Shi Xinxin cast a hidden glance at the cipher book. To be honest, she herself didn't want to touch it directly.
She didn't know how long the rotting flesh, stained with blood and gore, had been decaying here.
It was all for effect, even the stench was included.
She glanced at Xiao Jue, who was as timid as a mouse, and scanned the room for something to shield her hands. Gloves would have been ideal.
However, she couldn't find any gloves. She ended up tearing a few pieces of paper to use as a barrier.
"You know the cipher?"
Seeing Shi Xinxin start to act, Xiao Jue asked her curiously.
Shi Xinxin looked up, regarding Xiao Jue with the eyes one would use for an idiot.
"Your IQ is questionable!"
Shi Xinxin held up the smelly cipher book, the coded numbers facing Xiao Jue's eyes.
Xiao Jue looked at the numbers already dialed and felt utterly helpless.
He pouted, feigning indifference. It was the director's fault, he thought, he had to overthink things.
Director Fang: I'm not taking the blame for this.
"Diary."
Shi Xinxin scanned the contents, entries from October 2018 to May 2020.
From the handwriting, the vocabulary, and the tone, it strongly resembled the little boy they had heard in the audio recording.
Flipping through the pages, she read the extremely shocking words. She even felt as if the stench from the notebook had been masked.
Both of them frowned as they read these words expressing utter disappointment with the world and the emotional trauma of a young life.
The diary entries would take a long time to finish. However, in a corner of a storage box, a rotating camera was recording all their words and actions.
It wasn't like a normal surveillance camera in an escape room, but rather something sinister hidden in the dark corners.
Their search seemed to be going extremely smoothly, but in the room themed around the respiratory system, Ye Xun's face was deathly pale.
Bai Bin stood beside her, worried, unsure how to comfort her.
The moment she entered the room, Ye Xun felt as if her breath had been choked off.
She struggled to breathe, feeling as though an invisible, giant hand was squeezing her heart and lungs, preventing her from breathing.
She forced herself to shake off this invisible pressure, desperately trying to focus on observing the room, but it seemed futile.
The entire room was painted in the pink hue of human organs.
Various lungs hung from the ceiling, with a conveniently placed cardboard sign beneath each one detailing the appearance of lungs corresponding to different diseases.
However, the lungs on display were made of silicone.
The escape room production team had also thoughtfully replaced the books on the shelves with ones bound in the same bloody pink.
Their room was in the farthest corner of the four rooms, with no visible windows that let in light. The faint illumination in the room cast shadows that seemed to deepen the unending blur before their eyes.
Memories flooded back, fragmented like shards of sunlight, flashing before Ye Xun's eyes and arranging themselves into an image that assaulted her brain and nerves.
"Ye Xun, the clues are on the table."
Bai Bin entered the room before her, his first instinct being to eagerly search for clues.
He found a document and a letter on the table in the center of the room.
He breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to share the good news with Ye Xun.
"Ye Xun?"
"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Is something here causing you physical discomfort?"
Bai Bin saw Ye Xun clutching her head in pain, crouching like a helpless child, hugging herself tightly and burying her face low.
A flicker of remorse crossed Bai Bin's eyes. This room was indeed prone to causing physical discomfort.
He had assumed Ye Xun would be unfazed by it, just like he was.
He hadn't expected to overlook Ye Xun's feelings.
He tried to help Ye Xun up, but she continued to clutch her head, looking as if she didn't want to see or hear anything.
"Be good, darling. Mommy will be leaving this world soon. My lungs are a bit lazy and won't be able to see you grow up. I'm truly sorry."
The woman on the hospital bed had a pale complexion, breathing with difficulty, surrounded by various oxygen tanks and ventilators.
Upon closer inspection, her skin had become loose and bloodless due to the torment of illness. She still managed to raise a hand and laboriously stroke the young girl who had just come of age.
This was her own daughter, whom she had poured her heart and soul into raising.
To prevent her daughter from worrying about her constantly regarding her career, she had hidden the fact that she was already in the late stages of lung cancer.
Perhaps lies always have loopholes. One bright, sunny afternoon, she suddenly fell ill while she was with her smiling daughter.
Ye Xun never imagined that her mother, who always seemed healthy and went for regular check-ups, would suddenly collapse.
When her mother was unconscious, the doctor's words made her realize her folly, filling her with unbearable regret.
"Young lady, you children don't pay enough attention to your parents. She's in the late stages of lung cancer, and not only did she refuse full treatment, but she constantly talked about wanting to go home, wanting to be with her daughter."
"This patient's condition is indeed grim, but if she accepts treatment, she can still live for several years in peace."
The doctor sighed, looking at the disbelieving girl before him, and shrugged helplessly.
"Your mother hid it from you because she didn't want you to worry, but now that things have reached this point, I hope she can spend her final days happier."
"I can only help you this much."
Late-stage lung cancer, and having been delayed for so long, starting treatment now was a waste of money and effort.
At times like these, it was even more important to maintain an optimistic outlook, to give the patient a sense of belonging, and to ensure her final moments were happy and peaceful.
As an only child who had lived with her mother since childhood, Ye Xun's dependence on her mother was something only she truly understood.
If her only pillar of strength collapsed, she would likely fall with it.
Her grandmother, who died in her early fifties due to asthma contracted in her youth, combined with bronchitis, had been a lifelong pain for her mother.
Her maternal grandfather had also died of lung cancer due to excessive smoking in his youth.
But she couldn't understand how her mother, who always paid such attention to her health, had contracted such an illness.
In the end, following the dictates of heaven, her mother also went to live in another world.
This is why, when she first chose the game, she had a persistent challenge for the respiratory system.
She never believed she couldn't overcome such an obstacle.
During the trivia rounds, she was in her element, earning Bai Bin's admiration.
But she had clearly overestimated herself. Within this oppressive atmosphere, her inner emotions could no longer be contained and erupted.
Bai Bin also realized something was wrong, but he was powerless.