He was just sleepy — could it be that Nan Sheng had really fallen for him?

Qi Yang had always been skeptical about that. If Nan Sheng truly liked him, there had been no sign of it in the real world; instead, in this unreal space, those eyes were constantly glued to Qi Yang.

Descending the stairs, Qi Yang walked toward Yi Xinming. He had spent more time with Yi Xinming than with Nan Sheng, so Qi Yang was more willing to trust Yi Xinming rather than Nan Sheng, who hid too much.

The coach was still parked outside; it had been driven back around noon yesterday. The other small cars were parked nearby. The group of six set off first to check in at the bamboo forest sight, just like yesterday, while the rest of the people waited for one another to form teams and go together.

Taking his seat on the coach, Qi Yang sat in the same spot he had taken yesterday. Yi Xinming moved a little faster that day and, before Nan Sheng could act, sat down beside Qi Yang. Nan Sheng clenched his fist, then loosened it, fighting the urge to squeeze Yi Xinming’s head.

“How did you sleep last night?” Yi Xinming asked.

Qi Yang nodded. “Not bad.” Having slept well, Qi Yang’s complexion looked much healthier. He had no idea that after he fell into a deep sleep the previous night, someone had sneaked into his room and secretly kissed him.

“Both check-in spots today are in the same area, not far from each other.” Yi Xinming had studied the tourist map carefully.

Qi Yang said nothing, his expression calm.

“Hope it’s not like yesterday.” A pool full of skeletons—Yi Xinming still clearly remembered those hands grabbing at their bodies when they went down into the water, icy to the bone, making one feel they’d be pulled under at any moment, fall into the blood pool and never get up.

“There probably isn’t a water pool in the bamboo forest; even if there is, we likely won’t need to go in.” Qi Yang guessed the check-in method would differ from yesterday. After all, it’s a game—even a horror escape game—if it were the same every time, the challenge would be diminished. Given what has happened so far, Qi Yang believed there wouldn’t be many similar situations.

“I wonder how we have to check in this time—hope it’s not too hard.” Although Yi Xinming had cleared it six times in total, his confidence had been intact at first; but as the levels kept getting more and more unexpected, his confidence gradually faded.

Constantly worrying that my life might be lost without me even knowing.

The entity controlling this game space would certainly take pleasure in seeing them, the players, living each day in fear, struggling and resisting in pain, but in most cases

their resistance ended in failure.

As he thought this, Yi Xinming slightly lifted his eyes and happened to meet Nan Sheng’s gaze diagonally ahead. Fu Ming glanced over to Qi Yang on Nan Sheng’s side; Qi Yang’s eyes were fixed on the passing scenery outside the window, so Nan Sheng shifted his gaze a bit, and then their eyes met.

Nan Sheng gave a friendly smile, but that smile registered no warmth in Yi Xinming’s eyes; he even felt Nan Sheng’s smile didn’t seem like a human smile.

If it wasn’t a human smile, what kind of smile would it be? Yi Xinming felt puzzled for a moment, then shook his head.

From every angle, Nan Sheng looked like a human. If he weren’t human—if some ghost or demon were impersonating him, or if he’d been possessed—he wouldn’t have delayed action until now. This bus itself was the perfect opportunity: as soon as Nan Sheng sat in the driver’s seat, he could easily drive the coach off a cliff, killing everyone on board instantly.

Not taking such a good opportunity, Nan Sheng naturally ruled out the possibility of ghosts or demons, and Yi Xinming as well.

The bamboo forest attraction was a bit farther away—slightly farther than yesterday’s hot spring blood pool—and the coach took over an hour on the road before finally reaching the destination.

The car doors opened and the players got out. The five cars belonging to the other group of six were already parked outside the attraction, but the six people themselves were nowhere to be seen. The park supervisor and staff were standing at the entrance. Inside the entrance lay a vast, boundless expanse of verdant bamboo forest. Everyone headed toward the gate.

“Don’t tell me we need to pay an entrance fee?” a player asked, frowning in confusion.

“You need a ticket to get in,” the supervisor said sternly, then reminded them, “The check-in point is at the rockery in the middle of the bamboo grove.”

“Won’t there be other dangers at the rockery like yesterday?” a player asked the supervisor.

“There’s nothing here.” Only here, the overseer stepped aside, signaling the player to enter the scenic area.

A free tour of the bamboo sea—technically there was an admission ticket, but the tickets were handed out for free. Everyone took a ticket to go in; one player went in and tossed his ticket in a trash can, and someone reminded him.

“If they check tickets on the way out and you don’t have one, how will you get out?”

“Then I’ll just pick it up from the trash can?” the curly-haired player who tossed the ticket said unconcernedly.

The player who warned him sneered, “Do you think you’ll pick up things others won’t?”

Here “others” doesn’t just mean players like us; it could also refer to ghost NPCs.

Some players who had thought the ticket was unnecessary, upon being reminded like this, carefully put the ticket away. Thinking about it a bit, it did make sense—if it were handled casually..

Coming and going — then what’s the point of issuing tickets? Clearly the tickets exist for a reason.

The Overseer watched them silently from behind, his gaze indifferent.

The ticket that had been thrown into the trash by the curly-haired player noticed that no one else had tossed theirs except him; feeling resistant, he didn’t want to pick it up. The others saw his face elongate, as if someone owed him a million, and no one persuaded him anymore. Qi Yang glanced coolly at the player, passed by him, and the players walked on; in the blink of an eye the curly-haired player was left behind.

The curly-haired player cursed under his breath, then in the end had to grit his teeth and, with disdain, pick up the ticket he had just thrown.

Curly Hair hurried up to catch up with the others; among them, Nan Sheng walked at the rear. Curly Hair glared at Nan Sheng displeasedly, simply finding that handsome face of his irritating. Nan Sheng’s expression didn’t change, but his eyes suddenly darkened to something terrifying, and Curly Hair was so frightened he took two steps back.

There are two check-in spots in the bamboo sea: one is a small artificial rockery deep in the grove—find that rockery and the check-in counts as complete; the other is the bamboo-carving exhibit, which, as the name implies, is an area full of various crafts carved from bamboo. The check-in method at the bamboo-carving spot is currently unknown, so everyone is first looking for the rockery.

There were signposts all along the way; following them seemed like it would make the walk easy, but whether it would really be that simple no one could be sure.

Unlike the others’ tense moods, Qi Yang’s expression was relaxed; as he walked through the center of the artificial hill, he truly strolled while admiring the sea of verdant bamboo.

All the bamboo stood tall and upright, rising several meters from the ground; the dense leaves veiled the sky, with only the occasional shafts of light reaching the forest floor. Wind passed through the grove, and the leaves rustled with a soft susurration.

Aside from the players, the vast bamboo grove held no other living creatures; not even a bird could be seen, and the paths through the woods were bereft of insect calls.

Ding-ling-ling — suddenly a bell pealed overhead, ringing for more than ten seconds. The walking players all stopped; everyone tilted their heads to look up, but aside from the dense bamboo leaves there was no sign of anything unusual.

Not seeing it doesn’t mean there’s no danger; otherwise, where did the bell sound come from?

Everyone huddled together. After the bell, they held their breath and fell silent; only a deathly stillness remained around them.

Qi Yang’s wrist was suddenly grasped. Nan Sheng, who had been walking at the back of the crowd just moments before, had somehow come to Qi Yang’s side. He held Qi Yang’s hand gently, his expression as tender as could be.

“Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”

Qi Yangcheng’s gaze dimly gleamed.

He wasn’t afraid of the flickering; no matter who got into trouble, he himself wouldn’t. From Nan Sheng’s looks, it seemed everything was under control. Qi Yang’s mouth curled slightly.

Nan Sheng had expected Qi Yang to pull his hand away, but he didn’t. It even seemed Qi Yang allowed him to protect him. The danger here posed no real threat to Nan Sheng, but under the gaze of Qi Yang’s beautiful eyes, Nan Sheng genuinely wanted to show off—prove how formidable he was as a man for Qi Yang.

Nan Sheng didn’t realize that his thoughts at that moment were much like a male displaying courtship behavior in the animal kingdom. To win a mate’s attention, simply trailing behind day after day wouldn’t do; one had to display the excellent, charming side of oneself.

“What do we do?” a player panicked, face full of fear.

“The ringing stopped — could it be some kind of signal?” Yang Jiang was relatively calmer; he guessed instinctively.

Yi Xinming squinted and looked up at the surrounding sky; everything seemed utterly silent, but beneath that quiet there might already be danger creeping.

“Let’s keep moving, don’t just stand here.” If everyone stayed clustered together and something did happen, none of them might get away.

“Right, right, don’t stand still, run, everyone run.” A player with an extremely ordinary face urged everyone to leave with a panicked expression.

After pausing for a moment, the players started running. After a short while a fork appeared ahead; both paths led to the rockery. The group debated briefly—some thought the left was safer, others preferred the right. With no consensus, the team split into two, each running toward one side.

Yi Xinming asked Qi Yang’s opinion. Qi Yang was not only smart but also very lucky, always favored by the goddess of fortune, so Yi Xinming trusted him completely. Qi Yang glanced at both sides; he personally preferred the right, so he chose it. Kang Lian naturally had nothing to say and followed Qi Yang and Yi Xinming.

Nan Sheng let go of Qi Yang’s hand. He had actually wanted to hold Qi Yang while running, but before he could, Qi Yang gave him a look that stopped him—Qi Yang seemed to have guessed what was in Nan Sheng’s mind and coldly warned him with his eyes in advance.

This stretch of road wasn’t so long that Qi Yang couldn’t run it; as for whether he would disturb the fetal qi, Qi Yang thought his constitution hadn’t weakened to that extent yet.

Qi Yang and the others ran to the right. After running for a short while, screams came from other parts of the bamboo grove; those on the right paused briefly.

The person running in front turned back to look at those behind him, his eyes wide open. “No way… did something happen?”

As soon as he finished speaking, another shrill scream rang out.

Then someone began running wildly,

shouting “Ah! Ah! Ah!” as they ran.

“Don’t stop, move!” Yi Xinming shoved the person in front of him, and everyone started running again.

But this time they hadn’t run far when something tore through the air above the bamboo grove, and by the time everyone reacted, the falling object had already landed right in front of them.

The player at the front narrowly avoided being impaled by a bamboo pole; he startled and dodged to the side, missed a step, and fell to the ground. The edge of the path wasn’t smooth—it had uneven stones—so his wrist banged against a rock and he cried out in pain.

Yi Xinming stood behind the players, staring in astonishment at the bamboo poles dropping from above. He saw that one end of the pole had been sharpened to a very fine point, so sharp it looked as if it could pierce a person in an instant.

“This… what do we do? We can’t go forward? Should we turn back?” The players immediately panicked.

The player who spoke turned to run, but another sharpened bamboo pole shot down in front of him. He landed hard on his butt, eyes bulging wide, as if he could hardly believe what he was seeing.

After the two bamboo poles struck the ground, more and more poles rained down from the bamboo grove above, one after another. No one could see who was controlling them—only a barrage of sharp poles slicing through the air. The players fell into chaos, unable to move forward or backward, so they scattered left and right into the bamboo thickets. The group that had just been together broke apart in an instant. Yi Xinming ran to the right, Qi Yang went left. Kang Lian stayed close behind Qi Yang, following him immediately. Yi Xinming wanted to follow, but two poles had lodged in front of him, and Qi Yang kept running without stopping, turning and sprinting farther away.

Qi Yang didn’t run too fast either; he knew Kang Lian was following behind. Although he preferred men, he still felt some pity for women. Besides, Kang Lian wasn’t just anyone—this was their first time playing together. When Kang Lian accidentally fell, Qi Yang stopped to pull her up. Seeing that he hadn’t left her like the other players who followed, unlike those who, upon seeing Kang Lian fall, had almost stepped on her, Kang Lian stood and gratefully thanked Qi Yang. He was always so calm and gentle no matter the moment, making it hard to look away from him. Although she knew Qi Yang would never fall for her, that didn’t stop Kang Lian from secretly harboring a crush on him.

Sharp bamboo poles above the grove chased around Qi Yang and the others, as if many pairs of eyes high above were staring at them; no matter which direction they ran, they couldn’t get out. Qi Yang was already a bit out of breath; he stopped, and a bamboo pole fell onto

Around Qi Yang’s body, it looked dangerous, but none of the sticks could actually harm him. Instead, Kang Lian’s arm was cut by a sharp bamboo pole; the searing pain immediately spread across her face.

The players who had been running with them had scattered again during the dash. Right now there were five people left with Qi Yang. Two other players were panting heavily; one looked to be around forty. He wasn’t that old, but he clearly didn’t exercise much—his complexion was pale and showed signs of oxygen deprivation.

Qi Yang took two steadying breaths; the bamboo poles kept shooting into the ground, and several poles were already stuck around his body.

Seeing that it didn’t look like it would end anytime soon, Qi Yang furrowed his brows slightly and looked over at Kang Lian and Nan Sheng, who had his back to him. Nan Sheng pulled a bamboo pole out of the ground and held it in his hand. When a pole fell from high above, Nan Sheng waved the one in his hand, catching and opening the descending pole. The man’s broad back made him seem like someone you could lean on and trust.

Qi Yang looked away and, with the various experiences from the game, believed these firing bamboo poles weren’t random; there had to be a pattern. They walked through the bamboo grove for a while before the poles shot down. Qi Yang kept his gaze steady and began to ponder whether someone among them had triggered some mechanism, or stepped on something that caused the bamboo poles to fall.

There must be some crucial point they missed. What exactly was it? Qi Yang squinted and looked around carefully. While he was watching, he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings and stepped out from behind Nan Sheng. Nan Sheng, wanting to show off in front of Qi Yang so Qi Yang would admire him a little, had the ghosts hidden in the treetops of the bamboo grove aim bamboo poles at him and Qi Yang. He was absolutely confident they wouldn’t let Qi Yang get hurt—he just hadn’t expected Qi Yang to step out from behind him. Just then a bamboo pole came straight at Qi Yang’s body. Qi Yang heard the whoosh as it cut through the air but assumed it wouldn’t hit him, so he didn’t dodge. The pole indeed didn’t injure him; it landed at his feet. Qi Yang looked down at his feet, his expression freezing for a moment. He realized that if that pole had been off by just a few centimeters it would have struck him. He was astonished—had some special property of his body suddenly vanished here? The danger no longer ignored him; he could have been injured or even killed.

Qi Yang thought this to himself, but oddly he didn’t feel afraid at all—he didn’t know why he felt no fear. He lifted his eyes and looked at the person who had rushed in front of him; the other’s face was instantly tense, seeming even more wounded than Nan Sheng, still worried.

“Are you hurt? I’m sorry, it’s my fault…” Nan Sheng immediately apologized to Qi Yang.

Qi Yang found it odd instead: “What are you apologizing for? You didn’t even throw those bamboo poles.”

It wasn’t thrown by Nan Sheng, but it was under his orders. Nan Sheng looked at Qi Yang and saw his diminishing figure in the other’s eyes, realizing he had probably been too nervous. He smiled.

“I apologize because I failed to protect you.” Nan Sheng finally understood what the saying “worrying leads to disorder” meant.

“I don’t need your protection. Just take care of yourself.” As soon as Qi Yang said this, he noticed a hint of disappointment cross Nan Sheng’s face. For a moment Qi Yang only felt that the person before him was like a large beast—one that wouldn’t harm him, but rather looked at him with a kind of pity because he did not accept his goodwill.

“Those bamboo poles wouldn’t fall for no reason. I searched around and found some patterns on certain bamboos. Look here…” Qi Yang directed Nan Sheng’s attention to a bamboo on their left; carved on it was a tiny bamboo leaf, so small it would be easy to miss if you weren’t looking closely.

There was a subtle change in Nan Sheng’s expression, so slight that Qi Yang didn’t notice it; he immediately nodded in agreement: “There is a patch.”

Saying that, Nan Sheng turned to look at the other bamboo around them. On the surface he was looking for clues, but in reality he was checking how many players were still alive at the scene. Aside from Kang Lian, one of the other two players was already lying face down with a jade-green bamboo pole sticking out of his back; the other had a bamboo pole impaled through his arm, propped against a stalk with an expression of pain and despair.

Kang Lian had also suffered minor injuries. She liked Qi Yang—she had never said so, but the way she looked at him made it obvious. Nan Sheng, however, did not regard Kang Lian as a rival; no one, man or woman, could take Qi Yang from him. Whoever tried would also have to take his child.

Most of the players on Yi Xinming’s side had been killed or wounded as well, a report brought to Nan Sheng by a ghost-like figure who had slipped in unseen. It was only the second day; with losses this heavy, Nan Sheng worried that by the seventh day few would be left. That would be about right.

Nan Sheng pretended to search for a while, then told Qi Yang about his unexpected discovery: “It seems the directions of these bamboo leaves aren’t the same; they all have angles to them.”

The bamboo leaves weren’t completely vertical like the stalks; they had a certain tilt.

Prompted by Jing Nansheng’s remark, Qi Yang immediately noticed this too. There had to be some kind of information in those bamboo leaves. Qi Yang walked between two bamboo stalks that weren’t far apart, looked left and right, and suddenly thought of a question,

If all of these were carved at an angle, then why were there none carved vertically?

Or perhaps if he could find the one bamboo stalk carved vertically, the danger might be lifted.

Qi Yang told Nan Sheng to look for a bamboo stalk whose leaves pointed upward, and at the same time he called out to Kang Lian and the pale-faced player leaning against a bamboo pole nearby, asking them to search together.

Sure enough, on the bamboo behind that player, one leaf was carved straight up. The player had no idea what it specifically meant, but he immediately grinned with relief as if clutching a lifeline.

“I found it. It’s here with me, on this bamboo.”

Qi Yang tried to step forward, but Nan Sheng grabbed him and stopped him. He called to the player, “Feel around the area—see if there are any switches, or anything that can be turned.”

Following Qi Yang’s instruction, the player reached out and touched the bamboo leaves on the pole. The leaves were carved on, not a mechanism—no give. The player then grabbed the pole with both hands and tried to turn it. Nothing happened turning left, but turning right the pole actually moved slowly.

“It turns, it can turn to the right.” The player was thrilled and gave it a hard twist, turning it all the way to its limit.

He loosened his grip and took two steps back, waiting. Two seconds later the chime sounded again from high above—ding-dong, ding-dong—sounding somehow more pleasant than the previous time.

At the same time, the bamboo pole that had been descending from above suddenly stopped. The player didn’t dare move, standing there for a moment; the sharp bamboo pole was indeed gone. He turned his head to look at Qi Yang and the others behind him.

“We’re fine now, we’re fine.” The player’s arm was still bleeding, but the relief at the crisis being over seemed to make him forget his wound.

Qi Yang walked over to Kang Lian, saw blood on her finger and asked how she was. Kang Lian rolled up her sleeve; a bit of skin had been scraped, but compared to the player who had been impaled by the bamboo pole and collapsed never to rise again, Kang Lian knew this was only a minor wound.

Lowering her sleeve, Kang Lian’s face was deathly pale, but she still smiled and said to Qi Yang, “I’m fine.”

Seeing Kang Lian feign shock and act as if nothing had happened, Qi Yang didn’t expose her—after all, they were still on a check-in mission, and they couldn’t possibly go back now to treat Kang Lian’s wound.

“It’s fine, just tell me if you feel unwell.” Qi Yang then left and went to the player. One of the player’s arms was covered in blood, blood dripping continuously onto the floor, and in a short while there was a pool of crimson on the ground.

“Take this and use it to bandage it.” Qi Yang, still wearing his coat, took it off and handed it to Wan

Home.

The player gratefully expressed his thanks, then wrapped Qi Yang’s clothes around his arm; he couldn’t tie the knot himself, so Qi Yang went over to help.

The four of them emerged from the bamboo grove, stepped onto the humanoid path, and walked for a while. A signpost appeared, and the fake rock they needed to clock in at was not far ahead.

“Be careful, everyone.” Qi Yang cautioned.

Kang Lian and the others followed behind Qi Yang, all being very careful and cautious.

By the time Qi Yang and the others arrived at the rockery there was no one else there. The rockery was enclosed within a circular stone platform and didn’t seem particularly remarkable—just casually built.

“Do we need to take a card here too?” The player blinked, baffled. They had finally made it over, nearly losing their life on the way, only to find not even a shadow of a card—could there still be danger?

Qi Yang stepped forward, glanced at the rockery, and seemed to notice signs of it having been moved: “Go move a few of those stones.”

“Stones?” the player widened their eyes.

“Go move them.” Qi Yang directed again.

The player paused for two seconds, then quickly grasped Qi Yang’s meaning. He jumped into the rockery, moved the stones to look for cards, and before long another glass bottle appeared.

The player tried to take the bottle out, but it was wedged in the crack of the stone and wouldn’t budge.

“Take as many cards as there are people here,” Qi Yang reminded the players not to take extra.

Kang Lian jumped in as well, took a card and handed one to Qi Yang.

Having received the card marked with the number 2, the group had successfully completed the Bamboo Sea attraction check-in. After finishing, they sat down on the stone terrace. In a low voice Kang Lian said, “I wonder how Yi Xinming and the others are doing over there.” Judging by the situation, it seemed they hadn’t arrived yet, and Kang Lian was somewhat worried about Yi Xinming.

“Then let’s wait a bit; it’s still early anyway.” The next checkpoint was nearby, less than ten minutes on foot. Having just escaped a danger, they were about to head to the next spot, but Qi Yang worried that Kang Lian and the others might be drained mentally and physically, so he sat down to wait for Yi Xinming and the others.

“I hope nothing happens to them.” Kang Lian watched the distance with worry.

Nan Sheng also looked into the distance, but he was looking at a spot where two ghosts stood; the report they were giving could be heard only by Nan Sheng. Regarding the matter of Yi Xinming, one of the ghosts asked whether special treatment was required. Nan Sheng vetoed it and insisted on treating everyone the same.