I'm in Wuha, and the whole internet is shipping me and Song Yuqi as a couple.

The first rays of dawn shone on the bluestone slabs of the ancient town.

In the center of the square, Wu Zheng sat up in a green sleeping bag, his eyes swollen with dark circles.

The draft through the room at night made his whole body ache.

Wu Zheng rubbed his red nose and turned to see several cameramen trying to suppress their laughter as they pointed at him.

He ripped open the zipper of his sleeping bag and strode over to the assistant director.

"Go and lock all the doors to the inn."

"Use a large brass lock!"

"While you're at it, turn off the main power switch in the hallway and collect all the cell phones!"

The assistant director paused for a moment, then whispered a reminder.

"Director Wu, wouldn't you call this settling a personal score?"

Wu Zheng threw his windproof hat to the ground and gritted his teeth as he spoke.

"What does it mean to settle personal scores in public? This is called an immersive storyline experience!"

"If I don't empty their hands of all the coins today, I'm not a Wu!"

Twenty minutes later, the entire inn in the ancient town became completely silent.

Accompanied by static, Wu Zheng's hoarse voice suddenly blared from the loudspeaker in the inn's corridor.

"Fellow heroes, the weather is dry; please be careful with fire!"

"Qingcheng Inn has been completely sealed off by the Black-Clad Sect!"

"Everyone has two hours to activate the escape room!"

"Those who fail to escape within two hours will have all their Shu Tong coins deducted."

"Send them straight to the ancient trail to fetch water!"

The sound of the loudspeaker echoed back and forth in the courtyard.

The door on the east side of the second floor shook violently twice.

Deng Chao, wearing only shorts, stood behind the door, gripping the wooden door and desperately trying to pull it inside.

The door hinges creaked and rattled, and the iron chains hanging outside clanged loudly.

"Old Wu! Are you serious?"

"Open the door! I need to use the restroom!"

The wall of the next room was being banged on loudly, and Chen He's voice came through the ventilation duct.

"Brother Chao! Is your place locked down too?"

Deng Chao pressed his ear against the wall and responded loudly.

"There's a fist-sized brass padlock hanging outside!"

"Old Wu has gone completely insane after being frozen all night!"

Chen He began to wail in the next room.

"This isn't an escape room game, it's clearly revenge!"

"I had half a bag of potato chips left on the coffee table last night, and my phone is gone too!"

"Old Wu, hand over your breakfast, and we'll talk this out!"

In the room at the end of the corridor, Lu Han and Qin Xiao were circling around the window.

Qin Xiao was wearing a long robe and holding a broken bamboo chopstick in his hand.

He poked the tip of the chopstick into the keyhole and turned it for a long time, only to hear a crisp click.

The chopsticks broke off inside the lock cylinder.

Qin Xiao's hand trembled, and he turned to look at Lu Han.

"Little deer, it's broken inside."

Lu Han grabbed her hair and squatted on the ground, looking through the crack in the door.

"Teacher Qin, this is making things worse."

"How about we try contacting the authorities?"

The two began rummaging through drawers and cabinets in the house.

Qin Xiao flung open the old wardrobe door, and a layer of accumulated dust rushed out.

He choked and staggered backward, bending over and coughing incessantly.

Lu Han rummaged under the bed for a long time and only managed to pull out a prop fake spider.

Lu Han let go and fell backward onto the bamboo mat.

"This is a mechanism that no normal person could solve!"

At this moment, in the room on the west side of the second floor.

Morning light streamed through the carved wooden window and fell onto the bamboo floor.

Jiang Che stood in front of the door, looking at the iron chains on the door frame.

He glanced at his watch; only five minutes had passed since Wu Zheng had spoken.

Jiang Che felt around in his pocket.

The two thin bamboo skewers left over from eating barbecue at the night market last night, and a hair clip that Song Yuqi left in the car.

He straightened the hair clip and folded the front end into a small hook.

With his other hand, he held a thin bamboo skewer and peered it through the gap in the door.

The hairpin is precisely inserted into the keyhole of the outer copper lock.

Jiang Che turned his head to the side, pressed his ear against the door, and twitched his fingers slightly.

A faint sound of a reed snapping open rang out.

Jiang Che slightly pulled his wrist to the right, and the bamboo skewer followed suit, flicking upwards.

The heavy brass lock slid off with a thud and landed on the cloth shoes that Jiang Che had caught with a foot pad beforehand, without making a sound.

Jiang Che opened the door and took a look.

Four NPCs dressed in black stood at either end of the corridor, staring at the main path.

Going directly through the corridor would inevitably cause trouble.

Jiang Che retreated back into the house and turned to walk towards the balcony facing the courtyard.

The balconies of the two guesthouses are only about two meters apart.

The wooden door to the neighbor's balcony creaked open.

Song Yuqi, with her hair in a bun and wearing a sports sweatshirt, walked to the railing.

She had just washed her face, and the stray hairs on her forehead were still damp.

Song Yuqi leaned on the railing, peering down at the dark mass of guards below.

"Jiang Che?"

She tentatively called out in a low voice to the next room.

Jiang Che walked to the edge of the balcony and leaned on the mahogany railing with one hand.

"woke up?"

Song Yuqi turned her head and saw Jiang Che, her eyes lighting up.

"Director Wu locked the door."

"I have no tools in my room except for a piece of paper with a riddle I can't understand."

She gripped the railing with both hands and complained softly.

"He still wants to seize our Tongbao coins? Dream on."

Jiang Che glanced at the distance between the two balconies.

Without saying a word, he took a long stride and stepped onto the outer edge of the balcony.

Song Yuqi instinctively covered her mouth with both hands.

Jiang Che used the railing for leverage and pushed off.

He leaped two meters into the air in the morning light and landed steadily on the balcony floor in front of Song Yuqi.

When it landed, there was only the sound of the fabric rubbing together; it was almost silent.

Song Yuqi stood there, staring blankly up at him.

Her chest heaved violently, and a faint blush rose to her ears.

Jiang Che stood in front of her and reached out to remove a red hair ribbon from his wrist.

This is what Song Yuqi casually put on his wrist last night.

Jiang Che raised his hand, his fingers running through Song Yuqi's somewhat disheveled long hair.

His fingertips brushed against the fair skin of the back of her neck.

Song Yuqi stood obediently, not daring to move.

Jiang Che deftly helped her re-tie her long hair into a neat high ponytail.

The headband was tied tightly at the roots of her hair, revealing Song Yuqi's slender neck.

After doing all this, Jiang Che looked at her and grabbed Song Yuqi's wrist with his other hand.

His hands were dry and warm, and he gently and evenly shielded her behind him.

Jiang Che tilted his head and smiled slightly.

"Walk."

"I'll take you on a prison break."

Song Yuqi nodded vigorously, unable to suppress the smile on her lips.

Her five fingers slid into Jiang Che's palm, interlocking with his.

At the same time, millions of viewers who had been waiting in the live stream early in the morning instantly went wild.

The comments on the screen flashed by rapidly.

"Jiang Che's balcony jump was absolutely awesome!"

"Bare-handed lock picking and high-altitude prison escape—who can withstand that skill!"

"The way you tied your hair up was so natural; it was definitely a genuine expression of emotion!"

"I ate my fill right away during the first meal of the morning!"

"Director Wu painstakingly set up the whole thing, but it turned into Che Ge's personal show!"

Inside the monitoring room of the inn in the ancient town.

Wu Zheng was holding a cup of hot soy milk, his eyes fixed on the split-screen monitor.

With a soft "poof".

Wu Zheng sprayed all the soy milk from his mouth onto the monitoring table.

He pointed at Jiang Che's empty room on the screen, his fingers trembling uncontrollably.

Where are they?!

"With such a big lock hanging on the outside, how did he get out?!"

The assistant director quickly pulled up the corridor surveillance footage.

"Director Wu, the corridor door lock has been opened, but he didn't go down the corridor!"

"He climbed directly onto the balcony and went to Song Yuqi's room!"

Wu Zheng slammed the paper cup down on the table, his face darkening.

"They've rebelled! They've completely rebelled!"

"We absolutely cannot let them escape from the inn!"

Meanwhile, on the second floor, Jiang Che had already arrived at the door of Song Yuqi's room.

He picked up the hair clip in his hand and used the same trick again.

Less than ten seconds.

The large brass lock on Song Yuqi's room was also unlocked.

Jiang Che carefully opened the door a crack and observed the movements outside.

Two black-clad protectors were walking towards the stairwell with their backs to this side.

Song Yuqi pressed herself against Jiang Che's back, resting her chin on his shoulder, her voice extremely low.

"There are people ahead, how do we get past them?"

Jiang Che turned his face to the side, and their breaths almost touched.

"They can't hear footsteps."

"Once they reach the corner, we'll go straight downstairs."

Song Yuqi gripped his clothes tightly and held her breath.

The two guardians had just turned into the stairwell.

Jiang Che pulled Song Yuqi along, and with a push of his feet, the two crossed the corridor.

As we passed Deng Chao's room, a hand reached out from under the door and waved frantically.

Deng Chao lowered his voice and shouted from inside.

"Jiang Che! Is it Jiang Che?!"

"Chef! Help! Open the door for Brother Chao!"

Chen He from next door also heard the commotion and pressed his face against the door, shouting loudly.

"Brother Che! Please save the child!"

"I'll give you half of all the coins in my room!"

Song Yuqi couldn't help but laugh and turned to look at Jiang Che.

Jiang Che stopped and quickly pulled out the hair clip he had just bent from his pocket.

He inserted the hairpin into the brass lock on Deng Chaomen's door and slightly turned his wrist.

The lock is open.

Then, with a swift movement, he pried open the large brass lock on Chen He's door.

"Don't make a sound, just keep up."

Jiang Che threw down those words and grabbed Song Yuqi, running straight towards the safety passage on the side of the courtyard.

Deng Chao pushed open the door and rushed out, staring blankly at the large iron lock on the ground.

Chen He also ran out of the room with messy hair, his face full of disbelief.

"It's open already?!"

"Did the chef used to work for a locksmith company?!"

Deng Chao patted Chen He on the back.

"Stop talking nonsense! Run!"

Meanwhile, Lu Han and Qin Xiao were still struggling with the fake spider in their room.

A series of hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor.

Jiang Che grabbed Song Yuqi and ran down the wooden stairs.

The two guards at the bottom of the stairs heard the sound and immediately turned around.

"stop!"

The guard reached out to grab Song Yuqi's arm.

Jiang Che did not pause in his steps.

He pulled Song Yuqi into his arms with his left hand, protecting her on his inner side.

He casually grabbed a prop oil-paper umbrella from the decorative shelf next to him with his right hand and opened it in front of him with a whoosh.

The red oil-paper umbrella blocked the view of the two guards.

The guard's view was obstructed, and he reached out but missed.

Using the momentum of his forward charge, Jiang Che shielded Song Yuqi as they passed through the gap between the two.

Song Yuqi staggered slightly, but Jiang Che used his arm to support her waist firmly.

Their bodies pressed together, they rushed out of the inn's gate.

The fresh morning air is invigorating.

The sunlight outside shone on the two of them, making Song Yuqi's smile bright and charming.

Song Yuqi was a little out of breath from running, and looked up at Jiang Che beside her.

"We're out!"

Jiang Che released the oil-paper umbrella from his hand and looked down at her flushed cheeks.

He raised his hand and used his thumb to wipe away the fine sweat that had seeped from the tip of her nose.

"Yes, the jailbreak was successful."

Song Yuqi tilted her head back, her eyes filled with joy.

She gripped Jiang Che's hand tightly and shook their arms.

"Chef Jiang, where are we going now?"

Jiang Che turned his head towards the direction of the ancient town's morning market, bathed in the morning light.

"Let's go eat breakfast."

"Eat Director Wu's share too."

Song Yuqi burst out laughing, her laughter echoing crisply on the stone-paved streets of the ancient town in the early morning.

On the balcony on the second floor of the inn.

Deng Chao and Chen He finally managed to shake off the guards and ran out, clinging to the railing and looking down.

Chen He watched the two figures disappear into the distance, then leaned against a pillar, panting heavily.

"Brother Chao, we've gone through so much trouble to escape."

"That young couple is filming an idol drama."

Deng Chao wiped the sweat from his forehead and shook his head with a smile.

"Alright, you're lucky you even managed to escape. Hurry up and catch up with them to get breakfast!"

In the monitoring room, Wu Zheng watched Jiang Che and Song Yuqi swaggering towards the morning market on the monitor screen.

He leaned back in his chair and tossed the walkie-talkie onto the table.

"Let's call it a day."

"I really can't control this year's guests."

The assistant director, suppressing a laugh, asked in a low voice.

"Director Wu, are we still going to deduct the Tongbao coins?"

Wu Zheng grabbed a hat from the table and put it on his face; his voice came from under the hat.

"What are you talking about?!"

"Give them a lavish meal!"

"I give up, okay?!"