There were one gold and one silver treasure box in 4 of Clubs. Liu Qiao had taken the reward from the golden treasure chest. If the other three wanted to end the game, they could only draw it from the silver treasure box. In other words, the three of them must land on either K of Spades or K of Clubs.
The masked man’s luck was still bad. He stepped into an ordinary Clubs grid and directly had 200,000 gold coins deducted. Since he didn’t have enough gold coins on his body, he could only accept the Clubs punishment. The method of punishment was that he couldn’t pick up the countless round gold coins that fell from the ceiling and hit him.
The man was beaten by the rain of gold coins and smiled bitterly after the punishment ended. “This punishment, is it called crushing me to death with money?”
He was able to find some joy in this suffering.
The Clubs teenager spoke lightly. “You have really bad luck today.”
The masked man looked at Liu Qiao. “Our team’s luck has probably been used up by Liu Qiao.”
Liu Qiao looked innocent. “You are unlucky. Don’t blame it on me.”
The masked man sighed. “Well… I hope I’m not too unlucky next time.”
The fifth round of the game began. Xiao Lou continued to move forward. This was still a long distance from K of Spades so he just casually threw it. It was a two and he walked into the Hearts grid. The question was still a review of the secret room. “In the Rose Funeral secret roo, what is Zou Xiaomei’s birthday? Countdown 5, 4, 3…”
Xiao Lou carefully examined the memories in his mind. In order to unlock the mobile phone, he had once inputted the deceased’s birthday as the password. This prompted an error and he had to finally unlock using the face. Xiao Lou quickly remembered the number and the countdown ended. ”July 17th.”
[The answer is correct. Random reward: a card in the card pack can rise to full level.]
This reward was too practical for Xiao Lou. The previous summoning cards he drew, Bai Juyi and Yuanming only had one skill at present. The second skill would only be unlocked at level 10.
Tao Yuanming’s Peach Blossom Spring had been used many times. It was level 9 and it would soon be level 10. He had only used Bai Juyi’s Old Charcoal Seller twice and had only grown once. The upgrade was extremely slow. It was a bonus that he could go straight to the full level.
Xiao Lou took the Bai Juyi card out of his pack and it truly rose to full level. To Xiao Lou’s surprise, the card’s full level wasn’t level 10 but level 30.
[Summoning Card: Bai Juyi]
Rarity: S
Description: After a clearance score of S, there is a very low probability of obtaining it from the limited card pool.
Additional Skill 1: Old Charcoal Seller
Bai Juyi once used poetry to describe the miserable life of an old charcoal man. His clothes were poor and he was worried about the charcoal being too cheap!
Use Bai Juyi’s Old Charcoal Seller skill and a charcoal fire can be produced in the designated location. The charcoal fire will last for 90 minutes and it is limited to one use a day.
Additional Skill 2: Song of the Pipa Player (Unlocked when the card grows to level 10)
Chattering and pattering, as pearls, large and small, on a jade plate fell. Like you, I am a forlorn soul. Now that we have met, does it matter that we never knew each other – From Bai Juyi’s Song of a Pipa Player
Use the ‘Pipa’ skill to play a clear and melodious Pipa melody. With Bai Juyi in the centre, all enemies within a 30 metres radius range will put down their weapons and listen to the sound of the pipa playing lie pearls falling on a jade plate. The pipa sound will last for 15 seconds. During this period, all targets in range will be confused and are likely to hurt teammates by mistaken when attacking.
The skill’s cooldown time is 4 hours.
Additional Skill 3: Song of Everlasting Regret (unlocked when the card grows to level 30).
Two birds flying in the sky side by side, two branches on earth inseparably intertwined, the sky and earth will not be eternal but the regret of our passing will last forever and never end.
Bai Juyi’s Song of Everlasting Regret describes the sad love story between Emperor Ming of Tang and his concubine Yang Guifei. Once the skill Song of Everlasting Regret is used, Bai Juyi will be the centre and all targets in a 30 metres radius will be infected by the sad love story. Their hearts are filled with sadness. All attacks will be stopped for 15 seconds. The skill cooldown time is 4 hours.]
Bai Juyi’s initial skill was only Old Charcoal Seller. This created a charcoal fire and had no offensive power. The first time Xiao Lou drew Bai Juyi, he felt that one skill didn’t meet the strength of an S-grade card.
He didn’t expect that the full level Bai Juyi was a card with three skills! The second skill unlocked at level 10 and the final skill unlocked at level 30 were very strong, large-scale control skills.
The Pipa skill created 15 seconds of confusion while Song of Everlasting Regret created 15 seconds of group silence. It was a radius of 30 metres with Bai Juyi in the centre. This was equivalent to a diameter of 60 metres and was the most powerful group control skill Xiao Lou had seen at present.
Yu Hanjiang stood nearby and saw Bai Juyi’s full level. His eyes flashed with surprise as he asked, “This card actually has three skills?”
Xiao Lou nodded. “In the beginning, the card description only said the second skill would be unlocked at level 10. Unexpectedly, a third skill appeared after the second skill. A full level S-grade card is really strong.” Tao Yuanming’s description was similar to Bai Juyi and it was likely that Tao Yuanming also had three skills. However, now the growth was only level 10 and there are no subsequent skill description.
Xiao Lou thought that if he later walked to the Hearts grid, the reward to increase the card skill to full level would be great. However, it backfired and he didn’t enter Hearts. For two rounds in a row, he landed on the Clubs grid. The first time, he had 100,000 gold coins deducted and the second time he gained 100,000 gold coins. It was equivalent to nothing.
For the next two rounds, Yu Hanjiang landed on Diamonds. However, this time it happened to be a Chinese characters arrangement and poetry arrangement. The first question happened to be be Bai Juyi’s ‘spring river, blossoming morning and autumn moonlit night.’ Yu Hanjiang successfully spelled it out in five seconds and won the Tool Card: Night Pearl.
In the next round, Yu Hanjiang entered Diamonds and drew ‘I look for what I miss; I know not what it is. I feel so sad, so drear, So lonely, without cheer.’ Yu Hanjiang remembered this and spelled it out in five seconds. The result was that he got another Night Pearl!
Xiao Lou couldn’t help wondering, “Why are there so many Night Pearls?”
Yu Hanjiang slightly frowned as he held the two Night Pearls. “Is this card’s drop rate deliberately raised?”
The Clubs teenager nodded. “The Diamonds keeper has her own considerations for providing you with these rewards. At this stage, almost everyone can get a Night Peal and the extra ones can be sold in the main city. This shows that a future Diamonds room is likely to have a dark maze and requires each of you to explore different paths, each one holding your own Night Pearl. Understand?”
Xiao Lou finally understood.
In fact, the masked man’s summary was right. This time, Card Flying Chess was designed as a ‘reward and punishment level’ and was very similar to a school examination. Challengers could get many rewards in this level, such as upgrading cards, getting necessary tool card or earning some gold coins. This would help them deal with more difficult levels after entering the main city. It was like playing a low-level dungeon in a game, gaining pieces of equipment and then challenging high-level dungeons.
The Diamonds little girl increased the drop rate of Night Peak, showing that the later Diamonds room would have dark scenes or a dark maze. There might be all types of dangerous events, such as the sudden emergence of wild beasts from around a corner. The previous 2~4 of Diamonds were light and easy but it definitely wouldn’t be good at clearing the instance after 5 of Diamonds.
If they made good use of this ‘entrance examination’, they could get many words. The longer they walked around the board, the more rewards there might be. However, the number of punishments might also increase.
This corner contained K of Spades. At this time, Xiao Lou was six steps away from K of Spades, Yu Hanjiang was seven steps away and the masked man was only one step away. However, whether they could step on K of Spades and directly clear the instance depended on the number thrown.
Xiao Lou threw first. It was a three and he landed on Diamonds! He thought this Diamonds’s grid would be poetry again like Group Leader Yu. Xiao Lou could close his eyes and easily succeed. Unexpectedly, this time a maze appeared on the big screen and there was a prompt. “Please find the correct maze exit in eight seconds.”
Xiao Lou looked at the curved maze in front of him and was stunned for a moment. However, he soon calmed down and searched the maze for a way out. This was a 回 shaped maze and there were often dead ends. Eight seconds was too short. By the end of the countdown, Xiao Lou still hadn’t found a way out. A red exclamation mark appeared on the screen. “The challenge has failed. Please accept the punishment!”
Failing the Diamonds grid was something Xiao Lou had never expected. After all, he was best at mechanisms but he wasn’t very good at mazes, especially complex ones. Finding a way out in eight seconds? His eyes were going to be dizzy.
Xiao Lou smiled bitterly. “What is the punishment this time?”
Yu Hanjiang came forward from behind him. “I’ll take it for him.”
The Clubs teenager with facial paralysis turned to look at Yu Hanjiang. “Do you want to replace him again?”
Yu Hanjiang replied lightly, “In any case, I am already wet. There is no difference between being wet once or twice.”
He gently pushed Xiao Lou to the side and stood in Xiao Lou’s location. Xiao Lou hadn’t had time to react when he heard a loud noise and Yu Hanjiang once again fell into the pit and a large bucket of water poured on him.
Xiao Lou, “……”
After being drenched once again, Yu Hanjiang returned to the ground and calmly wiped the water from his face. He glanced at Xiao Lou and stated, “In later Diamonds grids, I will replace you if you are punished.”
Xiao Lou looked at him with worry. “Won’t you catch a cold?”
Yu Hanjiang was calm. “It’s fine, I’m in good health. I once spent all night in the rain without catching a cold.”
He looked at Xiao Lou. Professor Xiao was educated and shouldn’t have suffered such a crime before. What’s more, it was hard to imagine what it would be like for a man who had always been gentle and graceful to be covered with water. In any case, Yu Hanjiang was already soaked and it made no difference to continue to be soaked.
Xiao Lou saw that this person was determined to replace himself and didn’t know what his heart was feeling.
He had been independent from an early age and even his parents hadn’t protected him so much. Now that Group Leader Yu had received the punishment twice for him, his heart was really upset. “It’s fine, my physical strength has recovered and I can do the later ones.’
Yu Hanjiang’s lips slightly curved. “So you want a cold water shower and to be drenched like me?”
Xiao Lou smiled. “This is common sharing joys and sorrow.”
Yu Hanjiang’s stared blankly and his heartbeat stalled. Share joys and sorrow? A good teammate deserved it.
He didn’t know why but he was reluctant to let Xiao Lou experience these strange punishments. Water and putting hands in a box of spiders… this wasn’t something that Xiao Lou should do.
The two people were looking at each other when the Clubs teenager interrupted. “Please don’t ignore the presence of the keeper and continue to play.”
If he remembered correctly, the two men had ignored him many times?
Yu Hanjiang coughed lightly and continued throwing the dice. He was seven grids away from K of Spades. This time, he threw a five and stepped on Clubs, triggering a reward. “Gained 200,000 gold coins!”
They didn’t lack gold coins and this reward was useless for both of them.
It was the masked man’s turn to cast the die. He was only one step away from K of Spades. As long as he threw a one, he could directly draw from the silver chest and then end the game. Unfortunately, the masked man’s luck was really bad today. He threw a two!
The masked man didn’t know if he should laugh or cry as he crossed K of Spades and landed on Diamonds. He felt that he must not have washed his hands today. This time, the Diamonds grid was still a maze. He didn’t answer and was drenched with water.
The masked man cried out, “Is the punishment also set by the keeper? Why does the little girl like to drench people with water?”
“She likes to raise flowers and often waters them,” the Clubs teenager explained. “She says it is the gentlest way to punish them.”
Xiao Lou could see clearly that the punishment of Hearts was to leave cards behind, Diamonds was the water, Spades was all types of thrilling experiences and Clubs was to leave gold coins behind.
He was three steps away from K of Spades. Xiao Lou quietly prayed that he would throw a three as he took the die and threw it. The result was that he threw a one and could only take one step forward.
“The reward is 200,000 gold coins!”
Xiao Lou thought that this reward was of no use. He didn’t know that Liu Qiao was full of envy at the sight. For Liu Qiao, who didn’t have any money on her body, 200,000 gold coins was a huge sum. If she knew that Professor Xiao wanted to reject the 200,000 then she would probably cough up blood.
It was Yu Hanjiang’s turn and all eyes were on him. He was two steps away from K of Spades. Yu Hanjiang calmly threw the die.
Xiao Lou stared at the die while praying, ‘A two, a two…’
He didn’t know if his prayer had played a role but after the die rotated a few times, it actually landed on a two! Yu Hanjiang also didn’t expect to have such good luck. He bypassed Xiao Lou and stopped on K of Spades.
He looked back at Xiao Lou and the other person smiled. “Go and draw it.”
In the end, there was only a silver chest left and the game would be over, although the masked man was unwilling. Liu Qiao had all the good luck of their team and he could only watch another team take away the chest.
Yu Hanjiang reached into the silver chest.
[Congratulations on getting the S-grade Equipment Card: Amulet].
[Equipment Card: Amulet]
Rarity: S
Description: There is a probability of acquiring it from a reward draw.
Usage: Sign your name on the Amulet to make it your own. Give it to someone else and you can take on their damage for the next 10 hours. If a teammate encounters deadly attacks, teleport teammates to your side instantly.
Restrictions: The Amulet can only be used once and it is equivalent to giving a teammate a second life.]
The equipment card was similar to the S-grade Light Feather Clothes that was drawn previously. However, this Amulet was given to a teammate after signing it and was equivalent to a gold medal for teammates to avoid death. The Light Feather Clothes was worn on the person’s body and was similar to an extra life.
Yu Hanjiang put the card in his card pack and looked at the Clubs teenager. “The chest has been drawn from and the game should be over?”
The facial paralysis teenager stood up from the sofa and said, “Congratulations on clearing 4 of Clubs, Card Flying Chess. Since you have passed the fourth level secret rooms, the main cities of the Card World will be open to you. Please selected one of the City of the Moon or City of the Sun to enter.”
