Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou had been gone for quite some time. Ye Qi, who was sitting right behind them, looked at the empty cabin and couldn't help but ask worriedly, " Why haven't Captain Yu and Professor Xiao come back yet?"
Just then, Xiao Lou's gentle voice rang in Da Jia's ears: "Don't worry, we went to check the other lifeboats nearby to make sure they're safe."
Yu Hanjiang quickly added, "I'll keep watch, you all go to sleep."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Hanjiang took off his Invisibility Cloak and appeared in his seat, and Xiao Lou also took off his cloak—it turned out that the two of them had already boarded the ship and were sitting in the second row, but no one had seen them.
Ye Qi finally breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good that you're alright."
Shao Qingge said, "It's not even one o'clock yet, shouldn't Ye Qi and I keep watch?"
"It's okay, I'm not sleepy at all. I'll call you if I need anything." Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou, "You should rest too."
Xiao Lou smiled and shook her head: "I'm not sleepy either, I'll keep you company."
Seeing that the two insisted, the others agreed to the arrangement and drifted off to sleep.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang sat side by side on the boat, silent for a long time before Yu Hanjiang's voice finally echoed in Xiao Lou's mind: "The team that Brother Jiu assembled back then was so strong, yet they almost got wiped out in Plum Blossom J. Our team... if we go to Plum Blossom J now, facing 10 times more Hunters, we might not even have a single member survive."
Xiao Lou said gently, "The people in Brother Jiu's team weren't always this strong. Among our teammates, Xiao Ye went through Nightmare Secret Room and almost starved to death, but he still persevered. I believe he won't give up easily in the future. Liu Qiao walked all the way to Spade 4 alone. He looks weak, but his mental fortitude is actually very strong. The Longqu Couple has been through so much, so they will definitely become more and more in sync. CEO Shao and Lao Mo's advantages are also very obvious. As long as everyone perseveres, our team will become stronger and stronger in the future."
Yu Hanjiang agreed: "That's true. Before reaching Plum Blossom J, we still have to go through 24 secret rooms from the fifth stage to the Tenth Stage, where we can get a lot of good cards. The key is that everyone must stick to their belief in going back and not waver halfway. We also need to carefully examine these teammates. If someone can't persevere, we should eliminate them in advance, rather than letting them become a burden to the whole team."
It's impossible to get through the S-level secret chamber with someone else in tow.
The fact that Lu Jiuchuan and his three companions were able to emerge from Plum Blossom J's Nightmare Secret Room speaks volumes about their skill. Therefore, Yu Hanjiang didn't want to drag his older brother down with weaker teammates. Ideally, all eight of them would make it to the end, but if anyone wavered along the way, Yu Hanjiang would not hesitate to kick them out of the team. In this respect, he had to be ruthless and decisive.
Xiao Lou agreed with Yu Hanjiang's view, sighed, and said, "After we leave this Weekly Routine, let's explain to everyone in detail what Ninth Brother said. I think they also have the right to know the truth."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "But don't tell everyone that Lu Jiuchuan is my brother for now. He has a special identity and is also an undercover agent in the Hunter Alliance. I don't want to cause him any trouble."
Xiao Lou said, "Of course, we can explain Ninth Brother's identity to everyone when we get to Plum Blossom J. "
To avoid making the conversation about the secret chamber too depressing, Xiao Lou took the initiative to change the subject, saying, "Are you and Ninth Brother very close? He cares about you a lot. Knowing that you came into this world, he even took a huge risk to enter the same Weekly Secret Chamber as you."
Yu Hanjiang paused for a moment before saying, "My mother is a soldier and my father is a policeman. They lived apart for a long time and didn't have time to take care of me. When I was little, I was fostered at my maternal grandfather's house and grew up with my ninth brother. We were like brothers."
Xiao Lou understood: "No wonder. Ninth Brother later joined the army, and you became a policeman. You were influenced by your parents, weren't you?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Yes. When I was a child, I was very naive. I thought my uncle and father looked really cool in their uniforms and with guns. I was always hesitant between being a soldier and a policeman. The reason I firmly chose the path of a policeman was because when I was sixteen, my father solved a major criminal case and caught a serial killer who had been on the run for many years. I saw the victim's family crying in court. It's hard to describe the shock at that time."
Xiao Lou imagined the scene and smiled, saying, "I understand. You must have been very proud of your father back then."
Yu Hanjiang touched his nose and said, "Actually, my relationship with him isn't very good. We only see each other a few times a year. He's too serious. Every time we met when we were kids, he would criticize me. The year I got into police academy, he was promoted to a standing committee member. He became even more cautious and demanding of me. I wanted to transfer to Jiangzhou City, but he blocked my transfer for two years."
Yu Hanjiang had never mentioned these private matters to anyone. Xiao Lou was the first person to sit down and talk to him about the past and his family. Yu Hanjiang turned to look at Xiao Lou and met her clear eyes. He felt a warmth in his heart and said, "I didn't have many friends growing up. You are the first one."
Xiao Lou was inexplicably happy to hear this and joked, "Then I am truly honored."
Yu Hanjiang's lips curled up slightly as he said, "Ninth Brother used to tease me, saying that I was like a hard rock that had been frozen in the refrigerator for half a month, with the words 'Keep Out' written on my face, and that I would definitely stay single until I was sixty."
Xiao Lou complained, "Ninth Brother is so sharp-tongued, how could he say that about you?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "He's the opposite of me. He's flamboyant and rebellious in his youth. He smoked and drank, and my uncle punished him a lot for it. He only calmed down after joining the army and got rid of his cynical bad habits."
Noticing that Xiao Lou had been...
Listening attentively, Yu Hanjiang asked with interest, "And you? Do you have any siblings?"
Xiao Lou smiled slightly and said, "I am an only child, but I have a cousin who is a senior in high school this year and is preparing to take the entrance exam for Medical School; my cousin is in college and will graduate in another year. I grew up with them and we have a very good relationship."
Yu Hanjiang said, "You must be the older brother they like and admire very much, right?"
Xiao Lou sighed and rubbed his forehead: "These two guys are very naughty. If my sister hadn't insisted on playing Dou Dizhu with me on New Year's Day, I might not have come into this world."
Although the Spring Festival had only recently passed, it felt like an eternity to Xiao Lou, and the images of his relatives in reality were gradually fading from his mind. These memories from the present day brought both of them into silence.
This was the first time they had mentioned their families to each other, and the distance between them seemed to have been shortened imperceptibly, and they understood each other better.
Xiao Lou thought that his relationship with Captain Yu had probably changed from "ordinary friends" to "friends who can confide in each other".
Yu Hanjiang also found it very novel. He had never talked about these things with anyone before. At this moment, in the quiet of the night, they could hear each other's breathing. Talking to Xiao Lou about his family and the past was like a kind of emotion that had been suppressed in his heart was suddenly released.
Having a friend you can confide in definitely makes a difference.
He looked at Xiao Lou, who also happened to turn around and look at him.
The two looked at each other, then looked away shyly.
Perhaps it was because the sea was too quiet at night, Yu Hanjiang could hear his own heart pounding, which seemed to be faster than usual. He turned his head away from Xiao Lou and shifted his gaze to the distance.
The lifeboats moored here are all lit with luminous pearls. Many people are still awake, clearly worried about another accident during the night.
But the night was unusually peaceful, and nothing happened until dawn.
The Challengers gradually woke up, washed up, and ate breakfast.
Today is a cloudy day, so there's no direct sunlight and at least I don't have to worry about my skin getting sunburned and peeling.
At nine o'clock in the morning, the Challengers finished regrouping. Someone suggested from the front, "If we continue, we don't know what we'll encounter. The mission requires us to survive at sea for seven days. Why don't we all stop here?"
This suggestion was immediately approved by everyone.
Ye Qi's eyes lit up as he excitedly said, "Staying in place is indeed a good idea. We checked the nearby waters last night and there were no dangerous fish. As long as we survive seven days at sea, we'll pass through customs. There's no requirement for us to move, right?"
Old Mo, an experienced weekly routine taker, looked worried and frowned as he said, "If only it were that simple."
Xiao Lou said cautiously, "Even if we checked last night, we can't let our guard down. Even if we don't cause trouble, trouble might come looking for us. If we could really pass the test by just staying put for seven days, then this Weekly Routine would be far too easy."
Ye Qi scratched the back of his head and chuckled dryly, " Professor Xiao makes a good point!"
Liu Qiao suggested, "Just because it was safe last night doesn't mean it's safe now. Should we check again?"
Qu Wanyue took out the [ chameleon card ] and said, "Brother Long, let's go back into the water and check again..."
Before she could finish speaking, Yu Hanjiang interrupted her in a low voice: "No need to go into the water, look behind you."
Upon noticing Yu Hanjiang's sharp gaze fixed on them, everyone paused for a moment, then simultaneously turned their heads.
Not far away, a group of large sharks suddenly appeared and slowly surrounded the Challenger team. The lead shark was huge, and as everyone turned to look, it poked its head out from underwater, opened its mouth wide, and revealed its sharp fangs.
Everyone: "..."
Upon seeing the gaping maw large enough to swallow two adults, Xiao Lou immediately tensed up, exclaiming, "A swarm of sharks!"
Ye Qi's face was pale, and he cursed under his breath: "I should never have underestimated the freakishness of the Ace of Spades! Where the hell did all these sharks come from?! Are there more underwater?!"
Yu Hanjiang calmly said, "Great white sharks, also known as man-eating sharks, are the most ferocious carnivorous fish in the sea. They weigh over 3,000 kilograms and have extremely sharp teeth that can instantly bite off a human's neck. They are the top predators in the ocean."
Hearing Captain Yu calmly say these words, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.
Xiao Lou finally understood why 20 of the 40 Challengers on the "Starry Sky" died—they had likely also encountered a sudden attack by a swarm of sharks!
Just then, the farthest lifeboat was suddenly bitten by a great white shark. Before the Challenger on that boat could react, two people were swallowed whole by the shark!
A series of bloodcurdling screams echoed from the sea: "Aaaaaah—sharks! Sharks!" "Oh my god, so many sharks!"
Watching her teammate being eaten, the girl panicked and tried to escape in her boat. However, a large shark on the side capsized her boat, and the girl fell into the sea. She was bitten in half by the shark!
The people on the ship were quickly devoured by sharks that had been drawn by the scent.
Seeing the bloody scene, Xiao Lou felt a chill run down his spine and clenched his fists tightly: "We're surrounded by sharks!"
Ye Qi cursed Ace of Spades while his face turned pale as he asked, "What do we do? Can Professor Xiao's safety net hold?"
Xiao Lou said with a wry smile, "The safe zone has a limited duration, and the time is almost up..."
Everyone felt a chill run down their spines upon hearing this.
In the distance, another ship was attacked by a swarm of sharks.
.
A man's leg was bitten off by a shark, and he screamed in terror! A woman's arm was bitten off, and her desperate cries almost pierced the eardrums.
"Aaaaaah—Help!" "Sharks, a swarm of sharks!"
The Challengers were thrown into a panic, and someone yelled, "We're surrounded by a swarm of sharks! Run!"
After saying that, the escape boats floored the accelerator and sped away!
However, sharks were also ahead. They ran forward, but after less than a hundred meters, the lifeboat was violently rammed by several large sharks. The boat was quickly sunk, and the people who had fallen into the water once again became shark food!
This group of sharks, who knows when they stalked in, actually surrounded the entire Challenger team!
The most ferocious fish in the sea, having been starved for who knows how long, saw these hundreds of Challengers as their tempting meal. Stimulated by the smell of blood, the sharks became even more ferocious, attacking the different escape boats in groups of several!
The screams of collapse filled our ears, and the broken bodies of the Challengers, bitten off, floated on the sea, their blood quickly staining the water red... This scene was like stepping into hell on earth!
Humans suddenly become incredibly weak in the face of ocean killers.
Yu Hanjiang's pupils suddenly contracted. He clenched his fists and roared, "Everyone, don't panic! Stay calm! Where are all your cards? Take them out and use them to control these sharks!"
Humans instinctively feel fear when they see a shark. Under extreme fear, most people lose their composure and reflexively want to scream and run away—they seem to forget that they are not ordinary humans, but Challengers wielding a large number of cards.
Several sharks swam toward Xiao Lou and his group's escape boat. Yu Hanjiang reacted quickly, throwing down a Balance card to trap the sharks!
The Balance card is quite useful when facing a group attack. Two huge weighing pans with a diameter of 5 meters are thrown into the sea. As long as sharks enter the weighing pans, the weight on the two sides will be unequal, and they will be unable to move within 5 minutes.
Seeing Yu Hanjiang make a move, Xiao Lou immediately drew two circles and accurately looped them around the necks of the two large sharks!
Yu Hanjiang decisively used a water ghost card to go underwater.
He swam beneath the shark and thrust his Night Demon military knife upwards with all his might—
The military knife, sharp enough to cut through iron like mud, cleanly and decisively pierced the bellies of two great sharks!
The two great white sharks began to struggle frantically, spurting blood that stained Yu Hanjiang's entire body red. His teammates were stunned by the sight. Xiao Lou's eyes widened, his voice trembling: " Captain Yu, be careful—"
That's a shark!
A shark that can swallow several adults with its mouth open!
Yu Hanjiang remained calm. Taking advantage of the shark's inability to break free of Balance, he swiftly cleaved the shark in two with a single stroke!
A massive shark weighing over 3,000 kilograms was actually caught by Yu Hanjiang...
Killed him?!
The surrounding Challengers watched in horror as the man wielded a knife and killed two sharks, their faces filled with terror, as if they were witnessing a demon from hell! Yu Hanjiang, covered in blood and his face contorted with rage, roared at the still-stunned Challengers, "What are you panicking about?! Sharks have no intelligence, and don't you have any brains either? Use Balance!"
On a ship not far away, a girl who had been staring blankly in fright seemed to be brought back to her senses by the shout.
Seeing that the two large sharks had already swum to the bottom of the escape boat, she immediately threw out the Balance. The two sharks were of different weights and were trapped by the Balance, unable to move. Her teammate saw this and quickly took out a sword and stabbed it into the shark's head!
Yu Hanjiang immediately followed up with the command: " Balance, Nine Palaces Grid, freeze all the sharks! Everyone, sail southeast, quick!"
Amidst the chaotic screams, Yu Hanjiang's voice sounded incredibly calm, clear, and decisive.
His leadership qualities, his ability to direct team operations, are unmatched by most people.
The Challengers, who were feeling lost and confused, seemed to have their emotions calmed down by his voice.
Balance and Nine Palaces Grid are cards that are guaranteed to be rewarded in low-level Diamond Secret Rooms. Nine Palaces Grid is especially important, as everyone gets one, and each card can be used 9 times, controlling the target for 9 seconds each time. Balance can control the target for 5 minutes at a time. With so many cards that can immobilize the target, even the fiercest shark can't do anything if it's immobilized!
Everyone snapped out of their daze and threw out their cards. In addition to Balance and Nine Palaces Grid, some teams used control cards such as area sleep and area stun to control all the nearby sharks!
Although Lao Mo saw many sharks to the southeast, he obeyed Yu Hanjiang's orders without hesitation and was the first to steer his boat quickly towards the southeast—their boat was covered by a white sunshade, making it very obvious, and the others followed suit.
Under Yu Hanjiang's command, nearly 40 escape boats were moved to the southeast!
Of course, some people did not want to follow Yu Hanjiang's instructions and took advantage of the shark being immobilized to quickly rush out of the school of fish and escape to the east!
A few moments later, most of the Challengers ' escape boats arrived in the southeast sea area and surrounded Xiao Lou and his group—five minutes was enough time for the escape boats to travel a long distance and leave the shark swarm behind.
The girl, still shaken from almost being eaten, looked at Yu Hanjiang and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Yu Hanjiang coldly gazed at the distant shark swarm and said, "Sharks love the smell of blood. This group of sharks is starving. We need to deal with them."
They'll keep chasing us. We have to kill them here.
Everyone: "..............."
Killed a shark? Is this guy crazy? The Challengers around him were incredulous, looking at him as if he were a madman.
Xiao Lou realized Captain Yu's plan and said loudly, "Everyone, don't panic! All the sharks are in that area. The human bone potion you got from Spade 4 can blind all the sharks within a 500-meter radius! If you have control cards, help trap the sharks in place. If you have an Invisibility Cloak, you can put it on and don't worry about being discovered. Grab your weapons and go into the sea to kill those sharks."
Yu Hanjiang has just chopped up two sharks.
As it turns out, with a card in hand, even a shark at the top of the food chain isn't as scary as it seems.
Yu Hanjiang's sharp gaze swept across the crowd: "Is there anyone willing to join me?"
People around lowered their heads, their faces filled with undisguised terror—although the plan was theoretically feasible, it involved sharks! A shark is five or six meters long, and its sharp teeth can bite a person in half in an instant. Recalling the bloody scene just now, who would dare to go into the water to fight a shark?
Most people's thought was, "Run for your life! Forget about these sharks!"
Those who think this way seem to have overlooked the fact that in a survival room, simply thinking about escape makes it difficult to reach the end. Sometimes, Challengers must muster the courage to face the danger head-on. Because one day, they will face a predicament from which they cannot escape. What will they do then?
Slay gods and Buddhas alike – that's the right way to play in a survival escape room!
Only by daring to fight powerful beasts can we improve our survival skills in real combat.
Yu Hanjiang looked at his teammates around him: "What about you guys?"
Long Sen and Qu Wanyue exchanged a glance. Although there was still some panic in their eyes, they quickly calmed down. Long Sen said, "We can blend into the seawater, and the sharks can't see us. We'll assist Captain Yu in releasing the poison and controlling the sharks."
Ye Qi immediately took out his music card: "My [ guitar ] can induce a ranged sleep, and my [ flute ] can induce a single-target sleep..." He looked at the seawater, paused for a moment, and scratched his head, saying, "But I can't swim!"
Old Mo said, "I'll provide support in the boat, and Captain Yu will use a luminous pearl as a guide. If necessary, my coloring cards, model room, and spatial rotation can all be helpful. In addition, I have several Nine Palaces Grids, which I bought cheaply, and I can distribute them to everyone to control the sharks."
Xiao Lou smiled and said, "My Compass can trap sharks, and Bai Juyi also has crowd control skills, so I can help too."
Liu Qiao said, "My Poison Queen's Poison Apple can directly poison a shark. I can fly over the sea and help everyone locate their positions. Also... I think I can clone myself and become a shark? I wonder if the Twin Card can clone animals. I'll try it later."
Everyone: "..."
Just imagine Liu Qiao turning into a shark; everyone is both amused and bewildered.
Shao Qingge said with a smile, "My best S card is an ATM. I can't exactly bury a shark in money. Old Mo, give me the Nine Palaces Grid, I'll help you control it, you just focus on sailing the boat."
Yu Hanjiang felt a warmth in his heart as he listened to everyone's opinions—his teammates were the most reliable. The other Challengers on the escape boats were terrified by his plan, and no one dared to join the "shark hunt" operation.
However, his teammates did not question his decision.
Upon hearing Yu Hanjiang's plan, everyone's first reaction was not to run, but to cooperate with Yu Hanjiang —because they had just witnessed him swiftly and decisively chop down two sharks, and they all believed in his abilities.
Trust is the cornerstone of a team.
Yu Hanjiang nodded to his teammates and said decisively, "Old Mo, set sail and get ready to move out!"