Proofreader & Editor:Peter Pan

---

The front desk girl had no idea about everyone's inner thoughts, otherwise, she would surely hear a remark, "This one really is something!"

 

"Our boss said the money can be refunded, but only for your group!"

 

After hanging up the phone, the front desk girl relayed the boss's exact words to Lin Baici and the others.

 

"But our tickets were bought together in a group purchase!"

 

Pei Fei argued with reason.

 

"You already bought the tickets at half price, we're actually making a loss here, just to build some reputation!"

 

The front desk girl forced a smile. Every year when the freshmen at Haijing start school, the boss would run a promotion. After all, these escape rooms are only interesting the first one or two times; play too much, and it gets boring.

 

Mainly because designing escape rooms is too troublesome. This isn't like making a movie where you can create difficult challenges with camera tricks.

 

Making props in reality is very troublesome.

 

The commotion here attracted quite a few people, especially some newcomers who curiously sized up Lin Baici and his group.

 

The front desk girl looked at Lin Baici, pleading in a low voice, "You managed to clear nine rooms so quickly, you must be very smart, you'll definitely not be short of money in the future, please don't make it hard for me, I beg you!"

 

The front desk girl clasped her hands together and bowed to Lin Baici, her eyes filled with pleading, curiosity, and admiration.

 

Because Lin Baici not only broke the record but also finished an hour earlier.

 

"Whether the money is refunded or not doesn't matter, just hurry up and put our names on that board!"

 

Qian Jiahui urged, more interested in fame than the money.

 

"Give each of us a bucket of popcorn and a bottle of cola, and we won't need a refund!"

 

Lin Baici couldn't be bothered to argue over these trivial matters; a billionaire should have the magnanimity of a billionaire.

 

"Class monitor!"

 

Pei Fei was not quite happy, as for the others, Bai Jiao was still reviewing Lin Baici's entire process of clearing the rooms, Ji Xinyan didn't care, and Hu Wenwu felt he had no right to speak, so they all listened to Lin Baici.

 

"That's settled then."

 

Lin Baici signaled the front desk girl to hurry up.

 

"Right away!"

 

The front desk girl quickly returned to the counter and grabbed a scoop to fill the popcorn: "Don't worry, I'll fill it up for you!"

 

Liu Zilu, Xu Daguan, Zhang Zhixu, and the other two groups hadn't come out yet, so Lin Baici and his group couldn't leave either and sat in the lobby's chairs to chat.

 

***

 

Half an hour passed, and Qian Jiahui was getting restless, glancing towards the escape room exit: "They haven't come out yet?"

 

"The time they've been in there hasn't even exceeded the previous 'record' yet, looks like they'll need at least another hour!"

 

Ji Xinyan was also frustrated, sitting around was truly boring, and it was rare to play with Lin Baici, so they should make some memories, right?

 

"It's all because Old Bai is too awesome!"

 

Fang Mingyuan sighed.

 

Everyone had been so immersed in the experience that they hadn't realized how terrifying Lin Baici's performance was. After all, according to his explanations, those escape room challenges really weren't hard, but now, seeing the performance of others, they realized Lin Baici was truly exceptional.

 

During their wait, they saw many players passing by, discussing the escape room challenges, most of whom hadn't even finished the nine rooms, let alone break the record, because they stayed too long and were deemed dead according to the rules.

 

The boss opened this shop to make money, which required ensuring a steady flow of customers, so it was impossible to let players stay in the escape rooms indefinitely. Hence, exceeding the time limit meant death, and the game was over.

 

Xu Daguan's group came out earlier than Ji Xinyan had predicted.

 

"The design of this escape room is quite interesting, let's play again next time!"

 

Xu Daguan and Liu Zilu walked side by side. Xu Daguan, with his not low EQ, could sense that Zhou Zhou might have some feelings for him, but she was too plain-looking.

 

Although Liu Zilu wasn't very pretty, she at least dressed fashionably.

 

Liu Yu was originally upset about not clearing all the rooms and not being able to show off his IQ in front of Ji Xinyan and Bai Jiao, but when he suddenly saw Lin Baici and his group sitting in the lobby, he immediately felt happy.

 

"Haha, Lin Baici and his group have already come out!"

 

Liu Yu was overjoyed.

 

Everyone looked over, and Lin Baici and his group had already eaten quite a bit of their popcorn and cola, indicating they had been waiting for at least twenty minutes.

 

"Hmph, a bunch of trash!"

 

Liu Yu was smug.

 

Xu Daguan's group walked over. "Qian bro, you guys came out quite a while ago?"

 

"Yeah!"

 

Qian Jiahui took a sip of cola.

 

"You guys were really fast, huh?" Liu Yu interjected, "Did you clear three rooms? Don't tell me you didn't even make it through three?"

 

Liu Yu's group had knelt at the fifth room, so he figured that Lin Baici and his group coming out so early must have failed at the third room.

 

"I'm telling you, the rooms in the back were quite fun, it's a pity you didn't get to see them!"

 

Liu Yu sighed, putting on a regretful expression for Lin Baici's group, but inside he was ecstatic.

 

Bai Jiao, Ji Xinyan, following Lin Baici,

 

screwed, right?

 

Isn't it frustrating to not fully enjoy the game and just sit here in the breeze?

 

"Liu Yu, what kind of way is that to talk?"

 

Pei Fei frowned, his words were too dismissive.

 

"Haha, the later rooms were indeed quite fun!"

 

Qian Jiahui laughed, patting Lin Baici's shoulder hard: "Right, Old Bai?"

 

Qian Jiahui, because of his strong family background, had been used to solving problems with money since he was young, but that didn't mean he was stupid or didn't understand worldly wisdom.

 

Liu Yu's words were most likely aimed at Lin Baici, after all, even if Liu Yu was dumb, he wouldn't dare to offend Qian Jiahui, but he forgot that Qian Jiahui and Lin Baici were in the same group, and clearing the escape room was a team game. By looking down on Lin Baici's intelligence, he was also implying that the others were not up to par.

 

"It was so-so!"

 

Lin Baici felt that playing by the rules was more interesting, the kind that could cost you your life.

 

"Heh!"

 

Liu Yu shook his head, stubborn as a dead duck: "Next time, I'll lead you through."

 

Pfft!

 

Ji Xinyan couldn't hold back and laughed out loud, even Bai Jiao shook her head with a smile.

 

It's not a problem for men to compete and be jealous, and if they have achievements, they can show off and flaunt their superiority. But the question is, can they first understand the situation before showing off?

 

Liu Yu now, in Bai Jiao's eyes, looked like a complete fool,

 

a pure one.

 

"Liu Yu!"

 

Fang Mingyuan pointed at the front desk, "Do you see something missing over there?"

 

Liu Zilu and Zhou Zhou had already joined Ji Xinyan in a quiet conversation.

 

Xu Daguan turned around, "Missing what?"

 

"Eh? It seems like an advertisement board is missing? I remember it had the names, schools, and times of the fastest escape room clearers!"

 

Liu Zilu's observation was quite meticulous, after she finished, she looked at Fang Mingyuan: "What's going on?"

 

Before Fang Mingyuan could explain, the front desk girl and a colleague came over with several buckets of popcorn.

 

Xu Daguan and the others thought it was something Qian Jiahui and his group had bought, so they didn't pay much attention, but soon they realized, after the front desk girl handed them the popcorn, she walked over to Lin Baici.

 

She bowed her head, her posture very low.

 

What's going on?

 

It looked like she was Lin Baici's maidservant.

 

"Classmate, if someone comes over to ask you, could you please keep it a secret?"

 

The front desk girl was under a lot of pressure because Lin Baici hadn't left, and if some players came over to ask for the secrets to clearing the escape room, and he let it slip, the shop's losses would be huge.

 

"Damn, right, I forgot, you can post the secrets to clearing the escape room online!"

 

Qian Jiahui realized belatedly.

 

"You just thought of that?"

 

Ji Xinyan rolled her eyes, they were all college students, too embarrassed to demand too much, otherwise, not to mention a refund, asking for three times more wouldn't be a problem.

 

You have to know, the cost of designing and setting up an escape room far exceeds this amount of money.

 

Once the clues of an escape room are known, there's no fun left.

 

"Your record, it's fake, isn't it?"

 

Lin Baici countered.

 

"Ah?"

 

The front desk girl was startled, "It's real!"

 

"Have you seen it with your own eyes?"

 

Lin Baici smiled.

 

"No!"

 

The front desk girl shook her head.

 

"You just called your boss, right? His response strategy is too crude, not even coming to greet us personally, and he's not even willing to give a full refund."

 

Lin Baici chuckled, "This way, it's obvious he hasn't encountered anyone who's cleared it before, otherwise he wouldn't have reacted like this!"

 

"Because I could easily post a guide in the group purchase comments, what would you do then to make money?"

 

Indeed, some people come to enjoy the process of solving escape rooms, and they wouldn't look at the answers even if they had them, but there are also some who come to impress girls, to show off their intellectual superiority, so they would definitely look up the answers in advance.

 

When more people see the guide and more people come to play, they will keep analyzing the flaws of this escape room, trying to belittle it, saying it has no challenge.

 

Why?

 

Because showing off superiority online is second nature to many people.

 

When the reputation of the escape room declines, the boss will either have to set up a new room or struggle on, but either way, he'll lose money.

 

"Ah?"

 

The front desk girl was scared because what Lin Baici said was very likely to happen. She subconsciously wanted to take out her phone to call the boss, but the phone suddenly rang.

 

This startled her, and when she took out her phone, she saw it was the boss's call.

 

"Hello, boss!"

 

The front desk girl moved to the side to avoid being overheard by Lin Baici and the others.

 

"What's going on?"

 

Liu Zilu was confused: "Listening to your conversation, it seems like you've cleared all the rooms?"

 

"Impossible!"

 

Liu Yu instinctively retorted, "We worked so hard and only got through four, and you guys came out even earlier than us, how many could you have cleared?"

 

No one responded, just looking at Lin Baici and his group, waiting for an explanation.

 

"Why don't you ask Old Bai why he's so showy?"

 

Qian Jiahui laughed heartily.

 

"Don't use your mortal thinking to guess at a genius!"

 

Ji Xinyan added, not liking Liu Yu, and not caring if her words offended anyone.

 

"That's right, your limit is just Old Bai's starting point!"

 

Fang Mingyuan sighed.

 

"I think 'genius' isn't enough to describe Old Bai, 'deity' is more appropriate!"

 

Hu Wenwu's words came from the heart, because Lin Baici had deduced from the boss's response that the clearance record was fake.

 

Too divine!

 

"Really? You cleared all the rooms?"

 

Xu Daguan grabbed a handful of popcorn and crunched away.

 

"Otherwise, why do you think that record board was taken down?"

 

Fang Mingyuan retorted.

 

"Holy shit, awesome!"

 

Xu Daguan was shocked, followed by a sigh,

 

Damn, what a loss.

 

If he had been with Lin Baici's group earlier and live-streamed it, wouldn't his popularity have exploded? Definitely would've hit the front page of Shark Platform.

 

That's all money!

 

Liu Zilu and Zhou Zhou quietly asked Bai Jiao, and after confirming that Lin Baici had cleared it all by himself, they stared at him dumbfounded.

 

"Did you look up a guide online?"

 

Liu Yu still didn't quite believe it.

 

"Hey, can you be a bit more magnanimous? If you're inferior, just admit it. After all, no one is as good as Lin Baici, no one thinks anything of it, but you're so stubborn, it looks very LOW!"

 

Ji Xinyan scorned.

 

Being ridiculed by the girl he liked made Liu Yu very uncomfortable.

 

After the front desk girl finished the call, she hurried over: "Classmate, could you please wait a moment? Our boss is on his way here!"

 

"He figured it out?"

 

Lin Baici popped a piece of popcorn, "Not easy!"

 

"Our boss is actually a nice guy!"

 

The front desk girl was embarrassed; the boss was a second-generation rich kid who had lost a lot in stocks and, after cutting his losses, opened this shop.

 

The boss had just called to ask for the phone number of the college student who broke the record, and then the front desk girl said they hadn't left, so the boss told her to hold them there, and he would come over as soon as possible.

 

Zhang Zhixu and the others were having too much fun, and the young boss had arrived, but they still hadn't come out.

 

The negotiation was simple; Lin Baici and his group signed an agreement not to disclose any content of the escape rooms, and the boss paid a hush fee of ten thousand yuan.

 

If Lin Baici and his group broke the agreement, the boss would hold them accountable.

 

"Ten thousand yuan?"

 

Pei Fei swallowed, she just wanted to get the ticket money back, she didn't expect to earn so much.

 

"It should be at least fifty thousand, right?"

 

Ji Xinyan laughed, "Not to mention whether those props can be reused, just that room filled with English words, you repaint it, change the floor, it's more than ten thousand!"

 

"…"

 

Pei Fei and Hu Wenwu were stunned, you're asking for so much, would the boss agree?

 

"Thirty thousand!"

 

The young boss bargained.

 

"Alright, I was naive!"

 

Pei Fei felt she had seen a new world today.

 

Under Ji Xinyan's negotiation, the boss finally paid fifty thousand, but Lin Baici and the others had to swear an oath not to divulge any information about the escape room.

 

It was a helpless move because if Lin Baici and his group were shameless, they could tell others, letting them publish the escape room guide, so the boss could only come up with the oath method, at least if the other party didn't play by the rules, he could disgust them a bit.

 

"Hurry up and swear, it's fifty thousand!"

 

Pei Fei was the first to finish and began urging the others.

 

"Damn, do I look like someone who needs this money?"

 

Qian Jiahui refused.

 

"I don't want the money, and I won't swear the oath!"

 

Lin Baici also refused.

 

"OMG, are you two sick?"

 

Liu Zilu and Zhou Zhou spoke in unison, fifty thousand yuan, each of you could get a few thousand.

 

Qian Jiahui was fine, being a second-generation rich kid, but Lin Baici, why do you treat money like dirt?

 

Don't play the big shot, hurry up, swear the oath, take the money!

 

Ji Xinyan guessed this outcome, would someone with over twenty million in pocket money care about your fifty thousand?

 

Looking down on whom?

 

When Zhang Zhixu and the others came out, they saw everyone was there.

 

"I thought we were the first group out, didn't expect you guys to be even worse?"

 

Zhang Zhixu sighed: "Old Bai, you're good at chanting scriptures and playing cards, how come you're not good at breaking escape rooms?"

 

"Did love talk ruin your brain?"