinnian’s hand and shined it toward the right side of the door. Fu Fei immediately ran over, lifted the painting, and indeed found the electrical panel behind it.
Mo Xun said: “The main switch is on the far left. Push it up.”
Fu Fei pushed it up forcefully. With a “click,” all the lights on the first and second floors came on.
Fang Yinnian looked at Mo Xun admiringly: “When did you discover the electrical panel was there?”
Mo Xun said with a smile: “When I was looking for switches earlier.”
As the lights came on inside the house, Fu Fei exhaled a long breath, looked around, and was suddenly confused: “Where are Brother Che and Brother Junwen?”
Mo Xun: “I was just about to ask you. Weren’t you all together earlier?”
Fu Fei scratched his head: “It was chaos earlier. They hid somewhere. Let me look for them.” He turned and pushed open the study door—no one inside. Then he turned again and opened the kitchen door where Tang Che was earlier—also empty.
Fu Fei’s expression almost cracked: “How did they vanish into thin air?!”
Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian immediately sensed something was wrong.
Fang Yinnian asked worriedly: “Could they have been eliminated?”
Mo Xun guessed: “Probably not. They took cover very quickly. Maybe they triggered some mechanism and fell into another part of the escape room?”
Fang Yinnian said: “Shall we go down and check?”
Mo Xun nodded, and the two went downstairs side by side.
At this point, the livestream was divided into three screens.
The main screen showed the living room where Mo Xun, Fang Yinnian, and Fu Fei were. The two side screens showed Tang Che and Tan Junwen.
Tan Junwen muttered to himself with a bewildered expression: “Where have I fallen to?”
[Hahaha, sympathizing with you for three seconds]
[You triggered a mechanism and fell into a pit]
[Hilarious, ‘who am I, where am I, what happened?’]
[confused.jpg]
Earlier, to escape those monsters, he had hidden in the study. After just a few steps, he suddenly stepped on empty air, and by the time he regained his senses, he had arrived in an underground part of the escape room.
The basement of the villa turned out to be a complex maze.
The narrow corridor could only accommodate two people walking side by side. The dim night lights on the floor faintly illuminated many eerie patterns painted on the walls.
