Chapter 6: Rules  

A while later, Feng Yu Lan called, asking Luo Jian where he was since he’d been waiting for half a day. Luo Jian expressionlessly looked ahead and continued to keep up with the masked man. Still feeling a bit unsettled, he perfunctorily teased, “Oh Ah Lan~ I’m kind of busy right now so I can’t come, but make sure to eat something by yourself! Don’t think of me too much, dear~”

“Your sister! Like hell I’ll think of you! And what the fuck’s up with that disgusting tone of yours?!” Feng Yu Lan was creeped out on the other end of the phone; he was doubting whether Luo Jian was possessed by something strange. Luo Jian didn’t answer and hung up the phone for the second time.

“Fuck! I, your father, made a fortune and even planned to treat you to a meal, but this is how you pay me back, by making me feel like a pretentious bastard!” Feng Yu Lan began to feel indignant, and so he threw down his phone in rage.

On the other hand, Luo Jian was following the masked man into a private room on the second floor of the bar. Bottles of wine were strewn across the ground, and there were two men sitting down, facing each other while drinking; they appeared to be in the middle of a drinking game. The masked man seemed accustomed to this strange scene. Finally, one of the men called out, “Boss, some people have returned.”

The man known as ‘Boss’ was just a middle-aged uncle dressed in tattered clothes. His hair was a bird’s nest, he even sported a five o’clock shadow, and his cheeks were also bright red from drinking too much wine. It was hard to imagine that someone with this kind of appearance could still be addressed as ‘Boss’.

“Oh, a newcomer. How rare indeed…really rare!” This uncle was obviously drunk out of his mind. He clutched a wine bottle in his hand, wobbled as he stood up, and approached Luo Jian to get a better look at him. As soon as the man leaned closer, Luo Jian was able to make out the distinct smell of alcohol on the other man’s body, which made him furrow his brows in distaste.

Surprisingly, although this uncle was intoxicated and even looked as if he couldn’t figure his right from his left, his senses were nevertheless sharp; he could easily detect Luo Jian’s aversion, how Luo Jian kept his guard up and was distancing himself. But all he did was he laugh heartily and sit back down on the couch. Setting aside the bottle, he said to Luo Jian, “Rookie, I’ll give a brief introduction of myself to you. I’m the person in charge here, and I’m also the guide for all newcomers in this city. Our rule is that we can’t say our real name, and we can only use a codename. Everyone calls me ‘Boss’…or maybe Bosu1? You can also call me like that.”

He didn’t wait for Luo Jian’s reply, instead, this great uncle2 extended his arm, pointed to the masked man standing beside him, and continued, “He’s my partner and assistant, codename 13. He’s naturally a quiet guy, but he’s also the legendary ‘mensao’3 that everyone talks about.”

The masked man looked like he was touched by this old boss’ description of him, but Luo Jian swears he saw the masked man clench his fists under his sleeves; if not all, the corner of his eye twitched ever so subtly, suggesting how he really felt.

However, the boss didn’t seem to be concerned about these particular details. This thick-skinned person just laughed obnoxiously, then bluntly asked Luo Jian, “What’s your name… Oh! No no no! You can’t say your real name, just give out a codename that you like or maybe even a nickname; an English name is fine also. The simpler is it, the better; it has to be convenient to call out.”

Luo Jian thought about it; he didn’t have a nickname or anything of that sort. Ever since he was a kid and up until he grew older, he’s never received a nickname; except for him, every one of his classmates would give each other nicknames. Luo Jian thought for ages before answering, “Well then, call me Jean4.”

“Alright, Jean, what do you want to know?” The boss exposed a malicious grin.

“Everything. I want to know everything.”

“Greedy little fellow. Okay, sit down and listen to me slowly.” The boss then patted the sofa, motioning for Luo Jian to sit. Luo Jian nodded and obediently sat down, and the masked man next to him soon followed after and seated himself beside the boss. There was another man inside the private room; it was the same man the old boss had a drinking contest with. However, this man didn’t lift his head to look at Luo Jian, rather, he shrank into the corner and continued indulging in his wine.

Luo Jian didn’t pay attention to the man and focused his attention on the Big Boss instead, earnestly listening to him.

“In any case, although you’re a newcomer, you’ve already experienced escaping from the chamber. So, you should be aware that the chamber isn’t something that human abilities or existing technologies can produce.”

The boss immediately began, “I do not know who created these ]chambers; it may have been God, possibly the Devil, maybe even demons, ghosts, or perhaps even aliens, in short, it appeared in our lives. So having said that, its existence is reasonable.

“We don’t have to investigate its origins; it’s fine so long as we know what these chambers can bring us.” Even in the middle of story-telling, this great uncle didn’t forget to take a sip of his wine. He smacked his lips together, hiccupped, and then continued on, “These chambers can bring us death, but they can also bring about miracles.

“In every type of chamber, there will be a note, and the message on the note will give us a time limit; this tells us how long we are able to stay in the chamber. If you haven’t escaped within the time limit, then you’ll die. Don’t doubt what I’m telling you, boy. When I say ‘die’, I’m taking about real ‘death’!

“Completely eliminated; even all of the traces indicating one’s death wouldn’t exist!

“So, if you don’t want to die, then you have to escape within the specified time period. The note will give us clues, and by solving the riddles, you’ll be able to find the exit. Rookies typically experience the first level of the chambers, and it’s the most basic. As long as you overcome your fears, you can escape from there without much effort…”

“Wait! Great teacher5…” At this point in the lecture, the obediently-listening and well-behaved darling child, Luo Jian, raised his hand and spoke up.

“Speak!” The great teacher was absolutely imposing; he held the bottle of wine in his hand and chugged everything down.

“You said that the first level all newcomers have to pass is very easy?”

“Correct.”

“Is it really?”

“Why lie to you? Don’t tell me that the first level you had to pass wasn’t that simple?”

Could that be called ‘simple’? Luo Jian’s face was filled with skepticism as he rubbed his chin. He thought about the murderer who nearly stabbed him to death in the chamber. So, that could be considered a ‘simple’ level, as well? That murderer obviously killed hundreds of people, his bloodthirsty aura was extraordinarily formidable. Luo Jian was ‘simply’ not his opponent!

Or were there perhaps different concepts of the word ‘simple’? Luo Jian frowned and looked at the elder boss. The poor uncle gave Luo Jian a bloodcurdling stare, then shaking his head, he said, “It seems that you’ve met with some problems. Tell me, what happened to you in the first level?”

And so, Luo Jian honestly spoke about his own experience in the chamber; besides, it wasn’t like it was anything special. Of course, he did have enough common sense to omit the part where he mindlessly kissed the murderer. It was too shameful. It was unconditionally because Luo Jian wasn’t in his right mind; he was delirious, which added to his confusion and foolish actions.

But Luo Jian didn’t expect that when he finished, the entire room had long turned silent.

The old boss no longer drank, he furrowed his brows and hung his head down as he contemplated something. After a while, he lifted his head and faced Luo Jian, carefully scrutinizing this newcomer from head to toe. Luo Jian got goosebumps from looking at those small, strange eyes.

“Is there a problem?” He cautiously questioned.

“Yes, there is! Oh, you pitiful child, it’s a huge problem!” The boss finally gazed at Luo Jian with sympathy. Shaking his head once again, he sighed and answered, “It was only the first level and you unexpectedly ran into the ‘Stalker’. I’m afraid that you won’t have it so easy next time.”

“Stalker? What’s that?” Luo Jian was puzzled after hearing an unfamiliar term come out of the other person’s mouth.

“The Stalker is the murderer you met in that chamber.” The boss explained. “There’s a group of people within these chambers…No, I suppose they shouldn’t be called people, but a bunch of monsters instead! These monsters randomly appear in various chambers, and they generally replace any character and their role in the chamber, which could bring great harm to you. That’s what we call these monsters—Stalkers.”

“Are Stalkers…that awful?”

“Terribly awful. Once a Stalker appears, the probability of death is always one-hundred percent. But the possibility of them appearing is also extremely low; the probability of encountering a Stalker is only eight percent. You’re really unlucky for a rookie. To think that you were unlucky enough to bump into a Stalker when you just experienced your first chamber!”

Wait, no way, I even kissed him! Luo Jian immediately broke out into a cold sweat, he couldn’t help but cover his own mouth. The boss didn’t pay any heed to Luo Jian’s abnormal reaction. As before, he just shook his head and sighed, taking pity on Luo Jian’s tragic fate.

“But I’m not dead though.” Luo Jian reflected on the matter. Then, he began to ask questions like the lovely, curious child he was, “Didn’t you just say that if I met a Stalker, I would definitely die?”

“Who said that you’d definitely die? I just said that the probability of death is as high as one-hundred percent, but, in fact, there are some who can escape, and those who rely on their own means to escape are exceptionally strong! What I can’t understand, however, is that…” The boss squinted his eyes, fixing all of his attention on Luo Jian’s face. “What I don’t understand is how you, a mere rookie, a newcomer who doesn’t know anything, were still able to escape with your life intact? It’s too strange, wouldn’t you say?”

“What…What’s strange! Maybe it’s because my personality is good!” Luo Jian was burdened by a slightly guilty conscience, but he himself struggled to answer this question. In the end, how exactly did he escape? He was clearly unconscious at the time; it couldn’t be that the Stalker kindly let him slip away, pushing him out through the door?

Luo Jian didn’t realize that he had already found the answer to his question. He still struggled with finding a logical reason to this problem. Yet, being an optimist, he soon forgot about the matter, and jumped back to surrounding the boss with questions, “So, after every successful escape, we return to reality? And then we rest for ten days before continuing again with trying to escape the room?”

“That’s right.”

“Then when does it end? I mean, when will we finally stop going back to that shitty chamber?”

“As a matter of fact, I’m also looking for the answers to that question.” The boss regretfully stated. “To tell you the truth, I’m no better than you. I’ve only successfully escaped from five chambers in total, and it was difficult each time, you know. To add, it’s not only an enclosed, small room that can be called a chamber. For instance, an island where you can’t contact the outside word, a deep cavern that resembles a labyrinth from which you can’t escape, or even a jungle that you can’t leave for three days and three nights, any isolated and sealed-off environment can be regarded as a chamber!”

Luo Jian was panicking on the inside, and he frightfully inquired, “So each time, I’ll be the experiencing one of those room escape games alone?”

It was terrible to be the sole person existing in a closed environment, completely isolated from the rest of the world.

“Normally, there would only be one person.” The boss spread his palms out wide, and suddenly glanced at the masked man beside him, smiling, “But you can also team up with others; the only condition is that the other person must be willing to join you.”

Luo Jian’s eyes instantly lit up; he asked, “So, what are the rules for teaming up with others?”

“Teams are generally limited to one to three people, which means that you can only invite two other people at most. But the person you invite can’t be an ordinary civilian in the real world; they have to be like you, a player who has already experienced the escape the room game.”

“Player?”

“Yes. Pitiful people like us, who are agonizingly struggling in the chamber, prefer to call ourselves ‘players’. But it’s kind of funny how the game we’re playing is actually a gruesome death game.”

The boss heaved another sigh, then retrieved a slip of paper from his pocket. Luo Jian fixed his sight on it, and he was surprised to find that this piece of paper had a small pattern of a purple Hell Flower; it was similar to the note he found in the chamber. The boss pushed the note to Luo Jian and said, “If you want to invite other players, write on this note as if it’s an invitation card and put down the name of the player you want to invite. If the other party agrees, their signature will be on the back of the paper. Then, you will automatically become a team, and the next time you have to escape from a chamber, you’ll be together.

“However, there’s one thing you have to pay special attention to. When you play the game in ‘team mode’, the level of difficulty in the chamber will increase. For two people, the difficulty is doubled, and with three people, it’s tripled. The level of difficulty is outrageous, which is why so many players don’t like teaming up with others and would rather go alone. And…there are also some conflicts that arise between players in the chamber; you might not understand it now, but you’ll understand it later. In short, these conflicts make it difficult for you to find a suitable partner.”

“So, in other words, it’d be better if I solo the game for now?”

The boss nodded, “That’s right.”