Card Room

The five people signed a contract and it was already 10:30. Xiao Lou wanted to know more information so he used the hotel telephone to dial Mo Xuemin's number. The call quickly connected. Old Mo looked at the number on the caller ID and wondered, "Hello? Who is this?"

Xiao Lou told him, "Old Mo, it's me. Is it convenient to come find you? I'll give you the consultation fee."

Mo Xuemin heard the familiar voice and immediately said, "It is convenient! I live in 507. You can come here!"

Xiao Lou took his teammates to knock on the door of 507.

The door soon opened. Old Mo had bathed and changed into pyjamas. He saw their faces and looked surprised. "Hey, I thought your words about giving me a consulting fee was a joke. Yet you really came personally to give it?"

Xiao Lou smiled. "You rely on selling information to do business and there are rules. We can't always find you to gain information without giving a consulting fee."

Old Mo smiled and waved his hand. "Forget it, I'm embarrassed to receive such a small amount of money."

"Don't be embarrassed. We have many things we want to consult you on. Can we go in and speak?"

Old Mo opened the door. "Please come in."

He invited them to come in and sit down. Xiao Lou looked around and found that Old Mo was living in a big double room. Xiao Lou's group had many people so booking a double room was more cost-effective. Meanwhile, Old Mo was actually living alone. He didn't have any teammates? Thinking of this, Xiao Lou couldn't help asking, "Old Mo, do you live alone? Where are your teammates?"

Mo Xuemin was pouring water for the group. He heard this and his back slightly stiffened before he sighed. "My teammates all died in the previous secret room."

He poured the water into disposable cups and handed them to Xiao Lou's group, the smile on his face very bitter. "There were 15 people on my contract book but in the last World Weekly, we met hunters and were wiped out. I was the only one who escaped."

Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly. "Hunters?"

Mo Xuemin sat down on the rattan chair. "Have you met free people aiming to kill challengers in 3 of Spades?"

Yu Hanjiang replied, "You mean the one who joined with the boss of the illegal inn to destroy the challengers?"

Mo Xuemin nodded. "They are called hunters and can receive a big bounty after killing challengers. The organization, called the Hunter's Alliance, was said to be established by the locals. They believe that the existence of foreigners seriously threaten their living environment and they want to expel all of us."

Xie Qi’s face was shocked. “Will there be hunters in the World Weekly secret rooms?”

Mo Xuemin rubbed his temple. “That’s why every week is a life-and-death challenger. I remember in last week’s World Weekly, nearly three million people were eliminated.”

He settled down and looked at Xiao Lou. “Are you looking for me to consult about the World Weekly?”

Xiao Lou smiled and nodded. "Yes, we just passed the fourth level and don't know a lot about the World Weekly. We wanted to ask about the experience of a senior."

Mo Xuemin told them, "You are new so I suggest you team up and upgrade your contract book. It is better to rise to the advanced book to form a team of 8-15 people. The more people there are, the greater the probability of clearing the instance. It is because the World Weekly instances will randomly send a large number of challengers to one room. There will be internal fighting among the challenger teams. The big guilds and big teams are likely to attack small guilds and small teams."

He was afraid they didn't understand and gave an example. "For example, you only have five people while another team has 15 people. 15 against 5, the odds are great. If the team leader has a bad heart, he will kill the five of you and take your cards as his own. This will enhance the fighting power of his team. After all, in the Card World, cards are weapons."

Xiao Lou and his team members looked at each other, a chill going down their spines.

No wonder why the World Weekly secret rooms were so difficult. Apart from the existence of hunters, the most terrible thing was actually infighting among challengers. They currently only had five people. In the eyes of other teams, they were weak and could be slaughtered by others. As long as they were killed, their cards could be obtained. Usually, people could live in harmony if there were no conflicts of interests. However, in a life and death moment, who would have the leisure to take care of other people's lives?

Eliminating the weak and increasing their strength was the most instinctive human response.

Xiao Lou frowned. "Is there a place to recruit teammates?"

Mo Xuemin replied, "There is a professional challengers forum set up by the Intelligence Bureau online. You can go there and recruit some great teammates, but there are risks with recruiting. It will be a headache if someone betrays the team or drags everyone down."

He once again mentioned the Intelligence Bureau. Xiao Lou wondered how the Intelligence Bureau could be so powerful. It not only collects information from challengers, providing services such as 'looking for people' and 'consulting', it also helped everyone establish an internal exchange forum?

Yu Hanjiang asked with interest, "The internal forum has a review registration system?"

"Yes, the bureau's forum needs to confirm the identity of every challenger. Before registering, you need to fill in your information from reality and can only enter after receiving approval. That's why there are many challengers looking for people on the forum or issuing a team recruitment post."

This registered forum was a critical reason for why the Intelligence Bureau could collect such a large amount of information. Members filled in real-world information when signing up, allowing them to facilitate communication and discovering the situation of challengers.

The thing that made Xiao Lou curious was the significance of the existence of the Intelligence Bureau. Was it purely to make money by selling information? Or was the boss of the Intelligence Bureau playing a big game?

There was a moment of silence in the room as everyone thought about it. A moment later, Xiao Lou opened his mouth. "Old Mo, can you tell us about the situation of last week's World Weekly?"

Mo Xuemin explained, "Last week was a Diamonds room and the instance was called 'Rotation Maze.' After a certain period of time, the maze will rotate 90 degrees. Many challengers became dizzy inside and were lost for several hours. Some people failed to get out of the maze within the specified time and were eliminated. Others accidentally stepped on a mechanism and were shot dead by random arrows. Some people were killed when they met hunters. There were more than 100 people in my maze and only 20 people cleared the instance."

Xiao Lou was shocked. "The Diamonds room will also have hunters?"

Mo Xuemin smiled bitterly. "On the Card Wall, the hunters will only appear in the Spades secret rooms but the World Weekly is different. Anything can happen in the World Weekly. The hunters will randomly appear in some secret rooms. You can only call it bad luck if you encounter them."

Xiao Lou wondered, "Last week's elimination rate was so high. Is it because hunters were encountered?"

Mo Xuemin nodded. "The maze was full of traps and the hunters in the maze slaughtered us. We couldn't escape…"

His old face couldn't help turning white when thinking about that terrible experience.

Yu Hanjiang changed the topic. "Before the start of the World Weekly, is there a way to find out the week's task?"

Mo Xuemin shook his head. "No one can predict it. I once met a senior who had stayed in the Card World for half a year. He told me that every week is random and the suits aren't regular. It is possible that last week is Spades and this week will continue to be Spades. In any case, the probability is 25% and it is all up to luck."

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other, seeing a trace of worry in each other's eyes.

In summary, the characteristics of the World Weekly as that it was difficult. There was uncertainty about the type of secret room and a probability of encountering hunters. Based on the description just now, it could be seen that last week's Diamonds room had a high elimination due to the random presence of hunters. In addition, there were too many mechanisms in the maze. Old Mo could be considered lucky to survive.

Liu Qiao liked Old Mo very much because he was similar to her father and gave her feelings of sincerity.

She couldn't help asking, "Uncle Mo, your contracted teammates aren't here. How do you plan to survive this week's World Weekly?"

Mo Xuemin sighed. "I wanted to go to the forum to recruit some teammates. In addition, I saw many new people at the train station today. After a week, the new recruits will definitely know the rules of the World Weekly and want to recruit players. It isn't hard to find a new time. The key is to find a stronger team."

Xiao Lou glanced at Yu Hanjiang.

The two people had set up the heart channel so Yu Hanjiang knew Xiao Lou's thoughts first.

Xiao Lou's voice rang in his mind. "Group Leader Yu, according to Old Mo's statement, our team of five will likely be fat meat in the eyes of other people who enter the World Weekly. Too few people will be stared at by a large team and it isn't convenient to act."

Yu Hanjiang stated, "In the eyes of others, we are five lambs to be slaughtered. They will give priority to eliminating our small group. The best way is to find a few more reliable people, upgrade to the senior contract and expand the team."

Xiao Lou questioned, "Group Leader Yu, you have been a police officer for many years. In your experience, is this Old Mo reliable?"

"His words are clear and his expression and eyes showed no signs of lies. I believe his words. He should want to go back for his daughter and his teammates died last night, so he is using this time to make money and accumulate funds. However, we haven't had much contact with him. It will be a big risk to bring him directly into the team."

Xiao Lou thought, "I have a way. We can go to the Intelligence Bureau to check him. If the bureau's results are the same then we can add him in the day. In any case, we have to go to the Intelligence Bureau to help Liu Qiao find her sister."

"Yes but even adding Old Mo isn't enough for a senior contract. A senior team needs at least eight people."

Xiao Lou was silent for a few seconds before suddenly speaking, "Group Leader Yu, do you remember the couple we encountered in Liuxi Village?"

"You mean, the man with the chameleon card and the woman who jumped like a zombie?"

Xiao Lou nodded. "The two of them don't have a team and perhaps also came to the City of the Moon. After knowing about the World Weekly, they will definitely look for a team. We have worked together with them in Liuxi Village and they are strong, their cards easy to use. I could see at the time that they wanted to form a team with us and will listen to their commands. Isn't it better to try and find them?"

Yu Hanjiang readily agreed. "Yes, the people we have cooperated with are always more reliable than strangers. The two of them sincerely cooperated in Liuxi Village. If we can find them and add Old Mo, we will have eight people and this is enough to open a senior contract."

"Eight people are better than five people. Old Mo also knows a lot of information. He is a senior and can help us. For that couple, I could see that they worship you. We took them to lie down and win in Liuxi Village. They must believe in our strength and are willing to listen to your commands."

Yu Hanjiang found that Xiao Lou's thoughts were truly meticulous and all aspects were taken care of. He had no opinion and stated, "Let's go it. We will go to the Intelligence Bureau on Wednesday."

The others, "???"

They found that Professor Xiao and Group Leader Yu hadn't spoken for nearly a minute and were just silently looking at each other.

Some people knew they were using Qin Guan's heart channel to communicate in their spiritual world but there were people who didn't know. For example, Old Mo. He looked at Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang with some confusion, thinking to himself, 'These two handsome guys have been watching each other for nearly a minute, completely ignoring the others around them. What is the situation?'

How long were they going to stare at each other? Should he speak or remain silent?