Miss Lin is a hunky VTuber today?

This is the first time Xu Lin has written a profile of the young lady.

Unlike Yuzu, who enjoys using this skill to analyze and deduce what people around her are thinking, Xu Lin almost never uses this skill. This is why Yuzu was able to see Yuan Chu's condition in the restaurant while Xu Lin couldn't.

Now, in order to rescue her from her panic and fear as soon as possible, she finally used this skill on that girl, the young lady she had never dared to guess what she was thinking.

What is she thinking?

Contrary to popular belief, profiling is actually a purely rational 'job' of data collection and analysis. It's not a superpower like mind reading, but simply a statistical analysis of a person's every move and micro-expression. It follows the principles of human psychology and micro-expression analysis to analyze what a person is most likely thinking in a given state in a purely objective way.

Although experts like Professor Xu Lin have a mysterious intuition that allows them to skip most of the redundant information and directly analyze what people are thinking, it is clear that Xu Lin himself does not possess this 'superpower' that can only be acquired after psychological analysis habits are ingrained in his DNA.

So she usually judges what the young lady is thinking from an emotional perspective, just like most people, and she has no idea whether she is right or wrong.

What surprised Xu Lin, and also touched and amused her, was that after writing a profile of the young lady, she discovered...

Xu Youyue truly loves Xu Lin with all her heart.

Because of her love for it, she could even force herself to overcome her fear of the dark, ignore those malicious psychological suggestions, disregard all the temptations that made her feel decadent, and walk step by step, steadily and slowly, toward the finish line.

Because she liked him, she would immediately message Xu Lin when she was so scared she was about to cry.

Because she liked him, she was able to stand up, wipe away her tears, pout, and continue walking forward with a sob in her little nose after receiving Xu Lin's comfort.

And now, the last question facing Xu Lin is confirming her suspicions.

You have ten minutes to choose whether or not to open this door. If your partner fails to open the door within three minutes of you opening it, she will be trapped here forever.

[And I must warn you, if you don't open this door within ten minutes, you will both die here.]

Beside the door was a remarkably realistic dummy corpse, seemingly implying how serious the consequences would be if Xu Lin didn't push the door open.

But for the girl with gray hair, there is really only one choice left now.

Trust the young lady, trust your own judgment, and decisively push open the door, sparing Xu Youyue from terrifying torment.

Even just a second would be fine.

Chapter 35, Section 224: The Stubborn Young Lady

Cold, dark, blood-red, insane words.

Narrow, enclosed, with terrifying echoes of footsteps.

Everything seemed to be telling the story of the despair experienced by those who came before.

Xu Youyue had been walking here for ten minutes.

At first, she was quite interested in observing the writing left on the wall and trying to analyze everything here.

But as she moved forward, the darkness behind her gradually turned into a chilling wind, like the gaping fangs of a terrifying beast, waiting to devour everything in its path.

Everything she had experienced before was gradually turning into mental pressure, into anxiety and urgency, urging her to keep moving forward.

Gradually, she encountered the first display screen, where Xu Lin's decisive and concise answer was displayed—the feelings that the shy, white-haired girl had never dared to express in front of her.

Do you love her?

【like】

The simple words held endless tenderness, but at this moment they all turned into a gloom over Xu Youyue.

She remembered the message she had seen when she first entered the room.

The road you both have to travel is the same length, but it is warmer and brighter on his side.

You must catch up with him, or you will both die here.

His 'solution' will also be displayed on your journey.

If you ask why, blame it on my chauvinistic nature.

Unlike Xu Lin's situation, all the rules were clearly visible to the young lady. All she needed to do was keep going and surpass Xu Lin's pace.

But simply walking along this path, designed with the utmost malice, is incredibly difficult.

The insane words she saw amplified her inner fears.

The jumbled steel bars and wooden planks on the road made it impossible for her to even run; she could only explore step by step.

Fear gradually caused her brain to consume more oxygen, and the young lady, who already had low blood pressure, became increasingly drowsy. Climbing over obstacles also led to greater physical exertion, making her legs feel increasingly heavy.

Even at her fastest speed, she couldn't catch up with Xu Lin's pace, which made her increasingly panicked.

"We...we absolutely must catch up!"

Xu Youyue murmured heavily, her physical strength greatly depleted from the long obstacle course.

However, what she didn't know was that, compared to Xu Lin's passage, the first display screen on her side was positioned further back—this was the designer's malicious intent.

Unless Xu Lin squats down and stares blankly as soon as he enters, there is no way the young lady could catch up with him in the first paragraph.

At the same time, Xu Lin had already seen through the designer's trick and deliberately slowed down. As the young lady walked to the second display screen, Xu Lin's answer also emerged.

She's an incredibly timid little coward.

"I'm not a coward!"

After catching her breath by leaning on her knees, Xu Youyue continued walking forward.

Although her journey was much shorter than Xu Lin's second leg, in the eyes of the unsuspecting Xu Youyue, it represented despair. It meant that the person on the other side might not have noticed her situation and had not slowed down at all.

Most girls would probably feel wronged, angry, and complain at this time, but...

The young lady is so stubborn. All she could think about was how to go out and beat up Lin-chan, so she gritted her teeth and walked to the third screen.

Xu Lin's answer was not yet displayed on the screen.

The young lady smiled slightly, then slowly slid down to the ground against the wall.

She was very clever. After resting for a while and calming down, she realized that Xu Lin wouldn't be unable to see through such a simple word association puzzle. This might be a word trap set by the designer.

While it's stated that the distances on both sides are the same, this doesn't mean that the placement of the displays on both sides is identical.

I think her progress is about the same as mine.

So when Xu Lin's third answer appeared, Xu Youyue's goal for clearing the secret room changed from beating up Xu Lin to beating up the level designer.

Such an inhumane and psychologically dark person truly deserves a beating.

The flashlight started flashing, but there were no more obstacles on the road ahead.

Still feeling a little scared, she took out her communicator and sent a message to Xu Lin.

After a while, Xu Lin's message came back.

The black-haired girl wiped the sweat from her forehead, smiled, and stood up. Ignoring the flashlight that was about to run out of power, she simply continued forward in the dark.

And just as she reached the final door...

Light appeared.

The recorded conversation between Xu Lin and the designer also reached her ears.

Do you really trust your partner that much?

"Although the young lady is a grumpy, easily angered, and cowardly girl who always throws tantrums and acts spoiled, I believe in her because I like her."

Didn't you consider what would happen if she didn't come out within three minutes?

"No, she can do it."

Okay, is there anything else you want to say to her? These words might be the last sounds she hears before she dies.

"Youyue, are you listening? Come out now, stop hiding."

"Seriously, where did the designer of this escape room come from, a complete psychopath? How did they manage to use all sorts of psychological suggestions?"

Listening to the white-haired girl's slightly angry complaints, Xu Youyue couldn't help but smile slightly.

She wanted to walk up to her and angrily punch her.

I also wanted to abandon my shyness and pride and hug her tightly, telling her how scared I was.

That light represents Xu Lin's love for her, and Xu Youyue has already realized this.

Although Xu Lin wasn't by her side throughout the entire journey, she had already felt his love.

She knew her extremely well, trusted her deeply, and loved her dearly.

That's why they were able to reach the destination of the journey at the same time, and that's why she could hear the sound of her grinding her teeth in anger.

Xu Youyue and Xu Lin walked out of the small room at the same time. It was a room where sound could only travel in one direction, yet it felt like their hearts were tightly connected. They met at the end of the road.

The girls looked at each other, then reached out their hands and intertwined their fingers.

Silence speaks louder than words.

"Young Miss, are you crying?"

"No way!"

"Thanks for your hard work."

"You too."

"So who had the nerve to design such an inhumane escape room? Is this even an escape room?"

Finally, while the two were complaining, they looked at the lit-up screen, which displayed some congratulatory messages and a disclaimer in small print.

But these small words attracted their attention more than any grand words of blessing.

[This escape room has no connection to the organizers. It was designed by Dr. Xu Lieye, a psychological consultant for the Major Crimes Unit of XX Province. If you want revenge, go find him.]

Xu Lin fell silent.

"Can't any normal people come out of your Xu family?"

The young lady complained irritably.

"You're also from the Xu family, but I really can't refute that, after all..."

Xu Lin's lips twitched, and he wanted to rub his forehead, but his right hand was held tightly by the young lady.