West High.
In the teacher’s office, Yan Yue was buried in work, while students laughed and played outside. Students came and went, and finally, his son pushed the door open and came in.
Wearing his school uniform, Yun Ci knocked on the door with a displeased look on his face and said, “Report.”
Yan Yue didn’t look up, “Come in.”
Yun Ci walked in and slapped a few sheets of paper onto the desk, “Self-reflection,” he said, “a thousand words, with an extra fifty. Consider it a bonus.”
Yan Yue glanced at it. The first line of the reflection read: I shouldn’t have quarreled with that person during the break.
Yan Yue asked, “Who is ‘that person’?”
Yun Ci withdrew his hand, stuffing it into his pocket, “Just that person. You know who I mean.”
Yan Yue put down his pen and sternly educated him, “Doesn’t that person have a name?”
“…”
Under Yan Yue’s gaze, Yun Ci picked up a pen, leaned over, and crossed out “that person,” reluctantly writing two other characters.
-Yu.
-Xun.
Seeing that Yun Ci was showing a good attitude, Yan Yue waved his hand and said, “You can go now.”
But Yun Ci stayed put.
He pressed his lips together, looking away, pretending to ask casually, “Did that person—did he submit his reflection?”
“How many words?”
“Did I write better, or did he?”
“…”
The next second, Yan Yue threw him out, and he stood in the hallway as the office door slammed shut behind him.
—
Yun Ci wandered back to his class.
In the back of Class 2 (1), Li Yan and others were playing Three Kingdoms Kill at his seat.
Yun Ci sat down among them, his uniform a size too big. He had insisted he would grow another twenty centimeters in high school, but he still had a long way to go, and he was lanky from his growth spurt.
His sleeves were loose, and as he raised his hand, they swayed. He frowned, “Go play at your own seats.”
Li Yan played a card and said, “Your seat is better. Lao Yan doesn’t easily spot us here.”
During a break in the game, Li Yan casually mentioned, “A new escape room opened near the school. Want to check it out tonight?”
Yun Ci dug a pen out of his desk, intending to work on his practice papers, “Not going.”
Li Yan: “I’m scared.”
Yun Ci: “Then don’t go.”
“…”
Li Yan: “Damn it, I said I’m scared, not for you to respond like that.”
Yun Ci wrote the answer to the first question, “I’m busy with practice papers; no time.”
Li Yan delivered a critical blow: “That escape room is said to be very scary, and there’s a leaderboard. The fastest team to clear it gets their names on it. And—Class 7 is planning to go too.”
Yun Ci’s pen paused.
Then he let go of the pen, leaned back, and asked, “What time?”
“Suddenly got some free time,” he coldly explained, “can’t always be doing practice papers, need to relax.”
“…”
—
When the school bell rang, the students of Class 1 headed to the escape room in groups.
The new place was across from a black internet cafe, causing the cafe owner some anxiety. He posted in the internet cafe group: [Why so many people, won’t the school leaders notice me?]
Yun Ci saw this and replied casually: [The best hiding places are often in plain sight.]
[…]
It turned out the concern wasn’t about being noticed, but that the customer flow had been diverted, leaving the internet cafe desolate for a while.
The escape room entrance was pitch dark, even the lights were off. Inside, the reception hall was still dark. At that time, there weren’t many high-end promotional facilities, and the escape room themes were printed as posters on the wall.
Li Yan walked in and said, “Boss, it’s too dark in here.”
The boss, wearing a mask, explained coldly and mysteriously, “It’s for the ambiance.”
“…” Li Yan was convinced, “We’re a group of five, can we book the whole place?”
Boss: “Sorry, the minimum number of players required for our themes is ten. Would you like to join another group?”
Li Yan: “Ten people? Isn’t it usually six to eight?”
Boss: “Yeah, more people means more money.”
“…”
At least he was honest.
Li Yan continued negotiating as the representative, “School’s out, where are we supposed to find more people now?”
The boss pointed out, “There are five people over there, why not join them?”
Yun Ci looked over and saw a row of people sitting on the dark couch, all wearing West High uniforms. The one in the middle had been watching them since they entered—
Yu Xun was sitting in the middle, half-hidden in the darkness.
…
Yun Ci avoided his gaze, pretending not to see.
One of his companions, with poor eyesight, asked, “Who? Where?”
“Whoa, people from Class 7.”
“That’s definitely not happening, we can’t team up.”
While they were talking, the group of five moved, mainly because the one in the middle moved. Yu Xun came over with a bottle of drink, his fingers hooked around the can, waving it in front of Yun Ci: “This is for you.”
Yun Ci leaned away, frowning, “Take it away.”
Yu Xun casually withdrew his hand, “Don’t overthink it, just being polite.”
“Do I need your politeness?” Li Yan interjected, buying a few bottles of water aggressively, “Can’t we afford it ourselves?”
Yu Xun slightly curled his fingers, opened the drink himself, “Hmm, I do look down on your class a bit.”
The tension was palpable.
The escape room owner, not understanding the sudden hostility, worried about losing the business, “Why are you arguing? How about this, if you team up, I’ll give you a discount. New store opening, 20% off.”
High schoolers didn’t have much pocket money; an 80% discount was very tempting.
However, the owner didn’t anticipate the students’ stubbornness: “No need for your discount!”
…
Yu Xun left Class 7, standing next to Yun Ci like he belonged to Class 1. Before Yun Ci could avoid him, he suddenly said, “What, scared?”
Yun Ci had resolved not to say a single word to him.
However, as a reflex, before he could even process it, Yun Ci had already responded, “What am I afraid of?”
Yu Xun said, “Afraid you won’t solve the puzzles as well as I do and lose face.” After saying that, he sighed lightly and deliberately leaned closer, whispering in Yun Ci’s ear, “…I understand.”
You understand nothing.
Yun Ci’s face turned cold. While Li Yan was still arguing with Class 7, saying, “Even if it’s free, Class 1 won’t team up with Class 7,” Yun Ci turned to see his friend pulling out his phone and scanning the QR code to pay.
“Shit,” Li Yan was stunned, “You’re teaming up?”
Yun Ci put away his phone, hands back in his pockets, chin slightly raised, speaking to the one who had provoked him earlier, “Let’s see who really loses face.”
—
With ten people, they started by drawing identity cards.
Yun Ci drew a female character card named “Xiao Li.” The first line of the character card read: Xiao Li and her brother return to this eerie school—
He drew a sister card. Yun Ci felt a bit of a headache.
They didn’t have much time to look at their identity cards. They had to quickly cover their eyes and stand in a line as instructed to enter.
Everyone was plunged into deep darkness.
Someone couldn’t help but say, “Damn, it’s so dark, these sound effects are scary.”
Li Yan scolded, “What are you saying? We in Class 1 are scared???”
A guy from Class 7 responded, “Admit it, your class is scared, you’re just cowards.”
“…”
It was Yun Ci’s first time playing this kind of game, and unlike watching horror movies, the sound effects were immersive. When he followed the instructions and walked into a room, he removed his blindfold and found himself in a storage room.
There were cabinets on all sides, filled with unknown things. The ceiling was divided into grids, each containing a lifelike head.
The sound effects gradually changed, a clear and eerie girl’s laughter echoed, “Hee hee…you’re here, I’ve been waiting for you, you finally came.”
Yun Ci’s face remained unchanged, but he cursed inwardly.
He froze, not daring to move.
Everyone seemed to start in different places. His storage room was quiet.
He might be the only one here.
At this moment, there was some movement from the other end of the storage room.
The person seemed unafraid, walking leisurely.
Yun Ci asked, “Who is it?”
In the darkness, the voice replied, “Your brother.”
“…”
In that instant, other emotions surged up, overshadowing his fear. Yun Ci turned around stiffly, meeting Yu Xun’s face.
His school uniform was half-open, and he looked at Yun Ci nonchalantly, “What’s wrong, don’t recognize your brother?”
“…”
Until the sound effects suddenly blasted a ghostly scream, snapping Yun Ci back to reality.
He shouldn’t have teamed up with them.
Yun Ci had a walkie-talkie to communicate with other players.
The walkie-talkie crackled, and Li Yan’s voice came through, “Where are you all—?”
“Your rooms have clues,” Li Yan continued, “There’s a password, find it and tell us so we can open our door.”
Yun Ci pressed the talk button and said, “Got it.”
His voice sounded as usual. But in reality, he couldn’t move.
Before entering, he had boasted to Yu Xun. Now it wasn’t about who solved the puzzles faster; he couldn’t even look at the puzzles.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds passed.
Yun Ci explained awkwardly, “It’s a bit dark.”
He added coldly, “I just can’t see well.”
It wasn’t because he was scared.
Yu Xun didn’t mock him for his poor vision, surprisingly decisive, “Alright, I’ll look.”
Yun Ci’s first reaction was to tell him not to go. Compared to the ghost, Yu Xun’s annoyance was almost tolerable.
But he couldn’t say that out loud, so he pretended to be calm and said, “Hm.”
Yu Xun took a step, then paused, turning back, “But this way, we can’t see who solves it faster.”
Occasionally, eerie white light flickered in the room, lighting Yu Xun up in a way that made him look almost good.
Yu Xun extended his hand, indicating Yun Ci should grab his sleeve, “Want to go together?”
Yun Ci hesitated, then finally, taking advantage of the dark, ignored the warmth of Yu Xun’s sleeve fabric. Strangely, touching it made him feel less scared.
The two of them quickly figured out the code: “Password 63718, try it.”
The code was correct. The lock between the two rooms opened, reuniting both teams.
In a crowd, the scary atmosphere dissipated a lot.
In the crowd, a boy from Class 7 squeezed next to Yu Xun. He whispered, “Yu-ge…”
“My identity card, should I switch back?”
“Many of your tasks seem to be with… that Yun guy from Class 1. You’re siblings.”
Ten minutes earlier.
When the identity cards were handed out, Yu Xun had taken the brother card from behind him and switched his card with the boy’s.
He had turned back, making a shushing gesture.
“It’s nothing,” Yu Xun’s voice was light, “I just didn’t like the name on my character card, so we swapped.”
But when the door opened, it seemed he saw the class president from Class 1 holding Yu Xun’s sleeve.
Is this some solo task?
Yu Xun refused, “No need.”
He seemed quite satisfied with his role. When the next task required the “sister” to go alone to the opposite classroom in the dark, he leaned in the storage room doorway and asked Yun Ci, “Need your brother to go with you?”
…
The boy realized it immediately.
Got it.
This was a tease.
Yun Ci’s face was livid, he said nothing, overcoming his fear, and walked ahead.
Yu Xun didn’t get a response but still followed at a leisurely pace.
A dark hallway.
Two teenagers, one in front and one behind.
One said, “Stop following me.”
The other, “Just taking a walk.”
“…”
Yu Xun walked all the way to the classroom where Yun Ci was doing his task, waiting for him to finish.
He glanced at the identity card he had swapped for. He thought, finding a reason to stay by Yun Ci’s side was really difficult.
When would he and Yun Ci be together without this antagonism?
…
He hadn’t thought that a few years later, such a day would actually come.
Crying sobbing throwing up, the level of pining from Yu Xun during the high school years…