Card Room (Rebirth)

[Congratulations to Xiao Lou’s team for successfully passing the 10th level secret room.]

After Qin Wan killed herself, this prompt appeared in the floating boxes in front of them. This happened regardless of whether they were the four staying at the hotel in Qingshui Town to sort out the information or Yu Hanjiang’s group of four looking at each other in Shao Qingge’s bedroom.

Shao Qingge stared at the corpse of the woman lying on the ground, his heart a bit heavy. After all, he had called this woman ‘mother’. His mind was full of warm memories of being adopted by this woman for over 20 years. She had taken good care of him and personally cooked for him. Yet when the moment came, she didn’t hesitate to point a gun at his head!

The love between a mother and child and the grace of nurturing weren’t comparable to the black totem on her shoulder.

A hunter.

This word was like a thorn in everyone’s hearts.

Ye Qi recalled the nightmare experience of 3 of Spades and couldn’t help shaking as he got goosebumps. “These hunters are inhumane. They are almost like a brainwashed cult. They are so crazy that they would even kill the son they raised…”

Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou. “Do you remember in the underground basement of Qinghe Village just now, I put on the invisibility cloak and took you, Ye Qi and Old Mo away? The four of us disappeared from the surveillance but those people didn’t seem surprised.”

Xiao Lou thought carefully about it. It was indeed strange. If it had been ordinary people, they would be shocked to see a person suddenly disappear in front of them. Yet the killers who chased them were very calm. They directly picked up the machine guns to shoot at the empty corridor.

Xiao Lou made a guess. “Perhaps they already knew we were ‘foreigners’? Qin Wan ordered them to kill us. In addition to silencing us, perhaps this is the more critical reason?”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “I’m afraid she noticed us as early as when you used an excuse to bring Shao Zhengyang over to be questioned.”

Xiao Lou shuddered. This strange league of hunters took ‘killing foreigners’ as their most important goal. Their cruel and vicious means were far beyond the understanding of Xiao Lou’s team. It was as Ye Qi said. Hunters were crazy and didn’t even let go of their teammates. The hunters’ deep hatred for them and the identity of the leader of the organization wasn’t known at all. Would Brother Jiu have any clues?

Yu Hanjiang perceived Xiao Lou’s thoughts and spoke through the Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings channel. “I will go to Brother Jiu to ask once we leave the secret room.”

Xiao Lou agreed. “The instance has been cleared. Shall we leave as soon as possible?”

Yu Hanjiang was silent for a moment before suddenly saying, “Everyone take a rest first. I have one more thing to deal with.”

Ye Qi was curious. “Isn’t it already cleared? Group Leader Yu, what else is there for you to worry about?”

“Zhao Sen.”, Yu Hanjiang said calmly.

“……” Shao Qingge’s back became cold as he thought of the perverted murderer who wore silver-rimmed glasses and did heart surgery on him. Shao Qingge asked in a low voice, “You are going to catch him?”

“Zhao Sen has taken two lives with his hands and I can’t let him get away with it. Besides, if he isn’t dealt with he might disturb the secret rooms in the future.” Yu Hanjiang glanced at Xiao Lou and asked for his opinion. “What do you think?”

“Yes, I can understand.” Xiao Lou stared into Yu Hanjiang’s eyes seriously. “After all, you are a police officer. A perverted murderer is moving around in front of you so you will feel uncomfortable if you allow him to escape.”

Yu Hanjiang met these gentle eyes and his heart warmed. Xiao Lou didn’t blame him for being ‘nosy’ but was supportive of his approach. This made Yu Hanjiang feel very grateful. He took a last look at Xiao Lou before turning around. “I’ll go quickly.”

Xiao Lou was a bit worried. “Are you going to catch him alone?”

“I am a criminal investigations police officer in this world so I will follow the normal procedures. Don’t forget, I followed him to his villa when I was the size of a thumb and have ready-made evidence. His house is full of his cousin’s body parts.”

Shao Qingge made an expression of disgust and endured his nausea as he imagined the scene that Yu Hanjiang mentioned.

Ye Qi was very curious and there was a hint of excitement in his tone. “Zhao Sen is too abnormal. He actually made his cousin’s body into a specimen collection. Group Leader Yu, I will accompany you. I am still the bug king and can help you if Zhao Sen resists.”

Yu Hanjiang didn’t refuse and took Ye Qi with him to Zhao Sen’s private villa in the mountains.

The two of them opened the door and found Zhao Sen smiling while admiring his ‘masterpieces’ in his specimens room. The entire room was full of internal organs and limbs, making Ye Qi feel nauseous.

Yu Hanjiang had followed Zhao Sen once before and was very familiar with the villa. It could be regarded as Zhao Sen being caught red-handed.

Zhao Sen was arrested and Yu Hanjiang pulled out the file for the 2 of Hearts ‘Rose Funeral’ case.

The timeline of this secret room was shortly after the Rose Funeral case happened. Zou Xiaomei’s parents couldn’t contact their daughter for a few days so they called the police. The police arrived at the scene and found a strong rancid smell coming from the villa. They followed the smell to the bedroom and the scene they saw shocked all the officers present.

A female corpse was lying on a bed covered with roses. It would be comparable to a work of art if it wasn’t for the stench.

After investigation, the police found He Yongqiang’s hairs in the kitchen floor drain and a large number of He Yongqiang and the deceased’s fingerprints on the tableware, confirming that the two people had a meal together. They unlocked Zou Xiaomei’s mobile phone and saw the chat history between her and He Yongqiang. During the time when Zou Xiaomei died, her husband Zhao Sen was on a business trip. He had sufficient alibi so the police locked onto He Yongqiang as a suspect.

Yu Hanjiang glanced at the investigation transcript in the file. Zhao Sen was brought in to be questioned. He was indeed on a business trip. The airport and hotel cameras captured his face. Zhao Sen said he didn’t know his wife was having an affair with He Yongqiang.

The police were unable to find He Yongqiang so it became a pending case.

Everything went according to Zhao Sen’s script. The two people were having an affair and quarreled. He Yongqiang accidentally killed her and fled out of fear of being caught. Zhao Sen was an innocent victim.

Unfortunately, this time he met Yu Hanjiang. No one could run from the long arm of the law. Not only did Yu Hanjiang find the body parts of He Yongqiang that were turned into specimens, he also took off the delicate watch worn on Zhao Sen’s right wrist and handed it over to the technical department for identification.

The final identification found the DNA of his wife from the blood in the gap of his watch chain.

The person in charge of the case was a familiar name—Xie Xinghe.

Yu Hanjiang was startled. Was this Xie Xinghe the one he knew? He was unexpectedly the group leader of the criminal investigations department of a sub-bureau.

Yu Hanjiang asked his colleagues from the police force to inform Xie Xinghe to come see him at the city bureau the next day.

At 8 o’clock in the morning, a young and handsome criminal investigations police officer rushed over after receiving the news. He asked in a puzzled manner, “Group Leader Yu, I heard you made progress in the Rose Funeral case?”

Xie Xinghe was only an 18 year old boy when Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou experienced the Maple Leaf secret room.

Yu Hanjiang remembered that after the innocent Ying Xiaoya was killed, Xie Xinghe swore to become a criminal investigations police officer in front of her grave. He didn’t expect that he would actually meet Xie Xinghe who had become a police officer here.

The young man in front of him had a calm gaze. The youthfulness had long since faded from his body and he showed signs of competence.

Yu Hanjiang picked up the file and asked, “This case is yours. Did you notice something wrong?”

Xie Xinghe nodded. “It wasn’t right. He Yongqiang fled in fear after killing someone. This speculation is reasonable based on the superficial evidence. However, we have searched for a long time and couldn’t find any signs of He Yongqiang’s whereabouts. It is like he disappeared out of thin air. In addition, Zhao Sen’s alibi seems complete but the part where he slept in the hotel is missing. He stayed on the second floor of the hotel. After entering the room, he could escape out the window, drive back to the city and kill his wife and cousin. I calculated the distance between the two cities. It isn’t too late if he drives back while pretending he was sleeping the entire time.”

Yu Hanjiang gazed at him with approval. “The murderer is indeed Zhao Sen. I have arrested him and brought the evidence for you.”

Xie Xinghe looked at Yu Hanjiang suspiciously, not sure why this person would intervene to help him. It wasn’t until he came to the appraisal department and saw the organ specimens all over the room that a trace of horror flashed on Xie Xinghe’s calm face.

Yu Hanjiang wondered, “Have you ever met a perverted murderer before?”

Xie Xinghe frowned. “It is really… surprising.”

Yu Hanjiang lightly patted the young man’s shoulder. “I will leave the rest to you. I have to go first.”

Xie Xinghe respectfully said, “Thank you, Group Leader Yu.”

Yu Hanjiang left the criminal investigations police department. At the same time, Xiao Lou’s voice was heard from the Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings channel. “Did you meet Xie Xinghe? The high school student from 3 of Hearts who was determined to become a policeman?”

“I didn’t expect it either. I wanted to drop off Zhao Sen’s case and it turned out to be Xie Xinghe’s case.”

Yu Hanjiang stopped at the door.

The early morning sun was dazzling. Pedestrians on the street came and went in a hurry. The existence of hunters and challengers seemed to have no impact on the world.

Yu Hanjiang analysed, “I have a bold speculation that the secret rooms have their own rules of operation. For people like Li Mo, Zhao Sen and Xie Xinghe, we met them at different ages in different secret rooms and even influenced their life trajectory. If I didn’t deal with Zhao Sen today, we might meet him again in the future. Similarly, if we hadn’t cleared the Maple Leaf secret room perfectly then perhaps we wouldn’t have triggered the ending of ‘Xie Xinghe wants to become a police officer’. With his cleverness, he might’ve become psychologically distorted and become a difficult murderer for us.”

Xiao Lou listened to Yu Hanjiang’s analysis and couldn’t help saying, “It is like a multi-line RPG game? We are players and our every move will affect the ending of different NPCs?”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “Unfortunately, we only have one chance to pass the level and we aren’t allowed to take a single step wrong. We are playing a game with our lives on the line. If we lose then we will disappear completely. We can’t save the progress and reload.”

Xiao Lou took a deep breath. “Let’s leave first. I have already received the prompt.”

Yu Hanjiang also had a prompt on the floating box in front of him.

[Xiao Lou’s team has successfully captured the murderer Zhao Sen and triggered the hidden ending. Extra rewards will be obtained after clearing the level.]

[Do you want to leave the secret room now?]

Yu Hanjiang decisively pressed ‘yes’.

At the same time, his other teammates also pressed ‘yes’ and they gathered in their personal space.

A of Spades, A of Hearts, A of Clubs and A of Diamonds were sitting in front of them. Everyone felt complicated seeing the four familiar keepers. They really couldn’t express their complaints about the secret room the keepers arranged.

Shao Qingge endured his anger and smiled. “The parents you arranged for me were very good. Thank you.”

The Hearts sister smiled “This is a benefit for you. You should thank us. Your gentle mother is the ultimate boss. Is it surprising? Were you surprised?”

Shao Qingge, “……”

Xiao Lou was once arranged to be a wife and had no comments for the Hearts sister. If she became upset then who knew what pit she would have for them in the next secret room?

Yu Hanjiang was too lazy to talk nonsense and simply said, “Let’s draw the cards. It can’t be missing any of the rewards you promised us.”

A of Spades wore sunglasses and waved his hand lightly, still looking cold.

Eight golden chests appeared in front of them. This was the first time they had seen so many treasure chests. The depressed mood of the last few days was finally lifted the moment the treasure chests appeared.

Old Mo smiled. “There is one each. Do you want to draw your own?”

Ye Qi rubbed his hands excitedly. “It was said before entering the secret room that the four-in-one secret room is very hard and the treasure chests will also increase. Let’s draw it quickly. It is good for everyone to have a share.”

The team members showed expectant expressions on their faces. Xiao Lou suggested, “Group Leader Yu, do you want to go first?”

Yu Hanjiang didn’t object and simply placed his hand inside the chest.

Xie Xinghe is from 3 of Hearts, the high school murder case. He swore to become a police officer at the end of the case.

Proofreader: Paranoid Kitten & Fictional Reality