Chapter 361

Chapter 361

The mourning hall’s doors suddenly slammed shut. Just before they closed, the camera caught one last glimpse outside. A fierce gust seemed to have blown through, knocking over all the funeral wreaths and sending the people at the entrance stumbling in every direction.

Qin Nan and the others had no way of knowing what happened next.

The doors were already closed.

The camera could only record what was happening inside the hall.

Most of the mourners had been shut outside, but some were still trapped within.

The sudden change startled them.

At first, however, they did not seem to realize anything was wrong. Then someone tried the doors and discovered they were shut fast and could not be opened from inside. The others soon crowded around.

They pulled as hard as they could, but the doors did not budge. Then they began pounding on them, hoping the people outside would come to their rescue. They shouted for a long time, yet there was no response.

What they did not know, as they pounded on the doors and waited for someone to let them out, was that the body lying on the boards had abruptly sat up.

It rose stiffly into a perfect right angle. The camera showed the corpse from behind; all they could see was the body sitting on the boards with its back unnaturally straight.

The camera remained fixed on it.

The corpse seemed to notice something and suddenly turned its head.

Its body did not move. Only its head turned.

Then that face rapidly grew larger, filling the entire screen.

Caught off guard, Qin Nan jumped and blurted out, “Holy shit!”

The footage began to shake, then went completely dark.

The recording ended there.

“What the hell was that?” Qin Nan asked, shaken.

He had assumed the camera would contain clues to the key. But after going through every clip, all they had found was this terrifying video?

Had the corpse come back to life?

This might be an escape room, but not every escape room had to be about ghosts.

Qin Nan felt exhausted.

As for Jian Fan…

He was frowning. Finally, he said, “Play it again.”

Qin Nan: “?”

He glanced at Jian Fan. Seeing how serious he was, Qin Nan could only sigh inwardly and press play again.

This time, halfway through the clip, Jian Fan abruptly told him to pause.

Qin Nan naturally did as he asked.

Then Jian Fan said, “Zoom in.”

Qin Nan complied again.

“Qi Xu,” Jian Fan suddenly said.

Qin Nan froze, and Mu Xin immediately leaned closer.

They had not noticed it before. Now, with the image paused and part of it enlarged, they discovered something beside the corpse’s head. They could not tell what it was, but written on it was a very familiar name: Qi Xu.

“In the first two episodes, we didn’t know anything about Qi Xu at the start. We had to find out about him from the female ghost in red. This time, his name’s appeared so early?” Qin Nan felt uneasy. This was not a good sign.

Jian Fan was frowning as well.

He turned to look around the sealed mourning hall.

“If Qi Xu’s funeral was held in this hall too, then something unexpected happened here back then. The incidents are different, but both trapped people inside this room. There’s a common element,” he said.

Qin Nan considered this. “What happened with Qi Xu was supernatural. A ghost shut the doors, so finding a key wouldn’t help. But we’re in an escape room. We’re supposed to find the key. Those should still be different situations, right?”
Jian Fan turned to him. “How do you know we’re in an escape room?”

“Aren’t we filming the variety show Escape Room?” Qin Nan replied. Surely Lu Jing could not still be making things so difficult for them?

But facing Jian Fan’s serious expression, his thoughts suddenly faltered.

At last, he realized something.

Was this really an escape room?

The escape room, the variety show… all of that was what someone else had told them.

Thinking back, was this really an escape room at all?

Who had ever heard of clearing an escape room simply by relying on an NPC?

If this was not an escape room… how were they supposed to leave the mourning hall?

So they did not need to find a key at all?

And…

Wait.

“Why haven’t we been penalized for breaking character?” Qin Nan suddenly exclaimed.

Their Popularity had not risen once since this episode began!

That was impossible.

In a normal recording, the things that had just happened could not possibly have earned them no Popularity at all. And Jian Fan was not acting according to his persona. He had even directly questioned whether this was an escape room, yet they had lost no Popularity for breaking character.

So…

“Could the third episode not be a variety show at all?” Qin Nan asked.

Jian Fan shook his head.

“I’m not sure. Maybe none of the shows are actually shows anymore. Or maybe we’re being specifically targeted,” he said.

“Targeted?” Qin Nan did not like the sound of that word at all.

Jian Fan gave a quiet acknowledgment. “Only the group in first place can leave. And we aren’t in first place now.”

“So you mean the first-place group keeps filming and earns Popularity the same way as before until they can leave. But those who aren’t first, meaning us, don’t get to film at all? We’re sent straight into some supernatural or horror world that’s trying to kill us?”

“That’s what our situation looks like at present. Yellow Hair’s group should be safe,” Jian Fan said.

Qin Nan did not want to believe him.

But he had to admit that the theory fit what they were seeing.

The better it fit, however, the more he wanted to swear.

Fuck you, Realm of Death.

“What do we do now?” Mu Xin had also realized how serious their situation was.

Jian Fan remained calm.

“Isn’t there a ready-made clue right in front of us?” he asked.

Qin Nan and Mu Xin both froze.

What clue?

“Them.” Jian Fan was studying the four NPCs pretending to search for the key.

Wait…

Hadn’t that ghostly figure swallowed these four NPCs in the previous episode?

Just as Jian Fan finished speaking, all four stopped moving. They turned to look at him and smiled.

Four different faces wore similar smiles and let out similar laughter. It was easy to imagine how eerie the sight was.

Amid that laughter, the four NPCs gradually merged into one.

“You’re very clever. Unfortunately, you’re destined to become nourishment for me.”

The four NPCs had fused into a single body with four heads. As soon as one finished speaking, another took its place. Looking at Jian Fan, he licked his lips with a slurping sound. “Clever people taste so much better than fools.”

“Tsk.”

“We can’t wait.”

All four heads opened their mouths and spoke at once.