Congratulations on Your Successful Escape

Chapter 31

At this moment, Mo Yi’s watch made a slight “ticking” sound, pulling his train of thoughts back to reality.

He blinked and looked down at the hands on the watch:

It was ten minutes to five o’clock.

In order to prevent himself from letting time slip by, Mo Yi purposely set a reminder for ten minutes before the end of the free period.

Although the rules above ground did not apply underground, if he didn’t go back before dinner, it would inevitably arouse the suspicion of the other players.

Plus… Mo Yi felt that he needed to meet with Song Qi.

He lowered his eyes, piled up the documents he had already flipped through to the side and stood up, took one last heavy look inside the room, then turned around and walked out.

Even though it wasn’t the first time seeing it, the room covered in dried blood was still horrifying to see.

Mo Yi averted his eyes and walked sideways between the narrow gap of the beds.

Unexpectedly, his knee suddenly bumped into a hard, ice-cold metal edge. Mo Yi inhaled sharply in pain and lowered his head to look down.

A small bed had completely been turned over onto the floor and the four metal legs were staring blankly at the sky — this was what had knocked against Mo Yi’s knee.

Mo Yi tightly knitted his brows. The tingling sensation on his knee had already gradually faded away, but there was a thread of ice in his heart.

He remembered that when he came in, none of the beds were turned over.

On the four-legged bed board which faced the sky was a very small bloody handprint, different from the other jet-black and old bloodstains in the room. The handprint was a glaring bright red, placed on the middle of the bed board, its outline distinct.

It was like it had just now been printed there.

A chill ran down Mo Yi’s back, and he couldn’t stop himself from looking down at his side.

Immediately, from the corners of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of a familiar outline — a brown, dusty teddy bear, sitting upright on the bed behind him, looking at him with its two intact black eyes.

Mo Yi once again became alert, and swiftly looked over in that direction.

The little teddy bear had already disappeared.

Only an indiscernible indentation was left behind on the dirty, blood-stained bed sheet.

Mo Yi was stunned, his eyes little by little turning serious, and a deep thought flashed through his pupils.

Before, he was always under the impression that the teddy bear was the embodiment of the ghosts and monsters in the copy, a “death omen.”

After all, he saw the teddy bear appear prior to him encountering danger, and the same was true before the death of the second victim.

However, what happened in the playroom somewhat subverted his previous views.

After looking back and connecting the things that had happened before, a completely different guess surfaced.

Supposing that … this teddy bear was actually a prompt?

Its appearance was to warn the players of the existence of danger, and even pointed the players towards the emergence of new clues.

If this conjecture was true, then what was the reason for doing so?

Mo Yi wrinkled his brows, somewhat confused as fragmented guesses broke down and swirled around in his mind.

He looked down at his watch — there was still five minutes left before the bell rang.

There was no time to double check.

Mo Yi crossed over to where the teddy bear had appeared and wrote a mark on the bed, and then hurriedly walked out of the passage.

He had just closed the iron trap door when the ear-piercing metal bell rang.

Mo Yi dragged over the carpet that was rolled up horizontally on the side, hastily covered the iron trap door on the ground, stood up, and then swiftly walked to the dining room.

The other plays had basically arrived one after another.

Mo Yi quickly scanned the crowd but found that Song Qi was not among them.

Suspicion filled his whole heart as he lined up and walked to a dining table.

Today’s dinner was exactly the same as yesterdays with its dry and rough black bread and cloudy water. This time, the water was the same as usual; greasy and stale and appeared to be more difficult to swallow than before.

Mo Yi noticed that this time, although most people were quite reluctant, they nevertheless poured some water to take away.

He indifferently lowered his eyes, walked to the front of the table, and took the same amount of food and water as yesterday.

Mo Yi turned around after and was stunned.

Song Qi was standing not far away and appeared to be paler than before. Even his lips had lost its faint red flush.

He had one hand in his pants pocket, his eyes were slightly narrowed, and was looking straight at Mo Yi.

After they looked at each other for a few seconds, the two went to a table together and then sat down.

They tacitly did not mention where the other party had gone during today’s free period.

Mo Yi chewed the somewhat tasteless dry black bread. His lowered eyelashes cast a shadow on his calm face, his expression unclear.

He didn’t trust Song Qi.

There were too many doubts and suspicions surrounding this person. He couldn’t help but be suspicious.

However, Mo Yi had to admit that Song Qi hadn’t done anything to harm him since entering the copy. He had quite steadily defended him in words and actions and had even saved his life.

He subconsciously rotated his wrist and there seemed to be a lingering painful burning sensation carved into the skin and flesh, sharply throbbing.

Song Qi’s low and deep voice entered his ears, “What? Does it still hurt?”

Mo Yi raised his head when he heard the voice, only to see Song Qi’s narrowed eyes, which were as light as mist, gazing at him. There was not much expression on his sharply contoured face, but a little bit of hidden concern spilled out from the depths of his eyes.

Mo Yi smiled, lightly shook his head, lowered his head, and quickly ate the bread in his hands, patted the crumbs on his hands and then stood up.

In a low voice, he whispered a short sentence in Song Qi’s ear, “You come with me.”

Mo Yi placed his hand on Song Qi’s shoulder and lightly patted it, but unexpectedly felt that the muscles of the other’s shoulder under his palm were suddenly stretched taught.

The two left the dining room one after another.

As soon as they walked out the door, the lights instantly dimmed, and the faint wall lamp illuminated the dilapidated and old corridor, making it even more gloomy and cold.

Mo Yi didn’t speak and walked straight towards the corridor where the Dean’s Room was located.

He was forced to participate in this strange escape game, and the only way to escape was to accumulate enough points, and if he wanted to get points, he had to complete the hidden tasks in the copy.

Fortunately, the degree of difficulty in this copy was relatively low, and halfway through the game, he already had a clue to the hidden task.

And from then up to now, what Mo Yi had been entangled with was whether to let Song Qi follow along to share the points?

If he had no doubts at the beginning, Mo Yi would naturally not be stingy, but there were layers upon layers of suspicious points surrounding Song Qi that he had no choice but to be somewhat hesitant.

But now, Mo Yi had made up his mind.

Mo Yi held out his hand and lightly touched his tightly wrapped wrist — regardless of how suspicious Song Qi was, he had saved his life, and this friendship had to be paid back.

When he walked into the corridor, Mo Yi suddenly realized that Song Qi hadn’t followed.

He turned his head with some misgivings and saw Song Qi standing at the entrance of the corridor. Under the light, half of his face was shrouded in darkness, his long eyelashes concealing his light-coloured eyes, and the expression on his face was difficult to make out.

Could it be that he was worried about what had happened last time?

Mo Yi inconspicuously frowned and said, “It’s okay. I was here during the free period just now. It’s safe, so don’t worry.”

Song Qi raised his eyes and looked at him, the bottom of his pupils flickering with some unknown emotions and didn’t speak.

Suddenly the corners of his lips curled up, revealing a smile. “Okay.”

After speaking, he took a step forward and walked in.

Mo Yi turned his head and breathed out a sigh of relief: For a split second, he thought for a moment that Song Qi would still make excuses to evade him like before.

Under the faint light in the corridor, the two walked towards the deepest part of the corridor.

Mo Yi knelt down and felt around on the ground.

Song Qi stepped forward, knelt down beside him, and helped him lift the carpet.

He leaned to one side and measured his face and said, “Your hand is inured. I’ll help you.”

After lifting the carpet, Song Qi easily lifted the iron trap door on the ground, and the two walked down one after another.

The thick foul air underground had already dissipated a little, but the dusty environment and moist scent of stale blood still made one feel ill.

Mo Yi kneaded his nose, restraining his urge to sneeze, and directly inside towards the second room.

He quickened his pace and walked over to the small bed where the teddy bear he’d marked had appeared, and then lowered his body, carefully searching the entire bed.

Mo Yi tore off the congealed, blood stained bed sheet and searched the mattress inch by inch, looking for any secrets hidden inside. He even lifted the bed board and meticulously examined it, but he still didn’t find anything beyond what he expected.

Mo Yi stopped, fixed his gaze at the messy, turned over bed in front of him, and frowned, deeply pondering what he had missed in the end.

At this moment, a sentence abruptly flashed through his mind. Mo Yi was startled and subconsciously murmured it out loud, “……under your bones, beneath your skin……?”

Mo Yi’s eyes brightened in an instant. He once again scanned the small bed in front of him, and then tentatively lifted a corner of the bed, holding it up with his arm, and then searched underneath the bedpost with his other hand —

Sure enough, the metal bedpost was hollow inside.

The rays of light in Mo Yi’s eyes grew brighter. He fumbled about the four bedposts on the small bed one by one. Finally. a small balled up piece of paper was found in the gap of the bedpost at the head of the small bed.

This piece of paper was even more worn-out and dirty compared to the other pieces of papers.

Mo Yi unfolded the slip of paper only to see a crayon drawing of empty gallows, and underneath it were English letters written with various gaps between them.

—There was no little person on it.

He pursed his lips and raised his head, his eyes wandering around the entire room. Finally, it landed on the small, overturned bed.

The tiny bloody handprint was horrifying to see.

Mo Yi’s lips curled.

He knew where to look.