Yu Hanjiang's questioning left Liu Qiao speechless. In the past two days, the perfect teamwork of her eight "teammates" made her mistakenly believe that everyone really believed her. But in the end, they told her that it was all just an act.
They were just using her to rescue the real Liu Qiao?!
She genuinely didn't know how to answer Xiao Lou's questions about the library, but saying she didn't know would give her away. Thinking she was being clever, she made up a vague answer, only to fall into Xiao Lou's linguistic trap!
Liu Qiao clenched her fists tightly, glaring fiercely at Xiao Lou, and said, "I've been following you guys these past few days, how did you manage to tell all the teammates that I was a fake?"
Xiao Lou calmly said, " Hanjiang and I only need to exchange glances. I can write a few words on his palm and he'll understand. As for the others, did you forget that we split up at lunch yesterday?"
Liu Qiao's face turned deathly pale as she recalled the scene at lunch yesterday.
Ye Qi chuckled and reminded us: " Captain Yu took CEO Shao and me rabbit hunting, and told us the truth along the way; Professor Xiao took Ninth Brother and Mr. Tang fishing, and told them the truth; then, everyone went to Azure Empire..." After genetic testing at the hospital, and another split-up operation, Mr. Tang can finally tell Uncle Mo and Senior Gui the truth. Did you completely miss these details?
"..." She was indeed too careless.
Lu Jiuchuan said, " Xiao Lou deliberately told you that Chu Huaying was coming to join us, just to make you lower your guard and think that we had all fallen into your trap—in fact, Huaying was me in disguise, and you were the one who fell into our trap."
Tang Ci glanced at him and said, "I didn't expect Ninth Brother to be so convincing as a woman. I held back my laughter at the time."
Lu Jiuchuan put his arm around Tang Ci's shoulder: "I'll take that as a compliment."
Xiao Lou looked at the fake Liu Qiao: "Although you've been following us, each of us has disappeared from your sight at some point. You couldn't possibly know Hua Ying's whereabouts, and you don't need to know our next plan."
He gave Yu Hanjiang a wink, and the latter immediately took the card holder from Liu Qiao's pocket, while simultaneously pulling out a pistol and pointing the black barrel at the fake Liu Qiao's head.
A cold smile played on the woman's lips: "You think I'm afraid of it?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "Aren't you afraid of guns?"
The next moment, he suddenly took out an alcohol card obtained from Spade 8 and poured a whole bottle of alcohol on Liu Qiao. She was bound by white silk and could not move. Her entire body was almost instantly soaked in alcohol. Then, Yu Hanjiang pulled the trigger, letting the sparks ignite the alcohol!
She heard a deep male voice beside her: "But you're afraid of fire."
Liu Qiao: "..."
The instant the flames leaped up on his body, Liu Qiao let out a piercing scream!
The sound echoed in the enclosed space of Peach Blossom Spring, making Xiao Lou's heart clench. He turned to look at the soaking wet real Liu Qiao beside him, whose face was pale and who was staring intently at the clone engulfed in flames.
Seeing someone who looks exactly like you being burned to death is not a good experience.
But Liu Qiao's expression remained calm.
Xiao Lou walked up to Liu Qiao and explained softly, "Xiao Liu, she's a Hunter. We have to take care of her as soon as possible. Otherwise, she'll team up with other Hunters and turn around to kill us. Besides, she has a way to communicate with Xiao Lou, number 5 of the Merfolk Clan."
Liu Qiao nodded: "I understand."
Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to oneself. These clones carry Zerg genes, and their bodies can heal themselves. The only way to deal with them is fire.
As the flames engulfed her, the woman initially screamed and struggled, but soon she was reduced to a pile of charred remains.
Yu Hanjiang turned to Gui Yuanzhang and asked, "How much time is left on the Li Qingzhao mark you placed, senior?"
Gui Yuanzhang said, "Two minutes."
Actually, when Yu Hanjiang, Xiao Lou, and the fake Liu Qiao entered the laboratory on the right, Gui Yuanzhang quickly slipped away to a side path and released Li Qingzhao's mark.
They had two Li Qingzhao tickets, and Lao Mo and Gui Yuanzhang each took one.
Old Mo places a marker to teleport everyone to the deep sea; Xiao Lou then uses Peach Blossom Spring to teleport everyone to a deserted island; then Gui Yuanzhang places a marker to teleport everyone back to the deep sea. The entire process, involving three teleportations, takes no more than 5 minutes. The key to this is to quickly eliminate the clone of Liu Qiao and take back her card holder to the real Liu Qiao.
Li Qingzhao's marker will be available for teleportation 5 minutes after it is cast, so everyone will have to wait another 2 minutes.
Liu Qiao glanced at the black ash on the ground, turned to Xiao Lou, and asked seriously, " Professor Xiao, how did you know I was hiding in the clone lab?"
Xiao Lou took out a [Witch] card and handed it to Liu Qiao: "You used the antidote, didn't you?"
Liu Qiao's eyes lit up: "Yes."
Xiao Lou smiled and patted Xiao Liu on the shoulder: "I knew it. Xiao Liu is always very cautious. How could he make such a basic mistake? If I remember correctly, when I was on Telepathic Connection with you, Xiao Lou No. 5 suddenly sent you pastries. At that time, you already had doubts about him. How could you possibly eat the pastries he sent?"
Old Mo suddenly realized: "That's right! Liu Qiao, whom we rescued, actually said that she fainted after eating the pastries Xiao Lou gave her. When she said that, Professor Xiao must have become suspicious of her, right?"
Xiao Lou nodded: "Yes, so I had Captain Yu try to gauge her understanding of the dungeon. I didn't expect Hunter to know so much about our past experiences."
The copy was found to be extremely detailed.
Yu Hanjiang asked Liu Qiao many questions about the dungeon, but they were all just probing.
The key was the realistic questions Xiao Lou asked. After the fake Liu Qiao answered Yu Hanjiang's questions correctly in a row, she became complacent, which is when Xiao Lou took advantage of the situation and set a verbal trap for her.
The cooperation between Yu and Xiao is truly "seamless".
Ye Qi asked curiously, "Since Liu Qiao didn't eat the pastries Xiao Lou gave her, how did she suddenly faint?"
Liu Qiao said, "I ate it."
Ye Qi's eyes widened: "Huh?"
Liu Qiao calmly explained, "At the time, Professor Xiao and I were connected via Telepathic Connection, and the clone suddenly used the [ card shielding] effect to interrupt the Telepathic Connection. I received a system notification that there was a Card Skill Shielding magnetic field around me, and I thought, since this card doesn't belong to our team, it must belong to Hunter."
Ye Qi agreed, "That's right. The natives of Card World don't use cards. Only Challengers or Hunters can possess cards."
Liu Qiao hummed in agreement and continued, "At that time, I was certain that Professor Xiao, who was connected to the Telepathic Connection with me, was the real one, and the one in front of me was Hunter. Since he activated such a powerful blocking card to interrupt the Telepathic Connection, he must be trying to use me for some purpose. Perhaps I also have a clone, and after he controls me, he will definitely use my clone to confuse you."
Everyone: "..."
The ability to think of so much in a life-or-death situation is what makes Liu Qiao, whom everyone knows, so calm and collected.
Xiao Lou looked at her gently: "So that's why you went along with the plan and pretended to eat the pastry that person gave you?"
Liu Qiao nodded: "I think that Xiao Lou won't kill me directly, because once I die, my name will disappear from the contract book, and when Liu Qiao appears in front of you again, you'll immediately know it's fake. He'll probably drug me, lock me up, keep me unconscious for a long time, and then find a copy to deceive you."
Recalling the danger at the time, Liu Qiao's face paled slightly. She gently clenched her fist to keep herself calm and continued, "I thought of a risky plan, which was to use the [Witch] card."
"The witch can conjure a poison and an antidote. I'm used to conjuring up the potions and carrying them with me every time I enter a dungeon, so I won't be caught off guard in a critical moment. This habit has helped me. Although he blocked the card's skill, I already had both potions in my hand and could take them directly. I took the poison before eating the pastry, and then immediately took the antidote."
Ye Qi scratched his head and said, "I remember that witches killed by Werewolf can't heal themselves from poison, right?"
Liu Qiao said, "This S card does not restrict the target of use."
Yu Hanjiang took the [Witch] card out of his pocket and handed it to Liu Qiao. Sure enough, both skills on it were already in a grayed-out "cooldown" state—this was a dungeon-limited card, which could only be used once per dungeon, and the witch only carried two potions.
The card's skill description states: "The witch can conjure a poison and an antidote, both of which can only be taken at night. Feeding the poison to a designated target will cause the target to die at dawn. Feeding the antidote to a designated target will make targets who died at night immune to death effects, revive them at dawn, and remove all negative status effects."
Used at night, only two potions are available, a feature consistent with the Werewolf Kill instance. The difference lies in the fact that the S-rank witch card's poison and antidote have no usage restrictions; you can poison enemies, teammates, or even yourself.
Liu Qiao said, "I will first take the poison, then the antidote, and finally eat the pastries he brought. That way, even if I faint at night after eating the pastries, the witch's poison will take effect at dawn, and I will die; then the antidote will take effect immediately, and I will be resurrected."
The teammates were terrified when they heard this.
If any link in this chain goes wrong, wouldn't Liu Qiao have poisoned herself to death?
Ye Qi gave a thumbs up in astonishment: "Self-poisoning and self-rescue, you can actually do it like this? Amazing!"
In the original Werewolf Kill instance, Liu Qiao's identity was the witch. After clearing the instance, everyone selected the S-rank card [Witch] and gave it to Liu Qiao. She had thoroughly researched the use of this S-rank card, which is why she used this self-poisoning and self-salvation method to deceive the clone controlling her.
Clone thought she was drugged, but little did he know that at dawn, the witch's two potions would take effect in succession, and Liu Qiao would immediately wake up. Xiao Lou always emphasized that the key was the flexible use of cards, and Liu Qiao truly lived up to her reputation as Professor Xiao's student and fan, mastering the art of playing with cards to perfection.
Xiao Lou asked, "When you woke up, were you in the clone lab?"
Liu Qiao nodded and said, "There aren't many places to hide in the palace, especially since I'm a Mermaid Princess. It would be hard to explain if I were discovered. He must have hidden the fake Liu Qiao in a place you could easily find to mislead you, while hiding me in a secret room. When I woke up, I was soaking in a vessel filled with blue liquid, surrounded by Professor Xiao, CEO Shao, Xiao Ye, Ninth Brother, and Mr. Tang… I didn't dare to go out, afraid that there were surveillance cameras in the lab, so I just lay in the nutrient solution pretending to be asleep."
If you calculate carefully, she was awake when it was dawn in the morning, and it wasn't until midnight that everyone rescued her. Liu Qiao was soaked in the nutrient solution for as long as 17 hours. She was really calm and collected, pretending to be asleep while soaking in it.
Upon hearing this, Ye Qi finally realized: "So, Professor Xiao had already discovered the problem with the Witch card? That's why when he returned the card holder to the fake Liu Qiao, Captain Yu specifically asked for the Witch card to prevent her from noticing the skill was on cooldown and becoming suspicious?"
Yu Hanjiang said: " Xiao Louyi "
To be meticulous. And clone Xiao Lou made a careless mistake, thinking he had drugged Liu Qiao, without checking Liu Qiao's card holder. He simply put the card holder back on the copy of Liu Qiao, which was his biggest error.
Xiao Lou said helplessly, "There's nothing we can do. There are too many clones in this secret room. To determine if a teammate is real or fake, we have to analyze many details, otherwise it's easy to fall for their tricks. Especially since the Hunter knows everything about our previous dungeon experiences."
Yu Hanjiang said, " Xiao Lou, number 5, is quite clever. He probably wants to hide the real Liu Qiao and make us believe that the fake Liu Qiao is real. When we enter the palace and find the real Liu Qiao, we will naturally be prejudiced and think that the Liu Qiao soaking in the nutrient solution is fake. Then, we will very likely kill Liu Qiao."
Liu Qiao, who crawled out of the nutrient solution, had blue liquid all over her hair, making her look more like a clone.
If they believed the Liu Qiao beside them, they would indeed conclude that the one in the lab was fake—when in fact, the one in the lab was the real one!
Ye Qi was terrified: "He didn't kill Liu Qiao because he was afraid that if he did, the name on the contract book would disappear, alerting the enemy. So, he wants to use a decoy—to kill his real teammate through our hands?!"
Upon hearing this, everyone got goosebumps.
If Professor Xiao hadn't been so observant and quickly identified the fake, and if Liu Qiao hadn't been so cautious and preserved her consciousness through self-poisoning... they might have actually burned Liu Qiao alive in the petri dish if they hadn't fallen into the trap. Just imagining that scene is terrifying; if that were the outcome, everyone would feel guilty for the rest of their lives!
Now that the cause and effect have finally been clarified, everyone felt relieved, and their palms couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
Gui Yuanzhang prompted: " The time for Li Qingzhao's teleportation marker has arrived."
Xiao Lou glanced at his teammates: "From now on, all nine of us will move together. Let's go."
A bright light flashed in Peach Blossom Spring, and the nine people vanished without a trace.
Meanwhile, at the end of a fork in the deep-sea maze, the nine people who had transformed into mermaids reappeared.
Xiao Lou didn't go directly to the left secret room to find clone number 5. He was certain that since the right secret room was the clone laboratory, the left one must be full of traps, and going in would be suicide.
Since his plan to lure everyone into the trap room by copying Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao has failed, he will definitely think of other ways to deal with everyone.
Xiao Lou whispered, "Go find the elders of the Merfolk Clan, Old Mo, please lead the way."
Old Mo nodded and turned to walk towards the other side of the maze.
******