Two hours ago, William Carter, who had been joking around with himself in the studio, was now tied to another chair, the two of them separated by less than half a meter.

　　Perhaps to echo the effect of his previous viral moment online, under the arrangement of the production team, William Carter was once again dressed in a white shirt and black suit pants. His eyes were covered with a black cloth, and a strand of hair had escaped from his half-tied hair, hanging down the side of his face, the fine strands brushing against his slender, delicate jawline.

　　With the light in his eyes erased by the black cloth, the small mole on the tip of his nose became even more prominent, making him look helpless and obedient.

　　Even though James Turner was very clear that neither of those words belonged to him.

　　The handcuffs on his wrist glinted with a cold metallic sheen under the dim light. His wrist bones protruded slightly, as if they could make a crisp sound when colliding with the metal. The rope, like a winding snake, coiled tightly around his body, so tight that the outline of muscles beneath the fabric could almost be seen.

　　The black cloth’s cover prevented James Turner from seeing those frivolous eyes. It seemed to be the first time he could observe this person in front of him so recklessly—this man who, in his heart, was both hypocritical and cunning.

　　He looked a bit pitiful, James Turner thought sincerely, or rather, it evoked a strange desire to make him look even more pitiful.

　　For some reason, at this moment, he suddenly understood the psychology of people with certain special fetishes.

　　“The game officially begins.” A voice with a slightly metallic quality, altered by a voice changer, sounded from above, interrupting the wild fantasies growing like weeds in James Turner’s mind.

　　“Welcome, everyone, to ‘Escape Alive.’ Now, please forget your original identities. In this game, you are players trapped in a locked room. Please note, the locked room here is not just a single room, but many interconnected ones. This means that when you open the door of your current room, you will enter a new one, where there may be others trapped just like you. The person who escapes all the rooms and leaves the house in the shortest time will be the winner of this competition and receive the highest points. The points for the remaining players will be calculated based on their escape time, with one point deducted for every additional ten minutes.”

　　How dramatic. William Carter smiled, but the prompt was not over.

　　“One thing needs to be emphasized: the biggest difference in ‘Escape Alive’ is that this is not a simple escape room reality show. Among the many players, there is a killer. Unlike ordinary players, the killer must hide their identity and has the right to ‘kill’ a player. The player who is killed will have their points reset to zero for this round. In each episode, the killer can only kill one player. Of course, ordinary players can also use reasoning and judgment to identify the ‘killer’ in their minds. When all players are gathered together, they can vote to ‘kill’ the suspected killer. If the ‘killer’ becomes the final winner, every ordinary player in the game is considered dead, their points reset to zero, and the killer receives double points.”

　　“During the game, you will need to fully use your intelligence and reasoning skills. If you encounter a puzzle you can’t solve, you can pre-spend time to exchange for clues, which means your escape time will increase and your points will decrease accordingly. The player with the highest total points will become the champion of this season and receive a mysterious grand prize.”

　　“You have no auxiliary decoding equipment on you, only a modified phone. This phone has four functions: First, to receive messages from the production team. Second, to pre-spend time to purchase clues. Third, to start the timer after the first player clears the game. Fourth, to submit the list of suspected killers and complete anonymous voting for execution. Note: Players cannot use the phone to communicate with each other; you can only communicate face-to-face, if you wish. The rules introduction is complete.”

　　The voice paused, followed by three ticking sounds like a countdown clock.

　　Three.

　　Two.

　　One.

　　“Now, the game begins.”

　　Hearing these words, William Carter let out a sigh of relief, slumping completely in the chair, his head tilting back. James Turner watched his every move, knowing that he definitely wasn’t aware of his presence right now, making this kind of “peeping” seem perfectly justified.

　　Although in James Turner’s moral code, this kind of behavior wasn’t something to be encouraged, William Carter was an exception. He was devious and cunning, without shame or bottom line. He had never met anyone like him before, so when facing him, James Turner’s usual behavioral patterns always seemed to malfunction uncontrollably.

　　William Carter tried to reach for the black cloth over his eyes, but his arms were so tightly bound that he couldn’t lift them at all. After several failed attempts, he couldn’t help but sigh and mutter softly to himself, “Can’t see a thing. Am I just waiting to die in the first episode?”

　　James Turner almost wanted to laugh. For some reason, observing William Carter now seemed to have diluted the urgency of escaping the locked room.