Card Room (Rebirth)
chapter-214

Tao Yuanming’s Remember Peach Blossom Spring skill needed 10 seconds to be cast. During this period, it couldn’t be interrupted. Xiao Lou exited the back of the warehouse, summoned Tao Yuanming and placed the Peach Blossom Spring behind the evacuation entrance. if the situation wasn’t right, he could send everyone in groups, disappear instantly and retreat through the underground as soon as possible.

Due to the upgrade of the card skills, the time that the Peach Blossom Spring lasted changed from the original 30 minutes to 3 hours. This was much more practical.

After placing the Peach Blossom Spring, Xiao Lou returned to the warehouse. Yu Hanjiang and the other team members had cleaned up the traces of roasted vegetables and instant noodles that they had for dinner. He glanced at Xiao Lou and whispered, “Open the Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings channel.”

At 24:00, all card skills would be refreshed. Qin Guan’s heart channel also needed to be reopened. Xiao Lou summoned Qin Guan to connect with Yu Hanjiang. The other Qin Guan card was handed over to Ye Qi and Ye Qi could choose one person to connect to.”

Ye Qi looked around at his teammates and thought carefully before speaking to Shao Qingge. “Chief Shao, can I connect with you? We both have the teleportation card so if we communicate spiritually, the two of us can each bring a teammate when moving.”

Shao Qingge smiled. “Of course you can.”

Yu Hanjiang took out the invisibility cloak and whispered, “Everyone, hide and see what they want to do.”

The group put on their invisibility cloaks at once and hide behind a few boxes. The moment they hid, they heard the door of the warehouse being opened. Several people walked in holding the night pearl.

Yu Hanjiang narrowed his eyes and took a closer look. This was a team of eight challengers. They wore uniform black down jackets and carried school bags behind them. There were five men and three women, all around the age of 20. They seemed to be a team of university students.

The girl walking in front was tall and her hair was tied in a ponytail. She looked around calmly and spoke softly, “This seems to be a warehouse and it is desolate nearby. There should be no large groups of bugs. Is it better to stay here overnight?”

The boy in glasses standing beside her suggested, “Sister Gao, we should still check it well.”

Sister Gao nodded. “Separate into two teams and carefully search from left to right. Don’t let go of any corners.”

The group moved quickly and launched a complete search of the warehouse.

After the search, Sister Gao said, “There is no one here. It should be safe.”

A skinny boy pushed up his glasses and abruptly spoke. “Dear friends, are you hiding under the invisibility cloak?”

The group was shocked to hear this.

Sister Gao looked back at him. “What do you mean? Someone is here?”

The boy nodded. “I tried using the Dog Nose card. This warehouse has the smell of roasted vegetables and various instant noodles. The most intense time was five hours ago, which should be dinner. The smell of the instant noodles is very strong and should include braised pork ribs, tomato beef brisket noodles, pickled vegetable noodles, stewed chicken noodles with mushroom… at a rough guess, there were seven or eight people cooking noodles at the same time, resulting in the mixed smell. My guess is that we’ve entered the base of another challenger team.”

Xiao Lou, “…”

There was a card like Dog Nose? The smell of dinner had dispersed a long time ago. He hadn’t expected it to be detected by this glasses man. This person could even distinguish between the different instant noodles?

The name of this card was really appropriate.

Ye Qi couldn’t help thinking, “This dog nose is too effective!”

Shao Qingge heard Ye Qi’s thoughts through the heart channel and couldn’t help chuckling. “This type of function card is interesting and will be very useful in the Hearts secret room. We can smell the crime scene. Do you want me to spend 5 million to copy one for you?”

Ye Qi immediately shook his head. “Don’t be so bad! This card isn’t worth 5 million to copy.”

The two of them stopped talking and continued to listen carefully.

Sister Gap reflected on the meaning of the glasses man and immediately looked around. “Dear friends, we aren’t malicious and won’t do anything! We didn’t know there was anyone here!”

The glasses man also spoke loudly. “We are a team from the Distant Association and our only focus is clearing the secret room. It is too snowy and cold outside. We just wanted to find a place to shelter from the wind and the cold for the night and happened to find this warehouse.”

Sister Gao added, “Yes, if we’re not welcome then we can find another place. However, I still hope that we can stay and cooperate. After all, more people means a stronger power. If there is a large-scale attack by the bugs, it will be hard for one team to deal with. Why don’t you come out and meet us so we can exchange information?”

Yu Hanjiang didn’t speak and his other teammates naturally wouldn’t interject.

This girl’s words did have some credibility. The jacket they were wearing did have the logo of the Distant Association.

Yu Hanjiang asked Xiao Lou inwardly, “They are all university students. What do you think?”

Xiao Lou had seen a university student team in the previous World Weekly. Those young people were flexible, quick to respond and their physical strength and combat effectiveness wasn’t bad. A few of them were lovers of games and knew various routines.

This team should be very strong and have many good cards in their hands. Otherwise, it would be impossible for them to reach 8 of Spades.

Moreover, the Distant Association took ‘return to reality’ as their ultimate goal. Under the management of Old Gui, the entire association was said to be very united. They were more credible than some passersby teams.

Xiao Lou replied, “First take a look to make sure there are no infected people among them. Then we can consider whether to let them stay or not. It is okay to exchange some information with each other.”

Yu Hanjiang’s principle wasn’t to be an indiscriminate good person to always save others. He wasn’t a Virgin Mary.

However, a ‘strong alliance’ was actually good for everyone. They already had experience of joining with other challengers to clear the instance in 3 of Spades and 4 of Spades.

Yu Hanjiang calmly spoke. “Then I will question them first.”

The team of university students were observing the area. Just then, a low and cold voice entered their ears. “Exchange clues to show your sincerity. Which urban area did you come from? What is the situation there?”

The challengers knew the existence of the invisibility cloak so they weren’t too surprised by the weird scene of ‘only hearing the voice but not seeing the person.’

The girl with her hair in a ponytail heard this and explained seriously, “We fled from the university town in the north district. We had refreshed in the north district when entering the secret room. Since all of us are students, we are familiar with the environment of the university campus. We quickly figured out the setting of the secret room and found a place to hide after gaining some supplies.”

The glasses boy continued. “Sister Gao took us to the school’s laboratory building. At that time, it was Monday and there were only one or two classes being held. First, we hid on the roof of the laboratory building. Once the students mutated and ran out of the building to bite people, we went inside and cleaned up the remaining infected people in the building. We locked the door and hid inside for three days.”

He paused, his face slightly pale. “As a result, on the fourth day, more than 80% of the university students were infected and the laboratory building suffered from the siege of infected people!”

The group’s faces were ugly as they thought of that time and one girl couldn’t help squirming.

Sister Gao’s face was gloomy. “We cleaned up the entire laboratory building and locked the door. It is reasonable to say that the bugs shouldn’t have known about our existence. However, they actually climbed up from the outside wall to surround us. The entire outside of the laboratory building was full of bugs, their climbs clinging to the wall and blood-red eyes staring at us through the window! There were countless bugs. They probably numbered in the thousands!”

Everyone, “……”

They listened to the description and couldn’t help getting a chill down their spine.

The laboratory building was surrounded by countless bugs. It was terrible just thinking about it.

Xiao Lou wondered, “How did you escape?”

Sister Gao explained, “During the days when we occupied the laboratory building, everyone made arrangements in advance. Brother Lin changed all the circuits in the building so that one short circuit can easily create a fire. Younger Sister Xue used the various chemical agents in the laboratories to make some flammable and explosive things. We left an escape exit on the rooftop of the building in advance. Once we were surrounded by the bugs, we ran to the top of the building and flew to another building using a flying card. Then we exploded the entire laboratory building…”

The danger at that time could be imagined but the students were very smart. Obviously, there were some high level chemistry and physics students in the team who learned to apply the principles. They used the short circuited wires and flammability and explosiveness of these chemicals to make the entire building a fire site that the bugs feared the most.”

The bugs lying on the wall probably didn’t expect the entire building to explode suddenly. The number of bugs killed at that time was difficult to estimate but the entire escape process was indeed thrilling.

Sister Gao paused before continuing, “We fled all day and finally came to the east of the city. We found that there are fewer bugs here and managed to get rid of the pursuit of the bugs. Have you been hiding in the east district from the beginning?”

Yu Hanjiang answered lightly, “Yes, the east of the city has the smallest population and it is safer than other areas.”

An admiring look appeared on her face. “You were so thoughtful. We were almost overwhelmed by the bug army in the university town. The infection is spreading all across the north of the city. My guess is that the east of the city will be the last safe area.”

Xiao Lou told her, “It won’t be safe very soon. You should be careful.”

The girl nodded. “The bugs are afraid of fire and can be completely eliminated after being burned.”

Yu Hanjiang told her, “We also know this.”

The glasses man suggested, “You are all obviously very strong if you can live to the fourth day. Isn’t it better to join forces to deal with the bugs?”

Sister Gao agreed. “Yes, it is better to have more people. The number of bugs is beyond our imagination and it will be difficult for one team to cope. Do you want to join forces?”

Yu Hanjiang spoke to Xiao Lou in his mind, “What do you think?”

Xiao Lou had carefully observed the performance of these eight people and it didn’t seem like anyone was infected.

He judged their escape process. They directly occupied the laboratory building on the first day and only encountered the bug army on the fourth day. If someone was infected on the first day then they would’ve mutated a long time ago. On the fourth day, they fled using the rooftop and a flying card. The entire building was blown up the moment they escaped and the bugs were too late to attack them. The chances of being infected were low.

Xiao Lou thought up to here and said, “The team from the Distant Association is very strong. It might be easier to clear the instance if we join forces.”

It was snowing outside and there was a bone-chilling wind. Xiao Lou considered the Distant Association to be more reliable. These people had fled from the north of the city to the east for the entire time. They were obviously very tired. It was nothing to lend them a place to sleep overnight.

Yu Hanjiang sensed Xiao Lou’s thoughts and nodded at the group of university students. “You can stay in the warehouse tonight. I will draw a line and divide the warehouse into two so there is no interference with each other. If we encounter the bugs when we can deal with them together. If there are no bugs tonight, you can look for another base after dawn.”

The girl was excited. “Thank you. We will rest for tonight first.”

They immediately started setting up tents in the warehouse.

The warehouse was very large. Yu Hanjiang separated the warehouse in the middle with a fruit box. The university students would sleep near the front door and they would sleep near the back door. They would be able to evacuate if something went wrong.

The time for the invisibility cloak to end was approaching. Yu Hanjiang simply asked his teammates to take off the cloaks and set up the tents to rest.

A moment later, Sister Gao brought over a box of fruits and asked, “Hello, I want to ask if the fruits in the warehouse can be eaten?”

Ye Qi replied, “Yes, vegetables and fruits can be eaten casually. This warehouse has been abandoned and no one cares about the goods left behind.”

Sister Gao’s eyes lit up. “Great! We’ve been eating biscuits for four days in a row.” She excitedly took the box of apples back to share with her teammates. Yu Hanjiang could clearly hear the sound of apples being chewed.

It was no wonder. The first day of this secret room didn’t give everyone time to prepare. In the morning, the team was scattered and the outbreak started at noon. The situation was very tense and there shouldn’t be many supplies at the school supermarket. They had been eating biscuits for four days and were really excited to see the fruits.

The eight people rummaged through the boxes in the middle of the night and pulled out the grapes, pears, dragon fruit, etc. They ate the fruits in a crazy manner like they were starving.

Ye Qi protruded his head and asked curiously, “Are all of you university students from the same school?”

Sister Gao answered, “We aren’t all from the same school. Some went to a university of science and technology and some went to the music school…”

Ye Qi’s eyes lit up at the mention of the music school. “Is it the Jiangzhou Conservatory of Music?”

Sister Gao looked at him with some surprise. “How do you know?”

“I am also from this school.”

Sister Gao smiled. “What a coincidence. Our captain is also from the conservatory of music. He is your alumni and you might know him. By the way, he went outside to look for a place to stay. I have notified him and he will come in a few minutes.”

Xiao Lou inquired, “Isn’t your team eight people?”

Sister Gao explained, “We are 12 people. There are four others who are using displacement cards to investigate the area.”

They didn’t talk much after that but Ye Qi really wanted to know this alumnus.

A short time later, a man and three women entered the warehouse. The man was tall and wore a black coat, scarf and hat on his head. His deep eyes and flying sword eyebrows made his facial features very handsome. It was a popular appearance with girls in school.

Ye Qi always felt that this person’s face was familiar? The man didn’t see him and turned around to meet his teammates.

Sister Gao softly explained, “Captain, this warehouse has been occupied. They are willing to let us stay here for one night and we will have to find another base once it is dawn.”

The man nodded and looked at Yu Hanjiang. “Thank you.”

Ye Qi heard this low voice and his back slightly stiffened. He pointed to the man and asked. “You… are you Senior Cheng Ziyang?”

The man was also somewhat surprised. He gazed at Ye Qi with a shocked expression. “Ye Qi?”

The teammates on both sides faced each other and Sister Gao smiled. “You actually know each other. What a coincidence. You both go to the same music school.”

It should be a pleasure for alumni to meet.

However, why was this atmosphere so strange? Ye Qi’s face was pale like he had seen hell.

Cheng Ziyang smiled and took the initiative to walk in front of Ye Qi, extending a hand. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Seeing his teammates looking at the two of them, Ye Qi took a deep breath to control his emotions and spoke with a cold face. “You didn’t think I could live for so long? It is probably because my vitality is like a cockroach that can’t die. I let you down, Senior.”

Cheng Ziyang frowned slightly. “Are you misunderstanding something?”

Ye Qi waved his head. “There is nothing to say. Go to sleep and hurry to leave here tomorrow morning. You aren’t welcome.”

He turned around and left. Behind him, Cheng Ziyang shrugged and smiled. “I have some misunderstandings with this junior brother. It’s okay. Everyone rest first and I will explain it to him tomorrow.”

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other.

Xiao Ye was very enthusiastic about everyone but his rejection of this senior was written on his face. What was the situation?

Yu Hanjiang glanced at Shao Qingge. “Go and see.”

Shao Qingge nodded and entered the tent. Ye Qi was sitting alone in the tent, his head lowered.

Shao Qingge walked in and rubbed the teenager’s hair as he joked, “What’s the matter? Do you have a grudge with this senior? Did he steal your girlfriend? Or is he an ex-boyfriend?”

Ye Qi raised his head and stared with wide eyes. “What boyfriend or girlfriend? He is the one who secretly took my supplies and left me to pass alone in 3 of Spades, Financial Crisis!”

Shao Qingge was originally smiling but now something sharp flashed in his eyes.

He lowered his voice. “You might, he is the senior who sent you to the Nightmare Room?”