Congratulations on Your Successful Escape

Chapter 2

“My name is Jiang Yuanbai. What’s yours?” The gentle faced man quietly introduced himself as they walked.

Mo Yi glanced at him and replied softly, “Mo Yi.”

“Hello,” Jiang Yuanbai smiled bitterly, lowered his voice, and said, “This is the second time I have entered this game.”

Unconcealable fear flickered across his eyes. His voice trembled as he continued to speak, “I don’t know what kind of evil acts I committed in my previous life that made me experience such a terrible nightmare.” Jiang Yuanbai took a deep breath to cover the emotion in his voice. Then, he gave a stiff smile and unnaturally changed the topic, “What about you? How many times have you come in?”

Mo Yi looked down carefully at a group photo hanging on the wall of the corridor, and replied without raising his head, “First time.”

It was a graduation photo. The edges of the photo had turned yellow. Maybe it was taken too long ago. The faces of the people in it were blurred, but they all had brilliant smiles.

On the photo clearly marked in small black letters was “June 8, 1995, Senior Year, Class One.”

The numbers in horror games were generally meaningful, especially the ones that can be viewed, which may prove useful later.

Mo Yi touched his chin and secretly committed the date to memory.

“The first time?!” Jiang Yuanbai yelled out, attracting the attention of others. He lowered his voice, “Aren’t you too calm?”

Mo Yi straightened up and looked at him, “…Oh.”

He wasn’t calm at all. This was not a novel. Who the fuck wanted to experience some real-life horror escape game?

“You don’t seem to like talking very much?” Asked Jiang Yuanbai. He scratched his head, revealing a smile that was half helpless and half self mocking. Then he added in a low voice, “In fact, most of the new people who come in for the first time have a rather … intense reaction. In fact, the first time I entered the game, I was not much better than the shouting man just now. This is the first time I have met a newcomer as calm as you.”

“…Yes,” Mo Yi randomly replied. He then turned around to view the whole corridor.

There was no trace of age in the corridor. The white walls were clean and smooth. Windows were installed on one side of the corridor. Between each window, there were five photographs similar to the one he had just seen. On the other side of the corridor were five classrooms with signs beside each door, from Class 1 to 5.

There was a stairwell in between classrooms three and four which was on the first floor, but the door leading to the outside was tightly closed. The narrow staircase extended up into the darkness. Two people were on the stairwell, trying to pry open the door.

Obviously, there was little hope.

Suddenly, a shrill scream from the end of the corridor.

Mo Yi’s heart tightened, and he immediately followed the sound. Beside him, Jiang Yuanbai rubbed the bridge of his nose before quickly chasing after him.

Li Yunya walked into the bathroom, anxious and scared.

She was in a panic.

Although this was the first time she had entered this so called “game”, she knew that going to the bathroom was definitely not the wisest decision at this time. But she really couldn’t help it. Twenty minutes ago, she had wanted to go to the bathroom, and now she had reached her limit. Fortunately, her teammates caved into her begging and had agreed to stand outside the bathroom door to wait for her. As long as she was able to do her business within the shortest amount of time, there should be no problem.

Li Yunya comforted herself in her heart.

The toilet was an old-fashioned squatting one, separated by a dark green partition. The lock on the door was rusty and it was a little difficult to fasten. Although it looked old, the stall was clean, she thought.

Half a minute passed.

Li Yunya resolved her physical needs and rushed out of the bathroom stall. She placed her hands on her knees and let out a long sigh of relief. While she was doing her business, her mind couldn’t help but conjure up a picture reel of horror movie scenes, causing her heart to beat rapidly. Every two seconds she had to raise her head to look around the compartment, worried that there was something crawling on the ceiling.

Fortunately, it was all in her head.

Li Yunya mockingly shook her head and turned on the faucet. The sound of running water echoed in the empty bathroom as she washed her hands, the cold temperature managed to calm her down.

Suddenly, she felt something touch her calf.

Li Yunya frowned, confused, and looked down. A dirty ball was lying on the ground. A ball? When was there a ball in the bathroom?

Li Yunya was taken aback, but in the next second, she thought of something. The school bathroom was small and quite tidy. Upon entering, she had a panoramic view of the room: there was clearly no ball in the bathroom before. It was as if…it had appeared out of thin air.

Her face turned deathly pale and cold sweat instantly covered her body.

“…Fang Ting?” Li Yunya, the fine hair on her body raising, swallowed hard, shaking as she raised her voice to call out her teammate’s name, “Are you there?”

There was no answer.

Before, she could hear other people talking outside the door, but now there was nothing.

It was as if she had entered another dimension.

Frightened by this idea, Li Yunya rushed to the door and reached out to open it. However, it was like the door was wielded shut with iron. She shook the handle in a hurry, banging on the door in despair, and called out the name of her teammate.

Just then, from behind her was the sound of gentle tapping.

“Knock,” “knock”, “knock.”

She froze in place, and the cry that was about to burst out was stuck in her throat. She could only hear the rapid beating of her heart. Beads of sweat trickled down her colourless cheeks and into the collar of her shirt.

Li Yunya stiffly turned around, her back pressed firmly against the door.

From the empty third bathroom stall came a persistent knocking on the door.

“knock,” “knock,” “knock.”

Li Yunya’s pupils dilated and she put her hand over her mouth to prevent her panicked breathing from revealing any sound. Her tears fell silently, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

She heard a faint humming from the stall.

The innocent voice of a child sounded strange in the empty bathroom. It hummed the same tune repeatedly. Even though Li Yunya was too scared to listen carefully, it still entered her ears into her brain.

“Dear… come and play…”

Li Yunya’s legs trembled and finally could no longer support her. Her body slowly slid down and she shrank into a corner of the door. Her pale face was distorted with fear, her eyes closed with her hands over her mouth, and she started to desperately pray.

But… nothing happened.

One minute passed, five minutes passed, ten minutes passed, and nothing happened.

The knocking had stopped.

Even the little girl’s voice had disappeared.

The only sound in the entire bathroom came from the lights overhead and the regular tick, tick, sound from the untightened faucet.

Everything sounded normal.

Finally, her doubt conquered her fear. Li Yunya’s eyelashes trembled, and she tried to open her eyes and looked around in a panic for a week: everything was normal. The ball had even disappeared, and the voice seemed like it was merely her imagination.

Did she really escape from it?

Li Yunya could not help but burst out into low sobs, large drops of tears sliding down her cheeks.

Drip.

Something fell on her face, and she choked and reached out to wipe it off.

Drip, drip. More drops fell.

Li Yunya looked up.

“Dear, come and play.” This time, the child’s voice rang from above her head.

Fang Ting stood impatiently outside the door of the bathroom and looked down at her watch for the third time. Li Yunya had been inside for a long time, and yet to come out.

Finally, her patience ran out and she pushed the door open and walked in, “Are you all right…”

The rest of the sentence was stuck in her throat, turning into a shrill scream.

The doors of each bathroom stall were wide open, and the ground was covered with glaring blood, some flowing outward.

This was what Mo Yi saw when he arrived.

With a solemn look on his face, the man who seemed to be experienced, walked forward to examine the scene, and came back shaking his head, “There is no body.”

There was look of panic on everyone’s face. With such a large amount of blood, the missing person was most likely in danger. The crying voices of the crowd grew louder and louder.

Mo Yi separated from the crowd and went to the front. After a careful observation of the bathroom, he saw that the blood covered the room. Only the third stall door was clean.

He frowned suspiciously. Just as he was about to walk over, he heard a man who was searching inside suddenly yell. Mo Yi stepped forward and followed the direction of the man’s gaze. The door of the bathroom was shockingly covered with nail scratches along with blood and nail fragments. The mere sight made their scalps go numb. And on the ceiling near the door, it was densely covered with a child’s palm sized bloody fingerprints.

Mo Yi’s eyes landed on the center of the pool of blood: there was a small round area that had no traces of blood.

He was surprised, and a fleeting thought flashed through his mind, but when he tried to recall it, he couldn’t capture it.

Suddenly, without warning, there was a harsh and monotonous bell ringing in the corridor, startling everyone. The loud bell echoed in the empty corridor and classroom, which seemed strange and frightening.

Mo Yi glanced out the window and his eyes sank.

The number on the countdown now read “4:15.”

It had been 45 minutes since the game started.

– It happened to be the end of class.

The Author has Something to Say:

PS: Jiang Yuanbai is not the CP

PSS: This chapter is not scary at all! Look at my sincere eyes!