Mentioning the silver mask, teammates who went through the Liuxi Village instance together will all remember it.
They were in Spade 4 back then The Masked Man I met in Liuxi Village was wearing a silver mask. The man had a very distinctive aura, and his mask was also unique, decorated with strange black patterns on the silver mask.
Shao Qingge carefully recalled his memories of the masks and said, "No wonder when I saw the Hunters in the maze earlier, their masks looked familiar. I'd seen them before in Liuxi Village?"
Ye Qi walked over to Xiao Lou and asked softly, " Professor Xiao, do you think those twins might also be Hunter? They're wearing the same masks as Hunter, it can't be a coincidence, right?"
Xiao Lou couldn't get a precise answer either.
A mask alone doesn't tell the whole story. However, the origins of this person codenamed White Fox are a mystery, and he may have a twin brother. Are these twins friend or foe?
If he is the Hunter, why would he gather a large number of Challengers at the bar after the stampede and encourage everyone to try to complete the game and leave this world? But if he is on the side of the Challengers, why would he wear the same mask?
Xiao Lou was completely baffled. He looked at Tang Ci and asked, "Mr. Tang, does the Intelligence Bureau have any other information about this White Fox? Is he still at the bar in Sun City?"
"Wait a moment, let me check."
Tang Ci opened his laptop, typed in a long string of characters that no one could understand, and logged into the Intelligence Bureau's intranet. This was an information network personally established by Tang Ci, which collected more than 90% of the Challengers' information, including when they entered the main city, their detailed residences in the main city, and even their team formations, as well as some information about them in the real world.
Bai Jinyu, the original name of the white fox.
Information about him is scarce. Tang Ci only knows that he came to Sun City six months ago and opened a bar called "Sunshine Coast" in Sun City. He usually lives in the bar. Information about his teammates is completely unavailable.
With limited information available to the Intelligence Bureau, Tang Ci hacked into Sun City's surveillance system. His eyes were glued to the computer screen as he quickly reviewed the surveillance footage near the Sunshine Coast bar. Soon, he hovered the mouse over a particular screen, pointed at the image on the computer, and said, "His bar is open for business."
The group entered the Weekly Routine at midnight on Saturday night, and it took them four and a half hours to complete the world's Weekly Routine. The current time is exactly 5:00 AM. Bars are usually open all night, which isn't unusual. What's strange is... in the surveillance footage, Bai Jinyu appeared at the bar entrance, carrying a bag of takeout as he walked in.
Xiao Lou paused, then asked, "Is he not a Challenger? If he were, he should have entered the Weekly Secret Chamber like us, and most likely he hasn't come out yet?"
Yu Hanjiang analyzed, "Our Weekly Routine maze took 4 hours and 38 minutes, ranking first in the world. If Hunter hadn't suddenly appeared and blown up the maze, we wouldn't have been in such a hurry to escape and would have taken the most risky method to rush out. Other Challenger teams, if they followed the normal approach to the maze, would definitely have taken more than 5 hours."
In other words, if Bai Jinyu were a Challenger, he couldn't have returned to the main city so quickly. Even if his team was ranked second in the world, it wouldn't have taken him this long; 99.9% of Challengers would still be stuck in the Weekly Routine maze at this point.
Bai Jinyu's appearance at a bar in Sun City at this time can only be explained in two ways—
First, he is not a Challenger.
Secondly, before the Weekly Routine started in the early morning, he forcibly opened the other secret rooms on the card wall and entered them to avoid the Weekly Routine.
Tang Ci gripped the mouse tightly, quickly searching for Bai Jinyu's information. He said, "He came to Sun City six months ago. The ID card he used at the time did indeed have a Challenger number. The first four digits of a Challenger's ID card are different from those of an Indigenous person, which is why I recorded his information. He didn't participate in this Weekly Routine? Perhaps he opened the secret room beforehand to avoid it?"
Open the fixed secret room on the card wall before Saturday morning to avoid the Weekly Routine. This is a method that Lu Jiuchuan taught Yu Hanjiang. Some time ago, Xiao Lou's team also used this technique to avoid several rounds of Weekly Routine tasks.
But even if he opened the card room before midnight, could he be back so quickly? His teammates aren't in the database, how could he possibly have succeeded alone?
The more they thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Lu Jiuchuan stroked his chin and said, "This white fox is suspicious from head to toe. Should I go and meet him myself?"
Yu Hanjiang immediately objected: "You are currently a key target of the Hunter Organization's surveillance and should not show your face easily."
"That's not a problem." Lu Jiuchuan raised the corner of his lips and took out a card, which was the [ Mask ] he used during his undercover work in the Hunter Organization. It allowed him to have plastic surgery and instantly change his face.
Yu Hanjiang was just about to ask his brother what he wanted to change when Lu Jiuchuan suddenly transformed into a fashionable college student in his early twenties, with his hair dyed blonde and a row of earrings that were dazzlingly bright.
Tang Ci: "…"
Looking at the chuunibyou version of Lu Jiuchuan in front of her, Tang Ci disdainfully looked away.
Lu Jiuchuan asked with a smile, "Is anyone willing to come with me?"
Ye Qi was very interested in the bar and raised his hand: "I want to go."
Shao Qingge stopped him: "You'd better not go. You made a public appearance on stage the night of the stampede at the concert."
Having played the piano before, I'm likely to be recognized.
Ye Qi thought about it and agreed, so he obediently put his hand down. Qu Wanyue smiled and stepped forward, saying, " Long Sen and I will go. We didn't make a public appearance, and we were invisible in the maze using the Chameleon Card, so the Hunter's surveillance cameras didn't capture us."
Long Sen added, "Yes, even if they go to Moon City to check our information, it will take them time."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance, also thinking that it would be more appropriate for Long Sen and Qu Wanyue to go to a bar. Xiao Lou asked, " Teacher Qu, have you used the [ Invisibility Cloak ] yet?"
Qu Wanyue took out the card: "No."
Xiao Lou explained, "We used it when we were in the Eighteen Levels of Hell in the maze. The Invisibility Cloak is still on cooldown. Let me borrow your cards. Hanjiang and I will go too. You and Ninth Brother will split up and go into the bar to keep Bai Jinyu occupied. Hanjiang and I will investigate privately to see if the bar is hiding any secrets."
Qu Wanyue and Long Sen immediately handed the card to Xiao Lou.
Tang Ci said, "The five of you be careful in your actions. The rest of you stay behind."
His gaze swept over Shao Qingge, Ye Qi, and the others, and he said, "For safety's sake, let's not split up for now. Let's rest here tonight so we can look out for each other."
No one objected to the arrangement; Mr. Tang's presidential suite was spacious enough that he could rest comfortably on the sofa.
Lu Jiuchuan waved his hand, and the five-person group from the bar began to move.
Lu Jiuchuan drove Tang Ci's private car, picking up his four teammates. Following the navigation, they quickly arrived at the "Sunshine Coast" bar located by the sea.
This bar has a great location; opening the floor-to-ceiling windows reveals a pristine white sand beach and an endless ocean. At 5:30 a.m., the bar was still packed with customers, and many people were enjoying barbecues by candlelight on the beach, creating a very relaxed and romantic atmosphere.
Soft guitar music drifted from the bar; a female singer was performing.
Qu Wanyue listened intently for a moment, then said, "This song... I've never heard it before. It shouldn't be a song from our world, right? Have you guys heard it?"
Everyone said the melody was unfamiliar.
Yu Hanjiang said, "After we park, Xiao Lou and I will put on invisibility cloaks and follow behind to check out the bar." After he finished speaking, he looked at Lu Jiuchuan in the front row and instructed, "Brother, even though you have changed your face and become a rebellious college student, you should still be careful so as not to be recognized."
Lu Jiuchuan laughed: "Don't worry."
He parked his car in the parking lot next door, got out, lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth. He portrayed the rebellious teenager with blond hair, an earring, and a cigarette so vividly that Xiao Lou couldn't help but laugh. After such a long time of escape room challenges, everyone's acting skills have indeed improved significantly.
Lu Jiuchuan looked at Qu Wanyue and Long Sen and joked, "You two should play a couple, just be yourself."
Qu Wanyue smiled and said, "Okay, Ninth Brother, we'll pretend we don't know you."
Lu Jiuchuan said, "Okay, you guys do your thing. I'll go in first, Hanjiang and Xiao Lou follow me, you two come in a few minutes later."
After saying that, he left the parking lot first and turned to walk towards the bar.
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou, both wearing Invisibility Cloaks, followed closely behind; they only had 30 minutes.
After Lu Jiuchuan opened the door, he deliberately left it open for a few seconds to let Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang in.
This is a "quiet bar" with a resident singer performing melodies that are soft and gentle. The bar is warmly lit and stylishly decorated, unlike typical high bars that are smoky and chaotic. This bar is more suitable for two or three friends to get together for drinks and a chat.
Upon entering the bar, he saw a distinguished man wearing a mask sitting at the bar, his long, slender fingers holding two bottles of liquor, slowly pouring them into a stemmed glass. The two liquors blended, creating dazzling colors in the glass— Bai Jinyu was personally mixing cocktails for his customers.
The man wearing a mask had his face obscured, revealing only a pair of dark, deep eyes.
This mask reminded Lu Jiuchuan of the Hunter he encountered in the maze, especially the black patterned decorations on the silver-white mask, which looked like a mass-produced copy from the same manufacturer.
Lu Jiuchuan walked to the bar, tapped the counter with his fingers, and said, "Give me a Tequila Sunrise."
Bai Jinyu said gently, "Okay, please wait a moment."
He quickly mixed a glass of tequila for Lu Jiuchuan. The drink was skillfully prepared, with a beautiful orange-red color and a gradient from light to dark at sunrise, much like the rosy clouds at dawn.
Lu Jiuchuan took the wine glass and sat down to drink it, looking sullen.
Tequila is a strong liquor, but he drank it without batting an eye, and after finishing it, he ordered another glass.
After downing three glasses of wine in a row, Bai Jinyu couldn't help but remind him, "This wine has a very high alcohol content; you'll get drunk if you drink any more."
Lu Jiuchuan waved his hand with a smile: "Don't worry about me, have another one."
Just then, Qu Wanyue and Long Sen entered the bar, walking hand in hand to the counter, looking every bit like a couple deeply in love. Qu Wanyue wore an off-the-shoulder dress, her long hair cascading over her shoulders, looking incredibly sexy and charming. Long Sen wore a shirt and trousers, tall and imposing; the two looked perfectly matched together.
Long Sen looked at Qu Wanyue with tender eyes, leaned close to her ear and whispered, "What would you like to drink?"
Qu Wanyue's face turned slightly red: "I'm not very good at drinking."
Long Sen glanced at the drinks menu and said, "Give her a White Coconut."
The drink looked a lot like coconut milk. Qu Wanyue took a sip using the included straw; it was rich and flavorful.
The aroma of coconut perfectly stimulates the taste buds, making it sweet and sour.
Long Sen gently placed one hand on his wife's shoulder and asked, "Do you like it?"
Qu Wanyue nodded: "Mm."
Long Sen said, "Would you like to try something else?"
Qu Wanyue thought for a moment, glanced at Lu Jiuchuan, and said, "I want to drink his kind."
Long Sen said, "Is that tequila? No, it's too strong, you'll get drunk."
Qu Wanyue laughed heartlessly: "If you get drunk, carry me back home."
The two started showing off their affection, dazzling many single people in the bar.
Beside him, Lu Jiuchuan drank while muttering in anguish, "Xiao Nian, I love you so much... How could you just break up with me like that? There's no one in this world who loves you more than I do..."
Yu Hanjiang: "..."
Xiao Lou: "..."
Please continue your performance and give us some time.
Lu Jiuchuan's drunken ramblings were extremely realistic, and he put a lot of effort into playing a heartbroken teenager; all that was missing was a couple of tears streaming down his face.
Xiao Lou turned around and saw that Lu Jiuchuan's eyes were red, as if he was about to cry. He suddenly grabbed Bai Jinyu's arm and said with deep affection, "Xiao Nian, you're back, aren't you?"
Bai Jinyu didn't push him away; instead, a smile appeared in her eyes: "Handsome guy, you're drunk. I'm not Xiao Nian."
Lu Jiuchuan glared at him with red eyes: "I'm not drunk, Xiao Nian, don't leave me..."
While holding onto Bai Jinyu tightly, he reached for the other's mask, asking, "What's this on your face?"
However, the moment he touched the silver mask, Bai Jinyu suddenly made his move!
The man's fingers moved with lightning speed, gripping Lu Jiuchuan's wrist like eagle claws. His eyes, which had been smiling just moments before, turned icy cold. With his vital point held, Lu Jiuchuan dared not move and could only continue his act: "Xiao Nian?"
Bai Jinyu said calmly, "You're drunk."
He gave a wink to the security guards beside him, and the two tall guards lifted Lu Jiuchuan up and carried him out of the bar.
Qu Wanyue watched with trepidation, whispering, "Is this handsome guy heartbroken?"
Long Sen looked at him with sympathy: "He probably just broke up with his girlfriend and came to the bar to drown his sorrows."
Qu Wanyue took a few sips of her drink, and the owner handed her another glass of Tequila Sunrise, just like Lu Jiuchuan's. She took a sip, and the alcohol was indeed too strong, making her cough. Long Sen took it with a smile: "I told you, this drink is too strong, but you still insisted on drinking it..."
The two continued drinking at the bar to kill time.
By this time, Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou had figured out the layout of the bar.
Sunshine Coast Bar has two floors. The upper floor has VIP private rooms, and the lower floor is the main hall. The middle floor has an open structure, so you can see the live singers on the first floor from the private rooms on the upper floor.
Yu Hanjiang went to the second floor and looked around, but found nothing suspicious.
Xiao Lou went to the back of the bar on the first floor and saw a door in the corner, which looked like a storage room in the bar. But strangely, the door was locked, and it was a fingerprint lock that could not be opened with a key.
Xiao Lou pressed his ear against it and heard a rustling sound coming from inside.
The sound was like a mouse digging a hole, or like... someone struggling.
He surveyed his surroundings. At that moment, all eyes were on Qu Wanyue and Long Sen at the bar. From Xiao Lou's position, he could only vaguely see Bai Jinyu's back. Xiao Lou quickly placed the drone monitor in an inconspicuous spot on the beam above the door, then returned to the bar, signaling Long Sen and the others to leave first.
The half hour for Invisibility Cloak was almost up. Long Sen felt a light touch on his back and knew it was Xiao Lou. He downed his drink in one gulp and said, "Thank you, boss. Your cocktail is delicious. I'll come again next time."
He pulled Qu Wanyue out the door, and Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou immediately followed.
Outside the door, Lu Jiuchuan vomited for a while while hugging a tree—of course, he wasn't drunk, he was just pretending. After catching a glimpse of the others coming out out of the corner of his eye, he stumbled towards the parking lot.
The parking lot was empty. Yu Hanjiang opened the car door, and everyone quickly got in and closed the doors.
Qu Wanyue asked, "Has anyone made any discoveries?"
Lu Jiuchuan spoke first: "This White Fox is very skilled, and his reaction is even faster than Chu Huaying's. Huaying's physical attributes have been enhanced by many S-rank cards, and her reaction speed is already fast enough. However, the White Fox poses a greater threat to me than Huaying. I deliberately tested him just now. If I hadn't pretended to be drunk, my wrist might have been broken the moment he made his move."
As the captain of the naval special forces, Lu Jiuchuan's combat skills are already top-notch. If Bai Jinyu can make him feel threatened, then this person is definitely not to be underestimated.
Yu Hanjiang nodded seriously: "I saw it too. His grappling techniques must have been professionally trained. Even if an ordinary person has a card to enhance their strength, they cannot reach this level."
He turned to Xiao Lou: "Did you find anything on the first floor?"
Xiao Lou said, "There's another door behind the bar, which has a fingerprint lock that I can't open. But there are strange noises coming from inside, like someone is struggling. So, I left a drone surveillance camera in an inconspicuous spot near the door."
Lu Jiuchuan praised, "You're so thoughtful. Let's wait and see if the surveillance cameras capture anything."
Since the white fox's identity was unknown, they couldn't afford to alert her, so they could only investigate secretly.
A moment later, a scene appeared on Xiao Lou's surveillance card—
First, there was a "beep".
With a sound, the door opened, followed by the slow, deliberate sound of leather shoes on the floor, like a leisurely stroll on the beach. Bai Jinyu unlocked the door with her fingerprint and placed a takeout order on the table.
Because the door was closed, the inside could not be filmed, but the sounds could be heard.
A man said coldly, "How long do you think you can keep me locked up?"
Then another similar voice said, "Isn't it good to stay here, with food and drink?"
The other person said sarcastically, "So, I should thank you for your hospitality, brother?"
The footsteps suddenly stopped, then grew clearer, followed by a burst of static. The man opened the door, looked up at the drone surveillance camera, and his masked face was magnified on Xiao Lou's screen. Xiao Lou saw that his deep eyes curved slightly, as if he were smiling: "Not bad, you actually put surveillance cameras here."
The person inside asked in surprise, "Who is investigating you?"
Bai Jinyu said, "That guy who was heartbroken and drunk just now was quite the actor. I heard Lu Jiuchuan has a card called [ Mask ], which allows him to change his appearance at any time." He turned and stared at the monitor: " Lu Jiuchuan, is that you?" Then he took the drone off and held it up to a bottle of wine, letting the camera film him as much as it wanted.
Lu Jiuchuan: "..."
Xiao Lou pinched his brow helplessly and put away the drone: "I hid the drone in a very inconspicuous corner, but he found it so quickly. This guy is really cautious."
Lu Jiuchuan laughed and said, "It's not your fault. Our investigation has at least yielded some results."
Yu Hanjiang frowned and thought carefully for a moment, then said, "The person he locked up is his twin brother, right? Their voices are very similar. If it weren't for the significant difference in their tones, it would sound like they are asking and answering themselves."
Xiao Lou agreed, saying, "I just heard that person call him 'brother,' so why did he lock up his younger brother?"
The crowd exchanged bewildered glances; the secrets surrounding these two brothers were truly perplexing.
Just then, Yu Hanjiang suddenly remembered something and whispered, "We met Masked Man, Bai Jinyu's twin brother, in Spade 4. And in Spade 3..." The Hunter appeared in the Financial Crisis's secret room.
Xiao Lou's spirits lifted instantly: "You mean, the younger brother we met in Spade 4 might not be Challenger, but Hunter?!"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "As early as spade 3..." During Financial Crisis, a Hunter killed an ' Outsider ' and took their place, infiltrating our team. Could a similar situation occur in Spade 4? When we saw the Masked Man use a card, we instinctively assumed he was a Challenger ally, overlooking the possibility that he could also be the Hunter, obtaining the card from the deceased after killing the Challenger.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Lou felt a chill run down his spine.
At that time, the masked man suddenly appeared and took everyone's gems by telekinesis. Later, he joined the team and cleared the game with everyone... No one suspected that he was Hunter.
But if he is the Hunter, that makes sense too—because Hunters can appear in low-level Spade Secret Rooms, as evidenced by the guesthouse thieves encountered in Spade 3, so it wouldn't be surprising if a Hunter appeared in Spade 4.
This explains why the twins arrived in the main city at different times.
If the twins are Hunters, they can freely enter and exit lower-level secret rooms, making the timing of Xiao Lou and the others' encounter with the younger brother in Spade 4 irrelevant. Perhaps the younger brother, like his older brother, arrived in the main city six months prior, and just happened to receive a mission to kill someone in Spade 4 on that day, where he encountered Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang's group.
—He wasn't a newbie going to Black 4, but rather someone going to Spade 4 to hunt down newbies.
He probably realized that Xiao Lou and the others had joined forces, and he couldn't defeat them alone, so he stopped killing and instead disguised himself as a Challenger companion to help them complete the game. Those Challengers who died in the village might have been killed by him.
Qu Wanyue suddenly said, "By the way, Long Sen and I escaped from the village a long time ago. There were also a few Challengers outside the village. Anyone who dared to leave the village at that time must have been quite strong. But when we met Professor Xiao, those Challengers had already been eaten by wild beasts and were left only as bones. Could it be that... the Masked Man killed them? And that's why their bodies were eaten by wild beasts?"
Long Sen said, "And then there were the Challenger corpses found in the village. At first, we thought they were deaths and injuries caused by infighting among the Challengers, but we can't rule out the possibility that the Masked Man was behind it."
The more Xiao Lou thought about it, the more reasonable this speculation seemed compared to her previous guesses.
When they met the younger of the twins, they had already agreed to team up. At that time, in addition to Xiao Lou, Yu Hanjiang, Shao Qingge, Ye Qi, Liu Qiao and Longqu Couple, there was another team of four who were employees of the same company and each had a few cards.
The temporary alliance of lone wolves was powerful in numbers. Masked Man, perhaps finding it difficult to attack so many, chose to conceal his identity and remain among them, waiting for an opportunity. Because Yu Hanjiang was vigilant enough not to let his teammates act alone, he never found an opportunity. Therefore, when clearing the level, while most of Xiao Lou's group chose Moon City, he went to Sun City alone.
Bai Jinyu, and his twin brother, may both be members of the Hunter Organization.
Tang Ci said that Bai Jinyu's ID card shows he is a Challenger...
This proves that Xiao Lou's previous speculation was correct.
There are many Challengers among the Hunters, which is why they know so much about Challengers! This includes various cards and the Weekly Secret Chamber. Furthermore, they've brainwashed the native inhabitants of this world, inciting them to hunt " Outsiders " relentlessly; in fact, they themselves are "Outsiders."
outsider!
This group of people are inhuman traitors in Challenger, who have actually slaughtered their own people!
But what puzzled Xiao Lou was what event caused Challenger to transform into Hunter, the opposing faction?