Seeing the Zerg swarm downstairs suddenly disperse like a receding tide, Gao Xiaoyi and the others were filled with disbelief. What had happened? Why had the Zerg suddenly obeyed this man's words? They looked at Shao Qingge with suspicion and wariness, as if they were facing a boss.
Seeing their panicked expressions, Xiao Lou comforted them, "Don't be afraid, everyone. My teammate was infected by the Zerg before, but he suppressed the Zerg with his will and regained control of his body. Actually, we all fell into a misconception at first. Humans infected by the Zerg don't die immediately; they may even assimilate the Zerg."
Upon hearing this, the captain of Luoying Pavilion's expression changed drastically: "What you're saying is that being infected doesn't mean death?"
She was clearly reminded of her teammate who had been infected and burned to death in the supermarket.
Xiao Lou turned to look at her and said regretfully, "That's right. My teammate's name didn't disappear from the contract book after he was infected. That's when we realized that being infected is not the same as dying. As long as human consciousness is strong enough, we can defeat the Zerg and regain consciousness."
The girls at Luoying Pavilion looked at each other in bewilderment.
A short-haired girl, pale-faced and choking back tears, said, "So, Ranran didn't die back then; we burned her to death with our own hands." She clenched her fists tightly, and her body was trembling.
Team leader Xue Lin took a deep breath: "This is my fault. I was too arbitrary."
The girl next to her gently patted her shoulder and said, "Sister Lin, it's not entirely your fault. The situation was critical, and the Zerg had clearly taken control of Ranran's body, attacking us frantically. We couldn't do anything about it."
A group of girls lowered their heads, their expressions revealing a hint of sorrow.
Gao Xiaoyi didn't witness the scene of their teammates being burned to death, but she guessed the general idea from the conversation. She whispered, "There was also a girl on our team who rushed into the sea of fire because she was infected. These Zerg are so hateful."
Xue Lin's face turned pale and then red: "The Zerg are despicable, but it's also our fault for not being careful enough. If I had glanced at the contract book and found that Lin Ran's name hadn't been erased, and knew that she was still alive, I wouldn't have killed her directly."
It's a pity. There are no "what ifs." In this locked room, both teams lost teammates, and they couldn't change the outcome. This will probably be their eternal regret.
Gao Xiaoyi calmed herself down and looked at Xiao Lou, saying, "This gentleman on your team has assimilated the Zerg. He just killed the Queen, and all the Zerg are now under his command. Could it be that he has risen to become the leader of the Zerg?"
Shao Qingge's deep voice rang in my ears: "That's right, I am now the Insect King."
No one noticed when he appeared behind them.
After Shao Qingge advanced to the level 10 Zerg, his jumping ability improved again. He moved like the wind and landed as lightly as a feather, making almost no sound. If he had any ulterior motives and suddenly launched a sneak attack, they might have all been wiped out by him.
This terrifying ability made Gao Xiaoyi's face turn pale: "W-What do you want to do?"
Shao Qingge looked at them with a half-smile, and only when they nervously took out their cards to prepare for battle did he suddenly say, "Don't be afraid, I won't do anything to you. I'll lead you all to victory."
Xiao Lou also came over and said gently, "There are still two and a half days left. Don't worry, everyone. With the Zerg leader here, the other Zerg won't dare to act rashly. Don't go looking for trouble with the Zerg. We can clear this secret room."
Shao Qingge said, "That's right. I've already sent a signal to let them roam freely in the western part of the city. The eastern part of the city will be safe."
Hearing the explanation from the two, the Challengers from the other teams breathed a sigh of relief.
Gao Xiaoyi said earnestly, "Thank you."
The captain of Luoying Pavilion also came over and said, "Thank you very much this time. If we can clear the level smoothly, I'll treat you to a meal when we get back to the main city. By the way, do you know everyone's names?"
Xiao Lou didn't tell her, but just smiled apologetically and said, "I appreciate your kindness, but we're busy clearing the next few escape rooms. We probably won't have time for a get-together after we get back to the main city. Let's talk about it another time."
Xue Lin understood the meaning behind his words and stopped asking questions.
We've only met by chance, there's no need for too much entanglement. We might not even meet again after leaving the escape room.
After saying goodbye, Gao Xiaoyi's team and Luoying Pavilion's team turned and left. Xiao Lou and his eight friends remained on the rooftop of the residential building, waiting to clear the level. With CEO Shao protecting them, they didn't have to worry about the Zerg causing trouble. They could finally get a good night's sleep.
Having gained Zerg abilities, Shao Qingge has been particularly energetic these past few days, scaling walls and rooftops around the neighborhood every day. At first, his teammates were startled by his constant flying around, but they've gotten used to it, and even if he suddenly appears behind someone, they remain calm.
Once you leave the locked room, all data is reset, including any abilities gained inside. Everyone felt a pang of regret; they wished CEO Shao could have taken his abilities with him.
At dawn on the fourteenth day, a notification simultaneously appeared in everyone's pop-up window.
Spade 8 Secret Chamber, Day 14 of Doomsday Escape, 00:00 AM
Challenger remaining: 125
Congratulations to Xiao Lou's team for perfectly clearing Spade 8 with an S rating! They are about to leave the escape room; 5 minutes left in the countdown.
Looking at the countdown in the floating window, Shao Qingge sighed, "Being the Insect King for only three days wasn't enough. My abilities are about to disappear, I'm so reluctant to let them go. Can I buy them out for 5 million gold coins?"
Ye Qi laughed and said, "Maybe we can draw the relevant card. Back then, Professor Xiao..."
Captain Yu said, " You get the treasure chest this time, maybe you can get the Zombie Leader." He added, "You just pulled Zombie Leader in Spade 2, right? Captain Yu said you can pull Zombie Queen this time."
Shao Qingge said with a look of disgust: "I don't want to pull for Zerg Queen. Xu Rongrong isn't as cute as Zombie Leader. I wish I could pull for Zerg abilities."
Xiao Lou joked, " CEO Shao, you can wash your hands and draw some good cards later."
Shao Qingge actually took a bottle of Mineral Water and washed his hands.
Everyone:
It seems CEO Shao is serious this time.
Yu Hanjiang said decisively, "Let's go back."
Everyone simultaneously pressed the "Leave the Secret Room" option in the floating frame, and the familiar sound of helicopter rotors rang out. Once again, the cool Spade A arrived in a helicopter to pick them up.
Everyone lined up and boarded the helicopter. As the helicopter took off, the pitch-black city outside the window was quickly left far behind, and everyone arrived at the familiar Personal Space.
On the card wall, at this moment, the words "Level Completed" appeared in green in the lower right corner of the Spade 8 card, with a rating of S.
Spade A, wearing sunglasses, said calmly, "Not bad. You are the first team to clear the Zerg Chamber with an S rating."
Ye Qi asked curiously, "Didn't the other teams even consider killing the Queen?"
"I've thought about it, but killing the Queen isn't that easy." The man's eyes, behind his sunglasses, swept over Xiao Lou, Yu Hanjiang, and Shao Qingge. He continued in a mechanical, emotionless voice, "This time, Spade 8 matched 30 teams. Most teams will choose to give up after a teammate is infected. Some cruel ones will kill their teammates to avoid being implicated. Very few people like you keep Infected with them."
The reason Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou dared to bring the infected CEO Shao with them was not only because they didn't want to abandon any of their teammates, but also because they were confident they could lead their teammates through the escape room.
Shao Qingge said with a smile, "Everyone didn't give up on me, and in the end, I repaid them by killing the Queen."
Spade nodded approvingly: "In this secret chamber, no more than ten Challengers were able to assimilate the Zerg after being infected. And only Shao Qingge directly killed the Queen. Therefore, I will reward you with a limited-edition card."
With a slight lift of his right hand, spade a sent a card flying directly to Shao Qingge's face.
Shao Qingge took the card, flipped it over, and examined the back carefully.
Special Effect Card: Insect King
Rarity: s
Description: An exclusive reward card obtainable only after killing the Queen in the Zerg Chamber of Spade 8 and becoming the Zerg leader.
Restrictions: Can only be used with spade and Plum Blossom Secret Chamber, and can only be used once per chamber.
Effect: Immediately transforms you into a level 10 Insect King, gaining all the abilities of the highest-level Insect race. The transformation lasts for 24 hours. After the transformation ends, the card becomes unusable and will refresh the next secret room.
During the transformation, your jumping, climbing, repair, and regeneration abilities are identical to those of the Insect King. A hard armor will appear under your skin, making you impervious to blades and spears. The weakness remains your vulnerability to fire; aside from being burned to death, during the transformation, you will possess a powerful "immortal body."
Additional Skill 1: Summoning
The Insect King issues a summoning signal, which can summon 4 advanced Insectoids to assist in the battle.
Additional Skill 2: Repair
The Insect King releases the insectoids parasitizing within its body, allowing them to rapidly heal wounds on a designated target. The healing process takes one minute, during which the target is anesthetized by the neurotoxins released by the insectoids, rendering them unable to feel pain.
Each time a wound is repaired, 10 Zerg are lost from the Zerg King's body, thus reducing the Zerg King's abilities by 10.
Repairing a teammate's severed limb will take 1 hour and cost 50 Zerg, while also halving your own abilities. Use with caution.
Upon seeing the card's description, Ye Qi exclaimed excitedly, "This means CEO Shao can transform into the Insect King anytime! Although it can only be used once per secret room, the transformation lasts for 24 hours. When in danger, CEO Shao can simply transform into the Insect King, making him virtually invincible and even helping us heal wounds. This is a fantastic card that can both attack and heal!"
Old Mo laughed heartily, "With this card, CEO Shao no longer needs to win by doing nothing."
Qu Wanyue, Liu Qiao, and others were also very happy for CEO Shao.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance, both noticing a description on the card at the same time.
Limb repair
Tang Ci, the director of the Intelligence Bureau, survived a difficult ordeal after being eliminated in the Plum Blossom J Secret Room. Unfortunately, he was crippled in both legs. Since the S-class Secret Room does not erase the body's data, his injuries were brought back to the real world.
Back in the main city, he remained in a wheelchair. Although he used his powerful abilities to create mechanical cards and healing robots, his legs remained incurable. Later, when the group went to advanced secret chambers, Tang Ci's mobility was limited, requiring everyone to take care of him. If he could stand, his abilities would undoubtedly be even greater.
Xiao Lou thought to Yu Hanjiang, " Could the 'CEO Shao ' card cure Mr. Tang's leg?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "The Zerg have regenerative abilities. Limb regeneration can be applied to teammates. According to Card's description, after CEO Shao transforms into the Zerg King, he can repair his limbs by releasing half of the Zerg that are parasitizing his body. And since the body data is not cleared in the S-level secret chamber, as long as we heal Tang Ci in the S-level secret chamber, he can return to the main city in good health."
Injuries sustained in an S-class secret chamber will be brought out.
Similarly, a body healed using a healing card in an S-level secret room can be brought back to the main city.
Xiao Lou grew increasingly pleased: "This trip to the secret chamber was truly worthwhile. Not only did CEO Shao's abilities get greatly enhanced, but Mr. Tang's legs also..."
Now that there's hope for a cure, let's go back and tell Ninth Brother the good news.
The Bug King Card's abilities are reset each time the room is changed. For example, if CEO Shao heals Tang Ci in Spade J, his Bug King abilities will still be restored to full when he goes to Plum Blossom J, and Tang Ci's legs will also return to normal.
The Insect King card essentially provides the entire team with a guarantee of sustainability.
From now on, as long as they are not burned to death, no matter who is missing an arm or a leg or is seriously injured, with CEO Shao around, there is hope for recovery.
Shao Qingge was unaware of Tang Ci's situation. He was very satisfied with the reward card, carefully put it away, and smiled at Spade A, saying, "Thank you, Mr. Spade. Are there any rewards for the others? Clearing Spade 8 was the result of everyone's cooperation, so everyone should get one, right?"
Spade A said calmly, "Others also received rewards. Please check the card holder."
Everyone hurriedly searched their card holders and, sure enough, found an extra A card inside.
Tool Card: Transform into Zerg
Rarity: a
Description: Limited-time reward for completing the Doomsday Escape escape room.
Effect: Instantly transforms you into a high-level Zerg, lasting for 2 hours.
While the Zerg might look disgusting, transforming into one can be advantageous in crucial moments, such as when escaping. You can climb fast, run fast, jump high, and even scale a 100-story building without an elevator.
Everyone:
Nobody wants to become an insect.
But since Shao Qingge has already become the Insect King, it's not impossible for him to temporarily transform into an insect and escape when faced with a life-or-death situation.
Ye Qi accepted the card and said, "A 2-hour transformation is alright, it's worth the strength of an A-rank card. It can save a lot of movement skills. We can directly become advanced Zerg, jump and climb buildings by ourselves, and it's quite convenient for everyone to escape together."
Everyone felt that this reward was better than the Diamond Secret Room giving each person a lantern card.
Of course, everyone spent less time in the Diamond Secret Room and had an easier time; it's normal that the Spade Secret Room rewards are better after all the hard work.
Xiao Lou asked, "Is there a prize draw?"
Spade A said, "Because Shao Qingge received a limited-edition reward, there's only one treasure chest available in this giveaway. Who wants to try their luck?"
Yu Hanjiang said simply, " CEO Shao will go smoke; it was agreed long ago."
Shao Qingge had already washed his hands and was just waiting to draw a card. Hearing this, he didn't stand on ceremony anymore, stepped forward, and reached into the treasure chest.
Tools: Throwing a Fortune
Rarity: s
Description: When you perfectly complete any escape room and achieve an S rating, you have a chance to obtain the Treasure Chest reward.
Effect of use: The strength of this card is related to the amount of money you put out.
Throwing 1000 gold coins at a target is like throwing a tantrum.
Throwing a 10,000-coin gold coin at someone can stun a single target for 1 second.
100,000 gold coins, single target stun for 3 seconds.
If you throw out 1 million gold coins in one go, all enemy targets within range will be blinded by the gold coins, be stunned for 5 seconds, and be slowed by 50%.
Teammates: ""
CEO Shao washed his hands, but still drew this wasteful card.
Shao Qingge picked up the card and laughed, "Compared to copying Rich and Willful for 5 million gold coins, this Throwing a Fortune card seems a bit cheaper. Converted to RMB, a single-target control skill costs 100 to 1000 RMB, and a group control skill costs 10,000 RMB."
That sounds like a real pain.
Ye Qi couldn't help but complain: "Unless everyone's cards are all unusable, CEO Shao should use Throwing a Fortune card sparingly. It hurts me to see you use your skill."
These skills, if you just throw them out there, they're money in the bank!
Of course, the benefits of this card are self-evident and there are no limitations.
Shao Qingge smiled and put away the card: "This card can be used in conjunction with my AT ATM. It's such a waste to withdraw money while throwing coins at people. We need to earn more coins in the upcoming Plum Blossom Secret Chamber."
Spade A said calmly, "Do you want to go to Plum Blossom 8, or return to the main city first?"
Shao Qingge looked at Xiao Lou: " What is Professor Xiao saying?"
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a few words in their minds and said, "Let's go back to the main city and rest for a day."
After all, everyone spent fourteen days in Spade 8, outwitting and outmaneuvering the Zerg while searching for a base. Having gone through numerous battles, everyone is exhausted. We still don't know what Plum Blossom 8 will be like, so a day of rest before going is fine.
Everyone agreed with Xiao Lou's decision to return to the main city together.