The voice that came out of nowhere startled Shen Mu Lan again. He turned his head, jolted once more, and hurriedly climbed off Sun Ye.
Once he was standing properly, he cleared his throat as though nothing had happened. "Why are you all out here?"
Ji Yanzhi folded his arms and watched him with a teasing smile. "Do you think we came out too soon?"
Shen Mu Lan abruptly gritted his teeth. Sun Ye stepped forward to rescue him. "It was my fault. This is my first time playing an escape room, and I couldn't figure out a lot of the steps."
"Oh." Ji Yanzhi looked enlightened. "So you two were hugging just now because Shen Mu Lan was explaining things to you?"
"Ji Yanzhi, say that again!" Shen Mu Lan snapped.
Ji Ting lightly touched Ji Yanzhi's hand, signaling him to stop. "The passage to the next escape room is open. Let's go."
Shen Mu Lan went rigid, then gave a strained laugh. "Sure. Sounds good."
Just then, Sun Ye suddenly asked, "Will we be done after the second escape room?"
"The DM said there are four escape rooms in total. Once we've collected all the clues, we still have to go to the final judgment platform."
Sun Ye frowned, then let just the right amount of embarrassment show on his face. "Then I might have to spoil everyone's fun. I only realized after coming in that this kind of game doesn't really suit me. I don't think I can do the remaining stages."
"That's fine. Let's stop here, then."
This escape-room scenario required both teams to work together. Although Ji Ting could probably force his way through it with his abilities, it was only really fun if everyone played together.
Ji Yanzhi made the signal for giving up