Chapter 37: Soda

She was afraid.

The taxi was stuck in traffic for a moment.

When Zhou Anran’s group arrived at the restaurant’s private room, everyone else had already taken their seats.

A large round table was set up in the room. Yan Xingqian, Sheng Xiaowen, and Zhang Shuxian sat together near the door. Zhu Ran was separated from Zhang Shuxian by two empty seats, while Dong Chen sat on the other side, with two empty seats between him and Yan Xingqian.

Seeing them enter, Yan Xingqian immediately stood up from her seat and ran to the door, hugging Zhou Anran tightly. She said clingingly, “Anran, I’ve missed you so much.”

Zhou Anran noticed she was wearing a short skirt and boots, and asked her quietly, “Aren’t you cold wearing a short skirt in this weather?”

“I’m not cold,” Yan Xingqian replied, releasing her after a few seconds.

Zhou Anran held her hand, feeling it wasn’t cold, so she didn’t press the matter. She leaned in a bit closer and whispered, “You really did say you wanted to eat at this restaurant before.”

“Huh?” Yan Xingqian looked surprised.

Zhou Anran had wanted to tell her last night, but after scrolling through the group messages about when to leave today, she had forgotten.

“Around mid-September, you shared a video review of this restaurant on your Moments.”

Yan Xingqian knew Zhou Anran had a good memory and paid attention to details. If she mentioned it, it must have happened. She lowered her head to check her Moments while a strange feeling welled up inside her.

Zhang Shuxian patted the seat next to her and said, “Anran, come sit with me.”

Zhu Ran then patted the empty seat closer to him among the two vacant ones: “Chen Luobai, why are you standing at the door? Come sit here.”

“Then Old He, you sit on my side,” Dong Chen waved at He Mingyu. “It’ll help keep me away from that crazy woman Yan Xingqian.”

Yan Xingqian had just found the restaurant review video.

She vaguely remembered coming across a vlogger’s review of this place, thinking the dishes looked good, and sharing it on her Moments saying she wanted to try it. But she was the type to forget things right after posting them.

Now, seeing the post again and recalling Dong Chen’s words from yesterday, that strange feeling grew stronger. Just as she was about to look up at him, she heard Dong Chen’s comment.

Yan Xingqian’s strange feelings instantly vanished. “Dong Chen, do you have a death wish? Who are you calling a crazy woman? If you’ve got the guts, take your bowl and eat outside the room. That’ll keep you even further away from me.”

“The restaurant isn’t owned by your family,” Dong Chen glanced at her dismissively. “You think I’ll leave just because you tell me to?”

The two of them started arguing again in an instant.

Zhou Anran had just pulled out a chair and sat down. It had been a while since she’d heard these two argue face-to-face, and she found it somewhat endearing. The corners of her mouth curved up slightly.

A faint sound of a chair being pulled came from beside her, and that fresh scent drew closer.

It was an even closer distance than in the taxi earlier.

Zhou Anran held her breath, lowering her eyes to see his white baseball jacket sleeve lightly brush against her cardigan sleeve as he sat down.

She wanted to move a bit closer to Zhang Shuxian but couldn’t bring herself to do it.

As she hesitated, Chen Luobai suddenly leaned towards her, that fresh scent enveloping her senses.

Zhou Anran looked at the boy’s straight nose bridge, completely holding her breath.

Chen Luobai’s voice was even lower than when they were at the school gate, almost a whisper: “Do they always argue like this when they meet?”

Zhou Anran noticed his gaze seemed to be directed towards Yan Xingqian, and she nodded: “Yes, they’ve been arguing like this since their first meeting in high school.”

“First meeting?” Chen Luobai asked casually. “During registration or the first day of school?”

Zhou Anran replied, “The first day of school. In the first semester of their freshman year, they sat one behind the other. During the first break on the first day, a pen fell between their desks. Qianqian said it was hers, Dong Chen said it was his, and they started arguing, neither giving in.”

“So what happened?” Chen Luobai asked. “Whose pen was it?”

“Neither of theirs,” Zhou Anran couldn’t help but smile softly, either because she could chat with him like friends or because she remembered that day’s mix-up. “The pen belonged to a girl from the next group. One of them had their pen stuck in a book, the other had put theirs in the desk hole. They had both forgotten.”

“If I had known—” Chen Luobai paused.

Zhou Anran couldn’t help but turn to look at him.

As she turned, her gaze met his directly.

She didn’t know when he had stopped watching Yan Xingqian and Dong Chen argue, but he was now looking at her, his dark eyes making his gaze seem particularly focused.

Chen Luobai continued to look at her as he slowly finished his sentence: “I wouldn’t have told Old Gao we’d only sit in the last row.”

Zhou Anran’s heart skipped a beat. She felt like his words held some hidden meaning, but on second thought, they seemed normal.

Just then, a waiter knocked and entered, asking if everyone had arrived and if they wanted to start ordering.

Dong Chen and Yan Xingqian stopped arguing, and their casual conversation naturally came to an end.

After dinner, the group moved on to an escape room.

This time, they played a horror-themed escape room, and their group of eight was just right for one team.

The first room they entered was quite spacious and not completely dark, but the overall lighting had a blue-green tint. The eerie blue-green light cast on everyone’s faces made them all look ghastly, not much better than complete darkness.

There was a computer in the room, stopped at the boot password interface, which was the first puzzle they needed to solve.

Initially, all eight of them stood together.

As they started looking for clues, Zhu Ran put his arm around He Mingyu’s shoulders. Although he hadn’t spoken much with He Mingyu during dinner, he now acted quite familiar: “Old He, tell me about the courses in A University’s Physics Department. It’s my ideal department, you know. Too bad I couldn’t get into A University.”

As he spoke, he led He Mingyu to the other side of the room with his arm around his shoulder.

Yan Xingqian suddenly screamed and ran to one side, apparently having stepped on something.

Dong Chen spoke in a disdainful tone: “Don’t scream so loudly, you’ll scare the NPC. And stop running around, be careful not to damage anything.”

Despite his words, he was the first to chase after Yan Xingqian.

Zhang Shuxian grabbed Sheng Xiaowen’s hand: “Xiaowen, let’s go check over there.”

In the blink of an eye, only Chen Luobai remained by Zhou Anran’s side.

She knew Zhang Shuxian and Sheng Xiaowen were probably doing this on purpose. As for Yan Xingqian, it was hard to say, she might have really stepped on something. But the first to walk away were Zhu Ran and He Mingyu.

He probably wouldn’t think too much about it, right?

“Are you scared?” That familiar voice suddenly sounded near her ear, lowered and particularly pleasant.

Zhou Anran hesitated for a moment.

It was actually her first time playing an escape room, and she didn’t even dare watch horror movies before, so she probably wouldn’t handle scares well.

Rather than leaving him with the impression that she was timid, she preferred not to lie to him. So she nodded honestly: “A little bit.”

Chen Luobai’s voice remained low, his profile still handsome under the eerie blue light: “Then stay close to me for now.”

Zhou Anran felt like little bubbles were popping in her heart again. The corners of her lips curved up slightly: “Okay.”

Chen Luobai quickly found a clue.

It was a yellowed piece of paper.

Zhou Anran was a bit curious but didn’t want to get too close to him on her own.

The boy then slightly moved the paper in his hand towards her: “It looks like a rail fence cipher. Have you heard of it?”

“I’ve heard of it,” Zhou Anran nodded.

Chen Luobai handed her the yellowed paper: “Then why don’t you try to solve it?”

The rail fence cipher wasn’t difficult, so Zhou Anran didn’t refuse. She took it and looked: “It seems to be ‘we love—'”

Her voice suddenly stopped, the tips of her ears growing hot.

“We love—” Chen Luobai asked softly, “What comes next?”

Zhou Anran wanted to touch her ear with her free hand but resisted. She didn’t dare to finish reading the sentence: “I’ll just go try it on the computer.”

Seeing them walk towards the computer, the others gathered around.

“You found a clue so quickly,” Zhu Ran still had his arm around He Mingyu’s shoulder. “Luo, did you solve it?”

Chen Luobai pointed at the girl in front of the computer: “It wasn’t me, it was her.”

“Impressive, Zhou Anran,” Zhu Ran was a bit surprised. “I thought you were the type who couldn’t even watch horror movies. Didn’t expect you to be so calm.”

While lowering her head to enter the password, Zhou Anran replied: “It’s nothing, just a simple rail fence cipher.”

Zhu Ran picked up the paper she had left on the table: “Let me see. Oh, it does seem easy. ‘We love each other.’ Wow… looks like it’s really a tragic love story.”

Zhou Anran had just finished typing the last letter.

Hearing him read out the password, the tips of her ears grew hot again. She paused for a moment before pressing the enter key.

After successfully exiting the first escape room, they entered the second room, which was even more spacious, resembling a large office with many workstations.

This was a “Doll Company.”

Besides the workstations, there were dolls everywhere, of various styles and sizes.

However, most of them had eerie expressions. Even the plush toys had lost their usual cuteness, either covered in large patches of dark red that looked like blood stains or with their heads tilted at odd angles, as if about to fall off.

As soon as Zhou Anran entered, she felt her scalp tingle and her hair stand on end.

But the space was even larger than the previous room, so they decided to split up to search for clues like before.

Zhu Ran was the first to put his arm around He Mingyu’s shoulders again: “Come on, let’s go look while we continue our earlier conversation.”

Zhang Shuxian, being braver, calmly pulled Sheng Xiaowen away: “We’ll go to the other side.”

Yan Xingqian reluctantly looked at Dong Chen: “Fine, I guess I’ll team up with you.”

Dong Chen’s tone sounded quite pleased: “Yan Xingqian, if you’re scared, just say so. Admit you’re a coward, and I won’t laugh at you.”

Yan Xingqian opened her mouth, instinctively wanting to retort, but finally held back: “Alright, I’m a coward. I’m scared, okay?”

Dong Chen hadn’t expected this response and was momentarily stunned.

Yan Xingqian ignored him and turned her head slightly to look at the remaining two people, her tone still somewhat reluctant: “Chen Luobai, Anran really can’t even watch horror movies. You’re a guy, so please take care of her. I’m scared too and might startle easily. If she comes with me, I might end up scaring her.”

Zhou Anran felt both touched and worried that Chen Luobai might notice something.

Fortunately, the boy agreed almost without hesitation.

As soon as Yan Xingqian finished speaking, Chen Luobai nodded: “Alright, she can stay with me this afternoon.”

“Anran,” Yan Xingqian pointed randomly, “We’ll go to the other side first.”

Zhou Anran nodded.

As Yan Xingqian and Dong Chen left, only she and Chen Luobai remained at the entrance.

The boy stood in front of her, his voice lowered again like before: “If you’re scared, want to just wait here? They’ll probably find clues quickly.”

Not wanting to affect his experience on this rare outing, Zhou Anran shook her head: “It’s okay, let’s go look too.”

Chen Luobai looked at her face, which appeared pale in the dim light. His fingers at his side twitched slightly, but in the end, he only said: “Then stay by my side.”

Zhou Anran followed beside him as they began searching for clues.

It was impossible to say she wasn’t scared at all. She felt like an NPC might jump out of one of the plush dolls at any moment to scare them.

However, every time they passed a large plush doll that could hide someone, the boy beside her, whether intentionally or not, seemed to shield her.

Zhou Anran glanced at the boy’s back, feeling as if many little bubbles were forming and popping in her heart again.

He had the standard good physique with broad shoulders and long legs, so even though he looked slender, his back somehow gave a sense of security.

Lost in thought, Yan Xingqian’s scream suddenly rang out again.

Zhou Anran looked up—

It was exactly the most terrifying scenario she had imagined: an NPC really did jump out from inside a plush doll.

Yan Xingqian screamed while pulling Dong Chen along as she ran.

The NPC, having achieved the desired scare effect, began running towards them, as they were the closest.

Chen Luobai looked down at the girl’s hanging hand, hesitating for a moment.

Before he could make a decision, he saw that delicate white hand suddenly grasp the sleeve of his jacket.

Zhou Anran’s voice sounded soft and slightly trembling: “Don’t run.”

Chen Luobai didn’t hear clearly: “Hm?”

When they were discussing which escape room to play in the group chat, Zhu Ran had said that if they were going to play, they should go for the most thrilling one. This place was quite expensive, and the NPCs weren’t just people in random costumes and masks; their makeup and costumes were very realistic.

Zhou Anran caught a glimpse of the approaching NPC from the corner of her eye, feeling her scalp tingle. Her fingertips tightened on the boy’s baseball jacket sleeve, as if drawing some strength from it. Her voice finally steadied.

“Don’t run. You’re not supposed to do intense exercise, remember?”

Chen Luobai looked down at the slightly trembling small hand on his jacket, not speaking for a second or two.

Seeing no reaction from him, Zhou Anran wasn’t sure if he was also scared: “How about—”

She wanted to say, “How about you stand behind me?”

Although she didn’t know where she found the courage to say this to him.

But after just two words, she was suddenly interrupted.

“Okay,” Chen Luobai raised his head.

In the dim light, the boy seemed to smile, a bit like that day on the basketball court when he smiled after making a step-back three-pointer. It was a smile full of youthful vigor and confidence.

His voice was still low, somehow sounding gentle.

“I won’t run.”

Zhou Anran’s heart was racing, unsure if it was due to fear or his smile.

The next second, her vision suddenly darkened.

A large hand covered her eyes.

The hand didn’t directly touch her skin, just loosely cupped in front of her eyes. But initially, he might not have judged the distance well, as his thumb and little finger lightly brushed against her forehead and the bridge of her nose.

It was just a fleeting touch.

Yet Zhou Anran felt her forehead and nose begin to burn.

In the darkness, she could hear Yan Xingqian still screaming wildly, and the NPC’s deliberately creepy voice, which seemed extremely close now.

But Zhou Anran didn’t feel as scared as before.

She could hear her own heartbeat.

She also heard his voice.

It came from above her head, clearly tinged with amusement.

“Would you mind scaring the others instead?” Chen Luobai paused, as if smiling and politely negotiating with the NPC.

“She’s afraid”