Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game Volume 2 - CH 29.2

The man in black has teleported inside the pitch black bedroom again. His big machete, once taken by Lin Qin, is now also back in his hand. In the narrow, cramped space, he is slashing all around, making thrilled, uproarious laughter as he does so.

Laosan is barely holding onto consciousness from the pain.

When they didn’t even hear that “go to hell” remark, he was almost convinced the eighth number was eight! But.. why did the man in black still appear?!

His emotions having been through such a rollercoaster, it is hard for him to keep calm. While howling in pain and clumsily trying to avoid the attacks from the man in black, he is also trying to work out what went wrong – It couldn’t be! It couldn’t have been?!

Laoda and Erge are both in even worse shape mentally, cursing at the other four Missiontakers already while still trying futilely to resist the big machete; however, the man in black can see them, but they can’t see him at all.

Slowly, the sounds grow quiet.

The thick, sickening scent of blood has again filled up this small, dark, empty room.

Yet, no one has died yet. This is an arduous torture through-and-through. The merciless psychotic murderer would not stop his slaughter just because they have fainted. In fact, how his victims stop resisting in a defenceless posture only seems to trigger his desire for bloodlust even more.

There is an even more gravelly, terrifying cackle and roar coming from his throat. He is almost inhuman at this point, resembling more an untamed, wild beast.

Ding Yi is biting her lips hard. She shrunk into a corner in the very beginning, so she had the lightest of injuries among them. Right now, she is still capable of reasoning.

Without a question, what summoned the man in black must have been because of them calling out a wrong number. Yet why did he appear so suddenly this time, without that sentence he would blurt out every time..

And this must have implied that Lin Qin failed to stop this man in black. That is simply inconceivable!

Ding Yi knows Lin Qin’s martial prowess all too well, that is why she now concludes that this must have been a scripted event – a punishment stemming from their previous, incorrect course of action, that cannot be resisted or thwarted.

So the reason is, what led to this scripted mass murder?

Is it simply because the eighth number was wrong..

Wait, eighth number?

A spark of brilliance flashes through Ding Yi’s mind as she shouts, “eight numbers! There are only eight numbers in total!”

One of the pieces of information they knew was that the little boy’s string of numbers was not exactly long. It was definitely less than ten numbers in total.

And this strange event occurring right at the eighth number can only imply that, in fact, they have already finished numbering off, haven’t they?

This scripted event only triggered because several of the numbers they yelled out were wrong. Therefore, at the end of the numbering sequence, the man in black would appear no matter what to commit his murder.

When Laosan hears what she just said, he realises what’s been going on.

He makes a weakened cough and tries to move his body a little to avoid the big machete, but he fails. He foregoes dodging altogether and tries his best to ignore the pain to focus on reasoning.

Eight numbers in total.

Yes, they only need to report eight numbers in total.

When the seventh number was confirmed, his mind has had a subtle sense of incongruence all along already. Ding Yi was trying to stop him from saying eight earlier too.. Now, he finally gets it.

The chance that the three consecutive numbers of eight, nine and ten still being unassigned towards the end is too small!

This means that nine and ten probably weren’t part of the string in the first place. And they only had to assign the numbers from one to eight.

And now, only five and eight remained unassigned; the eighth number isn’t eight, so that can only mean..

The eighth one is five, and the fifth number is eight!

This makes the string one, two, seven, four, eight, six, three and five.

They know all of the numbers now! They just have to verify it once in the next run of the Nightmare!

Laosan is ecstatic again, and when death comes knocking at his door, he is thinking, perhaps, this is what they call the silver lining?

.. Selfish and Scapegoat would beg to differ, however.

The moment the Nightmare restarted, they have an equally grim expression as they ask Mu Jiashi, “did you die in the last run?”

Mu Jiashi doesn’t understand why they’re asking, but shakes his head honestly.

Therefore, the both of them rush right for the door at the end of the corridor, and Selfish opens it right up, yelling angrily, “did you fucking do that on purpose?!”

The fresh light is almost blinding to the four Missiontakers in the pitch dark room, who are looking at them, almost in shock.

For once, Scapegoat is agreeing with Selfish to scold them, “we almost managed to dig up clues about this Nightmare!”

In the third run of the Nightmare, the bedroom team remained in the bedroom. Mu Jiashi and Lin Qin stopped the man in black, while Selfish and Scapegoat drove along the road to reach the service area they couldn’t explore in the first run.

Laosan’s lips are still trembling from the wave of emotions that have washed over him earlier. His brain processed the information they talked about just fine, though, and so he reflexively asks, “what did you find out?”

Selfish rolls his eyes at him, clearing not wanting to talk.

Scapegoat takes a deep breath to force himself to calm down before explaining, “we met a cashier there; I told him we were being chased by a man dressed in black who was trying to kill us, and he said, he knew who that man was.”

Mu Jiashi, who followed the duo into the room, immediately asks, “who is the black man?”

“Fuck! That’s where we were stuck at!” Scapegoat blurts out angrily, saying, “the last time we got to the service area, you died; this time we almost got some key information, and you died again. What the actual fuck, man?!”

Selfish coldly sneers, saying, “y’all kept dying and dying and dying, why wouldn’t you just die for good, then?!”

“Oh? Then why don’t you die in my place then?” Erge’s tone is frigid. He orders, “I’m talking about you! Go and die!”

Selfish’s face is all red.

Erge points his finger right at him, and says with a death glare, “stop fucking acting like some bitch here. Die, die, die.. Tell that after you have fucking died to that once in this Nightmare!”

In a pitch-black bedroom, dying in fear and discombobulation, unaware who it even was that was killing them, and bleed their last in gore, in pain, in hopelessness, in a mortally wounded body..

Erge asks, “well? Are you ready to die then? Or are you not even brave enough to try it once?”

Selfish’s chest is rising and falling dramatically; he feels livid and insulted all over. He is mad, maddened by all these Missiontakers in this Nightmare, since a long time ago.

He yells out, “fine! You bunch of inept useless pieces of shit! Get out, all of you! Get out! I’ll do it!”

Erge is chuckling mockingly while he walks out of the dark bedroom.

Selfish knocks his shoulder past him when entering the bedroom.

“Erge..”

Laosan is calling out.

Erge stands to the side, crossing his arms in front of his chest, saying, “out, all of you. He can stay in there alone.”

Laoda follows suit without question. Laosan and Dingyi hesitate a little before walking outside as well.

Finally, the door to the pitch black bedroom is about to be shut, leaving Selfish alone inside.

Before the door goes shut, Laosan suddenly recalls and yells out, “remember! One two seven four eight six three five! One two seven four eight six three five!”

He repeats it twice loudly, and it looks like Selfish’s mouth is mumbling along.

The door shuts entirely.

Laosan seems to be lost for a few seconds before asking, “so now..”

Mu Jiashi seems to have finished thinking and heads for the corridor’s other end without hesitation. Everyone else follows.

Ding Yi approaches Lin Qin and quietly tells him where she stored the drinks and how to enter that house; the erstwhile owner of a house could set up how they want the door to be protected, from passwords to passphrases.

Lin Qin nods; he has memorised it.

A short while after the door to the bedroom has gone shut, the man in black has appeared out of nowhere again, chasing after them from the end of the corridor.

Meanwhile, that door leading to the car park outside is still wide open instead of disappearing outright like how it was in the second run. They can drive to the service area freely this time.

The Missiontakers are looking at each other, nonplussed, before turning to Erge.

They opened the door to the pitch black bedroom both times, so why is the door still wide open only this time? Is it really just because someone was still in the bedroom?

Well, yes.. Though, why did Erge just trade places with Selfish so confidently? Did he know or guess something?

“I just felt like trying,” Erge shrugs to say, “alright, I’ve had enough of that stuffy black place, anyway. Let’s go somewhere else.”

Soon enough, the seven Missiontakers, aboard two cars, are speeding along the expressway to reach the service area.

As for Selfish, left behind, alone, inside the dark bedroom..

Nobody seems to care about him at all.

In the stream, the viewers have all been shocked by this turn of events.

“woah, what a way to get revenge and get out of danger at the same time!”