Card Room (Rebirth)
chapter-139

Xiao Lou wasn’t familiar with Lu Jiuchuan. This was the first time they met and called him Brother Jiu seemed to close. Still, since the other party was informal, Xiao Lou couldn’t continue calling him Major Lu. He looked inquiringly at Yu Hanjiang and once the other person nodded, he called out, “Brother Jiu, you must have something to tell me if you pulled me in. What is it?”

Lu Jiuchuan was very direct. “Yes, my brother trusts you very much and I wanted to see what type of person you really are. Are you truly worthy of his trust?”

Xiao Lou nodded with understanding and smiled. “This world is too dangerous. If you encounter the betrayal of a teammate in the later rooms, it will be more difficult to deal with than the room itself. This has to be investigated.”

Lu Jiuchuan looked at his smile and immediately found the main focus of his words, raising an eyebrow. “Investigate? Do you think the words I spoke yesterday were on purpose to test him?”

Xiao Lou replied, “Your identity must be kept a secret and every action is very dangerous. You might be killed at any time. If you can’t absolutely trust him then there are many things you won’t dare to tell him, isn’t that right?”

Yu Hanjiang hadn’t understood what the two people were saying until this point. The ‘him’ they were talking about was referring to himself.

Last night, Lu Jiuchuan deliberately said that he was a hunter and had the right to choose how to live. What did other people’s lives have to do with him? This was to stimulate Yu Hanjiang and was a test about whether he was worth his brother’s absolute trust.

Yu Hanjiang reacted. “Brother, did you go the Hunter’s League as an undercover?”

Lu Jiuchuan glanced at his brother and smiled. “You aren’t as clever as Professor Xiao. He had already guessed it.”

Yu Hanjiang didn’t deny it. Professor Xiao was the team’s think-tank and was smarter than him. Yu Hanjiang wasn’t a match. It was no wonder why Xiao Lou calmed him down yesterday. Xiao Lou had long thought of this possibility.

Going undercover wasn’t an easy task, especially when working in an organization like the hunter’s one. It was simply walking on a wire between cliffs. It was possible to fall and break his body at any time. In the circumstances where Yu Hanjiang couldn’t be completely trusted, Lu Jiuchuan didn’t dare to reveal his identity. Yesterday’s first contact with Yu Hanjiang was indeed a means to test his brother’s attitude.

Yu Hanjiang’s heart tightly slightly and he clenched his fists as he whispered, “Why go undercover? With your ability, you couldn’t clear the card wall after being here for three years?”

A bit of bleakness flashed in Lu Jiuchuan’s eyes. “We went to J of Clubs and our entire team was almost destroyed.”

Xiao Lou immediately responded. “The strongest elite team that the old gentleman of the Distant Guild mentioned, it included Brother Jiu?”

Lu Jiuchuan nodded. “At that time, we selected elites from all walks of life and formed a team of 15 people. I was the captain and every team member was very good. We went to the World Weekly secret rooms for a whole month and specifically practiced our cooperation. I trained the entire team rigorously and cruelly in accordance with the navy commandos’ standards. This allowed everyone to form conditioned reflexes against accidents.”

“The training worked well and I was confident I could take them through.”

“After reaching the S-grade rooms, we preferred the Clubs room because the Clubs room is basically related to gold coins. The situation is generally playing cards or lotteries and our team had a professional poker player who betted in Las Vegas. The rich second generation was proficient in various types of card games. However, none of us expected for the S-grade Clubs room to no longer be a simple lottery or card game. It was actually a cruel competition!”

Yu Hanjiang couldn’t help asking, “What did you encounter in J of Clubs?”

Lu Jiuchuan’s face became extremely gloomy and he spoke through gritted teeth, “Hunters.”

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were stunned.

Initially, hunters only appeared in the Spades secret room. They hadn’t expected that in the S-grade Clubs secret room, hunters would also appear!

Lu Jiuchuan closed his eyes like he was thinking about the tragedy of that time. His voice was low and hoarse. “15 people and 150 hunters! The name of J of Clubs was Cat and Mouse Game. The hunters were the cats and we were the mice. We needed to avoid the tracking of enemies that numbered us by 10 times and survive their slaughter.”

He was silent for a long time before whispering, “Out of the team of 15 people, 11 died and only four survived.”

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang, “…….”

The tragedy at that time could be imagined. 150 against 15, this was simply a massacre!

Xiao Lou thought of the Clubs teenager’s facial paralysis and couldn’t help shuddering. As early as 2 of Clubs, the teenager with facial paralysis said that the Clubs rooms were dangerous but 3 of Clubs and 4 of Clubs were very mild. This made the challengers gradually think that the Clubs rooms were card games and lotteries. Who would’ve guessed that it would be a direct confrontation with hunters?

Lu Jiuchuan’s face was sombre. “The difficulty of the S-grade secret rooms was beyond our imagination. The four of us actually died in J of Clubs. We were eliminated and entered the Nightmare Room. Each of us who died was thrown into separate Nightmare Rooms and played a 1 against 20 hunting game. In the end, the four of us killed the hunters and survived. All of us were seriously injured. The other people’s combat force wasn’t as good and they never returned after being thrown into the Nightmare Room.”

He took a deep breath and added, “At that time, we knew that if we didn’t find out more about the Hunter’s League, we would never be able to clear the S-grade rooms. Q and K of Clubs would be even more difficult. It was useless to find more teammates so we decided to change our strategy, lurking and waiting for an opportunity. I used the help of a teammate to completely erase my identity. I changed my face and joined the Hunter’s League.”

Lu Jiuchuan spoke up to here and pulled a card out of his card pack. The S-grade special effects card, Fake Face. It was transparent and could be worn over the face at any time, completely changing the face of the user. Lu Jiuchuan changed from the card effect. He was no longer the handsome and tall soldier but an ordinary, bearded middle-aged man.

Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou looked at the person in front of them completely change and couldn’t help feeling pained. He used Fake Face to disguise himself every day during his time at the Hunter’s League. It was conceivable that during his time undercover, every step was as thin as ice and every day was extremely difficult.

This time in Endless Sea, he only revealed his true face because he saw Yu Hanjiang. Xiao Lou finally understood why he killed the other hunters. If he didn’t, the three people might’ve perceived something was wrong and reported it to the higher ups.

Yu Hanjiang asked, “It looks like you didn’t meet me by chance?”

“Yes, the organization got the information of your World Weekly. I knew in advance you would be on the Caribbean cruise ship and bought tickets to the cruise ship in advance. This meant the World Weekly also pulled me into this room.”

Xiao Lou was puzzled. “Brother Jiu, you might’ve changed your appearance with a cad but your identity information is difficult to change. Doesn’t the Hunter’s League have professional hackers? How did you hide from their identity verification?”

Lu Jiuchuan took off ‘Fake Face’ with a slight smile and declared proudly, “We have a more powerful hacker.”

Xiao Lou quickly reacted. “The Intelligence Bureau?”

Lu Jiuchuan nodded. “The director of the Intelligence Bureau, Tang Ci is my comrade. He helped me forge a new identity in the database. My name is Qi Fang of the Hunter’s League. Both parents are dead and I grew up in an orphanage. I’m 35 years old.”

Yu Hanjiang, “…”

It seemed that the rumours that Old Gui told Xiao Lou about the 15 member elite team being killed in J of Hearts was just a rumour. They didn’t go to J of Hearts but went to J of Clubs. They also weren’t completely destroyed. Four people survived.

Xiao Lou speculated, “The four survivors, including Brother Jiu, are the chief of the Intelligence Bureau and the chairman of the Distant Guild. The remaining one must be the spider goddess of Luoying Pavilion, am I right?”

Lu Jiuchuan looked at Xiao Lou with admiration. “How did you guess?”

Xiao Lou smiled. “It is because I think that since the four of you decided to disperse and wait for new opportunities, you would definitely find ways to discover stronger teammates. Brother Jiu went undercover in the Hunter’s League and the Intelligence Bureau has the identity information of all challengers. The Distant Guild sent someone to pick us up when we just got off the plane and the Luoying Pavilion specifically recruited female players. In this way, you can identify the most suitable teammates among the batch of challengers.”

Lu Jiuchuan nodded. “Your analysis is very good.”

Xiao Lou asked seriously, “Brother Jiu, you risked yourself to meet Group Leader Yu. Why do you think the time has come?”

Lu Jiuchuan laughed. “It is due to that world announcement.”

Yu Hanjiang reacted. “Is it the announcement about how Xiao Lou and I refreshed the world records of the Hearts rooms?”

Lu Jiuchuan nodded. “I have long known you had come to this room. The Intelligence Bureau sent a message to Old Gui as soon as you entered the City of the Moon and asked him to contact you. He thinks that you are really strong and that we can start the next step of the plan.”

“Out of our 15 people at the time, the Hearts room was the weakest point. A reasoning writer can’t be better than a criminal police officer with rich experience in handling cases. I believe that if you are there, we won’t need to worry about the S-grade red rooms in the future. In addition, I have been undercover in the Hunter’s League for a year and have already figured out the general situation of this organization. Thus, we want to start Plan B.”

He looked at Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang and firmly declared, “Reorganize the team and break through again!”

Yu Hanjiang clenched his fists. His brother’s words allowed him to know the scary aspects of the S-grade secret rooms but it also caused his heart to be filled with strength.

After experiencing the despair of 11 out of 15 people dying, these four people didn’t give up. They remained dormant and tried to find new opportunities using various methods. This type of tenacity was really admirable. This was indeed his trusted brother since childhood.

Yu Hanjiang stared into Lu Jiuchuan’s eyes and spoke earnestly, “Brother Jiu, how should we cooperate?”

“You are still too weak right now. Clear the B and A-grade secret rooms as soon as possible and get more cards. The four of us are stuck at the J of Clubs secret room so we can only team up in J of Clubs.”

He looked at Yu Hanjiang. “Once you leave this secret room, go to the Intelligence Bureau to find Tang Ci. He will give you some help.”

Yu Hanjiang nodded forcefully. “Yes, we will speed up to reach J of Clubs as soon as possible.”

Lu Jiuchuan went on to say, “There is another trick. The World Weekly opens every Saturday at 0 o’clock. If you enter the more difficult Hearts or Spades room on Friday night, you will be in another secret room when the World Weekly opens and won’t be pulled in.”

Xiao Lou’s eyes lit up. “In other words, if we enter a secret room on Friday night, we won’t have to participate in the World Weekly?”

Lu Jiuchuan nodded. “This was only known after we entered J of Clubs. In order to improve efficiency, you can go to the simple secret rooms on Monday to Thursday and do the difficult rooms on Friday night. In half a month, you will be able to finish all the B-grade and A-grade rooms on the card wall. After your progress has passed the 10th level, I will join you again and everyone will go to the World Weekly to raise our tacit understanding.”

Xiao Lou replied, “I understand. We will try to control the time to avoid the World Weekly.”

Lu Jiuchuan looked at the sky and whispered, “This mission has failed and the Hunter’s League should already know it. I have to give them a complete explanation as soon as possible. Keep this Absolute Field card. If you want to see me then come in at midnight. You can rest assured that the space in the Absolute Field is made by me and everything I say here can’t be overheard.”

Yu Hanjiang looked at him with worry. “Will you be punished for failing the mission? In addition, you are a challenger in essence. How will you complete the World Weekly?”

Lu Jiuchuan smiled. “It doesn’t matter. Hunters failing missions is very common. After all, there are many powerful people among the challengers. As for how I will complete the World Weekly, you don’t have to worry. I have my own way.” He walked over and patted Yu Hanjiang on the shoulder. “Hanjiang, take care.”

Yu Hanjiang firmly grabbed his shoulder. “Brother Jiu, you also have to take care.”

Lu Jiuchuan looked at Xiao Lou and joked. “Professor Xiao, please take care of my brother in the future.”

Xiao Lou’s ears became hot. “Group Leader Yu is very strong. He has been taking care of us.”

Lu Jiuchuan looked at the two men and turned around with a wave. “I’m leaving first. Good luck to you.”

The sea and sky of this closed space collapsed the moment he left.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang returned to the escape boat. Both of them were wearing invisibility cloaks. They couldn’t see each other but they could feel the other person. The emotions in their hearts were so agitated that it was difficult to calm down for a while.

It was hard to imagine how terrible the end rooms would be. Lu Jiuchuan trained the 15 member team according to army standards and almost all the team was wiped out…

Still, they could never back down. Lu Jiuchuan hadn’t given up and Old Gui still insisted on returning. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang also shouldn’t give up. They would do whatever it took to leave this strange world!

After this World Weekly, they would quickly clear the B-grade and A-grade secret rooms and go to J of Clubs to meet Brother Jiu. There were 12 S-grade secret rooms and the more difficult SS-grade secret rooms. This time, they must be fully prepared and never repeat the same mistakes!