Card RoomCard Room
Xu Muran was half lying on the sofa with a surveillance screen on the table. This showed the surveillance network. He was still staring at it when Gui Yuanzhang entered.
Xu Muran raised his head when he heard the footsteps and the two people looked at each other.
The house was very quiet. Gui Yuanzhang calmly met the other person’s gaze and walked to the sofa to sit down. “Don’t worry, I followed Cheng Ziyang to inspect everything and there are no problems with the surveillance cameras. The entire oasis town is full of our people. It will be hard for Yu Hanjiang even if he comes out of the Nightmare Room.”
Xu Muran smiled. “I don’t think they can come out of the Nightmare Room.”
Gui Yuanzhang stared at him. “Are you sure? Lu Jiuchuan returned from the J of Clubs Nightmare Room. Do you think Yu Hanjiang’s strength is inferior to his cousin?”
Xu Muran said, “It isn’t that Yu Hanjiang is inferior to Lu Jiuchuan but that the difficulty of the Two Jokers Nightmare Room is much higher than J of Clubs. In J of Clubs, Lu Jiuchuan encountered 10 times the number of hunters but there is always an upper limit. Meanwhile, there is no upper limit to those who want to kill them in the Two Jokers secret room. If they solve 10, another 10 will pop up. There is no end and they can never kill everyone.”
Gui Yuanzhang smiled. “It seems that you know a lot more information than I do.”
Xu Muran shrugged. “After all, I have been dealing with the boss for longer than you. I can always hear some things.”
Gui Yuanzhang didn’t ask carefully. He took the grapes from the fruit bowl and casually ate them. “I remember that the hunters have the magnetic shield skill. Why didn’t you use it just now? Our plan would’ve been wasted if they used the Peach Blossom Spring to teleport people away.”
Xu Muran answered, “The cards will be directly destroyed after being used in the two jokers secret room. I naturally want to keep such a strong card. It can come in handy in the future. On their team, the one with the most card control skills and the most annoying one is Xiao Lou. As long as Xiao Lou is dead, we don’t need the skill shielding when dealing with the rest.”
Gui Yuanzhang praised him. “That’s right. Yu Hanjiang, Lu Jiuchuan and Chu Huaying don’t rely on skills. Xiao Lou had the most card skills but he died too early. Xiao Lou believed too much in his teammates and this shot him in the foot. It is a pity that your tortoise card was destroyed. The card was quite strong.”
Xu Muran didn’t care. “It doesn’t matter. Lu Jiuchuan’s vermilion bird was also destroyed. I used a card to kill three of them and it isn’t a loss.”
Shao Qingge in the world of the painting heard this and quickly understood two key points.
First, the card skill shielding card was on Xu Muran himself. This card was the biggest threat to everyone and they had to be on guard against it after returning to the past.
Secondly, the tortoise card that Xu Muran used should be a card on the same level as Brother Jiu’s Vermilion Bird card. It was most likely the black tortoise divine beast. In addition to conjuring a tortoise shell to protect him, it could also become an indestructible wall to block all skills.
Gui Yuanzhang exchanged a few words with Xu Muran before finding an excuse to go out for an inspection.
He checked the facial features of all the hunters again and focused on confirming the residences of several elite hunters. Then he asked Cheng Ziyang for the card statistics. After seeing that time was almost up, Shao Qingge passed the gathered information to Ye Qi through Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings.
Ye Qi in the Peach Blossom Spring was very anxious. “Chief Shao, do you want me to use the teleportation to pull you to the Peach Blossom Spring?”
“It’s fine. I’ll continue to stay in the painting so I can tell you in time if there are any new discoveries. You discuss things with Mr Tang. If Xiao Lou can’t come back in time, have Mr Tang go back in time with all the information.”
The floating box in the upper right corner had a clock. Ye Qi looked up. Almost four hours had passed since Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang died in the labyrinth.
They could only go back five hours. Could Xiao Lou come back in time?
Ye Qi looked at Tang Ci nervously. “Mr Tang, Chief Shao said that if Professor Xiao can’t come back, he will let you go back in time.”
Tang Ci frowned. “Let’s wait. I believe he will definitely be able to come back.”
_______________________________________________________________
The Nightmare Room.
Xiao Lou’s group of five stayed in Old Mo’s model room. Not long after, there were knocks on the door. Xiao Lou walked over and looked through the peephole. Unexpectedly, he found that Chu Huaying and Liu Qiao were outside the door.
Liu Qiao had previously acted against Xiao Lou in the Nightmare Room so Xiao Lou didn’t dare to let them in easily. He turned back to his teammates and gave them a look. Lu Jiuchuan immediately stepped forward and asked, “Xiao Liu, Huaying, why are you here?”
Chu Huaying answered, “Liu Qiao was crushed to death by Old Gui’s inkstone and I was killed by an explosion.”
She spoke calmly like she was saying, ‘I ate a bowl of rice today.’
Liu Qiao’s face was pale but calm had returned to her eyes. She looked at the peephole and said, “Brother Jiu is also here? Unexpectedly, we can actually meet up with our teammates in the Nightmare Room. This room is Uncle Mo’s model room, right?”
Old Mo smiled. “Yes.”
Liu Qiao said, “Is it the three bedroom and one living one suite you drew before? The living room has a beige sofa and there are bunkbeds in the bedroom?”
Old Mo leaned toward Xiao Lou. “This Liu Qiao is real. She was right next to me when I drew the model room. No one else knows the internal structure of my model room.”
Lu Jiuchuan also told Xiao Lou, “This Huaying isn’t fake. The spider dagger is still in her hand.”
Xiao Lou opened the door and invited them in.
Half of Chu Huaying’s long hair was burned. Her face was covered with a layer of ash and her exposed arms had large burn marks. Liu Qiao’s body was covered in blood and her originally handsome face was squeezed until it was almost deformed. There were large bruises around her eyes.
Xiao Lou was worried when he saw how seriously the two of them were injured. He hurriedly had them sit down in the living room and asked, “What happened? How did you get hurt so badly?”
Chu Huaying briefly described the process. “Tang Ci had us cooperate with Old Gui to perform the last scene. Old Gui wanted to kill Liu Ying so I went there with Liu Qiao and Chief Shao to get revenge and die in his hands, so that the hunters would no longer suspect him.”
It sounded simple but it could be seen from their injuries how thrilling that time was.
However, this also made Xiao Lou relieved. It at least proved that everyone’s speculation was correct and Senior Gui was a spy.
Yu Hanjiang suddenly asked, “Chief Shao went with you? Why didn’t he appear in the Nightmare Room?”
Old Mo had a guess. “Did he use the bug king to escape?”
Chu Huaying shook her head. “It shouldn’t be. At that time, the hospital exploded in an instant. Chief Shao was on the roof and he must’ve been swept away by the fire. If he didn’t come to the Nightmare Room, it might be that Old Gui saved him through some special means so information can be passed on through him.”
Xiao Lou also felt this was more likely. He glanced at Yu Hanjiang and discussed it in a low voice. “There are still Chief Shao, Ye Qi, Tang Ci and Long Sen in the Two Jokers secret room. My guess is that they will hide in the Peach Blossom Spring. That is the safest place. We have to hurry and go back or once the Peach Blossom Spring disappears, the hunters will definitely find their traces.”
Yu Hanjiang said, “Let’s go and find the exit of the Nightmare Room.”
Old Mo’s model room was surrounded by cement walls and the floor was covered with marble. They didn’t need to be afraid of the attacks of beasts. The roof was sealed to keep out the wind and rain. There might be no food in the model room but everyone still had basic foods such as biscuits, instant noodles, milk, etc. It wasn’t a problem to stay here for a few days.
If it was purely survival then their best bet was to stay in the model room.
However, there wasn’t a notification about ‘staying X days here’ or ‘uncover a secret in the secret room’ when they entered the Nightmare Room.
It wasn’t a timed survival mode or puzzle solving so it was likely that the Nightmare Room had an exit. They had to find the exit as soon as possible to return to the Two Jokers secret room and join Tang Ci and the others. They would get the key information that everyone paid a terrible price to obtain and reverse time by five hours.
Time was pressing and Xiao Lou didn’t hesitate any longer. He immediately got up to follow Yu Hanjiang.
“Professor Xiao.” Liu Qiao voluntarily handed her card pack to Xiao Lou. “I don’t want to drag you down. Most of my cards have been used up and I only have the poisonous queen’s poison and the Witch’s poison left. They are single attack skills. Moreover, I am worried that the possibility of my sister pretending to be me in the Nightmare Room will affect everyone’s judgment.”
She remembered how Tang Ci left her in the Peach Blossom Spring because he was worried about her sister pretending to be her to make trouble.
Sometimes, not adding to the chaos was the best help for the team.
Liu Qiao took a deep breath and declared firmly, “I will stay here with Uncle Mo and Sister Qu so don’t have to worry.”
Old Mo agreed. “It makes sense. The physical strength and combat effectiveness of the three of us can’t compare with Huaying, Brother Jiu and Group Leader Yu. Professor Xiao, bringing us along will just slow down your progress. We will stay in the model room. You go and find the exit!”
He also handed his card pack to Xiao Lou. “I only have a few cards left like the dye, space rotation and wood flooring. I don’t know if they will be of any use.”
Qu Wanyue also followed his actions. “My dance king card can make your body flexible and the Swan Lake card can stop the fight and delay things for a while. I don’t know if they can be used.”
Xiao Lou saw the serious eyes of the three people and took their card packs with a nod. “Okay, let’s do it this way.”
Liu Qiao, Old Mo and Qu Wanyue were handing over their fates to Xiao Lou, which showed their complete trust in Xiao Lou. If even Xiao Lou couldn’t leave the Nightmare Room then they wouldn’t have any chance of survival.
There were the hopes of so many teammates on his shoulders and Xiao Lou was under a lot of pressure. However, he had no reason to back down at this time. He had to go back to the past and let everything start over!
Xiao Lou looked at them one more time before decisively taking Lu Jiuchuan, Yu Hanjiang and Chu Huaying out of the model room.
Liu Qiao watched Xiao Lou’s back disappear through the doorway and said in a hoarse voice, “Professor Xiao, I’m sorry.” She knew that Xiao Lou didn’t like hearing this so she didn’t dare say it in person. It was just that the apology in her heart never faded.
Qu Wanyue gently patted her on the shoulder. “Professor Xiao doesn’t blame you. It is the conspiracy of the hunters so don’t blame yourself too much. By the way, Long Sen, he… is he okay?”
“Sister Qu, don’t worry. Brother Long Sen is staying in the Peach Blossom Spring and Mr Tang is taking care of him.”
Qu Wanyue sighed with relief. “That’s great.”
Liu Qiao looked out through the peephole. The backs of the four people quickly disappeared into the wind and sand.
A strong wind blew, rolling up the sand and dust and blowing it into people’s mouths. The four of them could barely open their eyes, let alone talk. Apart from Chu Huaying, who was agile and could move quickly, the remaining three had their movement cards destroyed and had to walk forward on foot.
In the sky, the scene of the sun and moon shining together reappeared.
The eerie colors of day and night were mixed and the temperature switched between cold and hot. One moment, the sun was shining and made everyone sweat. The next moment, it was bitterly cold. The sweat they shed almost froze.
Such bad weather was really unheard of. The four people walked through the sand and looking at the endless desert in front of him, Lu Jiuchuan resisted the urge to curse. He blocked the sand and dust with his sleeve and asked in a low voice, “Do you have any ideas where to find the exit? We can’t just go around the desert!”
The wind and sand were so strong that he couldn’t hear himself clearly. Therefore, Lu Jiuchuan simply pressed down on the earpiece and repeated it.
This time, everyone heard clearly. Xiao Lou looked at the sand dunes in the distance and pressed on his earpiece. “The exit would not be inexplicably hidden under the sand and impossible to find. At present, there is one place where it is likely to exist.”
He looked over at Yu Hanjiang. “Hanjiang, do you remember the mirror labyrinth we found when we first entered the Nightmare Room?”