Old Mo once again looked down at the map he had drawn.
He drew complete structural diagrams for each of the 13 rooms in each region, including diamonds, hearts, plum blossoms, and spade, and labeled the cards displayed on the walls of each room. In the 52 rooms with the four suits, there were indeed no jokers.
Shao Qingge looked thoughtfully at the handkerchief: "Could it be that the King and Queen don't appear on the wall and we have to find them ourselves?"
Gui Yuanzhang said, "If that's the case, we simply can't complete the mission. Every wall is covered with playing cards. There must be at least a million cards in all 52 rooms, right? Searching through them one by one, it would take us at least 10 hours, let alone 1 hour, to find them all."
Just as the two were discussing, Gui Yuanzhang suddenly pointed to the four areas on the handkerchief: "Have you noticed that all the A secret rooms with different patterns are located in the very center?"
===2===
==3=Q==
=6===K=
J==A==10
=4===7=
==5=9==
=== 8 ===
Taking Diamonds as an example, Room A is indeed in the very center.
Old Mo clearly remembers that they found the [ Diamond A ] card in both rooms J and 10. After taking the playing card, a door would appear at the end of the corridor. They went through the door and arrived directly at room A.
Therefore, he deduced that chamber A, J, and 10 should be on the same horizontal plane.
But now, looking at the Hearts, Spade, and Plum Blossom areas, the surrounding rooms are arranged in a chaotic and irregular manner. The only common point is that all four types of A-rooms are located in the very center of their respective shapes.
Suddenly, Old Mo realized something. He quickly spread the handkerchief flat on the ground and carefully examined the three-dimensional diagram from left to right. Then, he excitedly said, "I understand! In Card World, A represents the Guardian, and the two kings are the most powerful creators in Card World. The four-color A secret room and the twin kings secret room are not even on the same plane as the other numbers!"
Shao Qingge asked in confusion, "But when we got Diamonds J and Diamonds 10, we could walk directly into Room A. If we weren't on the same level, we should have gone up and down stairs or fallen through the air, right?"
Old Mo said, "That's why I presumptuously drew Room A on the same floor. But in reality, although we didn't climb stairs up or down, we didn't go through parallel corridors either. Instead, after getting the Diamond A card, we went directly into Room A. It's more like a teleportation point in a game."
Shao Qingge suddenly realized!
For example, if 6 and K are on the same floor, then if you get the K card in the 6 room, you can enter the K room after going through a horizontal corridor, just like being in two rooms on the same floor.
However, for all the different room types, they didn't go through any corridors or steps, but were directly teleported "point-to-point". This is like Xiao Lou's Peach Blossom Spring. You can instantly teleport from one location to another, but that doesn't mean the two locations are in the same space!
Old Mo continued, "Back then in the Diamond A secret room, we found four cards: Diamond 2, Diamond J, Diamond 8, and Diamond 10. Did you notice any pattern?"
Shao Qingge looked at the map: "The cards on the wall of Room A are exactly the four vertices of a rhombus?"
Old Mo nodded vigorously: "That's right. Spade, Hearts, and Plum Blossom also follow the same rule. In Room A, there will be cards at the top, bottom, left, and right corners on the wall. By drawing the corresponding cards, you can return to the room at the four corners. I think Room A is more like an independent space that is above the other poker rooms."
To help his teammates understand, Lao Mo redrawn a 3D diagram on a handkerchief and said, "Taking the Diamonds area as an example, the entire maze is like a 'tower' laid on the ground. The small rooms 2 to K are on the same plane, which is the base of the tower; the secret room A is not on the same plane as 2 to K, and is likely on the waist of the 'tower'; while the Twin Kings secret room may be on the top of the tower inside the maze!"
Shao Qingge had done well in high school geometry, and looking at the solid diagram drawn by Lao Mo, he quickly understood: "That is to say, the plane of the 2~ K Secret Chamber extends into the A secret chamber, and the four A secret chambers of different suits, when extended further inward, are the two kings?!"
Gui Yuanzhang also thought Lao Mo's analysis was very reliable. Combining it with the rules of Card World, he said in a deep voice, "That makes sense. Four Aces represent four Guardians. The two kings are of a higher rank than them, so their 'houses' are naturally not on the same plane."
Old Mo put away his handkerchief, stood up and said, "After finding four Aces, it should activate the secret room leading to the Two Kings!"
Shao Qingge also stood up: "Returning to the [A Secret Room] with its four different patterns, we might discover new mechanisms?!"
The three exchanged a glance; in the floating window, the countdown had reached its final minute.
Time was too tight; it was impossible to complete all four A-rooms within a minute. Old Mo glanced at the four cards on the wall: heart 5, diamonds 5, spade 5, and plum blossom 5. He took a deep breath and quickly said, "Let's split up! CEO Shao, play the hearts and plum blossoms in the following order: heart 5, 3, 8, 7, 9, A, red heart 4, plum blossom 6, 9, 2, 3, A. The order is crucial."
To get from the Hearts area to the Plum Blossom area, you have to pass through the "teleportation stations" marked with four suit cards on the wall. The path Old Mo chose was...
The shortest path to Red Heart A and then to Plum Blossom A!
He has transformed into the Insect King, possessing exceptional climbing and jumping abilities. He can traverse even the highest steps in seconds, saving a significant amount of time. Meanwhile, Senior Gui has a calligraphy brush that can help Old Mo use his Lightness Skill to levitate. The three are divided into two groups, each group navigating two A-level secret rooms, and time will still be extremely tight.
Old Mo instructed, "Once you reach Room A, solve the newly appeared mechanism!"
Shao Qingge said solemnly, "I've remembered. Let's go."
The three nodded to each other and immediately split up. Shao Qingge took the heart 5 from the wall and went to the hearts section; Lao Mo and Gui Yuanzhang went to the spade section and headed towards room A.
With 50 seconds left on the countdown, Shao Qingge arrived at the Hearts area.
He grabbed the "poker keys" in the order Old Mo had instructed, running quickly through parallel corridors and leaping over stairs while holding onto the handrails. Shao Qingge sped along, using his fastest speed, and arrived at [ Red Heart A ]'s room with 30 seconds left on the countdown.
On the wall, in addition to the previous four cards, a key gleaming with golden light appeared.
This must be the mechanism leading to the Twin Kings' secret room!
Shao Qingge took the key, nothing happened, he took the Red Heart 4 in the order he remembered, and then went to the Plum Blossom area.
At the same time, Lao Mo and Gui Yuanzhang also arrived at Room A in the Spade area and discovered a key that was gleaming with silver light.
With 16 seconds left on the countdown, Shao Qingge entered the Plum Blossom A secret room and picked up the silver key.
With 15 seconds left on the countdown, Lao Mo and Gui Yuanzhang arrived at the final secret room, Diamond A, and picked up the golden key.
The moment all four keys were collected, a sudden burst of light appeared before our eyes!
The key in his hand spiraled upwards, its golden and silver light intertwining and merging. After the two beams of light completely merged, a crack suddenly appeared in the sealed wall in front of Room A.
The crack grew larger and larger until a corridor leading to the depths of the labyrinth slowly appeared before everyone's eyes.
10 seconds left!
The three of them sprinted into the corridor without hesitation.
As the countdown stopped at 5 seconds, they saw a blank wall and two jokers placed in the center. Shao Qingge took the joker, and Gui Yuanzhang reached out and took the king.
[Congratulations to Shao Qingge, Mo Xuemin, and Gui Yuanzhang for successfully completing the Poker Maze in 59 minutes and 55 seconds!]
[Relay mission complete, please wait for teleportation]
Seeing the prompt in the floating box, all three of them broke out in a cold sweat—this maze was the most complex they had ever encountered, not only because of its intricate three-dimensional structure, but also because of the numerous teleportation points. If Old Mo hadn't analyzed the secrets of the four A' rooms and the Twin Kings secret room in time, they would have truly failed their mission and died in the poker maze.
Shao Qingge breathed a sigh of relief, and couldn't help but think that when he returned to the real world, he should invest some money and have Lao Mo design and build a building himself? A maze-like building, specializing in escape room games, might attract quite a few customers.
Meanwhile, Lao Mo breathed a long sigh of relief— CEO Shao has a terrible sense of direction; if he got the order wrong and couldn't reach Room A, it would be disastrous. But Lao Mo believed that Shao Qingge was always reliable in crucial moments, and the facts proved that the strategy of splitting up was correct. Although CEO Shao had a poor sense of direction, his memory was excellent, and he made no mistakes, getting the key right on time!
5, 4, 3, 2, 1...
Suddenly, a countdown timer popped up in front of me, probably indicating "waiting to be teleported".
The moment the number reached 1, all three of them went black at the same time, followed by a blinding light.
Shao Qingge shielded his eyes with the back of his hand. After his eyes adjusted to the light, he squinted and was surprised to find that he was surrounded by familiar faces!
Ye Qi, Lu Jiuchuan, Yu Hanjiang, Long Sen, Qu Wanyue, Chu Huaying, Liu Qiao, Tang Ci, Xiao Lou...
When the teammates saw each other, their eyes lit up with surprise.
The surrounding environment resembled Personal Space, except that the card wall had been destroyed, leaving only the King and Queen cards. Without any Guardian notifications, Xiao Lou spoke up, "Looks like the relay mission is complete, and we're all together again. Is everyone alright?"
Everyone said they were fine.
Then, everyone's eyes were fixed on the... blood hole on Xiao Lou's forehead.
You're the one in trouble, Professor Xiao!
Yu Hanjiang's face darkened, and he strode up to Xiao Lou, grabbing his wrist forcefully: "What happened to your forehead?"
Xiao Lou coughed lightly and explained simply, "I was shot by Hunter..."
The teammates all gasped in shock.
Upon hearing this, Yu Hanjiang's face turned extremely ugly. He clenched his fists tightly at his sides, veins bulging on the back of his hands, as if he wanted to tear the Hunter to shreds.
Yu Hanjiang took a deep breath to calm himself down and said in a hoarse voice, "Your wound hasn't been treated at all. Won't it get infected?"
Meeting those familiar, deep eyes, Xiao Lou felt a warmth in her heart and gently comforted him, "It's alright, I took the witch's antidote."
Liu Qiao suddenly stepped forward and said, "The witch's antidote only lasts for one day. The bullet is still lodged in Professor Xiao's head. After dark, Professor Xiao will be dead!"
Xiao Lou looked at Liu Qiao helplessly: "It's not as serious as you make it out to be. Aren't there still CEO Shao and Xiao Ye?"
Yu Hanjiang immediately looked at Shao Ye and the other person: " Bug King Card?"
"
Ye Qi said with a bitter face, "I've already used it, and the skill is still on cooldown."
Shao Qingge said, "I've only been in my Insect King form for an hour, and the transformation isn't over yet, so I can help Xiao Lou heal his wounds. However, the Insects can only heal wounds, but they can't remove the bullets, right? After all, the Insects can't move things out of their bodies. If the wounds heal, the bullets will be sealed inside his brain, which would be very dangerous."
Ye Qi thought for a moment and suddenly had an idea: "How about we perform surgery on Professor Xiao to remove the bullet while the Zerg help heal his wounds? With the witch's antidote buff, Professor Xiao can't possibly die during the day. We can remove the bullet before dark and let the Zerg repair his brain tissue, wouldn't that be great?"
Xiao Lou looked at Ye Qi and praised, "That's a good idea."
Unfortunately, no one on the team knew how to perform brain surgery...
The group exchanged anxious glances. Although it appeared to be daytime and Xiao Lou was still alive and well, the bloody hole on his forehead was truly frightening. What if it suddenly got dark? Wouldn't Xiao Lou be killed instantly?
Tang Ci thought for a moment and said, "Our company has developed an intelligent AI robot that can perform surgery. My treatment robot, Card, is based on this principle. However, I don't understand medical knowledge, so a professional surgeon must operate it to perform basic surgeries. Now that CEO Shao's Zerg are helping to repair the wound, perhaps... I can give it a try."
Tang Ci's subtext was that Xiao Lou, having taken the antidote, was practically immortal during the day. Even if the robot accidentally cut the wrong blood vessels or tissues, there was no need to worry about Xiao Lou dying on the operating table. All that was needed was to remove the bullet through the wound; the rest could be left to CEO Shao.
Xiao Lou's teammates looked at him with concern.
Xiao Lou himself seemed relaxed. He looked at Tang Ci and smiled, "Since I've taken the antidote and won't die during the day, let's hurry up and make our move."
Yu Hanjiang frowned, looking at him worriedly: "Are you sure this method will work?"
Xiao Lou gently patted the other person's hand: "Don't worry, Card World isn't like reality. We'll remove the bullet while the Zerg help heal the wound. Everything will be fine. Once the bullet is out, there won't even be a trace of injury on my head."
That's theoretically correct, but Yu Hanjiang still couldn't help but worry.
Xiao Lou lay flat on the bed. Tang Ci took out the treatment robot. A familiar insect appeared on CEO Shao's fingertip. Yu Hanjiang sat by the bedside and gently squeezed Xiao Lou's hand.
Feeling the familiar warmth on his hand, Xiao Lou opened his eyes and looked at Yu Hanjiang and Lu Jiuchuan, asking worriedly, "How did you and Ninth Brother get all this blood on you?"
Yu Hanjiang said in a low voice, "It's nothing, just superficial injuries."
Lu Jiuchuan said, "We're on a preliminary mission, a wilderness survival mission. We'll bump into each other and get scrapes and bruises. Don't worry, it's normal for us. Getting your bullets is the priority."
Tang Ci said, " Professor Xiao, I'm going to anesthetize you now. The robot will inject the anesthetic. Close your eyes."
In the real world, if a complete novice with no medical background were to operate an intelligent robot to open Xiao Lou's brain, Xiao Lou would find it to be the biggest joke ever!
But now, he obediently closed his eyes.
He trusted his teammates.
Liu Qiao, Ye Qi, and others nervously surrounded the hospital bed. Yu Hanjiang held Xiao Lou's hand the whole time. Tang Ci and Shao Qingge worked together to operate the system. Tang Ci didn't really understand medicine, but the AI treatment robot's screen displayed images captured by the probe. Soon, he found the location of the bullet and had the robot remove it.
As for the blood vessels and tissues damaged during the process, Shao Qingge will assist in their repair.
Within minutes, the blood hole on Xiao Lou's forehead disappeared.
Ye Qi couldn't help but exclaim, " Card World is amazing! I wouldn't even dare to imagine it in reality!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a strange mechanical voice suddenly rang in his ears.
A mix of sunny and feminine voices echoed in the enclosed space: "Congratulations to Xiao Lou's team for completing the relay mission. Card World is so interesting, do you still want to leave?"
It was the voice of the two kings that we had heard before.
At this moment, Xiao Lou had woken up. He sat up and said, "Of course, our original intention has never changed."
The two voices said, "If you were in your so-called 'real world,' you would be dead already if you were hit by this bullet."
Xiao Lou smiled and said, "In the real world, I would never have been hit by this bullet."
Xiao Lou's teammates secretly gave him a thumbs up for his rebuttal.
In the real world, the country is peaceful and prosperous, and everyone is busy with their happy lives. Who would turn a corner and suddenly encounter a hunter who shoots at you without asking any questions? Who would see a corpse yesterday, be trapped in a maze today, play cards with someone tomorrow, and then have to escape at sea the day after?
Wouldn't it be better to live a quiet life? Everyone is already exhausted after this thrilling and exciting journey.
Besides, so many relatives are waiting for them.
Lu Jiuchuan raised an eyebrow and said, "You two are going to go back after we finish Twin Kings Secret Room? You're not going to go back on your word, are you?"
The two kings said, " The rules of Card World have never changed. Clearing the Twin Kings Secret Room will indeed allow you to go back. However, you haven't cleared the game yet. You've only completed four stages of the relay mission. There's still the final challenge of everyone reuniting."
Everyone asked in unison, "What challenge?"
The two kings said, "Survive to the end."
The moment those words were spoken, a flash of white light appeared before everyone's eyes, followed by...
It has gone into consciousness.