Card Room

Ch304 – New Challenge

After finishing the poker game, Shao Qingge and Yu Hanjiang shook hands with the bigshots at the table and said goodbye.

Li Mo took the initiative to say, “I’m tired after playing for four hours. Why don’t I invite you all to have a late night meal?”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “Thank you, Chief Li.”

As people who ‘came to learn poker’, Xiao Lou and the others didn’t follow. Yu Hanjiang and Shao Qingge attended the late night meal together.

At the meal, Shao Qingge chatted with Li Mo, Uncle Chen and the others about business matters. He was an investor himself. After coming to this world, he had been paying attention to the stock market and they had many common topics to talk about. He also specifically mentioned that he was a ‘foreigner’ and he hoped they would all take care of him.

Yu Hanjiang didn’t speak much. He sat there and listened carefully.

In the middle of the meal, Li Mo suddenly answered the phone. The moment he saw the caller ID, his eyes became extremely gentle and he deliberately lowered his voice as he answered the phone. “I’m entertaining outside and I’ll come home soon. Go to sleep first and don’t wait for me.”

Uncle Chen laughed beside him. “Chief Li, is it your wife checking on you again?”

Li Mo was helpless. “If I don’t go home by midnight then Xiaomeng always calls to check. She is afraid I will have an accident.”

Uncle Chen sighed. “This husband and wife love is really enviable.”

Li Mo’s wife was Shu Xiaomeng, the girl who was hospitalized in the 4 of Hearts case. She didn’t participate in the train trip but she had five best friends named ‘X Xiao X.’

It seemed that Li Mo’s experience was all true. After that case, he married Shu Xiaomeng. It was many years in the past when Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou entered 4 of Hearts. In that secret room, Li Mo was still a young man in his 20s.

All the secret rooms in the Card World might be memories of the past. In this world, time can be freely controlled by the keepers and this further confirmed Xiao Lou’s original speculation. If everyone returned to reality, it was very likely that they would go back to the past to avoid accidents and get a new opportunity to start life over.

Due to Li Mo’s wife, the meal ended on time at 12:30 that night. After leaving the restaurant, Yu Hanjiang and Shao Qingge took a taxi back to the villa. Xiao Lou and their teammates had been waiting for them there.

Seeing the two people return, Xiao Lou took the initiative to bring a glass of warm water to Yu Hanjiang. He asked, “Have you heard anything?”

Yu Hanjiang took a sip from the glass of water and spoke in a low voice. “The Hunter’s League is huge and there will definitely be strong financial support behind it, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many bounties. Chief Shao just chatted with them for a while and even deliberately mentioned that he is a foreigner. I observed from the side and found nothing wrong with their expressions.”

The two of them went to the meal to test if these wealthy people were related to the Hunter’s League.

The number of foreigners (challengers) in the City of the Moon was extremely large. Most of the residents could live with them peacefully. Only the Hunter’s League was full of hostility to foreigners and even killed them quickly. Every time they killed a foreigner, they could get a high bounty. There was definitely a wealthy benefactor behind such an organization.

Shao Qingge sprawled out on the sofa, settling in a comfortable posture as he smiled. “These people in the business are quite good at pretending, but I have an intuition that among the six people today, there must be some of the top level people of the Hunter’s League.”

Those who came to participate in the card game today were among the top 10 richest people in this world. It was very possible that some of these people secretly provided financial support to the Hunter’s League.

Ye Qi scratched his head and guessed. “Will it be Li Mo?”

Shao Qingge said, “On the surface, he has deep affection for his wife and doesn’t seem like such a cold-blooded person.”

Yu Hanjiang spoke indifferently, “Don’t forget, he quietly borrowed a knife to kill his own father.”

Their teammates were silent for a while. Then Xiao Lou spoke. “We can’t determine if it is Li Mo or not at the moment. That bald Uncle Chen also has a strong sense of the world and perhaps it is him. Let’s stop worrying about this problem and think about something happy. How much money did we win today?”

Hearing Xiao Lou’s words, their teammates consciously gathered around Chief Shao. Shao Qingge took out his identity card and summoned the ATM machine to show everyone the balance of the account. Their eyes were about to fall out when they saw the string of zeroes behind the number.

Ye Qi exclaimed, “There is so much money that you could use your skill tens of thousands of times!”

Yu Hanjiang was solemn. “Transfer two million to Xiao Lou. This is enough for our daily life. The most expensive thing in the Card World is skills. Chief Shao’s Rich and Willful card costs 5 million gold coins to copy a card and it should be used wisely.”

Shao Qingge took the Rich and Willful card out of his card pack and said, “This card might be very strong but it also has restrictions. It can only be used in the secret room and it can only copy cards seen within the last half an hour. This ‘seen’ isn’t just taking out the card and looking at it. It is to release the skills in front of it. Every time, the secret room can copy up to two cards and each card can only be copied once.”

For example, the Li Qingzhao card had been copied and couldn’t be copied again. Otherwise, they could directly take out 8 Li Qingzhao cards and use Stray Into the Depths of the Lotus Flowers to set eight teleport markers in the maze. This was simply a bug.

Only cards seen in the last 30 minutes could be copied and this also limited Rich and Willful. It had to be used after seeing the cards used by teammates or opponents. There was no way to copy a card if it was banned in that secret room.

Shao Qingge stated, “At present, the cards copied include Li Qingzhao, Qin Guan, Ye Qi’s teleportation card and Xiao Liu’s light footwork card. In the next secret room, should I spend another 10 million gold coins to make two copies?”

Xiao Lou thought about it for a while. “In the next secret room, how about copying the Bug King card first?”

Yu Hanjiang agreed. “The Bug King card can treat wounds and even regenerate severed limbs. However, the number of bugs will be consumed during treatment. Once the Bug King card is used for treatment, the attack power will decrease. Copying one will be safer.”

Shao Qingge simply nodded and agreed. “What about the other card? Do you want to copy a control card?”

Yu Hanjiang looked at Ye Qi. “Xiao Ye, what is the cooldown time for your flute?”

“For the full level flute, the cooldown time is 7 seconds and the control time is 3 seconds.”

There was a 4 second gap in the middle and the uncertainty of Long Sen’s badminton control was too high. Yu Hanjiang spoke decisively, “Copy the single control Flute card. The two flutes can take turns to smoothly connect the control skill in critical moments.”

Now Chief Shao’s total amount of gold was scary. His teammates had no objection to him using the Rich and Willful card to copy other cards. If it wasn’t for the skill restrictions, they even wanted him to copy everyone’s cards.

After discussing the next plan, Xiao Lou said, “It is already late today. We should go to sleep and rest well. Once we get up tomorrow morning we will discuss what level to go to next.”

The team members were really tired after clearing the levels continuously. They went back to their rooms and fell asleep.

The next morning, everyone woke up in high spirits. After eating the breakfast prepared by Xiao Lou in the dining room, they went to the rooftop of the building and summoned the team’s Card Wall.

Yu Hanjiang raised his head and stared at the four cards on the tenth level of the Card Wall. “What is the next level?”

Xiao Lou wondered, “Shall we go in order of Hearts first?”

Yu Hanjiang didn’t hesitate to pull out the 10 of Hearts directly.

To everyone’s surprise, they weren’t sent to the Hearts secret room this time. Instead, they came to the personal space as a group. There were four sofas in the space and sitting on them were A of Hearts, A of Diamonds, A of Spades and A of Clubs.

The Hearts sister gently brushed her curly hair behind her ears and smiled. “Congratulations everyone on triggering the hidden secret room. Since all your previous A-level secret rooms have been evaluated as a perfect clearance, the A-level secret rooms in the 10th level will become a large-scale integrated linked room.”

The A of Diamonds loli continued. “This room will combine the reasoning of Hearts, the maze of Diamonds, the survival of Spades and the challenge of Clubs. Once you smoothly clear the instance, the four of us will provide you with one S-grade card each.”

The eyes of the team members lit up after hearing the reward.

In the past, the Hearts, Diamonds and Spades secret room rewarded them with up to six cards while the Clubs room only gave coins. Moreover, after clearing four secret rooms in a row, everyone would be exhausted physically and mentally.

The biggest advantage of merging it into a comprehensive secret room was that the background of the secret room remained unchanged. The disadvantage was naturally the increase in difficulty. A secret room that combined reasoning, a maze, survival and challenge tasks was definitely not easy to clear.

Xiao Lou asked, “Is it necessary to go to the hidden room?”

A of Spades replied coolly while wearing sunglasses, “You can choose not to go. If you continue to do the same as before and go to 10 of Hearts, 10 of Diamonds, 10 of Spades and 10 of Clubs individually, the final reward isn’t as much as going to the hidden room. Once the hidden room is cleared, I will also reward you with a team shared Secret Room Resurrection Card.”

Xiao Lou’s heart jumped. “Resurrection card? Resurrection from death?”

The Clubs teenager explained in an expressionless manner. “After a death in an ordinary secret room, anyone who is eliminated will go to the Nightmare secret room. No matter who it is, the person can immediately return to their teammates with the resurrection card. This opportunity can only be used once.”

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other.

Shao Qingge had the Bug King card in his hand and could heal any serious injury. Liu Qiao had the Witch Card and could save someone with the bottle of antidote. However, what if a teammate encountered fatal danger and died in the secret room when Shao Qingge and Liu Qiao weren’t around? Then they were destined to be eliminated and go to the Nightmare room. It was very difficult to survive the Nightmare room.

At this time, the resurrection card shared by the team would become a lifesaver. Every person would get an S-grade card and there was a team resurrection card. This was a big temptation and it was difficult to refuse.

Yu Hanjiang simply declared, “Let’s go to the hidden secret room.”

The Hearts sister smiled. “Are you sure?”

Yu Hanjiang’s eyes were firm. “Yes.”

The next moment, the four keepers reached out at the same time. The 10 of Hearts, 10 of Diamonds, 10 of Spades and 10 of Clubs cards flew out of their hands and floated in front of the group. They quickly merged and formed a comprehensive card with four colors.

In the center of the card was a huge black and red vortex. The vortex formed a strange air current. Everyone was sucked inside in an instant and the view in their eyes darkened.

Xiao Lou’s heart was beating very fast. He didn’t know how difficult the four colored secret room would be. There would be murderers all around them, mazes, threats to their survival and other challengers. What type of world was so complicated?

He opened his eyes and found himself wearing a white coat and sitting in a doctor’s duty room.

Before he could react, the phone on his desk rang abruptly. Xiao Lou didn’t hesitate to answer the phone and a young nurse’s anxious voice entered his ears, speaking quickly. “Dr Xiao, a patient was sent to the emergency department. He was shot in the abdomen and must be operated on immediately! You should go to the emergency operation room on the first floor. Professor Zhu is waiting for you there and is asking for you to help him!”

This was probably a plot task? Xiao Lou had no doubts and immediately took the elevator to the operating room on the first floor.

At the same time, there was the Clubs teenager’s emotionless voice ringing out in his mind. “You are the chief resident of the general surgery department. It is your turn to be on the night shift tonight. There is an emergency in the emergency department. Side task: rescue the wounded. If the task is successful and the wounded is hospitalized then you will be given the authority to access the hospital’s case database. You will soon know the result of the task failure.”

Xiao Lou took a deep breath and walked quickly to the door of the operating room.

A middle-aged doctor in a white coat was waiting for him. The sign on his chest read ‘Professor Zhu Wen’. He was the professor mentioned by the nurse. The other person saw him and said, “Dr Xiao, I called you here to help temporarily with an emergency. I don’t have enough manpower here.” He lowered his voice and whispered in Xiao Lou’s ear. “A policeman was shot and already has symptoms of shock. We must try our best to rescue him!”

Xiao Lou nodded solemnly and quickly followed Professor Zhu. The two people entered the operating area, washed their hands, disinfected and changed clothes.

After all, Xiao Lou was a medical student and he hadn’t forgotten these basic procedures. He entered the operating room and was about to look at the patient’s condition only to see a very familiar face on the operating table.

The man’s nose was high, he had a strong figure and a very handsome appearance. Yet at this moment, his eyes were closed, his lips were pale and bloodless and he had a needle in his strong arm as he received an infusion. The monitor next to him showed that his blood pressure, heart rate and breathing were all unstable.

The moment Xiao Lou came in, the monitor started to ring the alarm.

Di—di—

The shrill alarm made Xiao Lou’s breathing stop. It was Yu Hanjiang and he was having a cardiac arrest!

At this moment, he felt cold all over. The cold air from the air conditioner in the operating room poured down from his neck and reached the soles of his feet, making him almost motionless.

“You will soon know the result of the task failure.” The reminder from the Clubs teenager just now echoed in his mind and Xiao Lou finally reacted. It was serious. If he failed then Yu Hanjiang was likely to die directly on the operating table!

Xiao Lou clenched his fists hard and forced himself to remain calm. “Hurry, give him CPR!”

The nurse next to him immediately moved away. Xiao Lou rushed over to Yu Hanjiang’s hospital bed and stood firmly. His left and right hands overlapped with each other, aiming at Yu Hanjiang’s heart as he pressed down forcefully.

CPR—cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It was the basic thing that all medical students had to master. During the time when Xiao Lou was at school, he had scored full marks every time on the clinical tests of the emergency department. His movements were extremely standard.

He looked at Yu Hanjiang who was pale and unconscious on the operating table and it felt like his heart was being strangled by a rope, making him unable to breathe. However, he knew very well that if something went wrong in the first aid phase, forget the team failing to clear the level. He could lose Yu Hanjiang completely.

Xiao Lou couldn’t imagine such an outcome. It was simply unacceptable to let Yu Hanjiang die in the operating room of the hospital. Xiao Lou quickly controlled his emotions with great self-control and shouted at the nurse next to him. “Defibrillator, 200 joules!”

The nurse immediately handed him the adjusted defibrillator. Xiao Lou aimed at Yu Hanjiang’s heart. The electrode pads of the defibrillator pressed against Yu Hanjiang’s strong chest and almost caused Yu Hanjiang’s entire body to bounce up.

After the defibrillation, Xiao Lou continued the chest compressions according to the standard first aid techniques. A frequency of 100 to 120 times a minute was almost two times a second. The extremely fast-paced compressions made the rescuer’s physical exhaustion very serious but Xiao Lou couldn’t care about this.

His arms tensed and his overlapping hands continuously pressed against Yu Hanjiang’s chest. After pressing for five seconds, Xiao Lou took a deep breath and leaned over to Yu Hanjiang’s lips to give him artificial respiration.

He might secretly adore this man in his heart but Xiao Lou had no time to think at the moment. He was currently a doctor and Yu Hanjiang was hovering on the edge of life and death. Xiao Lou’s actions had to meet absolute standards.

He wouldn’t allow himself to be distracted at this time!

Xiao Lou’s left hand gently pressed against Yu Hanjiang’s forehead while his right hand slightly raised the man’s chin. Then he pinched his nose and joined their lips together so there were no gaps. The air in his mouth was evenly blown into Yu Hanjiang’s mouth and he observed if there were any movement from the chest.

After the artificial respiration, he continued to do chest compressions and another round of artificial respiration…

Xiao Lou’s rhythm was very good.

Professor Zhu stood by. He had wanted to help but then he saw Dr Xiao walking briskly to rescue the patient. His reaction was very fast and standard. Professor Zhu eventually just stepped back and observed.

The steps for a cardiac arrest had long been deeply imprinted in Xiao Lou’s memory. His mind was blank and his movements gradually became mechanical. At this time, he only had one thought in his mind.

Yu Hanjiang had to be rescued. He would drag this man back even if Yu Hanjiang was knocking on death’s door.