Chapter 334: The Demon Queen
Because it wasn’t a horror-themed escape room, Adele felt quite relaxed. She quickly got into character, exchanging cheesy and chuunibyou lines with Tang Linlang. After the first act ended, under Adele’s influence, Tang Linlang also successfully got into character. Now, she was the vampire waiting for an opportunity to take revenge on Adele. As for Adele, she was the vampire hunter who knew the vampire’s identity but still kept her by her side, raising her. As they said, the most skilled hunter often appeared as prey. Tang Linlang thought she was the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware that Adele, the oriole, was behind her.
The two entered a room designed as a dilapidated church to search for information and clues. The props they found could also be used in later rooms. Overall, it was a very interesting process, like an online puzzle game, but a live-action version.
“Linlang, let’s stand back to back!”
“Eh…why?”
“Haven’t you played games!? When we’re looking for something, and we lower our heads or get immersed in something,”
“When we turn around, there’s bound to be something scary! It could be a ghost, or some other monster!”
“This is the classic ‘jump scare’ setting, right!?” It was also a point that most audiences and players would complain about. Even though they knew what would happen, they would still be scared. Perhaps turning around and finding something or someone that wasn’t there before suddenly appearing was the most basic form of horror.
“…” Tang Linlang was silent for a moment.
“Is there a possibility that the biggest monster in this escape room is a vampire?”
“And you’re a vampire.”
“…Absolutely impossible! I’m a vampire hunter with a mithril Desert Eagle!”
“Um, o-okay.” Tang Linlang wanted to laugh, but she still cooperated with Adele, standing back to back with her nervously. This was a famous tactic on ancient battlefields, but using it in an escape room was quite absurd. If there really was an NPC playing a villain role to scare them, wouldn’t he be stunned?
Fortunately, the space inside the church wasn’t very large. There were just a few rows of tables, a lectern, and a huge cross behind the lectern. A figure seemed to be tied to the cross, wrapped in a bloodstained red shroud. Adele was almost certain that this person was the NPC of this escape room! Ugh, can we avoid touching it? It looks disgusting!
NPC: …
But as the game progressed, after Adele and Tang Linlang collected the clues in the church and read all the information they could find, the only thing left was the NPC wrapped in red cloth. At this time, Tang Linlang raised her eyebrows and tugged Adele’s sleeve, whispering, “Look, the door is behind the cross.”
And a door meant another room behind it, the location of the second act.
“Damn it, this setting where we have to face the NPC is too cunning…”
“Linlang, why don’t…you go and uncover his cloth?” Adele instigated.
Did she use up all her courage on flirting with girls…? Looking back now, Ice Queen Hermione and the last vampire princess, Dorothy, were much scarier than this ordinary staff member playing an NPC. And there was also Seraph, the angel girl representing one of the strongest combat forces. Her true form was even more terrifying. And Adele still…did things to her.
Tang Linlang nodded, without any objection. The girl always pampered Adele. So no matter what lay ahead, she was willing to go through it for Adele. But the moment Tang Linlang took a step, a voice came from the loudspeaker in the church. A staff member reminded them that different people would receive different information by touching the “martyred saint,” and they could only receive it once. This information was very important, related to the ending of the game, and they weren’t allowed to tell each other. The implication was that the two guests had to decide who would obtain this information. And the person who obtained this information would have a higher probability of winning the game.
That’s right, this game wasn’t about escaping together. It contained a competitive element. This could be seen from their roles. A vampire hunter and a vampire were natural enemies. Their ending together was most likely a fight to the death, not a happy ending. But it wasn’t that there was no “happy ending.” It was just that the probability of achieving it was very low.
Now, Adele and Tang Linlang looked at each other. So it was information that needed to be competed for.
“How about…Adele, you go,” Tang Linlang smiled slightly. She wasn’t very competitive. Enjoying the game with Adele was what she wanted.
But Adele looked at her seriously. “It’s not like that. If the game involves ‘letting others win,’ it becomes meaningless!”
“And if that’s the case, Linlang…do you think I would be happy?”
Tang Linlang’s gaze trembled.
“Besides, I’m the vampire hunter, the one with the advantage.”
“So, let’s decide with rock-paper-scissors!” Adele’s smile was bright, and Tang Linlang’s image appeared in her cherry-colored eyes. She didn’t intend to let Linlang win. Because this was the right way to play the game.
Looking at the girl’s sincere face, Tang Linlang immediately nodded with a smile.
“Then…rock-paper-scissors!”
The two extended their hands at the same time. Adele showed rock, a clenched fist, and Tang Linlang showed paper.
“Ugh!” Tang Linlang easily won this round.
“A-Again, best two out of three!” Adele suddenly added a rule. Cheating was also part of the game! Adele was really taking this escape room seriously.
“Eh…oh, okay.” Although Tang Linlang felt that this was a bit different from the fair competition Adele mentioned before, she still gently accepted Adele’s proposal.
Then the two played rock-paper-scissors again. Adele won a round, her scissors cutting through Tang Linlang’s repeated paper.
In the final round, Adele calmed down. I choose you, rock! Adele didn’t believe that Tang Linlang would show paper three times in a row! But the result…
“Oh, I won,” Tang Linlang said with surprise, her palm open. And Adele, clenching her small fist, was petrified on the spot. She lost, lost to a stubborn girl who didn’t know how to adapt. You go, Linlang.
“Then, I’ll go talk to the saint?”
“Go ahead, I’ll wait for you here.” The dejection only lasted for a moment in Adele’s mind before vanishing. The girl showed her usual gentle yet cunning smile again.
Tang Linlang walked towards the martyred saint on the cross. As Tang Linlang approached, the “saint” NPC began to struggle and moan in pain. The red shroud changed shape, making the scene look very gruesome. The horror element had finally arrived. Adele suddenly felt glad that she hadn’t won the rigged rock-paper-scissors contest.
But looking at Linlang, she tilted her head, seemingly only finding the scene a bit strange, without any other thoughts. Here, a moment of silence for the NPC who was trying his best… An escape room NPC who couldn’t scare people would probably be very hurt…
It seemed that the “dead saint” was very resistant to Tang Linlang’s approach, or rather, resistant to her identity as a vampire. This was actually foreshadowing, allowing Adele to realize that the person beside her was the vampire she had killed in the first act. Although this was information already known to both Tang Linlang and Adele before the game started, she still had to praise the escape room’s attention to detail.
Another detail was that when Tang Linlang touched the cross, she felt a slight electric shock. It should be some kind of harmless mechanism. But if Adele, the vampire hunter, touched the cross, probably nothing would happen. And the martyred saint would also appear very peaceful, telling the girl the information normally, not gruesomely like now, as if trying to escape the cross, escape the approaching vampire.
Tang Linlang leaned closer to the saint, and the saint whispered something hoarsely in her ear. The girl’s expression changed slightly, and she looked back at Adele. Just as Adele was curious about what information Tang Linlang had received, the door behind the cross suddenly opened automatically. This meant that the search in this room was over, and they needed to enter the next scene to experience another part of the story.
Adele came to Tang Linlang’s side and touched the cross, but there was no reaction. And the saint NPC returned to his original “playing dead” state. It seemed that they could only step into the darkness behind that door. Adele suddenly joked, “I’m really curious about what information Linlang received!”
“Could it be my fatal weakness or something?”
“At the end, will we have to fight to the death, fulfilling our destiny?” As a “fujoshi” who had read too many novels, sometimes, whether it was a novel or an anime, Adele could predict the plot just by guessing. This escape room, to maximize the players’ experience, would definitely create a cliché plot about destiny and life and death. Perhaps, in many cases, the ending was already determined by the roles they chose. A vampire and a vampire hunter…could they really overcome worldly prejudices and be together?
Tang Linlang bit her lip gently, seemingly unsure of Adele’s meaning. After all, she was the one who said they should compete fairly. But she still tentatively asked, “Adele…do you want to know?” If Adele wanted to know, Tang Linlang certainly wouldn’t hide anything from her.
And Adele was indeed just joking. She shook her head.
“Silly! I was just teasing you.”
“Come on, let’s go to the next scene, my vampire lady~.” Adele came to Tang Linlang’s side, raised her leg, and gently kicked the girl’s butt like she was playing cat’s cradle.
“Eek!” Tang Linlang jumped slightly. Then, blushing, she covered her butt. When she glanced at Adele, the latter smiled mischievously and charmingly.
“Hehe~” Only Tang Linlang had such a gentle personality. Otherwise, if it were someone else, they might kick Adele’s butt back. What was this called? This was called “bonding through butt-kicking.”
The two entered the second escape room together. It was a cabin in the woods. Here, the relationship between the vampire hunter and the vampire took a new turn. Because it was a story-driven escape room, the real gameplay for Adele and Tang Linlang was to find clues and information to restore the outline of the story, and occasionally play the characters in the story to interact or make certain choices.
Adele and Tang Linlang each searched around, and the pieced-together plot was roughly this: The vampire hunter was preparing to take the vampire girl back to her family. But for the vampire girl, this was no different from walking into a trap, a dead end. She was still weak and hadn’t regained her strength, so she thought her vampire identity hadn’t been discovered, and she believed that the vampire hunter wasn’t wary of her. So she secretly decided to kill the vampire hunter here, that is, Adele.
Tang Linlang’s eyelids twitched when she saw this plot. She couldn’t imagine herself wanting to kill Adele. But the prop dagger before her reminded her that the girl in the story would use this dagger to stab the vampire hunter’s heart while she was sleeping at midnight, also the time when the vampire, bathed in moonlight, was at her strongest.
Unconsciously, Tang Linlang seemed to experience the life of another woman and felt a great shock. The same feeling appeared in Adele’s heart. She was also curious, would the vampire…Linlang, stab her heart? If she did, what would she do?
The escape room’s plot became increasingly captivating. The two continued to search for clues, wanting to know the final answer. Adele finally found a diary under the cabin’s bed. She opened the lock and saw what was written inside. The diary not only recorded everything that happened that night, but also the bits and pieces of their time together before that. It was the ordinary yet warm daily life of a cold female hunter and a tsundere little vampire.
They traveled together, walked the same path, and experienced the same adventures. The vampire discovered that the hunter wasn’t as cold and heartless as she seemed, and had a gentle side that could make one blush. Similarly, the vampire hunter also developed a different view of this vampire disguised as a human girl. After all, what was the difference between her and a vampire? Weren’t they both monsters rejected by this world?
Finally, Adele turned to the last page of the diary, the night of the assassination attempt. She even gulped nervously as she turned the page. But what appeared before Adele was a blank page. The previous page clearly showed the vampire giving herself a pep talk with determined handwriting, saying that they were mortal enemies and not to be fooled by her appearance along the way. That doesn’t belong to you, that gentleness, that care, it doesn’t belong to you, to you, a monster! She was only being kind to the human girl you pretended to be. When she discovers your vampire identity, she will without doubt shoot you in the chest with that silver Desert Eagle. So…use this dagger, which she even gave you for self-defense…to kill her! Please, kill her…
Adele slowly closed the diary, thinking wistfully, Is the ending of that night destined to remain unknown?
At the same time, Tang Linlang came to Adele’s side. Adele handed the diary to Linlang, watching her reaction. Tang Linlang quickly finished reading the diary, her expression clearly dazed. She either immersed herself in the vampire’s role, mistakenly thinking that she had written the diary, or something else.
Just then, Adele suddenly hugged her from behind, a warm, firm embrace, and asked in a vulnerable voice, “That night…did you do it?”
“No—no!”
“I couldn’t bear to…” Tang Linlang’s heart clenched, and she subconsciously replied to Adele, or rather, to the vampire hunter.
From Tang Linlang’s reaction, Adele was willing to believe that this was the ending of that night. And Tang Linlang, coming back to her senses, lowered her head in embarrassment.
It was worth mentioning that while Adele found the diary, Tang Linlang also found a clue item. It was a cloth bag with a vampire symbol on it, containing heavy silver coins. But according to the description, the vampire’s current identity was a “rescued human girl.” It was impossible for her to have so much money. So the only possibility was that the vampire hunter secretly put her own money into the vampire’s bag. She seemed to know that the girl was leaving, so she chose to silently care for her in this way. And the vampire seemed to have noticed this. She didn’t choose to hurt the vampire hunter with the dagger, as there were no bloodstains on it. Nor did she choose to take the money. She just left alone, parting ways with the vampire hunter. Because she was afraid that if she stayed, she might fall…for her enemy, for the vampire hunter, developing feelings that shouldn’t exist. The vampire was afraid of herself like that. It wasn’t so much parting ways as it was escaping.
Adele and Tang Linlang looked at each other, feeling a bit emotional about the story’s development.
“My little girl is running away,” Adele said to Tang Linlang affectionately.
Tang Linlang knew that she was half in character and half teasing. She immediately blushed, and after a while, murmured, “…She will come back.” Your little girl, she will come back.
Adele smiled and nodded. Both realized that in the next room, they might have to temporarily separate. This was also necessary for the escape room game.
As expected, when they opened another door in the room, a wooden corridor appeared before them. The corridor split into two sides, each with a symbol representing the path they should take. Adele’s was the Desert Eagle. She was still holding the pistol, but unfortunately, she hadn’t had a chance to use it, which made her a little regretful. But this time, Adele guessed that the opportunity to use it had finally arrived.
The place Tang Linlang was going to was on the opposite side, to the right. There was also a room waiting for her there. As for what was inside, whether it was a new clue or an NPC playing a certain role, it was unknown. But if time were to rewind by ten minutes, no one would know that in the room Adele was about to enter, scarlet, twisted, indescribable magic patterns suddenly appeared on the floor and walls, like the veins formed by spreading blood. They pulsed and breathed as if alive. Finally, they slowly converged, spreading and growing like branches.
A graceful figure, like a demon queen from hell, descended upon this world. She had jet-black horns like the Mother of Black Goats, pure white hair, and scarlet amber eyes. Her skin was snow-white, and a pair of majestic bone wings unfolded behind her. Bony spikes protruded from her elbows and knees, and her fingertips were as sharp as knives.
Suddenly, the queen frowned and looked sharply at a certain spot on the wall. It was a security camera mechanically performing its task. But the next moment, the camera’s feed went black! All the captured images were distorted into garbled code by an indescribable force, impossible to restore.
Only then did the queen nod in satisfaction. Then, she looked thoughtful, as if wondering…
“Where is this?”
“Is this still the human world I’m familiar with?”
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