Chapter 32

The next morning at 08:30 am, Yan Zhao, Ying Hongyu, Sheng Xin, Ling Xiao, Yu Youyi, and Feng Ling arrived at the shooting location prepared by the program team, which turned out to be a massive cruise ship.

The script was handed to them, and as Yan Zhao flipped through it, it didn’t reveal the plot but outlined the key points and background of the recording:

[The seemingly ordinary cruise ship was, in fact, a black ship engaged in the illicit trade of slaves and precious metals and gems. Throughout the week, it would dock in the harbor, providing the unfortunate ones with their only chance to escape.

The six guests would be divided into three groups and assigned to different locations on the cruise ship. During the escape, they might occasionally trigger pursuit battles with patrol guards, and sometimes they would need to solve puzzles to reach the next room.

There was a designated safe area inside the cruise ship where guests could replenish supplies.]

After reading the script, Yan Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that it wasn’t too bad. As a cricket person^[1]蛐蛐人類(qūqu rénlèi)= Cricket person, the meaning is hardworking and diligent person., humans were nothing to fear!

Before boarding the cruise ship, the program team conducted a thorough search. During the search, three identical amulets were discovered.

Director: “Why did you all go together to seek amulets? Is our program that terrifying?”

Sheng Xin thought that the director had a change of heart, complained, “Yeah, last time with those zombies, I couldn’t sleep well at night!”

The director was delighted, “Great! Give the props team a bonus chicken leg. Let’s keep up the good work, everyone.”

Sheng Xin: “???”

The program team only confiscated phones and dangerous items, then returned the amulets to the guests.

The grouping was done by drawing lots. After the draw, the director didn’t reveal the results but let the other staff lead the guests inside.

Yan Zhao had a black cloth over his eyes, and at the location, the director’s voice came through the earpiece, “Begin the escape.”

Yan Zhao pulled down the black cloth and locked eyes with Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao: “Look, fate has arrived, and it’s unstoppable.”

Yan Zhao surveyed the surroundings and tentatively concluded that this was a miscellaneous storage room, saying, “I’m quite happy about this, but… Lao Ling, have you ever played an escape room? I haven’t, and I rarely play puzzle games.”

Ling Xiao patted his chest, very confident, “I haven’t either, but I believe I can do it!”

Ten minutes later, facing the camera hidden behind the snack shelf, Ling Xiao said, “I can’t. Director, give me a hint.”

The director in the control center was munching on melon seeds and nodded to the assistant.

Ling Xiao heard a rustling sound through his earpiece and exclaimed, “There’s really a hint! The director’s team is amazing!”

Then he listened to a rendition of “Two Tigers.”

Ling Xiao told Yan Zhao about it, “Is there any deeper meaning to this?”

Yan Zhao: “Maybe they want to embarrass you.”

Ling Xiao: “…”

Still had to honestly search for clues.

Yan Zhao felt exhausted; he was never the type to take on the role of intelligence, but his teammates were even less reliable than him.

Yan Zhao analyzed the current clues, “The storage room door has a password lock, and the most important thing now is to gather a six-digit password. The only places we haven’t searched are the cabinets and drawers, but they are also locked, so we need to find a way to unlock them.”

Ling Xiao nodded, and just as Yan Zhao was about to say, “Let’s see if there’s any thin wire,” he saw Ling Xiao standing in front of the cabinet, holding his breath, lifting his leg, and delivering a flying kick.

A loud bang echoed, and the cabinet door fell inward, resting against the interior.

Yan Zhao: “…”

Ling Xiao: “A show of strength for wisdom!”

Director: “Impressive.”

Ling Xiao was very proud. Holding onto the cabinet door, he moved it outward and turned to boast to Yan Zhao, “Bro, am I amazing? This kind of violent solution is the symbol of intelligence! I, the gender-swapped Athena!”

Yan Zhao took two steps back, “…Look at what’s in front of you.”

Ling Xiao turned around, and as the cabinet door moved away, a corpse covered in blood appeared in front of him.

Ling Xiao silently put the door back, “Sorry for the disturbance.”

Director’s sarcastic comment: “The man version of Athena, you’re just a modern Lu Zhishen.”^[2]魯智深 = Lu Zhishen, whose real name is Luda and nicknamed Flower Monk, is a character in the classic novel ” Water Margin ” written by Shi Naian . He not only “draws his sword to … Continue reading

Yan Zhao and Ling Xiao spent thirty minutes fumbling in front of the drawer without figuring out how to crack it.

Yan Zhao: “We’re embarrassing ourselves here.”

Ling Xiao: “After this episode airs, my fans will only consist of zombie fans.”^[3]殭屍粉(jiāng shī fěn) = Zombie fans, a term in internet slang, refers to fake fans that appear on Weibo, which can be purchased with money for “following” and are essentially … Continue reading

Yan Zhao: “So, I’ll have zero fans then.”

Ling Xiao: “Hey, young man, you’re quite confident!”

Seeing them slacking off, the director couldn’t bear it any longer. It seemed like they needed a mentor for the newbies: “Guard, go to Area C!”

Yan Zhao and Ling Xiao were sitting in chairs, eating potato chips and drinking cola when the alarm in their earpieces suddenly sounded: “Guard patrol!”

A siren echoed through the cruise ship, and through the gaps in the storage room door, Yan Zhao saw a person in military uniform slowly approaching. The guard had a stun baton at the waist, handcuffs in one hand, and a… chainsaw in the other.

Yan Zhao: “…” What the heck?

They were playing escaped slaves from the prison, and the guard might actually use some extreme methods to capture them…

After the guard opened the door, how could they escape from them?

While Yan Zhao was still contemplating, he heard the sound of the cabinet door being pulled open, followed by the thud of a heavy object hitting the ground. He turned around, and Ling Xiao had heartlessly thrown the props out, lying lifeless on the floor.

Props: Ling Xiao is the culprit!

The cabinet was small, only enough to fit one person. Ling Xiao gazed affectionately at Yan Zhao: “Zhao Zhao, we are the best brothers.”

Yan Zhao: “…So you’re sacrificing me to save yourself?”

Ling Xiao said, “Oh, how do you understand me so well?,” while slid himself behind the cabinet door.

Yan Zhao laughed angrily and officially announced: “Our friendship is over!”

Somehow, at this moment, he suddenly thought of Shen Yuanting.

If it were Shen, he definitely wouldn’t leave him hanging outside… No, maybe they had already escaped.

This thought flashed by, and Yan Zhao focused his attention, looking for things in the storage room that could be used as weapons.

The guard entered the pursuit area, spotted the slaves, furrowed his brow, accelerated his pace from slow to fast, and charged in with the chainsaw!

The person cautiously hid behind the snack-filled shelves; indeed, this was a situation where one could play a game of “King Qin Circling the Pillar.”^[4]King Qin Circling the Pillar, it’s a story of the King Qin walking around the pillars that comes from Chinese textbooks. In fact, Qin Shihuang walked around the pillars of the main hall in order to … Continue reading

The guard grinned, his fierce makeup accentuating his wicked expression, and laughed maniacally as he lunged toward Yan Zhao—

A splash of water hit his face, cola sweetness seeping into the corners of his mouth. Before the guard could even open his eyes, Yan Zhao knocked him down, snatched the handcuffs from his hand, and shackled his hands to the leg of the shelf.

The king doesn’t forsake his sword; he forsakes cola!

Yan Zhao threw the deflated cola bottle aside, picked up the chainsaw, inserted the serrated edge of the prop into the gap of the cabinet door. The metallic gleam of the blade was just a few centimeters away from Ling Xiao’s neck.

Yan Zhao stated coldly, “I’m about to execute the traitor.”

Ling Xiao: “I’m sorry, I was wrong!”

Leaving the guard with the lingering taste of cola, the two considerately closed the lock on the storage room door.

Ling Xiao asked, “Zhao Zhao, where did you learn that restraining move just now? It’s so cool.”

Yan Zhao replied, “From my assistant.” Xiao Dou knew quite a bit about martial arts, so Yan Zhao allocated some of his workout time to learn real-life PvP.

Outside the door of the storage room, a message was written with red paint disguised as blood: “I have been betrayed.”

Yan Zhao said expressionlessly, “Is this traitor you?”

Ling Xiao shook his head frantically, “No, don’t point the chainsaw at me!”

The chainsaw was a fake prop and inconvenient, so Yan Zhao threw it away. The two stealthily advanced, avoiding the patrolling NPCs.^[5]NPC = Non Player Character

At a junction, they coincidentally encountered a running pair of guests!

Ying Hongyu was holding Sheng Xin’s hand, panting, and still managed to shout to Yan Zhao and Ling Xiao ahead, “Run!”

Yan Zhao immediately caught up, “Who’s chasing you?”

Ying Hongyu: “Pigs!”

Yan Zhao: “…Sorry, could you repeat that?”

Sheng Xin exclaimed, “It’s really pigs! A bunch!”

Yan Zhao turned around, and in the distance, a group of muddy piglets were grunting and nudging forward. Among them stood an NPC wearing a pig headgear, dancing along with the pigs.

Yan Zhao: “…” Only this ridiculous show could come up with pigs nudging celebrities!

With no time to spare for catching the attention of other guards, the four dashed forward, passing through twists and turns, until they found refuge in a simple bedroom.

After the footsteps outside gradually faded, they crawled out from under the bed.

Yan Zhao brushed off the dust from his clothes, inspected the items in the bedroom, and exchanged clues obtained from Ying Hongyu.

Ying Hongyu said, “Our starting point was in the prison, where some people were detained, but most of them were piglets…”

Ling Xiao interrupted, “They’re all piglets. It would be a waste to kill and eat them. They should be raised as food reserves.”

Yan Zhao: “…Raising pigs at sea? They might as well buy more dry rations and canned food.”

Sheng Xin scratched his head, “They treat the pigs pretty well. They even bring them to the dining hall for feeding.”

Yan Zhao: “That doesn’t sound logical…”

Sheng Xin: “But there are indeed pig footprints in the dining hall.”

Ling Xiao rubbed his stomach: “I’m craving braised pig trotters.”

Yan Zhao: “…”

On the table, there was a row of Greek mythology books, and on the edge was a diary.

Yan Zhao flipped it open:

【Damn storm, we had to stay on a deserted island, even the canned food is running out. To ensure provisions, the captain took some sailors to explore the jungle.】

【Unexpectedly, there are locals on this deserted island. Slaves can be sold for a lot of money. We won’t have to take risks to sell mermaid for a long time.】

【The captain fell in love with a girl among the slaves. He unlocked her handcuffs, healed her gunshot wound, and promised to stop the slave trade.】

Yan Zhao showed the diary to the others, and Sheng Xin remarked, “A deserted island love story?”

Ying Hongyu shook his head: “The captain must have broken his promise; otherwise, we wouldn’t be on this ship.”

Yan Zhao pointed at the handwriting: “It mentions mermaid here. Does this story involve fantasy elements?”

Ling Xiao, sitting on the bed, said, “In a real-world setting, they wouldn’t be as intimidating… Oh, there’s a button here. I pressed it.”

Yan Zhao and Ying Hongyu almost simultaneously exclaimed, “Don’t!”

Ling Xiao’s hand hovered over the button, and he blinked, and said , “Look, nothing happened.”

Just a second after he lifted his hand, the alarm clock on the bedside table started ringing loudly!

The four scrambled to run outside, and Yan Zhao couldn’t resist giving Ling Xiao a kick, and said, “Are you really a traitor in the team?”

Ling Xiao held his buttocks, and protested, “I’m not! Why leave a button there if you’re not supposed to press it!”

Yan Zhao retorted, “It specially to lure people like you, you despicable person. In TV dramas, you are the deadweight teammate, the one to be condemned by the audience!”

Ling Xiao replied, “I’m not just a deadweight teammate; now I have to share a cage with pigs! If they still condemn me for that, it’s just too cruel!”

Like pigs being herded by NPCs, the four were driven around until they could barely run anymore. At that moment, a hand suddenly reached out from some hidden corner, causing Sheng Xin to scream, and a groundhog on the opposite side also squeaked.

Yan Zhao remarked, “…Don’t shout, it’s an ally.”

Yu Youyi and Feng Ling pulled the four into a hidden room. It was dark, illuminated only by the faint glow from liquid in jars.

In formaldehyde, resin-formed mermaids lay in silent slumber. Some were whole, while others only had a skull, giving an eerie appearance.

A faint, mysterious song echoed, sending shivers down their spines.

Yan Zhao pondered, “…What is the production team up to now?”

Sheng Xin felt the temperature in the room seemed to be dropping, with chilly winds blowing. He hugged his arms, and said, “Oh my, this sound is so terrifying!”

This sentiment received agreement from two girls.

Yu Youyi said, “Yes, it’s like ghosts crying. I’ll ask the director for this material and incorporate it into the next movie.”

Feng Ling added, “I want to smash the speaker…”

Ling Xiao wondered, “Is it really that scary?”

Yu Youyi replied, “It is! But now that sound seems to have stopped.”

Ling Xiao interjected, “Because I was the one singing.”

Everyone: “…”

Yan Zhao patted his shoulder, and said, “Lao Ling, you better keep quiet.”

Ling Xiao tried to explain, “I thought it might cheer you guys up!”

Sheng Xin remarked, “Don’t try to gloss over it with fancy words!”

Ling Xiao became unhappy, saying, “What ghost crying, what wolf howling, that was heavenly music! If you don’t believe me, I’ll sing louder for you!”

Clearing his throat, Ling Xiao sang loudly, “No steamed buns in hand, not a drop of oil in the vegetables—”

Yan Zhao covered his ears, and said, “I know you’re hungry! That’s enough!”