Chapter 52: Actually Feeling Something

"Mengmeng, Shen Huai, Fu Hai and I have picked a few escape room themes, would you two like to choose one?"

Chu Tiantian was immersed in an ocean of happiness, her face beaming with smiles as she handed Fu Hai's phone to Su Meng.

The moment Su Meng saw the themes, her vision went black.

"Midnight Ring."

"The Last Night at the Stilted Building."

"Ghost Marriage."

Looking at the promotional posters for these themes, each one more terrifying than the last.

Before she had even begun to choose, Su Meng's heart was already pounding in her throat.

"... Why don't you guys go? I just remembered I still have some work to finish, so I'll head out first."

Su Meng took the opportunity to try and slip away.

Unexpectedly, Chu Tiantian grabbed her: "You still have work to finish? How come I didn't know?"

She hurriedly shifted her seat, leaned close to Su Meng, and whispered a plea: "Oh, don't go. If you leave, I'll be awkward... please, a cup of coffee~?"

"..."

Gazing at Chu Tiantian's blinking, innocent eyes, Su Meng sighed helplessly and bit the bullet as she sat back down.

"Then let's go with this one." Su Meng closed her eyes, steeled herself, and pointed at one at random.

When Shen Huai saw it, he almost laughed out loud.

Su Meng had happened to pick the shop's signature theme—"Ghost Marriage."

This theme was very popular in the Jianghai escape room scene.

The reason was that this escape room included a sacrificial plot that required the players to cooperate and act it out together.

And the procedures and incantations for this sacrifice were exactly the same as the rituals for consulting ghosts and gods in the real world.

Within the circle, all sorts of strange rumors had even emerged.

There were even rumors that every player who had played it would inexplicably fall ill after returning home.

In short, it was eerily sinister.

"What are you laughing at?" Su Meng glared at Shen Huai with displeasure.

Shen Huai pressed down the corners of his mouth and said calmly: "Nothing, just think you're very brave."

Su Meng blinked suspiciously, simply feeling that this sentence was very awkward.

At this moment.

Su Meng still did not know what kind of terror she was about to face.

She just wanted it to end quickly, to go home quickly and sober up.

"Alright, since we've chosen, let's head out!"

After Fu Hai finished paying the bill and returned, he took Chu Tiantian's hand, afraid of losing her, and said excitedly to Shen Huai and the other.

Su Meng stood up straight.

The alcohol was gradually going to her head, plus she had stood up too quickly.

Su Meng stumbled and fell forward uncontrollably.

"Careful!"

Shen Huai reached out instinctively, and Su Meng's entire body collapsed onto his arm in an instant.

Summer fabrics are usually light and breathable.

Su Meng was dressed very lightly as well.

Shen Huai instantly felt two soft, fragrant, snow-white mounds pressing against his arm, with even a slight rebound.

Shen Huai looked down subconsciously.

He hadn't expected that while Su Meng looked tall and thin, she was actually so well-endowed.

"... What are you doing!"

Su Meng's face flushed red, and she straightened her body in a disheveled mess, her fists clenched tight.

Shen Huai lowered his eyes to look at the case of beer at Su Meng's feet, secretly startled.

Heavens, when did she sneakily drink all that?

She actually finished a whole case of 12 beers by herself? No wonder she fell.

This was purely the alcohol hitting her.

This person, drinking to build up her courage?

"What are you standing there for? Let's go."

Feeling she had made a huge fool of herself, Su Meng couldn't be bothered to care about Chu Tiantian anymore; she bit her lip, kept a straight face, and walked toward the door, fuming.

After coming to their senses, Fu Hai and Chu Tiantian exchanged a glance and hurriedly chased after her.

The escape room shop was in the same commercial district as the hotpot restaurant, very close by.

The four of them soon arrived at the shop.

Fu Hai brought out the QR code, and after the shop confirmed it, the staff member enthusiastically handed each person a liability waiver.

"Please sign here, everyone. Once you've signed, we can enter," the staff member said with a smile while distributing pens to everyone.

"..." Looking at the contents of the liability waiver.

Su Meng only felt a suffocating sense of tension, tightening from her toenails all the way to her scalp.

Her name, which she signed countless times every day, was something she was now so nervous she even forgot the stroke order.

The next moment.

A cup of warm water landed by her hand.

"Drink a little; it warms the stomach and clears the mind, and it can also relieve tension," Shen Huai's calm voice came from beside her.

Seeing that cup of hot water, Su Meng's tense heart inexplicably relaxed a little.

Her expression was certainly not a pleasant one.

But for once, Su Meng didn't talk back; she just looked at the cup of warm water hesitantly for a few moments, then finally picked it up in silence and took a few sips.

A warm current slid from her esophagus into her stomach.

It must be said, Su Meng felt that she really wasn't as tense anymore.

Su Meng secretly turned her head back and discovered that Shen Huai wasn't looking at her, but was instead focused on scrolling through his phone.

Su Meng quickly withdrew her gaze, a trace of disappointment surging in the depths of her heart.

She finished signing quickly.

The shop assistant took out four eye masks and handed them to the group.

"Please put on your eye masks, place your hands on the shoulders of the person in front of you, and follow our footsteps with confidence as you slowly enter the venue."

"Please note, you must wait until the narration ends before you can take off your eye masks."

The shop assistant reminded them from the front.

Shen Huai looked at Chu Tiantian and the other person, saying in a low voice: "Fu Hai, you go first; the two girls will walk in the middle, and I will bring up the rear."

"Alright." Fu Hai immediately made an "OK" gesture.

Following the order Shen Huai had given, the four of them slowly entered the haunted house venue.

The moment they crossed the threshold.

Shen Huai only felt the surroundings suddenly turn cold, and the halo of light leaking around the edges of his eye mask disappeared completely, becoming pitch black.

The next moment.

A miserable and eerie narration drifted out from all directions.

"... That day, you suddenly recalled the summer of 1985."

"That day, there was thunder and lightning, the rain was pouring down, and without an umbrella, you had no choice but to run for your life on the road."

"Muddy water splashed, and you suddenly discovered a red envelope in the dirt."

"Driven by some strange impulse, you opened this red envelope and discovered that inside was actually a gold bar, a small lock of hair, and a note."

"The words on the note had been soaked by the rain, but you could still make out that short sentence—"

"One gold bar, to buy your life!"

"Boom!!! —"

A burst of ear-piercing thunder sound effects exploded beside everyone's ears.

Shen Huai clearly felt Su Meng's shoulders trembling slightly.

As the massive thunder sounded, the narration ended.

Shen Huai was the first to take off his eye mask.

Regarding this type of thing, Shen Huai was absolutely fearless; he wasn't the least bit scared.

He immediately lit up the flashlight in his hand and shone it on Fu Hai's face.

Feeling the light source, Fu Hai immediately took off his eye mask.

He then immediately turned back to hold Chu Tiantian's hand tightly, carefully comforting her.

The three of them stood side by side.

Only Su Meng stood alone in place, hesitating and not daring to open her eyes.

She clenched her fists, gave herself a fierce pep talk, and after letting out a long breath, she hesitantly opened one eye.

However.

The courage she had finally gathered was smashed to pieces the instant she saw the skeleton beside her feet! "Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

"Help!!"

Su Meng was so scared her face turned pale.

No longer caring about saving face, she subconsciously lunged toward Shen Huai.

Shen Huai had completely failed to anticipate that a mere fake skeleton prop would scare Su Meng to this extent.

Due to the momentum, Shen Huai stumbled back two steps.

His body instinctively reached out to catch Su Meng's slender waist.

Feeling the warm sensation against his chest.

Shen Huai's expression suddenly stiffened.

It's over.

(End of chapter)