Card Room

Chapter 547 – Smooth Clearance

Xiao Lou sat on the wooden bed and listened carefully to the movements outside.

There was no glass window in the dim cell and he could only see the light from the corridor through the window on the iron door. He waited for a long time before there was a burst of footsteps in the corridor. The other person was wearing flat sneakers, not leather shoes, and the footsteps on the ground were very light.

Xiao Lou raised his head to look at the iron window. In the blink of an eye, a man came to the door of Cell 1. The two of them looked at each other through the window. Sure enough, it was Xiao Wu, the young police officer who interned with Yu Hanjiang.

Xiao Lou had long felt it was strange. How could Yu Hanjiang come to the scene so quickly after Xu Mingyue called the police last night? The distance between the criminal investigations police station and the conservatory of music took at least an hour of driving. Apparently, he and Xiao Wu were nearby at the time.

This was too coincidental.

Moreover, the hunters could accurately grasp the progress of the investigation of the case to plant the framed evidence. Xiao Lou always felt that the police force had an inner spy who participated in the handling of this. Therefore, he led Yu Hanjiang away to force out this person.

Now the inner spy had indeed appeared.

Xiao Wu froze for a moment when he met Xiao Lou’s gaze. He soon smiled and said respectfully, “Professor Xiao, Group Leader Yu went to the medical university and had me take care of you. You can tell me directly if you have any needs. You can rest assured that you will be acquitted once Group Leader Yu catches the murderer.”

Xiao Lou got up and went to the iron door. He asked in a low voice, “Can Yu Hanjiang catch the murderer?”

Xiao Wu said without hesitation, “Of course…”

Xiao Lou stared at him. “Oh? Didn’t you send a message to your companions to flee?”

The smile on Xiao Wu’s face froze slightly. “Professor Xiao, what does this mean?”

Xiao Lou smiled. “Don’t pretend. You dared to come to me in such an upright and visible manner because the surveillance of this cell has been destroyed by you.” His tone was very firm and his eyes were calm.

Xiao Wu’s expression sank. He looked around 20 years old and was usually like a recent university graduate, full of immaturity. Now his gaze suddenly became cold and sharp like he was possessed by another person. There was also a hint of hoarseness in his voice. “You already knew?”

Xiao Lou nodded. “In this world, the number of hunters can’t be less than challengers. Therefore, the third hunter must be by Yu Hanjiang’s side so they can keep afloat of the case’s progress at any time.”

Xiao Wu raised an eyebrow. “Unfortunately, you found out too late.”

Then he suddenly took out a gun and aimed it at Xiao Lou’s head.

A criminal investigation police officer could be armed with a gun. He separated from his colleagues and killing Xiao Lou was simply easy.

Xiao Lou had a gun aimed at him but his expression remained calm. He stared into the other person’s eyes and said slowly, “This world is a Hearts world. My guess is that your task is to find a way to frame me to send me and Liu Qiao to prison, using the hands of the police to get rid of us instead of directly killing us. It seems you’ve exhausted your tricks so you decided to act directly against me?”

Xiao Wu’s eyes widened slightly. It seemed he couldn’t believe that Xiao Lou could guess so much.

His expression gave Xiao Lou the answer. There were indeed some rules in the Hearts world. Xiao Wu was directly assassinating him now because Xiao Wu was forced to helplessly make the next move. If he passed the test like this, he definitely wouldn’t get an evaluation of A or above. However, Xiao Lou was still unclear about how the hunters were scored.

Xiao Lou smiled. “Did I guess right? You won’t be able to pass the level perfectly if you kill me directly, right?”

Xiao Wu hesitated for a moment before he seemed to think of something. He gritted his teeth and said coldly, “I don’t want to waste time speaking to you. You are the captain of the team. It is enough to let you die, no matter the method used!”

He didn’t waste any more time with Xiao Lou and simply pulled the trigger.

The pistol had a silencer and didn’t alarm others. Xiao Lou hadn’t expected Xiao Wu to be so decisive and to shoot the moment he said he would. Suddenly, there was a buzzing from Xiao Lou’s head. Dizziness overcame him and warm blood flowed down his forehead, blurring his vision.

There was a bloody light in front of his eyes and Xiao Lou fell to the cold ground. His brain gradually lost the ability to think.

Before he completely lost consciousness, he saw Xiao Wu take out something like a ‘communicator’ and whisper something into it. The young man’s back quickly disappeared beyond the end of the corridor. Xiao Lou slowly closed his eyes.

_______________________________________________________________

Tang Ci drove all the way to the police station. He parked the car on the side of the road and instructed softly, “Xiao Liu, stay here and watch Chen Mengmeng in the trunk. Don’t let her escape. I will go to find Xiao Lou.”

Liu Qiao nodded. “Mr Tang, be careful.”

Tang Ci closed the door and ran all the way into the police station. He cried out bluntly, “Xiao Lou is in danger. Where is he?”

Two police officers hurried to Cell 1, only to see Xiao Lou collapsed in a pool of blood.

Tang Ci’s heart thumped when he saw this scene.

Tang Ci would’ve thought that Xiao Lou was dead if it wasn’t for Liu Qiao telling him that Xiao Lou still had the Witch’s antidote.

At this moment, Xiao Lou looked no different from a dead man. His face was covered with blood, his eyes were closed and his heart stopped beating. The two police officers noticed that something was wrong and immediately called Yu Hanjiang.

By the time Yu Hanjiang rushed back to the police station with a dark expression, Xiao Lou’s ‘corpse’ had already been carried out while covered with white cloth.

The man crouched down and his hand that lifted the white cloth trembled slightly.

Xiao Lou’s face under the white cloth was as pale as paper and the bloody hole on his forehead was in stark contrast to the pale skin. Yu Hanjiang’s hands tightened and the veins on the back of his hands bulged. He looked back, eyes bloodshot, as he roared like an angry beast, “Didn’t I tell you to look after him well? What the hell happened?!”

The two people looked at each other and the policewoman trembled. “Xiao Wu brought us takeout and told us to eat first. Then he went to the duty room next door to keep watch. We thought there would be no problems with him watching so we just…”

Yu Hanjiang stood up, his face blue. “Do you have pig brains?!”

He took a deep breath and resisted the urge to beat people. He immediately picked up the radio and gave orders on the communication channel. “I am Yu Hanjiang. Immediately notify the police forces of various districts to search for the criminal suspect Wu Minglang at all high speed toll stations, airports and railway stations. This person’s information will be uploaded onto the Intranet. Patrolling police officers, please pay attention. If you find him then arrest him immediately!”

After giving the order, he looked back at Xiao Lou on the ground with an extremely ugly expression.

Tang Ci calmly asked, “Group Leader Yu, do you now believe he was framed?”

Yu Hanjiang was silent for a moment. “…I’m sorry.”

Tang Ci told him, “You had better catch all the murderers or Xiao Lou will have died in vain.”

Yu Hanjiang clenched his fists hard. “Of course. I will never let them go!”

Tang Ci asked, “Can I take Professor Xiao’s body with me?”

Now he just wanted to take away Xiao Lou’s ‘corpse’. It would be bad if a forensic doctor came and dissected Professor Xiao. The Witch’s antidote wouldn’t be able to restore a severed body.

Yu Hanjiang answered, “I will notify his family to claim the body according to the regulations.”

Tang Ci nodded. “Yes, please inform Xiao Lou’s parents as soon as possible. Based on the shell casing left on the ground, you should be able to tell who fired the gun, right? His parents definitely won’t agree to an autopsy. I hope you don’t touch him.”

“Okay.” Yu Hanjiang nodded. He leaned over, carefully covered Xiao Lou with the white cloth and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Tang Ci saw his appearance. This man was full of guilt and self-blame but there wasn’t much anger. It was indeed different from the real Yu Hanjiang. If the real Yu Hanjiang was here, it would be impossible for him to be so calm after seeing Xiao Lou shot in the head.

If it was really Yu Hanjiang…

Tang Ci didn’t dare imagine the consequences.

He took a deep breath and turned to the door. He got into the car and asked Liu Qiao, “Have you met Xiao Lou’s parents?”

Liu Qiao shook his head. “No, how about Professor Xiao?”

“Xiao Lou was shot in the head by a bullet. I hope he took the antidote in advance.”

Liu Qiao reassured him. “Professor Xiao is so cautious and he shouldn’t risk his own life. The antidote is placed under the tongue in advance and can be eaten at any time. It is just that it needs to be night for it to take effect.”

Tang Ci opened the laptop and quickly checked the information of Xiao Lou’s mother. He pointed to the photo on the screen. “This is a photo of Xiao Lou’s mother. Pretend to be his mother and enter the police station as soon as possible to take out his body. I will send Chen Mengmeng to the police station. We only caught this one murderer. We have to rely on the strength of the police to catch the other two.”

Liu Qiao nodded and disguised as Xiao Lou’s mother.

Half an hour later, she pretended to take a taxi to the police station and hurried to find Yu Hanjiang. “Officer Yu, what happened to my son?”

Yu Hanjiang led her to the morgue. The moment she lifted the white cloth to see Xiao Lou’s face, Liu Qiao fell to her knees and cried in a loud voice. “My son… how did you suddenly disappear…?”

Acting was very hard. Liu Qiao thought it was fortunate that Professor Xiao wasn’t conscious now or it would be really disrespectful for her to directly call Professor Xiao ‘son’. Professor Xiao was her idol.

Yu Hanjiang watched ‘Mother Xu’ who was crying bitterly with an expression full of guilt. “I’m sorry, Auntie. I failed to protect him.”

Liu Qiao asked, “What happened?”

Yu Hanjiang briefly told her about the case. Liu Qiao listened to it in a stunned manner. Then she sobbed once she felt it was almost over. “Please, you must catch the murderers who killed my son!”

She stretched out her hand and covered Xiao Lou with a white cloth in a choked up manner. “I want to take Xiao Lou away and wait for his father to see him before burying him well.”

“Yes, Auntie. Please sign here.”

Liu Qiao signed as Xiao Lou’s mother and asked the body transporter to bring Xiao Lou’s body back to Tang Ci’s private residence.

The two of them carried Xiao Lou to the bed.

Liu Qiao touched his cold wrist and examined the wound left on his forehead. “Professor Xiao took too many risks. I hope he took the antidote in advance or I am afraid he really would be dead…”

Tang Ci stood by the bed and stared at Xiao Lou’s ‘corpse’ while thinking.

Liu Qiao saw there was no reaction behind her and couldn’t help turning back to ask, “Mr Tang, what are you thinking?”

Tang Ci frowned. “I was wondering about the origin of the hunters and why they are against us everywhere. In addition, what world are our other teammates in? How do we join them?”

Liu Qiao told him, “Professor Xiao speculated that the 12 of us were divided into several groups and thrown into different worlds. We encountered the Hearts’ case. Since Group Leader Yu isn’t in this world, he most likely is in the Spades world.”

Tang Ci nodded. “Xiao Lou’s speculation is reasonable. Brother Jiu might also be in the survival world.” Chief Shao is in Clubs and Old Mo might be in Diamonds? We just don’t know the rules behind how the others are allocated.”

Liu Qiao added, “It is just like the previous K secret room. We just need to solve the problems of each world and meet the others afterwards.”

Tang Ci looked at Xiao Lou on the bed. A moment later, he was slightly relieved. “Xiao Lou should be fine.”

“Why do you say that?”

Tang Ci explained. “He is the captain and the owner of the contract book. If he dies, the contract book will be transferred to the second signed Yu Hanjiang and there will be a notification stating ‘the captain is dead. The contract book is transferred to Yu Hanjiang’.”

Liu Qiao was relieved to hear this. “There was no notification. This means that Professor Xiao took the antidote and didn’t really die. He will wake up tomorrow at dawn.”

Xiao Lou used himself as bait to lure out the last hunter. It was risky but also very effective.

Under the full force of the criminal investigation team led by Yu Hanjiang, Wang Yishen was quickly arrested at the airport. Xiao Wu, who was hiding, was also found by the patrolmen. Chen Mengmeng was sent by Tang Ci to the station so all the murderers in this serial murder case were arrested.

The night was very long and Tang Ci and Liu Qiao didn’t sleep well. They sat on the bed and anxiously waited for Xiao Lou to wake up.

As the first rays of sunlight fell into the bedroom, Xiao Lou finally opened his eyes.

A smile appeared on Xiao Lou’s pale face when he saw his teammates around him. “Fortunately, you snatched my body back in time and I didn’t go through an autopsy.”

Liu Qiao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Professor Xiao, you still have the mind to joke.”

Xiao Lou reached out and touched the hole in his forehead. “Cough. Mr Tang, don’t you have a healing robot? I have a hole in my head. I don’t know if your robot can fix it?”

Tang Ci and Liu Qiao, “……”

What strange conversation was this?

Tang Ci told him helplessly, “You only have one life now and the bullet is still in your head. You can’t be careless. My healing robot can only repair skin trauma. Let’s wait to meet up with Chief Shao or Ye Qi and use the Bug King card to heal it.”

Xiao Lou nodded. “That is the only way.”

His head was still a bit dizzy. He might be fine for now but it wasn’t a good thing for the bullet to remain in his head.

He hoped to meet with Chief Shao as soon as possible.

[Congratulations to Xiao Lou, Tang Ci and Liu Qiao for successfully passing the second link of the relay mission.]

[The third link is opening…]

At the same time, Shao Qingge opened his eyes.