It was obvious that the female ghost in red had more to her story. With such an extravagant full-scale holographic projection set up, there must be more in store.
Sure enough, the female ghost cried for five minutes first.
Her weeping was creepy, scaring Guan Liangzhe and Lan Tianyou with her haunting wails.
When she finished crying, the female ghost started to speak.
It was a lengthy illusion, the gist of which was more or less as Gu Beihuai had guessed - something about parting with her best friend and getting killed afterwards.
She then exposed the inhumane practices in this illegal prison.
The basement level three was one storyline involving the female ghost looking for her friend initially, while the middle level formed a separate storyline on its own.
As it turned out, the rooms on that middle level held other victims.
The crawling female ghost was someone who had her legs mutilated from cruel torture and could now only crawl on all fours.
Bearing deep resentment, the female ghosts sealed off the entire prison.
And so they began taking revenge, which explained the death of the male prison guard ghost - even after death, his ghost carried on with his routines mechanically, changing shifts and clothes and inspecting rooms everyday.
The storyline thus came together, thrilling yet logical.
Nan Xiangwan started clapping when the narration ended, giving her compliments to the production team! Guan Liangzhe and Lan Tianyou just stared at her speechlessly - how could she bring herself to applaud?
Gu Beihuai gave his review: "As the saying goes, heaven's net has large meshes, but it lets nothing through. No one should abuse whatever little power they hold to cruelly punish the weak. All injustice is wrong."
Clap clap clap!
Nan Xiangwan continued her applause: "Well said!"
Guan Liangzhe and Lan Tianyou also began clapping. Suddenly they were all righteous and spreading positive energy - what gives?
After the horrors they went through, they were pulled to a different level by Gu Beihuai's words.
The holographic projection dispersed and warm lights came on in the basement.
At the sight of those lights, Guan Liangzhe and Lan Tianyou finally heaved deep sighs of relief.
Was it over?
But there was no prompt or indication of any kind.
With the lights back on, Gu Beihuai immediately located the lost item of the crawling female ghost from the middle level - a necklace.
So that was a photo of the ghost and her daughter. No wonder she harbored such deep resentment!
That photo was her only attachment!
Soon after, Nan Xiangwan found a hairpin under where the holographic projection used to be.
Gu Beihuai said: "The hairpin belongs to the female ghost's best friend. We should return it to her - that should end this."
Guan Liangzhe: "What? We have to go back? I refuse!"
Lan Tianyou: "Ah! Can...Can I choose not to go?"
Gu Beihuai pointed to the prop skeletons on the floor: "Sure, you two can stay in the basement and keep these vengeful ghosts company."
Guan Liangzhe: "On second thoughts, I'd rather stick with you guys!"
Lan Tianyou: "Me too, me too!"
By now Nan Xiangwan was already climbing up the ladder with the hairpin in hand. The lights on the upper level were all switched on.
As expected, it was controlled by the backstage team - once they reached the final step of their task, all the lights in the building came on.
And those were warm white and yellow lights, not eerie at all.
Nan Xiangwan went up to the top level alone.
Clutching the hairpin, she called out as she walked: "Ms Female Ghost, I found your best friend!"
At the end of the corridor, the female ghost NPC came out with a twitching smile and held out her hand.
Nan Xiangwan happily placed the hairpin in her palm: "Your hairpin!"
The female ghost turned and left. She was this close to losing it. What was with that silly grin after simply returning what they found?
On the middle level, Gu Beihuai brought the two scaredy cats to return the necklace to the crawling female ghost.
With both tasks complete, Hua Yuanwu's unhappy voice sounded over the broadcast: "Return to the basement. You've passed."
The four of them went back down to the final level in the basement.
Then they saw an entire wall slowly rise up. Turned out to be a huge hidden mechanism.
With loud whirring sounds, the space beyond was revealed - the production crew, NPCs and various monitoring equipment and cameras could be seen, along with busy staff running about.
So the secret chamber was right next to the control room!
As everything lit up brightly, the livestream audience began flooding the bullet screen, moved by this thrilling first episode that made for an unforgettable night.
The first season, first episode of "Horror Escape Room" ended!
Now that it was over, Guan Liangzhe and Lan Tianyou were no longer scared, even though they were drenched in cold sweat. The staff came over with clean clothes for them to change into.
The four leads exchanged handshakes with the NPCs as well, mutually acknowledging each other's hard work, especially those NPCs trolled by Nan Xiangwan - their pressure had been immense!
At this point Hua Yuanwu beckoned them over: "Come on, film a short vlog clip each to wrap things up."
Just a few minutes per person, and it was quickly done.
The livestream ended, but many viewers were reluctant to leave and kept spamming to anticipate the next episode.
Nan Xiangwan had also changed into fresh clothes, extremely delighted.
Guan Liangzhe's assistant brought him home to rest, looking entirely defeated. This was the most terrifying day of his hosting career.
Lan Tianyou was not much better. He didn't even dare to go anywhere alone afterwards, sticking to Gu Beihuai all the way.
Wherever Gu Beihuai went, Lan Tianyou followed!
Lan Tianyou pleaded: "Lord Gu, bring me back to the military base. I need some righteous energy to ward off evil spirits. I feel chills all around me now."
He was clearly still traumatized and paranoid.
Gu Beihuai said: "Let's grab some breakfast first."
He remembered the cub kept yelling that he was hungry, even eyeing the blood on the crucifix hungrily at one point.
At the mention of food, Nan Xiangwan immediately dashed over: "Food, food!"
The three still had to return for military training, so they had breakfast together before taking the same flight back on the same day.
Lan Tianyou stuck to Gu Beihuai the entire time, even following him to the bathroom.
He absolutely did not dare be alone now. The horrors still haunted him.
As for the happy-go-lucky Nan Xiangwan, she just slept all the way from breakfast to the plane.
The kid must be exhausted!
............
The live audience was blessed to catch this rare late night treat.
But the legions of fans who missed the livestream could only wait five more days for the edited version.
Post-production would distill the live footage into a tight two hour cut to be released on major video sites.
The vlogs, however, went out that same afternoon.
It contained individual interviews of all four leads, released on every platform to promote the show.
First up was Guan Liangzhe's vlog.
Q: "Was this your first time attempting an escape room?"
Guan Liangzhe: "Yes, my very first time. It was pretty interesting."
Q: "What was your experience like?"
Guan Liangzhe: "Very exciting. The plot was tight and I especially enjoyed the solo tasks."
Q: "Were you scared?"
Guan Liangzhe: "How could I be scared? I bravely took point the entire time!"
Q: "......"
Lan Tianyou's vlog was much more honest.
Q: "Compared to acting, how was this kind of puzzle variety show?"
Lan Tianyou first glanced back anxiously before stammering: "Can I sit with you guys? I'm scared!"
Q: "Hahaha! Was it really that scary?"
Lan Tianyou: "It freaked me out so bad all my hair stood on end! Would you believe I cried from fear inside?"
Q: "But Teacher Guan next door said he wasn't scared at all."
Lan Tianyou gaped in disbelief: "He actually said he wasn't afraid? Was the person sobbing and clinging to me a ghost then?"
