Card Room

Chapter 520 – Secret Room Endgame

The man’s face was covered by a black mask and the thumb of one of his hands was cut off.

A severed finger?

Xiao Lou was shocked and he said in his mind, “His thumb is severed. Is he the murderer behind the ghost killing case?”

In the treasure chest left in the grave, Shao Qingge mentioned that one of the four children had his finger cut off in order to save Han Ningshuang. In addition, there were a large number of scars left on his face due to chickenpox.

This person’s name was Qi Ran and he was the person most likely to be the murderer in the ghost killing case.

Yu Hanjiang said, “He is the only hunter who can appear in both the day and night worlds at the same time. No wonder why we will be intercepted and chased by zombies every time we go to the mass burial site. He can also take our lives in the day world.”

Yet his ability alone was limited and Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang escaped him every time.

Now it was the night world and he had gathered so many hunters. He would definitely be more difficult to deal with. Xiao Lou immediately became alert. The next moment, there was a sound around him. The sound was rhythmic and it seemed like it could penetrate all barriers and reach the depths of his heart. For a moment, the only thing left in Xiao Lou’s brain was this sound.

It was a rattle-drum!

In addition to his own self-awareness, Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang’s minds were connected. It wasn’t known who thought of the keyword ‘rattle-drum’ first but both of them realized it at the same time.

The reason why this murder case was so bizarre was because there was a hunter involved!

The ‘magic’ that Xiao Lou had thought of was actually a card effect.

The card called ‘Rattle-drum’ could emit a strange rhythm that struck people’s hearts when used. This way, their consciousness was controlled by the user. This was the real reason for the strange collective disappearance of the Zhao and Chen families in Qingfeng Town.

Qi Ran controlled their consciousness with the sound of the rattle-drum, letting them follow instructions to come to the mass burial site. By the time they regained their consciousness, they had long lost the power to resist and became fish on the chopping board, ready to be slaughtered.

It was dangerous!

Once their consciousness was controlled by the rattle-drum sound, perhaps Qi Ran could manipulate Yu Hanjiang to kill all the team members!

It was as Xiao Lou expected. In just a few seconds, Old Mo, Long Sen and Qu Wanyue had been controlled by the rattle-drum sound since they only had a single consciousness in their mind. Long Sen’s eyes turned red and he reached out to forcefully strangle Qu Wanyue’s neck!

Long Sen was the coach of a sports school and was extremely strong. Qu Wanyue’s delicate neck was almost broken by him.

Qu Wanyue was also unconscious at this time. She was confused and didn’t resist at all. It wasn’t known what orders Old Mo had received but he was walking toward the hunter team step by step like a marionette.

A sneer appeared in Qi Ran’s eyes behind the mask and he told his partners around him, “These people are really difficult to solve. Rather than us trying our best, it is better to let them kill each other.”

The woman next to him chuckled. “Our boss really has a way.”

Qu Wanyue was already unconscious and Long Sen’s hands were shaking. Old Mo took the knife handed to him by a hunter and prepared to stab himself in the abdomen.

Xiao Lou watched this scene but he didn’t know how to stop it.

It was as if an electric drill was stirring vigorously in his head and his mind was going to explode from pain.

Dang dang, dang dang…

The monotonous rattle-drum sound echoed repeatedly in his mind. The strange magical sound seemed to have the energy to cleanse all consciousness. Just as Xiao Lou’s consciousness was gradually blurring and he was going to lose track of who he was, a low, calm voice was suddenly heard in his head.

The voice was saying, “Xiao Lou, teleport.”

It was Yu Hanjiang.

Xiao Lou’s sanity was pulled back in an instant. The next moment, Yu Hanjiang threw out the white silk. It continued to stretch out in his hand and with lightning speed, it successively wrapped around Long Sen, Qu Wanyue, Old Mo and Liu Qiao.

Xiao Lou turned on the teleportation at the same time and the six people disappeared without a trace.

Qi Ran’s expression suddenly changed. “Don’t let them run!”

After using the teleportation, the six people appeared in a hidden corner of Qingfeng Town.

Xiao Lou liked to leave a path of retreat for himself. This mark of Li Qingzhao was the retreat he left for them.

Liu Qiao was already in a state of suspended death and would only wake up at dawn. The other Li Qingzhao card was in Old Mo’s hand. Therefore, just now when he left the Peach Blossom Spring to find the exit, he asked Qu Wanyue to use the Li Qingzhao card to modify the mark. Then Old Mo’s Li Qingzhao card was handed over to him to use.

Before they found the exit of the labyrinth, Xiao Lou had placed a mark in this safe corner.

He didn’t expect that the hunters would be waiting for them at the exit of the labyrinth. Even so, he habitually left a way to retreat. In case of an accident, everyone could teleport back here en masse. Unexpectedly, it was this meticulous habit that saved everyone’s life at a critical moment.

They were too far away from the rattle-drums so the group quickly regained their senses as the deceptive sound disappeared.

Old Mo looked at the knife in his hand. The knife was pointed toward his abdomen and almost stabbed down. He stared blankly and scratched his head. “Where did this knife come from?”

Long Sen saw the deep finger marks on Qu Wanyue’s neck and immediately became angry. “Who strangled you?”

Qu Wanyue looked confused. “I don’t know.”

Xiao Lou, “……”

If he told them that it was Long Sen who almost strangled Qu Wanyue, wouldn’t this hurt the couple’s feelings too much?

Xiao Lou didn’t tell the truth and instead looked at Yu Hanjiang. “Why weren’t you affected just now?”

Yu Hanjiang explained, “During my time at the police academy, I received professional anti-interference training. Ordinary hypnotic sounds don’t have much effect on me.”

Thanks to this, Yu Hanjiang was able to wake up Xiao Lou in the critical moment.

Xiao Lou’s heart was still frightened. If it wasn’t for Yu Hanjiang waking him up so he could take away the team members using the teleportation, they might’ve really killed each other under the influence of the magical sound. Then the entire group would’ve been wiped out.

Xiao Lou said, “It seems that the strongest one in this hunter team is the murderer of the ghost killing case. Not only can he kill people in the day world but he can also come to this labyrinth at night. The rattle-drum in his hand can confuse people’s minds and control their consciousness.”

The team members all showed shocked expressions and Old Mo quickly reacted. “In other words, the missing families in Qingfeng Town were all led away by him using the sound of the rattle-drums?”

Qu Wanyue was almost strangled and took a long time to recover her breathing, desperately coughing. Long Sen helped her calm down and said indignantly, “This isn’t the first time that the murderer of the secret room is a hunter! This group of crazy people, is their mission to kill others?!”

Long Sen’s words caused a chill to rise in Xiao Lou’s heart.

Hunter, killer—these names were enough to illustrate that their task was to kill.

Perhaps the murderers of the serial murders in later secret rooms were actually done by hunters on special missions. The challengers had to find and catch the murderer. From beginning to end, the two sides were on opposing camps.

Xiao Lou took a deep breath. “We don’t know the duration or cooldown time of the rattle-drum in Qi Ran’s hands. If we rush in rashly, we will likely be controlled by him again. Yet if we continue to waste time, the exit of the labyrinth will spin and disappear…”

The dynamic labyrinth was always spinning. Now was the perfect time to leave the labyrinth.

If they missed this opportunity, they would have to wait another eight hours to wait for the labyrinth to return to its original position.

Old Mo had an ugly expression. “The exit of the labyrinth is surrounded by them. There are traps everywhere!”

Xiao Lou said, “We can only gamble.”

Yu Hanjiang looked at him. “How do you want to gamble?”

Xiao Lou took out the card pack from Liu Qiao’s pocket. He took out a card and carefully looked at the skill description.

Then he said, “Teacher Qu, open the teleportation again.”

Li Qingzhao’s marked point could be modified/teleported up to five times. This Li Qingzhao in Qu Wanyue’s hand had been used four times so far and one last use was available.

Qu Wanyue had straightened out her breathing. She had just been strangled so her voice was a bit hoarse. “However, the marked point this time is at the exit of the labyrinth that is already surrounded by hunters. Do we still want to teleport over?”

Old Mo was also worried. “Isn’t this walking right into the trap?”

Xiao Lou took a deep breath. “Dragging things out isn’t an option so we can only gamble. I will use Xiao Liu’s card to control them.”

The group had no choice but to trust Xiao Lou’s judgment.

Qu Wanyue opened the teleportation again.

How could Qi Ran expect that after Xiao Lou’s group of six escaped, they would suddenly appear in the same place soon after?

It was as incredible as a prey struggling to escape from a trap only to suddenly turn around and jump into it.

The six of them appeared at the marked spot just now and the hunters were collectively stunned.

They were stunned for only one second before recovering but…

This one second was exactly what Xiao Lou needed.

He took out Liu Qiao’s Ugly Duckling and White Swan card. The first skill of this card, Ugly Duckling could transform the specified targets in range. This limited skill could only be used once per secret room and was very powerful.

Liu Qiao had used this skill before when she was chased by hunters but at that time, she only turned one hunter into an ugly duckling. The number of transformations available was up to 10 people. In other words, there were still nine uses left for this transformation card.

At this point, there were eight people left in the hunter team.

Xiao Lou used the crucial one second difference to use the skill. Then his teammates found that the originally aggressive hunter team had collectively turned into clumsy little ducks who were letting out angry quacks.

Xiao Lou ordered with a cold face, “Go quickly!”

Yu Hanjiang immediately wrapped his arms around Xiao Lou and flew up. Long Sen and Qu Wanyue took Old Mo with them using the Long Jump card that made their legs extend and allowed them to jump eight meters. They successfully jumped over the trap pit. Meanwhile, the unconscious Liu Qiao had been turned into the size of a thumb and was in Xiao Lou’s pocket.

The six of them broke through the barrier of Qingfeng Town with great speed and walked out of the gate.

It was sunny outside and the weather was clear.

It was daytime and Liu Qiao finally woke up. She saw that her teammates were sweaty and pale and hurriedly asked, “Have you come out of the labyrinth? Everyone is okay, right?”

Yu Hanjiang glanced at Xiao Lou and replied softly, “We’re fine. There is no danger.”

It was indeed thrilling enough. At the last moment, Xiao Lou used Liu Qiao’s designated transformation card to control the hunters, allowing them to escape from the labyrinth.

Xiao Lou walked over to Liu Qiao and returned her cards to her. “Your card helped a lot.”

Liu Qiao took the cards.

Just then, a prompt appeared on everyone’s floating boxes at the same time.

[Congratulations to Xiao Lou’s team for collectively clearing the K secret room. Please return to the personal space for the rewards settlement.]

The K secret room was finally over.

It was a lot of trouble, no matter whether it was the bizarre cases or the powerful hunters. Xiao Lou’s neck had a knife mark, Yu Hanjiang’s right hand was almost destroyed, the finger marks on Qu Wanyue’s neck looked extremely frightening, the black flame mark on Liu Qiao’s forehead hadn’t been cleared and only Old Mo and Long Sen escaped the ghost town uninjured.

The good thing was that everyone was alive.

Xiao Lou took a final look at Qingfeng Town, which was peaceful in the sunlight, and spoke to his teammates after taking a deep breath. “We’ve crossed another level. Everyone, hang in there. There is one last secret room left and we will soon be able to completely leave this world.”

This sentence spoke to everyone’s hearts.

They didn’t want to stay a moment longer in this cruel Card World.

Partially proofread: Paranoid Kitten