It was obvious.
The mascot costume was clearly not playing fair anymore.
Their clumsy plan had been seen through.
Now it was directly blocking the path of the three.
Even if he could suppress his aura, Su Qi could still sense the energy fluctuations of a seventh-tier cultivator emanating from him.
A practitioner, and one skilled in area-of-effect attacks at that.
Clearly… another disposable pawn.
But even so, Su Qi and Yun Huang working together would have a hard time subduing him in one move.
If a fight broke out here, the consequences would be disastrous.
Who knew how many people would die in the aftermath?
And it seemed the enemy was banking on exactly that—he didn’t even care about his own life.
Luring them into a trap by offering himself as bait.
Come to think of it, had there been too many of these blatant schemes lately?
Su Qi really hated this feeling of being "morally blackmailed."
Well, the only solution was to kill the one doing the blackmailing.
Su Qi muttered under his breath, "What a shame…"
Yun Huang echoed, "Truly a shame."
Su Qi sighed deeply. "A shame we couldn’t revoke that woman’s driver’s license."
Yun Huang: ???
Seriously, dude?
Even she was baffled by Su Qi’s bizarre train of thought.
Was this really about a driver’s license?
Of course, Su Qi wasn’t exactly trying to lighten the mood.
The reason he could act so casually was simple.
Let’s not forget—Su Qi’s special ability wasn’t crafting cards. He just used it for that because procuring materials saved him a lot of points.
"All that is asked shall be granted."
He had already asked earlier.
"How much danger are we in?"
[???]
[Isn’t this just taking your little sister to play at an amusement facility?]
Su Qi: ???
What kind of pocket dimension is this?
So full of itself?
With that, Su Qi sheathed his blade, his gaze turning indifferent.
...
Following the crude map on the flyer, the three of them headed to Zone C on the basement level.
The deeper they went, the sparser the crowd became.
The lighting also seemed to dim gradually—or perhaps it was deliberately darkened.
Posters of various styles began appearing on the walls, mostly themed around movies or games.
After walking for about two and a half minutes, a building with a distinctly anachronistic design appeared at the end of the path.
Dark-toned walls, an entrance designed like a twisted tunnel with a half-open door, and a sign hanging above it.
Written in retro font were the bold words: "No One Gets Out Alive."
Standing at the entrance was a bald staff member in a black uniform and white gloves.
Spotting Su Qi’s group, he gave them a stiff smile.
"Care to play, you three?"
Su Qi was at a loss for words…
Seriously…
Is this how cultists set up their traps?
What’s the difference between this and some punk walking up to a pretty girl and bluntly asking, "Wanna hook up?"
Thankfully, Liu Yuan couldn’t hear Su Qi’s inner monologue.
Otherwise, she’d definitely shout, "What did blondes ever do to you?"
Even Liu Yuan felt something was off…
Where was the checkout counter?
Holding the flyer, she hesitated. "Is this really the place?"
It’s just…
Too out of the way…
Pushing open the heavy wooden door, a chilling draft rushed at them.
Flickering candlelight cast eerie shadows on the mottled walls.
Well, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all?
For a real escape room, atmosphere was everything.
Shoddy set designs would only break immersion. Only meticulous scene-building, tight narrative logic, and just the right amount of horror elements could fully draw people in, letting them enjoy the thrill of unraveling mysteries.
But…
Didn’t they skip a step?
Liu Yuan remembered reading online that supernaturals participating in these activities usually had to sign a safety waiver.
The main rule? No beating up the staff.
Think about it—if a martial artist got startled by a staff member jumping out from behind, they might instinctively spin around and kick the poor guy halfway across the room, embedding him in the wall so deep you’d need a crowbar to pry him out.
What then?
Standing in front of the theme display board, Liu Yuan eagerly scanned the options, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Yun Huang-jie, which theme should we pick?"
[Small-Town Strife]
[Blood Sacrament]
[Whispers of the Old Gods]
[Elegy of the Sinner]
...
The moment Su Qi stepped into the room.
They were already standing on the altar.
Dozens of summoners slit their own chests open.
Thick blood dripped from their blades onto the center of an inverted pentagram.
Hoarse voices mingled with inhuman tremors.
"In this filthy world, we, your humble servants, struggle and sink in the mire of sin."
"Bound by the shackles of mundanity, deceived by the lies of righteousness, our souls writhe in agony, yearning for your salvation!"
"With rusted crowns as our offering,"
"With the spines of hypocrites as our stairway,"
"O Devourer of Sins from the Age of the Dark Moon!"
"Drink deep of these tainted lies!"
"Let the false justice bear witness—"
"To your majesty!"
Their faces twisted with manic fervor.
The future of Great Xia was already set in stone…
They needed to find another path for themselves…
And a sinner who spun the lie of the Pathseekers…
Was the perfect "pledge of allegiance."
As for the other two unlucky souls… well, they could only blame their own bad luck.
The Supreme Lord of Sin would surely be most pleased with Yun Huang as an offering.
"Offer these sacrifices to the Supreme Lord of Sin."
All the summoners prostrated themselves in worship.
"Offer these sacrifices to the Supreme Lord of Sin."
...
Its form spanned the void.
Every inch of it oozed with the laws of sin and punishment.
When this entity, beyond mortal comprehension, descended upon the altar, the very fabric of space groaned under the strain.
Every living being that sensed its presence—
Felt an instinctive tremor from the depths of their marrow,
Their souls’ filthiest corners blooming with flowers of repentance.
No proclamation was needed, no proof required.
Words like "light" or "heat" were laughably inadequate…
The instinct of life itself had already carved the truth into them.
This was a god.
It gazed down at the groveling humans.
To be honest, it was quite satisfied with this batch of offerings—so much so that a fragment of its true self descended upon this insignificant speck of land…
Just as it was examining its "sacrifices"…
Its form suddenly shuddered violently, nearly destabilizing the manifestation entirely.
"The hell is this?"
It spoke in slightly broken human tongue.
Wait…
Let me take another look?
It seemed quite experienced at peeping.
Its gaze remained fixed on Su Qi, never wavering.
Hovering in a state of eerie detachment.
Then, abruptly, its speech became flawless.
With a disdainful sneer, it issued an order—though to whom was unclear: "Keep these three under surveillance."
Its tone brooked no argument: "If any follower dares utter my name in their presence…"
...
It snorted coldly. "Kill them."
"Fake believers!"
"Definitely all fake believers!"
...

world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...

young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."

transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”

ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!