In the Plum Blossom 4 secret room, there are two treasure chests, one gold and one silver. Liu Qiao has already drawn the reward from the gold treasure chest. The other three players only have one silver treasure chest to draw from if they want to pass the level. This means that the three players must step on either the Spade King or the Plum Blossom King.
Masked Man's luck was still bad; he stepped into a regular plum blossom square and was immediately penalized 200,000 gold coins.
Since he didn't have enough gold coins to deduct from his account, he had to accept the advanced punishment of the Plum Blossom level. The punishment was that countless round gold coins fell from the ceiling, clattering all over him, and he couldn't pick them up.
The man, whose head was covered in bumps from being showered with gold coins, couldn't help but smile wryly after the punishment ended: "Could this kind of punishment be called—burying me in money to death?"
He's quite good at finding joy even in hardship.
Plum Blossom Youth said calmly, "You're really having a bad day."
Masked Man glanced at Liu Qiao, who was watching from the sidelines, and said, "Our team's good luck has probably been used up by Liu Qiao."
Liu Qiao looked innocent: "You're unlucky, don't blame me."
Masked Man sighed, "Sigh... I hope I don't have too much bad luck going to come."
The fifth round of the game begins.
Xiao Lou continued walking forward. Since he was still quite a distance from Spade K, he threw a random number this time, hitting a 2. He entered the Hearts square. The question was still a review of the previous escape room question: " In the Rose Funeral escape room, what is the date of the deceased Zou Xiaomei's birthday? Countdown: 5, 4, 3..."
Xiao Lou carefully searched her memory.
To unlock the phone, he had tried entering the deceased's birthday as a password, but it was incorrect, so he finally scanned the face. Xiao Lou quickly remembered the number and answered "July 17th" before the countdown ended.
— Correct answer, random reward: Upgrade one card skill in the card holder to the maximum level.
This reward is incredibly useful for Xiao Lou.
The summoning cards he drew earlier, Tao Yuanming and Bai Juyi, currently only have one skill each. The second skill can only be unlocked when the growth level reaches 10.
Tao Yuanming's " The Peach Blossom Spring " has been used many times, and its growth level has reached 9. Using it again will bring it to level 10. On the other hand, Bai Juyi's growth level only increases by 1 point after using "The Old Charcoal Seller" twice, making leveling up extremely slow.
This reward is a perfect opportunity to level up to the maximum level immediately.
Xiao Lou took out [ Bai Juyi ] from the card holder, and a soft light emanated from the card, indicating that it had indeed reached the maximum level.
To Xiao Lou's surprise, the maximum growth level of this card was not level 10, but rather level 30.
[Summoning Card: Bai Juyi ]
Rarity: S
Description: Obtained through a limited-time gacha pool with an S-rank completion score.
Additional Skill 1: The Old Charcoal Seller
Bai Juyi once used a poem to describe the miserable life of an old charcoal seller: "His clothes are thin and pitiful, yet he worries that the charcoal will be cheap and wishes for cold weather!"
Using Bai Juyi's " The Old Charcoal Seller " skill, a charcoal fire can be lit at a designated location. The fire will last for 90 minutes and can only be used once per day.
Additional Skill 2: Song of the Pipa (Unlocked at Growth Level 10)
The music plays a cacophony of notes, like pearls of all sizes falling onto a jade plate. We are all wanderers in this world, why should we need to have known each other before? — From Bai Juyi's famous poem " Song of the Pipa ".
Using the " Song of the Pipa " skill, a clear and melodious pipa tune can be played. Enemies within a 30-meter radius centered on Bai Juyi will lay down their weapons and become friends upon hearing the pipa's beautiful sound, like pearls falling on a jade plate, as everyone listens to the pipa performance. The pipa music lasts for 15 seconds, during which targets within the area are confused, and attacks may accidentally injure teammates.
Skill cooldown time: 4 hours.
Additional Skill 3: Song of Everlasting Sorrow (Unlocked at Growth Level 30)
In heaven, we wish to be birds flying wing to wing; on earth, we wish to be trees with intertwined branches. Heaven and earth may pass away, but this sorrow will last forever.
Bai Juyi's " Song of Everlasting Sorrow " describes the tragic love story of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Yang Guifei. When using the " Song of Everlasting Sorrow " skill, all targets within a 30-meter radius of Bai Juyi are moved by this poignant love story, filled with sorrow, and cease all forms of attack for 15 seconds. The skill has a 4-hour cooldown.
Bai Juyi's initial skill is only " The Old Charcoal Seller," which generates charcoal but has little attack power. When Xiao Lou first drew Bai Juyi, he felt that a single skill that only generates charcoal did not meet the strength of an S-rank card.
Surprisingly, the truly max-level Bai Juyi is actually a card with 3 skills!
The second skill, unlocked at growth level 10, and the third skill, unlocked at max level, are both very powerful area-of-effect crowd control skills.
Song of the Pipa causes a 15-second group confusion effect, and Song of Everlasting Sorrow causes a 15-second group silence effect. With Bai Juyi as the center, the area has a radius of 30 meters, which is equivalent to a circular area with a diameter of 60 meters. It can be said that this is the strongest spell crowd control card that Xiao Lou has ever seen!
Yu Hanjiang, who was standing nearby, saw the max-level Bai Juyi and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes: "This card actually has three skills?"
Xiao Lou nodded and said, "At first, the card description only said that 10 growth points would unlock 2 skills. I didn't expect that after unlocking 2 skills, there would be 3 skills. A max-level S card is indeed very strong." Tao Yuanming's skill description is very similar to Bai Juyi's. It is very likely that Tao Yuanming's potential is also 3 skills. However, his growth point is only 9 points now, so we cannot see the subsequent skill descriptions yet.
Xiao Lou thought to herself, "If I go into Hearts again later..."
I'd be happy to get the reward that " instantly maxes out card skills".
However, things didn't go as planned, and he didn't go into Hearts again.
He went to Plum Blossom for two consecutive rounds. The first time he was penalized with 100,000 gold coins, and the second time he was rewarded with 100,000 gold coins, which was equivalent to working for nothing.
Yu Hanjiang went to Diamonds for the next two rounds, but this time it was a character arrangement question, a poetry question, where all the poem lines were shuffled and Challenger had to sort them.
The first question involved a jumbled poem that happened to be Bai Juyi's "Spring River, Flowers in the Morning, Autumn Moon at Night." Yu Hanjiang successfully pieced it together within 5 seconds and won the reward [Tool Card: Luminous Pearl ].
In the next round, Yu Hanjiang entered the diamonds grid and drew another word puzzle: Li Qingzhao's "寻寻觅觅,冷冷清清,凄凄惨惨戚戚". Yu Hanjiang remembered the poem and spelled it out in 5 seconds. The reward he received was once again [Tool Card: Luminous Pearl ]!
Xiao Lou couldn't help but wonder: "How come there are so many luminous pearls?"
Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly as he held the two Luminous Pearl cards: "Was the drop rate of this card deliberately increased?"
Plum Blossom Youth nodded and said, " The Diamond-Suit Guardian has her reasons for providing these rewards. In this level, almost everyone can get a luminous pearl, and any extras can be sold in the main city. This means that the upcoming Diamond Secret Room will likely be a pitch-black maze, and you may need to explore multiple areas. Each of you should get one luminous pearl. Understand?"
Xiao Lou finally understood.
In fact, Masked Man's summary is correct. The [ card board game] in Plum Blossom 4 is designed as a "reward and punishment level," much like a "graduation exam." Challengers can obtain a lot of rewards in this level, which can be used to upgrade cards, obtain some necessary tool cards, or earn some coins. All of these will help them deal with more difficult levels after entering the main city.
It's like completing a low-level dungeon in a game, getting a full set of equipment, and then challenging a high-level dungeon.
The little girl in diamonds has increased the drop rate of luminous pearls. Obviously, the upcoming Diamond Secret Room will have dark scenes, a pitch-black maze, and there may be various dangerous events, such as wild beasts suddenly emerging from some corner.
The levels from Diamonds 2 to Diamonds 4 were all free, but the levels after Diamonds 5 will definitely be more difficult to pass.
If used wisely, this "entrance exam" can yield substantial rewards. The longer you stay on the board, the greater the rewards, but correspondingly, the number of times you'll be penalized may also increase.
At the corner of this line is spade k. At this moment, Xiao Lou is 6 steps away from spade k, Yu Hanjiang is 7 steps away, and Masked Man is in the lead, only 1 step away from spade k.
However, whether you can land a spade k and pass the level directly depends on the number of points you roll.
Xiao Lou throws first – 3 points, diamonds close!
I thought this time the diamonds would be like Captain Yu's, where you get all sorts of poems to piece together, and if that were the case, Xiao Lou could succeed even with his eyes closed.
To Xiao Lou's surprise, this time, a maze appeared on the large screen in front of him, with a prompt: "Find the correct maze exit within 8 seconds."
Xiao Lou stared blankly at the winding maze in front of her.
But he quickly calmed down and stared at the maze, searching for a way out.
This is a maze shaped like a "回" (hui), with loops connected one after another, often leading to dead ends. Eight seconds is too short; Xiao Lou still hadn't found a way out when the countdown ended, and a red exclamation mark appeared on the screen: "Challenge failed, please accept the punishment!"
The failure to close the diamonds app caught Xiao Lou completely off guard.
After all, his specialty is mechanisms, but he's not very good at mazes, especially complex timed mazes. Finding a way out in 8 seconds? His eyes were about to go numb.
Xiao Lou said with a wry smile, "Come on, what's the punishment this time?"
Yu Hanjiang, who was behind him, stepped forward and said, "I'll take his place."
The usually expressionless Plum Blossom Youth turned to look at Yu Hanjiang: "You're going to substitute again?"
Yu Hanjiang said nonchalantly, "Anyway, I got soaked, so it doesn't matter whether I get soaked once or twice."
He gently pushed Xiao Lou aside and stood where Xiao Lou had been. Before Xiao Lou could react, there was a loud "boom," and Yu Hanjiang fell into the pit again, with a large bucket of cold water pouring over his head.
Xiao Lou: "..."
After getting soaked again, Yu Hanjiang calmly wiped the water off his face and looked at Xiao Lou, saying, "If you can't get past the diamonds squares, I'll do it for you."
Xiao Lou looked at him with concern: "Won't you catch a cold from getting soaked like this?"
Yu Hanjiang calmly said, "It's okay, I'm healthy. I've stayed in a downpour all night without catching a cold."
He looked at Xiao Lou — Professor Xiao was so refined and gentle; he probably hadn't suffered like this before. Besides, it was hard to imagine what a normally mild-mannered man would look like soaked to the bone. Yu Hanjiang was already completely drenched, so getting soaked wouldn't make a difference.
Xiao Lou was unsure how to feel when he insisted on taking her place.
He had been used to being independent since he was a child, and even his parents had never protected him like this. Captain Yu had already taken the punishment for him twice, and he felt really bad about it. He said in a low voice, "No need, my strength has recovered, I can do the rest myself."
Yu Hanjiang's lips curled up slightly: "So, you also want to be doused with cold water and become a drowned rat like me?"
Xiao Lou smiled and said, "That's what it means to share joys and sorrows."
Yu Hanjiang was stunned for a moment, and when he met his gaze, his heart skipped a beat.
Sharing joys and sorrows? That's what good teammates should do.
But for some reason, he just couldn't bear to see the clean and innocent Xiao Lou subjected to these strange punishments, getting soaked in the rain, putting his hands in a spider box... This wasn't something Xiao Lou should do; he should do it himself.
As the two stared at each other, Plum Blossom Youth couldn't help but say, "Please don't ignore the Guardian's presence and continue the game."
If I remember correctly, these two have ignored him many times already?
Yu Hanjiang coughed lightly and continued rolling the dice.
He was 7 squares away from Spade K, and this time he rolled a 5, walked into Plum Blossom, and triggered the reward: "Gain 200,000 coins!"
They had no shortage of gold coins, so this reward was actually the least useful to them.
It was Masked Man's turn to roll the dice. He was just one step away from getting the Spade K; a roll of 1 would allow him to immediately pass the level, draw the silver treasure chest, and end the game. Unfortunately, Masked Man's luck was truly terrible today—he rolled a 2!
Watching helplessly as he crossed over from Spade K to the next road, Diamonds, Masked Man was both amused and exasperated.
He felt he must not have washed his hands today.
This time, the diamonds question was still a maze, and he couldn't answer it, so he got a bucket of water poured over his head again.
Masked Man quipped, "Wasn't the punishment method decided by the Guardian? Just how much does Diamonds enjoy pouring water on people's heads?"
Plum Blossom Youth said calmly, "She likes to grow flowers and often waters them. She says it's the gentlest form of punishment."
Xiao Lou finally understood: the punishment for hearts is leaving a card, diamonds is watering, spade is various thrilling experiences, and plum blossom directly deducts coins.
He was three steps away from Spade K. Xiao Lou silently prayed that he would roll a 3. He picked up the disc and dice and threw them casually, but he rolled a 1 and only moved forward one step.
plum blossom: "Reward: 200,000 gold coins!"
Xiao Lou thought to himself, "Another useless reward."
Little did she know, Liu Qiao, standing beside her, was filled with envy. For Liu Qiao, who didn't have a single penny to her name, 200,000 was a huge sum of money! If she had known that Professor Xiao would think the 200,000 reward was useless, she probably would have been furious.
When it was Yu Hanjiang's turn, all eyes were on him.
With two steps to spare, Yu Hanjiang calmly tossed the dice.
Xiao Lou stared at the die, silently repeating in his mind, "2, roll a 2..."
Whether it was his prayers or not, the dice actually landed on a 2 after spinning for a few seconds!
Yu Hanjiang hadn't expected to be so lucky; he bypassed Xiao Lou and stopped at Spade K.
He turned to look at Xiao Lou, who smiled and said, "Go ahead and smoke."
There was only one silver treasure chest left. Once it was drawn, the game would be over. Masked Man was unwilling, but Liu Qiao had taken away their team's good luck, and he could only watch helplessly as the other team drew the last treasure chest.
Yu Hanjiang reached into the silver treasure chest.
—Congratulations on obtaining an S-rank card [Equipment Card: Amulet]
[Equipment Card: Amulet]
Rarity: S
Description: Bonus stage lottery, with a chance to win.
How to use: Sign your name on the amulet to make it your own. Giving it to someone else will allow you to absorb damage for your teammates for the next 10 hours, and instantly teleport them to your side if they are fatally attacked.
Limitation: The precious amulet can only be used once, essentially giving teammates a second life.
This equipment card is somewhat similar to the previously drawn S-rank card [Light Feather Robe] which grants immunity to death. However, the amulet is given to teammates after being signed, essentially giving them a get-out-of-jail-free card; while the Light Feather Robe is worn by the user, similar to a resurrection armor that grants an extra life.
Yu Hanjiang temporarily put the card back into the card holder and looked at Plum Blossom Youth: " Now that the treasure chest is drawn, shouldn't the game be over?"
The expressionless young man stood up from the sofa and said calmly, "Congratulations to the four of you for clearing the Plum Blossom 4th secret room [ card board game]. Since you have cleared all four secret rooms, the main city of Card World will be open to you now. [ Sun City ] [ Moon City ], please choose one of the cities to enter."