Friday night at 11:55 PM.
Tang Ci suddenly felt a strange unease.
The weekly routine is about to begin. If everything goes smoothly with Lu Jiuchuan, I should at least send him a "ready" message, as we had agreed beforehand.
But the message never came.
Tang Ci also booked a top-floor room for himself, from which he could see the Ronghua Building in the distance. If he wasn't mistaken, a ball of flame had suddenly burst forth on the top floor of the Ronghua Building, streaking across the night sky like a shooting star.
—It is Lu Jiuchuan's summoned beast, Suzaku!
To avoid being discovered by Hunter during his undercover work, Lu Jiuchuan entrusted all of his other cards to Tang Ci for safekeeping. However, the mythical beast cards recognize their owners, and only Lu Jiuchuan can control the Vermilion Bird card; it cannot be discarded, and he always carries it with him. As a limited-edition card, there is only one Vermilion Bird in the entire Card World. Whenever the Vermilion Bird appears, everyone will know that the person who possesses this card is Lu Jiuchuan.
Unless absolutely necessary, Ninth Brother would never reveal his identity.
Thinking of this, Tang Ci's expression suddenly changed, and he immediately said in the group: " Xiao Lou, something might have happened to Ninth Brother. Use Peach Blossom Spring to forcibly bring him over!"
There are only 4 minutes left until the Weekly Routine.
Upon seeing this message, Xiao Lou hurriedly summoned Tao Yuanming in his room.
1
The Peach Blossom Spring activates in 0 seconds, allowing teammates to teleport together.
Everyone received a teleportation notification from Peach Blossom Spring, and a moment later, the twelve people gathered under the peach tree.
Lu Jiuchuan's white shirt was stained red with blood. He frowned, clutching his left arm tightly, without uttering a sound.
Upon seeing this, Yu Hanjiang's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly went over to support Lu Jiuchuan: "Brother? What happened!"
Lu Jiuchuan's voice was low and hoarse: "My identity has been discovered. I don't know where I slipped up. Moreover, they also know that I used the [ Mask ] card, covering my face with a layer of □—it's certain that there are Challengers within the Hunter organization, otherwise they wouldn't know so much about my cards."
After he finished speaking, he removed the card, revealing its true nature.
The man was extremely handsome, with a strong and sharp jawline and slanted eyebrows that swept upwards, exuding a heroic air. Unfortunately, on this exceptionally handsome face, there was a noticeable scar 5 centimeters long on the left side of his forehead.
Tang Ci lost both legs in the Nightmare Secret Room, and Lu Jiuchuan was nearly disfigured in the Nightmare Secret Room...
Yu Hanjiang dared not think about what they had gone through. But now, seeing his brother covered in blood, Yu Hanjiang's heart ached: "Let's not talk about that now, your injuries are more important. Mr. Tang, please treat him..."
Tang Ci sighed softly and summoned the healing robot.
Shao Qingge and Ye Qi's bug king card can only be used in Spade and Plum Blossom Secret Chamber. Liu Qiao's witch card antidote is for saving lives when near death. Their team has no other healing cards and can only rely on Tang Ci's robot.
Unfortunately, the robot can only treat external injuries; it cannot perform surgery to remove bullets from the arm.
Tang Ci said, "It's almost midnight. If the bullet isn't removed, the wound will become inflamed and infected. If the Weekly Routine is an ancient secret chamber, it could kill you… How about we draw cards to enter the spade or the Plum Blossom Secret Chamber, dig through the flesh to remove the bullet, and then use the bug king card to completely heal the wound?"
Lu Jiuchuan immediately refused: "No way, going to the S-level secret chamber now is suicide. There are 12 of us, and we haven't cooperated at all. Besides, my identity has already been exposed. Spade and Plum Blossom Secret Chamber might be teeming with Hunters."
Seeing Ninth Brother's furrowed brows and the pain he was enduring, Xiao Lou was also very worried. He thought for a moment and said, "Ninth Brother, although I'm a forensic doctor, I can still perform simple surgeries. The bullet lodged in your arm isn't fatal for now, and I can remove it for you. However, we don't have anesthesia, scalpels, or other equipment right now..."
Lu Jiuchuan smiled at Xiao Lou; "This isn't difficult." He looked at Chu Huaying, " Huaying, may I borrow your dagger?"
Chu Huaying handed him the dagger without expression.
Lu Jiuchuan handed the dagger to Xiao Lou, saying calmly, " Hua Ying's spider dagger is incredibly sharp; you can use it like a scalpel. Once we're in the Weekly Secret Chamber, could you please remove the bullets for me?"
Xiao Lou hesitated for a moment, then said, "This dagger has too wide a blade, and it's not as thin as a scalpel. Using it to cut open a wound will cause extensive trauma and bleeding. Besides, without anesthesia, you'll faint from the pain..."
Lu Jiuchuan said, "Don't worry about these things, the time is almost up."
At this moment, a clock appeared in the upper right corner of everyone's screen, with the hour hand pointing to 23:59:50 on Friday night.
Only 10 seconds left in the countdown.
Xiao Lou's fingers gripping the dagger were a little stiff. He prayed silently in his heart— if only Weekly Routine were Spade or Plum Blossom, he could use the Bug King Card directly, so that Ninth Brother wouldn't feel any pain, and the wound would heal immediately after the bullet was removed.
Unfortunately, Guardian didn't seem to hear Xiao Lou's prayers.
The 10-second countdown ended, and everything went black.
When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves in a pitch-black corridor. The long, dark corridor seemed to have no end, and there was no light around them. A cold wind blew by, making everyone shiver.
Yu Hanjiang took out a luminous pearl for illumination and discovered that his teammates were all around him.
This is clearly not the Heart Room; the Heart Room assigns different identities to solve cases...
In complete darkness, with teammates all together, what could it be?
Welcome to the Weekly Secret Chamber: Tomb of the Headless General.
[You have arrived at the underground tomb of an ancient general. It is said that the ancients were very skilled at building their tombs into labyrinths, and setting up all sorts of dangerous traps to prevent tomb raiders from entering.]
Unfortunately, your trespassing into the tomb has already displeased its owner.
[Mission Objective: Find the treasure hidden in the general's tomb and exit the maze through the tomb's only exit.]
[This Weekly Routine is diamonds] The Weekly Routine is conducted independently by each team, with no time limit, but an elimination system is implemented. All participating teams are ranked simultaneously; the shorter the time to leave the maze and the more treasures found, the higher the ranking.
[ After the Weekly Routine ends, the bottom 20% of teams will be eliminated.]
Seeing the rows of notifications scrolling by, Xiao Lou's face paled slightly.
— Diamonds, or the Diamond Secret Room where teams score independently and the bottom team is eliminated!
The elimination system is incredibly brutal. No matter how hard you try, all the Challengers are ranked together, and if you're in the bottom 20%, you're destined for elimination. Unlike Hearts, where solving the case guarantees victory, or Spade, where survival is the only way to pass... in this escape room, even if you successfully find the exit and the treasure, a low ranking will still result in elimination!
Of course, Xiao Lou isn't worried that his team would be so bad as to rank low.
Finally, not knowing the time and progress of other teams, and not having real-time updates on rankings, can create a lot of psychological pressure.
Old Mo's face was extremely grim: " The Weekly Routine, with its elimination system, will be incredibly competitive. Faced with a life-or-death situation, many teams will unleash several times their usual potential..."
Lu Jiuchuan whispered, "Quickly, get the bullet out as soon as possible."
Xiao Lou turned to look at him. Lu Jiuchuan was already sitting cross-legged on the damp, cold ground, tearing open the blood-stained sleeve of his shirt with his teeth, revealing a hideous and terrifying wound.
Common sense dictates that surgery cannot be performed in such an environment. Without sterilization or anesthesia, the person undergoing surgery would be essentially having their flesh ripped open with a knife, enduring unimaginable pain.
But now it's Card World. Once the bullet is removed, Tang Ci's intelligent robots can bandage and treat the remaining wounds.
Xiao Lou, holding the Blood Spider Dagger, turned to look at Yu Hanjiang. The latter gently patted his shoulder and said in a low voice, "Since he asked for it, he can hold back. Go ahead and do it."
Lu Jiuchuan smiled slightly: "Thank you for your help."
Xiao Lou nodded and came to Lu Jiuchuan's side. Using the light of the luminous pearl, he picked up the light blood spider dagger, bent down, and quickly slashed Lu Jiuchuan's arm.
The man's muscles tensed sharply—the excruciating pain of his body being slashed open by a sharp blade caused cold sweat to pour down his forehead, but he didn't make a sound, only clenching his teeth tightly.
Xiao Lou knew that the slower he moved, the longer Ninth Brother would suffer.
At this point, we can't afford to drag things out any longer; a swift and decisive victory is the best course of action.
Xiao Lou's expression was serious and focused. He stared intently at Lu Jiuchuan's wound, his slender hands swiftly slicing open Lu Jiuchuan's arm along the muscle lines. Amidst the bloody mess, Xiao Lou quickly spotted the bullet. The next moment, he flicked his finger and precisely used his dagger to remove the bullet tip.
This dagger was completely unusable as a scalpel; it caused too much damage, and Lu Jiuchuan's arm was now covered in blood. The mangled, bloody mess was enough to send chills down anyone's spine...
Shao Qingge thought of Ye Qi at the tenth stage, who had also been hit by many bullets.
Actually, he could have used this violent method to remove the bullet and then used the Bug King Card to heal the wound. However, he couldn't bear to let Xiao Ye be disemboweled, and besides, Xiao Ye was shot in the chest, near her heart, which was far more dangerous than shooting her in the arm.
Seeing Lu Jiuchuan covered in sweat and pale-faced, Shao Qingge was still shaken. He leaned close to Ye Qi's ear and whispered, "Remember what I said. Transforming into the Insect King doesn't make you invincible. The Insect King can also get hurt. Although it has the ability to repair itself within 24 hours, if not handled properly, the bullets left in your body after 24 hours could very well kill you."
Ye Qi then realized how dangerous it had been at the tenth stage. He nodded seriously, "I understand, thank you." His teammates had worked like madmen, solving the case through the night without sleeping a wink, and leaving the tenth stage as quickly as possible —all because they were afraid something might happen to him…
Ye Qi's eyes welled up slightly, and he said in a trembling voice, "It's a pity that we're in the Diamond Secret Room now, and our bug king card can't be used, otherwise Ninth Brother's injury would have healed immediately."
Tang Ci summoned his healing robot to stitch up Lu Jiuchuan's wounds.
However, the healing robot wasn't as powerful as the bug king card, so Lu Jiuchuan still had to endure the intense pain. Fortunately, the wound began to heal rapidly after being bandaged, and the man's pale complexion gradually improved.
Long Sen, Qu Wanyue, Liu Qiao, and Lao Mo stood by, their hearts pounding.
Lu Jiuchuan is a real man!
Xiao Lou slashed his arm open with a knife, and he didn't utter a sound from beginning to end, let alone cry out in pain!
They truly are soldiers of unwavering integrity.
At first, the group wasn't entirely at ease with the four new members, as they were complete strangers. However, seeing Lu Jiuchuan's reaction to his injuries, they felt ashamed and filled with admiration, as if they had somehow managed to latch onto a gaming legend.
Xiao Lou's palms were sweaty as he turned and returned the dagger to Chu Huaying.
Chu Huaying put away the dagger with its handle covered in blood-red spiderweb patterns, glanced at Lu Jiuchuan, and said indifferently, "My daggers are all for killing people. It's a waste to use them to dig out bullets for you."
Lu Jiuchuan laughed and looked at Xiao Lou: "Thanks, you're really bold and meticulous."
Xiao Lou did his best to avoid causing too much damage to Lu Jiuchuan's arm, moving swiftly and decisively to save Lu Jiuchuan a lot of suffering. Lu Jiuchuan greatly admired his calm and decisiveness in that crucial moment. Thinking that this was the person his younger brother had taken a liking to, Lu Jiuchuan patted Xiao Lou's shoulder and chuckled, "You helped me this time; my brother will repay you properly later."
Yu Hanjiang: "???"
Realizing what was happening, Yu Hanjiang said with a stern face, "You still have the leisure to joke around!"
Lu Jiuchuan stopped joking and waved his hand: "Let's go, let's explore this general's tomb and see what's buried there."