Card Room

Chapter 107 - Liuxi Village 13

The invisibility cloak had a time limit. Xiao Lou’s group of three left while Ye Qi continued to monitor the movements of Grandma Sun. After running away, Xiao Lou whispered, “Early this morning, the prompt said there was only one gem left. Group Leader Yu, which one do you think it is?”

Yu Hanjiang thought about it and said, “The one in the ruined temple, the village chief’s home, Grandma Qin’s home and the two in the wheat field outside the village have been found by us. The gem in the village’s easternmost house is likely to have been found by challengers searching the village. So perhaps the one left is in the pond?”

Xiao Lou suggested, “Do you want to go and see?”

Liu Qiao told them, “The two of you go to the pond. I want to go up the mountain to see. Last night, people stole the roosters and dogs and headed in the direction of the west mountain. I think these animals should still be on the west mountain.”

Xiao Lou felt some worry. “You are acting alone. What will you do if you encounter some danger?”

Liu Qiao stated, “It doesn’t matter. I have the flight card and can run.”

Xiao Lou smiled. “Then be careful. We will soon come to the west mountain to meet you.”

Liu Qiao nodded and turned away.

Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou and whispered, “What do you think of this girl?”

Xiao Lou looked in the direction of the disappearing Liu Qiao and said, “She is very smart, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to reach 4 of Spades alone. Our contract still has a spot. If she wants to join us then I’d like to bring her with me.”

Yu Hanjiang frowned. “I am worried that the next stage of the secret rooms will have a certain number of people. The intermediate contract has five people and the advanced contract is 8~15 people. If the number isn’t enough, we might be matched randomly. It is better to find the right team members in advance then be matched to pig teammates. Do you want to add Liu Qiao? Wait until we go to the main city and understand the rules of the next stage.”

Xiao Lou nodded. “Yes. She might not team up with her since she is looking for her sister.”

The two of them chatted as they turned in the direction of the pond. Along the way, they met a number of challengers entering the village to search. The village had 18 challengers but only one gem remaining. It was naturally a race against the clock. The challengers were in a hurry and no one paid attention to Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou. They were busy searching the villagers’ houses.

Just then, a girl at the edge of the pond wondered, “I didn’t catch a fish. How did I catch a box?”

The girl was obviously a bit slow. She was fishing in the pond and caught a wooden box, but she didn’t think it was a gem. Her companion reacted first and immediately ran over. “Shh... keep it down and see what’s in the box.”

Still, she was a step behind. A man suddenly rolled down from the tree, set them in place with Balance and snatched the wooden box from the girl’s hand.

The woman was angry and turned red. “This is what I caught. Give it back to me!”

Her companion gritted her teeth. “Directly robbing a girl’s things, do you have no shame?”

The man sneered. “The rules didn’t say that we can’t steal. You can only blame yourself for being too weak if you are robbed.”

He excitedly opened the box and as a result, the box was empty.

The man squinted. “Empty?” Soon, he found that his legs couldn’t move. Suddenly, the man turned around and saw a masked person, gender unknown, holding a crystal red chrysoberyl in his hand. They spoke coldly, “I’ll repeat your original words. I stole this and you can only blame yourself for your weakness.”

The man spoke these words and quickly disappeared. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were near the pond and happened to see this scene of ‘the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.’

Xiao Lou lowered his voice and said, “If I didn’t see wrong, the person in the mask directly took the gem out of the box just now, right? He didn’t get close to the box. Perhaps he has a card to grab things from a distance?”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “These challengers are very strong. No matter what the others are doing, we will go up the mountain first.”

The last gem had been fished out by the girls. So far, the seven gems in Liuxi Village had been found. Apart from the male and female combination who ran out of the village to escape, the other gems should still be in Liuxi Village.

They were currently 18 challengers and 6 gems in the village, which was in short supply. In the next few days, the fighting would increase more and more. There would be vicious fighting and bloodshed. Xiao Lou didn’t dare expose that he had a gem and quickly left the area with Yu Hanjiang.

Ye Qi, who was in charge of listening, suddenly spoke through the heart channel. “Professor Xiao, Grandma Sun and the villagers are discussing going to the west mountain to find their roosters and dogs. Grandma Sun and Grandma Qin are taking them to the west mountain!”

Xiao Lou replied, “Group Leader Yu and I are going to the west mountain. Little Ye, you and Shao Qingge should always take care of the village chief. If someone tries to rob you then use Teleport to escape. We will come back as soon as possible to support you!”

Ye Qi’s clear voice entered his ears. “Don’t worry!”

***

Once Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang came to the western mountain, Liu Qiao was surrounded by people.

It was the man and woman who tied up Xiao Lou with the white silk that day. These two people were blocking Liu Qiao’s way. It was unknown what card skills they used but Liu Qiao had fallen down from the tree. Her face was stained grey and her hair full of leaves, but she looked very calm. “I told you that I don’t have a gem on me.”

The woman chuckled. “Do you think we’ll believe that? After coming out of the temple that day, we saw you flying from a tree. The first gem must’ve been found by you!”

The man spoke cynically. “Little girl, hand it over quickly and we’ll spare your life.”

Liu Qiao spoke coldly, “I really don’t have it. If you don’t believe me then you can come to search me.”

The woman looked suspiciously at Liu Qiao and approached, trying to search her body. Xiao Lou was rushing forward to help when Yu Hanjiang suddenly grabbed him. “Don’t worry.”

The next moment, a cute Little Red Riding Hood appeared at Liu Qiao’s location. There was a little girl less than 1.4 metres tall, wearing a red cloak and head covered with a large hood. She had a white and tender face as well as a warm smile that melted the heart.

The woman who was going to search Liu Qiao’s body found that the other side had become a little girl and was slightly stunned. Then she heard a little girl with a childish voice ask seriously, “Are you my grandmother?”

The woman’s face changed. “What is this nonsense?”

Little Red Riding Hood heard this answer and her cute face changed in an instant. Her features twisted at a breakneck speed and she turned into a grey wolf. Her mouth opened and she bit the woman’s arm with sharp teeth!

The woman made a pig-like cry. “Ahhhh...”

In the distance, around 10 metres from her original position, Liu Qiao stared cold-eyed at this scene. She saw Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang and nodded at them, but she didn’t come over. Instead, she turned away quickly.

Xiao Lou sighed with relief. No wonder why Liu Qiao dared to act alone. The card she mentioned, Little Red Riding Hood was very strong.

Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou ignored the couple and quickly followed Liu Qiao. Liu Qiao stopped under on a tree in the distance to wait for them. The moment she saw them, she flew down the tree and spoke calmly, “I was just caught by the couple. The woman had a strange card that neutralized my skills and caused me to fall down from the tree.”

She held out her hand to wipe the mud from her face and picked the leaves from her hair. “I didn’t acknowledge you because then they could easily guess that the gems are in our hands.”

Xiao Lou smiled and said, “You did the right thing.”

Yu Hanjiang directly asked, “What is Little Red Riding Hood?”

“Upgrading it unlocked the second skill, Little Red Riding Hood and Grandma Wolf. You can replace the controlled person with Little Red Riding Hood and become the target of the wolf attack.”

No wonder why the Little Red Riding Hood suddenly appeared when Liu Qiao was controlled by the Balance. Liu Qiao had moved away. Xiao Lou exclaimed, “This card is very interesting.”

“I found the roosters and dogs of the villagers.” Liu Qiao pointed at the ruined temple. “They are near the human bones pit.”

Just then, there was the sound of a large number of footsteps not far away. Apparently, a large number of villagers had arrived. Liu Qiao, Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang immediately headed to the temple’s backyard and used a large tree to climb onto the roof to hide.

The roof was oblique and it wasn’t easy to be seen from the ground. As a result, the three people climbed onto the roof and found four people lying down.

Everyone, “.........”

The roof was a bit crowded. The seven people lay on the roof and no one wanted to speak first. The scene was extremely embarrassing.

Moments later, Yu Hanjiang spoke in a low voice. “Don’t make a sound and hide well. The usage of the invisibility cloak has been used up and we can’t be found by the villagers.”

The other four people looked complicated and a familiar man’s voice was heard. “Is it you? The one in Grandma Qin’s house?”

At that time, the four people had searched Grandma Qin’s house while wearing invisibility cloaks and didn’t see each other’s appearance. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou first searched the kitchen and someone took the opportunity to take the gem in the bedroom.

Yu Hanjiang remembered the voice and asked, “You got the gem and want to aim for a perfect clearance?”

The man replied, “We’re just trying it. You found the gems as well?”

Yu Hanjiang didn’t answer and it was a default agreement.

It seemed that the seven people lying on the roof at present had received gems and could clear the instance. It was no wonder why these four people stole the villagers’ roosters and dogs last night. It was to intentionally lead people to the ruined temple and let the murderer show their feet. It was a good idea.

Xiao Lou smiled. “Since everyone’s goal is the same, it is good to hide and not be found by the villagers.”

There was the sound of messy footsteps. It was clear the villagers had come nearby.

This road was the road they usually took to get water. They were very familiar with it and once they reached the entrance of the temple, the people heard the roosters’ calling and barking from the temple. Liu San, the leader of the group, looked happy and said, “We’ve found it! Our roosters and dogs are locked up here!”

Next to him, the woman said, “I heard the sound of my family’s Spot. It must be tied here.”

Someone said, “Do you want to go in and see?”

The group of people were talking when Grandma Sun walked forward using a cane. She looked up, saw the half-torn charms on the ruined temple door and sneered. “Don’t go in. If someone buried a trap inside then won’t we die since you can’t see?”

The villagers were worried. “However, my family’s Spot...” “Yes, my rooster is inside. How can I ignore it?” “Grandma, we have so many people. I don’t believe that the foreigners can catch us all!” “Yes, everyone should go together!”

Everyone was going to push open the door and Aunt Qin suddenly stepped forward to stop them. She spoke in a hoarse voice, “You should all wait here. I’ll take Little Black inside to see.”

She was holding the fierce Tibetan mastiff. The dog was full of momentum and barked a few times. This caused the area to fall silent, even the temple dogs beings quiet.

Grandma Sun looked at the door in front of her and murmured, “Old Sun, you go with me...”

Grandma Sun nodded and entered the temple with her.

The challengers hiding on the roof immediately retracted their heads in tacit silence.

The door of the ruined temple opened and a gust of wind blew through, rolling up the charms everywhere. The eyes painted on the charms seemed like blood and tears. The two old ladies walked side by side into the dilapidated temple. They came to the vicinity of the human bones pit and found the villagers’ chickens and dogs tied to the surrounding trees.

Grandma Qin looked at the bones pit and her cane gently tapped against the ground as she sighed. “Retribution! In a few days, it will be the death day of my Xueren. So many things are happening in the village. Is my Xueren showing her spirit to stop me from continuing to do evil?”

Grandma Sun was expressionless. “If Xueren is still here, she would definitely want to dig out the eyes of these beasts.”

Grandma Qin smiled. “I’m sorry that your Yueqing was innocently involved. Speaking of which, you’ve been in our village for 35 years, right?”

Grandma Sun looked at the human bones pit in front of her and smiled. “Yes, I’ve almost forgotten what my family looks like.”

Grandma Qin said, “I remember that your Yueqing was very beautiful. The girl from the big city was tall, thin and had white skin. Her clothes were beautiful and there was the bracelet around her wrist. The girls in the village were envious of that bracelet...”

Grandma Sun added, “Your Xueren looked bright. She might be blind but she was smart and lovely. If she had gone back to school in the city with Yueqing, perhaps...”

She spoke up to here and suddenly stopped. Both people were silent.

A cold wind blew the charms on the ground and the eavesdropping Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang couldn’t help looking at each other. Their reasoning was close to the truth but it wasn’t complete. They didn’t expect the villagers of Liuxi Village in that year to kill more than one person.

Based on the dialogue, Grandma Qin and Grandma Sun’s daughters were murdered in cold blood.

Sun Yueqing, Grandma Sun’s daughter, was the girl who came from the big city wearing a beautiful chrysoberyl bracelet. Her eyes should be normal and out of a love for chrysoberyl, she came to Liuxi Village to find the jade materials.

Meanwhile, Grandma Qin’s daughter, Qin Xueren was the blind person. Just now, Grandma Qin mentioned that ‘your family’s Yueqing was innocently involved.’ Perhaps Xueren first encountered something and Sun Yueqing tried to help. The result was that the two people were killed together.

The two girls, what happened that caused them to be killed together?

Xiao Lou thought of a possibility and his back became cold.

If it was what he thought, the foolish villagers first raped and then killed Sun Yueqing and Qin Xueren. These two were their mothers and hated Liuxi Village. They went crazy and wanted to torture the babies in their hands. They wanted to eat the flesh of the enemy and drink the blood of the enemy!

Yu Hanjiang’s face was serious and he apparently thought of it. The source of the hatred, the truth was alarming.

Next to the human bones pit, the two old ladies stood in silence. 35 years had passed and their hair was completely white and their backs slightly bent. Their bodies holding the cane were old and their eyes were cloudy, but it was filled with hate. Staring at these white bones, the hatred didn’t diminish at all.

Grandma Qin coldly declared, “They should all die.”

Grandma Suns stated, “Death ends all troubles.”

Grandma Qin turned her head and asked, “What do you want to do?”

Grandma Sun smiled. “After so many years, I am tired. Isn’t it a few days away? I’d like to rest.”