Paper Life 28 Part 1

Shang Nan held the flowers, dazed.

Yu Zhibai bent down, staring straight at the human youth before him. "Kiss me."

"Huh?" Shang Nan didn't follow Yu Zhibai's train of thought.

"I gave you flowers, you ought to give me a kiss."

So the goal wasn't just sending flowers; the Paper Person also wanted a kiss from his lover.

In a place with people coming and going, Shang Nan looked back and forth, looking troubled. However, Yu Zhibai lacked some common sense, for instance, that it's best not to do things that offend public decency in public.

After seeing the faint anticipation in Yu Zhibai's eyes, Shang Nan took a secret deep breath and prepared to lean in. Unfortunately, the Paper Person was already impatient—it turned its head and pressed its face against Shang Nan's lips.

Shang Nan: "..." It... it can happen like this?

But Yu Zhibai was obviously very satisfied.

"Let's go, let's go to the exhibition entrance on the top floor."

Zhang Hu and the others were already waiting at the entrance. Zhang Hu and Zhu Mai were each holding an ice cream. After taking a bite, they would roll their eyes and twitch. Seen from a distance, the two of them looked like special guests invited to this exhibition, very horrific.

"Eating ice cream in winter, so refreshing!" Zhang Hu's face was frozen white.

After speaking to Zhu Mai, he turned his head and saw Shang Nan walking from afar holding a bouquet of roses, along with Yu Zhibai beside him. He almost choked on the ice cream he hadn't swallowed yet.

"Are they even human? Openly engaging in puppy love!" Zhang Hu said.

Lin Xin bit into some bread. "The flowers look pretty nice. Did the straight-A student give them?"

Shang Nan nodded slightly.

Lin Xin smiled.

The straight-A student treats Shang Nan pretty well, Lin Xin thought. She had a good relationship with the lifestyle committee member, who was responsible for collecting various activity fees in the class. Their school activities burned a lot of money; the most exaggerated one reached seven figures, though that was a trip. But even for ordinary parties with the highest cost-performance ratio and lowest fees, or even just buying materials, the straight-A student could never bring out much money. He didn't have money on his phone, and if it wasn't enough, he had to wait until the next day to hand it in.

Lin Xin knew this flower shop. They sold only imported flowers, and even the paper used was specially designed by somewhat famous designers. It wasn't expensive for her, but for Yu Zhibai, it must be an astronomical price.

While chatting, Shang Nan and the others arrived. Just six roses, not very eye-catching, but the combination of Shang Nan and Yu Zhibai's appearances was already eye-catching enough. Added to the highly symbolic roses, anyone with eyes could see the relationship between the two.

"You guys walked around and just bought flowers? Can you eat flowers?" Zhang Hu glanced repeatedly at the bouquet.

Lin Xin pinched her nose. "Wow, there's such a strong sour smell in the air."

"Can we enter now?" Shang Nan looked at the ticket check.

Several staff members stood at the ticket check. Beside them were several cardboard boxes, and a sign on the side explained the rules for visiting the exhibition:

1. Cell phones are not allowed inside the group; phones will be kept by staff.

2. Please pick a prop you like upon entry.

3. Only one group is received at a time; each group must have no fewer than ten members.

4. In case of emergency, or if staff assistance is needed, or if you wish to end the game early, please have the team leader press the pager in their hand.

5. Have a pleasant time.

Shang Nan's group had exactly ten people.

During ticket checking, Shang Nan's phone and roses were handed to the staff. A girl wearing white gloves pointed to the cardboard box on the table next to her. "You can pick a prop you like."

Props... props... presumably they must be something very powerful.

Shang Nan lowered his head and looked at the things in the cardboard box, falling silent.

Red socks, red cloth shoes, yellow talisman paper, small glass bottles containing red liquid, plastic swords (pinky finger length)...

And some very strange things.

Shang Nan grabbed a square red cloth at random, crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it into his pocket. He looked up and saw Yu Zhibai take a character "Xi" (Double Happiness), probably made of cardboard or foam.

"Why did you take that?"

Yu Zhibai: "Auspicious."

"..."

Just before entering, the group argued for a long time about who should be the team leader. In the end, it fell on Zhang Hu. Zhang Hu reluctantly took the pager, looking as if he were holding a hot potato.

Being the team leader naturally meant leading the charge.

The entrance was very narrow, only allowing one person to enter at a time. They formed a single file line. Shang Nan walked behind Yu Zhibai, and in front was Zhu Mai. Zhu Mai, originally a tall guy of nearly 1.9 meters, had shrunk to nearly 1.6 meters due to fear.

The walls on both sides were built of regular rectangular bricks. Between the brick seams was blue-purple light. Some bricks had strange symbols on them: hook shapes, women kneeling on the ground covering their necks, and blood spots of varying shades and sizes, looking like they were splashed violently from one direction.

They were all stick figures, but the details were very attentive.

Walking in front, Zhang Hu whispered in admiration, "As expected of Cute Strawberry."

"What is Cute Strawberry?" someone asked.

"It's the name of this studio."

"Holy crap, a studio doing horror exhibitions calls itself Cute Strawberry?"

Passing through the walkway, the view opened up. In the center were round spheres suspended in the air, dozens of them, densely packed and of different sizes. Some were only the size of basketballs, while others exceeded a meter in diameter. The interiors were dark, but the edges of the spheres emitted a blue-purple light.

Behind these spheres was a giant gear, like a jagged planet. Looking closely, one realized that gears were nested within gears, stacked upon one another. They were all slowly rotating, some counter-clockwise, some clockwise.

"Wow, these balls are so pretty." Lin Xin weaved between the balls, gently touching them with her hand. They had weight; they weren't light.

Shang Nan poked a sphere with his hand. It was cool, made of unknown material, and had a certain hardness.

The others had already scattered and actually started touring.

Shang Nan was a bit curious if the spheres were solid or hollow. He pressed his face against one to look inside carefully. There was something rotating inside. What is it? Shang Nan tried hard to see clearly.

The thing turned around, facing Shang Nan directly. It was a mannequin head, eyes wide open, looking at the person outside the sphere with a terrified expression.

Shang Nan's heart skipped a beat, and he backed away repeatedly. His back bumped into a sphere. The sphere he hit swayed a few times and bumped into other spheres. A woman's crying sound came from inside, mournful and sorrowful.

Zhang Hu was originally studying the gears. Hearing the crying, he turned his head stiffly, "Is one of you crying?"

Shang Nan stood by the crying sound, raising his finger to point at the sphere, "There's a human head inside." His words were shocking, but his expression was indifferent.

Zhu Mai was the first to run away from the cluster of spheres. He hugged a boy tightly, burying his face in the other's chest.

"Why did I come to play this?!" Zhu Mai didn't understand. He whimpered. However, he didn't get a response from the person he was holding. He raised his head blankly and saw a face with skin sagging down to the neck. The other party looked at him, clutching their neck, and made a *woo woo woo* sound along with him.

Zhu Mai's lips trembled. He stiffly let go of his hands. The "person" in front of him raised a hand to cover their neck. Perhaps a mechanism was triggered, as bright red blood sprayed out from between the fingers, splashing all over Zhu Mai's face.

The liquid with a faint metallic smell flowed from Zhu Mai's forehead to his chin. It took him a long while to find his voice, and he screamed heart-wrenchingly.

"Help!!!!! Ghost!!!!"

He turned around trying to seek help, but seeing his face full of red, everyone else who reacted started screaming along with him at the top of their lungs.

Zhang Hu: "Don't come over! Don't come over!!!!"

Lin Xin: "Zhu Mai, get lost! That thing is right behind you!"

Unknown when it started, heavy metal music rang out. The drums were deafening, like background music for a grand welcome ceremony. Paired with the chaotic scene now, it was somewhat humorous.

Shang Nan squatted by the wall, resting his chin in his hands. He turned his head to look at Yu Zhibai, who had revealed his Paper Person form but maintained the exact same posture as him.

"Are you scared?"

Yu Zhibai shook his head, "I like it here."

Shang Nan looked at the excitement in Yu Zhibai's eyes and slandered inwardly: 'Of course you like it. You are a monster, and everything here is a monster too. What's the difference between this and returning to your own home?'

Zhao Xiaofan, running past Shang Nan, gave Shang Nan a panicked glance. He shouted, "Shang Nan, that thing squatting next to you doesn't seem human~~~"

As a classmate, Zhao Xiaofan still cared about Shang Nan, but he couldn't attend to him. That long-haired ghost thing with the neck spraying red liquid was chasing them while giggling. They were all busy fleeing for their lives.

If Shang Nan hadn't been there, Yu Zhibai probably would have joined the camp of scaring people.

Only after a certain amount of time did the exit of this room open. Shang Nan pulled Yu Zhibai, and they felt their way along the wall. After leaving, he shouted to Zhang Hu and the others, "We can go!"

Lin Xin was the first to run out. She braced her hands on her knees, gasping for breath.

"Wuwuwuwuwuwu." Zhu Mai rushed out wiping his tears. The tears on his face mixed with the red liquid, looking exceptionally scary. After Zhang Hu arrived, Zhu Mai shouted at Zhang Hu, "I told you to press the pager, why didn't you press it?"

Zhang Hu was shocked, "You cried?"

Zhu Mai: "Wuwuwuwuwuwu."

......

Exhibition Hall 2

Red filled the eyes. It wasn't dazzling, but unreasonably oppressive. The red was mixed with thick black, blending together into a weird red. It felt like the air had been sucked dry.

Shang Nan also felt some discomfort.

[14: The previous exhibition hall was quite simple, just an appetizer for you guys. This exhibition hall is also okay. You only feel uncomfortable because of this color.]

[14: The theme of this exhibition hall is Red Affair.]

As soon as 14's voice fell, a beam of light shone down in the very center. In the exact center of the circle of light, a exquisitely designed bridal sedan chair appeared in everyone's view.

The bridal sedan chair was very magnificent and noble, adorned with vermilion stones that were so bright and clear one couldn't tell if they were real or fake. Soft curtains hung down. It was unknown if there was anyone inside, but it looked quite beautiful. If they had brought their phones, they would have wanted to take a picture.

"How do we get out?" Zhang Hu touched the wall, trying to find some mechanism. He felt along for a distance, and his hand felt sticky. Withdrawing it to look, his hand was covered in red.

"F*ck!" Zhang Hu quickly moved away from the edge. He bumped into Shang Nan and said sorry.

Shang Nan looked at the surrounding environment and said subconsciously, "It's similar to Great Escape of the Secret Chamber, just with more realistic special effects. But the way to pass should be quite simple."

Yu Zhibai heard his muttering, "What Great Escape?"

Does this world not have that? Shang Nan paused. He didn't know what he had said either. Hearing Yu Zhibai's question, he also wanted to ask: What Great Escape?

"I said." Shang Nan looked at a square table that had appeared at some point. "We should be able to find clues. We just need to do as the clues hint."

Shang Nan walked to the square table, looked around, and even checked under the table. There were no hints.

Guessed wrong?

Shang Nan straightened up and looked back at the sedan chair. It sat there quietly, without any abnormalities, abrupt yet exceptionally coordinated with the atmosphere in the hall.

After pondering for a long time, Shang Nan reached out to Yu Zhibai beside him, "Give me your prop."

Yu Zhibai stuck the "Xi" from his coat pocket onto the wall behind the square table, getting a hand full of red. After the prop was stuck on, there were no changes in the surroundings.

Shang Nan stepped back a few steps, rubbing the tabletop, "It can't be wrong. This is obviously a wedding, matching your prop exactly."

"We picked props when we came in. Each hall opened by the staff likely correlates to the props in our hands, otherwise the props would be useless."

Shang Nan was still thinking when a melodious female voice singing a cappella came from overhead.