Card Room

Chapter 533 - Precarious Trust

Tang Ci said that there were 18 hunters in the world. There were only six teammates and the number of hunters was three times the challengers. Chu Huaying wasn’t skeptical about this conclusion. She was wondering about something else. “Xiao Tang, how did you determine the number of hunters and challengers?”

Tang Ci explained, “I woke up in the company’s office. I didn’t go to you immediately and instead invaded the company’s surveillance system to see if there were any suspicious people in the company. Before long, I saw two people sneaking into the bathroom to chat. I listened to the content of their conversation. They said they had to resolve six people in this mission and they have triple the number. My guess is that their mission is to hunt and kill all of us.”

Chu Huaying nodded. “Fortunately, you were careful enough to overhear this crucial conversation. Now it seems that the first link of this relay mission is the six of us and we have to face 18 hunters.”

Ye Qi carefully counted it. “The first one who pretended to be Professor Xiao was caught by Sister Ying and me and locked in the apartment. The next pair of hunters who pretended to be Brother Long and Teacher Qu are locked in the Peach Blossom Spring. The waiter in the restaurant was handled by Sister Ying. There were a total of six children in the square and Qi Ran was killed by me. That adds up to 11 people.”

Tang Ci added, “The two hunters in the company on my side were trapped in the bathroom. That adds up to 13 people.”

Gui Yuanzhang said, “Add my housekeeper and maid and there are 15 people.”

Chu Huaying touched her chin. “So there are three hunters left who haven’t been found?”

Tang Ci said, “They are probably at the Western restaurant. Didn’t you encounter the card shielding when you wanted to withdraw to the Peach Blossom Spring just now? The person who placed the shielding skill is definitely at the Western restaurant.”

Chu Huaying also agreed with this speculation. She looked down and thought about it. Then she suggested, “Why don’t we go back to the Peach Blossom Spring? There are only three hunters left and it is 6 vs 3. There is no need to be afraid of them.”

Gui Yuanzhang frowned. “The entrance of the Peach Blossom Spring you put has been found by them. If we go back, they might’ve set up an ambush in the Western restaurant. For example, they might’ve buried explosives around the entrance of the Peach Blossom Spring and detonate it immediately when we appear.”

Ye Qi’s heart thumped as he remembered the experience of almost being burned to ashes before. “Senior Gui’s words are reasonable. We might have more numbers but if the other side has set up an ambush, isn’t it equivalent to throwing ourselves into the net?”

Chu Huaying shrugged. “What do you want to do?”

Tang Ci was silent for a moment. “It is better for us to collectively put on the invisibility cloaks and go to the Western restaurant to sneak up on them. My drone can monitor the movements of the hunters at a distance. There is the drone for scouting so even if they set traps, we can detect it in advance.”

Everyone looked at each other and felt that Tang Ci’s suggestion was reasonable.

Their relay mission was to find all the hunters and there was no escape. There were three hunters left in the Western restaurant and they had to face the hunters.

After discussing the countermeasures, Gui Yuanzhang used the floating brush to bring Tang Ci and Ye Qi with him while the others used their own displacement cards. The group of six people quickly came to the Western restaurant at the central square.

Tang Ci used the drone card and had the drone fly high in the sky to monitor the movements of the Western restaurant. A moment later, the drone captured the picture of the restaurant and Tang Ci said softly, “The environment inside the Western restaurant is normal. No traces of bombs have been found but there are two waiters wandering around VIP Room 7… were you in VIP room 7 just now?”

Chu Huaying nodded. “Yes.”

Tang Ci said, “It should be those two. They really are waiting for us in the Western restaurant.”

Ye Qi looked up at the location of the Western restaurant and said seriously, “This building isn’t high. I can sneak up onto the roof from the back and modify Li Qingzhao’s mark to pull all of you onto the roof. The Western restaurant is on the top floor of the building. We can sneak in directly from the window of the roof and the success rate will be higher, right?”

Chu Huaying nodded in agreement. “This method is good. Xiao Ye has the climbing ability of the bugs and it will be easy to climb the building. First climb up silently and use the mark to pull us to the roof. Then everyone will attack together so the hunters are caught off guard.”

Ye Qi took two steps forward before suddenly saying doubtfully, “By the way, didn’t Mr Tang say there are three hunters left? Only two were found in the Western restaurant? Where is the other one?” He scratched his head because he felt like something wasn’t quite right. From the moment that Tang Ci and Old Gui appeared just now, there seemed to be some important information that he had ignored?

In the drone surveillance, it was found that there were two people dressed as waiters and wandering around the No 7 private room of the Western restaurant.

Where would the remaining hunter boss be?

Tang Ci made a guess. “We have invisibility cloaks so the hunter might have it as well. Maybe a hunter is hiding in stealth. The pressure on us will be lessened if we solve these two first.”

Now everyone had cards in their hands. If they took care of the two people on the top floor, they definitely didn’t have to worry about fighting six against one.

Ye Qi nodded. “Okay, I’ll go first.”

He came to the corner of the building, stretched out his hands and his sharp nails stabbed into the wall. Ye Qi, who was wearing the invisibility cloak, crawled up the wall quickly. He passed over a dozen floors and climbed to the roof in less than 10 seconds.

He modified Li Qingzhao’s mark so it was placed on the roof. He just needed to wait five minutes and he could summon his teammates collectively.

Ye Qi lay on the edge and threw a bug against the wall. Then he carefully listened to the movements inside.

There had been a fierce fight in the Western restaurant previously. Chu Huaying had solved the hunter who created 12 clones. There were still bloodstains left from the fight on the ground. The waiters in the restaurant were gone and only the two people walking back and forth were present.

Ye Qi overheard the conversation between the two of them.

The young man said, “Is the boss’ plan reliable? Will they really go back to the Western restaurant?”

The woman said, “Rest assured. They have to find all the hunters if they want to complete the task. Unless they don’t want to continue, they will definitely come back and fall into our trap.”

Trap?

Ye Qi’s heart was very confused. The Western restaurant didn’t have bombs buried in advance so where was the trap set?

Perhaps it was as Mr Tang said and the other boss hunter was hidden nearby. Once that hunter appeared, they would immediately control the team with a wide ranged card skill?

Therefore, they had to act first.

The card shielding was the greatest threat to everyone but it only lasted five minutes. At this time, it had long been invalidated. All six of them had cards in hand. If they were still destroyed when it was six against one then they had been working hard in vain for so long.

In the floating box, the countdown for Li Qingzhao’s mark had reached the last 10 seconds.

Ye Qi took a deep breath and chose the best position. Soon, he would break through the window from here and quickly control the two hunters. Then he would unite with his teammates to solve the boss.

The countdown was 5, 4, 3, 2…

The moment when the number reached 0, Ye Qi modified the mark and his teammates did appear.

Ye Qi was about to break through the window but his body stiffened like a statue when he saw the faces of his teammates.

Tang Ci, Gui Yuanzhang, Long Sen, Qu Wanyue and Chu Huaying.

The five people had just said that they would let themselves be teleported by Ye Qi’s mark and it wasn’t a surprise that they appeared here.

However, there was an extra person who appeared at the marker point—Lu Jiuchuan!

In addition to Ye Qi’s eyes widening with surprise, his teammates were also shocked when they saw Lu Jiuchuan who appeared.

Brother Jiu?!

Wasn’t it said that there were only six challengers in the secret room this time? Why was there another Brother Jiu?!

Chu Huaying quickly returned to her senses. She teleported behind Lu Jiuchuan like lightning and stabbed the blood-colored spider dagger hard at Lu Jiuchuan’s back.

Lu Jiuchuan’s reaction was also extremely sharp. The tall man bent down sharply, avoiding Huaying’s blade in a thrilling manner. This was followed by a backhand grab and he accurately grabbed Chu Huaying’s wrist.

Chu Huaying felt a shock and this shock almost made her let go of her dagger. She quickly took two steps back and circled around Lu Jiuchuan’s side like a snake. The blood-stained spider dagger aimed straight to Lu Jiuchuan’s neck and was about to pierce his artery…

Lu Jiuchuan hurriedly took half a step back and the dagger slid over his skin, leaving a delicate bloody mark on his neck. Lu Jiuchuan reached out to block her attack while whispering, “Huaying, it’s me. Don’t move!”

At almost the same time, Tang Ci’s calm voice reached everyone’s ears. “Huaying, be careful. He is the last hunter!”

The team members, “……”

Lu Jiuchuan turned to look at Tang Ci, his eyes as sharp as a sword and almost poked a hole in Tang Ci’s face. He said coldly, “Xiao Tang, do you remember the secret code I told you? Once we have time in the future, I want to take you to the Crescent Moon Spring in Dunhuang.”

Tang Ci frowned. “This secret code has long been leaked. The hunters know the secret code we agreed upon.”

The corners of Lu Jiuchuan’s lips curved up slightly. “Is it?”

The moment he finished speaking, he took out a sharp sword. The body of the sword was snow-white and emitted a bone-chilling cold. The sword was like a layer of ice and the temperature around it was reduced by several degrees.

The sword in Lu Jiuchuan’s hand swept horizontally. Chu Huaying, who was closest to him, was instantly frozen into an ice sculpture. Following them, the sword passed by his other teammates around him and actually pointed straight at Tang Ci’s throat!

Tang Ci’s ability to fight in close quarters was extremely poor while Lu Jiuchuan’s offensive was extremely fierce. Tang Ci’s face turned pale when he saw the sharp sword that was about to pierce his throat and almost instinctively closed his eyes.

At the critical moment, Gui Yuanzhang’s brush moved upwards and Lu Jiuchuan’s sword was deflected by a strong wind. The sharp sword didn’t pierce Tang Ci’s throat. Instead, it cut off a strand of hair by his ear.

The black hair was blown by the wind and landed at his feet. Tang Ci’s face lost all blood and he stared at Lu Jiuchuan with gritted teeth.

Lu Jiuchuan didn’t take back his sword and still aimed it at Tang Ci. His eyes were even colder as he stared at the man in front of him. “There is only one Tang Ci. You aren’t qualified to replace him at all. You are the last hunter.”

The team members, “……”

Ye Qi’s expression was dazed. Long Sen and Qu Wanyue looked at each other, Gui Yuanzhang frowned as if he didn’t know what to believe and Chu Huaying was frozen into an ice sculpture.

Tang Ci’s expression was calm but his lips were slightly pale. He met Lu Jiuchuan’s eyes and said, “Don’t act. The current world is December 24th and Lu Jiuchuan died three years ago. He shouldn’t exist in this world at all.”

He paused before adding calmly, “You can’t deceive us no matter how realistic your acting skills are.”

Lu Jiuchuan smiled playfully and glanced at the other team members. “Do you believe him or do you believe me?”

Partially proofread: Paranoid Kitten