keystorePropertiesFile - Gradle task assembleDebug failed with exit code 1

Question

I am getting this error after trying to run the app in an emulator.

FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.

* Where:
Build file 'D:\Projects\news-app\news\main_files\source\wordpress_app\android\app\build.gradle' line: 33

* What went wrong:
A problem occurred evaluating project ':app'.
> Malformed \uxxxx encoding.

* Try:
Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output. Run with --scan to get full insights.

* Get more help at https://help.gradle.org

BUILD FAILED in 1s
Running Gradle task 'assembleDebug'...                           2,251ms
Exception: Gradle task assembleDebug failed with exit code 1

Here is the build.gradle file line 31:

def keystorePropertiesFile = rootProject.file('key.properties')

I tried to fix this error but could not do it, and I am still learning. Someone, please tell me how to fix this error?