In Chapter 5, although Yu Hanjiang guessed that Zhou Xiaoyun was most likely the murderer in the Sunken Lake Case, he still couldn't determine how to pass this escape room. The previous four-in-one escape room, the tenth stage, required them to find the mastermind behind the organ smuggling case; the qth stage required Prince Xiao Lou to successfully inherit the throne and eliminate all clones.
In this level, they weren't assigned any special roles. To Qingfeng Town, they were just insignificant passersby. Therefore, they didn't have any mandatory story missions. Did they simply guess the murderer to pass the level, or were they required to apprehend all the murderers and reveal the truth to the public?
Xiao Lou shared the same question, looking at Yu Hanjiang and asking, "Will guessing the murderer allow me to pass the level directly? Also, where are CEO Shao, Xiao Ye, and Ninth Brother right now?"
Shao Qingge and Ye Qi left a grave, and Ninth Brother and the others also left letters and drone. The card lets Xiao Lou know they've traveled to different timelines. But are their worlds parallel universes that don't interfere with each other, or have they truly returned to three or twenty years ago, becoming "history"?
If it's the latter, then they must have already left the secret room, or they should be reunited with Xiao Lou in this world.
Yu Hanjiang thought for a moment and said, " Judging from the information left by CEO Shao, he and Ye Qi should have already left the secret room. It's impossible for them to wait 20 years in Secret Room World to reunite with us. Therefore, it's very likely that the requirements for our three teams to pass this secret room will be different."
Previously, the team's success in clearing the level was the determining factor. However, this time, the twelve members were divided into three teams and went to different time periods. If the condition for clearing the level was "catching the murderer," then if Shao Qingge and Ye Qi had caught the young murderer twenty years ago, the murderer would not have been able to kill again, and Jiu Ge and Xiao Lou would have been even less likely to find the murderer.
Therefore, we either need to teleport CEO Shao and the others back directly, or we need to separate the three teams to determine the conditions for passing the level.
Xiao Lou said, "Let's talk about the specifics of how to clear the level after we leave the maze when the time is up."
The existence of Peach Blossom Spring has made the battle of wits between Ghost City and Hunter quite tiring. Xiao Lou asked Lao Mo to bring out beanbag chairs, and everyone took turns sitting and resting for a while, while also discussing their next strategy. Yu Hanjiang said, "According to the rotation pattern of the maze, it takes 12 hours, or a full 24 hours, to return to the original position. More than an hour has already passed. After Peach Blossom Spring is activated, we will have to stay here for another 20 hours before we can leave the Ghost City maze."
In other words, they can only hide for a maximum of 4 hours, and they will have to continue to outwit and outmaneuver the Hunter for the rest of the time.
Old Mo said with a headache, "Dealing with Hunter in the maze is also a challenge. Although I have a complete map of the maze, the outer perimeter of this honeycomb maze is constantly rotating, and the path is dynamically changing. Going around and around, it's very possible that we'll be the ones who get confused, not Hunter."
Xiao Lou agreed, "That's right. This time, the Hunters never appear during the day; they stay in the Ghost City maze at night. They should know the maze's terrain and rotation patterns better than we do. After we get out, we'll have to find a way to use Li Qingzhao's markers to teleport multiple times to escape their pursuit."
He paused, then looked at Qu Wanyue. " The mark of Li Qingzhao can be modified a maximum of 5 times in the maze. Two Li Qingzhao marks would be 10 times. We've already used one, which means we have 9 more chances to modify the mark."
Qu Wanyue nodded and asked, " Does Professor Xiao mean to continue the diversionary tactic, having one teammate lure away most of the Hunters, while another secretly modifies the teleportation markers to teleport the teammate there? By repeating this process, we can teleport together multiple times within the maze, making it impossible for the Hunters to pinpoint our exact location."
Xiao Lou said, "That's the only way. We don't know Hunter's strength yet, and we'll be at a disadvantage if we go head-to-head."
This method of teleporting around makes it difficult for Hunters to pinpoint their location, but it also carries significant risks. If the teammates who lure away Hunters get caught, or the teammates who go to modify the markers are discovered, all their efforts will be in vain.
Yu Hanjiang asked Liu Qiao, "Xiao Liu, how strong were those three people you just encountered?"
Liu Qiao recalled the encounter and said seriously, "There was a woman who seemed to be a melee assassin. She was holding a sharp curved knife and was extremely fast. I managed to narrowly escape her attack by turning her into an ugly duckling. The voice sounded male, but I didn't see their faces clearly."
"One of the older men can drop a giant net from any point in the air and summon a tornado powerful enough to destroy any building; the younger one has a floating crystal ball in his hand. The white crystal ball can reveal invisible targets within its range, and the black crystal ball is probably his trump card. This person is lurking in the shadows and is very scary. Moreover, he may have other crystal balls in his hand."
"Oh, right, and there were some strange water ghosts that haunted me in the pond back then. I guess Hunter was behind it too."
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance, secretly alarmed.
The Hunters encountered in this locked room are not to be underestimated. There's a woman using hair as a weapon, a girl with an umbrella, an assassin, a giant net, a crystal ball, a water ghost, and the same person who trapped them in the bridal chamber with a red cloth and rained down arrows upon them.
There are already more than six known Hunters, and there might be others lurking in the shadows, yet to make a move. The six of them are definitely outnumbered.
Moreover, the Hunters know their cards, but they don't know their opponents' hole cards.
Xiao Lou was puzzled because " CEO Shao and Ninth Brother didn't mention the word 'Hunter' at all in the clues they left behind, proving that he..."
They didn't encounter Hunters in the worlds of twenty or three years ago. If the Guardian deployed an equal number of elite Hunters to this world as Challengers, then it's highly likely that there are twelve Hunters in this locked room, all located in Ghost City at night.
Upon hearing this, his teammates gasped in shock.
If Xiao Lou hadn't split into teams and everyone had entered Ghost City together at night, they would have faced a 12v12 situation. Since the Hunters were all top-notch, an equal number of players would have made the competition fair.
However, to be on the safe side, Xiao Lou divided the team into three smaller teams. As a result, Shao Ye and his two companions, along with Jiu Ge and his four companions, were transported to different worlds. Although the teammates worked hard to find clues and help Xiao Lou and his team solve the case, the problem was that after the six teammates left their original worlds, all the Hunters were left to Xiao Lou and his six companions to deal with.
The practice of dividing into teams is advantageous for finding clues and solving cases, but it is a great disadvantage for survival.
If Hunter and Challenger have equal numbers, that's 12 people, all of them in Ghost City at night. They can only hide in Peach Blossom Spring for now; what they'll encounter once they leave is anyone's guess.
The teammates were anxious; it seemed like a 6-on-12 situation with absolutely no chance of winning.
While the Hunters Nine and his crew encountered in Plum Blossom J were numerous, their quality wasn't particularly high. This time, however, each Hunter possesses incredibly powerful cards, their numbers are double theirs, and they know their strengths and weaknesses.
This is absolutely a nightmare level of survival difficulty.
Yu Hanjiang quickly calmed down and whispered, "We'll deal with whatever comes our way. All we need to do is get out of the Ghost City maze alive. We don't need to fight them head-on. Just do as Xiao Lou said and avoid them."
If you can't beat them head-on, you can always outrun them, right?
Xiao Lou pondered for a moment and said, "Here's what we'll do: Xiao Liu will take one of Li Qingzhao's cards, Qu Wanyue will take the other one, Longqu Couple will act together, Xiao Liu and Lao Mo will go together, and I will go with Hanjiang. We'll split up later."
He looked at Qu Wanyue and earnestly instructed, "Dragon Qu Group, you can use the Chameleon card to always blend into the color of the floor. Xiao Liu said that one of the opponents can use a crystal ball to spot an invisible target, but your Chameleon doesn't make you invisible; it just changes your body color to adapt to the surrounding environment. Changing color should make you harder to be detected. Try to stay close to the ground or walls and don't make any noise. Modify Li Qingzhao's mark according to my instructions. When I say '1,' I'll activate the teleportation to pull people in."
Qu Wanyue and Long Sen nodded readily, "Understood."
Their ability to fight head-on was mediocre, but their ability to escape was first-rate. Back in Liuxi Village, they escaped the village overnight and relied on the Chameleon and Zombie Jump cards to escape through the wild beasts in the mountains all night.
Now that the task of escaping and marking has been entrusted to them, both are confident that they can complete it.
Xiao Lou looked at Liu Qiao with concern, "Xiao Liu, is your Elsa's wide-area freeze skill off cooldown?"
Liu Qiao nodded. "Yes, I was entangled by a bunch of things in the pond just now, so I used Elsa's skill to freeze the water."
In other words, there is another Hunter who is extremely good at swimming and can summon water monsters.
Xiao Lou instructed, "You must be careful when you're working with Lao Mo. Lao Mo doesn't have a Lightness Skill Card, so shrink Lao Mo to the size of your thumb and carry him around. Lao Mo should keep an eye on the rotation of the maze. When the time is almost up, find the vicinity of the exit, mark it, and pull everyone there. Xiao Liu has a card that can save your life. If you use it flexibly, I believe you can protect yourself."
Meeting Xiao Lou's trusting gaze, Liu Qiao felt a surge of warmth in her heart and nodded vigorously, "Don't worry, Professor Xiao, I will definitely complete the mission."
Liu Qiao has a bunch of transformation cards, among which "ugly duckling " is used flexibly. During the transformation, one cannot attack or be attacked. Transforming into an enemy will cause the enemy to lose its attack power; transforming into oneself is equivalent to putting oneself into an invincible state of "unable to be attacked".
This is also why Xiao Lou felt comfortable letting Liu Qiao take Lao Mo, their guide, along.
Among the six, Liu Qiao actually has the strongest ability to protect herself.
She also has Little Red Riding Hood to act as her double and take the hits for her; the witch's antidote to save lives; Ugly Duckling to transform into someone else or herself; and the Poison Queen's apple to poison a designated target.
Old Mo also has marble, spatial rotation, dyeing cards, etc. With the two of them working together, escaping shouldn't be a problem.
Liu Qiao said worriedly, " Professor Xiao, you 've already used your Compass. Isn't holding the Invisibility Cloak the most dangerous thing?"
Xiao Lou smiled and said, "Don't worry, the two of us will act as targets to lure away the main force of Hunters, making it easier for you to change the markers." He turned to look at Yu Hanjiang, his eyes full of trust, "Besides, with Captain Yu here, it won't be so easy for those Hunters to catch us."
Yu Hanjiang nodded in agreement, then suddenly added, "There's one more thing."
His teammates all looked at him, and he said with a serious expression, word by word, "In the worst-case scenario, don't forget that we still have a resurrection card in our team's limited cards."