Miss Lin is a hunky VTuber today?

"Well, let's just keep going and see what happens."

Holding the young lady's hand, Xu Lin continued walking forward. Ahead was a small room that looked like it was enclosed by iron, with two separate passages on the left and right sides.

There was another very large notice board on the wall in front of us.

[Men on the left, women on the right, my dear friends.]

"So it really isn't a cooperative challenge..."

Xu Lin had a feeling something was off when the staff took their phones as they entered, but it wasn't until he saw the sign that he realized what was going on.

"Not bad, shall we search this room first?"

The young lady was familiar with the tricks of escape room games, knowing that these designers liked to put important props in places that looked empty, and suggested searching for them.

"Let's look for it as soon as possible. I have a feeling that this script probably has a time limit."

Xu Lin thought for a moment and then added.

The script similar to Saw, plus the hidden time limit setting, has been overused, especially in this kind of survival scenario where people can't contact each other.

"okay!"

The tin-roofed room wasn't big. Besides a notice board, there was only an unlocked small cabinet inside. The young lady opened the cabinet and looked for the items she could find.

An old-fashioned aluminum flashlight

Two dry cell batteries

The set includes a pair of disposable transmitters that can only communicate with each other, along with a small note providing instructions on how to use them.

"You can keep the flashlight, Miss. Each of you can have one communicator."

Xu Lin was quite confident in himself, so he directly handed the flashlight to the young lady, then forcefully moved the cabinet aside and began to check if there were any hidden clues behind it.

Just now, while the young lady was rummaging through the cabinets, she had already looked at the rest of the room.

Aside from two low-quality messages saying "xxx will always love xxx", there were no other clues.

The only place in this room I hadn't seen was behind the cabinet.

Wait, there's also a ceiling, right?

Xu Lin, who almost got a CT scan, silently reflected on herself. She realized that she had become somewhat rusty with the strange knowledge her teacher had taught her over the years. It was truly a sin.

"Linjiang, there seem to be words behind the cabinet."

"Let me see..."

[Please note, couples are treated differently by me, men and women are treated differently, okay? I'm a real chauvinist (?ω?)]

"That ridiculous expression is really distracting..."

The white-haired girl slapped her forehead, completely unable to comprehend this perverse sense of humor.

"The designer is really cheeky."

The young lady was speechless for a moment.

Xu Lin then looked at the ceiling again and found that there was indeed a problem. There seemed to be a line of words next to the light.

[Careful reconnaissance is a good habit, but wouldn't a little more tension be better? By the way, I prefer the terrorist side, although reality doesn't seem to allow it.]

"..."

The designer of this escape room is definitely a wicked and scheming person!

Xu Lin cursed inwardly.

"Alright, Miss, we've almost finished investigating."

Instead of revealing how he had outwitted the designer on a psychological level and been ridiculed from afar, which had nearly caused him internal injury, Xu Lin looked at the young lady with a blank expression.

"Okay, see you later~"

The young lady was in a very excited state, happily saying goodbye to Xu Lin and heading to the left.

"Wait a minute, Miss, can't you tell left from right?"

Xu Lin grabbed her, veins bulging on his forehead.

Of course, the young lady wasn't confused about left and right, so her purpose in walking to the right was quite obvious.

This is a silent expression of contempt for Xu Lin.

"Huh? Can't I go to the left?"

Xu Youyue feigned innocence, but the mischievous smile on her lips was impossible to hide, revealing a small tiger tooth that looked exceptionally cute.

"Men on the left, women on the right, you better go to the right side!"

Xu Lin rolled his eyes and pushed the young lady back. When it came to the roles of top and bottom, and a man's dignity, she would absolutely not back down.

Hahaha, great!

. . . . . .

Upon entering the passage, Xu Lin was surprised to find that she didn't encounter much difficulty. She had initially thought the passage would be completely dark, given that she was given a flashlight as a prop, but it was unexpectedly well-lit.

However, knowing that the designer of this secret room was definitely cunning, Xu Lin still mustered all his strength and continued onward.

She didn't believe that someone who would leave such a nasty message on the ceiling would design such a simple escape route.

The white-haired girl walked step by step through the passageway made of welded iron sheets, the silent passage filled with the echo of her soft footsteps.

Based on the knowledge taught by that eccentric teacher who served as a consultant in the major crimes unit, she keenly realized that this long and winding passage consciously blurred people's spatial perception, making them lose the ability to discern directions.

But by the time Xu Lin realized this, it was too late. She couldn't turn back to check the direction again, so she could only continue walking forward.

"If a teacher were here, they would probably notice immediately..."

With a silent sigh, Xu Lin, completely lost and unsure of which direction he was heading, finally encountered his first puzzle. The puzzle was written on an electronic screen, and all Xu Lin had to do was fill in the answer.

Do you love your partner?

【like】

Without hesitation, Xu Lin filled in the answer and passed the level directly, only to find a line of words engraved on the back of the level.

Guess where your lover is right now?

The clue was quite obvious, and Xu Lin almost instantly connected it to the flashlight and the sentence behind the cabinet.

【I'm a chauvinist who believes in gender discrimination, you know?】

"He really is a psychopath."

This statement refers not only to the non-existent killer in the locked-room scenario, but also to the designer of the locked room.

At the same time, she silently prayed for the young lady in her heart. The situation was clear: the two passages were of different difficulties. As easy as Xu Lin's passage was, the young lady's passage must be just as difficult.

Deliberately slowing his pace, Xu Lin mentally set a 30-minute time limit for the scenario, roughly estimated the length of the passage, and continued walking forward.

The second riddle is: [Do you think your lover is a very courageous person?]

Xu Lin's answer was: "No, she's a total coward."

There were no hints behind the door this time, which is probably a way of increasing the difficulty.

But this is actually a hint. Xu Lin had previously analyzed how simple her side was, and how difficult the young lady's side was. Now that there is no hint, it increases the difficulty of Xu Lin's thinking. Therefore, the second puzzle on the young lady's side should be simpler.

Xu Lin quickened his pace slightly, but it was still slower than a normal walk.

The third section of the passage was exceptionally long. At first, Xu Lin was counting how many turns she had made, but now she realized that it was pointless because she hadn't paid attention to this in the first part of the journey, so this method of reducing the difficulty was no longer effective.

Finally, after about ten minutes, Xu Lin arrived at the third door.

By this time, almost twenty minutes had passed since she entered the passage.

The third question was presented in a different way. This time, it seemed to be a situation where the person was pretending to be a criminal and talking to her directly. The reason it was a pretense was because the conversation was very stiff.

[Boy~, where do you think your girlfriend is right now?]

Although Xu Lin is clearly still a man at heart, she looks like a girl from any angle, so this question is incredibly absurd.

But it can also be explained from another perspective: the 'psychopathic killer' did not have the means to monitor them.

I think her progress is about the same as mine.

Just then, the disposable communicator in Xu Lin's hand rang.

[Blood Black is afraid of being slow]

It seems there was a word limit, and the young lady edited and revised for a long time before finally posting these few words.

However, this was enough for Xu Lin to roughly guess the situation on the other side.

There's blood, it's very dark, I'm scared, Rin-chan, slow down.

Xu Lin could almost hear the young lady's faint cries and imagine her pitiful appearance at that time.

"The designer of this escape room is an absolute psychopath! Is this really suitable for ordinary people to experience?! No wonder it's called a 'test'! This really is a test!"

Although he knew there would be no danger, Xu Lin couldn't help but feel anxious whenever he thought about the young lady's situation. He couldn't help but curse the designer's ancestors.

This thing was definitely designed by a psychology major with a twisted mind. From beginning to end, there was no hardcore puzzle-solving content on Xu Lin's side, but traps were laid everywhere. You need a certain puzzle-solving IQ to see the hidden dangers behind them.

If Xu Lin hadn't moved the cabinet and seen the last sentence, he wouldn't have been able to guess the young lady's situation from just a few words in the message, nor would he have bothered to calculate the time.

After hesitating for a while between using up the chance to send a message to the young lady and not sending one, Xu Lin finally typed out a few words.

As expected, there was a word limit. After thinking for a while, I finally typed out these few words.

I'm by your side.

It was just a comforting remark, meant to give the young lady a sense of security and encourage her to keep moving forward.

But this also means she's carrying the entire burden of passing the level on her own shoulders. If she miscalculates the timing, she could be doomed on the spot.

However, since the young lady has already gone through so much hardship, Xu Lin couldn't and wouldn't bear to put any more pressure on her.

"Young Miss, please go forward with peace of mind. Leave the rest to me."

The white-haired girl spoke softly, then slowed her pace.

My brain was working at full speed for the first time in a long time, and all I could think about were the little moments I had spent with the young lady.

Every smile, every gesture of that girl flashed through Xu Lin's mind like a movie. All the information about her was compiled and analyzed by Xu Lin at this moment, trying to deduce her current state and then use it as a basis to profile the young lady.