Tao Yuanming's " The Peach Blossom Spring " skill requires a 10-second cast time and cannot be interrupted. Xiao Lou turns around and goes out through the back door of the warehouse, summons Tao Yuanming, and secretly places the Peach Blossom Spring at the evacuation entrance behind the warehouse. If things go wrong, everyone can teleport together and disappear instantly, retreating underground as quickly as possible.
With the upgrade of the card skill, the duration of Peach Blossom Spring has increased from the initial 30 minutes to 3 hours, making it more practical.
After putting away the Peach Blossom Spring, Xiao Lou returned to the warehouse. Yu Hanjiang and his teammates cleaned up all the traces of roasted vegetables and instant noodles from dinner. He looked at Xiao Lou and whispered in his ear, "Activate the Telepathic Connection."
At midnight, all card skills will have their cooldowns refreshed, and Qin Guan's Telepathic Connection channel will also need to be reopened. Xiao Lou summons Qin Guan and connects him to Yu Hanjiang via Telepathic Connection. He gives the other Qin Guan card to Ye Qi, allowing Ye Qi to choose someone to connect to.
Ye Qi glanced at his teammates, thought for a moment, and said to Shao Qingge, " CEO Shao, can I take you on? We both have teleportation cards, so we can communicate telepathically and each take two teammates with us to escape."
Shao Qingge smiled slightly: "Of course."
Yu Hanjiang took out the Invisibility Cloak and whispered, "Everyone, hide and see what they're up to."
The group understood and immediately put on their Invisibility Cloaks, each finding a spot with many boxes to hide in.
Just as I hid it, I heard the warehouse door lock click open.
Several people carrying luminous pearl lights walked in in a line.
Yu Hanjiang squinted and took a closer look—it was an eight-person Challenger team, dressed in matching black down jackets, with backpacks on their backs. Five men and three women, all around 20 years old, looked like a college student team.
The girl at the front was tall and had a neat ponytail. She calmly surveyed the surroundings and said softly, "It seems to be a warehouse. The area is so desolate that there shouldn't be a large-scale insectoid invasion. Why don't we spend the night here?"
The bespectacled boy standing next to her said, "Senior Sister Gao, let's have a thorough check-up."
Senior Sister Gao nodded decisively: "Split into two teams, one on the left and one on the right, and search carefully. Don't miss any corner."
The group acted swiftly, conducting a thorough search of the entire warehouse.
After searching around, Senior Sister Gao said, "No one's here, it should be safe."
The slender young man adjusted his glasses and suddenly asked, "Friends, are you hiding in an invisibility cloak?"
Everyone was shocked to hear this.
Senior Sister Gao suddenly turned around and looked at him: "What do you mean? Is someone here?"
The boy nodded: "I used my dog nose card to investigate. This warehouse smells of roasted vegetables and various kinds of instant noodles. The smell was strongest about five hours ago, around dinner time. And the instant noodles had a very diverse flavor profile, including braised pork rib noodles, tomato and beef brisket noodles, pickled cabbage noodles, mushroom and chicken stew noodles... I roughly estimate it's the combined smell of seven or eight people cooking noodles at the same time. I guess we've accidentally stumbled into another Challenger team's base."
Xiao Lou: "..."
There's even a "dog nose" card? The smell of dinner had long since dissipated, but this bespectacled guy actually smelled it and could even distinguish between different flavors of instant noodles?
The name of this card is really fitting.
Ye Qi couldn't help but mentally complain, "What a keen sense of smell! It's amazing!"
Shao Qingge sensed Ye Qi's complaints through the Telepathic Connection channel and chuckled, "These functional cards are quite interesting. The Heart Room card is very useful; it can smell the crime scene. Do you need 5 million to make a copy for you?"
Ye Qi immediately shook his head: "Don't be so wasteful! This card isn't worth spending 5 million to copy."
The two stopped talking and continued to listen attentively.
Senior Sister Gao realized what the bespectacled man meant, immediately glanced around, and said, "Friends, we mean no harm, please don't make a move! I didn't know there were people here!"
The bespectacled boy also announced loudly, "Everyone, we are the Distant Place Association team. We are here to clear the secret room. The wind and snow outside are too strong and the weather is too cold. We just want to find a place to shelter from the wind and snow to spend the night. We just happened to find this warehouse."
Senior Sister Gao said, "That's right. If you're not welcome, we can find another place. But I still hope you can stay and cooperate. After all, there's strength in numbers. If there's a large-scale siege by the Zerg, it will be difficult for a single team to handle them. Why don't you all come out and meet, so we can exchange intelligence and clues?"
Yu Hanjiang didn't speak, and his teammates naturally didn't interrupt either.
The girl's statement has some credibility; the down jackets they were all wearing did indeed have the Distant Place Association logo on them.
Yu Hanjiang asked Xiao Lou, "They're all college students, what do you think?"
I had met the college student team Xiao Lou before in the Weekly Routine mission. These young people are quick-witted, have good reflexes, and are also physically strong and capable in combat. Many of them are also fans of escape room games and know the routines of various mechanisms.
This team must be very strong, and they must have a lot of good cards in their hand, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to reach Spade 8 Secret Chamber so smoothly.
Moreover, the Distant Place Association aims to "return to reality," and under Mr. Old Gui's management, the entire association is said to be very united and more credible than some random groups.
Xiao Lou said, "Let's observe and see, and confirm..."
" Once we're certain none of them are infected, we can then consider whether to keep them. Exchanging some intelligence is certainly possible."
Yu Hanjiang's principle is not to indiscriminately help others or to be a saint.
However, if it's a "strong alliance", it's actually beneficial for everyone. Back in Spade 3 and Spade 4, they also had the experience of teaming up with other Challengers to complete the game.
Yu Hanjiang calmly said, "Okay, let's ask first."
The university student team was looking around when a deep, cold voice suddenly came from their ears: "Exchanging clues requires sincerity. Which district did you come from? What's the situation there now?"
Challengers were aware of the " Invisibility Cloak " card, so they weren't too surprised by the bizarre scene of "hearing its voice but not seeing its person".
Upon hearing this, the girl with the ponytail said seriously, "We escaped from the university town in the north of the city. When we entered the escape room, we were reset in the north of the city. Since we were all students, we were very familiar with the environment of the university campus. After quickly figuring out the escape room's setup, we stocked up on supplies and found a place to hide."
The bespectacled boy continued, "My senior sister took us to the school's laboratory building. It was Monday, and only one or two classes were having lab sessions. We hid on the roof of the laboratory building first, and waited until the students mutated and ran out of the building to bite people. Then we went in, cleaned up the remaining Infected in the building, locked the door, and hid inside for three days."
He paused, his face turning slightly pale: "As a result, on the fourth day, more than 80% of the students in the entire university town were infected, and our laboratory building was besieged by the Infected!"
Recalling the scene, everyone's faces turned grim, and one girl even shuddered.
Senior Sister Gao said with a grim face, "We cleaned the entire laboratory building and locked the main door. Logically, those insectoids shouldn't know we were there, but for some reason, they actually climbed up the outer walls and surrounded us. The entire outside of the laboratory building was swarming with insectoids. They clung to the walls with their limbs and stared at us through the windows with their blood-red eyes! There were countless insectoids, probably tens of thousands!"
Everyone: "..."
Hearing her description, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.
Imagine a laboratory building completely surrounded by countless Zerg swarms – it's terrifying to even think about.
Xiao Lou asked, "Then how did you escape?"
Senior Sister Gao explained, "During the days we occupied the experimental building, everyone made preparations in advance. Junior Brother Lin modified all the electrical circuits in the entire building, as short circuits could easily cause fires. Junior Sister Xue used various chemicals from the lab to create some flammable and explosive materials. We had prepared an escape route on the rooftop beforehand. When we were besieged by the Zerg, we ran to the rooftop, used our flight tokens to fly to another building, and then blew up the entire experimental building..."
The danger at the time can be imagined, and these students were quite clever. Clearly, the team included top students from physics and chemistry departments who applied their knowledge to their work, using short circuits and the flammability and explosiveness of chemical reagents to turn the entire building into a fireground that the Zerg feared most.
The insects clinging to the upper floors probably never expected the entire building to suddenly explode. In that instant, the number of insectoids killed was incalculable; their escape was indeed thrilling and dangerous.
Senior Sister Gao paused for a moment, then continued, "We fled for a whole day, reaching the east of the city, where we found that the number of insectoids was sparse, which allowed us to shake off their pursuit. Were you all hiding in the east of the city from the beginning?"
Yu Hanjiang said calmly, "That's right. The eastern part of the city has the smallest population, so it's relatively safer than other areas."
The girl looked at her with admiration: "You guys are so thoughtful. We were almost overwhelmed by the Zerg army in the university town. The number of Zerg outside is increasing, and the infection has spread all over the north of the city. I estimate that the east of the city is the last safe zone."
Xiao Lou said, "It won't be safe here anytime soon, so let's be careful."
The girl nodded and said, "The Zerg are afraid of fire; they can be completely wiped out by being burned."
Yu Hanjiang said calmly, "We know that too."
The bespectacled man suggested, "To have survived to the fourth day, you are all clearly very strong. Why don't we all join forces to deal with the Zerg?"
Senior Sister Gao agreed, saying, "That's right. There's strength in numbers. The number of Zerg is beyond our imagination. It's difficult for a single team to deal with them. Why don't we join forces?"
Yu Hanjiang asked Xiao Lou in his mind, "What do you think?"
Xiao Lou carefully observed the behavior of these eight people and concluded that none of them seemed to be infected.
Judging from their escape, they occupied the experimental building on the first day and didn't encounter the Zerg army until the fourth day. If anyone had been infected on the first day, they would have mutated by now. On the fourth day, they escaped from the rooftop using flight tokens, instantly destroying the entire building in the process. The Zerg didn't have time to attack them and were annihilated, so the chance of them being infected was also very low.
Thinking of this, Xiao Lou said, " The Distant Place Association team is quite strong. If we can team up, it might be easier to clear the game."
It was snowing heavily outside, and the wind was biting cold. Xiao Lou trusted the Distant Place Association's reputation. This group of people had been running all day from the north of the city to the east, and they were obviously exhausted. Lending them a place to sleep for the night was no problem.
Yu Hanjiang noticed Xiao Lou's idea and nodded, then said to the group of college students, "You'll stay in the warehouse tonight. I'll draw a line in the warehouse to divide it in two, so you won't interfere with each other. If we encounter the Zerg, we can fight them together. If there are no Zerg tonight, you can find another base after dawn, and we can look after each other."
The girl said excitedly, "Thank you, I..."
Let's rest for the night first.
The group immediately set up tents in the warehouse.
The warehouse was large. Yu Hanjiang used fruit crates to divide the warehouse in the middle. The college students slept near the front door, while he slept near the back door, so they could evacuate immediately if things went wrong.
With the invisibility cloak time approaching, Yu Hanjiang simply had his teammates take off their cloaks and set up tents to prepare for rest.
A moment later, the senior student came over carrying a box of fruit and asked, "Hello, is it okay to eat these fruits in the warehouse?"
Ye Qi said, "Sure, you can eat as many vegetables and fruits as you like. This warehouse has been abandoned, and no one is taking care of the inventory."
Senior Sister Gao's eyes lit up: "Great! We've been eating cookies for four days straight!" She excitedly carried a box of apples back to share with her teammates, and Yu Hanjiang could clearly hear the sound of them munching on the apples.
No wonder, the first day of this escape room wasn't a peaceful time for everyone to prepare. In the morning, everyone scattered to different places, and by noon, the epidemic had broken out, making the situation very tense. They probably didn't have much supplies stockpiled from the school supermarket. After eating biscuits for four days, seeing fruit was indeed exciting.
Eight people rummaged through drawers and cabinets in the middle of the night, opening up boxes of grapes, pears, dragon fruit, and other fruits, and ate the fruit like they were starving.
Ye Qi poked his head out and asked curiously, "Are you all college students from the same school?"
Senior Sister Gao said, "They're not all from the same school; there are universities of science and technology, universities of technology and music conservatories..."
Ye Qi's eyes lit up when the Music Conservatory was mentioned: "It's Jiangzhou City!" Is it a music conservatory?
Senior Sister Gao looked at him in surprise: "How did you know?"
Ye Qi said, "I'm also from this school."
Senior Sister Gao smiled and said, "What a coincidence! Our team leader is from the Music Conservatory, and he's your alumnus. You might even know each other. By the way, he's out looking for a place. I've already notified them, and they'll be here in a few minutes."
Xiao Lou asked, "Isn't your team of eight people?"
Senior Sister Gao said, "There are 12 of us, and four more people are carrying displacement tokens and are scouting the area."
The group didn't talk much more, but Ye Qi was quite interested in getting to know that alumnus.
A moment later, four people, one man and three women, entered the warehouse.
The boy was tall and wore a black overcoat, a scarf, and a hat. His deep-set eyes and arched eyebrows made him extremely handsome, the kind of face that would be very popular with girls at school.
Ye Qi paused, feeling that this person looked somewhat familiar.
The boy didn't see him and turned to rejoin his teammates.
Senior Sister Gao explained softly, "Captain, this warehouse has already been occupied. They are willing to let us hide here for the night, and we will find another base when it gets light."
The boy nodded and looked at Yu Hanjiang, saying, "Thank you everyone."
Upon hearing the deep voice, Ye Qi's back stiffened slightly, and he pointed at the boy, asking, "You...you're Senior Cheng Yang?"
The boy was also somewhat surprised. Upon seeing Ye Qi, he looked quite taken aback: " Ye Qi?"
The two teams looked at each other in surprise. Senior Sister Gao laughed and said, "So we do know each other! What a coincidence, you're both from the Music Conservatory."
Alumni meeting up should be a happy occasion.
Seriously, why is this atmosphere so eerie? Ye Qi's face was deathly pale, as if he had seen a ghost.
Cheng Yang smiled slightly, walked up to Ye Qi, and extended his hand, saying, "I didn't expect to see you here."
Seeing his teammates looking at the two of them, Ye Qi took a deep breath to control his emotions and said coldly, "I didn't expect to live this long! Maybe it's because my vitality is like an unkillable cockroach? I'm sorry to disappoint you, senior."
Cheng Yang frowned slightly: "Have you misunderstood something?"
Ye Qi waved his hand: "There's nothing to say. You go to sleep, and leave early tomorrow morning. You're not welcome here."
After saying that, he turned around, leaving the other person with the back of his head. Cheng Yang shrugged and smiled, "I had a misunderstanding with this junior. It's okay, everyone rest first, I'll explain to him tomorrow."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang looked at each other in bewilderment.
Xiao Ye is very enthusiastic towards everyone, but his aversion to this senior is written all over his face. What's going on?
Yu Hanjiang winked at Shao Qingge: "Let's ask."
Shao Qingge nodded, turned around, and went into the tent.
Ye Qi sat alone in the tent, head down, looking sullen.
Shao Qingge walked in, gently ruffled the boy's hair, and joked, "What's going on? Do you have a grudge against this senior of yours? Did he steal your girlfriend? Or is he your ex-boyfriend?"
Ye Qi looked up, his eyes wide: "What boyfriend or girlfriend! He's Spade 3!" "That bastard who secretly took my supplies in the Financial Crisis secret room and left me to clear the level alone!"
A sharp glint suddenly flashed in Shao Qingge's eyes, which had been smiling.
He lowered his voice and said, word by word, "You mean, he's the classmate who tricked you into going to the Nightmare Secret Room?"
******