Congratulations on Your Successful Escape

Chapter 48

The water poured into the white porcelain sink with a splash, stirring up transparent droplets of rolling steam. The sound of water became all the more clear in the closed room.

Mist filled the air. The entire bathroom was shrouded in an expanse of white mist and steaming heat.

Mo Yi’s pale face held a slight trace of redness from the steaming mist, but a pair of pitch-black eyes was still looking straight at the mirror, coldly detached and rational, as if waiting for something.

His thin shirt was damp from the hot and humid mist hanging in the air, closely clinging to his skin. Tiny droplets of water gathered on the exposed skin, and it unknown whether it was water vapour or light sweat.

It was really uncomfortable.

Mo Yi pursed his lips, somewhat irritated, and subconsciously stretched out his hand to pull at his collar, revealing a small portion of his chest and the contours of his clavicle with this action.

He was about to reach out to turn off the faucet, when on the mirror’s surface, already hazy with mist, a handprint suddenly appeared.

Mo Yi’s heart palpitated, and he intently looked at the mirror.

The handprint started sliding down the side of the mirror, wiping a small surface on the blurred mirror clear, framing Mo Yi’s pitch-black eyes in the mirror.

Mo Yi took a deep breath, not knowing whether he was solemn or relaxed at heart —

Sure enough, the mist had followed him into the real world.

He thought about it, walked out of the bathroom, picked up the cell phone from his bed, and then returned to the bathroom.

Mo Yi closed the door behind him and waited for a while. After the mist that had dispersed a little just now once again filled the bathroom, he turned on the screen, called up the note pad, and then placed it on the dry sink table.

He slightly narrowed his eyes and said, “Can you type?”

Although it was a question, it had a declarative tone.

The cell phone screen flickered, and the keyboard keys jumped up and down, as if someone really was typing. “Can.”

Mo Yi closed his eyes and couldn’t endure it anymore, stretching out his cool fingers to press against his faintly throbbing forehead, and took a deep breath.

What was this, ah?

First, there was the emergence of this mysterious escape game where he was periodically dragged into for a fight of life or death, greatly challenging his materialist world view, and then later in the game, a strange mist unexpectedly followed him …

— Now, it was actually still following him in the real world!

Even though Mo Yi was rather interested in the nature of this game, after so many large mountains came crashing down, he couldn’t bear it ah!

Mo Yi sensed that he was becoming a little neurotic.

At this moment, as if noticing his long silence, words once more automatically appeared on the cell phone, “In the first copy, you took away a part of me when you sucked my blood.”

— It really was because of this.

Mo Yi kneaded the bridge of his nose, his head slightly aching. At that time, he was practically in an out of control state, completely unaware of what impulse drove him to do such a crazy thing. Now, it was time for retribution.

Suddenly, he seemed to think of something, and was stiff from head to toe, his face black. “So … you’ve always been following me? Including when I shower and bathe?”

There was no response from the cell phone for a long time, and it took a while for it to continue typing, “I’m in a dormant state most of the time.”

Mo Yi frowned.

He didn’t believe half a word the mist said, but there was not too much he could do now. Also, he hadn’t found a good method to shove it back into the game, and was unable to find the key for the checks and balances.

This feeling of not being in control was extremely discomforting.

Mo Yi’s brows and eyes sank, and his face showed a thread of coldness. He changed the topic, “I know you deleted Jiang Yuanrou’s message and even answered in my place. I hope that this kind of situation never happens again.”

The other party seemed to be waiting for him to say this. Before his words were out of his mouth, the cell phone was already busy typing out a word, “Okay.”

In the next second, another line of characters suddenly appeared on the screen, “Sorry.”

Mo Yi’s face slightly relaxed.

Next, the cell phone screen flickered a few times, and once again, the next lines of words were quickly typed out, “I’m going to enter a dormant state. See you later.”

After that, the screen slowly went dark. The surface of the dark screen still had traces of wet mist, dissipating little by little — The dense, nearly suffocating mist in the bathroom seemed to have also dissipated a bit.

Mo Yi’s brows and eyes which had just eased a moment ago instantly blackened.

It had escaped very quickly.

Nothing useful had been found.

Moreover, he hadn’t forgotten that this mist still owed him an answer!

Mo Yi gritted the back of his teeth and walked forward to turn off the faucet that was still dripping and gurgling with hot water.

The sound of flowing water that constantly filled the ears disappeared in a flash, and it was momentarily a little quiet.

Mo Yi’s overly tense nerves finally relaxed a bit. A wave of exhaustion instantly hit, gravity pulling at his heavy eyelids. He yawned, and physiological tears spilled from the corners of his eyes.

For the past three days in the copy, the state of affairs was extremely nerve wracking, and the body had long since exceeded the load.

Mo Yi resisted the sudden wave of exhaustion, rubbed his eyes, and stepped into the shower.

Although he was still a bit uneasy from the bottom of his heart, it was too uncomfortable to not take a shower given the current situation. Mo Yi endured the strange feeling in his heart, showered in a hurry, put on his pyjamas, and walked out of the bathroom.

He threw his sore body into the bed and fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Mo Yi was awakened by the sunlight shining on his eyelids.

He struggled, brows knitted, then slowly opened his eyes.

The room was dyed a deep red by the sunlight coming in slanted from outside the window. The setting sun coated the entire room with a layer of brilliant gold, practically transforming this simple room into a magnificent hall.

Mo Yi blinked, and it took a good while for him to recover from the confusion brought by deep sleep. He turned to look at the electronic clock on the bedside table: It was already past six in the afternoon.

He had slept for no more than twelve hours.

Mo Yi kneaded his sore forehead and felt that his whole body was in endless pain, as if it had been run over by a train and was falling apart, causing discomfort.

He sat up with difficulty and painfully became aware of how pressing it was to have a strong physique.

Mo Yi slowly leaned against the headboard and reached out to pick up the cell phone that had been randomly thrown aside.

There were a few unread messages from Jiang Yuanbai on the screen. Mo Yi opened them one by one and found that the contents inside were: How are you doing ah? Are you safe now? Call him back soon after returning. He’s worried to death, ah ah ah.

Intermixed were countless exclamation marks of unknown meaning and emojis.

Mo Yi, “…” Merely looking at it made him feel that it was noisy.

He turned off the interface and called Jiang Yuanrou.

Jiang Yuanrou’s familiar voice came from the microphone, and her tone was filled with joy that couldn’t be concealed, “Wonderful. I knew you’d be okay. Yuanbai and I had been extremely worried these past two days. Have you rested now?”

Mo Yi let out an “en” and was instantly startled by his voice which was hoarse as if rubbed by sandpaper.

He cleared his throat and said again, “Thank you for your concern. I’m fine.”

After a simple greeting, Mo Yi told Jiang Yuanrou of his decision to go to City A.

Jiang Yuanrou was silent on the other side of the phone for a long time. Mo Yi patiently waited for her reply. After a long time, from the microphone came Jiang Yuanrou’s soft sigh, and she said, “You know about it after all, ah.”

Yes, that was right. Jiang Yuanrou had never told him about the connection between the copies in the game and the real world.

Mo Yi slightly focused his eyes, and his gaze fell on the corner of his quilt which was dark red from the setting sun. That scorching red was like the last glimpse of the sun before it fell with insanity and despair, struggling to catch the last sliver of light before it sunk.

He let out a deep, “en.”

His face was still calm and composed, similar to a pond of serene water. Nothing was capable of disturbing him.

“This matter … I didn’t want to tell you.” Jiang Yuanrou’s voice was a little sluggish, but it soon returned to its usual tone, “It seems that I have no choice now.”

Mo Yi listened in silence.

“Actually, I discovered this not long ago. The game copies and the real world are connected. I had friends who wanted to explore the connections here, but … Each and every one who went to find the connection died in the next copy. There were no exceptions.”

Jiang Yuanrou took a deep breath and continued, “Including Song Qi.”

Mo Yi lowered his eyes. Long eyelashes concealed the complex and deep thoughts within them.

Jiang Yuanrou’s low voice came from the microphone, “As a friend, I really don’t want you to take risks with your life. Please give it some more thought, ba. Please …”

.

Her voice was almost inaudible at the end.

— Since participating in this game, she had already lost too many friends.

Mo Yi’s hands faintly tightened, and several creases spread in all directions on the quilt he was clenching. There was a rare note of apology in his voice, “… I’m sorry.”

Judging from the nature of this game, the likelihood of there being danger was extremely high.

However, it was impossible for him to just sit and wait for death like this, waiting for the other party to take the initiative and seize absolute control, struggling to survive within the rules set by the other party — He had always been a rule breaker.

Jiang Yuanrou seemed to understand that he had made up his mind, so she took a long breath and said, “Well, now that you’ve decided, I will also fully support all of your decisions … Please, come back safely.”

Mo Yi’s expression softened a little, and suddenly, he seemed to think of something and said, “By the way, there’s a person named Wang Zezhi. If you’re interested, you can contact him.”

Jiang Yuanrou let out an “en” on the other end of the phone and then asked, “Does he have any distinctive characteristics?”

Mo Yi briefly described the other party and Jiang Yuanrou readily responded. After all, she was the eldest young lady of the Jiang family. Even though she had gradually transferred over her authority, she still has some resources.

— In the words of Jiang Yuanrou, “After all, they’re not all as hard to find as you are.”

There was a trace of pain in her voice.

The props used to find people were precious and had cost her a lot of points.

After a few more words with Jiang Yuanrou, Mo Yi hung up the phone, got up from the bed, and started to pack things.

Early the next morning, he was going to step onto a plane to City A.

— Ten days of free time were really precious, however it absolutely couldn’t be wasted.