Chapter 64 – Financial Crisis 24: Conclusion

Day seven, night.

Xiao Lou organized the last dinner. The dinner was very rich. In the spirit of ‘no waste’, the rest of the food was eaten.

By 24:00 tonight, everyone would be able to pass the instance.

The 14 people sat together with mixed hearts.

The bearded uncle drank two cans of beer and smiled. “It is like a dream. We worked together to clear the instance. The Spades secret room is a game but it seemed that we all understood it incorrectly…”

A pale girl added, “Yes, when I heard about the survival room, my first thought was to find a way to live. In fact, it is easier to live if we join forces.”

Next to her, a man said, “If we encounter a worse environment, I think we can follow this experience. The challengers will work together to hunt, cook and keep watch at night. This will make us more powerful!”

Xiao Lou saw everyone’s confident expressions and couldn’t bear to hit them.

However, in order to prevent these people from blindly believing in others, Xiao Lou gave words of caution. “Don’t forget about Liu Tong who mixed in with the challengers to steal a large number of materials. I am certain that this world has a special organization targeting challengers. We shouldn’t trust strangers and should first identify the other person before joining hands.”

Everyone heard this and were frightened in their hearts. They almost forgot that there was likely to be traitors among the challengers. If they blindly believed others, perhaps they would fall into a traitor’s trap and end up killed.

Xie Qi spoke positively, “I think Brother Xiao’s method is really good. The challengers must’ve experienced many secret rooms and this organization is most likely to be found in Spades. They might not necessarily know about the Diamonds and Hearts rooms. If we doubt the identity of the other side, we can use these experiences to test them.”

Everyone, who had been enlightened, nodded. “Yes, ask them about the mechanisms found in 2 of Diamonds or who died in 2 of Hearts. If they look awkward then it means they aren’t challengers!” “This is a good way. People in this secret room world might not regard the space they live in as a secret room. They treat us as foreigners and we can distinguish them by using a few testing words.”

Xiao Lou spoke again, “There is another suggestion. It is best to team up with people in advance and don’t be on your own. Those on their own are easy to be targeted.”

The bearded uncle agreed. “Yes, either team up in advance and become familiar with your teammates or like me, just break through alone. If randomly matched with a teammate, perhaps the teammate will be a traitor.”

Everyone was worried when thinking of the experience where their materials were stolen.

The sky had completely darkened and they weren’t sleepy at all as they sat around as a group.

The 14 people sat together and were chatting when Xiao Lou asked everyone, “Did you come to this world because you experienced an accident in reality?”

People talked about their own experiences. There were car accidents, sudden illnesses, accidentally cut to death, explosions, etc.

Xiao Lou asked again, “Did you come into contact with playing cards before you died?”

The bearded uncle spoke first, “I love to play Fight the Landlord and I play it every day on my phone.” “I played with a friend.” “I learned just a while ago…” “I played Four Hearts with my brothers and sisters on New Year’s Day.”

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other.

The selection rules of this world were to indeed have contact with playing cards. However, it was still uncertain about the sequence of the accident and the contact with playing cards.

A girl looked at Xiao Lou and whispered, “Brother, can we really go back?”

Xiao Lou smiled. “I don’t know… but if we give up, we will never be able to go back.”

The group fell silent at the same time.

Don’t give up. They might not know the ending but there was a ray of hope. Once they gave up, they wouldn’t be able to go back.

Just the thought of staying in this crazy world and experiencing all types of secret rooms every day caused them to collapse.

……

The time was approaching 24:00 and everyone was nervous.

Once the pointer reached 24:00, a line appeared on the suspension box above Xiao Lou’s head.

[Congratulations to Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang for smoothly clearing the 3 of Spades secret room, Financial Crisis. The instance clearance score is S. Please return to the personal space for the settlement of rewards.]

The other people saw their own names above their heads.

Someone jumped excitedly, “I can finally leave this damned place!” “I also cleared the instance!” “Great, it is cleared!” “Everyone has cleared the instance?”

The group was excited for a while before the girl suddenly choked up, “Brother Xiao, Old Han, Xiao Xie and Young Qin, thank you. If it wasn’t for you, I might’ve been killed by the thugs.”

Another young man said, “Yes, thank you to the great gods for taking us through the instance!”

The couple came over and bowed. “Thank you for taking us in.”

The two young men who went to jail also ran over. “Thank you, big brothers!”

Surrounded by a sea of gratitude, Xiao Lou smile and spoke friendly words.

The bearded uncle sighed and walked over, putting a hand on Xiao Lou’s shoulder and whispering, “Young man, I don’t know how l can live but I am very optimistic about you. I hope that in the Card World, there will be more people like you.”

If only all the challengers in the secret room had their own courage and were willing to join other challengers to clear the instance, keeping their principles and not killing innocent people.

Would the challengers of this world be much better off?

Xiao Lou’s heart trembled slightly as he nodded to the uncle. “Old Beard, everything went well.”

The bearded uncle laughed. “We lived for today. I hope to see everyone again!”

He was the first to leave 3 of Spades.

The other challengers came over to say goodbye to Xiao Lou, leaving in turn.

Someone was cheeky and asked, “Brother, is your team still lacking people? If you are missing someone, you can take me…”

Xiao Lou smiled and declined. “Sorry, my contract is full.”

The other side had to wave regretfully and turned away.

Once all the other challengers were gone, Xie Qi looked at Xiao Lou and whispered, “Professor Xiao, what about me? Could you add me…”

Xiao Lou smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “You already have a team booked. Aren’t you going to 3 of Hearts with Shao Qingge?”

Xie Qi’s eyes brightened. “Great!” He looked back at Shao Qingge and spoke seriously, “Rest assured, I will be obedient in 3 of Hearts.”

Shao Qingge smile slightly. “Just listen to me.”

In any case, he received spoilers from Xiao Lou and knew the situation. As a Hearts room slag, this time he was confident of getting a perfect clearance with the little guy who scored S.

Yu Hanjiang reminded, “You must first buy a contract and bind together. Otherwise, you are alone now and might not necessarily encounter each other when randomly matching.”

“Leave it to me.” Shao Qingge glanced at Xie Qi. “Once you return to your personal space, don’t rush to draw cards and wait for my contract invitation. Once you sign the contract, I will directly pull you into 3 of Hearts.”

Xie Qi nodded enthusiastically. “I understand!”

Xiao Lou said, “Then we will follow the original plan. The two of you will go to 3 of Hearts while Group Leader Yu and I will go to 3 of Clubs. Once you reach the fourth level, you will go to Clubs and we will go to Hearts, then continue to meet in Spades. Wait until all the C-grade secret rooms are cleared and then you will tear up your contract. I will upgrade the contract and invite you. Then everyone will be able to team together.”

Shao Qingge nodded quickly. “No problem.”

Xie Qi was naturally obedient. “Okay, Professor Xiao, Group Leader Yu, goodbye! I will see you in 4 of Spades!”

Xie Qi and Shao Qingge also left.

A countdown appeared in the floating box, followed by the option ‘Leave the secret room.’

Xiao Lou looked out into the distance. Under the cold moonlight, the city with no water and electricity seemed to be shrouded in a thick haze.

He didn’t know if the city would refresh after the challengers left.

Would it return to its original appearance? Or was it going to be completely abandoned by the secret room and become a financial doomsday with the prices fixed at 128 times?

They had experienced a lot in this city.

They met the young and promising entrepreneurial boss Shao Qingge and the musical teenager who disguised himself as a garbage collector. He knew the situation of the Nightmare Room and discovered the existence of the mysterious organization hunting challengers. He heard rumours about the City of the Moon and finally fought together with so many challengers, pulling off a beautiful victory and earning some gold coins.

There was a lot of harvest and a successful instance clearance.

However, Xiao Lou found it difficult to calm down his mood.

He took one final look at the city covered by the night and took a deep breath before smiling at Yu Hanjiang. “Let’s go, Group Leader Yu. We have to continue to break through.”

Yu Hanjiang nodded and pressed the ‘leave’ option.

Darkness covered their vision.

Once it was restored again, they were already sitting in a helicopter.

The familiar roar of propellers came from above their heads and the transparent glass under their feet showed the darkness of the city.

In the driver’s seat of the helicopter was a man wearing a pair of sunglasses, the corners of his mouth raised in a cold arc.

It was the keeper they hadn’t seen for a long time, A of Spades.

[End of Financial Crisis]