Card Room

Endless Sea, day three.

The challengers floated on the vast waters and there were no accidents all morning. However, today's sun was too harsh. From 10 in the morning onward, the sun was like a huge fireball on the sea and the sea temperature was rising. Everyone was going to peel under the strong ultraviolet light.

Usually, everyone could do a good job with sun protection measures. They would wear sun hats and sunglasses or place sunscreen carefully on their cheeks, neck and arms. However, there was no such thing in the world of secret rooms. After one morning under the hot sun, everyone was collectively blackened.

By noon, Xiao Lou's cheeks and neck were red from the sun. A clear dividing line appeared on his neck. His sun was originally white so it was very obvious after becoming sunburned. His entire face was like a ripe apple.

Shao Qingge was also very uncomfortable and couldn't help asking, "Old Mo, will the data of the World Weekly secret rooms be cleared?"

In the previous secret rooms, the challengers' injuries automatically recovered after leaving. The sunburn would also automatically change back. However, this was the first time they were experiencing the World Weekly. Hearing this, everyone looked at Old Mo.

Old Mo smiled bitterly. "If injured in the World Weekly, it will be brought back to the main city. The data isn't erased."

Ye Qi couldn't help spitting out, "The sun is so strong and we will continue to drift at sea for four days. Once we return to the main city, won't it be like we went to Africa to dig coal?"

Long Sen had a big heart and was very optimistic. "Bronze skin is also good. We look healthy!"

Qu Wanyue looked at everyone with eyes full of worry. "Those who love sunbathing by the sea will still take sun protection measures. It isn't just a matter of becoming dark. I'm more worried that everyone will get sunburned."

Xiao Lou nodded. "Yes, now everyone's skin is just red and dark. If the sun keeps shining, the skin will severely lack water and become tight. It will even burn and tingle. If this continues, molting and blistering will occur. Please be careful. Don't use your nails to scratch if you become itchy. There are a lot of bacteria in the nails. If you scratch it at this time, it is likely to cause an infection."

Ye Qi felt his neck was itchy and just wanted to reach out to scratch it. He heard this and immediately retracted his fingers.

Yu Hanjiang wasn't afraid of the sun. He often did missions in the hot sun and his skin wasn't white. It didn't matter how dark he became. However, the ultraviolet rays at sea were too strong. Seeing Xiao Lou's red face, Yu Hanjiang was somewhat distressed.

Professor Xiao didn't have rough skin like him. The professor usually stayed in the office and definitely hadn't suffered from such a thing. Now that his entire body was exposed to the sun, wouldn't it be very uncomfortable? Yu Hanjiang looked anxiously at Xiao Lou and suggested, "Do you want to make a sunshade to hang on the boat? It isn't just the problem of sunburn. I'm afraid that everyone will get sunstroke."

Xiao Lou carefully thought about it before pulling out the White Silk and Scissors cards.

He cut the white silk into several pieces, followed by drawing several rings and cutting them into iron wires. He sewed the cloth strips together with the metal wires. Once all the cloth strips were connected, the length and width could cover the entire escape boat.

He also made some wires and bent them into arcs, passing them through the front, middle and back of the cloth curtain. Then he fixed the metal wires to both sides of the escape boat, so that the huge cloth curtain could 'cover' the entire escape boat.

He made a simple sunshade just like that. The sun shade effect of the white sunshade wasn't very good and it covered the boat like a funeral…

However, the secret room conditions were limited and they could only fit together like this. Xiao Lou looked at Ye Qi's big travel bag. "Put the food inside Long Sen's bag and give that bag for me to use."

For these two days, they had been eating the food in Ye Qi’s bag. At this time, the bag was mostly empty. Ye Qi heard this and put the remaining mineral water and biscuits into Long Sen’s backpack.

Xiao Lou took the bag and used the scissors to flexibly cut it apart. His slender fingers moved and in the blink of an eye, there were eight pieces of cloth. Then he measured the size, used the Compass and drew a circle, bending it. He actually made eight simple sunhats for everyone!

Xiao Lou smiled and gave his hat to everyone. "So you won't get sunburned."

His teammates, "……"

Too amazing! Ye Qi put the hat on his head and sighed. "Professor Xiao, what can't you do? If we go to the wilderness in the future, can you make a wok?"

Shao Qingge's eyes narrowed and he joked, "Professor Xiao is a must have for travelling. Any girl will probably be very happy to marry you… isn't that right, Group Leader Yu?"

Yu Hanjiang stared at him coldly. "What do you want me to say? Are you still in the mood to laugh?"

Shao Qingge shrugged. "It is too boring if I don't joke around. Don't we have to stay at sea for four days?'

Yu Hanjiang didn't answer and frowned unhappily.

It wasn't the first time Shao Qingge joked around. It was unknown why but when Shao Qingge joked about Xiao Lou, Yu Hanjiang inexplicably felt a bit angry. After finding that Xiao Lou didn't mind, Yu Hanjiang no longer paid attention to Shao Qingge and turned to look into the distance.

The more than 40 escape boats were drifting aimlessly at sea. Soon, they found that Xiao Lou's boat had made a sunshade for themselves and the eight people were wearing hats made of cloth. Next to them, someone exclaimed, "Oh my god, the people on that ship are too talented. They made sunhats!"

Someone excitedly said, "My bag is empty. Quickly take out the scissors. Hurry, I'm going to be tanned!"

Thus, everyone followed suit. Some people took out umbrella cards and raised them to block the sun. Others made sunshades out of clothes while someone put boards on top of the escape boat to block the sun. What's more, the food plastic bags were sewn together to make colourful umbrellas.

One female picked up a loudspeaker and shouted, "I have the Tool Card: Needle Thread. I can help you sew an umbrella. If you need it then come to my boat. It costs 10,000 for one. Bring your plastic bags and make a plastic umbrella!"

Xiao Lou, "…"

There was no shortage of intelligent people in this world. This sister actually started a business of 'sewing umbrellas' on the spot.

It was noon and the sun was hanging overhead. Most of the challengers left their escape boats in this area for lunch. The girl with the needle and thread were very popular. People immediately took plastic bags and rags to find the girl so she could help make the sunshade and hats. In a flash, the girl made thousands of gold coins.

Immediately after, another girl shouted, "Does anyone need to use the toilet? We have a temporary toilet with a flushing device here. The toilet can be used for 50,000 gold coins!"

50,000 gold coins were equivalent to 500 yuan.

"This is the most expensive toilet I've ever heard of! Is the toilet made from gold?"

The girl was the one who gave them the Temporary Toilet card this morning. She had two of the cards in her hand and started a business at this time. The surrounding challengers cursed, "Fuck, a toilet is so expensive. Isn't this stealing money?"

"There is no way. I can't hold it in my pants. The conditions at sea are limited. The toilet is better than nothing…"

"I can't hold it. I'll go!"

Gradually, some of the challengers started to go to the toilet with strange expressions. There was a long line at the girl's temporary toilet and she was very happy to collect money.

Xiao Lou helplessly said, "There are so many talents."

It was sad thinking about it. Everyone was forced to come to this in this wonderful world.

The main city had beautiful accommodation, delicious food and low prices. Challengers could easily own a house, car or even buy a villa with some gold coins. They just couldn't bring anything into the secret room, only cards. It was really embarrassing when encountering a situation of 'no place to urinate.'

They were drifting at sea for seven days and the human body had physiological needs. If this girl didn't have the toilet card, they might be even more embarrassed. Thus, it was right that she receive money for allowing the use of the toilet, even if it was expensive.

It seemed that if they had to pass the secret rooms in the future, they would have to collect cards for daily necessities. The lifestyle cards in the hands of Xiao Lou's team were too few.

***

Compared to collective diarrhea on the first day and the heavy storm on the second day, the third day seemed a bit calm. It was presumably to give the challengers a bit of cushion. There were no accidents on this day.

The only thing uncomfortable was the direct sunlight at sea. Even if everyone was inspired by Xiao Lou's actions and made a variety of shade, the sunlight was too strong. Everyone's skin became red, swollen and tingling. Some girls with sensitive skin started to peel and blister wildly. The entire challenger teams were lying in the sun and from time to time, people would curse. Xiao Lou's team was better. No one lost any skin.

In the evening, everyone stopped the boat again and settled down for dinner. Today's sunset was very beautiful but everyone was sunburned and wasn't in the mood to appreciate it. They all lay on the ship and closed their eyes.

Yu Hanjiang watched the sky and sunset and thought of many things. Lu Jiuchuan disappeared last night and never showed up again. It was unknown where he had gone. Seeing Lu Jiuchuan in this world, Yu Hanjiang's long-standing belief received a very strong shock. It was because he was clear that Lu Jiuchuan was cremated in reality. How could Lu Jiuchuan go back in such circumstances?

Go back and turn into a cloud of ashes? How much credibility did the keeper's words have and should they keep holding onto the hope of going back? Yu Hanjiang's heart was shaken for the first time.

Xiao Lou sensed his thoughts and whispered in his mind, "Group Leader Yu, have you heard of rebirth?"

Yu Hanjiang wondered, "What do you mean?"

Group Leader Yu obviously didn't read online texts.

Xiao Lou explained with a smile. "Popular online novels have many things about rebirth. The protagonist unexpectedly died and was reborn in the past, changing history. Although these novels are all fantasies, the world we are in can't be explained scientifically. Maybe there is the miracle of 'rebirth.' Even if your brother became ashes in reality, this doesn't mean there is no hope of survival. If we can go back to the past, won't he survive?"

Yu Hanjiang's eyes lit up. His fingers clenched into a fist as he looked back at Xiao Lou with disbelief. "You mean, the keeper sending us back is like letting us be reborn in the past?"

Xiao Lou nodded. "In reality, we should all be dead. The keeper can't let us return as corpses. Thus, my guess is that the keepers will control the flow of time, letting us go back in time to change history."

Yu Hanjiang, "………"

Professor Xiao was truly worthy of his high IQ. He saw through the core rules of the secret room world.

Time. The time flow rate in each secret room wasn't the same. Sometimes, after spending three days in the Hearts room and 30 minutes in the Clubs room, they could still meet in the Spades secret room. Obviously, the keepers had the ability to regulate time.

Moreover, the existence of the free people proved that the keepers could send everyone back to the past. For example, Xie Xinghe from 3 of Hearts, Maple Forest High School was now a policeman but they had gone back to Xie Xinghe's childhood. Li Mo of 4 of Hearts was now the largest real estate businessman but they returned to the train years ago, experiencing the plot of Li Zhemin planning to kill Li Zhemin, his scum father.

Going back in time was easy for the keeper.

Xiao Lou's speculation was reasonable. Only a return to the past could avoid accidents.

Lu Jiuchuan had died. Yu Hanjiang saw his body being cremated and this was an unalterable fact. However, what about three years ago? At that time, Lu Jiuchuan was still a brilliant soldier, the Navy's commando leader, Major Lu!

If time went back to three years ago, wouldn't Lu Jiuchuan be born again? He would know in advance that an accident would occur in the mission and could naturally find a way to avoid the danger.

Yu Hanjiang became even more excited. Xiao Lou's words thoroughly solved the mystery in his heart! The words of the keeper could be believed. All the dead would have a chance to be born again after clearing the world!

Reborn to the past before the accident happened.

Yu Hanjiang's ecstasy in his heart was simply impossible to describe. He held Xiao Lou's hand and his deep eyes regained the light of faith. "Professor Xiao, you are right. We can go back to the past and change history, so that the dead people can be reborn and my brother might also survive!"

Since meeting his brother, he had been very confused. He hadn't known how people who had become ashes could return. Now Professor Xiao had explained and the fogs cleared up, his heart suddenly became bright. If they could really go back in time and everyone could live in reality…

He must be transferred to the Jiangzhou Police Department earlier so he could get to know Xiao Lou earlier.

Thank you to jyzen for the lovely fanart of the four keepers!