When Xiao Lou opened his eyes, he found himself in a dimly lit corridor. At the end of the corridor was a mirror. He struggled to his feet and took two steps forward, then clearly saw the person in the mirror—
The man's face was as pale as paper, his lips were cracked with several obvious cuts, his hair was disheveled like weeds, his clothes were covered in yellow sand and almost indistinguishable from their original color, and there was a large, glaring bloodstain on his chest.
If it weren't for the fact that the person in the mirror also moves when Xiao Lou walks, he would hardly recognize himself in such a disheveled state.
Xiao Lou gently touched his chest, where blood was seeping through. The wound seemed to be healing, but the cold sensation of the blade cutting through his body was still clearly etched in his memory.
The image of Liu Qiao stabbing him through the heart flashed through his mind again.
He absolutely refused to believe that Liu Qiao would kill him; something must have gone wrong...
Before Xiao Lou could think further, he heard a familiar mechanical voice in his ear.
Welcome to the Nightmare Secret Room.
[This will be your last chance. Once you are eliminated in the Nightmare Secret Room, you will be completely wiped out.]
The voices were the same ones I'd heard when I entered the Twin Kings' secret room. One was gentle and clear, the other deep and cold. The two voices blended together, creating a peculiar reverberation—the very voices of the Card World's rule-makers, the First King and the Second King.
Nightmare Secret Room, does that mean he's dead in the Twin Kings' secret room?
He was caught off guard by Liu Qiao's sudden attack and had no time to react, so he didn't have time to activate the team's limited resurrection card. Liu Qiao's stab was fatal, and it was inevitable that he would be sent to the Nightmare Secret Room.
Early on, Guardian had told him that if Challengers failed, they would be eliminated and sent to the Nightmare Secret Room, which was several times more difficult than a regular escape room, and very few people could survive it.
Ye Qi was eliminated and sent to the Nightmare Secret Room ( spade 3 ), where he barely survived for seven days by eating tree leaves. Ninth Brother, Tang Ci, Hua Ying, and Senior Gui were eliminated and sent to the Nightmare Secret Room ( plum blossom j ). The three of them were seriously injured, and Tang Ci even lost both of his legs there.
This time it's the Nightmare Secret Room in [ the two kings' level], and the difficulty is definitely higher than what his teammates encountered. He doesn't know if he can survive. Xiao Lou clenched his fists tightly, quickly regaining his composure. No matter what he encounters, he must remain calm.
Just then, the mirror at the end of the corridor that reflected Xiao Lou's figure suddenly flipped 180 degrees, revealing a door.
The room was pitch black inside, but it was the only passageway—the path to the Nightmare Secret Room.
Without hesitation, Xiao Lou stepped inside.
The iron gate slammed shut behind them with a creak, the sound particularly jarring in the darkness.
Xiao Lou's luminous pearl The card had been used and was now invalid. All he had left was a lantern, which he had obtained in the [ Lantern Festival ] instance.
This lantern can illuminate an area of 100 square meters, but it will go out once the candle burns out.
A single candle can burn all night long. Without hesitation, Xiao Lou took out the palace lantern—he needed to understand his current situation in order to find a way to escape.
However, just as he took out the lantern to illuminate the surroundings, Xiao Lou suddenly froze on the spot.
This is a sealed, secret room. Xiao Lou stands in the very center of the room, surrounded by four doors, each with a mirror. As he lights the lantern, the reflection in the mirror appears clearly before him—
His mother was reflected in the mirror directly in front of him. The woman smiled, her gentle gaze fixed on him.
Xiao Lou quickly turned around to look behind him—
His father was reflected in the mirror behind him, his expression stern, staring intently at him.
On his left and right are his cousins, who have always been attached to him since childhood.
The lively and cheerful girl had a bright smile on her face and looked at him with admiration, like a little fangirl; the introverted and shy cousin looked at him nervously and his cheeks were a little red.
The appearance and expressions of these people were so realistic, it was as if they were really standing in front of him.
Looking at his familiar family members in the mirror, Xiao Lou's heart trembled slightly. He took a step forward, carrying the palace lantern, and pushed open the door through which his mother appeared in the mirror.
The next moment, he entered a corridor that seemed to have no end.
The corridor was filled with countless doors, each with a mirror. With each step Xiao Lou took, the mirror would play out scenes like a movie, showing women with gentle smiles, worried expressions, or furrowed brows in deep thought. The expressions were so lifelike that it was as if Xiao Lou were truly seeing his mother.
Although he rarely mentioned his family after arriving in Card World, Xiao Lou always kept them deep in his heart. His family was the reason he insisted on returning to the real world. His parents had raised him with great difficulty, and he hadn't had a chance to repay their kindness; he couldn't bear the thought of them burying their child!
Now, seeing her kind and familiar mother in the mirror, and thinking of the woman in the real world who cried because of her son's car accident, Xiao Lou felt a pang of pain in her heart.
But he knew perfectly well that what he was seeing was an illusion, and he could not become lost in the illusion of the mirror.
He carried the palace lantern, forcing himself to ignore the illusion in the mirror, and walked quickly forward.
Just as he reached the corner, the expressions of "Mom" in all the mirrors along the corridor suddenly changed; their vivid expressions gradually distorted.
Their gentle gazes turned cold and sharp; like venomous snakes, they stared at Xiao Lou, reaching out their hands from the mirror and swiftly grabbing his neck.
Xiao Lou gasped for breath, then quickly activated his Gale Shoes and sprinted forward!
However, more and more women attacked him, each bearing his mother's face, like clones mass-produced in an interstellar world. Xiao Lou's scalp tingled. He dodged and fled, and with the help of his Swift Boots, he managed to shake them off. Finally, he saw a fork in the road ahead, pushed open the door, and went inside—
To make matters worse, countless "fathers" appeared along the entire corridor.
Just like before, the father's expression was sometimes serious, sometimes solemn, and occasionally a smile. But the moment they saw Xiao Lou, the gazes of everyone in the mirror turned cold and sharp, like emotionless machines.
They stepped out of the mirror and attacked Xiao Lou frantically!
Xiao Lou didn't have many offensive cards in his hand to begin with, and he had already used up too many cards, so he could only use all his strength to escape.
The entire maze was filled with mirrors, making it impossible to tell which way was which.
Wearing speed-boosting shoes, Xiao Lou sprinted at a speed equivalent to over 100 meters per second, struggling to evade their attacks. More and more people were chasing after him. In addition to his parents and siblings whom he had seen before, his grandparents, colleagues, students, classmates and teachers from university also appeared...
Almost every face he could clearly remember was reproduced in this mirrored maze.
All those he knew were attacking him with expressionless faces. Imagine if one day your parents, siblings, and closest friends suddenly started attacking you collectively, each one staring coldly at you, wanting to kill you…
Such a scene can easily cause an emotional breakdown.
But Xiao Lou did not break down.
Although he was frantically fleeing for his life in a sorry state, he still managed to retain the last shred of his sanity.
As he ran, he memorized the route in his mind.
The paths in the mirror maze are all one-way corners with no forks. Moreover, the turns at the intersections are not the usual 90-degree right angles; the angle between the two paths is more like an obtuse angle of about 135 degrees.
From the corridor where he first encountered the image of "Mom" to the time he saw it again, he went around in a big circle, turning eight corners.
The figure formed by eight obtuse angles of 135 degrees...
If viewed from above, it would resemble a maze similar to the "Eight Gates Formation," with the entire maze's terrain resembling a Bagua formation!
The mirror projects memories, causing the people in his memories to attack him and torment his mind. The Eight Gates Maze confuses his sense of direction; if he continues forward, he will keep going in circles within the maze, unable to find his way out no matter how he goes.
Then, emotionally broken, he will die at the hands of one of his closest relatives.
Nightmare Secret Room is so difficult it's practically impossible to survive!
If Xiao Lou hadn't remained calm and quickly assessed the maze's layout, he definitely wouldn't have been able to find his way out.
Xiao Lou immediately played a card – Invisibility Cloak.
This card has accompanied him through many secret rooms, but now, due to the rules of the Twin Kings Secret Room, it becomes invalid as soon as it is used. However, he has no choice but to use the time of the Invisibility Cloak to find the exit of the maze as quickly as possible.
After he went invisible, his pursuers instantly lost sight of him. The palace lantern was covered by Xiao Lou's cloak, and darkness returned to the surroundings.
Xiao Lou continued to explore forward, relying on her memory.
He remembered that when he took Liu Qiao and Ye Qi into the hospital, they were heading due north, and he saw his grandmother's image in the corridor. In this maze, he saw his grandmother in the fifth corner of the corridor. If the Nightmare Secret Room and the regular secret room have the same background settings, then the fifth corridor represents due north.
In the Eight Gates divination method, the eight gates include three auspicious gates: Open, Rest, and Life; three inauspicious gates: Death, Shock, and Injury; and two neutral gates: Block Gate and View Gate. Xiao Lou studied Qimen Dunjia divination when he played escape room games. He clearly remembered that " Gate of Life " belongs to the Earth element and is located in the Gen Palace in the northeast. After the Beginning of Spring, all things revive, and Earth gives birth to all things, hence the name " Gate of Life ".
The fifth corridor is due north, with north at the top, south at the bottom, west on the left, and east on the right. The road closest to the right side of the fifth corridor represents the northeast direction of the Gate of Life.
Using his memory and the brief moment he was invisible, Xiao Lou quickly made his way to the corridor representing the northeast direction.
The corridor had many mirrors. Xiao Lou counted them, and the one in the very center pointed northeast. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and pushed it forcefully.
The mirror was indeed pushed away.
My analysis was correct!
Xiao Lou was overjoyed and hurriedly walked into the path behind the mirror.
Still shrouded in darkness, he walked a dozen steps in his invisibility cloak when suddenly, a soft light appeared in the corridor ahead, exactly like the glow of palace lanterns. Xiao Lou walked towards the light, and just as he rounded the corner, he came into contact with a familiar face.
—It's Yu Hanjiang!
He held a black submachine gun in his hand, his body was covered in blood, his eyes were bloodshot, and the man exuded a menacing aura, like a demon returned from hell!
Xiao Lou recognized Yu Hanjiang at a glance, but worried that Yu Hanjiang might mistake him for an illusion and attack him, so Xiao Lou did not remove the Invisibility Cloak. Instead, he took advantage of the invisibility period to walk to Yu Hanjiang's side.
Yu Hanjiang noticed a gust of wind beside him. He had just raised his gun when a familiar voice suddenly rang in his ear: " Hanjiang, it's me."
A complex emotion welled up in Yu Hanjiang's bloodshot eyes as his finger tightened around the trigger.
It was even trembling slightly.
Xiao Lou reached out and gently placed her hand on the back of his hand, saying softly, "I am Xiao Lou."
The slightly cool temperature emanating from the back of his hand gradually calmed Yu Hanjiang's frantic state. Although he couldn't see the other person, the simple physical contact, the familiar body temperature and touch, instantly confirmed to Yu Hanjiang that the person beside him was Xiao Lou.
Yu Hanjiang gripped his hand tightly and asked in a low voice, "What are you doing in the Nightmare Secret Room?"
Xiao Lou said with a wry smile, "We've all been eliminated."
Yu Hanjiang's face was extremely pale: "Was it because my illness wasn't cured that I infected you?"
Xiao Lou was taken aback—it seemed that Yu Hanjiang had a high fever at the time and didn't know what had happened, subconsciously assuming that his illness was serious and that he had been infected.
Xiao Lou shook his head and said softly, "It was Liu Qiao who did it."
Yu Hanjiang raised an eyebrow in surprise: "What did you say? Liu Qiao?"
"Yes, Liu Qiao killed me, and then killed you, who was in my pocket at the time, with a persistent high fever."
Yu Hanjiang: "......"
Xiao Lou explained, "This matter is suspicious. I don't believe that Xiao Liu would suddenly change her personality and kill both of us. It's very likely that she was replaced by Hunter. I clearly remember that she and Ye Qi disappeared in the maze at the same time. When I asked them, Ye Qi replied immediately, but Liu Qiao took a few seconds to reply to me. The change may have happened within those few seconds."
Yu Hanjiang truly knew nothing about the maze, and as he listened to Xiao Lou's description, his brows furrowed even more deeply.
Xiao Lou paused, then calmly said, "No matter what, we have to find a way to survive the Nightmare Secret Room. Only then can we return to our teammates. What worries me is that Hunter, who replaced Liu Qiao, will continue to kill others. And Liu Qiao herself might be in danger too."
Yu Hanjiang nodded readily: "Okay, let's leave the Nightmare Secret Room first."