[Don’t chase me, I didn’t hurt you! Ahhhhh!]

When Zhang Huai arrived with his companions, Tong Yu was busy figuring out how to advertise his escape room.

“Boss Tong.”

Tong Yu looked up and saw Zhang Huai smiling at the counter, with two men and one woman behind him. They all politely nodded when they saw him.

“Boss Zhang, welcome, welcome,” Tong Yu quickly greeted them.

“This design of yours is quite interesting,” Zhang Huai looked around, his gaze finally settling on the description displayed on the front counter. “Escape Room? What kind of game is this?”

“Is it just locking people in a room with no exit and making them figure out how to escape?” someone guessed.

“Exactly! That’s precisely what it is,” Tong Yu looked at the person with approval.

“Horror Level A? Is it scary?” Someone noticed the horror rating on the description. That person’s eyes lit up, clearly a fan of horror games.

“This level is considered quite high among horror types, but it also depends on the individual. If you’re very brave, then it won’t be scary. If you’re timid, you might get scared to your knees.” That’s how escape rooms are: brave ones act as human tanks plowing through everything, while timid ones cry and howl, creating atmosphere. So, escape games need to be played in teams. If everyone’s a tank, it’s no fun. If everyone’s a coward, they’ll never escape.

“Compared to StarCraft level 269, escaping the Zerg, which one is scarier?” the person continued to ask.

What is that?

Tong Yu, who had never played StarCraft, paused for a moment but quickly recovered and calmly replied, “These are two completely different kinds of horror.”

“Horror has different types?” Zhang Huai asked, puzzled.

“You’ll know once you go in and play,” Tong Yu kept them in suspense. “If I spoil it beforehand, it won’t be fun for you.”

At this point, the only female among the four asked curiously, “These NPC clothes are so beautiful! Ghost Bride? Is she wearing a wedding dress?”

Compared to the game content, she was more interested in the Ghost Bride’s attire.

Tong Yu paused, realizing this was the Interstellar Era after a cultural collapse. He nodded and said, “Yes, this is an ancient Earth wedding dress.”

“You even research ancient Earth history?” Zhang Huai exclaimed.

“I need to make an escape room, so I looked up some information,” Tong Yu didn’t want to continue this topic, vaguely answered, and led them to the escape room.

At the entrance to the escape room, Tong Yu handed the script to Zhang Huai. It briefly explained why the Ghost Bride became a ghost, mainly to give players more of a sense of participation. Then, he habitually reminded them: “If you get too scared or can’t get out, press the button on the wall. I’ve set up a rescue button in every room. If you press it, I’ll go in and bring you out.”

“Rescue? The word ‘rescue’ isn’t in my dictionary,” the guy who was obsessed with StarCraft battleships said confidently.

“You’re underestimating us too much. There are four of us here; how could we be afraid of one Ghost Bride?”

“And she’s just a simulated AI.”

“Exactly!”

Tong Yu watched the four making their confident assertions, said nothing more, opened the door to let them in, and then settled into the counter to watch the monitors.

Zhang Huai and his three companions entered. They looked up and saw an antique-style mansion. The words “Li Mansion” on the plaque were eerily pale, and two large red lanterns hung on either side of the main gate, with red silk draped to the ground, creating a quiet and eerie atmosphere.

“I don’t know why, but this scene makes me a little uncomfortable.”

“No way, Little Fei, you’re already timid just from entering? You’re worse than Ling Ling,” the bravest friend teased his companion.

“Who’s timid? I just feel this atmosphere is a bit… how to say it, it makes one feel cold,” Little Fei retorted.

“Let’s read the script first.” The only female player, Ling Ling, took the script from Zhang Huai and started reading. “The script says this Ghost Bride was originally the daughter of the local Squire Liu. When she was sixteen, Young Master Li came to propose marriage…”

“Getting married at sixteen, huh,” Zhang Huai mumbled.

“It’s just a story, why are you so serious? Keep reading,” the Brave Guy urged.

Ling Ling continued to read: “Young Master Li was a xiucai ^[1] a scholar who passed the imperial exam , and he was handsome. Squire Liu immediately agreed to the marriage proposal and even paid to build this mansion for the Li family. On the day the mansion was completed, he had his daughter marry into it. However, on the wedding day, Scholar Li colluded with his lover to poison the entire Liu family and also tried to kill his new wife. After the Liu daughter died, her resentment lingered, turning her into a ghost seeking revenge here. Scumbag! Bastard! Men are all no good!”

Ling Ling finished reading, furious herself, and then launched into a tirade, leaving the other three men at a loss for words.

“It’s just a story… cough… Does it say how to escape?” Zhang Huai quickly changed the subject.

“To escape with everyone, you must find the Soul-Locking Nails and nail the Ghost Bride into a coffin. Or sacrifice one companion to be the Ghost Bride’s husband,” Ling Ling read the last lines of the script. “Which one of you three is going?”

“That depends on whether the Ghost Bride is pretty or not,” the Brave Guy quipped.

“Come on, let’s go in,” Zhang Huai stepped forward and knocked on the door.

“Coming,” a hoarse voice suddenly echoed, eerie and terrifying against the backdrop of the dark night and red candles. It sent shivers down the Brave Guy’s spine.

With a creak, the large gate opened, and a hunched old man holding a red lantern appeared in the doorway. His sinister eyes looked at the group, and without asking anything, he directly motioned them inside.

“Why didn’t he ask what we’re doing here? He just let us in,” Little Fei whispered, finding the plot setup not rigorous enough.

The butler turned around at this moment, looking at Little Fei, and a sinister grin suddenly appeared on his wrinkled face: “Everyone who enters must die. What is there to ask?”

The four felt their scalps tingle. Ling Ling instinctively wanted to turn back, but just as she turned, the vermilion gate behind them slammed shut with a clang, making her heart pound wildly.

“My… my legs feel weak,” Ling Ling’s voice trembled.

“Don’t… don’t be afraid, it’s just an AI,” Zhang Huai said, though his voice stammered.

As they spoke, the butler led the four into a room: “Change into these clothes.”

The four looked inside and saw a red set of clothes on the bed. Connecting it to the Ghost Bride’s outfit on the poster, they quickly guessed it was the groom’s attire.

“You… which one of you will wear it?” Ling Ling asked.

“Why us? You can wear it too,” Little Fei said.

“I’m a woman.”

“What’s wrong with being a woman? Women can marry women too.”

Outside the escape room, Tong Yu paused, realizing he had overlooked this detail: marriage in this era no longer required gender specificity. He needed to improve this instance. He’d add another bride’s outfit to the room later, so both genders could participate.

The four exchanged glances, and finally, the Brave Guy stepped forward: “I’ll do it!”

The Brave Guy changed into the wedding attire and walked out grandly. The old butler led him towards the wedding hall, reaching the doorway in a moment: “My lady is waiting for you inside, go in quickly.”

With that, the old butler left.

The Brave Guy peered inside: the room was filled with red candles, shedding tears throughout the night. A graceful woman, covered by a red veil, stood with her back to him. The Brave Guy unconsciously swallowed, forcing himself to walk in.

“Wife… wife,” he muttered. That’s what they called wives in ancient Earth times, right?

“My husband, you’ve come?” The woman’s voice was melodious and extremely gentle.

The Brave Guy’s eyes lit up, feeling the terrifying atmosphere instantly dissipate. His steps became lighter: “Yes, I have come.”

“Come closer to me.”

The Brave Guy walked over, and the moment he did, the bride, who had been standing with her back to him, suddenly turned her head. The blood-red veil floated, revealing a pale chin. Then, a gust of wind suddenly rose, blowing up the bride’s veil and extinguishing all the red candles in the room. Before the candles went out, the Brave Guy caught a glimpse of the woman beneath the veil: a face so utterly pale that it sent chills through his entire body.

“Why did you harm me, why?!!” The gentle voice suddenly became sharp. In the pitch-black room, the bride’s fingernails abruptly lengthened, and she pounced, clutching the Brave Guy’s neck tightly.

The Brave Guy screamed. The tall man, over six feet, somehow suddenly lost all strength and was immediately tackled by the Ghost Bride. He thrashed on the ground, yelling as if being slaughtered. The Brave Guy’s “tank” persona, in less than ten minutes in the escape room, died!

The Brave Guy’s screams pierced through the entire mansion, reaching Zhang Huai and his two companions who were searching for clues in the not-so-distant east wing. They were all stunned.

“What happened?”

“That sound was too horrific.”

“He… wasn’t he supposed to be very brave?”

The three exchanged glances, suddenly feeling the room was strangely cold, even though this was just a virtual world where temperature wasn’t an issue.

“Sh-should we go save him?” Little Fei asked.

“You go?” Zhang Huai eyed Little Fei.

Little Fei fell silent.

Meanwhile, the Brave Guy, in a desperate struggle, finally broke free from the Ghost Bride’s chokehold. He scrambled out of the wedding hall, crawling and running, following his memory back to the east wing. Behind him, the banshee-like cries of the female ghost echoed: “Why did you harm me!!!”

“Not me, not me, I didn’t harm you, ahhh!!!”

The Brave Guy burst into the east wing, his back pressed against the door. He looked at his three teammates, his eyes unfocused, still muttering to himself: “Not me, not me…”

“Gangyi ^[2] resolute; steadfast; stalwart , are you alright?” Zhang Huai cautiously asked.

Oh, the Brave Guy’s name was Qiu Gangyi, and he was indeed resolute.

“Too… too scary.” The Brave Guy calmed down after a while, finally regaining his senses. He grabbed Zhang Huai’s hand and cried: “There was a gust of wind… then all the candles went out, and the Ghost Bride looked like that, it was terrifying. Her… her fingernails grew long, she choked my neck, she had the strength of an ox, I couldn’t push her off! It was too scary, too scary.”

The Brave Guy’s words were disjointed, but the three understood: the Ghost Bride was extraordinarily terrifying.

“If Gangyi can’t be the groom, then we can only find the Soul-Locking Nails and nail the Ghost Bride to death,” Little Fei said calmly.

“Where are the Soul-Locking Nails?” Zhang Huai asked.

“I found a piece of paper in the quilt. It says a Daoist priest once came to subdue the Ghost Bride and made four Soul-Locking Nails from the middle fingers of four deceased people. They are in the rooms they used to live in,” Little Fei handed the paper he just found to the others to read.

Deceased, finger bones. This meant at least four people had died in this mansion.

Although they knew this was just a virtual story, just thinking about it made all four of them feel uneasy.

“Why didn’t that Daoist priest just nail the Ghost Bride himself?!” the Brave Guy complained.

Outside the escape room, Tong Yu almost spat out a mouthful of old blood upon hearing this. Was this guy scared silly? If the Daoist priest had nailed the Ghost Bride to death, what would they be needed for?

“There was blood on the paper; the Daoist priest must have died too,” Little Fei rationally analyzed.

His analysis instantly chilled the atmosphere even further.

“Then… are we still looking for the Soul-Locking Nails?” Ling Ling quietly asked.

“If we don’t find them, the game can’t continue,” Zhang Huai said.

“I can go look for the nails, but… can I not be there when you nail the Ghost Bride?” The Brave Guy was already suffering from psychological trauma.

Little Fei: “The paper says that near Wugeng ^[3] around 3-5 AM , when five sounds are heard from outside, the Ghost Bride will return to her coffin to sleep. At that time, as long as we simultaneously nail all four nails, the Ghost Bride won’t be able to get out of the coffin.”

“So all four of us must go together,” Zhang Huai finally understood why Tong Yu asked him to bring a few friends; it turned out this game required four people to clear.

“What about before Wugeng?” the Brave Guy asked.

Before Little Fei could answer, a figure suddenly floated past the door outside.

“Where are you, my beloved Li? I’m waiting for you to marry me.”

“Why did you harm me?! Why!”

The voice alternated between tender and piercing, fading in and out, incredibly chilling.

At this point, Little Fei didn’t need to explain; everyone knew that before Wugeng, the Ghost Bride would be searching the entire mansion for her groom.

The Brave Guy’s legs went soft, and his newly straightened body slumped again.

The four of them stood frozen in the room. Twenty minutes passed, and none of them dared to move.

Outside the escape room, Tong Yu was surprised to see that the four of them were stuck at the very first stage. He had designed this escape room for a projected completion time of two hours, but at this rate, they wouldn’t even get out of the first room in two hours. After some deliberation, he opened the dialogue system and prompted, “Um… there’s only one Ghost Bride. If all four of you go out together, she can only chase one. If you’re fast, you’ll have enough time to find the nails.”

After saying that, Tong Yu went to the backend to change a setting. He changed the Ghost Bride’s ability to grab a player three times during a chase to merely chasing without grabbing. The Brave Guy had crumpled after being pounced on just once; if he were grabbed three times, he’d probably die of fright.

Tsk, Tong Yu thought he was a tank, but he was the first to be scared to his knees.

The four players felt their faces tighten when they heard Tong Yu’s voice. The more spirited they were when they entered, the more embarrassed they felt now, especially the Brave Guy.

Zhang Huai gritted his teeth: “All four of us go out together and look for the Soul-Locking Nails. Whoever gets chased, just… just run like hell!”

To avoid being looked down upon by Tong Yu, the Brave Guy stood up resolutely: “Okay.”

The four agreed, took a deep breath together, then pulled open the door and rushed out simultaneously, dispersing in different directions.

“My beloved Li, my beloved Li, is that you?”

The Brave Guy had terrible luck; he ran directly into the Ghost Bride. The Ghost Bride stretched out her long arms, lunging at him.

“Ahhhhh!!” The Brave Guy immediately turned around and bolted in the opposite direction.

Little Fei, who was running in the opposite direction, also screamed when he saw this: “Holy crap, don’t chase me! Run separately!!”

“Why did you harm me, why?!!!”

The Ghost Bride’s voice grew increasingly shrill. In Tong Yu’s settings, she remained just ten centimeters behind the Brave Guy’s back, occasionally extending her tongue to lick his neck.

The Brave Guy had never witnessed such a scene before. His throat was raw from screaming, and his running speed quickly surpassed Little Fei’s.

Just as Little Fei thought he was doomed, the Ghost Bride ignored him and continued to chase only the Brave Guy.

Little Fei, who had been pale with fear, instantly stopped dead in his tracks, clutching his chest with an expression of relief: “Good thing someone else is taking the fall!”

“Don’t chase me anymore, ahhhhhhh…” The Brave Guy bolted through the mansion like a headless chicken, his screams echoing through the night sky, and then, in an abrupt moment, he suddenly vanished.

It wasn’t that the sound disappeared, but that the entire person vanished.

In the escape room, the Ghost Bride stood bewildered: “Where’s my beloved Li?”

Tong Yu was also utterly confused. Where did he go? He hasn’t built any secret passages in the escape room.

Tong Yu quickly opened the dialogue system and asked Zhang Huai: “Boss Zhang, why did Brother Gangyi suddenly disappear?”

Zhang Huai was in a room solving a puzzle and immediately checked his communication system, only to find Qiu Gangyi’s name was grayed out.

Offline?!

—-

Meanwhile, in a room in the real world, Qiu Gangyi took off his virtual reality helmet with lingering fear, wiping his forehead to find it covered in cold sweat. His virtual reality helmet was blaring alarms: “Warning, warning, insufficient spiritual power.”

At the same time, his light-brain communication rang. Qiu Gangyi answered, and a video popped up, showing a man’s shocked face: “Gangyi, what did you just do? You suddenly drained 80% of my chaotic spiritual power!”

Qiu Gangyi was also a contractor, and the man in the video was the awakened individual with whom he had signed a contract.

“I… I drained 80% of your spiritual power?” Qiu Gangyi asked in disbelief.

“That’s right. About half an hour ago, you started draining my spiritual power, and it got faster and faster. In just half an hour, you drained 80% of the spiritual power in my spiritual sea, especially in the last few minutes, where 50% was drained in just a few minutes. I was afraid something was wrong with you, so I pulled out the spiritual connector. Are you okay?” the man asked worriedly.

“I’m fine… but I really didn’t harm her!” Qiu Gangyi looked wronged.

“Harm who?” the man asked nervously.

“Why did she only chase me?!” Qiu Gangyi was indignant. There were four of them, so why did she only chase him?

“Who chased you? What are you talking about?”

“The ghost… the Ghost Bride.” Qiu Gangyi clutched his neck. Even though he was back in reality, he still felt his neck was wet from being licked.

“Huh??”