Card Room (Rebirth)
chapter-10

The moment he entered 2 of Spades, Xiao Lou had carefully observed the surroundings.

In front of him was a long deserted street that was wide. Apart from many abandoned vehicles on both sides of the road, there were no obvious obstacles that would block his escape route.

The zombies were very aggressive and he would suffer in close combat, but it wasn’t difficult to avoid their pursuit. They were slow moving and he could maintain his safety by running fast.

However, Xiao Lou ran for 100 metres and found that he had been thinking too simply.

The town had a large population and everyone had become a zombie after the virus spread.

As he ran, more zombies smelt a living person and surrounded him.

His current location was called People’s Street. It was very wide and should be the main road in town. At the end of the street, there was a sign showing ‘←Central Hospital/Grand Theatre, →Science Museum/Xiushui Park.’

To get to the hospital, he had to turn left at the end of People’s Street.

However, People’s Street had a large number of winding roads and countless stores. Almost every winding road had zombies patrolling and in many stores, zombies were trying to climb outside.

He wouldn’t lose if he was simply racing with the zombies. The problem was that no matter where he went, there were zombies in the vicinity!

At first, only four zombies were chasing him. Then he ran 100 metres and the zombies chasing him became more than a dozen. A zombie child with blood on his face ran out of a store on the left while there were two zombies with twisted heads in the alley to the right…

If this continued, the number of zombies would only increase.

If a zombie suddenly emerged from a fork and scratched his skin, it would be all over.

He didn’t want to be infected and become a zombie, forever staying in 2 of Spades!

Xiao Lou ran while quickly thinking of countermeasures.

The rapid running made him breathless and his ears could clearly hear his intense heartbeat. Perhaps it was due to this high concentration that his thinking became clearer and sharper than usual.

He noticed that there was a tobacco and alcohol supermarket just around the corner that was open.

The tobacco and alcohol supermarket at the entrance of the community was a small business and the area was generally less than 60 square metres. If there were zombies inside then the number wouldn’t be too much. It was possible for him to use a tool card to clear the space.

He had to make himself a separate space.

Xiao Lou took a deep breath, took off the jacket that inconvenienced him and threw it into the trash can. He quickly ran into the tobacco and alcohol supermarket, slamming the glass door shut and locking it from the inside.

He turned to watch the inside of the supermarket with vigilance. There was a slightly fat middle-aged man sitting in front of the counter. His head was pulled to the side and only half the flesh remained on his neck. He still had a pack of cigarettes in his hand and was probably the original owner of this tobacco and alcohol supermarket.

Hearing Xiao Lou enter the supermarket, the zombie stood up awkwardly with only half a head, struggling to look at him.

The next moment, the zombie saw a sharp fruit knife.

Xiao Lou’s hands fell, the actions decisive and clear!

The zombie originally only had half his neck remaining. Xiao Lou’s knife descended and the skin and blood vessels were cut off, the head rolling to the ground.

His movements were too neat. Before the head moved, the zombie didn’t have time to see what the person in front of him looked like.

Xiao Lou put away the fruit knife, his heart beating quickly.

It was the first time he had killed a human. No, the thing in front of him couldn’t be called ‘human.’

As a forensic doctor, Xiao Lou clearly understood every structure of the human body.

In normal humans, the neck artery being cut meant they would’ve died long ago. The blood vessels in the left side neck of the middle-aged man were all cut and his head was only half attached to his neck. The blood in the body was drained and all the brain cells had died. The man had no consciousness. He was just a dead body able to walk because a special virus was driving his body.

In the face of the dead body, Xiao Lou didn’t hesitate to take out his fruit knife and instantly cut the other’s neck, just like dissecting a body.

Xiao Lou was relieved after cleaning up the zombies in the tobacco and alcohol supermarket.

He wasn’t very good at fighting. Hacking at a zombie was okay but letting him fight one against many was simply looking for a dead end. He could only rely on skills to get rid of the zombies. The cards that were previously obtained from clearing the Hearts and Diamonds secret rooms could finally be used.

The fruit knife was a tool card that he pulled out of the card bag. In the 2 of Hearts secret room, it was the weapon Zhao Sen used to kill Zou Xiaomei.

Xiao Lou quickly opened the card bag.

He calmly summoned Tao Yuanming and had Tao Yuanming used Remember Peach Blossom Spring.

Remember Peach Blossom Spring needed 10 seconds to cast and the process of casting couldn’t be seen or the skill would fail to release. He had run too fast and the zombie group couldn’t catch up with him for 10 seconds. This was enough for Tao Yuanming to successfully release the skills.

Xiao Lou stared out the glass door. The slow moving zombies were slowly gathering in his direction. He took a deep breath to stabilize his emotions and counted down in his heart—10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1—

Now!

As the entrance of the Peach Blossom Spring appeared, Xiao Lou quickly put away Tao Yuanming, took out the rose perfume and sprayed it on his body. Then he opened the glass door of the supermarket and rushed out like he was running a 100 metres race.

Rose Perfume was a C-grade card that was a fixed reward from clearing 2 of Hearts. There was a saying on the card description: Spraying the perfume on your body can attract all targets within 30 metres close to you.

This tool card had a ‘pulling’ function.

The zombies were slow to respond and sometimes couldn’t sense his presence 30 metres away. If they suddenly attacked from behind or the side when he approached, this would make him unable to prevent it.

Therefore, Xiao Lou simply sprayed himself with the rose perfume, bringing over all the distant zombies.

It was very strange to be chased by more than a dozen zombies. Wasn’t this simply digging his own grave?

Xiao Lou didn’t think so.

Rather than fighting the zombies one by one, it was better to resolve them all at once.

In the desolate town, the young man was moving fast, his figure running like the wind down the long street. He ran to a corner and looked at the zombies in the vicinity. His fingertips flashed and he suddenly threw out a special effects card.

The Nine Palaces Grid.

A 3m x 3m nine-square grid was created. All zombies that stepped into range were frozen for nine seconds!

Xiao Lou successfully controlled the group of zombies behind him and continued to run forward.

Nine seconds was enough for him to run a long distance.

However, in the process of running, the rose perfume attracted new zombies. He escaped the chase of the zombies in a thrilling manner. Whenever there were too many zombies, he would throw out the Nine Palaces Grid to settle the zombies.

His movements were agile and calm and his escape route was very clear.

At the end of the People’s Street, turn left and his destination, Central Hospital was there.

Xiao Lou soon came to the door of Central Hospital and swayed in front of the outpatient hall. The zombies in the outpatient hall were all alerted and more than a dozen zombies came out!

Sure enough, the end of the mission contained the most zombies.

Xiao Lou didn’t enter the hospital. He led all the zombies from the outpatient hall and continued to run forward!

Further forward was the Grand Theatre.

This was a three-storey building and the zombie virus had spread in the middle of the night. There shouldn’t be too many zombies in the Grand Theatre.

Xiao Lou’s left hand held the Nine Palaces Grid while the fruit knife was in his right hand. He entered the Grand Theatre in a high state of alert.

Sure enough, the number of zombies was less than imagined.

Xiao Lou sighed with relief as he used the fruit knife to handle the two zombies at the door and quickly walked to the centre of the theatre stage.

Moments later, the hundreds of zombies chasing him flooded in like the tide!

This image was scary and phobia sufferers would probably vomit.

Nevertheless, Xiao Lou was extremely calm. He stood alone on the stage of the Grand Theatre, watching the zombies calmly.

All the zombies stumbled through the aisles and surrounded the stage, drooling at Xiao Lou.

Just as they were preparing to flock and have a good meal—

The slender young man on the stage suddenly disappeared without a trace.

The zombies, “?????”

The hundreds of zombies stared blankly at the empty stage.

Xiao Lou appeared in the Peach Blossom Spring.

The moment he was surrounded by zombies, he once again took out the Tao Yuanming card and triggered the effect of the Remember Peach Blossom Spring skill.

He really moved to the Peach Blossom Spring.

Looking around, the mountains were covered with peach trees. The peach blossoms were blooming and pink petals flew with the wind. The entire scene was as beautiful as a dream. The stream was playing a pleasant note in his ears and Tao Yuanming was sitting at the stream fishing.

[The card ‘Tao Yuanming’ has grown by +1.]

[The skill effect of Remember Peach Blossom Spring has improved and one more partner can be brought into the Peach Blossom Spring.]

These two lines hovered on the suspension box.

Xiao Lou was slightly stunned. He had asked how the growth of the card could be improved the moment he saw the description. The other person had replied that the cards upgraded in different ways and he had to explore it himself.

It seemed that Tao Yuanming’s growth should be related to the number of times he entered the Peach Blossom Spring?

Xiao Lou’s eyes quickly swept over the Peach Blossom Spring. The scenery here was very beautiful and he was the only one present apart from Tao Yuanming. He sighed a bit before turning back to the entrance and taking the initiative to leave this space.

He really returned to the tobacco and alcohol supermarket.

The zombie that had been cut by him was still lying on the counter while his head was on the ground, eyeballs almost popped out of the sockets.

There was no abnormality in the surrounding space. Even if someone passed by, there was no way for them to see the entrance of the Peach Blossom Spring.

Xiao Lou disappeared into thin air and appeared out of thin air.

Peach Blossom Spring was equivalent to an independent safe house and transfer station in the Card World.

There was no need to mention Tao Yuanming’s skill. This was too powerful, space teleportation!

Xiao Lou had just run a few kilometers and was tired and half dead. His heart was almost beating out of his chest but at this moment, he saw the empty streets and finally sighed with relief, a big smile on his face.

The zombies around him were led to the Grand Theatre and thanks to the effect of the rose perfume, he had missed none of them.

The clumsy zombies were probably still in a daze around the stage of the Grand Theatre.

Xiao Lou wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked out.

Without the annoying zombies blocking him, he went all the went to his mission target, the Central Hospital.