Ch 6: I Run a Food Shop in an Escape Game

Endless Staircase (1)

Yi Han was currently standing in the stairwell of an old residential building.

Before him was a gray-blue security door that looked as though it had come straight from the last century. The paint on the doorplate had peeled so badly that he could only barely make out “401”… Half an old couplet was still pasted on the door, along with torn scraps of locksmith advertisements that had not been fully removed.

The environment was cold and damp, the lighting dim. A stale smell lingered at the tip of his nose, making him frown.

“Hello…” a gentle voice sounded beside him.

Yi Han turned and saw a young man standing nearby with warm, gentle features. He looked about the same age as Yi Han. Only… for some reason, the moment he saw Yi Han’s face, he froze slightly. Then the tips of his ears seemed to turn a little red.

Yi Han: …

…Could someone please tell him exactly what this “delicate and adorably feminine” illusion debuff had turned him into?

“Hello… My name is Jian Lin. Looks like we’re teammates this round.”

The young man suddenly snapped back to himself. A slightly embarrassed expression appeared on his face, and he smiled shyly while extending a hand.

“Yi Han.”

Since the malice detector did not make any sound, Yi Han gave his name淡ly and politely shook his hand.

Although they separated almost immediately, at the instant their skin touched, the other party seemed to blush again…

Yi Han: …

…Wake up, brother. What is wrong with you? Also, do you really not think there’s something off about a delicate, adorable girl who is half a head taller than you?

Forcibly ignoring the strange feeling, Yi Han went straight to the point.

“The objective of this stage is to escape the ghost building. Let’s follow the stairwell first and see if we can find clues about the exit or key.”

“Okay… But wait, I have something here.”

Jian Lin paused and took out his phone.

“In a previous stage, I was lucky and earned some extra points, so before entering this one, I performed a random divination. I obtained some stage-related information the system didn’t mention. Since we’re clearing this together, I’ll share it with you first.”

Then Yi Han received a notification:

“Teammate forwarded a message face-to-face.”

The malice detector still did not warn him, proving the information probably was not some fake trap meant to harm a teammate. So Yi Han opened it and read.

【Hidden Rule 1: Players may knock on and enter any room in the building, but throughout the entire game, you may only knock 4 times. The 5th knock will trigger an instant-death ending.】

【Hidden Rule 2: There are 3 ghosts in the entire building.】

After reading the message, Yi Han was genuinely surprised.

This hint was far too detailed and specific. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. Although it could not directly help them clear the stage, it directly allowed players to avoid one death condition.

This teammate was not simple.

If this really came from a random divination, then being able to obtain such useful information meant his luck stat was probably extremely high.

Looks like with a luck emperor on the team, this stage should go smoothly.

Yi Han memorized the rules and thanked him.

“It’s just that I’ve been pretty lucky since I was little, so I tend to draw useful things,” Jian Lin hurriedly waved his hands, and that embarrassed blush immediately reappeared on his face.

…Fine.

Yi Han suddenly felt this kid was probably the legendary type who got shy the moment he spoke to girls (?).

After briefly discussing it, the two decided to first follow the stairwell downward.

Every room could be entered, but only four times total, so choosing which door to knock on first required caution.

The two walked one after the other, counting floors as they descended.

It only took one minute to walk from the fourth floor to the first.

And after arriving at the door marked 101, what appeared before them was indeed not the expected building entrance, but another staircase continuing downward.

This had already been written in the stage description when the instance was drawn, so neither of them was particularly surprised. They simply continued downward.

The floor below the first looked no different from the previous stairwell. The doors were still those old gray-blue security doors, while the doorplate numbers had changed to “-101.”

Continuing downward, they passed “-201,” “-301”…

Until they reached “-2001.”

“Pick one and knock,” Yi Han said, stopping.

Starting from the -20th floor, he had noticed that the exploration percentage displayed in the app stopped increasing. His thoughts shifted, and he paused.

His own luck was pretty average, the normal-person kind.

And since this time the team had a luck emperor, he very consciously handed the right of choice to the other party.

Jian Lin also seemed to feel that continuing downward would not lead anywhere. He nodded, hesitated briefly, then chose the door on the left marked “-2001” and gently knocked three times.

A moment later, the door lock clicked.

The door opened.

Behind it was pitch black.

Only after a long while did a wide-foreheaded woman reveal herself.

“It’s been so long since living people came here… Slurp…”

The woman smiled strangely. Her tongue, like some kind of animal’s, quickly flicked across her lips. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. Her gaze darted repeatedly between the two of them. Something was wrong with her eyes too. They bulged slightly like a frog’s, and when they moved, they seemed slightly out of sync.

Seeing the person who opened the door looked like this, the luck emperor teammate instantly became awkward.

This woman was obviously not human.

There were only three ghosts in the entire building, yet his very first knock had stepped directly on a landmine…

This was probably what people called a luck emperor’s rollover scene.

Yi Han, however, could not help brightening.

No matter what kind of ghost it was, under his pot, it equaled points.

A luck emperor was a luck emperor indeed.

Right at the start, he found 10 points for him!

“Come in.”

The female ghost had yet to realize the danger approaching. She opened the door completely and invited the two inside.

Then, once they stepped in, the door slammed shut behind them.

The light was blocked outside, and the room instantly became pitch black.

Something seemed to draw close in the darkness where they could not even see their fingers.

Before Yi Han could take out his pot, he felt his teammate grab his arm. Then that dangerous aura was cut off.

The innocent young man Jian Lin had instinctively protected him behind his body at the very first moment.

Yi Han: …

“Don’t panic… Turn on the light first,” Yi Han whispered beside his ear.

But this teammate was obviously extremely nervous too. The hand gripping Yi Han’s arm refused to let go.

The protective instincts of young boys in front of girls were truly terrifying.

For a moment, Yi Han did not know whether to feel speechless or helpless.

Dragging along this obstructive arm, Yi Han had no choice but to personally reach toward where the light switch should be.

Click.

The light turned on.

And before they could even see the surrounding environment clearly, the first thing they saw was a face pressed terrifyingly close.

The female ghost hovered less than an inch away from the two of them, her long tongue stretched out, only a tiny distance from Jian Lin’s face, who stood in front.

“…”

Yi Han even suspected that if this fragile “girl” he had to protect were not still behind him, Jian Lin might have fainted already.

Light was indeed one of the conditions that restricted ghost activity.

The female ghost looked regretful, but once the light was on, she seemed unable to do anything more. She had no choice but to retract her tongue, smack her lips, and turn away in boredom.

Only then did the thin shoulders still blocking Yi Han finally relax.

Looks like the first trial was passed.

Yi Han patted the teammate still blocking him as comfort, then followed the female ghost inside first.

The apartment layout was extremely old-fashioned.

There was no living room. Upon entering, there was only an unusually narrow hallway. Around the hall were doors to the kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms. All rooms combined were probably only forty or fifty square meters.

The floor was also made of extremely old tile, cracked in many places and covered in stains. Under the dim yellow light, it looked both dangerous and dirty.

The female ghost brought the two to the bedroom on the left.

This time, she turned on the light herself.

Inside the room, facing them directly, stood an old upright piano.

“How unfortunate. You chose to visit my home,” the female ghost said regretfully while drooling. “Although I’m very hungry, due to the rules, we still need to go through the process before eating dinner…”

“I’ve been learning a piece recently. Which one of you can demonstrate it for me?”

【System Notification: Due to knocking on the wrong door, Forced Task 1 has been triggered. Play the piano piece Moonlight for the mistress of room -2001. Failure will result in this game being judged as failed. Success will allow you to return to the stairwell and continue the game.】

Yi Han could not play piano at all…

But he did have some experience smashing pianos.

And he was even better at smashing ghosts.

So without another word, he reached back to pull out his pot again.

But before he could move, Jian Lin blocked him once more.

“Um, I can play piano. Leave this stage to me. I’ll definitely do my best to pass it… I’m sorry.”

Jian Lin looked deeply guilty over choosing the wrong door and sincerely fought for a chance to redeem himself.

“…”

Yi Han originally did not want to make things this troublesome.

But after thinking about it, if Jian Lin could help stall for a while and prolong their time inside the apartment, Yi Han would have time to search elsewhere for useful clues.

So he said, “Fine.”

This female ghost could not run away anyway.

Let her listen to one more song before she died.

And so, his teammate sat down at the piano, lifted the lid, and began playing.

Yi Han turned and left the room.

The thing he wanted to find most right now was a recipe, so he first entered the kitchen, the place most likely to hide one.

Unfortunately, after searching around, he found nothing.

After a burst of clattering pots, bowls, ladles, and pans crashing to the floor, Yi Han walked out of the kitchen, glanced casually at the bathroom, then turned to open the door of the second bedroom.

Meanwhile, inside the room, the female ghost sat listening to the piano music while fearfully enduring the sound of her kitchen being destroyed.

Then she immediately heard the sound of the neighboring bedroom being violently broken into…

But because she was currently in a task state with a player, and the player was playing piano, she had to sit there and listen.

So even though she heard the other side being destroyed like mad, she could not stand up.

…The female ghost was so angry her hair nearly exploded, and her fingers almost dug into the stool.

The young man playing piano in front of her was much steadier.

Even though the room next door sounded like it was being demolished, he kept his eyes closed the entire time, seemingly focused on recalling the score, his hands never stopping.

Only after finishing the piece did he open his eyes.

【Forced Task 1: Complete】

The instant the message arrived, the female ghost sprang up and rushed out of the room.

So when Jian Lin opened his eyes, he found the room empty…

Immediately afterward, a thunderous clang sounded from the neighboring room.

Jian Lin jumped in fright.

Worried something had happened to Yi Han, he hurriedly got up and went to check.

But all he saw inside the neighboring room was total chaos. Doors and cabinets were wide open, and the female ghost was nowhere to be found.

Only a delicate and pitiful beautiful girl stood inside, expressionless, eyes lowered…

Jian Lin guessed she must have been terrified!

“Are you okay? I’m sorry. Thank goodness we passed… This was all my fault. Next time, you should knock.”

Yi Han, whose face was dark because he was internally cursing the stingy game for only giving 10 points despite knocking down a female ghost in a one-star stage:

“…No.”

His tone was fierce and firm.

Jian Lin: …?

── ⋆⋅🖤⋅⋆ ──

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