After saying that, Sang Zhi acted as if nothing had happened and wandered toward the teacher’s desk with her flashlight. When she didn’t hear any reaction from Duan Jiaxu for a while, she couldn’t help but glance back.
She found him still standing in place, looking down, and turning off his flashlight. Then he asked, “Kiss?”
In the already dim room, the darkness felt even more intense.
He was hidden in the shadows, his figure unclear, his expression indiscernible.
Sang Zhi thought it was only fair to mention it in advance. Otherwise, if she just went up and kissed him without warning, it might seem a bit disrespectful. Wanting to keep things balanced, she decided not to let him see her expression either, so she crouched behind the teacher’s desk. “Hmm.”
He chuckled softly. “Are you giving me a heads-up?”
She lowered her flashlight and noticed another number beneath the teacher’s desk. She memorized the number, thought for a second, and replied, “If you think it’s not appropriate today, you don’t have to agree.”
”I think today’s just right,” Duan Jiaxu said, sounding gentlemanly. “Do you want to take the lead, or should I?”
Sang Zhi stood up and replied seriously, “Of course, me.”
”Alright.” Duan Jiaxu paused, then asked plainly but politely, “Can I use tongue?”
”…” Sang Zhi’s hand slipped, and her flashlight clattered to the ground. She quickly picked it up, steadied herself, and answered, “No.”
Duan Jiaxu didn’t argue. “Come here.”
”Not now,” she emphasized. “We have to finish the game first. It costs fifty yuan per person, you know. Plus, there are cameras. Just like in a movie theater—they can see everything.”
”Then why’d you tell me so early?” Duan Jiaxu turned his flashlight back on, his tone playful. “Were you trying to make me anxious?”
”…”
Sang Zhi pretended not to hear. “I’ve found two numbers.”
He walked over, handed her a piece of paper, and said calmly, “The locations are marked on this. Follow it to find the rest. Together, the numbers should be the code for the lock under the teacher’s desk.”
”…” Sang Zhi felt like he had some kind of cheat code. “How do you know that?”
Duan Jiaxu’s voice held a smile. “This isn’t too hard.”
Sang Zhi followed the positions marked on the paper, searching one by one. “Then why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I thought you seemed to enjoy it,” Duan Jiaxu said leisurely. “I wanted to take my time and play along, give you a sense of involvement in the game, but now your ge feels like leaving early.”
After finding the four numbers, Sang Zhi turned on the lights, a bit puzzled. “Do you actually know how to get out?”
Duan Jiaxu replied nonchalantly, “Mm-hmm.”
“We’ve only been in here for twenty minutes!” In annoyance, Sang Zhi suddenly pushed him down into one of the chairs. “Forget it, you’re not playing. Just sit here,” she added, “I’ll play by myself. Don’t give me any hints.”
”…” Duan Jiaxu laughed. “Why are you so bossy, little girl?”
She ignored him and went over to the teacher’s desk, unlocking the lock. As she took out the items inside, she muttered, “The clues aren’t even all found yet, and you say you already know how to get out.”
Duan Jiaxu: “Bring it over, let me see.”
Sang Zhi reluctantly handed him the folder.
He glanced at it: “In that drawer over there, there’s another box. Once you unlock that, it leads to—”
“…” Sang Zhi took the folder back. “Just stay quiet.”
Inside the folder was a single sheet of paper with four lines of text.
It seemed to be a riddle.
She sat in a nearby chair, thinking it over.
Duan Jiaxu, resting his chin on his hand, tilted his head to look at her. “Why aren’t you letting me play anymore?”
“Because when you act like this,” she reasoned, “it makes me feel like my fifty yuan was wasted.”
”…”
”And if you can do it, why can’t I?” Sang Zhi felt his behavior was blatantly insulting her intelligence, which annoyed her. “I just haven’t played as much as you.”
He patiently waited: “Alright.”
He stretched his leg out, hooking it under her chair and lazily reminded, “Just don’t forget.”
The riddle wasn’t too difficult, and Sang Zhi managed to solve it within a few minutes. She stood up and started rummaging through the newspapers on the back table, muttering to herself, “Is this useful or not…”
Duan Jiaxu replied, “It is.”
”…” Sang Zhi shot back, “I didn’t ask you.”
Though she said that, his comment made her instinctively check carefully anyway. She looked up and spent a while studying the graduation photos on the wall, each labeled with a name.
Lost in thought, she ended up spending more than ten minutes on this part.
Duan Jiaxu glanced at the time. “Time’s almost up.”
“We can add more time.” Sang Zhi looked back at him, watching as he lounged there like he owned the place. She pursed her lips, speaking with a hint of defiance, “Can I ask the owner to only add time for one person?”
”…”
Finally, with her own efforts, Sang Zhi found the key and exited the room.
They both walked out, returned the school IDs to the owner, and retrieved their phones. After listening to the owner thoroughly explain the story behind the game, they finally left the shop.
Sang Zhi was still a bit immersed in the experience. “Thinking about it now, it’s actually kind of creepy.”
Duan Jiaxu: “Huh?”
Sang Zhi explained, “The plot is about a student who suffered from school bullying and eventually couldn’t take it anymore and committed suicide. Then, we, as former bullies, are invited to a class reunion.”
”Yeah.”
“Now that I think about it, don’t you find that classroom pretty eerie?” Sang Zhi said. “We even turned off the lights in there. If I’d known the story beforehand, I definitely wouldn’t have done that.”
Duan Jiaxu looked at her, his gaze steady, and gave a soft “Mm.”
“That’s why people shouldn’t bully others,” Sang Zhi muttered. “Wouldn’t it be better if everyone just lived peacefully?”
The two walked back from outside the campus toward Sang Zhi’s dorm building.
Along the way, she kept talking about the escape room like a kid who had just visited an arcade for the first time. “Should we go again sometime and try a more challenging theme?”
He agreed, “Sure.”
Just as they reached her dorm building, she let go of his hand. “I’m heading back now. It’s late, so drive safely.”
He lifted his long eyelashes, a slight smile playing on his lips, his tone gentle yet sly.
”Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“What?” Sang Zhi blinked, the dimples at the corners of her lips vanishing as she tried to think. Then, catching on, she laughed, “Oh, right. You didn’t drive here today.”
”…”
”Then hurry and catch the subway,” she said, waving him off, “or it’ll stop running soon.”
Duan Jiaxu’s gaze lingered on her smiling eyes, and his expression softened. Suddenly, he didn’t feel like reminding her anymore.
It felt better this way—letting her laugh freely and talk so cheerfully in front of him, without holding back or worrying about anything. That simple joy meant more than anything else he could wish for.
He stood there, watching her go inside the dorm before turning to leave.
Just as he was about to head out of the campus, he heard footsteps again. Looking back instinctively, he saw Sang Zhi running toward him, bouncing to a stop right in front of him.
He was a little surprised. Before he could even manage to get out a ‘What’s wrong?’, she suddenly reached up, hooked her arms around his neck, and lifted her face to press a firm kiss to his lips.
It lasted just a moment before Sang Zhi pulled back, taking two steps away.
Breathless, she stared into his darkened eyes in the night and stammered, “I-I did warn you earlier, so you’d be prepared…”
Having run over, she hadn’t controlled her force, and the impact was stronger than she intended. Her lips tingled, and her words came out slightly muddled, whether from her emotions or something else.
Before she could say more, Duan Jiaxu suddenly bent down, leaning close to her face, and gently cupped her cheek.
She instinctively swallowed the rest of her unfinished words.
They locked eyes for a moment.
After a while, Duan Jiaxu spoke, his tone almost coaxing, “Kiss me again.”
Sang Zhi gripped his shirt tighter. After a two-second pause, she raised her chin slightly and gave him a gentle peck on the lips.
This time, it was much softer than before. She wasn’t as reckless, carefully controlling her strength.
A brief touch, then she pulled away.
Close enough to feel the intimacy, yet leaving them both yearning.
His every breath and reassuring presence seemed to draw her in, pulling her deeper.
Duan Jiaxu lightly brushed her nose, a quiet laugh escaping from his throat. “Can’t you kiss me a little harder?”
Sang Zhi whispered, “Doesn’t it hurt?”
”Huh? A little.”
The color of Duan Jiaxu’s lips seemed a bit deeper, his eyes gleaming with a hint of playfulness. He leaned closer to her ear, pausing for a few seconds without saying anything more, his breath tickling her ear gently.
She could see his Adam’s apple moving right in front of her, its outline remarkably attractive.
After a moment, Duan Jiaxu chuckled, his voice low and raspy. “But I like being messed around by you.”
Back at her dorm, Sang Zhi sat down and took off her shoes. Muttering to herself, she said, “How can this guy be so shameless,” and, “Calling him a fox spirit wasn’t wrong at all.” Then, as she looked up, she noticed the way her lips were curved into a smile in the mirror.
She quickly shut the mirror, humming as she went to shower.
Peek-Aboo 
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