Chapter 397: Love Over Friendship

"You asked me to go with you?" Guo Zining asked in surprise.

Lin Wanzhou shook his head.

"He didn't call you. He said that the secret room has NPCs, so at least four people are needed to play. He and Li Qiuyang count as two, and with me, there are three. Then he asked me to call one more person."

Xu Cheng just sent her a message, asking her if she wanted to play in a newly opened escape room. He and Li Qiuyang wanted to open a four-person game, but there were not enough people.

"I'm not going."

When Guo Zining heard Li Qiuyang's name, he turned his head away, as if it was unlucky.

"A Ning?"

"I'm not going."

"You really aren't going?"

Lin Wanzhou's little hands were naughty again, and she tentatively harassed Guo Zining in his vulnerable areas.

Guo Zining couldn't resist the attack of her little hand, so he quickly pushed her hand away and begged for mercy.

"Don't mess with me, Zhou Zhou. What if someone sees us?"

"hey-hey."

Lin Wanzhou laughed proudly twice.

"Just come with me. You really don't want to meet Li Qiuyang? Besides, even if you really have given up on him, you should say it to him face to face."

"I……"

Guo Zining hesitated for a while, "Then I have to make it clear in advance, I am just going to accompany you, I don't want to see that pig Li Qiuyang."

"Yeah, yeah, let's go then."

Lin Wanzhou stood up, and Guo Zining took out a mirror from his bag and looked at himself in a panic.

"Wait, wait a minute, let me put on some makeup first."

Lin Wanzhou couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth.

Guo Zining is probably the most stubborn girl in the world, right?

Even after all this, he still refused to admit that he also wanted to see Li Qiuyang.

Can't you be a submissive girl like her?

He always speaks his mind directly and never pretends to be tough, especially to Xu Cheng.

After finding out where they were going, the two girls hurriedly took a taxi there.

The location here is relatively remote, almost in the suburbs, inside an activity center with a large interior space and a variety of entertainment facilities.

Xu Cheng and Li Qiuyang strolled around the activity center for a while and found this escape room shop.

The two girls hadn't arrived yet, so they sat in the waiting area and drank water from paper cups.

"Xu Cheng, do you think Guo Zining will come?" Li Qiuyang looked anxious.

"It will definitely come, don't worry."

Xu Cheng was afraid that he would keep annoying her, so he quickly said a few words to comfort her.

Just as he had told Lin Wanzhou that he was going to see Li Qiuyang today, Lin Wanzhou also shared with him early in the morning that he would go out with Guo Zining today.

Since she was with Guo Zining, and she just said that four people were required to play, if Guo Zining was still willing to see Li Qiuyang, then she would definitely come.

Just as I was thinking about it, a familiar female voice came from the door.

"X brain hole escape room, this should be the place Xu Cheng told you about, Zhou Zhou."

"Well, let's go in. He said he's waiting for us."

In the shop, Li Qiuyang became visibly nervous.

The door was pushed open, and two slender figures full of youthfulness appeared before us.

Lin Wanzhou glanced inside, saw Xu Cheng's seat, and walked over to ask.

"Why do you suddenly want to play this?"

"I saw the ad on the street and thought it was interesting , so I came here."

While answering Lin Wanzhou's questions, Xu Cheng observed the reactions of Guo Zining and Li Qiuyang.

Guo Zining simply waved his hand and said hello.

I don’t know whether to call Xu Cheng, Li Qiuyang, or both of them.

Li Qiuyang seemed a little uneasy, scratching his ears and cheeks, and grinning foolishly.

Xu Cheng took Lin Wanzhou to the front desk to choose a notebook, thinking of leaving a space for Li Qiuyang and Guo Zining to have a private communication.

"Which one do you want to play?"

Xu Cheng asked, then glanced behind him.

Seeing Guo Zining fiddling with his phone with his head down, Li Qiuyang was pacing back and forth.

"How about this 'Pawn Shop No. 8'?"

"This should have some horror elements, why don't you choose something that's not scary?"

"What's the point of not being scary?"

"Do you dare to play that scary game?"

"Of course I do."

Lin Wanzhou said confidently.

Xu Cheng recalled some past events and reminded him, "Lin Wanzhou, don't forget the time we went to the haunted house. How...how did you get out in the end..."

"That happened many years ago." Lin Wanzhou rolled his eyes at him. "I was young and timid at that time. It's normal. Who would be afraid of such things now?"

“…”

Seeing that the wind had stopped and the rain had cleared, Miss Lin felt that she was ready, so Xu Cheng stopped trying to stop her and decided to do it.

After getting the intercom from the front desk, the four of them went to the door of pawnshop Room No. 8 chosen by Lin Wanzhou.

Pushing the door open, there was a small room that was decorated like an ancient pawnshop, but the layout looked quite eerie, which made people feel a little creepy.

"Where can we escape from this? How do we play this?"

Lin Wanzhou looked around, but always kept a distance of one meter from Xu Cheng.

“I don’t know.”

“This is my first time playing this, too.”

Guo Zining and Li Qiuyang had never played this kind of game before, so Xu Cheng had more experience.

"I guess we need to find a way to get into this pawn shop."

Lin Wanzhou pointed excitedly.

"It's just as Xu Cheng said. You see, there is a secret door in this pawnshop. We must find a way to get in."

When they looked at it, they found it was indeed true.

Xu Cheng ordered, "Then let's spread out and look around to see if there are any clues."

The four of them dispersed, but Lin Wanzhou was obviously very close to Xu Cheng, which was understandable. Guo Zining and Li Qiuyang stayed a little further away from them.

But the room was so small, and they deliberately avoided Xu Cheng and Lin Wanzhou, so the corners they found easily overlapped.

When Li Qiuyang went to the place where Guo Zining had searched for clues again , Guo Zining finally couldn't help it and said to him in a bad mood.

"I've seen it all, why are you still going there? Are you stupid?"

"Who are you calling stupid?" Li Qiuyang tore off a piece of yellow paper from the corner. "There are obviously clues here. How did you find them, Guo Zining? You were so careless..."

"Who are you calling careless?!" Guo Zining raised his voice a little.

Li Qiuyang shut his mouth and stopped talking, then changed the subject and called out to Xu Cheng and Lin Wanzhou who were at the other end of the room.

"I found a clue."

Seeing that this guy ignored him, Guo Zining stomped his feet in anger and secretly swore that he would never pay attention to this guy again today.

Xu Cheng and Lin Wanzhou heard the noise, walked over, took the paper from Li Qiuyang's hand and took a look.

The general content was: Pawnshop No. 8 opens at midnight every night. If there is something you want to pawn, just shout towards the door and the owner will open it.

“Open Sesame!”

After reading the contents on the yellow paper, Li Qiuyang shouted at the pawnshop.

The pawnshop door remained motionless.

Guo Zining sneered twice beside him.

"It's just like the real thing, Li Zhutou. This kind of game that requires brains is not suitable for you to participate in."

"You can't even find any clues, and you still have the right to criticize me."

"you!"

Xu Cheng saw that the two of them had returned to their familiar bickering pattern, and he didn't know whether to be happy or sad.

He interrupted the two.

"Okay, stop arguing and think of a solution. Let's not get stuck at the first level."

Lin Wanzhou thought for a moment and pointed to the clock on the wall that had stopped at 4:44.

"Should we adjust the time first and set the time on this clock to midnight?"

"Let me try."

Xu Cheng stepped on the chair under the watch and adjusted the time.

Li Qiuyang shouted again, "Open Sesame."

This time, the originally quiet room began to be filled with a rumbling sound, and Lin Wanzhou instinctively shrank towards Xu Cheng.

"Hehe, I guessed it, right? You, an old player, are not that good."

"You're quite cunning."

"Hehe, I'm much smarter than you."

On the other side, Guo Zining couldn't help but move closer to Li Qiuyang.

"Li Zhutou, what are you doing?"

"What are you doing? This is opening the door."

Entering through the small door of the pawnshop, the surrounding lights became dimmer and there were more horror elements.

Lin Wanzhou, who had been so strong outside just now, now turned pale, and the distance between him and Xu Cheng was reduced by half from one meter to fifty centimeters.

Xu Cheng just expressed his concern.

"What's wrong, Lin Wanzhou, are you scared?"

"What am I afraid of?" Lin Wanzhou blinked, looked around nervously, and then whispered to Xu Cheng, "Xu Cheng, do you think some employees will dress up as ghosts and suddenly rush out to scare people?"

“I think there will be.”

"Then if I hit him, do I have to pay compensation?"

"… Then you must pay for it."

Xu Cheng also looked around, wondering if the hiding NPC heard what Lin Wanzhou said, otherwise it might be his turn to be afraid now.

After following the clues and passing a few more levels, they also got to know the script and background.

Probably, these four players are brothers who come to the legendary Pawnshop No. 8, where everything can be pawned, to look for inexhaustible wealth.

"We need to split into two groups and move forward."

At a fork in the road, the four faced the choice of separating.

"Of course, the two girls, Zhou Zhou and I, left together." Guo Zining said immediately.

But Guo Zining was thinking about girl helping girl, while Lin Wanzhou was a little hesitant.

She was now tense all over, and the atmosphere around her was really creepy. She didn't dare to go anywhere else except beside Xu Cheng.

At this time, she should separate from Xu Cheng?

Of course not!

"A Ning...the boys are so stupid...why don't we just..."

Lin Wanzhou spoke haltingly, and Guo Zining immediately understood that she didn't want to be in the same group with him.

"You are such a good person, Lin Wanzhou. You value women over friends. Humph."

"No, no." Lin Wanzhou waved his hand, "How about the three of us go together?"

"ah?"

The remaining three people made the same sound at the same time.

Xu Cheng was frightened by Lin Wanzhou's words.

Guo Zining felt that it would be embarrassing to be a light bulb.

As for Li Qiuyang, it was because the remaining three people chose to isolate him, and he felt that these teammates were simply not human beings.

It's so dark and spooky here? Why are you leaving me alone?

Do you really think that I, a boy, won’t be afraid?

After some discussion, Li Qiuyang and Guo Zining took a walkie-talkie and went to the Xuanyin Road on the left, while Lin Wanzhou and Xu Cheng took another one and went to the Jiemie Road on the right.

Walking into a narrow passage, the surroundings became darker and the atmosphere became more eerie.

Guo Zining swallowed his saliva, "I'm telling you, Li Qiuyang, if you dare to take advantage of me, you're dead, you know that?"

“…”

Li Qiuyang was a little helpless.

Who is holding his arm now?

However, when he felt the softness in his arm, the boy's heart suddenly began to beat fast.

Even if any monsters appeared in front of him, he would not be afraid at all...

"ah!"

Before Li Qiuyang's flag had been raised for even a second, an extremely strange-looking NPC appeared in front of the two of them.

He and Guo Zining jumped around the room, shouting as if they had been electrocuted.

He instinctively wanted to escape, but the way he came here had been blocked. Guo Zining grabbed Li Qiuyang's clothes tightly, almost tearing them apart with such force. He buried his head in his arms and dared not raise it.

"Li Qiuyang, get him away!"

“I, I…”

Li Qiuyang raised his head helplessly and said weakly, "Brother, please don't scare us, okay?"

“…”

The NPC stood still, raised his hand, and handed Li Qiuyang another piece of yellow paper for him to look at.

Li Qiuyang read it tremblingly and roughly understood the meaning of it.

If you want to do business with Pawn Shop No. 8, you have to pay a price. In a place called "Between Yin and Yang", they just have to hide in the coffin and let Lin Wanzhou and Xu Cheng be eaten by the ghosts outside, and they can get the money.

After the NPC's explanation, Li Qiuyang quickly understood that the so-called "between yin and yang" was the next room. In the next level, a ghost played by the NPC would appear to catch people, and other scary mechanisms would also be activated at the same time. However, as long as he hid in the coffin in advance, he could avoid it.

Li Qiuyang and Guo Zining hit it off and immediately agreed to hide in the coffin together to punish Xu Cheng and Lin Wanzhou.

"Li Qiuyang, you are so mean. You can even kill your own brother."

"Fuck, Guo Zining, don't talk about how good you are. Did you not harm Lin Wanzhou?"

"I'll punish her a little for putting her love before her friendship."

The two opened the mechanism and entered the next "Between Yin and Yang".

Xu Cheng and Lin Wanzhou also walked out from the Path of Extinction opposite.

The atmosphere here was extremely weird, not only were there lights and sound effects, there was also a dry ice smoke machine, which suddenly sprayed out and made all four of them jump up.

The four found a clue in the room. The clue said that half of the players needed to lie in the coffin and control Pawnshop No. 8 to collect the final treasure and pass the level.

It is just additionally stated that people who have walked the path of Xuanyin and the path of Nirvana have conflicting attributes and cannot lie in together.

The four of them looked at each other.

"Li Qiuyang and I will go." Guo Zining said righteously.

Li Qiuyang also nodded his head like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Let's go in."

"This, this is so embarrassing." Lin Wanzhou was shocked by the two of them and didn't understand why they were so proactive.

Guo Zining pushed Li Qiuyang and quickly got in.

"It's okay, porridge."

When she thought about the two of them running around scared outside, she could hardly hold back the smile on her face.

Sorry, Zhou Zhou.

I don't want that either.

The two of them got in together, then impatiently closed the coffin lid and squatted inside with evil expressions on their faces.

Next second.