Escape Room Within an Escape Room: I Solve Puzzles by Scoring Freebies

After treating the City of Wrongful Death like a place to milk for freebies, the ancestors' coffins can't stay shut anymore.

Three office drones, a coupon-sniping script, a bank's collection playbook, and a fire axe: together, they turn the tables on a century-old clan and offer it up as a sacrifice.

At 2:30 a.m., a free escape room.

Inside, they find names in the genealogy, photos on the ancestral tablets, and a broadcast announcing, "Three people will be sacrificed."

And the best part:

Wu Yong's great-grandfather was a player last time around;

Zhou Zuchong's great-grandfather was a clan traitor;

Ma Xiaojun's ancestor wrote the genealogy.

A hundred-year curse? A deadly game for three?

The three look at each other. "Then we'll pick four."

The script they use to snap up Moutai hacks into the control room.

The bank's anti-fraud catchphrases clean-launder their ancestors.

The property manager's fire axe pries open a way out.

(Wait, dude, where'd you get that axe?)

(Hey, I took part in this building's fire drill and won a fancy participation prize for coming in first! So I know exactly where the fire equipment is. Beaming with pride.jpg.)

A three-hundred-year-old scheme gets completely picked apart by three people who love scoring freebies.