SITS CH61

Chapter 61: Overcoming All Obstacles

The NPC was currently inside the small town’s ancestral hall. When the six arrived at the entrance, they saw him seated in the main room, still holding the oil-paper umbrella quietly over his head without putting it down.

Seeing the six approach, he spoke softly: “The oil lamps at the entrance have gone out. Please help light them.”

Sure enough, standing amidst the curtain of rain outside the doors were four oil lamps, while the source of fire sat sheltered beneath the eaves. This meant they had to carefully shield the flames from the downpour, and since all four had to be lit simultaneously, four people had to light one lamp each.

After struggling for quite a while, they finally managed to ignite all four lamps. Watching the flickering flames come to life, the man suddenly smiled in the shadows: “Come in, and show me what you have found.”

Zhao Rui and Luo Zhile hadn’t been among the four lighting the lamps. Exchanging a glance, Zhao Rui stammered with chattering teeth: “G-Go…?”

Luo Zhile said, “Let’s go.”

Luo Zhile was fine, yet Zhao Rui’s legs behaved as if they no longer belonged to him; straining for ages, he couldn’t force a single step forward. It wasn’t that he was deliberately stalling, he had simply frozen stiff out of sheer terror.

Unable to watch any longer, Shen Man intervened: “Zhao Rui, come over here and shield the lamp. I’ll go inside.”

Zhao Rui stuttered: “B-But what if…”

Shen Man said, “Stop wasting time, hurry up.”

Refusing to act tough, Zhao Rui let out a yelp and trotted over to cup his hands around the oil lamp in Shen Man’s place.

“Let me go in instead of Luo Zhile.” Sensing this was likely a two-person task, Xu Zhouye couldn’t resist speaking up.

“No need, I’m not scared.” Luo Zhile assumed Xu Zhouye was worried about him, completely unaware that Xu Zhouye merely wanted some private couple time.

Before Xu Zhouye could say another word, Shen Man and Luo Zhile had already stepped inside.

The instant the two crossed the threshold, the heavy doors slammed shut with a loud bang, leaving the other four locked outside.

Startled half out of their wits by the sudden crash, Qin Yixing and Zhao Rui nearly slipped and fell all over again.

Meanwhile, Xu Zhouye and Zhou Yao exchanged a grim look, clearly regretting not rushing inside faster and getting stuck with Zhao Rui and Qin Yixing, the designated atmosphere squad.

Inside, the hall was pitch black. After a moment, a single dim lantern flickered alight.

The man who had been sitting in the room had vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a dark puddle of water on the floor.

“Crap, we’re locked in,” Luo Zhile said.

Pulling the raincoat hood down from his head, Shen Man remarked: “Pretty nice, actually. At least we don’t have to stand outside getting rained on while listening to Zhao Rui and Qin Yixing scream.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than two blood-curdling shrieks erupted simultaneously from outside, sounding far more horrifying than vengeful ghosts.

Shen Man felt his temples begin to throb faintly.

Luo Zhile sighed: “Zhao Rui is one thing, but what’s going on with Qin Yixing? I thought he was supposed to be tough.”

Shen Man said, “How should I know?”

Recalling Qin Yixing’s grandiose boasts back at the entrance, both fell momentarily speechless. Worse still, this was a televised variety show; god knew what absurd edits the producers would splice together, shattering Qin Yixing’s idol image into pieces.

“Come on, let’s look around,” Shen Man said. “There should be a way out of here.”

Both were men of action. Quickly locating a hidden mechanism, they triggered open a pitch-black passageway. Staring down the seemingly endless tunnel, Shen Man stepped forward: “Let’s go.”

Luo Zhile trailed right behind him.

Surrounded by darkness with only a faint glow filtering down from overhead, they discovered a combination padlock at the far end of the corridor. Initially assuming the passcode was hidden somewhere along the tunnel walls, they searched for a while without finding any viable clues. Luo Zhile suggested it might be back in the main hall, only to turn around and discover the entrance had been sealed shut, trapping them inside the narrow passage.

At this moment, Shen Man felt grateful once more that Zhao Rui hadn’t come in; had Zhao Rui been here, he would already be on the verge of a mental breakdown, weeping for his parents.

Though slightly frightened, Luo Zhile remained well within the bounds of a normal human being; his voice trembled faintly, yet he stood his ground: “Shen-ge, what do we do now?”

Going quiet for a second, Shen Man raised an index finger to his lips in a gesture for silence.

Luo Zhile blinked in confusion.

Shen Man murmured: “Listen.”

Raindrops pattered steadily, striking the roof tiles outside with crisp, clear chimes. Yet the rhythm wasn’t chaotic at all; instead, it followed a distinct, repeating cadence, cycling over and over.

Catching on instantly, Luo Zhile’s eyes lit up: “Three, four, two, one, five?”

Shen Man nodded: “Correct.”

Testing the code on the combination lock, it clicked open effortlessly.

Pushing open the door, Luo Zhile led them into a chamber resembling an ancient woman’s boudoir. Right in the center of the room lay an overturned wooden stool, and suspended directly above it was a hemp noose swaying faintly in the draft.

“What are we supposed to do here?” Luo Zhile let out a dry laugh. “Don’t tell me it wants us to stick our heads inside?”

Shen Man: “…” What kind of living King of Hell are you?

Walking beneath the noose, Shen Man stepped onto the stool and reached up to grab the rope. The noose felt cold and soaked to the touch. Giving it a sharp tug downward, he yanked loose a heavy object that crashed down, startling both of them.

Truly spooked this time, Luo Zhile clutched his chest, gasping for air.

Stepping down from the stool, Shen Man examined the fallen object: a wooden carving wrapped inside a quilt. Its features matched the deity statue they had worshiped outside, except the green and red serpents gripped in its left and right hands were completely missing.

“Wh-What is that outside the window?” Before Luo Zhile could even catch his breath, he spotted a figure dressed in crimson standing right outside the lattice window, holding an umbrella with long hair cascading down, gazing silently at them from the dark.

Shen Man deadpanned: “Obviously, a staff member.”

Luo Zhile: “.”

The escape room’s immersion was so convincing he had nearly forgotten he was filming a variety show.

“What else could it be?” Shen Man added. “Zhao Rui or Qin Yixing in drag?”

Picturing those two shrieking at the top of their lungs, Luo Zhile shuddered violently: “Forget it, I’d rather face a real ghost.”

Nodding in agreement, Shen Man glanced back toward the woman. Vaguely, the oil-paper umbrella in her hand looked strangely familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before; yet the darkness outside obscured any fine details, leaving him unable to pinpoint the clue despite thinking it over.

Continuing forward, the two solved several smaller puzzles and pieced together more of the village’s backstory.

In essence, this remote village had long maintained a sacrificial ritual to pray for rain. The paper talismans pasted on every household’s doors and windows, alongside the dilapidated shrine they had visited earlier, were all dedicated to a deity named Yushi Qie, the Rain Deity. Yet judging from the shrine’s crumbling, neglected state, their worship contained far more than reverence; it concealed darker emotions, such as disgust and dread.

The villagers refused to approach the idol, yet were forced to beg for its protection.

Thus, a specialized role had been born in the village: the Rain Maiden, tasked exclusively with communicating with the Rain Deity to summon rainfall.

Later, following some unknown tragedy, the Rain Maiden abruptly vanished, leaving the village parched without a single drop of rain for half a year and ruining every harvest.

“Then why is it raining non-stop right now?” Luo Zhile asked. “And… is that staff member outside the window getting closer to us?”

Lifting his gaze, Shen Man saw that the crimson-clad woman holding the oil-paper umbrella really had moved noticeably closer.

In the shadows, her features remained blurred and indistinct, only her waist-length black hair clearly visible. She stood motionless, as though trying to warn them of something.

Yet what exactly was she trying to warn them about?

“Qin Yixing, can you and Zhao Rui pull yourselves together or not?!” Xu Zhouye was losing his mind.

The four of them currently stood before four massive water vats, with an oil lamp sitting nearby on the verge of being submerged by rising water.

Upon reaching this stage, they had quickly deduced they needed to plunge their hands into the vats, pull a submerged lever to drain the water, and retrieve the oil lamp. The catch was that there were four vats in total, and all four levers had to be pulled at the exact same moment.

Packed inside the vats were thick tangles of slimy aquatic weeds alongside motorized props that darted around erratically to startle players. Xu Zhouye and Zhou Yao were completely unfazed, whereas the setup was practically claiming Qin Yixing and Zhao Rui’s lives.

“Mommy!!” Zhao Rui nearly suffered a complete breakdown the first time he dipped his hand in. The vat was huge and choked with weeds, making it impossible to see where the switch was located. He had to grope around blindly in the pitch dark while rain hammered down relentlessly.

He felt as though he weren’t reaching into a water vat, but into a black abyss teeming with monsters, convinced a live creature would leap out at any second and bite half his arm off.

The unknown was always the greatest source of terror; plunging an arm into a pitch-black vat to rummage around wasn’t something an average person could stomach.

On the verge of tears, Zhao Rui wailed: “Help! I feel something biting me inside!”

Qin Yixing fared slightly better by refraining from shrieking aloud, yet he still didn’t dare stick his hand in. One screaming, one frozen stiff like a pair of statues, they drove Xu Zhouye frantic.

Although he didn’t know what would happen if the rain extinguished the oil lamp, it was guaranteed to be bad news; instinctively, Xu Zhouye sensed it was directly tied to Shen Man’s solo mission: “Zhao Rui!”

Zhao Rui sobbed: “Who told you guys to campaign votes for me?! I hate all of you!”

Chiming in from the side, Qin Yixing muttered: “I hate you guys too.”

Zhao Rui: “?”

Qin Yixing snapped: “What are you glaring at me for?!”

Zhao Rui yelled: “Didn’t you brag about having huge guts and protecting Shen Man?! You can’t even stick a hand in the water! What are you going to protect Shen Man with, your big head?!”

As if Shen Man even needs your protection! If necessary, he’d jump straight into the vat to take a bath without batting an eye!

Qin Yixing choked on his retort.

“Can you do it or not, Qin Yixing?!” Not even daring to reach in himself, Zhao Rui started bossing others around.

Grinding his back molars in fury, Qin Yixing hissed: “You dare question me?!”

His words sounded bold enough, even if his hand trembled uncontrollably right above the water’s surface.

Zhou Yao decided his biggest mistake today was failing to follow Luo Zhile on the split route, getting stuck wasting time with these two idiots instead. His already short fuse blew completely; blazing with rage, only the reminder that cameras were rolling kept him from unleashing a string of profanities: “What the hell are you two cowards scared of?! We already told you there’s nothing inside except water!”

Xu Zhouye said grimly: “I’m betting this oil lamp represents Shen Man and Luo Zhile’s lives. If it goes out, they’re done for.”

Zhao Rui and Qin Yixing went wide-eyed in unison: “No way…”

How could it not be?

The umbrella-holding woman had already glided right up to the window, her pale cheeks separated from Shen Man and Luo Zhile by a single pane of glass. With her eyes hidden behind curtains of hair, only her crimson lips remained visible, the corners of her mouth split all the way beneath her earlobes.

Locked inside the room, Shen Man and Luo Zhile watched her slowly raise a hand and point inward.

Abruptly, Luo Zhile felt something drip onto his cheek. Wiping it away with his fingers, he realized it was a crimson liquid; looking up, the previously dry ceiling had begun dripping with a steady downpour.

Both hurriedly pulled their raincoat hoods back over their heads.

“We can’t get out,” Luo Zhile said helplessly after shoving against the door. “We’re locked inside.”

“Did we miss part of the puzzle?” Shen Man deduced calmly. “Let’s check again for any remaining clues.”

The boudoir was small with sparse furnishings; searching the entire room yielded nothing new.

“Could the issue be on Xu Zhouye’s side?” Shen Man suggested.

“Xu Zhouye’s side? Do they need to trigger something?” Instantly remembering Zhao Rui and Qin Yixing, Luo Zhile cried out in alarm: “Then aren’t we completely doomed?!”

Doomed, yet not quite entirely doomed.

Upon realizing that the nearly submerged oil lamp represented Shen Man and Luo Zhile’s lives, Zhao Rui and Qin Yixing finally summoned every ounce of courage and plunged their hands toward the bottom of the vats.

Even so, they shrieked continuously while groping around, leaving Xu Zhouye and Zhou Yao bitterly regretting why they hadn’t insisted on entering the hall earlier.

The vats were deep; by the time Zhao Rui’s fingers brushed the bottom, water nearly reached his shoulder. Feeling blindly through the slimy aquatic weeds, he wailed: “Captain, you’d better treat me extra well from now on! For the sake of your life, I’m laying everything on the line!”

Qin Yixing shouted: “Shen Man, don’t be afraid, I’m coming to save you!”

Hearing that, Xu Zhouye cursed silently in his head, thinking Shen Man’s corpse would already be ice cold if he waited around for Qin Yixing’s rescue.

After considerable chaos, the four finally gripped the submerged switches simultaneously and pulled upward together.

The rising water beneath the oil lamp drained rapidly away, saving the flame!

At the same time, another object appeared behind the lamp. Picking it up, Xu Zhouye found a padlock engraved with the character 禾 (Grain).

“What is it?” Zhou Yao asked.

“Another lock,” Xu Zhouye said. “Let’s keep it, we’ll definitely need it later.”

The others nodded.

Exhausted of all courage, Zhao Rui and Qin Yixing wanted nothing more than to collapse somewhere and catch their breath.

Yet there was no spare time to rest; the NPC had silently materialized right beside them, looking as though he had been standing there for quite a while.

Stepping forward to question him, Xu Zhouye asked about Shen Man and Luo Zhile’s whereabouts.

“They went somewhere they shouldn’t have,” the man said, pointing a finger in one direction. “That is her residence. Entering will incur her wrath.”

“Let’s move,” Xu Zhouye commanded. “Go check it out.”

Meanwhile, just as Shen Man and Luo Zhile braced themselves to be drowned in the sudden downpour of blood rain, the rain abruptly ceased, and the locked door clicked open with a sharp snap.

Both let out a simultaneous sigh of relief.

“Hurry,” Shen Man said.

“Looks like their side succeeded,” Luo Zhile said. “Scared me half to death, I really thought we were going to die in here.”

Shen Man had been about to say it wouldn’t have come to that, until remembering Zhao Rui’s cowardice and realizing it genuinely might have, so he kept quiet.

Stepping out of the boudoir, they entered an enclosed corridor lined on both walls with wooden tile patterns. Observing them for a moment, Shen Man quickly recognized them as sliding puzzles.

“They’re sliding puzzles,” Shen Man said. “Let’s get started.”

Luo Zhile hummed in agreement.

Both began quietly shifting the tiles. Resembling a Huarong Dao puzzle, the mechanism was fairly tricky, and they chatted casually while working through it.

Standing beside Shen Man, Luo Zhile suddenly asked in a low voice: “Shen-ge, does Zhang-ge blame me?”

Shen Man’s hands paused briefly, not expecting Luo Zhile to ask such a question.

“Why would he blame you?” Shen Man said. “He’s genuinely happy for you.”

That was the honest truth. Zhang Chaoyun had an easygoing temperament and never held grudges; though he might have felt a bit emotional at first, he harbored zero resentment toward Luo Zhile for seeking a better opportunity.

People naturally climbed toward higher ground just as water flowed downward; it was basic human nature.

Staying at MIN would never have given Luo Zhile the bright future he deserved.

“Oh,” Luo Zhile murmured, lowering his head.

Shen Man asked, “Don’t you have him on WeChat?”

Luo Zhile replied quietly: “He deleted me.”

Shen Man: “…”