Chapter 58 – Financial Crisis 18: To Believe

Yu Hanjiang locked up the owner of the Shanshui Guesthouse along with the corpse of Liu Tong on the ground floor of the construction site. The boss trembled with horror. “D-Don’t lock me up with the dead! Let me go! I’ll give you money! I’ll return all the accommodation expenses from those days. No, I’ll double them!”

Shao Qingge heard up to here and whispered in Xiao Lou’s ear. “We should make another trip to the Shanshui Guesthouse. He received so much cash from us and perhaps he still has it. This is our money and it isn’t too much to get it back.”

He could really calculate the accounts. Xiao Lou also felt this method was feasible and told the boss, “Be obedient alone and don’t have any crooked ideas. We have to discuss if we will let you go or not.”

The four men tied up the owner of the guesthouse and quickly counted the supplies in the van.

At a rough estimate, the boss and free person called Liu Tong jointly committed the crime and stole from at least 20 foreigners. After killing these foreigners and selling the supplies, they would definitely make a killing.

The boss said the man’s name was Liu Tong but it was unknown if this was a real name or pseudonym.

Xiao Lou remembered the ‘Dictionary’ reward from the 3 of Diamonds secret room. He pulled the card out of the card package and turned to the free person section of the dictionary to take a closer look. The third page actually showed Liu Tong’s information.

[Liu Tong.

Male, 41.

Height 180cm, weight 75kg.

Identity: Free person, member of the mysterious organization of the City of the Moon.

Secret Rooms Roamed: Spades survival secret room.

Note: The 3 of Spades secret room’s mission failed and he died.

Cause of death: Suicide by poison.

Yu Hanjiang saw that Xiao Lou was seriously looking at the dictionary and also came to take a look. He frowned, “Mysterious organization? It seems the di will only display the information we know and no spoilers.”

Xiao Lou pointed to the dictionary. “Group Leader Yu, do you see the third line? He only roams the Spades survival secret rooms. I don’t know if this is an example or if the members of the organization only kill challengers in the Spades secret rooms?”

Yu Hanjiang thought about it before saying, “It might be limited to the Spades secret room. After all, Hearts is a reasoning room and the plot if basically fixed. The Diamonds room is mechanism oriented while the Clubs room is a confrontation between challengers. The Spades room is survival and it is convenient for them to kill challengers.”

If all four types of secret rooms had an organization that slaughtered challengers then the challengers wouldn’t be able to act. It seemed that the Spades secret room was the most dangerous while Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs were safe for the time being.

Xie Qi also put his head together to look at the dictionary and asked curiously, “What is the City of the Moon?”

Shao Qingge stated, “I remember that in the taxi, the driver said that the City of the Moon is the most prosperous city in the world. There are large casinos there.”

Xiao Lou rubbed his chin and speculated. “Maybe it is like a game’s main city? It is a place with many challengers as well as other forces and organizations. Our level is currently too low to enter.”

Yu Hanjiang agreed. “It is possible that clearing all the C-grade… or even the B-grade rooms will unlock it.”

Shao Qingge pinched his brow. “I hope we can rest. Clearing one room after another with no break is very tiring.”

Everybody agreed with the words. They really wanted to find a safe place where they could sleep until they woke up naturally.

It was already early in the morning and Yu Hanjiang suggested, “You should go upstairs to sleep for a while. I will stay here to keep vigil.”

Xiao Lou told him, “I will accompany you.”

Yu Hanjiang turned to look at him. “Professor Xiao, you should go upstairs to sleep. It is a better environment.”

Xiao Lou smiled. “It doesn’t matter. Previously, I slept in the corridor in 3 of Hearts. This is a truck and we can sit inside.” He turned back to Shao Qingge and Xie Qi. “Chief Shao and Xiao Xie should go upstairs and drop a bug in the northwest corner room to check if there are any abnormalities with the six people we caught.”

Shao Qingge and Xie Qi turned to leave while Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang sat in the truck.

Yesterday morning, they caught the thieves while this morning, they went to the Shanshui Guesthouse to save the challengers. They hadn’t slept for two days and their bodies were very tired. The two people took turns sleeping for two hours. They didn’t sleep well and the sky was soon bright.

At 7:30 in the morning, the two people opened a bottle of mineral water to briefly wash their faces and brush their teeth. Then they went upstairs to wake up Shao Qingge and Xie Qi. Everyone had breakfast and started to prepare.

A note was stuffed into the rooms last night and the challengers would soon arrive.

In order to avoid any unnecessary armed disputes, Xiao Lou decided to find a way to make the challengers obedient.

***

At this time, the Shanshui Guesthouse.

The challengers who found the stolen supplies the moment they woke up were stunned.

The several challengers immediately came to the corridor and questioned each other. They found that everyone’s supplies had been stolen.

Even stranger, they held a note that read: The thieves have been captured by us and the supplies have temporarily been sent to the construction site in the western suburbs. Please come to pick them up at 8 a.m.

Several challengers looked ugly while a girl stated, “Everything hidden under the bed was stolen and I didn’t even know. Was I drugged?”

The girls’ faces changed as they worried about whether they had been taken advantage of.

A young man exclaimed, “Do you believe this note? I don’t believe it. Would someone be kind enough to steal the goods and then return it to us? This is obviously a trap to deliberately lead us to the construction site!”

Someone else said, “Maybe it is the thief who wrote the note and is leading us there to kill us!”

Someone else immediately objected, “Do you have a brain? If they wanted to kill us, wouldn’t it be easier to do it last night while we were dead asleep?”

A girl asked timidly, “Should we not go? If there is a trap waiting over there, we won’t be able to keep even our lives. The goods might be stolen but today is already the fourth day. There are three days to clear the instance. Can’t we survive even if we don’t eat or drink?”

A person next to her agreed. “Yes, isn’t there someone who survived seven days in the wilderness. As long as we can get through these days, it isn’t a big deal to eat leaves and hunt.”

A man scolded, “Are you stupid? This isn’t the wilderness, it is the city! I explored on the first day and there are high-rise buildings everywhere. There is no wilderness yet you want to play like it is the wilderness? Then be careful that starving locals don’t slaughter you for stew and eat you.”

Someone yelled, “Do you have to scare people? Isn’t eating human flesh too much of an exaggeration?”

The challengers in the corridor expressed their views and bickered endlessly. Suddenly, a middle-aged man’s angry voice rang out from the back. “Shut the fuck off. Arguing with each other at this time, do you want to die quickly?”

The group turned back and saw an uncle with a long beard walking over.

The man’s eyes swept across the group. “How did you survive the Hearts room with this IQ? Don’t you know how to analyze?”

Several people wanted to be angry but they were coldly interrupted by the man. “If the other side just wanted to steal things, there was no need to leave a note for us to get the supplies. They would’ve already run with the supplies. If the thief wanted to kill us, everyone was drugged last night. They could’ve casually set a fire to destroy our bodies. Why wait until morning and specifically write a note to lead us to the construction site to kill us?”

The group thought carefully and suddenly understood that the uncle’s words were reasonable.

The bearded uncle stated, “It is meaningless to argue. I am going to the construction site to find out what’s going on. Anyone who is unwilling can go their own way.”

Two people stood behind him. “We will go and see.”

A young girl also followed. “This uncle is reasonable. If the other side really wants to kill us, why not do it last night when everyone was asleep and why leave a note sending us to the construction site? There is no need for such trouble.”

Another person agreed. “I also think the contents of the note might be true. No matter what, I will go first and see.”

Of course, there were people who worried it was a trap and decisively left the team. “We won’t go.”

“I-I won’t go. I always think it was a trap.”

Out of 12 people, four left and only eight people left to go to the construction site.

The bearded uncle sighed. “I thought that those who could reach the third level wouldn’t be stupid. I didn‘t expect there to still be many fools. Don’t care about the four people. I will warn you first. Don’t make a disturbance when going to the construction site later. If I guessed correctly, there will be big people in this secret room to take us through the instance.”

The remaining six looked at each other with surprise.

The uncle frowned. “Don’t you know what happened with other challengers. The two people in room 207, they left every day with a travel bag to explore the situation. The day before yesterday, a couple had their supplies stolen. Then the two men disappeared and didn’t come back. Maybe they discovered something wasn’t normal at the guesthouse. Last night, they came back and took care of the thieves.”

Seeing the group’s blank faces, the uncle smiled. “Were the few girls frightened and hid in their rooms, not going out?”

Some of the girls looked awkward and one of them wondered, “Uncle, you mean there are great players among the challengers? They took care of the thieves and are willing to help us?”

The bearded uncle nodded. “This is the most reasonable speculation. Otherwise, how can you explain the notes in the rooms and the sudden disappearance of the boss? Would the free people in the secret room be so idle, stealing our things and leaving a note for us to play a hide and seek game? Besides, the note reveals a lot of details. You should take a closer look.”

Some people immediately bowed their heads and looked carefully.

The uncle explained, “The first note has the neatest and clearest handwriting. Later, the handwriting is written more and more hastily and the pen ran out of ink. Apparently, the situation was an emergency and he couldn’t write too much. He seized the time to finish quickly, which is why there is such a big difference.”

A girl was pleasantly surprised. “Yes, we stayed in the innermost room on the second floor. The last words on this note really looks like the ballpoint pen had run out of ink. The words are very light in colour and can barely be recognized…”

The uncle continued to remind them, “Look at the pen on the front desk of the guesthouse.”

The group looked back and saw there was an ‘opinion book.’ Several pieces of paper were torn off it and exactly matched with the notes in their hands. In addition, the ballpoint pen next to the book really had no ink.

Obviously, last night, the people’s time to write the notes was very short. They helped themselves to the pen and paper to leave everyone information, really wanting to help. If this trap was planned in advance, it would be impossible for the note to be written so unclearly.

A few people were ashamed. The young man who first questioned it changed his opinion. “Uncle, are you a master of the Hearts secret room? So many de could be found…”

The bearded uncle smiled bitterly. “I was also forced out by the Hearts room and can’t help observing details everywhere I go. The clues left by the people who wrote the note were so obvious but those four challengers didn’t notice. I don’t know how miserably they will die in the Hearts secret room.”

This made several people feel a lingering fear.

It seemed that the secret rooms could really force out the potential of people. One by one, they were becoming detectives!

***

Due to the bearded uncle’s careful analysis, everyone put down half of their worries. After all, it was merely a reasoned guess. Maybe someone would deliberately set a trap in this way.

On the way, the uncle who became the leader said, “Prepare your cards in advance. If something goes wrong and there is an attack then we can’t fall into a passive situation.”

Each of them took out their more aggressive cards and were ready to fight at any time.

However, as soon as they walked into the construction site, they were covered by rings that landed one by one to cover them. They almost fell into poop!

Before they could react to what happened, they saw a handsome and smiling man suddenly appear next to the truck. His hands were gently lifted and a number of different sized silver rings floated around his fingers. This scene was like magnificent magic.

Several challengers were startled but the uncle was steady and he immediately asked, “What is this for?”

Xiao Lou smiled. “Don’t worry, I am temporarily controlling you to avoid you doing anything radical or staring an unnecessary armed conflict. I’m not malicious. Listen to me first, okay?”

After finding that the group didn’t show any signs of acting, Xiao Lou took out his phone and sent a message. “Chief Shao, bring the boss over.”

Shao Qingge marched the owner of the guesthouse. Everyone knew the owner and were shocked when seeing him. “Isn’t this Boss Zhang?”

“You captured the owner of the guesthouse?”

“Yes, he drugged the mosquito coils and made you fall unconscious. He also stole your supplies along with someone with the surname of Liu and wanted to set fire to you before selling the supplies for money. This happened to be discovered by us.” Xiao Lou smiled at the boss. “Am I right?”

Boss Zhang had been tied up all night and his face was grey as he trembled. “Yes, right… please let me go. I still have money in my hands. I will give you money! The accommodation fees from the past few days will be free! Let me go back!”

The challengers exchanged looks.

Xiao Lou went on to say, “The Shanshui Guesthouse is an inn that kills and robs guests. We went there last night to catch the boss and thieves. Your materials were already in the truck and it wasn’t convenient for us to move them. We were also afraid of them being robbed by other citizens so we drove to the construction site for the time being.”

One girl was grateful. “You were really the ones who saved us? Thank you, thank you so much!”

The bearded uncle laughed. “I said earlier that if they wanted to be unfavourable to us, they would’ve set a fire to kill all of us last night when we were unconscious. Who would leave a note and wait until dawn to clean us up?”

“Yes, thank you kind people. If not for you, we wouldn’t know how we had died!”

“I also wanted to thank Uncle to help us analyze that there were presumably masters helping. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have come to the construction site!” A girl looked gratefully at the bearded uncle.

“Oh?” Xiao Lou asked with interest. “This big brother guessed we were trying to help?”

“Yes, I saw some details from the note you left.” The man was forthright when retelling his analysis.

Xiao Lou was very surprised and didn’t expect there to be such a clever person among the challengers.

It looked like the bearded uncle was the most careful one in the group.

It was right that he and Group Leader Yu went to save people. There might be some selfish, cold-blooded and vicious people but there were also smart and kind challengers who tried to pass the instance without burning, looting or violating human nature.

Moreover, the Card World had a large organization specifically aiming at challengers. If the challengers weren’t united then it would only get harder and harder in the future.

In Xie Qi’s previous secret room, the challengers survived to the fifth day until Liu Tong led the prisoners to them.

The prisoners should also contain members of Liu Tong’s organization. Liu Tong had previously said that he would have his brothers find the foreigners with the surnames of Xiao and Yu. The ‘brothers’ mentioned by him must be the prisoners.

On the fifth day, the challengers were likely to clash head on with the prisoners.

They had to either run away ahead of time and hide so that the prisoners couldn’t find them.

Or sit back and wait to kill this group of prisoners.

Thinking up to here, Xiao Lou smiled. “I have a suggestion. If you trust me, follow me to act together. How about we join forces to clear the 3 of Spades secret room?”