Card Room (Rebirth)
chapter-13

It was the first time Xiao Lou had taken a helicopter.

There was the deafening roar of the propellers above his head as the helicopter quickly took off. Xiao Lou sat down firmly and looked down out the window. He wanted to see if the zombies on the playground had escaped the control of the rings after Liu Xiaoyuan’s call. The result was that he unexpectedly discovered there were countless identical zombie towns on the ground!

There seemed to be a transparent barrier between each town so that they weren’t connected to each other and didn’t affect each other.

He saw humans running in every town. Some people were panicked and stumbled, others were fast, agile and calm while others were fighting wildly with the zombies.

The speed of the helicopter was too fast. He didn’t have time to see it before the small worlds became a black spot and quickly disappeared.

Xiao Lou frowned and fell into contemplation.

During the time when he was rushing through the zombie tide, there were many people like him challenging this secret room. He didn’t know how many people would pass the instance or how many would fail and stay here forever.

As if guessing his thoughts, the man sitting in the front row of the helicopter suddenly spoke. “Those who can’t even pass a D-grade secret room aren’t suitable to survive in the Card World. Staying in the Zombie Town with no consciousness and no pain is the best ending for them.”

The man’s voice was as cold as a piece of ice in his throat.

Xiao Lou suddenly remembered the first time he came to the Card World and the cold mechanical voice asked him to ‘choose A or choose B’. The man’s voice in front of him was exactly the same as the system.

With a slightly stunned heart, Xiao Lou sat up straight and looked through the isolation glass.

The man in the driver’s seat wore large sunglasses that covered half his face, revealing only the sharp jaw.

The man clearly didn’t look back but seemed able to clearly grasp all of Xiao Lou’s movements. The moment Xiao Lou looked at him, the corners of the man’s mouth raised slightly and he said, “Hello, I am the one who picked you up to the Card World. You can also call me A of Spades.”

The keeper could be seen after clearing the instance.

Xiao Lou had seen the Hearts sister and Diamonds loli. Now that he saw the adult male Spades, he quickly accepted the setting and tentatively asked, “All those who clear the Zombie Town, do you drive the helicopter and pick them up in person?”

“I know what you want to ask. Yes, I can generate countless copies and pick up all the challengers, just like the Zombie Town can generate countless parallel spaces.”

Xiao Lou’s previous guess was correct. There were only 54 cards in a deck but the world represented by each card had countless instances. Even though he and Yu Hanjiang were both in 2 of Spades, there was an unknown barrier between the worlds and they couldn’t meet. The countless towns below him were the proof.

He could only wait for the multiplayer secret rooms where challengers entered the same space. He needed the contract and to find Yu Hanjiang as soon as possible. However, A of Hearts told him that a contract needed to be purchased with gold coins. At present, he didn’t know how to get gold coins.

Thinking up to here, Xiao Lou asked, “A of Hearts said that I can earn gold coins in the subsequent instances but I have never found a place in the secret rooms to earn gold coins?

A of Spades told him, “You will soon know.”

“How many gold coins does it cost to buy a contract?”

“10,000.”

Xiao Lou, “…”

Perhaps it was because Spades represented the cruel survival room but Spade’s keeper was very cold. He wasn’t as responsive as the previous guards who answered Xiao Lou’s question.

Xiao Lou had to shut up and no longer talk.

The helicopter quickly arrived at its destination.

It was a floating platform surrounded by a familiar white fog. In the middle of the white fog, Xiao Lou couldn’t see the world outside and could only see the huge card world in front of him.

At this point, the card 2 of Spades had a green ‘cleared’ in the lower right corner.

The keeper told him, “The rewards have been settled. Please check the card pack.”

Xiao Lou opened the card pack and found there were two new cards.

[Tool Card: Zombie Virus]

Rarity: A

Description: A fixed reward for clearing the 2 of Spades secret room, Zombie Town.

Note: The transmission of the Zombie Virus is spread by droplets. The virus spread through the air and will rapidly spread around. All living things (including yourself) within 100 metres will be affected. Infected organisms might experience symptoms such as elevated blood temperature, limb weakness and turning into a corpse within 10 seconds. After changing into a corpse, movement speed will drop by 80% and attack power will double. Unless the head is cut off, any damage to the body can be regrown.

Number of uses: Once.

[Tool Card: Special Effects Vaccine]

Rarity: A

Description: Perfectly clear the 2 of Spades secret room and get the serum samples of the initially infected.

Note: The serum of the first Zombie Virus infected person, Liu Xiaoyuan has produced antibodies to the Zombie Virus. After some research, experts finally made a zombie vaccine and those who take the vaccine will gain immunity to the Zombie Virus.

Number of uses: Since you’ve brought back six serum samples from the infected person, a six-tube vaccine is made. The vaccines of the red, yellow and blue tubes can completely immunize you from the Zombie Virus. The vaccination effect of the green, purple and black tubes are further improved. It can immunize all toxins such as a poisonous mist, suffocation gas and poisonous snake bite. Inject the green, purple and black vaccine and you won’t be affected by poisons for the next 10 minutes.

Xiao Lou’s eyes lit up. He brought back all six blood samples of the infected person and finally got the six-tube vaccine. Later, it would save his life if he encountered a poisonous fog environment.

The fixed reward for clearing 2 of Spades was the Zombie Virus card, which would transform him into a zombie when used directly. It was only when the perfect clearance was obtained that the two cards could be used together without a negative effect.

Although these two A cards had limitations but it was undeniable that in some circumstances, the A card wasn’t worse than the S card.

As long as the cards were used flexibly, each card could play their own functions. For example, the C-grade fruit knife, rose perfume and B-grade Nine Palaces Grid were a great help to Xiao Lou in the previous Zombie Town.

What card would he get with this draw?

Xiao Lou saw the golden treasure chest in front of him and stepped forward, pulling out a card.

[Congratulations on getting the A-grade card ‘Summoning Card: Zombie Leader’!]

Xiao Lou actually drew an A-grade card this time. Perhaps it was because the clearance time was 50 minutes and the final score was only A?

Xiao Lou picked up the card to look closely at the description.

[Summoning Card: Zombie Leader]

Rarity: A

Description: After a perfect clearance room, there is a higher probability of obtaining it from a qualified card pool. The strength of an A-grade card is slightly lower than S-grade but is it is better than a S-grade card in that it is full level and all skills are automatically unlocked.

Additional Skills 1: Claw Attack

The zombie leader Liu Xiaoyuan stretches out his claws and attacks close enemies at a very fast speed. The creatures exposed to Liu Xiaoyuan’s claws will immediately be infected with the Zombie Virus and become Liu Xiaoyuan’s zombie.

Additional Skills 2: Zombie Manipulation

Liu Xiaoyuan makes a shrill whistling sound and summons six beginner zombies to assist. This summoning is only available once every 24 hours. The summoned zombies are slow but they are very aggressive and can listen to your instructions and distract others. Creatures that bleed after being attacked by the beginner zombies will be infected and will become zombies within 10 seconds without vaccination.

Note: Liu Xiaoyuan’s race is a zombie and his weakness is his head. Once his head is cut off, he will immediately die and the card is also damaged.

On the surface of the card, a pale little boy with a pair of sharp tiger teeth was drawn. His eyes were black ink and he stared at Xiao Lou like he was going to jump out of the card.

Xiao Lou thought of the scene in the hospital where this little guy lied to him to open the door and his mood was complicated.

He actually drew the Liu Xiaoyuan summoning card!

Later, he could summon this little zombie but his back was cold. Could he be sure that Liu Xiaoyuan wouldn’t attack him in turn?

Xiao Lou put away his strange thoughts and looked up at A of Spades. “Can I rest?”

“There are 5 minutes of rest time.”

Xiao Lou felt helpless. Hearts was the most merciful of the guards and gave him 15 minutes. Diamonds didn’t let him rest while Spades only gave him 5 minutes. He had been running through the Zombie Town for so long and his physical exertion was severe. He currently felt his body was extremely heavy and his legs seemed to be filled with lead. He could hardly walk.

Still… five minutes was better than nothing.

Xiao Lou instantly sat down on the sofa, massaging his stiff muscles to adjust himself as soon as possible.

A of SPades asked him, “Where are you going next?”

Xiao Lou thought about it. “The only one I haven’t pass is 2 of Clubs so I will go there.”

“2 of Clubs is the last D-grade secret room.”

“There are only four D-grade rooms?” Xiao Lou was surprised. He thought that the novice stage would last several levels to give the newcomers who came to the Card World time to adapt. He didn’t expect there to only be 2 of Hearts, 2 of Diamonds, 2 of Spades and 2 of Clubs.

“The D-grade secret rooms are just to let you know the approximate types of four secret rooms. One level is enough.” A of Spades waved his hand and 2 of Clubs flew directly from the card wall to in front of Xiao Lou. “There are many people in 2 of Clubs and the Clubs side will match you to the opponents.”

“The opponents?” Xiao Lou looked up with surprise.

“It is a challenge secret room so there will naturally be opponents.”

“…” If he knew this, he wouldn’t go to Clubs. Was there still time to change secret rooms?

At the same time, within a personal space.

Yu Hanjiang’s clothes were stained with mud and his face was covered with dust. His image was a bit of a mess.

He had killed too many zombies in the process of breaking through the instance. These low level creatures might not have any impact on him but handling them took some effort.

However, once the dirty clothes entered the personal space, they were quickly restored at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It was as if nothing had happened.

This should be the data cleanup. Once the challenger left the secret room, everything they had experienced in the secret room would be cleared but the physical exhaustion was still present. Yu Hanjiang took a deep breath and calmed himself down before whispering, “What should I do if I want to team up with a person?”

A of Spades replied with a blank expression, “Buy a contract with gold coins. It is 10,000 gold coins and you can find a way to obtain them in the subsequent secret rooms.”

“So troublesome?”

“You can clear the rooms alone. No one is forcing you to team up.”

Yu Hanjiang raised his eyebrows and didn’t speak any more nonsense.

As a challenger, his eyes were fearless. The tall and upright man stood on the floating platform surrounded by white mist, as calm as if he was standing in a police station.

He pulled a card from the treasure chest and after reading the description, simply said, “I will go to 2 of Clubs next.”

“Please wait, I am matching your opponents for you.”

After a moment, Yu Hanjiang received the prompt, “The opponents matching has been completed, you are Player No. 3.”

At almost the same time, Xiao Lou received the prompt, “The opponents matching has been completed, you are Player No. 1.”

[Secret room generating.]

[The challenger data is read.]

[Welcome the challenger to enter the 2 of Clubs secret room, ‘Challenge 10.5’!]