After leaving the Weekly Secret Chamber, Xiao Lou and his group went directly into the Personal Space.
A little girl is sitting on a soft sofa, eating cake with her head down.
She wore a pink tutu dress, her hair in two ponytails, and her face was so fair and delicate, it looked like you could pinch water out of it. She appeared to be an angelic and adorable little girl, but recalling the dangerous and bizarre traps and incredibly complex mazes she had encountered on her Weekly Routine, no one could feel the slightest pity for the little girl before them.
Lu Jiuchuan was right when he said that the girl from Diamonds was a pervert.
Of course, it was one thing to complain about her behind her back, but in front of her, Lu Jiuchuan still put on a respectful attitude and smiled, "Our results are number one in the world, can we come to you to collect our reward?"
The little girl licked the cake off her lips and looked at him: "How could someone as twisted as me give you guys a reward?"
Lu Jiuchuan: "..."
Damn, this kid holds a grudge!
Seeing that Ninth Brother was at a loss, Ye Qi hurriedly stepped forward and said in a coaxing tone, "The Weekly Routine maze design this time is outstanding. I've played so many single-player games, and honestly, I've never seen such a fun and dangerous maze. We cursed you in our panic because you almost wiped us out, but actually, we all admire you."
Everyone: "..."
When Xiao Ye started showering him with compliments, she didn't even flinch; her words were as sweet as honey.
Shao Qingge, suppressing a laugh, touched his nose and thought to himself, "With such a sweet tongue, she'll definitely have a good time in the entertainment industry."
The little girl seemed to feel much better after Ye Qi praised her a few times. She put down the cake and said, "I am a Guardian with principles. Your results are number one in the world, so of course you will receive two cards as a reward."
Ye Qi really wanted to complain: We risked our lives to finally get out of the maze, and all we get are two cards? Even Spade isn't as stingy as you?
Meeting Little Girl's gaze, he refrained from speaking and instead smiled, saying, "Thank you."
Xiao Lou opened the contract book and found that there was indeed a new card in the book.
[Tool Card: Jade Cicada ]
Rarity: S
Rewards for the top 5% of teams in the Weekly Secret Chamber " Tomb of the Headless General " completion score.
Additional Skill 1: Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell
Using Jade Cicada triggers the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell skill, which immediately forces all controlled teammates out of control and teleports the team to a designated location 1000 meters away. Cooldown: 1 hour.
Additional Skill 2: Jade Cicada - Life Extension
By placing a jade cicada in one's mouth, one enters a state of "suspended death," where the heartbeat and breathing immediately cease, and the body stiffens like a corpse. Even if dismembered, the person can be revived immediately after the jade cicada is removed, as long as the opponent doesn't remove it. This can only be used once per room.
This card, like the [Resurrection Card] obtained before, is a card bound to the contract book and appeared in Xiao Lou's game. The last page of the contract book.
One advantage of cards that are tied to a team is that everyone in the team can activate their skills at any time.
This card is strong enough to justify everyone's hard work.
The first skill, " Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell," is an emergency team-wide teleportation. If the entire team is controlled or has accidentally wandered into a dangerous area, " Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell " can allow them to escape together. This skill can be a lifesaver in critical moments. Moreover, its teleportation has no prerequisites, making it more convenient to use than Peach Blossom Spring's teleportation or Li Qingzhao's marking.
As for the second skill, feigning death, it might be useful to save your life if you are surrounded and attacked.
Xiao Lou put away the contract book and asked, "Where's the bonus?"
With a flick of her finger, the little girl from Diamonds sent a card shimmering with golden light flying to Xiao Lou's front.
The description on this card is very simple—
[Skip Level]
[This allows you to skip any row of S-rank levels on the card wall. The card will be invalidated after use, so please consider carefully before using it.]
Xiao Lou paused for a moment, then showed the card to his teammates.
Lu Jiuchuan picked up the thin card, squinted at it, and asked, "Does that mean we can skip a row of the remaining S-rank levels? For example, the row of Hearts J, Spade J, Plum Blossom J, and Diamonds J? If we use the skip card, we can clear the level directly?"
The little girl nodded, two adorable dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth. She rested her chin on her hand and said, "Yes. But..."
Xiao Lou hurriedly asked, "But what?"
The little girl said, "Skipping levels will allow you to avoid many dangers, but you won't get any rewards."
Challenging each level sequentially offers rewards, but also risks. Skipping a level while forfeiting the reward is a reasonable setup. The question is, which level should you skip?
Yu Hanjiang walked up to the card wall.
Currently, because Lu Jiuchuan and his three companions have teamed up with Xiao Lou through their contract book, everyone's progress is on the same track.
All the secret rooms below the tenth stage are cleared; the only remaining ones are the Twin Kings Secret Room at J, Q, K, and SS difficulty.
Yu Hanjiang turned around and looked calmly at Guardian: "J, Q, K, are the difficulty levels of these three rows of escape rooms the same? Or do they get harder as you go up?"
If level K is the most difficult, skipping K and going straight to the two kings level is a good option.
The little diamonds girl said, " S-level secret chamber, theoretically..."
The difficulty will gradually increase, but the difference won't be significant.
Xiao Lou put the card away and politely said, "Thank you."
Diamonds the Lolita: "Do you want to continue to the next level?"
Xiao Lou looked at his teammates around him. After this Weekly Routine, everyone was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Moreover, Lu Jiuchuan was injured when they entered the Weekly Routine, so everyone acted in a relatively rushed manner and didn't have time to properly discuss the next plan.
Meeting Yu Hanjiang's gaze, Xiao Lou understood and turned to Guardian, saying, "Not for now, let's go back to the main city."
Diamonds Little Girl: " Sun City or Moon City?"
Moon City was their base of operations; Lao Mo's rented villa was located there. In Sun City, they were all staying at a hotel booked by Tang Ci. Xiao Lou was hesitating when Tang Ci suggested, "Let's go to Sun City; we still need to investigate some leads."
Xiao Lou nodded: " Sun City."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone was suddenly transported to the hotel where they had set off.
This suite is Tang Ci's residence.
He was quite wealthy and booked the presidential suite on the top floor. Even with 12 people together, it didn't feel crowded.
Tang Ci looked at Chu Huaying: " Huaying, what do you want to tell me?"
Tang Ci noticed Chu Huaying's hesitant expression. Hearing this, she took out a button-sized object from her palm and handed it to him: " Found on Hunter. I suspect it's a card with tracking or surveillance capabilities, but Old Gui has disabled its functions."
Gui Yuanzhang took out a card.
It is the ink in his pen, ink, paper, and inkstone card.
Unlike Lao Mo's colored paints, which can stain the environment, Gui Yuanzhang's ink has a very strong effect—shielding.
Applying ink to anything will temporarily disable that object.
For example, if you smear ink on a television, the television will break; if you smear ink on someone's card, that card will temporarily lose its ability, and the blocking effect will last for 1 hour.
To prevent the button from being used for surveillance, Gui Yuanzhang had disabled it while leading the team through the maze. At this moment, Gui Yuanzhang took out the ink tablet and looked at the people around him, saying, "I'm going to deactivate the shield now. Everyone hide so that President Tang can study this."
The teammates understood and quickly hid in the next room.
The presidential suite has two bedrooms, and they closed the door behind them after going to the next room.
After a moment, Chu Huaying knocked on the door: "Come out."
When everyone went outside, they saw that Tang Ci had already dismantled the button-shaped thing into a pile of scrap metal. He said, "This is a remote tracker with eavesdropping and remote control functions. It can control the bombs on their bodies."
Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly: "So, the Hunter Organization remotely detonated the bombs on those people after detecting their approach? I wonder how much they heard?"
Chu Huaying said coldly, "When we interrogated that Hunter, he recognized my spider dagger and Old Gui's calligraphy brush. It's probably impossible to keep the fact that Old Gui and I are still alive a secret."
After thinking about it carefully, Lu Jiuchuan said, " Xiao Tang may not have been discovered yet, because Xiao Tang has been hiding in my pocket."
Because of his limited mobility, Tang Ci shrank to the size of a thumb and hid in Lu Jiuchuan's pocket after entering the Six Paths of Reincarnation chamber. His voice also became very soft, and since he didn't speak at the time, Hunter probably didn't hear him.
Similarly, Liu Qiao, Long Sen, Qu Wanyue, and others were not exposed.
Xiao Lou uses Ring to control Hunter. Lao Mo keeps talking to cooperate with Xiao Lou's acting. Yu Hanjiang, Lu Jiuchuan, Old Gui, Hua Ying, Ye Qi, and Shao Qingge all speak at some point, and their voices are transmitted to the Hunter Organization in sync.
The best-case scenario is that Tang Ci and Liu Qiao, who were hiding in their pockets, and the couple Long Sen and Qu Wanyue, who blended into the environment using chameleon cards, have not yet been discovered and have not been added to the Hunter Organization's blacklist.
Gui Yuanzhang said, "If the other side mistakenly believes there are only 8 of us, that would be best. But if they continue their investigation along the trail of Xiao Lou's contract book, I estimate that the rest of us won't be able to be kept in the dark either."
Old Mo's expression changed: " Moon City, our base!"
Xiao Lou's heart skipped a beat.
At the time, they rented that suburban villa as their base, and their operations remained relatively secretive during this period.
No matter how well hidden, there will always be some clues. Besides, when the escape rooms weren't so difficult at the beginning, Xiao Lou and his teammates went to the supermarket to buy groceries and cook, and even had a meal together at a hot pot restaurant...
If the Hunter Organization really wanted to investigate, they could definitely get information about their team very quickly.
Yu Hanjiang walked up to Lu Jiuchuan with a sullen face and lowered his voice: "Brother, when you went to Plum Blossom J, the escape room theme was an escape game, and you encountered Hunters whose numbers were ten times yours, right?"
Lu Jiuchuan's team almost got wiped out at Plum Blossom J back then.
Tang Ci also lost both legs at the Nightmare Secret Room in Plum Blossom J.
Recalling their painful experience, Chu Huaying and Gui Yuanzhang's expressions turned grim.
Lu Jiuchuan clenched his fists, veins bulging on the back of his hands. The faces of his fallen teammates flashed before his eyes. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, his voice low and slightly hoarse: "That's right, we only have 15 people, while the Hunters have 150, and they are all high-level Hunters with various cards."
Yu Hanjiang said, "You guys even practiced teamwork specifically for the S-level Secret Chamber back then, and you almost got wiped out under those circumstances... We've just formed a team now, what are our chances of winning if we go to Plum Blossom J?"
Lu Jiuchuan closed his eyes but did not answer.
What are the odds of winning?
The teammates were actually not confident.
Ye Qi was initially quite confident, but this maze was a huge blow to him, especially when dealing with Hunter. Chu Huaying moved with lightning speed, and Gui Yuanzhang was ruthless and decisive. Compared to them, the others could only lend a hand from the sidelines...
Sister Huaying and Old Gui are so strong, and Brother Jiu and Director Tang are also very powerful. Their teams were almost wiped out back then. If it were a 12-person team now, would it be possible to pass Plum Blossom J's battle royale?
Insignificant.
Although they have the formidable Yu Hanjiang, Shao Qingge, Ye Qi, and two bug king cards, Xiao Lou, Liu Qiao, and Lao Mo aren't particularly strong fighters, and the Longqu Couple are better at reconnaissance and escaping...
12 against 120, just thinking about it is enough to make one despair.
Xiao Lou suddenly said, "How about we skip the eleventh level?"
His teammates all turned to look at him.
Xiao Lou was very rational, his voice calm and gentle: "A head-on confrontation isn't necessarily the wisest choice. We should play to our strengths and avoid our weaknesses. In our current state, going to the eleventh level's battle royale chamber would indeed be difficult for us, as we would face ten times our number of Hunters. The most terrifying thing about the eleventh level is that Hunters can appear in hordes and directly engage us in a frontal battle..."
He walked up to Lu Jiuchuan, his clear eyes meeting his gaze directly: "Brother Jiu, when you were going through the trials, the enemy probably didn't know your personnel composition, right?"
Lu Jiuchuan thought for a moment and nodded: "Yes, we've been operating in secret."
Xiao Lou said, "But now, the Hunter Organization likely already knows our personnel configuration and will definitely make more thorough preparations. If we continue to go to the battle royale chamber now, the organization will definitely send 120 high-level Hunters to target us. In such a situation, 12 against 120, it is difficult to guarantee the survival of everyone."
His gaze swept over the faces around him, and he said softly, "I don't want to lose any of my teammates."
Everyone: "..."
Who wants to watch their teammate die in front of them?
Those painful experiences often woke Lu Jiuchuan from nightmares in the middle of the night. He closed his eyes slightly, loosened his clenched fist, and said decisively, "Okay, I'll listen to you. Let's skip the eleventh level."
It has been confirmed that the eleventh level will include a "confrontation" room. Even if the Guardian modifies some of the rules, the "confrontation" room tailored for them may be even more difficult.
Moreover, the Hunter Organization has the means to send a large number of members into this secret room, so they might be able to send people specifically to target this area.
Xiao Lou didn't want to take the risk, and Lu Jiuchuan didn't want to go through it all again.
Knowing there are tigers in the mountains, yet still venturing into them, is the act of a reckless fool. Knowing there are tigers in the mountains, why not choose another path?
Xiao Lou turned to his teammates and asked, "Does anyone else have any objections?"
Everyone shook their heads to indicate that they had no objections.
Xiao Lou said, "Then it's decided. We'll use the skip function to skip the eleventh level."
He paused, then suddenly remembered something, turned to look at Yu Hanjiang, and asked softly, " Hanjiang, don't you think the mask the Hunter we saw in the maze was wearing looks familiar?"
Yu Hanjiang frowned as he recalled the scene, and said in a deep voice, "White Fox, his mask looks like this too."