Chapter 570 Oliver, Stay Focused!
"Natalie!" Oliver called out anxiously.
"Oliver, keep your focus!" Without a moment's hesitation, Natalie struck with her knife, its blade gleaming.
The attacker hadn't anticipated Natalie's armed resistance, much less her resolve to use the weapon.
The blade sliding across flesh flashed white and red, accompanied by the assailant's muffled grunt of pain.
"Don't get distracted," Natalie warned Oliver again.
She repeated the warning, not daring to say "Don't worry about me." Several enemies had targeted him while only one faced her. It was clear they were after Oliver.
Saying "Don't worry about me" might remind them to use her as leverage against Oliver.
The blood on the knife blade dripped. Natalie stayed alert, the wounded attacker did not reemerge.
The men encircled Oliver swiftly, but he moved with greater speed.
Natalie couldn't make out how many there were, but she could see the syringe needles gleaming with malicious intent in the dim light.
"Oliver, did you find the clue? We've opened a door outside!" Susan called out, elated.
Natalie remained silent.
One; she was worried that speaking up would distract Oliver, and two; she simply didn't want to engage with Susan.
Hearing how Susan spoke, "Oliver," it was clear she wasn't addressing Natalie, so there was no obligation to respond.
"Why isn't there a reply? Is it soundproofed?" the others pondered outside.
After a while, the clattering noises gradually ceased.
Eventually, the adversaries fell one by one, no longer appearing.
Only Oliver stood alone on the narrow path, calmly approaching Natalie, the rest seemingly vanished.
"Where are they?" Natalie asked.
"They ran off." It was apparent the opponents were more familiar with the terrain than Oliver and had prepared to escape quickly when they couldn't subdue him.
"Are you hurt?" Oliver gripped the knife handle in Natalie's hand, which she was holding too tightly due to her nerves. "Natalie, let go."
It wasn't until then that she realized the severity of the situation. The sight of the blood-red startled her into dropping the dagger aside with a clatter.
"Are you hurt?" Oliver asked again, quickly examining Natalie in the poor lighting that made it difficult to see clearly.
"No," Natalie shook her head, concern flickering in her eyes. "How about you? Are you okay?"
"If you're okay, then I'm okay," he assured her.
Oliver wrapped an arm around Natalie and took a couple of steps back, then delivered a fierce kick—
"Boom!"
The prop wardrobe cracked.
Another kick—
"Crash!"
The wardrobe shattered completely, connecting the two rooms.
"Holy smokes!" Cadence exclaimed, startled. "Isn't that going to cost us for the damage?"
Barrett noticed something off about Oliver's expression. "Bro, what's up?"
"Does anyone have the walkie-talkie?" Oliver demanded, his face grim.
Upon arrival, the staff had provided a walkie-talkie for direct communication with the front desk.
"Right here," Leonard held up the device, his tone teasing. "What's going on, Mr. Windsor?"
Oliver cast a meaningful glance at Leonard, refrained from responding, and spoke into the walkie-talkie, "We have a situation here, need someone to come in."
There was only the crackle of static from the other end.
"Speak," Oliver commanded the walkie-talkie.
Still just static.
Everyone's brows furrowed. It seemed there was trouble outside as well.
Quickly, Oliver led Natalie by the hand towards the exit, with Barrett and Cadence following close behind.
Leonard started to leave when he noticed his fiancée, Susan, hadn't moved. She was standing still as if in a trance.
"Aren't you coming? Fine, I can't wait for you," he said, and without looking back he left, not wasting another moment.
Susan was still lost in a chill that enveloped her entire body.
She had been standing right next to the wardrobe waiting for Oliver. When he kicked through the wardrobe, the debris had flown out and struck her.
In that instant, those shards, harmless as they were, felt like hailstones pelting her skin.
Nobody paid any attention to her. Nobody cared if she was hurt or even bothered to take her along when leaving the darkness she so feared. Leonard merely gave her a holler as if she were a dog he was calling.
Then there was Natalie, the cruel woman who had frightened her in the well and stolen her man, potentially taking even more from her... Yet she was the one walking hand in hand with Oliver, as if he feared she'd get lost.
Ridiculous!
Chills ran down Susan's spine, her body trembled nonstop, and her heart and soul seemed to be engulfed in impenetrable darkness, a gloom that even the terrifying surroundings couldn't dispel.
Something utterly dark and sinister was festering, feeding on the seeds long buried in the depths of her heart.
Fortunately, the locked room's door was not secured.
Once the group made it out, they found the manager slumped over the desk covered with monitors, three camera operators sprawled out beside him.
One person might doze off, but surely not everyone at once.
They hurried over, yelling several times to wake them, then asked what had happened.
The manager and camera operators exchanged confused glances, none aware of what had transpired.
"I remember I was just chatting with Donny, how did I fall asleep mid-conversation?" one cameraman mentioned, gesturing to another, who nodded in agreement.
The receptionist chimed in, "I was watching your footage; wasn't there a girl who seemed really scared? I thought her reactions were quite funny. Then I lost consciousness halfway through."
Funny indeed; it had to be Susan.
"This looks like the work of a sedative," Barrett said, his expression grave.
He had seen such tactics used in shady establishments, where lowlifes resorted to underhanded methods.
"What's going on?" the perplexed manager asked if anything serious had happened.
He looked around; no one was injured, missing, or had encountered a robbery.
Their phones were still in their lockers. Oliver pulled out his phone and made a call. Within moments, eight burly bodyguards in black suits appeared, trained and aligned in front of Oliver and Natalie.
"Search the place, especially the southeast room," ordered Oliver.
"Yes, sir!"
The eight acted in perfect unison, splitting the task without needing to speak. Four swiftly entered the escape room, while the remaining four stood guard in strategic positions around Oliver and Natalie.
The manager, who had never seen such a show of force outside of a TV drama, stuttered with apprehension, "Wha-what's happening?"
"Get all your staff out here," demanded Oliver, referring to the entire crew of the haunted house escape room, including the costumed actors.
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