Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
He was sober?
This sudden twist delighted Xiang Wan.
She turned to look at him, wanting to have a clear look at his face.
“Don’t move,” he said, “cooperate… with me!”
Although he said these few simple words very softly, he was actually gritting his teeth, as if he was using every remaining strength he had left…
Oh, yes! The cameras…
Xiang Wan struggled painfully. “… No.”
“This… should be… a kill chamber, a real-life version.”
Bai Muchuan gasped for air while explaining, but the burning feeling he exhumed from his breath was contradictory in the face of his explanation.
One felt like ice, the other fire.
On one hand, Bai Muchuan was like fire, that he could almost melt everything he touched.
The other was the cold and calm Bai Muchuan who could still analyze the situation.
As Xiang Wan listened, she was taken aback. “Bai Muchuan… you…”
“I feel… very uncomfortable…” he said with difficulty.
The effects of the drug were real; his reaction was real, and he did not seem to be acting…
However, his strong mentality enabled a part of him to keep awake in her tears.
“… Meng Chi has said… this is a killing game…”
The difference between theirs from the ‘escape the room’ game was the clearance of mission…
After all, the game they were trapped in had no clues nor tips given about how they could clear the mission.
Perhaps it was appropriate to say that they were not given the opportunity to clear the game they were in.
This was because the moment anyone of them left the room, it would cause an explosion.
Xiang Wan remembered that was what Meng Chi had said…
He had done all of these to let her and Bai Muchuan die in a ‘dramatic and spectacular’ manner that he wanted them to leave a great film behind. Of course, in order to accomplish this, he would block all the possibilities of escape…
However!
Meng Chi was someone who liked to play with people’s hearts.
Therefore, it might really be like what Bai Muchuan said; this was similar to the real-life version of ‘escape the room’…
It was just that the difficulty was much higher and the price of not managing to clear the mission would be death.
If that was the case then he would laugh as he watched them gradually walked toward the path of death like fools, ignoring the chances they could have used to escape…
He had used the drug to cripple their rational thinking.
Maybe… his main intention was so they would only focus on their passionate act and not think of ways to escape?
As Xiang Wan analyzed this, she noticed how her heart was beating much faster than earlier.
“Bai Muchuan…”
“Hmm…” He was kissing her when he suddenly mumbled something. “Artificial intelligence…”
He sounded really faint and did not sound quite calm.
Nonetheless, these words were enough to remind Xiang Wan that an artificial intelligence system was controlling this entire room.
Artificial intelligence might have many abilities humans would not be able to perform, but it also had some shortcomings only humans could tell…
At the very least, at this moment, it was not capable of thinking like a real human being.
“Scream…” Bai Muchuan suddenly pinched her waist.
“Ah~!” Xiang Wan let out a scream out of reflex.
It was purely because what Bai Muchuan did had hurt.
It was then when she knew exactly what she had to do.
“… Mm, Bai Muchuan… don’t do this… I beg of you… don’t…”
She resisted as though desperately, and then she lowered her volume and bit Bai Muchuan on the shoulder…
Buried in his shoulder, she did not move for quite a while as she told him her analysis in a roundabout way.
“Analyzing what Meng Chi had said, we need to conquer two problems…”
“Ah… First of all, iris recognition… I know nothing about it… how do we… handle this…
“… Mm… Next, the explosions… if we step out of here…”
“Mm!” Bai Muchuan loosened his grip of her. “Run away, knock on the wall…”
“Why?” Xiang Wan was slightly confused.
Bai Muchuan said, “To see if… they’ve arrived…”
Oh, right! Bai Muchuan came here alone. Quan Shaoteng and the rest wouldn’t sit around and do nothing, right?
“Okay!”
The next moment, she pushed him away. “Stay away from me… I don’t want to love you anymore… Boohoo… Bai Muchuan… you *sshole…”
That push seemed to leave Bai Muchuan confounded. “Really?”
“Really!” Xiang Wan shouted before quickly lowering her volume. “This room should have very good soundproofing… We’ve been here so long but we never managed to hear anything from outside… Is it useful to knock on the wall?…”
“… Just try… we need to keep moving…”
Keep moving?
That’s right. They need to keep moving!
Yes, so that the “show” would look more convincing to the artificial intelligence system!
“Meng Chi… should not be able to escape,” Bai Muchuan continued, “before I came here, I’ve devised a rescue plan with Laowu… he should have surrounded the place by now…”
Surrounded?
Did that mean Quan Shaoteng had caught Meng Chi?
If so… why didn’t anyone come to save them?
Was it because Quan Shaoteng’s detective ability was rather lacking that he couldn’t make Meng Chi stop this ‘escape the room’ game?
Or… something else had gone wrong?
…
Xiang Wan thought a lot.
However, since she was in this dangerous situation, she could not think more thoroughly!
The next second, Xiang Wan took in a deep breath; she started to scream and shout as she pretended to push Bai Muchuan away desperately. She managed to escape from him and stumbled to the wall, banging on it frantically.
“Someone, help… save me…”
She used all her strength to bang on the wall.
Thud! Thud! Thud! She did not care even if her hand was hurting.
Nevertheless, they could hear nothing from outside.
Bai Muchuan got up slowly after Xiang Wan pushed him. He then started to search for her in the dark.
“… Wanna run away? This room is only so big… where can you run off to?”
He sneered coldly as he got nearer to her.
The moment he was nearby, Xiang Wan desperately ran off to another spot.
“Help me! Someone… let me out…”
Bai Muchuan once again searched for her in the correct direction…
The two of them looked as if they were playing a game of cat and mouse; borrowing the darkness inside the room, they tricked the cameras…
After doing this several times, Xiang Wan ascertained what Bai Muchuan had said.
There was only artificial intelligence!
No matter how realistic they had acted, if it was Meng Chi who had personally looked at the footage of what was happening inside this dark room, he would be able to distinguish if they were simply pretending from their expressions… Humans could easily feel the emotions of their fellow humans.
However, artificial intelligence systems were unable to do that.
It did not have any feelings, and it could not detect the feelings of humans.
It basically just needed to make sure that they were both inside the room.
Xiang Wan had a thought. While Bai Muchuan pinned her against the wall, she whispered a question.
“Is there a need to continue to act? I feel that Meng Chi… could not see us at all!”
“Not really. Maybe he was… busy fleeing for his life…” Xiang Wan could feel Bai Muchuan’s warm breath at her ear, which sent goosebumps all over her body. “Xiang Wan, I’m not acting… I’m really… really… having trouble controlling myself…”
The effects of the drug on him seemed quite serious!
She pushed him away at the shoulders and changed the topic to help direct him away from those ‘evil thoughts’.
“You mentioned that Meng Chi could be busy fleeing for his life. What do you mean?”
Bai Muchuan caught her again and kissed her twice, pressing her against the wall. “… Don’t underestimate the police’s tracking ability…” he paused for two puffs of breath, “If he’s fleeing… and tries to communicate with this system, he will inevitably leave behind some footprints… And would be locked down as a target…
Meng Chi would surely know that the moment he escaped, the police would have found the place.
By then, the police would have full custody of everything in this facility.
For safety purposes, he would not be taking a risk and wait to get caught.
That deduction really made sense!
However, they should not take the risk as well and should continue the act!
Xiang Wan screamed and then hit Bai Muchuan while whispering, “He’s not afraid his artificial intelligence system would be destroyed? For example, a cut in power supply…”
For Xiang Wan, no matter how good a machine was, it would need electricity in order to work.
However, she was wrong…
Bai Muchuan shook his head. “This is definitely not powered by electricity…”
“Ah?”
“For instance, this room could have been solar-powered… He could have calculated the remaining energy and the system could last for 40 minutes. That’s more than enough…”
“…”
Xiang Wan’s body shuddered!
If so, would they still get a chance to escape?
Bai Muchuan mumbled, “No matter how seemingly perfect the system had been designed, there will always be a way to break them…”
“However…” Even if that was the case, they still couldn’t get out of the room.
Besides, after the two of them played pretend for so long, how much time did they still have together?
“Bai Muchuan, do take a look at your watch… Oh, you can’t see the time…”
…
The moment Xiang Wan finished speaking, they heard a beeping sound.
The next moment, Xiang Wan noticed a clock slowly emerging from the wall and was embedded there.
At the same time, they heard Meng Chi’s voice from the speakers above.
“My dear friends, you still have 25 minutes left in this world… From now onward, I’ll be providing you with a personalized reminder broadcast service every five minutes so you don’t waste your time!”
Is this his way of planting a significant psychological tremor on both of them?
Xiang Wan’s scalp felt numb, her temples started twitching…
She felt panic, the fragrance in the air seemed stronger and the situation seemed more depressing.
“Shouldn’t he have left?”
“It should be… that’s what he had instructed the system to do!”
“Do you think… Laowu would have caught him by now?”
“…”
Bai Muchuan did not answer her immediately.
What was happening outside was beyond his control, and he had no way to know the latest information.
“What should we do?”
Bai Muchuan sighed and embraced her tightly. “Let’s not act anymore. Maybe…”
Maybe there’s really only 25 minutes left? He left these words unsaid.
These precious 25 minutes could be the last moments they had together in this lifetime.
