Smile Code (Lost Laughter) 失笑 - Zhu Le 祖乐

20

Escape Room: When You're Scared, Hang on to the One You Like

Yu Dule's quirky romantic ideas never followed the usual rules. Gu Yi had thought he would find somewhere like an amusement park to take everyone for fun, but the escape room nearly took her life. The worst part was that Yu Dule had booked an immersive escape room with puzzle-solving and live-action NPCs acting out the plot. It was a three-story abandoned residential building in the suburbs, transformed into the escape room, and it was only enjoyable if done at night. Just reading about it on a review site, Gu Yi felt like quitting the group. She sent Yu Dule a private message: "You went straight for the highest difficulty? Can't we start with something easier?"

"You don't understand. A live-action escape room is much more immersive. Pure puzzle-solving and horror-themed ones don't have a story you can participate in. Without that sense of involvement, it's soulless. The escape room needs to have immersion to be fun."

Gu Yi tilted her head as she looked at her phone-weren't they already going to be locked in a room solving puzzles? Wasn't that immersive enough? But ever since living with Liang Daiwen, she felt like she was often mentally manipulated, finding herself agreeing with other people's logic. Seeing no reply, Yu Dule took the chance to gossip: "Seems like things aren't going smoothly for you, still using an escape room to break the ice?"

"I sleep on the couch. It's smooth enough that he didn't kick me out."

"He actually made you sleep on the couch? Even if you're just staying there, that's not right."

"You can't complain about the food when you're begging for it," Gu Yi looked at Yu Dule. "Haven't you made any moves to chase after Guan Xingxin?"

Yu Dule casually answered, "We're not that familiar yet. If I chase too hard, she'll just get annoyed. I asked her to go to an art exhibition the other day, one by Giacometti. The whole time, I was like a tour guide, and she almost fell asleep. So I try to pick events where you guys are also involved."

"You're not in a hurry, are you?"

"Showing too much affection will just make her think I'm a backup. The level of affection you show in the early stages of a relationship completely changes the outcome. Being too distant makes you a jerk, loving too deeply makes you a perfect guy, and laying everything bare makes you a doormat."

Without even meeting, Gu Yi could tell that Yu Dule was probably giving her a wise look behind those semi-permanent black-rimmed glasses. Gu Yi thought, if she had to be a spectator, between the considerate Lu Ming and the mischievous Yu Dule, she would choose-to watch the drama.

Sure enough, Yu Dule steered the conversation back to her: "You staying on the couch is very restrained. If you had been a little less reserved and just went into the bedroom, your story would have probably ended by now."

Gu Yi didn't like hearing that: "What's wrong? Can't I attract him with my charm?"

"Let's put aside whether you have charm or not, but someone like Liang Daiwen would prioritize love over sex."

Gu Yi felt a pang of bitterness in her heart. Where did this "love" come from? But ever since she had picked stars under Liang Daiwen's bed, she felt like their relationship had really deepened. Being protected by Liang Daiwen in the escape room now seemed like a perfectly reasonable expectation...

This made her incredibly excited. She felt like she was in a spaceship as she entered the subway after work-what's there to be afraid of as long as you don't climb high? It's just escaping and solving puzzles!

That was until they stood in front of a dilapidated three-story house, wind tousling their hair.

The Xuanse Mansion, located in a deserted residential area on Military Industry Road, was a grey-green house that had not been maintained for years. The windows were of the old style, each floor had high ceilings, but the house had been abandoned for so long that the surrounding trees had grown higher than the house itself, casting shadows and making it almost impossible for sunlight to reach the mansion. It was surrounded by an iron fence, with only a crescent-shaped archway inviting people inside the yard. The stone steps in the yard were covered with fallen leaves, and not far from the entrance, there was a mound with some writing: "This story is based on the real supernatural events at Zhou Mansion in 1937. Welcome to enter." The streetlights seemed to deliberately avoid the building. Just by looking at it, Gu Yi felt that some houses were just meant to be haunted.