690 TWISTED LITTLE MIND
As the end of the escape game drew near, the crowd became more excited. The female contestant was reaching her limit. Everyone could tell that she would not survive for much longer because blood was flowing from her nose, and she was coughing painfully.
However, Firebird announced she was on the final clue to find her way out.
The other contestant was on his second-last clue, but he was only breathing laboriously. He was in a much better condition than his opponent, perhaps due to his large size. If the female contestant died, he would have a better chance of winning.
Of course, there was a high probability there would be no winner.
One minute passed as the woman tried to play the xylophone, according to the mathematical sequence of the code she just solved. In theory, the tune she needed to play was not hard as long as she knew the scale.
However, her hands were shaking, and her violent coughs were a deterrent.
She fell to her knees and coughed blood on the floor. She closed her eyes as if she had lost her strength. She looked ready to die. Seeing this, the crowd booed loudly, even though she could not hear them. To the crowd, it was the same as watching a movie.
They did not care about her well-being.
“It looks like contestant number two is out of the race,” Firebird announced, and the crowd booed once again.
.....
When it seemed like the contestant was dead, she stood up with yellowish eyes with prominent blood vessels. The screen showed a close-up of her determined face, which seemed to be getting jaundiced by the second. It was obvious that her organs were experiencing damage.
The crowd roared in joy, screaming with excitement. It was not about the triumph of the human spirit. The enjoyment was the bloodthirsty nature of wild animals, looking at a weak creature struggling before their inevitable death.
The weak cries of prey, bleeding, struggling for their final breath…
The female contestant seemed to hold her breath as she lifted the mallets and hit the keys of the xylophone evenly. When she completed the tune, she broke down into another round of violent coughs, spluttering blood on the floor.
The xylophone opened like a strange tiny stairway, revealing a skeleton key. The contestant smiled through her bloody lips, stood up and picked the key. Her weary feet dragged across the floor as she walked to the door.
However, she could not find a keyhole to insert the key. She touched the edges of the door with an anxious expression because she knew her time was almost up. But she was unwilling to give up.
After a short moment of frantic searching, she stopped.
Just when everyone thought she was died while standing or had decided to give up, she smiled like a crazy person. Then, she turned off the light in the escape room. The crowd thought she had gone mad from the poison gas, but they were soon shocked.
An outline of a door with luminous green edges appeared on the opposite side of the obvious one. In other words, the feature that looked like the exit was a false decorative door. The other wall hid a door that only became visible in the darkness.
The contestant limped to the other side and inserted the key in the hole. The door receded, opening the exit into the arena. The crowd stood up and went wild as a light shone on the woman. This time, the cheers were about the triumph of the human spirit.
The arena filled with fog as lights danced over the winner and the escape room structure sunk into the ground once again. The other contestant did not know what was happening and was still trying to decipher a puzzle box.
He only realised he lost the game when he felt the downward motion of the receding rooms. For a moment, he thought it was part of the game, but a little while later, the escape room opened up, and he was dragged out by men in black military gear.
The Firebird descended onto the floor as the totem podium shrunk. With his enthusiastic air, the crowd kept cheering for the contestant who stood in the fog, looking confused but happy. She could not believe that she had won.
But she could also sense her consciousness fading.
“Congratulations. You did well.” Firebird walked to her and put an arm around her shoulder.
The contestant felt a painful pinch in her neck. She wanted to fight the arm around her, but she had no strength. Furthermore, despite his graceful appearance, the performer was strong enough to hold her down like a kitten.
As the fog cleared from the arena, the contestant felt her body recover some of its strength. She realised that the pinch was probably Firebird giving her the cure to the poison. She sighed in relief because she did not want to have earned money she could not enjoy.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of The Great Escape!” Firebird announced once again, triggering another round of screams.
In the best private room, Hu Lei looked at the smiling contestant. She respected the tenacity of the woman for withstanding the pain of poison and organ failure to reach the end. In such a competition, she was the least likely candidate to win.
Some people had lost money in the bets while others might have made a fortune.
However, the competition in itself was not as exciting as Hu Lei hoped.
She turned to Zhong Feng with a smile. “It would be more interesting if it was more of ‘And Then There Were None’ kind of game.”
Zhong Feng smiled. “I looked into their group escape contests. The problem is the judging process. There is no way to determine who solved the escape when everyone contributes. Apparently, a lot of disputes arose because of the group competitions.”
“I am proposing an escape room with multiple killing methods incorporated. Imagine, traps and clues intertwined while a group works together to solve the mystery. In other words, it is not a competition, per se. It is a survival game that kills one by one in different creative ways.” Hu Lei said.
Zhong Feng’s eyes lit up, and he leaned in to kiss his wife. “I love your twisted little mind.”
Hu Lei giggled as she returned the passionate kiss. Unfortunately, a light knock on the door interrupted them, and Frank stepped into the room. He handed Zhong Feng two black cards to him with a strange smile.
Zhong Feng looked at them and passed them to Hu Lei.
“The design is perfect.” Hu Lei smiled at him sweetly. The knife motif was created by Zhong Feng. Originally, she wanted to make her new criminal overlord symbol a black rose, but he said it was a little too passé for her. Then, he said she was a knives girl, not a roses girl.
And he created the bouquet of knives symbol for her.
“I have made arrangements as you instructed,” Frank said before he smiled mysteriously. “The people I have picked are interested in you, and you will have many interactions in the future. You can go under the guise of guests and observe them up close.”
Hu Lei chuckled. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”
