Shao Qingge was incredibly excited to see Lao Mo. The team's most directional person was interior designer Mo Xuemin. Although Xiao Lou was skilled at solving puzzles and codes, he still relied on Lao Mo for guidance in the previous mazes. Moreover, this was a 3D maze, and with Lao Mo present, Shao Qingge was immediately filled with confidence to clear it.
Although Gui Yuanzhang and Mo Xuemin were not familiar with each other, they had heard Tang Ci's evaluation of this person—in the Weekly Secret Chamber " Rotating Maze " with an elimination rate of over 80%, his teammates were wiped out, and he was the only one who survived, which shows his ability to deal with the maze.
Then, Mo Xuemin met two pairs of eyes that seemed to care about him very much.
Old Mo paused for a moment, then stood up and said, " CEO Shao, Senior Gui, are you also in the maze?"
Shao Qingge knew this person was genuine just by looking at the handkerchief in his hand. This handkerchief wasn't just any ordinary white cloth; it was a card that Liu Qiao had given to Lao Mo. You could write on it with your finger anytime, anywhere, and wipe away any marks to restore it to its original state. Lao Mo often used this handkerchief to draw maps in the maze.
Just to be on the safe side, he checked again: "Old Mo, isn't your daughter's birthday tomorrow?"
Old Mo laughed and said, "Her birthday is Children's Day, which has long passed."
The code was accurate, and both Shao Qingge and Gui Yuanzhang were relieved. Gui Yuanzhang walked over and asked, "So, did you figure out any patterns from your scribbling on the handkerchief?"
Old Mo gave a wry smile: "No, I was in a passageway at first, and there were four cards on the wall. I drew the diamond 8, went down a flight of stairs, and then I got here."
Shao Qingge and Gui Yuanzhang exchanged a glance, puzzled.
Shao Qingge frowned and asked, "You came down the steps, didn't you fall down?"
Old Mo also looked bewildered: "Well, after the passage opened, there's only a flight of stairs less than five meters high." Looking at their expressions, he couldn't help but ask, puzzled, "What? Did you two fall down?"
Gui Yuanzhang whispered, "That's right, after we both drew the Diamond 8 card, we fell from a great height."
Shao Qingge added: " Old Gui and I have both fallen down twice. The first time was when we drew Diamond 7, and the second time was just now when we drew Diamond 8. But this maze is very strange. When we drew Diamond 3 and Diamond 2 before, we were walking up the stairs."
Old Mo took out the card in his hand. Since he also drew a diamond 8, which was the same as the diamond 8 that Shao Qingge had just chosen, this card was not counted in the collection.
Shao Qingge put the playing cards together and counted them. After removing the duplicates, they had received five cards in total: Diamond K, Diamond 7, Diamond 3, Diamond 2, and Diamond 8.
The three met in the secret room of Diamond 8.
Old Mo lowered his head and thought for a moment before analyzing, "The first clue we can confirm is that each card represents a corridor. Drawing the corresponding card will take you to the corresponding corridor. For example, we all drew the Diamond 8, so we all came here."
"Secondly, the four cards that appear in each corridor have no obvious pattern and will be repeated. The fact that we can get the Diamond 8 in different corridors proves this point."
"Third, the internal passages of this maze are very complex. I can walk up the stairs to the Diamond 8 corridor, but you descended vertically to the Diamond 8 corridor. There is no doubt that this is a three-dimensional maze with a large number of hidden paths."
Shao Qingge nodded in agreement: "Let's hurry up and collect more playing cards so that Lao Mo can draw a more accurate map."
Gui Yuanzhang said, "Let's go, let's continue looking for diamonds."
This time, four cards appeared on the wall again: diamond 4, diamond 5, diamond 9, and diamond 10.
Shao Qingge drew Diamond 4, and sure enough, a door appeared at the end of the corridor. The three of them walked through the door one after the other and then saw a spiral staircase leading upwards.
Old Gui wanted to use his Lightness Skill to fly up, but Old Mo stopped him: "Don't rush, I want to count how many steps there are, so I can calculate the height and distance."
Shao Qingge and Gui Yuanzhang, in their pursuit of speed, carelessly overlooked the number of steps from Diamond 7 to Diamond 3. Old Mo is quite professional when it comes to measuring distances, so they trusted him with this task.
However, the countdown numbers in the floating window kept jumping, making Shao Qingge a little nervous.
Old Mo knew that time was of the essence, so he quickened his pace, silently counting as he climbed the stairs. After about half a minute, they reached the end of the steps and found a door.
As I pushed open the door, a large LCD screen suddenly popped up in front of me: "Welcome to the random level. You can only collect the playing cards for this level after completing the game. Please select a player as your representative to play the poker game."
Gui and Mo said in unison, "Let's have CEO Shao go."
Shao Qingge: "..."
Time was already tight, and now they're making us play poker?!
Shao Qingge reluctantly stepped forward. Seventeen cards quickly appeared on the wall, representing his hand. Seventeen cards dealt at the start—was this a game of Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game)? Shao Qingge wondered. Just then, the familiar mechanical voice rang in his ears again: "Dou Dizhu, you are the dealer for the first round. To play a card, please select one from the wall with your finger. You have 5 seconds. If you have no cards to play, please press Skip."
Five seconds to play a card? That's way too short; there's almost no time to think.
.
Just then, three more cards were revealed on the wall.
Twenty cards appeared on the wall, scattered everywhere in a chaotic arrangement, unlike the orderly arrangement you'd normally get in games. The dazzling array of cards undoubtedly increased the difficulty of memorizing them, but Shao Qingge possessed a photographic memory for cards; five seconds was enough for him to scan the entire deck at a glance.
Although the cards on the wall were scattered everywhere, he quickly sorted them out in his mind by size: "Jack, 22, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 777, 555, 44, 33."
In Dou Dizhu, you don't need to worry about the suits of the cards; you only need to worry about card combinations like "pairs," "three of a kind," and "straights."
The cards I drew this time were pretty good.
Shao Qingge decided to play it safe. When he heard "Please play your card," he used his agile movements after his transformation to quickly move through the corridor. He simultaneously selected cards from the card wall with both hands, and in 5 seconds, he selected six cards in total: 33, 44, and 55!
Gui and Mo only saw his figure moving back and forth like the wind in front of them.
After hitting a pair of 334455, two mechanical voices rang in my ears: "Can't afford it."
Shao Qingge continued playing his cards.
His speed increased rapidly; with the Insect King and the Teleportation Card combined, he became a blur of motion in the air. His long, slender fingers selected cards with almost no hesitation, pressing five cards down from the card wall in quick succession—
"8-9-10-JQ, straight".
"I can't afford it!"
"7-7-7-5, three with one."
"9-9-9-3"
Someone is older than Shao Qingge. Shao Qingge, please press skip.
The opponent played a series of straights, and Shao Qingge skipped them again.
This person had finished playing their big cards and played a pair of 4s. Shao Qingge quickly chose a pair of Kings.
I heard someone say, "I can't afford it."
Great, no one has a pair of 2s, Shao Qingge continues to play a pair of 2s.
"I can't afford it!"
Amidst a series of mechanical "I can't play this one" sounds, Shao Qingge played his last Joker.
[Win the game and receive a reward item: 2x Collection Card]
[You can collect two playing cards in this corridor and unlock two maze passages.]
This undoubtedly saves a lot of time.
All three of them were overjoyed and looked up at the wall.
The cards that had just lit up disappeared, and four new "collectible playing cards" with a soft glow reappeared: Diamonds 6, Hearts 6, Spade 6, and Plum Blossom 6.
Since they could collect two cards, the three of them chose the Diamonds 6 and also took the Hearts 6.
At the end of the corridor appeared a door, leading to two paths. One path had a pattern of "diamonds 6" drawn on the floor, while the other had a pattern of "hearts 6". Without hesitation, the three continued down the path with the "diamonds" pattern. After a few steps, a door appeared before them.
However, the moment he stepped inside, Shao Qingge suddenly froze.
Four cards appeared on the wall: Diamond King, King of Hearts, Spade King, and Plum Blossom King.
Shao Qingge squinted: "I've been here before."
Lao Mo and Gui Yuanzhang both turned to look at him at the same time.
Although Shao Qingge has a poor sense of direction, his memory is not bad, especially with such an obvious feature as "four Ks".
Shao Qingge said, "I was 'born' in this room from the beginning and took the Diamond K. But now, the Diamond K is still on the wall. Did a copy appear on the wall after I took it?"
Upon hearing this, Old Mo's eyes suddenly lit up: "I understand!"
He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and quickly drew a picture on it while saying, " The playing cards that can be collected on the card wall are like [keys to mechanisms] in a maze. Every time you take a playing card key, it will open the corresponding door. After we leave, the mechanism will be restored and the door will close."
Old Gui pondered for a moment and said, "So, we use the 'playing card key' to open the door, but the door will close after we pass through, and the playing cards will reappear on the wall. Therefore, we can't turn back in the three-dimensional maze, but we can get to the place we want to reach by obtaining the corresponding 'key'?"
Old Mo nodded vigorously: "That's right. All the doors will close automatically after we pass through, but they can also reopen. I think it's necessary for us to follow the same path again to verify whether our analysis is correct."
He picked up a white handkerchief, quickly wrote "6→→K" on it with his fingertip, and then said to Shao Qingge, " CEO Shao, you chose K before, right? Try choosing it again."
Shao Qingge stepped forward, took the diamond king card, and sure enough, a door opened at the end.
The group entered the room, took a few steps forward, and entered the familiar K room. There were four cards: Diamond 7, Diamond 8, Diamond 9, and Diamonds 10. Shao Qingge also remembered these four cards. He remembered that he had chosen the lowest card, Diamond 7, and then fell down. In the critical moment, to avoid dying from the fall, he activated the bug king card.
Based on his memory, Shao Qingge chose Diamond 7.
The door at the end of the corridor opened, and the three of them stepped inside. Sure enough, they stepped into thin air and began to fall rapidly. The sudden feeling of weightlessness made Lao Mo cry out. Gui Yuanzhang quickly took out a calligraphy brush and created a whirlwind to catch Lao Mo.
Old Mo breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The sudden free fall startled me."
Shao Qingge laughed and said, "This is the third time already."
In no time, the three landed steadily.
Shao Qingge looked at the four familiar playing cards on the card wall.
He snapped his fingers and said, "Old Mo guessed right. These playing cards are indeed 'keys' that can open the corresponding doors, and they can be opened repeatedly."
This news brought a sigh of relief to all three of them.
Old Mo said, "There are a lot of 'playing cards keys' in the maze, and they will appear repeatedly. However, 'keys' of the same suit and rank can only open the corresponding room. There are 54 playing cards in a deck of cards, so there should be 54 small rooms in the maze."
After all, keys can be duplicated, but rooms cannot.
Gui Yuanzhang quickly calculated: "There are 54 rooms, and each room has 4 cards. The total number of playing cards in the maze is 215. We need to collect 54 unique cards to make a deck of cards. Time is very tight. If we search aimlessly, we may get lost and not be able to find all the cards."
What if we end up missing one or two cards? Do we have to go through the maze all over again? There simply isn't enough time.
In such a three-dimensional maze, one should avoid wandering around aimlessly like a headless fly.
Old Mo said seriously, "We must figure out the pattern of the room layout. I already have some ideas. Let's collect all the Diamonds playing cards first."
They currently have the most diamonds in their hand, with a total of 7 cards: K, 7, 3, 2, 8, 4, and 6.
Shao Qingge recalled that there was an option to get "4 diamonds " in both the [ Diamond 3 ] and [ Diamond 8 ] rooms. If you wanted to collect all the diamonds, it was better to go to the rooms with "4 diamonds " first.
They are currently in room 7, Diamond, which happens to have the "key" to Diamond 3.
Shao Qingge quickly stepped forward and took the Diamond 3. Sure enough, a spiral staircase appeared ahead. The three of them quickly climbed the stairs and arrived at the Diamond 3 secret room they had visited before. Unfortunately, the Diamond 2, 4, 6, and 8 on the wall were all cards they already had. Shao Qingge took the Diamond 8 and returned to the place where the three of them had met before.
Diamonds 4, 5, 9, and 10 appeared on the wall; there were three cards they hadn't seen before.
Shao Qingge won Diamonds 5...
The three of them went back and forth in the maze collecting diamonds, while Old Mo made detailed annotations on his handkerchief.
For example, if he moves vertically downwards, he will draw a "↓" arrow; if he moves horizontally, he will draw left and right arrows depending on the direction; when he encounters stairs, he will estimate the number of stairs to mark the distance...
The three of them ran up and down the maze, and after nearly 10 minutes, they finally collected all 13 cards from Diamond A to Diamond K.
Old Mo called out to his two teammates, "Come and take a look."
Shao Qingge and Gui Yuanzhang walked to his side and looked down at the white handkerchief.
===2===
==3=Q==
=6===K=
J==A==T
=4===7=
==5=9==
=== 8 ===
A diamond-shaped pattern was clearly visible on the white handkerchief.
Old Mo used his finger to simulate the movement along the diagram: " CEO Shao moves horizontally from 6 to K; falls vertically from K to 7; from 7 to 3, a step to the left; from 3 to 2, a step to the right; from 2 to 8, vertically downwards; from 8 to 4, a step to the left..."
Everything matches perfectly, even the number of steps is exactly the same.
Shao Qingge exclaimed, "Old Mo, you're amazing!"
Old Mo blushed at the praise and said, "I studied surveying before. I also need to measure the vertical distance of a construction site. I'm used to it."
Shao Qingge patted his shoulder with a smile: "Don't be modest."
It's so great to win without lifting a finger, though of course he also put in the effort.
Gui Yuanzhang said, "It seems that the maze has a total of 7 levels. All the diamond rooms are arranged in a three-dimensional rhombus shape according to the pattern drawn by Lao Mo. If we draw the key to the vertical room, we will fall directly. If we are on the same level, we will move horizontally. If we are on different levels and not vertical, there will be rotating stairs going up or down?"
Old Mo nodded: "That's right. The four rooms I marked, 2, 6, 4, and 7, all have four suits of playing cards. In addition to diamonds, you can also draw hearts, spades, and plum blossoms. In other words, these four rooms have passageways leading to maze areas of other suits, which are like 'teleportation stations'. If we want to collect other suits next, we have to 'teleport' from these four locations."
Shao Qingge exclaimed, "That's wonderful!"
With Lao Mo around, navigating the maze really became much more professional.
Otherwise, these two directionally challenged individuals would likely get completely disoriented and confused wandering around in the 3D maze. Although the three of them spent a considerable amount of time traversing repetitive paths to collect diamonds, ignoring other suits, this was the most sensible approach. Otherwise, with too many maze areas open at the same time, even Old Mo might not have been able to figure out what the other areas were like.
Now that we've figured out the rules of the Diamonds 3D maze, things will be much easier!
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
To avoid any confusion, here's another picture drawn by Lao Mo.
===2===
==3=Q==
=6===K=
J==A==T
=4===7=
==5=9==
=== 8 ===
For example, going from K to 7, or from 2 to 8, would result in falling directly down because the room is vertical.
A is in the very middle, please take note:)