As the "sugar daddy," Shao Qingge is extremely good at making money. With him around, everyone lives a life of luxury, never worrying about money. However, when it comes to combat ability, Shao Qingge is the weakest member of the team.
Liu Qiao, Long Sen, and Qu Wanyue can run away if they can't win. Lao Mo has a lot of Space Flip, Model Room, and Marble cards, so he can find a way to hide if he is attacked. Yu Hanjiang, Xiao Lou, and Ye Qi are even more so, with a lot of control cards and combat cards.
The only exception was CEO Shao. All the cards he drew were related to things like "ATM self-service withdrawal machine," "stock curve," and " Rich and Willful." If he really ran into trouble, he couldn't exactly summon an ATM, withdraw money on the spot, and then use it to throw at people, could he?
The more they thought about it, the more uneasy they became. Xiao Lou worriedly asked, "If he gets attacked, does he not have any cards to escape with?"
Ye Qi said with a pale face, "He used up all his low-level cards when he played the Shark in the previous Weekly Routine. Right now, he only has cards like ATM, Stock Curve, Rich and Willful in his hand, which have absolutely no offensive power!"
Although " Rich and Willful " can instantly copy other people's cards, the problem is that you need to have cards to copy in the first place!
If he gets separated from his group, what will he copy?
Ye Qi grew increasingly worried, clenching his fists tightly. "What do we do? This city is so big, where are we supposed to find him?" he asked.
Just as everyone was panicking, Yu Hanjiang suddenly said calmly, "Don't worry, he has a way to escape. " During the Turmoil of War, many cards were banned. Shao Qingge spent 5 million to copy Ye Qi's teleportation card.
Everyone: "..."
It seems like that's the case?
Xiao Lou also remembered: "That's right, CEO Shao spent 5 million to copy the Teleportation Card, and even used two Teleportation Cards to provide support outside Herbal Hut. The copied card can be taken out of the secret room, so that card should still be in his possession."
Ye Qi finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this—it's true what they say, concern makes you lose your mind. That card was clearly copied from his hand by Shao Qingge, and he had even complained about how wasteful he was. But in his haste, he had completely forgotten about it.
Ye Qi scratched his head and said, "It's good that we have the Teleportation Card. No matter how agile those parasites are, they can't teleport 50 meters. CEO Shao will definitely be able to escape... But why isn't he here yet? It's already one o'clock. Could this lazybones have overslept?"
Xiao Lou was also puzzled. Although Shao Qingge usually loved to sleep in, he had never let her down when it mattered most.
In a survival escape room, he wouldn't be bored enough to go shopping, much less oversleep.
If they haven't arrived by this late, they must have run into trouble.
Everyone waited anxiously.
The city is so big, finding someone is like finding a needle in a haystack. Yu Hanjiang thought for a moment and said, "How about this, the five of you wait in the clothing store, and Xiao Lou and I will go out and look for him. Maybe he didn't see the sky lantern and is still looking for us in the square."
Ye Qi enthusiastically replied, "I'll go too! I have a teleportation card, so I can help you guys escape if we get into trouble!"
Yu Hanjiang nodded, took Ye Qi and Xiao Lou out, while the remaining four stayed at the clothing store.
Nothing happened in the square, but things were far from peaceful on the streets.
As soon as the three stepped outside, they heard a deafening horn blaring. Upon closer inspection, they discovered a car accident in the city center—a chain-reaction collision involving six cars that had also struck and killed several pedestrians on the sidewalk, blocking the road completely and prompting traffic police to handle the situation.
The car in front had its window open, and the driver in the driver's seat had his head tilted to the side, his eyes wide and bloodshot.
Xiao Lou's expression changed, and he said, "It should be Infected. His brain tissue couldn't support the parasite, so he died suddenly while driving, hitting a pedestrian and causing a chain-reaction collision."
Ye Qi shuddered again and complained, "These parasites are quite picky eaters. They kill some human brains that aren't suitable for them to live in, but then they take over the ones that are and use human brains as their breeding ground?"
Xiao Lou said with a stern face, "Selective parasitism. We don't yet know which people will die after infection, or which will mutate."
He looked up at the street and saw a long line of cars blocking the square, with horns blaring incessantly. He was just about to wonder if Shao Qingge was in one of the cars when a tall man came running towards him, panting heavily.
—It is Shao Qingge!
The three of them immediately went to meet them.
Shao Qingge was dressed in an iron-gray suit, a plaid tie, and black leather shoes. His chestnut hair was simply tied into a small ponytail at the back of his head. This domineering CEO look, combined with his handsome appearance, was exactly the standard configuration of an idol drama male lead.
However, he looked somewhat disheveled at this moment, with his hair slightly messy and a layer of sweat on his forehead, clearly exhausted from running too fast.
Ye Qi asked worriedly, " Why did it take CEO Shao so long to arrive? Everyone thought something had happened to you!"
Shao Qingge took a deep breath and explained, "I had a strange investment meeting this morning. It was already noon when the meeting ended, so I immediately took a taxi to the square. But I got stuck in traffic for more than half an hour. The car couldn't move at all on the street, so I had to get out and run here myself."
Xiao Lou said knowingly, "No wonder you arrived so late. Were you attacked?"
Just then, Shao Qingge suddenly coughed twice while touching his nose.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance and immediately became alert.
Ye Qi stared at Shao Qingge in shock: "You've been infected?!"
Shao Qingge said with a smile, "My nose is itchy."
The three of them: "..."
Seeing the three of them looking like they were facing a formidable enemy, Shao Qingge asked in confusion, "I coughed twice, what's with your expressions? Why are you looking at me like I'm a monster? What's going on?"
Xiao Lou briefly explained the infection to Shao Qingge.
Shao Qingge quickly wiped the smile off his face, which gradually turned grim: "No wonder... the taxi driver I was in earlier kept coughing. It seems he was infected too, but hasn't shown any symptoms yet. Luckily, I got out halfway and ran over here myself. If I had stayed in the car, would he have suddenly turned around and bit me?"
Yu Hanjiang said seriously, "That's possible."
"..." Shao Qingge rubbed his temples helplessly: "This time, the secret room seems to be much more difficult than Zombie Town." As a Spade who only managed to pass Zombie Town with a C rating, Shao Qingge's head was already throbbing just from hearing Xiao Lou's description, let alone having to survive for 14 days this time.
"Now that everyone's here, let's get together and discuss our strategy." Yu Hanjiang gestured to Lao Mo from the clothing store, and Lao Mo, Liu Qiao, and the Longqu Couple came out to join them.
Liu Qiao and the others looked at Shao Qingge with concern: " Is CEO Shao alright?"
Shao Qingge explained that he was late because of traffic, which put everyone at ease.
It's not safe for people to come and go in the square. After careful consideration, Lao Mo said, "Why don't you all go to my decoration shop? It's very close to the square, and I can lock the door."
No one had any objections.
Old Mo was the owner of a renovation company; his shop was just across the overpass. The eight of them walked across the overpass one after another, and just as they reached the middle, they suddenly heard a deafening scream from the crowd: "Ahhh—!"
In the traffic jam, several drivers got out of their cars and began to frantically bite and tear at pedestrians around them!
Pedestrians scattered in terror, and the drivers chased them all the way to Central Square, where they bit elderly people sunbathing in the square, young couples taking photos in front of the sculptures, and children!
Due to the chain-reaction rear-end collision, hundreds of cars were stuck in traffic on the street. Seeing this horrific scene, some drivers rolled up their windows and locked their doors, while others simply abandoned their vehicles and fled!
The situation quickly descended into chaos, and the traffic police were completely unable to control it.
Xiao Lou witnessed a passenger on a bus under the overpass begin to mutate. She looked very thin, but she was extremely agile, weaving back and forth on the bus and biting all the passengers in the blink of an eye!
The enclosed interior of the car was like hell. The cries of those people were muffled by the windows, but through the windows, Xiao Lou could clearly see the expressions of terror and despair on the faces of the bitten people...
The bus driver probably sensed something was wrong and immediately opened the door. The bitten people quickly ran off the bus, some clutching their necks, some their arms, and some whose ears had been bitten off. They cried as they ran toward the hospital.
Opening the bus doors will only release more parasites and infect more people.
But it didn't matter anymore. Even if none of the passengers got off the bus, the drivers who jumped off and bit passersby brought the parasites to the Central Square area, and almost all the pedestrians in the square were infected.
At this rate of spread, the entire city will fall within a day.
The eight people standing on the overpass witnessed this scene, and their feelings were incredibly complex. Zombie Town in Spade 2 was a mutated world where the zombies had lost consciousness. But this was still a normal world, and suddenly a group of people were tearing at their own kind like mad dogs, even eating the flesh torn from their bodies. The scene was truly horrifying.
Yu Hanjiang said in a deep voice, "Let's go!"
Everyone immediately followed him, and Lao Mo led them into the renovation studio, locking the door behind him.
Everyone was still shaken and stood inside the room, unsure of what to say.
Yu Hanjiang said calmly, "Now that we've arrived in this parasitic world, we need to find a way to survive. First, how much supplies do we need for our 14-day survival period?"
Xiao Lou suggested, "You can prepare twice as much as Endless Sea. When we were adrift at sea, we prepared enough for seven days, but we still couldn't finish it all."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "This time we must travel light and not bring too many supplies. We are not facing clumsy zombies and mindless sharks, but intelligent parasitic creatures. They can disguise themselves, can attack at any time, and are very agile."
Xiao Lou agreed: "This time we might have to keep running for our lives, and we won't be able to take all our stuff with us."
Yu Hanjiang decisively said, "While the city is still orderly, let's go to the supermarket right away and each of us buy a backpack. Buy milk, biscuits, chocolate, and water that are the easiest to replenish energy and have a shelf life of more than half a month. Don't pack the backpacks too heavy; they should be easy to carry even when walking normally."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Old Mo asked, "What about the money? We don't know the situation at the supermarket yet, so we can't just rob them, can we?"
Upon hearing this, Shao Qingge suddenly pulled out a card, and an ATM bank self-service withdrawal machine inexplicably appeared in front of everyone.
Shao Qingge said with a smile, "As an S card, it can finally be put to use. Everyone, please withdraw your money."
Teammates: "......"
With CEO Shao around, why worry about money? Back when Red Heart 8 was released, Mr. Shao even carried several boxes of gold to Jiangzhou!
Shao Qingge quickly withdrew several million and distributed some to everyone as a reserve. In any case, if they didn't use it all, they could just call the ATM before clearing the level and deposit it back to the main city, which was very convenient.
After receiving the money, Yu Hanjiang said, "Let's go, everyone. We need to buy supplies as soon as possible before the supermarket is overrun by parasites, or we'll be in trouble."
At Yu Hanjiang's command, everyone immediately went out and headed to the nearby supermarket.
Inside the supermarket at this moment.
The young cashiers kept coughing. The chubby middle-aged male manager said, "There's a flu outbreak everywhere these days. Those with severe colds can go home to rest and see a doctor, or swap shifts with a colleague who doesn't have a cold. You don't need to come in this afternoon."
A girl with a ponytail smiled and said, "Thank you, manager."
She was very beautiful, with delicate features and exquisite makeup. She wore a red supermarket cashier uniform, which accentuated her slender figure. The beautiful woman walked up to the manager, stood on tiptoe, and pretended to kiss his cheek.
The manager paused for a moment, then chuckled awkwardly, "There's no need to be so polite..."
As a result, the moment her lips touched the man's cheek, the girl's eyes suddenly turned bloodshot, and she bit down hard on the manager's face with her sharp teeth, tearing off a piece of flesh!
"Ahhh—"
Screams like those of a pig being slaughtered echoed through the supermarket.
The cashiers around were not alarmed by what they saw; instead, they smiled.
Their smiles were perfectly synchronized, like countless samples copied from a single model.