Card Room

The temple hadn't been cleaned for a long time. The corner of the building was covered with cobwebs, the ground was full of dust and the smashed fragments of the mountain god statue were scattered everywhere. They definitely wouldn't be able to sleep directly in this environment.

Since they decided to use this broken temple as a temporary base, they had to clean up the rubbish. Yu Hanjiang looked around, headed to the back of the building to pull up a bunch of long weeds and made two brooms. The four of them cleaned up the room. After cleaning the building, Xiao Lou found some hay on the ground and made a large bed. Everyone sleeping on the hay was better than their backs directly touching the cold ground.

At this point, the floating boxes above the four people showed: [Liuxi Village, current time 3:00.]

The surroundings were quiet since the other challengers had left the temple. The four people sat on the hay and Xiao Lou asked thoughtfully, "After entering Liuxi Village, w haven't eaten yet? Should we have a late meal?"

It was dusk when they were thrown into the village. The villagers had been walking around and the challengers had been hiding and watching the village carefully. Therefore, they all forgot about their meals. Now that Xiao Lou raised this point, everyone felt hungry.

Ye Qi touched his hungry stomach. "We have no food and this is an isolated village. Even if we have a million gold coins, we can't take it out to use. Ah, it is a pity that there is no place to spend money!"

Xiao Lou smiled at him. "Didn't 3 of Spades give a supplies package as a reward?"

Ye Qi remembered the card and immediately took out the Supplies Package card. He opened it and sure enough, it said 'available: mineral water x1, compressed biscuits x1, instant noodles x1. It was just that this card had a limit. It could only be used once in every secret room.

Ye Qi couldn't help spitting out, "A of Spades is too stingy. He gave us so little to eat and it can only be used once in every secret room. If we use it today, we won't be able to use it for the next six days."

Xiao Lou said, "This is an emergency supplies package. It is to rescue us when we can't find food. For example, in a later Spades room we might be thrown into a desert or snowy environment where it is hard to find food. At that time, this supplies package can save lives."

Ye Qi nodded. Yes, this world isn't hard to find food compared to the desert or snow. At least we don't have to worry about drinking water. We are next to a mountain spring."

Yu Hanjiang stated, "The supplies card can be kept first. We can use a bamboo tube to drink the spring water. As for eating…" He turned to look at the moon outside the window and stood up. "I will find a way."

Xiao Lou asked in a confused manner, "Group Leader Yu, you want to go into the mountains to hunt?"

"Isn't there a pond in the north of the village? I will go see if there are any fish. There might also be fish in the streams." Yu Hanjiang paused before continuing, "The cards that are drawn can be useful. I remember that Ye Qi has the guitar card that can cause drowsiness within a certain range. This should also work with animals, right?"

Ye Qi's eyes brightened. "Yes, unfortunately, my guitar card doesn't have high strength. It can only make targets fall asleep for three seconds."

Yu Hanjiang told him, "Three seconds is enough."

Shao Qingge chuckled and touched his chin. "No wonder why the local residents will always say that us 'foreigners' are demons. Playing the guitar and letting the fish fall asleep. It sounds incredible… I also want to see."

The four men went down the mountain together to the edge of the pond.

The pond was around one kilometre away from the village. At three in the morning, the villagers were all asleep and Ye Qi could play the guitar without worrying about attracting the attention of villagers. Xiao Lou prepared dozens of rings in advance, chaining them together to make a temporary fishing net.

Yu Hanjiang held a sharp branch in his hand and stared intently at the clear water.

Under the moonlight, the pond did have some fish swimming quickly. Yu Hanjiang glanced at Xiao Lou after seeing them and Xiao Lou directly threw the rings into the pond, trapping several fish. Ye Qi followed by taking out his guitar and gently playing it.

The fish were scurrying around after being trapped. They heard the music and fell asleep, sinking collectively.

Yu Hanjiang's hand was quick. He picked up the branch and plunged into the pond, precisely piecing two fish.

Ye Qi gave a thumbs up. "This fish is really fat!"

Yu Hanjiang replied, "Continue."

The three people tacitly cooperated and caught more than a dozen fat fish in the blink of an eye.

Shao Qingge stood watching and couldn't help thinking that even if they were thrown into the wilderness, they shouldn't be hungry? They could wipe out all the fish in the pond if they kept fishing this way.

A total of 16 were caught. Yu Hanjiang saw this as good enough and had everyone return to the temple. The four people came home fully loaded.

Back at the temple, Ye Qi looked at the fat fish Professor Xiao lifted up with his rings and scratched his head. “These fish are raw. How do we eat them?”

Xiao Lou smiled and summoned Bai Juyi. The Old Charcoal Seller skill could generate a charcoal fire anytime, anywhere.

Ye Qi stared at the charcoal fire in front of him. "No wonder why Group Leader Yu said to catch fish. We can directly roast them!"

Xiao Lou laughed. "Little Ye, if you follow us then you don't have to worry about going hungry. Tomorrow, I will go with Group Leader Yu to the mountain to catch some pheasants and hares to bake them for everyone to eat."

Ye Qi, "……"

Were they here to clear the instance or go to the mountains for a holiday? Thanks to the big god, he could eat barbecue anytime and anywhere. Ye Qi used to eat leaves in Nightmare Room and now he was so moved that saliva quickly flowed down.

The charcoal fire made by Bai Juyi only lasted 30 minutes but there were many dry branches around that could be used as firewood. Once the charcoal fire ran out, the branches could be ignited and the fire kept burning the whole time.

Yu Hanjiang removed the internal organs from the fresh fish. He was obviously well-versed in several skills to survive in the wild. He found some bamboo tubes, stuffed the fish on them and grilled them on the fire so that the skin wasn't baked.

After a while, the smell of grilled fish filled the air, mixed with the fragrance of bamboo leaves. Yu Hanjiang took the bamboo tube and handed it to everyone. "It is cooked, eat."

Ye Qi's eyes were bright as he ate the fresh grilled fish with satisfaction. He suddenly felt that this temple had become extremely friendly.

The four people had enough to eat and drink and then roasted a few more fish as a food reserve. Then they slept around the charcoal fire.

Other challengers sleeping on the mountain were shivering due to the cold wind of the night. The four of them were in the ruined temple, soft hay underneath them, a warm charcoal fire next to them and they ate bamboo roasted fish at night. This made them really sleepy.

***

At 8 o'clock the next morning, the four people woke up at the same time.

The floating boxes showed a hint. [The first day of Liuxi Village, 8:00 a.m., number of remaining gems in the village: 5.]

This news stunned all of them and their sleepiness dissipated in an instant.

Ye Qi couldn't believe the truth. "Two gems have been found? Did these people sleep at all last night?"

Xiao Lou frowned slightly. "There are only seven gems and more than 20 challengers. In the absence of any accidents, this secret room will allow 14 people to clear it at most. The sooner a gem is found, the more peace of mind a person will have."

Shao Qingge helplessly pinched his brow. "However, isn't searching the village last night too dangerous? In particular, there is Mrs Qin's Tibetan mastiff. Once startled, it is likely to wake up the whole village."

Xiao Lou thought about it. "It isn't necessarily in the village. Perhaps there are gems outside the village. For example, this broken temple."

Ye Qi wondered, "We carefully cleaned the temple last night and searched all corners. There were no gems."

Yu Hanjiang was very certain. "The gem in the temple should've been taken away."

Ye Qi reacted quickly. "Group Leader Yu, you mean the girl yesterday actually found a gem in the temple? That's why she was in a hurry to leave when we came in. She was afraid we would rob her?!"

Yu Hanjiang nodded. "It seems to be the case."

In retrospect, this girl was actually very clever. She used human bones to divert the topic and everyone's attention was drawn to the human bones in the backyard. They ignored the fact that since the temple contained an important clue, there was a great chance there would also be a gem for clearing the instance.

In order to find a gem, the challengers would dig up the abnormal land. Along with the gem, there would also find a large pit where the dead were buried.

She should've found the gem first and then the human bones. She placed a lantern to lead the challengers to the hole and diverted everyone's line of sight using the human bones. Next, she only had to hide and not be caught by other challengers. Then she could smoothly pass the instance.

She had a card that allowed her to fly between trees and it was hard for anyone to catch her. Moreover, the effect of her transformation card wasn't night. She had disguised as a little girl in red last night. If she could pretend to be a villager then she could 100% pass the instance.

Ye Qi felt angry and regretful. "We were deceived by her. If I knew then I wouldn't have let her go easily last night."

Yu Hanjiang glanced at him. "Do you want to grab her gem?"

Ye Qi immediately shook his head. "No, how can four big men bully a little girl and also steal her things? I just want to see what the gem looks like to make it easier to find."

Shao Qingge examined Ye Qi from head to toe with a smile. "Four big men? Including you?"

"Why wouldn't it include me?"

Shao Qingge smiled. "You aren't a big man. In all aspects, you can only be a little boy."

Ye Qi realized that this person was laughing at his lack of maturity and decided to ignore Shao Qingge. He turned to Xiao Lou and asked, "Professor Xiao, were are we going to find the gems? Where do you think has a greater possibility of containing the gems?"

Xiao Lou declared, "Mrs Qin's home should have one."

In a single-player RPG game, the NPC house with high difficulty would certainly contain an item. Mrs Qin had the largest and most ferocious Tibetan mastiff. Her home either had a gem or important clues.

Ye Qi had a headache. "The Tibetan mastiff's sense of smell is too keen. If we don't deal with it then we won't be able to go in to search."

Yu Hanjiang went to the window and glanced at the clear blue sky outside. "Today is sunny and the villagers will definitely come out. Once the old lady walks her dog, we will sneak in. The invisibility cloak of 3 of Hearts can be used and this 30 minutes of stealth time is enough for us to search her house."

Ye Qi made a guess. "She went out yesterday evening to walk the dog. Today, will she also wait until the evening to walk the dog?"

Shao Qingge suddenly interjected. "Dog owners generally walk their dogs at a fixed time. After dinner is the best time."

Ye Qi looked over at him. "Did you have a dog?"

Shao Qingge replied, "I had a Samoyed."

Ye Qi's eyes brightened. "The type of dog that is completely snow white and beautiful?"

Shao Qingge nodded. "Yes, do you know a Samoyed?"

"I like dogs a lot. I have a little poodle."

The two people started talking about dog breeds, from a Samoyed to a Husky. Xiao Lou couldn't interject and went to find Group Leader Yu.

The villagers of Liuxi Village seemed used to fetching water at night. The mountain was very quiet in the morning. Yu Hanjiang looked at the mountain and said, "In the daytime, it is easy to be discovered by villagers if we walk around. We can only act again in the evening."

Xiao Lou nodded in agreement. "Wait for the old lady to take the Tibetan mastiff out and we will put on the invisibility cloak to search her house."

Yu Hanjiang added, "By the way, Ye Qi should go to the village chief's house, Niuniu's house and the doctor's house to place a bug."

Xiao Lou glanced at him. "You mean, these places will have clues?"

"Do you remember when we entered the village yesterday? A man and a woman mentioned that Niuniu has a cold and she was going to find a grandma to prescribe some medicine. After Mrs Qin found a stranger, she told a young man to inform the village chief. Those who were mentioned should be helpful in solving the mystery."

If it was s simple Spades room then they just needed to avoid the villagers. Since it was a Hearts and Spades linked secret room, people who were named or identified needed to be paid attention to. Based on previous experience with 3 of Hearts and 4 of Hearts, Xiao Lou knew that a person specifically named in the plot definitely wouldn't be useless.

The sick Niuniu, the village doctor and the village chief, these people might help them solve the mystery of the slaughter 30 years ago.

Xiao Lou smiled. "It seems Ye Qi's eavesdropping card will be very helpful this time."

Yu Hanjiang suggested, "If there is nothing to do, why don't we go to the mountain to find some game. It will improve our food supply."

Xiao Lou nodded and kept up with him.

Last night, most challengers had slept on the mountain. Along the way, they saw some people sneaking to the spring to grab water, some people making a slingshot to catch birds and some people climbing trees to find eggs. They each used their own methods to find food and tacitly didn't interfere with each other.

The fish caught last night was enough to last them three days but it would be really tiring to eat fish all the time. In any case, they couldn't enter the village during the day. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou entered deep into the forest on the mountain, ready to hunt a few pheasants and hares.

Yu Hanjiang might have a gun but it was currently daytime. If he used the gun then it was likely he would lead the villagers to the mountains. Therefore, Yu Hanjiang decided to use the rings to hunt. Xiao Lou used the Compass card to cooperate with Group Leader Yu.

The two of them hid behind the tree and waited patiently. A moment later, a gray hare ran to the grass for food. Yu Hanjiang stared at it tightly. The moment it stopped, he suddenly manipulated the ring and accurately caught it! The caught hare panicked and couldn't move. Yu Hanjiang walked over and picked it up.

Just then, Xiao Lou's vision suddenly turned black. The feeling of dizziness was like suddenly getting up after lying down for a long time. Xiao Lou reached out to support himself on the tree but his eyes were dark and his right hand only touched air. He stumbled and was about to fall.

The next moment, his body suddenly fell into a person's arms as Yu Hanjiang's low and smooth voice entered his ears. "Are you okay?"

Xiao Lou smiled. "I am affected by blindness and can't see anything."

Normal people would inevitably feel fear after becoming blind. Just now, Xiao Lou almost stumbled but fortunately, Yu Hanjiang was quick and caught him.

Xiao Lou calmed down and found that his entire body was in Yu Hanjiang's arms. He could clearly feel the strong muscles and smooth heartbeat of Group Leader Yu's chest. He liked men and he was being hugged so gently by Yu Hanjiang. Xiao Lou's breathing suddenly stagnated and he quickly stood still, his heart pounding.

Yu Hanjiang didn't notice his abnormality. He stretched out his five fingers and found that Xiao Lou's clear eyes were unresponsive. Yu Hanjiang frowned. "You suddenly became blind with no warning?"

Xiao Lou nodded. "Yes, I was dizzy and then I suddenly couldn't see."

Yu Hanjiang thought about it. "It seems there is nothing wrong with the prompt received after entering Liuxi Village. Each challenger will become blind for three hours at a random time during the day. You can't see anything for three hours so we will go back first."

Xiao Lou nodded and asked, "What about the hare just now?"

"I caught it. Go back and I'll bake it for you to eat."

As he spoke, he stretched out his right arm and let Xiao Lou's hand rest on his arm. His voice was low and gentle as he said, "Don't worry, I'll take you with me."

Xiao Lou was suddenly blind, the world in front of him was dark and this was a mountain. He was inevitably nervous that he would fall down.

However, Yu Hanjiang was very intimate and helped him walk slowly, also reminding him, "Be careful here. It is downhill and there is a step."

Xiao Lou made a sound of agreement and his fingers on Yu Hanjiang's right arm slightly tightened. Strong muscles could be felt from this arm. Originally, blindness was a very frightening thing but after holding Yu Hanjiang's arm, Xiao Lou's mood gradually calmed down.

Xiao Lou knew that even if he was blind, there was nothing to worry about as long as Yu Hanjiang was present.

Yu Hanjiang took the initiative to help remove the branches in front of him, lest he be scratched by the branches, When he had to take steps, Yu Hanjiang would remind him in advance to prepare his feet. When encountering a slippery ground, Yu Hanjiang would hold his shoulders and support him.

Xiao Lou's vision was dark and he could only hold onto Group Leader Yu's arm.

As he grew up, he found that he liked men and would deliberately keep a distance from the same sex. This was the first time he had been so close to a man. Xiao Lou found that he didn't reject Group Leader Yu's closeness. Rather, he really liked Group Leader Yu's reassuring and calm breath.

Once again, I want to thank Chuna for the amazing fanart!