Card Room Chapter 19-20

Chapter 19 – Choice

Yu Hanjiang suddenly thought of a question. "By the way, a few days before the accident, did you come in contact with playing cards?"

Xiao Lou thought of New Year's Even when his cousin pulled him to play Fight the Landlord and blurted out, "On New Year's Eve, I played a few games of cards at home." Seeing the look of 'as expected' in Yu Hanjiang's eyes, Xiao Lou could help being confused. "What do you mean? The rules of selection for the Card World is related to playing cards?"

"I'm just guessing," Yu Hanjiang replied. "The day before the accident, I went to my uncle's house for some New Year's greetings and played a few games of cards. There are card elements everywhere so maybe it really is related to playing cards."

"It is related to cards…" Xiao Lou touched his chin and looked thoughtfully at the card wall in front of him. "In the end, we played cards, were selected by the Card World and killed in the real world? Or were we selected by the Card World after we died because we played cards? This order is critical."

"Yes, if it is the former then the Card World's ability is beyond our imagination. It can create accidents at any time after selecting the player, killing people in the real world." Yu Hanjiang frowned and held his arms as he thought. "If it is the latter, can we understand this as the world where souls go after death? Only those who have played cards will come here after dying?"

"There are too few leads and we need to find other challengers to seek evidence." Xiao Lou concluded.

"…" The Clubs teenager stood to the side and listened to them chatting. They had met again after a long separation and obviously forgot the presence of the keeper.

Yu Hanjiang stated, "No matter the rules of the selection, this world is too real."

"It is like a huge came." Xiao Lou carefully considered the adjective and said, "When I left the Spades room by helicopter I found that there were many copies of the Zombie Town, just like an instance in a game. The four keepers can also split into countless copies to go to different spaces and talk to the challengers, just like NPCs in a game?"

"I'm not an NPC." The Clubs teenager interjected.

"…" The sudden voice startled the two men and they looked back at him.

"I've always been here, can't you see?" The Clubs teenager's voice was filled with some doubts.

"Cough." Xiao Lou thought they had been talking too much and actually ignored this guy. He looked at the teenager and asked with a smile, "Yes, how long can we rest? It was hard to get through all the D-grade secret rooms. Surely we don't have to go to the next level immediately?"

"A 30 minutes break." A of Clubs replied. "At this time, you should become familiar with each other and discuss which secret room to go to next."

"The rules of the Card World's selection…" Xiao Lou hadn't finished his words when A of Clubs interrupted. "Don't ask me, I won't disclose any information to you."

"Okay." Xiao Lou dispelled his ideas.

Since the two people's space had merged, the rest sofa became two and there was a table in the middle. Xiao Lou nodded and Yu Hanjiang and went to the sofa to sit down. Yu Hanjiang also followed.

A 30 minutes break allowed them to rest and exchange information with each other.

Yu Hanjiang asked, "What cards did you get in the previous rooms?"

Since they teamed up, it was necessary to know the card situation of their teammate.

Xiao Lou took out his card pack and put it on the table and Yu Hanjiang did the same.

The Rose Funeral plot card, the fruit knife and the rose perfume were from perfectly clearing the 2 of Hearts secret room. The Zombie Virus and Special Effects Vaccine were from perfectly clearing the 2 of Spades secret room. Both people had these cards.

For the 2 of Diamonds secret room, Yu Hanjiang didn't get the Folding Paper. However, he still had the Nine Palaces Grid. He found that Xiao Lou didn't have it and was very surprised. "Where is your Nine Palaces Grid? This question should be the simplest and I remember that you also refreshed the world record of the 2 of Diamonds room. How can you not have Nine Palaces Grid?"

Xiao Lou smiled bitterly. "I ran out using it on the zombies."

Yu Hanjiang, "…"

What did this person go through in Zombie Town? He actually used up all of Nine Palaces Grid?

Xiao Lou saw that his Nine Palaces Grid hadn't been used and asked with surprise, "This card hasn't been used? Then how did you clear Zombie Town and set a world record?"

Yu Hanjiang whispered, "I picked up a stick in the street. The zombies are slow and I hit them in the head to kill them."

Xiao Lou, “……"

Xiao Lou, whose legs were sore from running crazily, didn't know if he should laugh or cry after hearing Group Leader Yu's words.

It seemed that Yu Hanjiang really used a bulldozer to push past.

Yu Hanjiang saw the Tao Yuanming card on the table and couldn't help wondering, "This card can really summon Tao Yuanming?"

"That's right." Xiao Lou pointed to the image of the character on the card and said, "The summoned Tao Yuanming looks the same as the one drawn on the card. He can find the Peach Blossom Spring once every 24 hours. Tao Yuanming's skill is very strong and I can instantaneously move to the space, avoiding a crisis at a critical moment. The current card level is 3 and I can bring two people in. However, I have already used this card today and it can only be used after 24 hours."

"Once you have a chance, bring me in to take a look." Yu Hanjiang looked at the Tao Yuanming skill description with great interest. He followed up with the two cards of the compass and zombie leader. "The Compass is good. You can draw weapons at any time. This zombie leader is Liu Xiaoyuan?"

"It's him." Xiao Lou asked, "Did he ask you to open the door at the end?"

"Yes."

"How did you deal with it?"

"I saw he was dead and I killed him," Yu Hanjiang stated calmly.

Xiao Lou, “……"

It was estimated that Liu Xiaoyuan didn't have time to scream and summon the zombies before Yu Hanjiang used the stick to kill him. No wonder why Yu Hanjiang could perfectly clear the instance in 15 minutes. The man completely used violence to clear the instance.

Xiao Lou felt helpless—Group Leader Yu was the correct way to play the survival secret room!

Yu Hanjiang handed his own cards to Xiao Lou. "These are the S-grade cards that I drew."

Xiao Lou picked them up and took a closer look.

[Weapon: Silver Moon]

Rarity: S

Description: After a perfect clearance, there is a very low probability of obtaining it from the limited card pool.

Data: Lightweight gun, caliber 5.5mm, weight 4kg, equipped with 8x variable optical sight, effective range of 500m, fires small caliber rifle bullets, magazine capacity of 10.

Additional skills: Precise Aim

After using the skill, you can immediately lock onto the target within rang and pull the trigger to precisely aim at the other side's head, resulting in a killing blow. The skill cooldown time is 5 minutes.

Note: The skill of the weapon card is for those who can't use a gun. A master who can fire a gun can ignore the skill and open the scope to aim without being limited by the skill cooldown down. Once the bullets are used up, please buy them from the weapons dealer with gold coins.

Growth level 1 and the effective range will increase by 100 metres every level. At the maximum level, it reaches 1,500 metres.

It was a super light sniper gun, painted in dark silver, with a metallic cool light and a crescent-shaped mark that echoed the 'Silver Moon' name.

Xiao Lou got the Tao Yuanming card after clearing the 2 of Hearts secret room. He thought the style of this world was strange and others also drew strange summoning cards. He didn't expect there to be such serious weapon cards.

This weapon wasn't powerful in his hand. He hadn't touched a gun and couldn't use it at all.

However, in Group Leader Yu's hands, it was like adding wings to a tiger.

Yu Hanjiang was a policeman and should be proficient in all types of firearms. The presence of this gun meant he could definitely kill targets from a long distance and it would be useful in future survival rooms.

Xiao Lou picked up the other S-grade card.

[Equipment: Gale

Rarity: S

Description: After a perfect clearance, there is a higher probability of obtaining it from the limited card draw pool. This is a pair of invisible boots and the size can be adjusted at any time according to the size of the user's feet. It can't be seen on the feet and won't be damaged.

Additional skills: Monthly Gale

Increases the user's movement speed by five times for five minutes after using the skill. The cooldown time is 30 minutes.

Growth level 1, every increase in level can increase the acceleration duration by one minute. The full level will increase it to 15 minutes.

Note: If you can't beat it, the good choice is to run with the acceleration shoes 🙂

Xiao Lou, “…"

Group Leader Yu pulled two cards, a gun and a pair of shoes which were very practical. In particular, the pair of shoes. If Xiao Lou had these shoes then his experience in Zombie Town wouldn't be so bad.

It seemed that he saw through Xiao Lou's thoughts because Yu Hanjiang said, "This card is for you."

Xiao Lou was naturally embarrassed to take it and immediately refused. "You drew this card. How can you casually give it to me?"

"You need it more."

The man didn't allow refusal and directly inserted the card into Xiao Lou's card pack. "I usually train in a team and I emerged from police school. If I really want to run, few people can get past me."

Group Leader Yu dealt with murderers all year round. A prisoner running for his life would definitely use all the strength of his body. If Yu Hanjiang couldn't keep up then how could he catch the murderer? Besides, the card was already inserted into his card package. It would be too unreasonable to refuse now.

Xiao Lou had to accept the card and said with a smile, "Thank you." He arranged his cards on the table in turn and asked, "Group Leader Yu, do you see any cards you are interested in?"

Yu Hanjiang's eyes swept over the table. He thought about it before stating, "Give me the Folding Paper."

Xiao Lou looked at him with amazement. "Do you still play origami games?"

"I played it as a child," Yu Hanjiang replied. "I can fold some cars and small boats so perhaps it can be used later."

"That's great!" Xiao Lou could only fold a paper plane and it couldn't carry people. Yu Hanjiang played origami games and could fold the paper. He would make the best use of it.

The two of them rearranged their cards while also becoming familiar with each other's items.

Just then, A of Clubs suddenly reminded them, "The rest time is 5 minutes, please prepare for the next instance."

Time passed quickly.

Fortunately, this 30 minutes break had already restored their physical strength.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other, got up at the same time and walked side by side to the card wall.

Their personal space was merged and the card wall was also merged.

At this point, the huge card wall had changed significantly.

The bottom room had 2 of Hearts, 2 of Diamonds, 2 of Spades and 2 of Clubs. Their lower right corners had the green 'cleared' written. There was also the two people's respective clearance scores beside them. Yu Hanjiang's clearance scores in Hearts and Spades was S while Diamonds was a B. Xiao Lou's score in Hearts and Diamonds was S while Spades was A.

Neither of them had a rating for Clubs.

2 of Clubs was a challenge level and the record was the gold coins that the two people won. Xiao Lou had 10,000 gold coins and he used them to buy a contract. In the second game, Yu Hanjiang won No. 6's money and folded the next few games. His final amount was 17,000.

Yu Hanjiang saw the gold coins data on the card wall, thought about it and handed 17 gold coins to Xiao Lou.

Xiao Lou wondered, "Why are you giving this to me?"

Yu Hanjiang explained, "Since we signed the contract and are bound to break through together, the gold coins will also be spent together. In the future, you should manage the accounts. I don't have any idea about money and don't remember how much it costs."

…Then did he usually spend money and never keep account books?

The man's serious eyes didn't seem like he was joking. Xiao Lou had to accept the gold coins with a smile. "Okay, the gold coins will be temporarily kept by me. If you want to buy something then directly tell me." He carefully placed the 17 gold coins into his pocket. The two people had so little money at present that they had to save some money.

Looking back at the card wall, he found that the top two rows of 3 and 4 of Hearts, 3 and 4 of Diamonds, 3 and 4 of Clubs and 3 and 4 of Spades—all eight cards had become the 'optional' bright state and the upper right corner of the cards had the single letter: C.

Xiao Lou asked, "These are all C-grade secret rooms?"

"Yes." The teenager replied. "Clearing all D-grade secret rooms will automatically unlock C-grade secret rooms. Each suit of the C-grade level have two rooms and the difficulty is similar. You can freely choose one of them to enter."

Xiao Lou glanced back at Yu Hanjiang. "Shall we go to the Hearts room first?"

Yu Hanjiang simply nodded. "No problem."

A criminal policeman and forensic doctor, what else could they choose for the first time?

They would naturally go to the Hearts secret room to solve the mystery!

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Chapter 20 – Scarlet Maple Leaf 01

After confirming the choice of the Hearts room, Xiao Lou asked the keeper, "3 of Hearts and 4 of Hearts are two secret rooms. Can clearing one be used to unlock the next stage or must both be cleared but the order can be freely chosen?"

A of Clubs explained, "Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, Clubs, clearing one C-grade room each and you can unlock the next stage, the B-grade rooms." Then he cautioned. "However, I suggest you go to challenge all of them. It is because these C-grade secret rooms are relatively simple and it is easy to achieve the 'perfect clearance' and draw more good cards from the limited card pool."

Xiao Lou had long known this.

His 2 of Hearts, 2 of Diamonds and 2 of Spades were all perfectly cleared. He drew the three cards Tao Yuanming, Compass and Zombie Leader. Each one was very strong. Based on Yu Hanjiang's weapon and equipment card, the cards in this world were much richer than imagined.

The low-level secret rooms were relatively simple and perfectly clearing the instance allowed them to draw from a limited card pool. The probability of drawing good cards was very high and this was some of the Card World's privileges for novices. Later, once they arrived at the team secret rooms, they would be lucky just to pass the instance and it would be hard to pass it perfectly.

Yu Hanjiang had the same idea as he looked at Xiao Lou and suggested, "If we can pass all of them then we shouldn't skip any. We should take advantage of when the difficulty of the secret rooms is low to get more cards."

Xiao Lou nodded in agreement. "Go to 3 of Hearts or 4 of Hearts. Group Leader Yu, you decide."

Yu Hanjiang didn't refuse and simply extended his hand to pull out the '3 of Hearts' card.

The keeper stated, "The 3 of Hearts secret room, 'Bloody Maple Leaf' is being generated. The two of you, please be ready. The countdown is 10, 9, 8…"

The teenager's voice gradually faded away in their ears and once he reached '5', Xiao Lou's vision became dark before it lit up again after a few seconds.

Xiao Lou squinted to adapt to the harsh light as quickly as possible. Then he looked around.

Where was Yu Hanjiang?

He was surprised to find that Group Leader Yu wasn't around him.

According to the code of the contract, the two of them had already signed the contract and would be pulled into the same world. Therefore, it was impossible for him to come in and not Yu Hanjiang.

The only possibility was that the two of them were sent separately to different locations in the secret room.

Xiao Lou soon understood.

Different locations meant finding different clues. Since it was a secret room for two people, they should individually find some clues first and once the two people met up, they would combine the clues and analyze them.

This was similar to the traditional 'escape room' game. He used to play real escape room games where everyone had to look for clues. However, the previous escape rooms were indoor games where the space was limited. They could see each other when looking back and could hear everyone.

Now, the secret room world of 3 of Hearts was too big.

Xiao Lou looked up and found himself standing at the gates of a school.

The school gate was very grand and the right side of the wall was covered with many gold medals such as 'City's Key Middle School', 'Psychological Education Demonstration School', 'Advanced Youth League Organization', Advanced Collective;…

At the top of the gate, written in elegant cursive—

Maple Forest High School.

Xiao Lou looked around. The campus was extremely quiet and he couldn't see anyone.

Instead, he could see a large maple forest on one side of the school.

The time in this secret room world should be autumn. It was just after a light rain and the ground was still soaked by the rain, giving off a damp smell. A gust of wind blew and countless red maple leaves fell due to the wind, laying a thick red carpet on the ground. After the maple leaves were washed by the rain, the red was very fascinating as they floated in the air like blood.

Maple Forest High School, the name of this school was obviously related to the maple forest in the school.

Xiao Lou didn't know if he should walk in or stand at the door and watch.

Bloody Maple Leaf, judging from the name, there should be a bloody case on this campus? Previously when he entered the secret room, he would receive a prompt but this time there were no hints at all. Even the most common checkpoints were invisible.

There was no way back and Xiao Lou had to walk through the school gate.

The moment he stepped into the school gate, the familiar floating box and text prompts finally appeared.

[Welcome Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang to the 3 of Hearts secret room, Bloody Maple Leaf.]

[1. This secret room is a plot suspense room and there is no time limit. Once the mystery is solved, you can go out. If you can't solve the mystery then you will stay in the world of the secret room forever.]

[2. C-grade secret rooms no longer have the 'clues collection' prompt. The clearance score is related to the time of the puzzle. The shorter the time, the higher the score will be.]

[3. The time flow rate of the 3 of Hearts secret room is different from the Card World. Every day here is only 24 minutes in the Card World. Your body's functions are working normally based on the time flow rate of the 3 of Hearts room. You will have a physiological reaction such as hunger and exhaustion. There is a snack counter inside the school. The gold coins obtained in the Clubs room can be used here without worrying about the outcome of 'starving to death.']

[4. Today is the weekend. There is no one attending classes of the two of you can enter the campus to explore on your own.]

[5. Note that you are an outsider. Once you are discovered by the security guards, you will be expelled from the school. Please be careful to avoid the security patrol and not to encounter the security guards of the school. If caught by the security guards, it will be a fail and you will be eliminated directly.]

[6. This is a cursed school. It is said that the maple leaves are so red because the maple trees absorbed too much blood.]

The text prompts ended and there was a 'ding' in his ears. "Received the secret room limited card. Please check the card pack."

Xiao Lou immediately opened his card pack and found a new card lying inside.

[Equipment Card: Invisibility Cloak]

Rarity: A

Description: A 3 of Hearts secret room limited card. After leaving the 3 of Hearts room, the card is automatically damaged.

Effect: Put on the stealth cloak and immediately enter the invisible state for 30 minutes. You will become a transparent person during the invisible state. People in the secret room world can't see you and your partner can't see you.

Restrictions: Can only be used once a day. Please pay attention to the timing.

Xiao Lou put the card away and looked at the text in the floating box again, trying to extract key information.

Previously in 2 of Hearts, he entered a house and collected clues, reasoning out the murderer at the crime scene. This was a static secret room where all the evidence was kept in place. As long as he was careful enough, he could always find the clues.

Meanwhile, the 3 of Hearts room was a dynamic plot secret room.

He had to enter the school as a bystander.

The mystery that he needed to solve hadn't appeared yet.

It could be inferred from the tips that today being the weekend and no classes being on was to let him have this time to familiarize himself with the school environment. During this time, they must at least read the map of the school and find the location of each class and office.

On Monday, when school began, the case should happen.

They needed to conduct a quick investigation in the school and figure out the murderer without being discovered by the security guards. This difficulty was more than double the static secret room where only one person collected evidence.

However, the C-grade secret room wasn't too difficult. After all, only the 'security' barrier was set up.

The rules said that if they were caught by the security guards, they would fail to clear the instance. It didn't say they would be expelled from school if discovered by the teachers and students. Moreover, the secret room issued the 'Invisibility Cloak' limited card. If they were in danger, wearing the Invisibility Cloak could save their lives.

Xiao Lou understood this and immediately entered school, quickly observing the surrounding environment.

He soon found a brief introduction to the school and a bird's eye view of the entire campus on a huge stone monument near the school gate.

***

Maple Forest High School was founded five years ago.

The architectural theme here was clearly related to the maple trees and were all painted red like the maple leaves.

The school's teaching equipment was perfect, the teaching staff were strong and the hardware facilities were first-class. Not only was there a stadium, a running track, eight outdoor basketball courts, indoor gymnasiums and libraries. It was almost comparable to a small university.

As a key local high school, Maple Forest High School had more than 3,000 students and 300 students. Among them were 23 'first-class secondary level teachers.' This was the information revealed on the brief of the stone tablet.

Xiao Lou himself was an associate professor at a university and was very familiar with the education system. For first-class high school teachers, the education bureau in each district would have a limit on the number of people and the quota would only be empty when old teachers retired. Moreover, it was evaluated that the first-class title had a working life requirement and only those with over 10 years of teaching would be eligible.

The school had 23 first-class teachers, making it worthy of being the city's key high school. The strange thing was that this school wasn't an old school. It was founded five years ago, indicating that most of the teachers transferred from elsewhere.

There were six buildings in the school.

The building facing the school gate was seven stories high and said 'Hangzhi (knowing/aware) Building', which was the administrative building.

There were three long strip buildings behind the administrative building, all of which were four stories high. Each building had air corridors connected to each other and the administrative building, forming a rectangular structure. The three buildings were called the Zhiyuan (conveying/devoting distance) Building, the Siqi (thinking simultaneously) Building and the Chongwen (sublime language) Building. Each name had a meaning and were the teaching buildings of grade 1, 2 and 3.

Later, there was a three-storey building called Shuxiang (literary reputation) Building and it was the school library and school data building.

The last building shaped like a maple leaf was marked with the word 'Gymnasium.'

Behind these buildings was a wide playground.

The air after the rain was extraordinarily fresh. The quiet campus, the red rubber track, the green grass, the blue sky and the white clouds—the entire scene was like a beautiful landscape painting.

People couldn't help recalling their student years.

Behind the playground was a beautiful maple forest. There were many wooden seats scattered around the playground and during the leisure time, students could rest here and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the maple leaves.

In addition to the maple trees, there was a flower bed under each school building and the environment was quite good.

This should be a day school since there wasn't a dormitory building.

Xiao Lou took one turn around the school and quickly figured out the layout of the entire school.

He stood on the playground and still couldn't find traces of Yu Hanjiang.

Where was Group Leader Yu?

In order for the two people to meet as soon as possible, Xiao Lou simply walked to a wooden seat next to the maple forest. The campus was so big that they would miss each other if they kept walking. Group Leader Yu would definitely come to see the maple forest and it was better to wait for him here.

Xiao Lou waited while arranging the layout of the school in his mind.

After a while, steady footsteps were heard behind him.

Xiao Lou turned back and met a pair of dark and deep eyes. He smiled at the other person, moved to the side and gestured to Yu Hanjiang to sit down. "Where were you? Where did you go?"

Yu Hanjiang sat down next to him. "I went to check the internal monitoring of the school!"

Xiao Lou, “…"

A policeman was really professional!

"The three teaching buildings have surveillance on every floor and there are surveillance cameras in every class. The monitoring centre of the entire school is the security room in the Hangzhi Building. I went to check and many of the cameras are bad."

Yu Hanjiang took out a blank workbook and ballpoint pen, drawing on it while explaining to Xiao Lou, "The camera on the west side of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors of the Chongwen Building, the camera on the east side of the Siqi Building, and in the south of the Zhiyuan Building, classes 3, 6, 2, 1 and 7 all have their monitors black. I went to the teaching buildings to check and the cameras are really bad."

Xiao Lou, “…"

A policeman truly wasn't the same. In such a short period of time, he actually found the surveillance camera distribution of the three teaching buildings as well as all the broken cameras and monitoring dead ends!

Xiao Lou's eyes lit up as he pointed to the distribution map. "The security room can see all the surveillance cameras in the school. Then once school starts on Monday, we should avoid these surveillance cameras, right?"

Yu Hanjiang nodded. "Yes, pick the monitoring blank spots and try to avoid being discovered by the security guards."

Xiao Lou's heart was full of admiration. If it wasn't for Group Leader Yu, he wouldn't have thought to check the monitoring of the teaching building and might've been discovered by the security guard during the course of his actions. Of course, the security guard couldn't teleport to catch him. Even if he was found, he could find a way to get away when the security guard was rushing over. However, that was the next best policy. After all, it wasn't a good thing to be chased by security guards and the cloak also had restrictions on its use.

Yu Hanjiang's anti-reconnaissance ability was first-class. Since there was a big man by his side during this criminal investigation, Xiao Lou's confidence suddenly doubled.

Yu Hanjiang asked, "What did you find?"

"I walked through the school and have a layout of the entire school. I'll draw a picture for you."

He took Yu Hanjiang's book and pen and drew all the buildings quickly on the blank paper.

Xiao Lou's memory was outstanding and he was very sensitive to graphics. His drawn floor plan might not be up to professional architectural standards but it clearly showed the shape, size and distance of each building.

Yu Hanjiang glanced at him with appreciation. "I entered this world on the first floor of a building and found a problem with the monitoring. I went to check the surveillance and didn't have time to explore the entire school.

The two people checked inside the teaching buildings and had an overall layout of the school. Their mutual cooperation meant they soon touched on the situation of Maple Forest High School. The monitoring map and campus plan was drawn on the workbook and each of them had a copy in their pockets for personal use. This was in case they needed to be separated in the process so they didn't go to the wrong place.

Xiao Lou pointed to the tall building facing the gate. "Did you explore the entire building?"

Yu Hanjiang shook his head. "I found the security office on the first floor and there was a security guard on duty. He was asleep and I came to you first. The above floors haven't been checked."

Xiao Lou thought about it and said, "The floating box reminded us that today is the weekend and there are no classes. It is to let us explore on our own. The security guard sleeping must be to let us know the layout of the school as soon as possible. Why don't we go and see?"