Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci looked at each other in bewilderment upon hearing this.
Tang Ci frowned slightly: "A clone? You've seen him?"
Yu Hanjiang said, " Long Sen and I have both seen that person. His appearance is exactly the same as Xiao Lou's. That's why we want to inform everyone as soon as possible that the cloning technology in this world can clone humanoids at will, so we must be careful."
Lu Jiuchuan cursed, "These Guardians are really good at making trouble. It seems things are more complicated than I thought."
Xiao Lou asked, "Ninth Brother, do you have any leads?"
Lu Jiuchuan turned and sat on the sofa, taking off his military cap and placing it casually beside him. He said, "I was ordered to carry out a special mission before, but strangely, Tang Ci and I both forgot the details of the mission. We only know that Tang Ci was injured in the leg during that mission. Moreover, none of the officers in our Arrow Legion remember what the special mission we were supposed to carry out was."
This time, Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou looked at each other in bewilderment.
Yu Hanjiang sat down next to him and looked back at him: "I remember half a year ago, when you left, you told me that the military was sending you on a special mission. Because the military's mission had to be kept secret, you didn't tell me the details of the mission at the time."
Lu Jiuchuan nodded: "Yes. This memory is also in my mind, proving that we did meet half a year ago, but I just can't remember the details of the mission."
Xiao Lou looked puzzled: "That's strange. Could it be that you all collectively lost your memories?"
Tang Ci said, "It's probably not as simple as amnesia. We remember many things that have happened in the past six months, including which star systems our warships have stopped in, where we resupplyed, and even what we ate for our three meals a day during our space voyage. But one part of our memory seems to have been suddenly erased."
He paused, then described it this way: "For example, a blackboard is full of mathematical formulas and problem-solving steps. We can see all the formulas, but the most crucial problem-solving ideas are erased by the blackboard eraser."
Selective memory loss? What exactly is this lost memory?
Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang, who also looked puzzled. Xiao Lou suggested, "Since it's a mission assigned by the military, can we find some clues from the military?"
Lu Jiuchuan shrugged helplessly: " After Tang Ci and I arrived at Capital Star, we went to the military headquarters first. The generals didn't mention a word about the mission. General Lin even extended his warm regards to us, saying that they had received news that the Arrow was attacked by alien creatures in Hilt No Mans Land, resulting in heavy casualties."
Tang Ci added: "What's even stranger is that the report that Ninth Brother sent to the military was indeed written like this - the Arrow was attacked by alien creatures, fought fiercely for 24 hours, suffered heavy casualties, and requested support."
Lu Jiuchuan frowned and said, "But I have absolutely no recollection of any of this. When we woke up, we were already on our way back, and nobody remembers what happened during that time."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou fell silent.
How could one person suddenly lose a piece of memory? What's even stranger is that everyone lost it at the same time? It's as if this never happened, just Lu Jiuchuan's hallucination.
Lu Jiuchuan himself found it strange, feeling as if he had just had an unreal dream.
Xiao Lou said, "It seems that the memory you've lost is likely an important clue related to the locked-room mystery."
Yu Hanjiang agreed, and he whispered, "The current doubts are: first, who exactly was the high-ranking officer who issued the mission to Ninth Brother? Second, you passed through Hilt No Mans Land, and Ninth Brother submitted a report to the military saying that you encountered an attack by alien creatures. What exactly happened at that time?"
Once these two points are clarified, the mystery will be solved.
Lu Jiuchuan said, "I think it's necessary for us to go to Hilt No Mans Land again."
He stood up, turned on the optical computer, and a map of the entire galaxy appeared on the blue virtual projection screen in front of him. Among them was a region marked in red, called Hilt No Mans Land.
Tang Ci pushed the wheelchair over and said, " Hilt No Mans Land is located near the constellation Clock in the south, which is very far from here. Humans have not yet explored this star system. It's unreasonable for us to send a warship to such a remote place. Although Ninth Brother used his communicator and authentication password to send that emergency report to the military, he has no memory of any of it. We can't be sure whether he sent that letter for help himself."
This escape room was much more difficult than the previous tenth stage. At least for the tenth stage, the teammates managed to regroup within a day.
Moreover, Yu Hanjiang encounters a dismemberment case at the beginning of the game, so at least he has a clear investigation target.
Currently, no deaths have been reported, the direction of the investigation is unclear, and the veracity of much of the information is unknown.
Xiao Lou took a deep breath to gather his thoughts and said, "Our first priority now is to find our teammates. We've confirmed that my clone exists, and if he goes and harms other teammates without them knowing it's not me, it's too dangerous. What I'm more worried about is that if this person is Hunter, the consequences are unimaginable..."
Upon hearing this, the other three also frowned.
If Xiao Lou's clone were Hunter, taking down Ye Qi and Liu Qiao, these kids who trusted Xiao Lou completely, would be a piece of cake. That's what Xiao Lou feared most... He clenched his fists tightly and asked, "Xiao Ye, CEO Shao, Senior Gui, Sister Huaying, Lao Mo, and Liu Qiao, do you know where everyone is?"
Lu Jiuchuan shook his head: "I don't remember any of these people, which means we have no connection for the time being."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Could they be following a different mission path?"
Xiao Lou speculated: " CEO Shao's 'rich man' setting shouldn't change too much. After all, our team's savings are all in his hands. His bank account balance is several billion gold coins. The exchange rate between gold coins and star coins is 1:1. We can check the well-known wealthy businessmen in the entire Federation to see if anyone matches up."
"Let me check." Tang Ci opened his optical computer and quickly entered some information.
Hacking into various websites to search for information is his forte; he can even dox people to find their house numbers.
Among the densely packed documents, Tang Ci quickly identified Shao Qingge.
"Found it. The owner of Noah Medical Technology Company is named Shao Qingge." Tang Ci's gaze swept over Shao Qingge's profile, then lingered on the relationships section. "Shao Ye Qi? Is that the Ye Qi we know?"
"What?" Xiao Lou leaned closer to look at the screen. " Why is Ye Qi's surname Shao now?"
"According to the information, Shao Ye Qi is Shao Qingge's adopted son," Tang Ci said expressionlessly.
Everyone: "..."
So, does that mean Ye Qi has to call Shao Qingge "Dad"?
Xiao Lou was both amused and exasperated. Guardian's perverse sense of humor was truly outrageous; every time they played the locked-room role, they had to bully Ye Qi. A courtesan, a 7-year-old boy—this time, they even made him call Shao Qingge "Dad"... Little Ye must be very upset.
Yu Hanjiang said, "Regardless of anything else, at least we know where they are, which makes things much easier from here on out."
Xiao Lou nodded: "Yes, Mr. Tang, see if you can find Shao Qingge's personal address and tell him about cloning as soon as possible. By the way, where are Lao Mo, Xiao Liu, Sister Huaying, and Senior Gui?"
Tang Ci brought up the virtual keyboard and his hands flew across the blue keys.
Xiao Lou couldn't understand what he was typing. Strings of characters scrolled across the screen. Finally, Tang Ci stopped typing, turned to look at Xiao Lou, and said, "Can't find it."
Lu Jiuchuan was stunned: "Even you can't find out? Did something happen to them as soon as they entered the secret room?"
Xiao Lou hurriedly flipped through the contract book, saw the 12 names on it, and breathed a sigh of relief: "They're still on the contract book, which proves they're all still alive. But if Mr. Tang can't find them..."
Tang Ci said, "I hacked into the federal identity information database and couldn't find their information, which means that the four of them are not in the official identity system records and are unregistered. For example, Space Pirate who wanders around. Or homeless children who were abandoned at birth and were not adopted by orphanages. Or perhaps, they are programmed to be aliens?"
Xiao Lou: "..."
This is not as good as the elderly, infirm, disabled, and pregnant women group at Tenth Stage, at least they can find people.
Yu Hanjiang was also helpless upon hearing the result. He looked at Lu Jiuchuan: "Currently, Xiao Lou, Ninth Brother, Mr. Tang, Long Sen, and I..." The fact that Qu Wanyue and his wife, CEO Shao, and Xiao Ye are all in the Luoke Empire indicates that the main plot of this escape room scenario will take place in this country. Xiao Liu, Lao Mo, Senior Gui, and Chu Huaying are likely gathering clues elsewhere.
Xiao Lou calmed down as well: "That's right, the four of them aren't in the main storyline, so they shouldn't be in too much danger. If we follow the plot, we'll definitely run into them."
Lu Jiuchuan interjected, "By the way, I remember His Highness's birthday is in three days, right?"
Yu Hanjiang said, " Clone will attend the banquet in Xiao Lou's place on my birthday. Cards are completely banned within the palace grounds. I brought Xiao Lou out this time not only to meet with you, but also to see if cards can be used outside."
Tang Ci summoned his mechanical spider and said, "This is usable."
Xiao Lou suddenly had a good idea: "You can't use cards in the palace, but it doesn't say that card effects will expire. How about this, Hanjiang, you borrow Ninth Brother's [ Thumbelina ] card to shrink me down, put me in your pocket and take me back to the palace. The transformation will last for a maximum of 24 hours. If I'm still shrunken after entering the palace, it means that the effects of cards that have already been used can continue to work in the palace."
During the last Weekly Routine, Liu Qiao gave Lu Jiuchuan the [ Thumbelina ] card that CEO Shao had paid to copy, so that Lu Jiuchuan could shrink Tang Ci and put it in his pocket. Since Tang Ci has difficulty moving around, the card is still being kept by Lu Jiuchuan for the time being.
Unexpectedly, it has come in very handy now.
Upon hearing this, Yu Hanjiang agreed that Xiao Lou's idea was indeed excellent, grasping the key point—not being able to use cards simply meant not being able to activate new cards within the Royal Palace. However, the effects of cards that had already been used might not necessarily expire within the Royal Palace.
If this speculation is correct, on his birthday he could use a card outside the palace to shrink Xiao Lou, and then take advantage of the 24-hour shrinking effect.
She took the shrunken Xiao Lou to the banquet.
He was also eager to see what that clone was trying to do.