In the end, it was attributed to the fact that she called it so seriously that when it reached her ears, she perceived it as romantic, which is why she found it unforgettable.
Xu Qingzhu ate more than usual at noon, while Liang Shi ate slowly and kept looking at his fingers while eating.
I don't know what he's thinking about.
She and Xu Qingzhu took turns washing up, and they didn't leave until after 2 p.m.
The immersive escape room we booked was quite far away, a 40-minute drive, located in another city center.
Liang Shi drove there, and Xu Qingzhu sat in the passenger seat.
For some reason, the car's music player started playing the song Liang Shi sang last night, and Xu Qingzhu hummed along with the melody with her eyes half-closed.
After a while, the music in the car started playing "Run Away to the Moon" again.
It unconsciously reminds one of the scene from this morning.
Liang Shi's face flushed slightly again, but Xu Qingzhu looked at her and noticed all her little actions and thoughts, but did not expose her or say anything.
It wasn't until they arrived at the escape room that Xu Qingzhu got out of the car and leaned close to her, saying, "Teacher Liang."
Liang Shi: "Hmm?"
Xu Qingzhu's voice was very soft, so soft that only the two of them could hear it.
"Just leave things at home," Xu Qingzhu said.
Liang Shi: "?"
"Don't think about this, that, that, that, that, that, that, that~" Xu Qingzhu's voice rose slightly, her tone gentle, and she said almost word by word, "Don't think, think, nonsense."
Liang Shi: "..."
The four directions—east, west, south, north—when combined, resembled the corny joke Liang Shi had given her that morning.
But she spoke in such a roundabout way that Liang Shi's ears turned red.
Liang Shi stubbornly replied, "I didn't say anything, and I didn't think anything either."
Xu Qingzhu gave a drawn-out "oh" and continued walking forward.
Liang Shi: "..."
I always felt that what she said was like—"Forget about what happened in bed, don't overthink it, I didn't take it to heart."
At first, Liang Shi felt a little uncomfortable, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He was still thinking, but when he entered the escape room, he put all his thoughts aside.
Xu Qingzhu picked out a dungeon with her and asked her what she wanted to play.
After looking at all the pictures hanging in the store, Liang Shi finally chose the pink-themed escape room.
The escape room's theme is "Dream Castle".
Xu Qingzhu laughed and said, "Are you scared?"
Liang Shi: "...I'm afraid you'll be afraid."
At this moment, Liang Shi never expected that the immersive escape room experience would be like this: the pinker it looks, the more intense the gameplay becomes.
Chapter 104
The immersive experience of escape rooms comes from the realistic set design and the presence of real-life NPCs, making people feel as if they are actually there, whether they are solving puzzles or completing tasks.
Liang Shi came to play because her former assistant had been enthusiastically recommending it to her, saying that the immersive escape room experience was amazing, making her heart pound, but it was also perfect for releasing stress.
As a result, Sister Wang glared at me and asked coldly, "What kind of pressure are you under?"
Assistant Xiaobai: "..."
Xiao Bai, whose scalp tingled from Wang Jie's gaze, immediately replied, "No! I went to play a healing-themed game. My friend took me to play a horror game. What pressure did I have? I have such a good leader. It's just that my colleague's leader is terrible. I was just accompanying her. I left after passing two levels."
Xiao Bai has always had a strong will to survive.
Whenever this happens, he always goes on and on to flatter Sister Wang.
Liang Shi sat there watching with a smile, and once Xiao Bai had overcome the "crisis of trust with the leader," he continued to recommend it to her.
Although he was a close assistant, Xiaobai didn't know that Liang Shi was not good at watching such scary things. On the contrary, Xiaobai always thought that Liang Shi was very brave.
After all, she's a woman who isn't afraid of snakes.
Not to mention ghosts, which are ethereal and elusive.
Xiao Bai naturally assumed that there was nothing Liang Shi was afraid of in this world.
So when the system released this task, Liang Shi thought of playing in an immersive escape room.
After all, I've watched horror movies at home before, and the experience is different when it happens to someone else.
She believed Xiaobai's words.
Xiaobai said that even immersive escape rooms can have very healing themes. For example, she once played a Doraemon theme where you were responsible for finding clues in the room. It wasn't scary at all, and even the background music was very soothing. The NPCs were only responsible for handing them clues, and some of them were quite humorous. It was especially suitable for timid people.
She patted Liang Shi on the shoulder and said, "But Sister Liang definitely wouldn't play such childish games."
Liang Shi: "..."
Liang chuckled awkwardly and changed the subject.
Dream Castle, as the name suggests, is a castle. There are five people with them playing the dungeon together. It is a relatively large immersive escape room, which is semi-puzzle-oriented.
Generally, the level of mystery and horror is inversely proportional; the more mystery there is, the less horror there will be.
There are very few dungeons that achieve a five-star rating in both puzzle-solving and horror, after all, the market needs to be considered, and exceptionally intelligent people are a minority.
Most people come here seeking thrills and experiences, not to have their intelligence questioned.
From the outside, the castle is quite large; it could be considered a small villa.
A seven-player instance means there will be solo missions, but Liang Shi was unaware of this.
Of the seven people accompanying them, there were two men and five women, including Liang Shi, who had two Alphas, four Betas, and one Omega.
That is, Xu Qingzhu.
When everyone learned that Xu Qingzhu was an Omega, all eyes turned to her, and then they saw Liang Shi and Xu Qingzhu holding hands.
A younger girl said, "Are you two a couple? You look so good together."
Liang Shi paused for a moment, then said, "We got married."
The younger sister's eyes immediately lit up with hearts.
Liang Shi and Xu Qingzhu didn't pay any attention. After the seven of them entered the castle, the castle gates closed, and then a very strange mechanical voice sounded in the hall. This voice was somewhat similar to the system's voice, both being the kind of AI prompts with an electric current sound, and it began to introduce the storyline to them.
It's a long storyline, but the general idea is that a princess is trapped in a dream castle, and they need to travel through seven spaces to rescue her. Each space contains clues about the princess.
They are currently in the first space, which is lit and entirely pink.
This kind of environment gives people a very warm feeling.
The furnishings here feel like a princess's bedroom, with a bed and a wardrobe.
...
Among them, one is a veteran escape room player who reminds them what to be careful of when entering an escape room, and another is a master of demolition who basically turns every corner upside down when looking for evidence.
Xu Qingzhu's excellent logical ability and strong calculation ability enabled them to quickly decipher the code.
The first three levels were very easy to pass, and there were no particularly scary NPCs, so everyone lowered their guard.
After the third level was completed, they took the elevator to the second floor. One of the girls said, "Is this the five-star horror dungeon? That clerk must have been lying."
"We can ask him for a refund later," another person said. "What's so scary about that?"
As they were discussing, suddenly the lights in the elevator went out, leaving no light at all.
The elevator stopped, startling everyone.
Liang Shi held Xu Qingzhu tightly and pulled her directly into his arms, even though her legs trembled for a moment as the elevator plunged into darkness.
Xu Qingzhu's warm breath touched her skin, and Liang Shi asked in a low voice, "Are you alright?"
Xu Qingzhu shook her head: "No."
The people trapped in the elevator immediately started chattering, "This is the fourth level?"
"Wow, really?"
"We're not short of people, are we?"
"No... Hey, who patted my back?"
"I didn't move."
"I don't have any either."
Suddenly, a faint light emanated from the corner of the elevator, and a soft voice came from somewhere: "It's me taking your picture."
A child's innocent voice, accompanied by a chilling laugh, said, "I like you all so much! Can I find someone to play hide-and-seek with?"
"What does this mean?" Liang Shi gripped Xu Qingzhu's wrist, his voice trembling slightly, but he still managed to hold on. "Is she providing clues?"
Although it was Liang Shi's first time playing an escape room game, he had done his homework beforehand and knew that any NPC that appeared would definitely provide important clues.
The veteran escape room player said, "She's looking for someone to do solo missions with."
"Princess is so bored!" The childish voice still rang out in the small space. "Is there really no one to play with me? Then I'm going to punish you!"
"May 4th..."
As she spoke, she began to count down. When she reached 2, the veteran player raised his hand and said he was willing to go.
Then a long, dark corridor opened up to the side of the elevator, like a hidden mechanism.
...
Liang Shi witnessed the grand scale of the project.
While playing, some people explained that this was a scene that the production team had filmed, but with a different story, and it was now open to everyone to play.
Each subsequent level was more difficult than the last, with the elevator marking a turning point where they were often trapped in one space for an hour.
During this time, Liang Shi and Xu Qingzhu stayed together, and the veteran player who went to do the solo mission met up with them in the sixth level.