After finishing their Texas Hold'em game, Shao Qingge and Yu Hanjiang shook hands with the big shots at the table to say goodbye.
Li Mo offered, "We've been playing for four hours and we're all tired. How about I treat everyone to a late-night snack?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded and said, "Then thank you, Mr. Li."
Xiao Lou and his friends, who were "there to learn Texas Hold'em," did not go with them. Yu Hanjiang and Shao Qingge attended the dinner together.
During the dinner, Shao Qingge chatted with Li Mo, Uncle Chen, and others about business matters. He himself was an investor and had been following the stock market since arriving in this world, so they had many common interests. He also specifically mentioned that he was an " outsider " and hoped the bigwigs would take good care of him.
Yu Hanjiang didn't say much; he just sat there listening attentively.
Midway through the meal, Li Mo suddenly received a phone call. The moment he saw the caller ID, his gaze softened considerably, and he deliberately lowered his voice as he answered the phone: "I'm out socializing, I'll be home soon, you go to sleep first, don't wait for me."
Uncle Chen chuckled from the side, "Mr. Li, is Madam checking up on you again?"
Li Mo said helplessly, "If I don't go home after midnight, Xiaomeng always calls to check on me, afraid that something might have happened to me."
Uncle Chen exclaimed, "You two are such a loving couple, it's truly enviable."
Li Mo's wife, Shu Xiaomeng, is the girl who was hospitalized and didn't participate in the train trip in the Red Heart 4 [ Express Train ] case. She has five best friends whose names are all "XiaoX".
It seems that Li Mo's experiences were all real; he married Shu Xiaomeng after that case. And the Red Heart 4 train escape room that Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou entered was set many years in the past; Li Mo in that room was a young man in his twenties.
All the escape rooms in Card World could be a memory from these people's past.
In this world, time can be manipulated at will by the Guardian, which further confirms Xiao Lou's initial speculation—if everyone returns to reality, it is highly likely that they will return to the past to avoid accidents and thus gain a chance to start over.
Because Li Mo's wife was checking up on him, the dinner ended promptly at 12:30. When they left the restaurant, Yu Hanjiang and Shao Qingge each took a taxi back to the villa, where Xiao Lou and his teammates were waiting for them.
Upon seeing the two return, Xiao Lou proactively brought Yu Hanjiang a glass of warm water and asked, "Did you find out any news?"
Yu Hanjiang took the water glass, took a sip, and said in a low voice, " The Hunter Alliance is a huge organization, and it must have strong financial backing behind it, otherwise it wouldn't be able to come up with so many bounties. CEO Shao chatted with them for a long time just now, and even specifically mentioned that we are outsiders. I observed from the side, and none of these people's expressions were abnormal."
The two went to the dinner party to test whether these wealthy people were connected to the Hunter Organization.
Moon City has a large number of Outsider ( Challenger ) individuals, and most of the native inhabitants can coexist peacefully with them. Only the Hunter Organization is hostile to Outsider and even wants to kill them. Each Outsider killed brings a huge bounty, so such an organization must have a very wealthy backer.
Shao Qingge sprawled out on the sofa in a relaxed pose and chuckled, "These people in the business world are all quite good at putting on an act, but I have a feeling that among these six people today, there must be one who is a high-ranking member of the Hunter Organization."
Those attending today's poker game are among the world's top ten richest people. It's highly likely that one of these individuals is secretly providing financial support to the Hunter Organization.
Ye Qi scratched his head and guessed, "Could it be Li Mo?"
Shao Qingge said, "On the surface, he seems to have deep feelings for his wife and doesn't seem like such a cold-blooded person."
Yu Hanjiang said calmly, "Don't forget, he once used someone else to kill his own father without making a sound."
The teammates were silent for a moment. Xiao Lou said softly, " We can't tell if it's Li Mo right now. That Bald Uncle Chen also has a lot of江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) vibes, so maybe it's him. Let's not dwell on this for now, let's think about something happy—how much money did we win today?"
Upon hearing Xiao Lou's words, the teammates spontaneously gathered around CEO Shao.
Shao Qingge took out his ID card, summoned an ATM on the spot, and showed everyone his account balance. When everyone saw the string of 000000000 after the number, their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Ye Qi stared wide-eyed as he counted carefully, then asked, "Is this over two billion?"
Shao Qingge said with a smile, "Yeah, Captain Yu and I won quite a lot today. Adding our previous savings, our gold coins have now surpassed the 2 billion mark. Xiao Ye won't mind me spending money on skills anymore, right?"
Ye Qi laughed and said, "Go ahead and use it! With so much money, you can use your skills tens of thousands of times!"
Yu Hanjiang said seriously, "Transfer one or two million of this money to Xiao Lou, and it will be enough for living expenses. The most expensive part of Card World is still skills. CEO Shao's [ Rich and Willful ] card costs 5 million gold coins to copy, so we have to use it wisely."
Shao Qingge took out the " Rich and Willful " card from the card holder and said, "This card is very powerful, but it also has limitations. It can only be used in a secret room where cards are not restricted, and it requires copying a card seen within the last half hour. This'seen' doesn't just mean taking the card out for a quick look; it means the card has used its skill in front of me. Each time..."
The escape room can duplicate a maximum of two cards, and each card can only be duplicated once.
For example, the card Li Qingzhao cannot be copied again if it has already been copied. Otherwise, directly copying 8 Li Qingzhao cards and activating the "Mistakenly Entering the Lotus Flower Depths" marker at the same time would create a maze with 8 teleportation markers simultaneously, which would be practically a bug.
You must copy cards seen within the last half hour, which means " Rich and Willful " can only be copied after a teammate or opponent has used the card. Banned cards cannot be copied from secret rooms.
Shao Qingge said, " The cards that have already been copied include Li Qingzhao's, Qin Guan's, Ye Qi's Teleportation Card, and Xiao Liu's Lightness Skill Card. If the next escape room doesn't ban cards, will I spend another 10 million gold coins to copy two more?"
Xiao Lou thought for a moment and said, "Next time in the escape room, how about we copy the [Insect King] card first?"
Yu Hanjiang agreed, saying, " The Bug King Card can heal wounds and even regenerate severed limbs. However, healing consumes Zerg resources, and once the Bug King Card is used for healing, its attack power will decrease. It's safer to duplicate it."
Shao Qingge readily agreed: "What about the other one? Should we copy the control card?"
Yu Hanjiang looked at Ye Qi: "What's the cooldown time for Xiao Ye's flute?"
Ye Qi said, "A max-level flute has a 7-second cooldown and a 3-second control duration."
There's a 4-second gap in between. Long Sen's badminton control is too unpredictable. Yu Hanjiang decisively said, "Then let's copy another single-target control [ flute ]. Let's take turns playing the two flutes. In critical moments, the control skills will be connected more smoothly."
Now, CEO Shao's personal savings are staggering. He uses [ Rich and Willful ] to copy other cards, and his teammates have absolutely no objections. If it weren't for skill limitations, everyone would even want CEO Shao to copy everyone's cards.
After discussing the next steps, Xiao Lou said, "It's very late today, everyone go back and get some sleep. Let's discuss which level to go to next tomorrow morning."
The teammates were indeed exhausted from completing the challenges, and they all went back to their rooms and fell asleep immediately.
The next morning, everyone woke up refreshed and, after having breakfast prepared by Xiao Lou in the living room, spontaneously gathered on the rooftop to summon the team card wall.
Yu Hanjiang looked up at the four cards on the tenth stage on the card wall and asked, "Where do we go next?"
Xiao Lou said, "Let's go in order, shall we go to Hearts first?"
Without hesitation, Yu Hanjiang pulled out Hearts 10.
To everyone's surprise, this time they didn't teleport to the heart room, but instead came to the Personal Space. There were four sofas in the space, where the four Guardians, Red Heart A, Diamond A, Ace of Spades, and Plum Blossom A, were sitting.
Hearts Sister gently brushed her large curly hair behind her ear and said with a smile, "Congratulations on triggering the hidden room. Since you all achieved a perfect completion rating in the previous A-grade secret rooms, the A-grade secret room in the tenth stage will be transformed into a large-scale, interconnected secret room."
The little girl from Diamonds followed up, saying, "This escape room will combine Hearts ' deduction, Diamonds ' maze, Spade's survival, and Plum Blossom's challenge missions. Once you successfully complete it, the four of us will reward you with an S card each."
Upon hearing about the reward, the teammates' eyes lit up!
In the past, the escape rooms, such as Hearts, Diamonds, and Spade, offered a maximum of 6 card rewards, while Plum Blossom only awarded coins and rarely cards. Moreover, completing four escape rooms involved switching between four different scenes, which was physically and mentally exhausting.
The biggest advantage is that the background remains the same while the rooms are combined into one. The downside, of course, is the increased difficulty.
A locked room that combines deduction, mazes, survival, and challenging tasks is definitely not easy to complete.
Xiao Lou asked, "Do we have to go to the hidden room?"
Wearing sunglasses, Ace of Spades coolly said, "You don't have to go. If you continue as before and go to Hearts 10, Diamonds 10, Spade 10, and Plum Blossom 10 individually, the rewards you get won't be as much as if you went to the hidden room. And once you clear the hidden room, I will also give you an extra [Hidden Room Revival Card] shared by the team."
Xiao Lou's heart skipped a beat: "A resurrection card? Resurrection after death?"
Plum Blossom Youth explained expressionlessly, "After dying in a regular secret room, anyone eliminated and sent to the Nightmare Secret Room, regardless of who they are, can immediately use a revival card to return to their teammates. This opportunity is available only once."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance.
Shao Qingge has the [Insect King] card, capable of healing even the most severe injuries; Liu Qiao has the [Witch] card, a single antidote can save a life. However, what if a teammate faces mortal danger and dies in the secret room when Shao Qingge and Liu Qiao are not around? That would mean certain elimination and being sent to the Nightmare Secret Room, where survival is extremely difficult.
At this point, the team's shared [resurrection card] becomes a lifeline.
With an S card and a resurrection card for the encrypted room for each person, it's hard to refuse such a tempting reward.
Yu Hanjiang said decisively, "Let's go to the hidden room."
Hearts Sister smiled and asked, "Are you sure?"
Yu Hanjiang's gaze was resolute: "I'm sure."
The next moment, the four Guardians simultaneously extended their hands— the cards Hearts 10, Diamonds 10, Spade 10, and Plum Blossom 10 flew from their hands, floated in front of everyone, and quickly merged into a composite card with all four suits.
At the center of this card appears a huge vortex where red and black are intertwined.
The vortex formed a strange airflow, all
The person was instantly sucked into the vortex, and everything went black—
Xiao Lou's heart was pounding. He had no idea how difficult a four-color interconnected escape room could be. The murderer was right next to him, the room was a maze, his survival was threatened, and there were other challenges as well? What kind of world could be so complicated?
When he opened his eyes, he found himself wearing a white coat and sitting in the doctor's on-call room.
Before he could react, the phone on the table rang abruptly. Xiao Lou answered without hesitation, and a young nurse's anxious voice came through the phone, speaking rapidly: "Dr. Xiao, the Emergency Department has brought in a patient with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He needs immediate surgery! You need to get to the emergency operating room on the first floor right now. Professor Zhu is waiting for you there and wants your help!"
Is this some kind of story mission?
Xiao Lou had no doubts and immediately took the elevator to the operating room on the first floor.
At the same time, the emotionless voice of the young boy, Plum Blossom, echoed in his mind: "You are the chief resident physician of the General Surgery Department, and it's your turn to work the night shift today. An emergency has occurred in the Emergency Department. Side mission—rescue the wounded. Success will reward the chief resident physician with access to the entire hospital's medical records database. You'll find out the consequences of failure later."
Xiao Lou took a deep breath and quickly walked to the operating room door.
A middle-aged doctor in a white coat was waiting for him, his name tag reading "Professor Zhu Wen," the same Professor Zhu Nurse had mentioned. Upon seeing him, the doctor said, "Dr. Xiao, I called you here urgently because of the emergency; I'm simply short-staffed." He lowered his voice and whispered in Xiao Lou's ear, "The person shot is a policeman; he's already showing signs of shock. We must do everything we can to save him!"
Xiao Lou nodded seriously and quickly followed Professor Zhu.
The two entered the operating area, washed their hands, disinfected, and changed clothes.
Having a medical background, Xiao Lou hadn't forgotten these basic procedures. Upon entering the operating room, Xiao Lou was about to check on the patient when she saw an incredibly familiar face on the operating table—
The man had a high, straight nose and strong features; he was very handsome. However, his eyes were closed, his lips were deathly pale, and an IV drip was in his strong arm. On the monitor beside him, his blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration were fluctuating erratically.
Almost the instant Xiao Lou arrived at his side, the monitor suddenly started alarming.
Drip—Drip—
The piercing sound made Xiao Lou's breath catch in his throat.
It's Yu Hanjiang!
In that instant, he felt his whole body turn ice cold.
The cold air from the air conditioner in the operating room blew down his neck and all the way to his feet, making him almost unable to move.
"You'll soon find out the consequences of mission failure."
The notification sound from Plum Blossom Youth echoed in Xiao Lou's mind, and he finally realized that if the rescue failed, Yu Hanjiang might die on the operating table!
Xiao Lou clenched his fists tightly, trying to calm himself down quickly: "Quick, give him CPR!"
Nurse immediately moved away.
Xiao Lou rushed over, stood firmly in front of Yu Hanjiang's bedside, crossed his left and right hands, and pressed down hard on Yu Hanjiang's heart area.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a fundamental life-saving technique that medical students must master.
Back in school, Xiao Lou always got full marks on the Emergency Department clinical tests, and his movements were always extremely precise.
He looked at Yu Hanjiang, who was lying unconscious on the operating table, his face pale, his eyes bloodshot with rage. His heart felt as if it were being tightly constricted by a rope, and he could hardly breathe.
But he knew very well that if something went wrong during the emergency treatment phase, not only would the team fail to complete the mission, but he might also lose Yu Hanjiang completely.
Xiao Lou couldn't imagine such an outcome.
They simply cannot accept Yu Hanjiang dying in the hospital's operating room.
With remarkable self-control, Xiao Lou quickly regained his composure and yelled at the nurse beside him, "Defibrillator, 200 joules!"
Nurse immediately handed him the defibrillator that had been adjusted.
Xiao Lou aimed at Yu Hanjiang's heart, and with a "bang," the defibrillator's electrode plates pressed against Yu Hanjiang's solid chest, almost causing Yu Hanjiang's entire body to bounce up.
After defibrillation, Xiao Lou continued chest compressions according to standard first aid techniques.
At a rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute, which is almost twice per second, the extremely fast-paced compressions severely deplete the rescuer's physical strength, but Xiao Lou couldn't care less about that.
He tensed his arms, his clasped hands pressing vertically against Yu Hanjiang's chest.
After pressing for 5 seconds, Xiao Lou took a deep breath and leaned over to perform artificial respiration on Yu Hanjiang's lips.
Although he secretly admired this man, Xiao Lou had no time to think about it at the moment—his current identity was that of a doctor, and Yu Hanjiang was teetering on the brink of death. Every rescue action Xiao Lou took had to be performed to the absolute standard.
He wouldn't allow himself to be distracted at this moment!
Xiao Lou gently pressed Yu Hanjiang's forehead with his left hand, lifted the man's chin slightly with his right hand, pinched his nose, and pressed his lips together without any gap. He then blew the air from his mouth evenly into Yu Hanjiang's mouth to observe whether his chest rose and fell.
After artificial respiration, immediately continue chest compressions, then perform artificial respiration again after 5 seconds...
Xiao Lou has a very good grasp of rhythm.
Professor Zhu, who was standing nearby, wanted to help, but when he saw Dr. Xiao rush to the patient's aid with a quick and precise movement, Professor Zhu had no choice but to step back and observe from the sidelines.
Resuscitation of cardiac arrest patients
The steps were already deeply imprinted in Xiao Lou's memory.
His mind went blank, his movements gradually became mechanical, and at that moment, he had only one thought—
We must rescue Yu Hanjiang.
Even if Yu Hanjiang is halfway to death, he will drag this man back!