After leaving Secret Room World and returning to Personal Space, everyone saw four familiar Guardians again — Ace of Spades wearing sunglasses with a cold expression, Diamonds eating sweets with her head down, Plum Blossom Youth still wearing a poker face, and only Hearts Sister with a big smile and a gentle voice: "Congratulations on clearing the secret room again."
With a gentle flick of her right hand, twelve glittering golden treasure chests descended before the crowd.
Red Heart A said, "Now, you can draw your rewards."
Xiao Lou didn't rush to draw the prize. He looked at Red Heart A and asked, "I want to know, how exactly did Space Pirate Rod convince Princess Xiao Rou to cooperate with him? Also, where did clone number 3 end up?"
Red Heart A smiled slightly and said good-naturedly, "The prerequisite for the hidden story card reward is a perfect completion, but you didn't complete it perfectly this time. You should know that using Di Renjie to find clues will lower your score; secondly, you failed to capture the Space Pirate captain in time, so I can't directly answer the questions you asked."
Diamonds put down the delicate pastries in her hand, wiped her mouth, and looked at Lu Jiuchuan, saying, "Although Lu Jiuchuan always calls me a pervert, I gave you an S grade for the maze section. You didn't spend much time on the Merfolk Clan deep-sea maze and the Zerg cave maze, and you used the mine-clearing method well. Hearts and Spade were the ones who lost points, but this time it's not my fault."
Lu Jiuchuan chuckled and touched his nose: "How could I possibly scold such a cute little girl like you?"
Diamond A glanced at him but didn't say anything more.
The Di Renjie card can directly help everyone find key clues, but its drawback is also obvious—it lowers the score. Xiao Lou only used Di Renjie out of necessity. Searching for clues slowly over such a vast sea would indeed be a waste of time.
Besides, their fatal mistake in this escape room was failing to recognize Chu Huaying's clone, which almost led to their demise in the interstellar ruins along with the Dark Night Starship, and allowed the leader of the Space Pirate to escape.
The score for level Q wasn't a perfect completion, which was actually within Xiao Lou's expectations.
After all, it's an S-rank difficulty escape room; clearing it is already quite an achievement, so there's no need to strive for a perfect completion. Where exactly are Space Pirate Captain Rhode Bell and Xiao Lou (Number 3) hiding...? Will these hidden plot points and characters reappear later? Or perhaps they will remain secrets forever in the interstellar world?
Xiao Lou looked at Red Heart A and calmly said, "We accept the result of not being able to achieve a perfect clear. But there's one more thing I want to ask you— Is Hunter a hostile force you founded?"
The four Guardians suddenly fell silent. Even Red Heart A, who always had a gentle expression, put away her smile. She frowned slightly and said seriously, "Why would you think that?"
Yu Hanjiang stepped forward and stood next to Xiao Lou, whispering, " Hunter knows all our card information and can move freely between different secret rooms just like us. This situation is more like two opposing factions in a game world, both with similar permissions but completely opposite mission objectives."
Xiao Lou chimed in, "Our goal is to clear the secret room, while the Hunter's goal is to kill us. They can find out our information, obtain some cards, and even have an extra chance after failing the mission and dying, so they're not afraid of dying. Am I right?"
The Guardians exchanged glances.
After a few seconds of silence, Diamonds picked up the cake on the table again, and while eating it slowly, said, "Your guess is reasonable, but to be honest, I don't know anything about Hunter. At least, Hunter never needs to go through mazes."
Plum Blossom A said calmly, "I am only responsible for randomly matching players in the Plum Blossom Secret Chamber and setting the game rules. As for who you are matched with, that is determined by the system. There have always been Hunters in Card World, but I can guarantee that it is not the Hunter faction that I set."
Red Heart A raised the corners of her lips slightly and looked at Xiao Lou, saying, "I've already been very gentle with you. There are some questions we don't actually need to answer, but since you insist on knowing, I can tell you—I'm in charge of the suspenseful plot setting in the locked room, and I've never had any contact with Hunter."
Only Ace of Spades remained silent, and everyone's eyes turned to him.
Sunglasses obscured most of the man's face, revealing only the sharp lines of his jaw. He pursed his lips, his expression extremely cold. Meeting the gazes of so many people, he raised an eyebrow and said calmly, "As Red Heart A said, Guardian has the right not to answer Challenger's questions. But since I have answered, there's no need for me to lie to you."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of worry in each other's eyes.
The phrase "Ace of Spades" sounds ambiguous.
There's no need for him to lie to you—he's testifying on behalf of the three Guardians, Hearts, Diamonds, and Plum Blossom, to prove they weren't lying. But what about himself? He didn't directly answer whether he was actually involved with the Hunter Organization.
Of the four Guardians, the Ace of Spades should have the highest authority.
After all, he held everyone's lives in his hands, and spade was directly linked to survival. If he was unhappy, he could send zombies, insectoids, clones, or even hunters to surround Xiao Lou and the others at any time.
"Thank you." Xiao Lou sincerely thanked the four of them, and didn't ask any further questions. He turned to his teammates with feigned ease and said, "Let's draw the prize first."
The twelve treasure chests are the most direct reward for everyone.
Xiao Lou remembered that Guardian had promised that clearing the four-in-one escape room would grant him a reward.
Regarding the SS rarity card [ Time Reversal ], he proactively reminded her, "By the way, I remember you guys said that as long as you cleared the hidden room, you would be rewarded with a team-limited card. Does that still stand?"
Red Heart A smiled slightly: "Of course it counts. The reward has already been issued. Please check your contract book."
Xiao Lou opened the contract book, flipped to the last page, and sure enough, saw a glittering gold card on the contract book.
[Limited Edition: Time Reversal ]
Description: Limited team reward for clearing the S-rank hidden secret room during interstellar voyage.
Effect: It can immediately reverse time in the secret room by 5 hours, retain the memory of the person who opened the card during those 5 hours, and erase the memories of everyone else during those 5 hours.
Anyone on Xiao Lou's team contract book can open the card anytime, anywhere.
Note: The card can only be used once and must be destroyed immediately after use.
Ye Qi looked at the card and asked, "So, if I activate the [ Time Reversal ] card, the time in our Secret Room World will immediately revert to 5 hours ago. Only I will remember what happened in those 5 hours; will everyone else's memories also revert to 5 hours ago?"
Red Heart A nodded: "You understand correctly. Everything, including people, events, and objects, will return to the state it was in 5 hours ago. Only the person who used the card will remember what happened in those 5 hours."
Ye Qi suddenly realized, "It's like a save/load tool in a single-player game. If you accidentally wipe out your entire party while fighting a boss, you can reload 5 hours earlier to level up and fight again." He looked at Shao Qingge and said excitedly, "This card is very useful. If we had this card in the interstellar world, when we were tricked by Sister Huaying's clone, we could have reloaded 5 hours earlier and maybe caught the Space Pirate leader before he could escape!"
Shao Qingge smiled and stroked his chin, saying softly, "It's a pity that this card can only be used once. It would be great if it could be used repeatedly. For example, if we accidentally walk into a pit while navigating a maze, we could turn back time by 5 hours, go through the maze again, and know that there is a pit here, so we can avoid it."
Xiao Lou also said regretfully, "Yeah, it's a real shame it's a limited edition."
The strength of team-bound cards is incomparable to ordinary cards, hence their limited-time nature—they break after use. If they could truly be used indefinitely, they'd be invincible, able to rewind time and start over every time they encountered a difficulty…
Currently, there are two team-bound cards: one is a resurrection card shared by the entire team, and the other is a time reversal card.
These two cards must be used in crucial moments. Xiao Lou plans to discuss with his teammates later when to use them. Hesitating to use them in a critical situation, or using them carelessly, would be a waste of these two God Cards.
After receiving the team-exclusive card, Xiao Lou was the first to walk up to the treasure chest, smiling and saying, "Let's all draw together, in order of preference. Let's see what we can get based on our luck."
Twelve people simultaneously reached into the treasure chest.
Ye Qi had a premonition that he would draw a musical instrument, and as he expected, he did indeed draw a musical instrument card.
[Drum kit]
Rarity: S
Skill 1: The Sound of Drumming
Rapidly striking the drum kit produces a continuous, intense drumbeat, forcing all non-friendly targets within a 100-meter radius to immediately appear in front of the drum kit. Cooldown: 1 hour.
Skill 2: Regroup
Slowly strike the drum kit at a frequency of 5 strikes per second for 30 seconds. This cannot be interrupted. Upon completion, all instrument cards will immediately have their skill cooldowns refreshed, allowing you to start the battle again. This can only be used once per room.
Looking at the card, Ye Qi complained, "I'm a real professional instrument collector. I have almost all kinds of wind instruments, string instruments, and percussion instruments, and I only got a drum!"
Everyone had drawn their cards. Xiao Lou heard Xiao Ye's complaint, walked over and took a look, and said with a smile, "Your card is quite useful. The first skill is like an area taunt in the game, which can force the small monsters to be pulled; the second skill, Regroup, can also refresh the cooldown of all instrument cards immediately."
Hearing Professor Xiao say that, Ye Qi became happy: "Well, although my least favorite instruments are the'suona' and the 'drum set', these two cards are still quite useful."
He leaned closer to Shao Qingge: " What did CEO Shao draw?"
Shao Qingge helplessly shrugged.
The card CEO Shao drew... is still very expensive to use.
[Professional Investor]
Additional Skill: This skill is forcibly activated every night at 24:00. You can randomly select one card and invest 1 million in it. When investing, you cannot see the front of the card; you can only invest blindly by looking at the back.
If this card is used by the owner during the investment period, the owner will receive a return of 5 million.
If it is not used by the owner, 1 million of the original fund will be deducted.
You cannot invest in the same card twice a day, and a card that has already been invested in cannot be invested in again.
Ye Qi stared at Shao Qingge's cards for a long time, completely bewildered: "What does 'blind bet' mean? Does it mean you're completely clueless and just randomly pick a card from your teammate's hand to invest in? You don't know what that card is, and neither does your teammate?"
Shao Qingge gently pressed his temples: "Yes, blind selection."
Teammates: "......"
Xiao Lou looked at Shao Qingge helplessly: "The key is that your card skill is forced to activate. That means that every night after midnight, you have to invest a card, which is blindly selected from everyone's deck. If this card is not used the next day, you will lose 1 million?"
Shao Qingge was also helpless. He looked at his hands and said, "I..."
The cards I drew were all very expensive to use.
If a locked room game lasts for 10 days, and Shao Qingge loses every single day, he will automatically lose 10 million.
Ye Qi couldn't help but complain: "This card is completely based on luck? And you can't reinvest... What if you accidentally invest in a card like Di Renjie or Mermaid Princess that you use very infrequently? Wouldn't you be losing money every day?"
Shao Qingge said, "Professional investor? They should be renamed [amateur investor]."
As soon as he finished speaking, Plum Blossom A lightly lifted his finger, and the card name was actually changed to "Amateur Investor".
Shao Qingge: "..."
Plum Blossom A withdrew his hand and said calmly, "You can think of it this way: if you bet correctly, you can get five times the funds to upgrade your [ Throwing a Fortune ] skill. If you can bet correctly every day, you can make 50 million for free in 10 days."
Shao Qingge looked at Plum Blossom Youth and said helplessly, "How can I possibly bet right every day? My teammates have so many cards in their hands. If I blindly pick one, how can I guarantee that the card will be used the next day?"
Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes and asked, "Will the card owner be displayed during blind selection?"
Plum Blossom Youth: "Try it and you'll see."
Shao Qingge activated his card skill, and a floating window appeared before him containing eleven card holders, each belonging to one of his eleven teammates. He could see the names of the card holders. Chu Huaying's card holder only had a few cards to choose from; most of her cards were attribute-enhancing cards, already integrated with her and no longer needed to be "used."
The other teammates all have a lot of cards in their card holders, but Shao Qingge doesn't see any positive skills when choosing which to invest in.
Shao Qingge stroked his chin and thought for a moment, then said, "I can choose Ye Qi's card holder and Xiao Ye's instrument brand, as most of them have relatively short cooldown times. I'll invest in different instruments every day, and you can play a medley of instruments for me every day to make money."
Ye Qi looked disgusted: "Playing the suona and the drums, are you sure everyone won't get a headache from all the noise?"
Lu Jiuchuan picked at his ear and laughed, "We can wear headphones."
Xiao Lou said, "If it makes money, everyone can tolerate it."
Ye Qi nodded solemnly: " CEO Shao, when the time comes, bet on my hand. I'll give you a full instrumental medley every day!"
Shao Qingge squinted his eyes: "Okay, let's make money together and support our families."
The group huddled together, observing the cards their teammates had drawn.
Lu Jiuchuan asked curiously, " Xiao Tang, what did you draw?"
Tang Ci opened his palm and showed the card to everyone.
[ Merry-Go-Round ]
Skill 1: Dizziness
Force any number of targets (up to 12) onto the Merry-Go-Round to start it, causing the carousel to spin rapidly for 3 minutes. During the spin, targets sitting on the carousel will be in a state of disorientation, unable to see their surroundings and unable to jump off.
Cooling time: 24 hours.
Skill 2: Dreamy Wooden Horse
Teammates (up to 12 people) ride different Merry-Go-Rounds, which will hop forward at high speed to the accompaniment of soft music. The Merry-Go-Rounds travel at a speed of 200 km/h, and can automatically jump over obstacles if they are encountered, with a maximum jump distance of 100 meters.
Cooling time: 24 hours.
Tang Ci summoned a set of Merry-Go-Rounds with a blank expression.
Mechanical ants are used for scouting, drones are used for reconnaissance, and now, Merry-Go-Rounds are used to control enemies and transport teammates.
However, Merry-Go-Round hops around like crazy, and the sight of 12 people hopping around like they're riding a rocking horse is too beautiful to imagine.
I previously drew a [Dragon Boat] that travels on water, and now I've drawn a [ Merry-Go-Round ] that jumps on land...
Couldn't they have given them a slightly more normal vehicle license plate?