After a brief six-hour rest, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo stepped into Zone E.
Upgrading was a very simple process. As long as a player had accumulated enough points, the moment they stepped into a higher zone, the upgrade was completed automatically. From that moment on, the two rooms on East Cross Street no longer belonged to them. To continue living in Yong Ye City, they needed to—rent a house all over again.
Yes, rent a house.
Yong Ye City only allocated housing for new players entering the city for the first time. Everyone else had to find their own place and pay rent with points. Jin Cheng’s large villa in Zone A was no different.
However, the two weren’t in a hurry to rent a place. After boldly parading through Zone E, they met up with Wen Xiaoming again at the Ruby Tavern in Zone E.
Wen Xiaoming brought the items needed to trigger the Special Instance, along with the latest intel from Lin Yandong.
“Just listening to this instance makes me feel like it’s incredibly complicated. It’s not something that can be solved with pure force. And the trigger item is actually a lighter. The ordinary lighters sold in Yong Ye City’s official store for fifty thousand bucks.”
Jin Cheng said, “That’s not surprising. Most trigger items are things every player can access. How many did you bring?”
Wen Xiaoming had prepared two for each of them, just to be safe.
“This instance is called Before Dawn. It’s similar to the first one Tang Cuo encountered, Returner on a Snowy Night. But while Returner on a Snowy Night belongs to the ‘Snowstorm Villa’ series of missions, Before Dawn belongs to the ‘Escape Room’ series.”
As he spoke, Wen Xiaoming’s face couldn’t help but grow serious.
“According to the intel, the instance is set during the Republic of China era. Players are required to escape a place called the Yu Residence before dawn. However, the time and space inside seem to be chaotic; whether it’s overlapping spaces or time travel hasn’t been confirmed. Furthermore, to date, only three people have successfully escaped. One might have hidden inside the instance and can’t be found at all. Another completely lucked out and escaped by sheer coincidence, without even figuring out how the instance actually works. Both of them are from Zone E. There’s one more who just cleared it—a Zone A demotee, an accomplice of the Puppeteer Yao Qing. But since he’s a competitor from Zone A, we can’t expect him to leak any information.”
In short, it could be summarized in one word: clueless.
Jin Cheng nodded. He hadn’t expected to get much from the intel anyway. “What about the Twelve Movements?”
Wen Xiaoming: “They say there’s a piano room inside, and someone will play ‘The Song of the God, Lambs, and the Crow’ there. To get the Movement, you definitely have to enter this piano room.”
“Oh, right.” Wen Xiaoming pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and handed it over. “Lin Yandong asked me to give this to you. He said it might be used in the instance.”
Written on the paper were three numbers: 062.
Was it a password or a room number?
Jin Cheng asked, “From which of the three people did this intel come from?”
Wen Xiaoming answered, “The one who went into hiding. The news about the Twelve Movements initially leaked from him too. The one who luckily escaped later also confirmed that he had heard the piano music.”
With that, Wen Xiaoming handed over a summary of all the intel he had collected so far on a piece of paper. Although he trusted his Boss’s memory, a pale ink is better than the best memory. Besides, people brought up by Jin Cheng never lacked caution and thoroughness.
Tang Cuo quickly scanned the paper, memorized the general contents, and handed it to Jin Cheng.
Wen Xiaoming gave one last warning: “Because there might be space-time overlaps, players will be separated upon entering the game. That lucky escapee was separated from the group. Also, Rong Yi has arrived in Zone E, so you guys must be extremely careful.”
Tang Cuo was curious. “Rong Yi?”
Jin Cheng offered a friendly explanation. “ID D22422. Ranked second on the Comprehensive Strength Leaderboard. A man who is ‘two’ from head to toe.” (T/N: “Two” is slang for stupid/foolish/second-rate.)
Hearing his tone, Tang Cuo asked, “Do you have a good relationship with him?”
Jin Cheng: “Seems like it’s not too good.”
Tang Cuo: “Then who do you have a good relationship with?”
It looks to me like you don’t get along with anyone.
Jin Cheng blinked and stared at him. “I have a good relationship with you.”
Tang Cuo fell silent, completely speechless.
Sitting across from them, Wen Xiaoming looked back and forth between the two, his face full of curiosity and innocence. What on earth had happened between these two during the few days he was gone?
He had definitely missed something.
With the intel exchange complete, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo didn’t waste any time. After buying medicine, they headed straight to the Mission Hall. There, they once again ran into Chi Yan, who was squatting in front of the mission wall.
Chi Yan brought them the instance intel An Ning had collected. Although it basically overlapped with Wen Xiaoming’s and wasn’t of much use, it was still a kind gesture.
“Brother, you guys definitely have to be careful. I heard barely anyone who goes in makes it out alive. It’s terrifying.” Chi Yan was very worried, but there was no way he’d dare enter the instance himself.
Finally, he pulled an amulet from his pocket and handed it to Tang Cuo. “Brother, I got this from a temple. Keep it with you; maybe it has a good luck aura!”
Tang Cuo: “A temple?”
Chi Yan: “Yeah, a temple in an instance! I went in as a monk this time!”
Oh, you look quite happy about it too.
By now, the other people in the Mission Hall had noticed Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo’s arrival. Countless eyes stared at this small corner, watching their every move.
Jin Cheng crossed his arms and let out a light chuckle. He then tilted his head and said to Chi Yan, “As soon as you leave, go straight back to An Ning. Don’t come out recently unless necessary, and don’t ask around about anything.”
Chi Yan froze for a moment, then caught on. He stood on his tiptoes to scan his surroundings and mischievously stuck out his tongue. He had been squatting here for ages without a single person paying him any mind. Now, all eyes were on him.
“Then I’ll head back first, Brother, Brother Cheng.” Chi Yan left. After running a few instances with An Ning, his agility seemed to have improved significantly, as he wove through the crowd like a fish.
Halfway across the hall, Tang Cuo saw him turn around and wave vigorously at them. Judging by his lips, he seemed to be saying: “Good luck!”
Once Chi Yan completely disappeared from sight, Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo exchanged a glance and calmly turned to step into the mission wall. Meanwhile, a few people in the crowd quietly slipped out and darted in when those around them weren’t paying attention.
“Ding—”
“Special mission item detected. Congratulations, players, on triggering the Escape Room series mission: [Before Dawn]. There are a total of six players in this round. Objective: Escape the Yu Residence before dawn.”
“Wishing you a happy survival!”
The system announcement came so fast, ringing out almost the exact second Tang Cuo entered the mission wall, that it made him raise an eyebrow slightly. When he first triggered Returner on a Snowy Night, he had waited a full five minutes.
Were there really that many people scrambling to enter the instance? Or had someone been watching them, specifically waiting to enter alongside them?
Tang Cuo leaned toward the latter.
What was more important, Tang Cuo had been separated from the group.
He looked around and found himself standing in an old attic. The attic wasn’t particularly low. A small incandescent bulb hung from the ceiling beam, barely illuminating the room. The western corner was piled high with wooden crates, while a simple wooden bed and a messily arranged tea table sat by the window on the eastern side.
The window was a beautifully crafted stained-glass window. Peering through it, he could tell it was nighttime outside, though the exact time was unknown. Furthermore, the window couldn’t be pushed open.
Tang Cuo picked up a teacup from the table and smashed it against the glass with force. The cup shattered into pieces, but the window didn’t budge an inch.
This meant it was sealed by the system, indicating a dead end.
There was another door in the attic leading downstairs, but it was locked with a latch. Not only that, looking through the crack in the door, Tang Cuo saw several layers of iron chains wrapped around the outside, secured by at least three padlocks.
The attic was clearly lived in. Therefore, he (or she) was imprisoned here.
Tang Cuo turned around and continued his search.
Against the wall sat a chest of drawers. Opening them, he found men’s clothing made of good material and fine craftsmanship. After checking the drawers, he searched the wooden crates. Ten minutes later, he arrived at a general conclusion:
Male, around twenty to thirty years old. Height upwards of 175 cm. Shoe size 40.
Tang Cuo then picked up two hairs, one from the floor and one near the pillow. Black, short, slightly wavy. His gaze swept over the pen and paper on the tea table, then over the enamel mug and toothbrush by the window. Left-handed.
The Yu Residence—this indicated a wealthy, prominent family. The man knew how to write, and there were even English books in the room. Even if he wasn’t part of the main family, he definitely wasn’t a servant.
Tang Cuo even found handwritten sheet music among a pile of books in the corner. The sheet music wasn’t signed, but judging by the handwriting, it belonged to the same person living in the attic.
Sheet music, the piano room, the Twelve Movements?
Tang Cuo felt he should scope out the location of the piano room first, but how was he supposed to get out? The mission required them to escape the house before dawn. Since the window wasn’t an option, he had to go downstairs.
However, the door was locked from the outside. That meant he either needed other players downstairs to help unlock it, or he had to resort to brute force.
In an Escape Room instance, the latter was probably not allowed.
Embracing the spirit of experimentation, Tang Cuo tried it anyway. As expected, the door couldn’t be broken down. But Tang Cuo had been in the instance for fifteen minutes now. If the person downstairs was Jin Cheng, he would have come up looking for him long ago.
It was most likely someone else.
Tsk. Tang Cuo rarely expressed dissatisfaction with the system. But he wasn’t missing Jin Cheng; rather, he was worried that other players might harbor malicious intent and refuse to open the door for him.
If that happened, he could only wait for Jin Cheng to break through numerous obstacles and play the hero saving the damsel in distress.
Wait.
What the fuck am I thinking?
Tang Cuo felt that spending too much time with Jin Cheng was starting to mess with his brain. It was also possible he had been blinded by the vibrant, flashy colors of Jin Cheng’s peacock-like displays. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, so his soul must have been polluted.
Bored out of his mind, Tang Cuo sat on the bed and started fiddling with the radio by the headboard. The radio was still very new—one of the earliest models. Judging by the timeline of when radios were introduced to China, it should currently be after 1923 or 1924.
The publication years of the books he checked earlier matched this; the most recently published book was from 1922.
Unfortunately, the radio couldn’t be used.
Tang Cuo placed the radio back in its original spot. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the ink on the table and suddenly frowned. There were two bottles of ink on the table: one black, one red.
But Tang Cuo had only seen black fountain pen handwriting. The red ink was clearly two-thirds empty; where had it been used?
Tang Cuo scrutinized the attic once more.
He had roughly searched the cabinets and wooden crates, and carefully checked the corners and edges. The only place left was—under the bed. He had only bent down for a quick glance earlier; the lighting in the room was dim, and seeing nothing under the bed, he had looked away.
Thinking of this, he went back for another look. There seemed to be something written on the bedboards, in red. Because the light was so dim, it looked dark red.
Tang Cuo decisively slid under the bed, lying flat on his back to look up. The sight that met his eyes was startling.
There were countless red tally marks (the character “正”). From the oldest ones, dark red and covered in dust, to ones that looked relatively fresh and bright red, each stroke recorded countless days and nights.
A rough count revealed about thirty tally marks. Converted into days, that was roughly half a year.
In other words, had the attic’s occupant been locked up here half a year ago?
Just then, sudden footsteps interrupted Tang Cuo’s thoughts. He listened intently. They were coming from the stairs, moving closer.
A moment later, the chains outside the door rattled.
“Is anyone inside?” A young man’s voice called out, filled with probing caution.
Tang Cuo didn’t answer.
“Stop pretending, I heard you from downstairs. Are you a player? I’m a player too. We’re companions. Right now, we’re the only two people in this entire house. I’ll unlock the door and let you out, and you promise not to attack. How about it?”
Tang Cuo still didn’t answer. He found under the bed to be a pretty good hiding spot, so he simply stayed lying down without moving. He was going to wait for the man outside to open the door himself.
This wasn’t a role-playing instance; their attire hadn’t changed. As soon as that man walked in, Tang Cuo would be able to instantly distinguish whether he was a player or an NPC.
After waiting for five minutes, the sound of the lock being opened finally came from outside. The man had no other choice; he was the only one in the whole house, without even a ghost for company.
As he unlocked it, he peered through the crack in the door to observe the room, his expression guarded as he probed with his words. “I’m opening it, okay? You absolutely cannot hide behind the door and ambush me. I know you must be here for the Twelve Movements, but right now, we’re grasshoppers tied to the same string. The Twelve Movements hasn’t even appeared yet. Fighting to the death won’t benefit either of us.”
Tang Cuo generally agreed with his statement, but had zero desire to develop any teammate camaraderie with him.
Anyone barging into an instance to snatch the Twelve Movements at a time like this was either a lone wolf with formidable strength like Rong Yi, who didn’t care about teaming up, or a group of friends.
There were a total of six people in this game. Excluding Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, there were four left. Based on his footsteps, the man outside wasn’t a particularly skilled expert, meaning he definitely had teammates elsewhere.
Having talked for so long without getting a reply, the man’s suspicions had piled up like a mountain. Still, he gathered his courage, pushed the door open, and cautiously walked in, gripping his weapon tightly.
No one?
He was slightly taken aback. He looked left and right but saw no sign of anyone. Just as he took a few steps further inside and was about to speak again, he sensed a movement behind him.
He abruptly spun around, only to face the dark muzzle of a gun pointing right at him.
“Player?” Tang Cuo asked expressionlessly.
“Absolutely true!” The man nodded immediately, a drop of cold sweat nearly sliding down his temple.
“Why did you follow us into the instance?”
“Wh-What are you talking about?”
The man offered an awkward smile, but he couldn’t withstand Tang Cuo’s icy gaze. Those distinct black-and-white eyes seemed able to see right through his heart. Yet the man truly harbored no ill intentions. His group wanted the Movement but didn’t want to die in the instance, so they came up with a compromise: enter alongside Jin Cheng and Tang Cuo and cling to their coattails.
They all agreed that if it was these two big bosses, they at least wouldn’t backstab their teammates in the instance. This was exactly why he had dared to open the door and come in, even after concluding the person inside wasn’t one of his original teammates.
But looking at things now, this big boss was a little different from what they had imagined.
In the next second, Tang Cuo did something that shocked him even more. He pulled a brown pill from his trench coat pocket, tossed it over, and ordered coldly, “Eat it.”
The man caught it. “What is this?”
“A delayed-onset poison. As long as you obediently follow orders, you won’t die.”
“Y-You’re forcing me to eat poison?”
“You can also choose to die right now.”
“You!”
The man instantly felt as though there were daggers at his back, because he could clearly sense the murderous intent in Tang Cuo’s eyes, and Tang Cuo’s finger was already resting on the trigger.
With just one shot, his head could be blown off. Could he dodge it?
This was the man standing beside the infamous Jin Cheng!
The man started to feel fear. Stared down by Tang Cuo’s gaze, he subconsciously wanted to retreat, barely managing to steady himself without breaking down. But he was already caught between a rock and a hard place. The air around them felt nearly solid, and all he could hear was his own heartbeat and increasingly heavy breathing.
“Three,” Tang Cuo began to count down.
“Two.”
“I’ll eat it! I’ll eat it, okay?!” Steeling his resolve, the man opened his mouth and swallowed the pill, not even tasting what it was. Once Tang Cuo lowered his gun, he finally let out a sigh of relief, then shot him a vicious glare, regretting his actions until his intestines turned green.
This big boss wasn’t just a little different from what they thought; he was completely different!
If Jin Cheng had been there, he definitely would have recognized that the “pill” from just now was one of Tang Cuo’s chocolate beans. It was sweet, and even had a satisfying crunch when you bit into it.
