Chapter 43: The Dark Room

Without any delay, the surroundings instantly shifted; Li Cheng stopped his mental countdown, gaining a clearer understanding of the Killing Field Game's power.

【In this mission, players are in full role-play mode: only attribute enhancements are retained; no skills or skill scrolls except title skills may be used; no items from the inventory may be accessed; no equipment items may be used.】

【Mission briefing has been sent.】

【Owen Hedges, this is your name. You were once a respected human rights lawyer with a happy, fulfilling family—until one day a fire consumed them. Your perfect life vanished; you fell into prolonged despair, lost your job, drifted aimlessly, teetered on bankruptcy, and, on a friend's recommendation, joined a escape-room game offering fifty thousand dollars. But this game was not what you imagined.】

When the briefing ended, Li Cheng raised an eyebrow and confirmed that the player panel's inventory slots had all turned gray, inaccessible.

"If this is an escape room, there should be cameras."

In Li Cheng's vision, his body remained his own—but the water's reflection showed him as a somewhat disheveled middle-aged white man, clearly the "Owen Hedges" mentioned in the mission briefing.

Early in the morning!

（In that morning hour）

Li Cheng removed the razor blade and began searching.

The sailor's wax figure was entirely coated in a sturdy high-molecular compound, save for a vertical slit beneath its clothing, on the abdomen.

Through the transparent gel layer, the decay marks on the corpse's surface were clearly visible; the stench of rot and the strong smell of rum filled the air.

That is, shave his belly with a rusty razor.

The Irish folk song "Drunken Sailor" tells how a crew punishes a drunken sailor who messed up; the next lyric is "Shave his belly with a rusty razor."

He no longer needed to play the good student, no longer needed to play the obedient orphan living under others' roofs—he only needed to be his pure self.

On the room's right side, salty seawater had pooled, grounding a seven-meter-long miniature two-masted sailboat; the model's hull was welded firmly to the floor.

Any normal person here would surely look sickened, perhaps even vomit.

From speakers high in the room, faint howling winds and seagull cries drifted, creating an overall tropical island atmosphere.

The most likely exit was a square metal panel embedded in the wall, fitted with a rolling digital combination lock. Two digits on the left, three on the right—five digits total.

Li Cheng placed his hand beside his forehead to shield from the spotlight's glare and indeed spotted a long, rectangular surveillance camera in the ceiling corner; he waved at it and shouted, "Kids, I'm actually the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy—I didn't die! If you let me out, I'll split with you half the eight hundred tons of gold I buried under the White House!"

"Conversely, if I waste too much time and energy here, I may lack the strength to break out of the remaining 【Dark Rooms】. Thus, the likelihood that brute force is the only solution drops significantly."

The parrot wax figure in the captain's cabin must have been fitted with some audio device, endlessly repeating the first three lines of "Drunken Sailor" in a loop.

Yet Li Cheng felt little discomfort—not only because he had already endured life-or-death battles, but because in this alien atmosphere, the rules, laws, morals, and social norms that once bound him no longer existed.

"Ah, so that's how it is."

The corpse's skin was coated in a sturdy high-molecular compound similar to epoxy resin, allowing it to remain standing.

Li Cheng withdrew his gaze; with the strength and agility still retained in his body, he could, with enough time, smash through the thick wooden door before drowning.

A revolting odor burst forth; the slimy, icy sensation on his fingertips was disgustingly, utterly, completely nauseating.

Thinking of this, he suddenly realized something.

You're good.

Ugh. What is this, a pirate-themed amusement park?

Just as he grumbled inwardly, a "whir" sounded—the rectangular metal panel high in the room retracted backward, and moments later, a torrent of water gushed forth, drenching the ornamental plants.

The only advantage was that the Infection State of the Lord of Insects was also sealed along with it.

（What do we do with the Drunken Sailor? ）

Water continued flooding the room; time was limited, so Li Cheng swiftly explored the chamber, searching for clues.

Splash—

"What do we do with a drunken sailor?"

One. Two, three, four, five, six, seven.

The room's ceiling was seven meters high; in a corner near the top hung an extremely brilliant spotlight.

"Woo—"

What do we do with a drunken sailor?

The most prominent feature was the corpse standing before him: about 1.8 meters tall, a white male in his forties, with a full beard, frozen smile, wearing a sailor's cap, sunglasses on his nose, dressed in an old sailor outfit with no pockets, frozen mid-shave with a rusty razor.

No response came to this tempting offer; Li Cheng remained calm, unsurprised as he lowered his arm—he merely wanted to test whether anyone was on the other end of the surveillance camera, whether they'd adjust its position for better focus.

First, observe the surroundings.

"The goal of this mission is to survive until escaping the Dark Room; time limit is one hour. But judging by the water flow rate, the room will be flooded long before then. That means the 【Dark Room】 refers to a larger area than this single room."

（What do we do with the Drunken Sailor? ）

"One of the Killing Field Game's iron laws is that no mission is ever impossible. Even the most dire predicament must have one or more paths to survival."

The floor showed no drainage outlets; as water poured in, the level rose slowly. Li Cheng glanced at the metal panel's area and recalled the liquid flow formula in his mind.

Li Cheng grinned and leapt off the boat model, wading through waist-deep seawater to the original sailor wax figure, plucking the rusty razor from its hand.

This was an eight-meter-square room; all four walls were LCD panels projecting ocean scenes.

Li Cheng sidestepped the incoming water, catching the salty, briny scent of seawater.

Besides this lock, the room held another: the captain's cabin door on the sailboat model, its keyhole shaped unusually, requiring a star-shaped key.

Through the keyhole, a wax figure of a captain could be faintly seen inside, seated behind the captain's desk, grinning broadly; the parrot wax figure on his shoulder emitted cheerful singing.

The water level continued rising, gradually submerging the artificial beach, then flooding the boat model.

On the room's left side, a thick layer of fine sand piled up, adorned with some plastic tropical ornamental plants.

Simultaneously, his body was restricted—he could not summon the Mantis Arm Bone Blade or any other enhanced organs.

A strange, unprecedented sense of ease.

The song is called "Drunken Sailor," a famous Irish sailor folk song, appearing in both "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "The Truman Show."

More metal panels retracted high in the room; torrents of seawater flooded in, accelerating the water level rise—it quickly submerged Li Cheng's ankles.

Flow equals cross-sectional area multiplied by flow velocity; the water speed appeared slow, and the metal panel's area was limited—his time was ample.

"Whir! Whir!"

"Found it."

He yanked his arm out sharply, his palm clenched tightly around a star-shaped key.

(End of Chapter)