Congratulations on Your Successful Escape

Chapter 8

Mo Yi then got up on his feet and reached out to pick up the notebook scattered on the ground. Even though he tried his best to restrain himself, his hand couldn’t help but tremble slightly.

The notebook was so thin that it didn’t weigh much in the hand. Its corners were slightly yellowed, and it was obvious it had been read for many years, but the opened pages looked smooth and new. It did not look like a notebook from nine years ago.

Mo Yi waved away the distracting thoughts in his mind and read from the beginning.

He saw that on the first page, the familiar beautiful handwriting neatly wrote:

“X month X day 1993. My parents love me very much, and my teachers and classmates care about me a lot. Today will be a beautiful day.”

After turning two pages, Mo Yi’s eyes became confused.

On each page, except for the date, the content of each entry was exactly the same. Even the punctuation had not changed.

He skipped forward a few pages, and his fingers suddenly paused.

The content in the notebook was originally carried out daily according to the date, but it suddenly stopped for seven days. In the next entry, the content had abruptly changed: “December 28, 1993. My mother loves me very much, and my teachers and classmates care about me a lot. Today will be a beautiful day.”

… What about her dad?

Mo Yi pursed his lips and continued to flip through.

The subsequent pages showed signs of being torn off and smeared. Because too much time has passed, it was impossible to determine what had been written before. The next legible entry had already reached 1994:

“January 7, 1994. The teachers and classmates care about me a lot. Today will be a beautiful day.

The mom also… was missing.

Mo Yi was stunned. Suddenly, a scene entered his mind: the blood spreading in the ladies’ bathroom, the third bathroom stall without blood, the clean circular spot in the pool of blood, and the pale head rolling down to his feet.

He was shocked and an idea flashed through his mind like lightning. The previous clues seemed to be gears, seamlessly fitting together at this moment. Cold sweat slid down his back.

“I seem to know…”, Mo Yi muttered to himself.

Jiang Yuanbai, who was on the other side, looked at the notebook in Mo Yi hand, confused, and asked, “Huh? Know what?”

“Remember the ladies’ bathroom on the first floor?” Mo Yi asked him with no heads or tails.

“Of course.” Jiang Yuanbai shivered. The blood all over the floor and the scratch marks on the bathroom door could give him nightmares for months.

“The third bathroom stall with no blood, the little girl who asked about the ball, the ghost on the ceiling…” Mo Yi said faster and faster, “Does it sound familiar?”

Jiang Yuanbai paled and hesitantly nodded.

“I didn’t think of this at first because there are too many versions of this story, and these incidents in the toilet aren’t in the version the public is familiar with…”

Mo Yi seemed to be immersed in his thoughts and continued to mutter, “- But all the versions have something in common, such as the little girl in the third bathroom stall and the inability to look at the mirror and ceiling after going to the bathroom.”

Jiang Yuanbai was dumbfounded and quickly interrupted Mo Yi, “Wait, wait, what version is not the version? What are you talking about?”

Mo Yi woke up like from a dream, looked at Jiang Yuanbai and said succinctly,

“Hanako in the bathroom.

One version was about a woman who murdered her cheating husband. She went crazy and killed her daughter in the school’s third bathroom stall and then committed suicide. So later, it was said that Hanako was trapped in the third bathroom stall forever. If you knock on the door and ask, “Hanako, come and play?”, she’ll appear. And, in the bathroom where Hanako appears, the most taboo thing is to look in the mirror and up at the ceiling.”

The bloody handprints on the bathroom ceiling on the first floor entered Jiang Yuanbai’s mind, and he couldn’t help shaking and felt goose bumps all over his body.

Immediately afterwards, Mo Yi held up the notebook and pointed out the handwriting on it to Jiang Yuanbai.

“The father disappeared first, and then the mother disappeared.”

“Then, look here.” Mo Yi tapped the lower left corner of the notebook page with a slender finger, showing a small ball drawn with a bright red pen.

In the silence, the little girl’s strange giggle seemed to sound in his ears again: “Did anyone see my ball?”

“So…so…”, Jiang Yuanbai stuttered, “The one in the bathroom … is actually …?”

“No,” Mo Yi unexpectedly shook his head, “That little girl should not be Zhao Qiulan. After all, this notebook has a follow up entry, indicating that she did not die in the bathroom.”

Jiang Yuanbai was even more confused, “…Then?”

“I guess that should be related to the content of Zhao Qiulan’s grievances, and Hanako in the bathroom has something in common with her experience, so she appeared in this form.” Mo Yi raised his fingers and tapped lightly on the notebook. His eyes were dark.

“Today will be a beautiful day…”

Jiang Yuanbai was stunned for a moment, as if thinking of something, and said, “This seems to be a form of psychotherapy. Every day, you tell yourself that today is very beautiful, so your day will be better.”

Mo Yi briefly chuckled, but there was no hint of laughter in his voice, “So every sentence here is the opposite. Her parents don’t love her, and her teachers and classmates don’t care about her.”

Jiang Yuanbai nodded slowly, and the atmosphere was a bit heavy for a while.

Without warning, the female voice that appeared in the beginning broke the silence and said in a cold and mechanical tone:

“Dang dang dang dang! Congratulations to player No. 08, Mo Yi, and player No. 05, Jiang Yuanbai, for unlocking the Escape Game’s hidden plot!

Side missions are now open. Completing side missions will reward rich points. Players, please continue to work hard!”

Mo Yi and Jiang Yuanbai both froze at the same time, stared at each other, and then ran towards the window.

There was no light in the black sky, and the slow-moving countdown was still floating there. Below the countdown was a line in small blood red words.

Side Mission: ??? Reward for Mission Completion: ???

“Fuck, there’s a reward for this game?” Jiang Yuanbai had a “WTF” expression on his face and stared out the window.

Wait…

Mo Yi keenly caught the key point and turned his head in shock to look at Jiang Yuanbai, “What? Does that mean that there is no reward for this escape game?”

Jiang Yuanbai nodded painfully.

“The last time I entered this game, after I was exhausted and escaped, this garbage game gave me a worn-out note, which said, “Congratulations on your successful escape. Thank you for your participation and wish you a happy life.”

Jiang Yuanbai’s said the last sentence while clenching his throat, a polite fake smile on his face.

Then, he put on a painful expression of bitterness and hatred again, and continued, “…And on the back of the note was the countdown to the next game.”

Mo Yi, “…” Damn it, what a pit?

Was the so-called reward for winning the game proceeding to the next game?

He was also an otaku and he usually liked to read online novels. He has read a lot of online articles like “Infinite horror x” … ?However, there was no game or system that would cheat the players with no clearance rewards and the points are obtained only by finding the hidden plots!

This game doesn’t follow the conventional routine, come on, hello?!

Mo Yi was a little speechless for a moment and withdrew his eyes from the window.

At this time, his sight accidently fell on the stairwell, and his face abruptly changed, and he called out in a hurry, “Not good! Run!”

After he said that, Jiang Yuanbai also followed his gaze and his face turned pale.

He saw a thick, almost solid mist, slowly creeping up the stairs. It soundlessly approached, like a lurking beast, quietly exposing its vicious fangs, silent and deadly.

The two men desperately ran down the corridor in the opposite direction of the stairwell. Fortunately, after the bell rang, the corridor had become extremely long, giving them a chance to escape the pursuit of the thick mist.

Mo Yi held the wall and gasp. His face was very solemn.

The thick mist only appeared for ten minutes between classes.

They ran to the second floor within ten-minutes of the first break, and the thick mist was still on the first floor.

In the second ten minutes between classes, the dense mist had swallowed the entire second floor, and even began to devour the third floor!

This showed … that the moving speed of the mist has become faster.