Chu Huaying's spider dagger and Lu Jiuchuan's sword were both moving at incredible speeds; only in this way could they barely cope with Hunter's siege.
Gui Yuanzhang used the wind force of his brush to protect Lao Mo, while Liu Qiao, Qu Wanyue, and Long Sen were nowhere to be seen.
Tang Ci was extremely anxious. Most of his mechanical spiders had already been destroyed by Hunter. Left with no other choice, Tang Ci decisively summoned White Wolf King, a card that Ninth Brother had given him.
A pure white wolf king appeared beside Tang Ci.
The White Wolf King howls at night, its loud cry echoing through the night sky. Targets within a 1000-meter radius who hear the sound will immediately be gripped by fear and unable to move for 3 minutes. Simultaneously, the White Wolf King can summon up to 50 wolf pups to join the battle; these pups automatically chase and bite hostile targets within range.
Lu Jiuchuan gave this card to Tang Ci because Tang Ci had too few attack cards, and he wanted Tang Ci to use it to save his life in critical moments. Now that Tang Ci has played this card, it can only protect everyone for 3 minutes.
Furthermore, White Wolf King's fear only prevents people from moving, but it does not prevent others from using cards.
Fortunately, the 50 wolf cubs, following Tang Ci's orders, fiercely attacked the Hunters. The Hunters, preoccupied with the wolves, couldn't spare the attention to attack them. Seeing this, Lu Jiuchuan and Chu Huaying immediately retreated to Tang Ci's side.
Chu Huaying said coldly, "There are 15 people on the other side, three times the number of us. I also saw a masked person holding a crystal ball. I wonder if it's the guy who manipulated the crystal ball that we saw in K Secret Chamber before."
Tang Ci frowned: "5 against 20, we have no chance of winning at all."
The teammates' expressions grew increasingly grim. Old Mo muttered under his breath, " The Hunters always outnumber us several times over. This is just not fair... Could it be that the the Guardian never intended for us to leave this world?"
No one spoke, because what Old Mo said might indeed be true.
Assuming the two kings don't want them to pass the game, they really can't do anything about it. No matter how strong they are, they can't compare to the rule-makers of this world. To put it bluntly, if Card World is a game of chess, they are just insignificant pawns.
Three minutes passed quickly. They were surrounded by the wall of fire, like turtles in a jar. The wolf pups summoned by Tang Ci were quickly wiped out, and the Hunters surrounded them again.
Tang Ci stared calmly ahead. Suddenly, his eyes met those of the person in the crowd holding the crystal ball. Those familiar eyes startled Lu Jiuchuan for a moment. The next instant, the other person suddenly raised their hand—
A bolt of lightning suddenly struck down from the sky, heading straight for where the group was!
Tang Ci reacted extremely quickly. Almost the instant he met the person's gaze, he suddenly gathered all the drones together, and the dense drones formed a metal barrier above his head.
Lightning struck, and all the drones were instantly incinerated.
Chu Huaying and Gui Yuanzhang's expressions changed drastically, while Lu Jiuchuan's eyes were bloodshot with rage. He rushed into the crowd like the wind, ripped off the silver mask from the man's face with a single sword strike, and roared in disbelief, "Xu, Muran, it's you!"
Old Mo was completely bewildered, but seeing how grim the expressions of Ninth Brother, Tang Ci, Hua Ying, and Old Gui were, he quickly realized—this person might be someone Ninth Brother and the others knew before?
The next moment, Chu Huaying's cold voice explained to Lao Mo: "Our old captain, so you're not dead after all, and you've even joined the Hunter faction! No wonder you have such precise information about all of us."
Tang Ci said with a pale face, "You have the password to the Intelligence Bureau's intranet... I should have realized it was you! But after leaving the Nightmare Secret Room, I couldn't find any information about you. I thought you had died in the Nightmare Secret Room at Plum Blossom J. "
Xu Muran smiled and said, "It's not just me."
He narrowed his eyes and looked behind Lu Jiuchuan: " Old Gui, aren't you going to make a move?"
****
At the same time.
Xiao Lou, Yu Hanjiang, and Ye Qi left the oasis and found an open space to sit down and rest.
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou and whispered, "Why did you suddenly ask about Liu Qiao's sister? I remember that Mr. Tang investigated in detail through the Intelligence Bureau, and Liu Ying's name did not appear in the main city. The only explanation is that she did not survive to leave the newbie village and was eliminated there."
Xiao Lou shook his head: "This is not the only explanation; there is another possibility."
He looked into Yu Hanjiang's eyes and said, word by word, "The fact that Tang Ci can't find any information about Liu Ying doesn't mean she's definitely dead. Perhaps she survived, but joined the Hunter's camp."
Yu Hanjiang: "......"
A gust of cold wind blew by, and Yu Hanjiang felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
He frowned and said, "So this is what you call 'the sun and moon shining together,' where the two camps have coexisted from the very beginning. Perhaps Liu Ying chose the Hunter camp at a certain point in time?"
Xiao Lou nodded: " Liu Qiao suddenly disappeared in the maze, and then attacked me when she reappeared. That's too strange. She saw her sister in the mirror at the time, and Ye Qi and I also saw our relatives. At first, I thought..."
That was an illusion. But thinking about it carefully, neither Ye Qi's nor my relatives had ever been to Card World, so appearing there must have been a hallucination. But Liu Qiao's sister, who was in the car accident with her, was someone who had been to Card World..."
Following Xiao Lou's line of reasoning, Yu Hanjiang deduced: "In other words, what Liu Qiao saw at that time was very likely not an illusion, but her real sister?"
Xiao Lou said, "Suppose Liu Ying is still alive and has become the Hunter, she can ambush in the maze and distract Liu Qiao. Liu Qiao has always wanted to find her sister. If her sister tells her some secrets that only the two of them know and confirms her identity, she may not realize that her sister is actually the Hunter."
Yu Hanjiang continued, "Then, taking advantage of Liu Qiao's momentary lapse in vigilance, Liu Ying subdued Liu Qiao, used the Twin card to impersonate Liu Qiao, and then returned to the corridor to attack us?"
The two exchanged a glance and both agreed that this speculation was very reasonable.
Xiao Lou didn't believe Liu Qiao would kill them for her sister's sake. Liu Qiao had always been a very calm person. They had fought side by side for so long and developed a family-like bond. She would be wary of anyone asking her to kill Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang, rather than acting rashly.
Therefore, it is more likely that Liu Qiao was controlled by her sister, who then impersonated her to take action against Xiao Lou's team.
After thinking these things through, Xiao Lou's mind gradually became clear.
Just then, a familiar figure suddenly appeared in Xiao Lou's field of vision.
It's Qu Wanyue!
She was a dancer by training, had a great figure, and walked with great poise. Even though her clothes were now stained so dark by the yellow sand that they were unrecognizable, Xiao Lou recognized her at a glance.
However, given Liu Qiao's previous experience of attacking him, Xiao Lou was not yet certain whether Qu Wanyue was a teammate.
Upon seeing the three, Qu Wanyue's eyes lit up with surprise. She quickly walked over and said, " Professor Xiao, Captain Yu, Ye Qi! I thought I was doomed this time. How did Nightmare Secret Room manage to reunite with you?"
Her reaction seemed normal enough. Xiao Lou said gently, " Teacher Qu, what are you doing here?"
Qu Wanyue said, "That Liu Qiao is fake. She teleported and attracted more than a dozen Hunters. We were besieged by the Hunters. I heard her say..."
Before she could finish speaking, a dagger suddenly stabbed into her chest from behind!
Qu Wanyue noticed the sound of wind beside her ear and turned around in shock—only to see blood splattering everywhere. Yu Hanjiang reached out with lightning speed. Qu Wanyue didn't even see his movement clearly before Yu Hanjiang had already neatly twisted her wrist, snatched the dagger from her hand, and stabbed her palm with a backhand.
That move was executed flawlessly; truly worthy of Captain Yu.
The person who attacked her with a dagger was none other than Ye Qi, who had been standing right next to her the whole time!
After Ye Qi was exposed, just like Liu Qiao before him, he turned into a beam of light and disappeared.
Xiao Lou's pupils constricted sharply, and he rushed to Yu Hanjiang's side: "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Yu Hanjiang looked at his empty palm and said in a deep voice, " Liu Qiao failed to attack you just now, and the dagger and he disappeared very quickly. Ye Qi did the same. Were they Hunter or illusions?"
Xiao Lou frowned, unable to tell for a moment, and even he couldn't be sure if Qu Wanyue in front of him was real or fake.
Yu Hanjiang turned to Qu Wanyue and asked, "Go on, what did you hear at the time?"
Qu Wanyue took a deep breath, calmed down, and briefly recounted what she had heard to Xiao Lou: "I heard Liu Qiao talking to the man with the crystal ball. They mentioned two things: first, their master asked them to kill us all in exchange for the chance to live forever in Card World; second, didn't you want to reunite with your sister? Then, she said she was going to see her sister and turned to leave."
Her mind went blank for a moment, and she asked, "Who is my sister?"
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance. Yu Hanjiang said with a stern face, "It seems that our speculation was completely correct."
He looked at Qu Wanyue and said, "The younger sister she mentioned is actually Liu Qiao. The Liu Qiao you saw is actually Liu Qiao's older sister, Liu Ying. She joined the Hunter's camp and impersonated Liu Qiao to attack us. What you heard confirms our suspicions."
Qu Wanyue looked shocked. Xiao Lou sighed softly and said in a low voice, "I remember when I met Liu Ying in Plum Blossom 2, she looked nervous and seemed gentle and timid, which was completely different from Liu Qiao's calmness and decisiveness. She teamed up with another girl to go to the next level. With their strength, it would be difficult for them to pass Spade 3 and Heart 3. "
Yu Hanjiang said, "So, she was probably eliminated in Spade 3 or Heart 3 and sent to the Nightmare Secret Room. Then, in the Nightmare Secret Room, she chose to join the Hunter faction."
Xiao Lou nodded, looked at Yu Hanjiang and Qu Wanyue, and said, word by word, "All the Hunters are actually eliminated Challengers —this is the truth that has puzzled us for so long."