Chapter 59 – Financial Crisis 19: Power of Unity
Xiao Lou wasn’t talking on his own. He had previously discussed it with Group Leader Yu, Chef Shao and Xiao Xie. If the challengers came and questioned them, he would return their materials and let them leave. However, if the challengers were smart enough and willing to trust him, they should join hands to pass the instance.
On the fifth day, the number of prisoners exceeded 50 people. Xiao Lou’s group of four would find it difficult to deal with them alone. If the challengers were willing to stay and help, it wouldn’t be difficult to fight against these mobs. After all, the prisoners might have weapons in their hands but the challengers had cards.
This was the same as playing a game instance. Bringing a new person was possible but they had to be obedient.
Xiao Lou’s eyes swept over the crowd. “If you want to stay, you can join us. If you don’t want to stay, you can take away your supplies and find your own way to clear the instance. Still, I have to remind you. Don’t think that you can clear the instance just because you have enough supplies to live. This instance difficulty isn’t the supplies but the world’s chaos after the financial crisis occurs.”
He paused before saying, “For example, the ATM machines are smashed, the banks robbed, the supermarkets emptied and a serious stampede occurred… the urban areas have mobs that are burning and looting. If you act alone and encounter thugs, the challenger survival rate is very low. I hope you will consider carefully before making a decision.”
The people looked at each other and then at him.
The bearded uncle took the lead by saying decisively, “I’ll stay.”
Immediately following him, the two girls quickly raised their hands. “We’ll stay.”
Everyone knew that the gentle man’s words were reasonable. They could easily be beaten up, robbed or killed if they acted alone. It was only when the challengers united that they could smoothly pass the instance.
The uncle and two sisters decided to stay, causing the others to quickly make a decision. All eight people stayed.
Xiao Lou smiled at them. “Thank you for believing in me.” He gently moved his fingers and removed the rings from everyone. “Everybody, it is too hot outside. Let’s go inside to control it.”
The group immediately followed him into an empty room in the construction site.
The room contained a tall and handsome man. His face was almost comparable to an idol drama but his face was very serious and his sharp eyes swept over the crowd. “Everyone present, I have to first check if you have any tattoos. The men with go with me to check while the four girls will go to an empty room on the second floor, using a cloth as cover and check each other.”
Everyone glanced at each other.
One of the girls had a stiff face as she asked, “What does this mean? We’re not allowed to have tattoos?”
Xiao Lou smiled and explained, “Don’t worry. The thief surnamed Liu previously pretended to be a challenger and mixed among us. One traitor is enough to destroy a team. These people have special marks on their bodies and checking it in advance is to reassure everyone. I hope you can cooperate.”
The bearded uncle spoke cheerfully. “It isn’t a problem to check.”
The ‘undress to check’ wasn’t exclusive to men. The four females glanced at each other and had to go upstairs. They blocked the door with a tablecloth Xiao Lou gave to them and two people guarded the door while the other two took turns checking each other…
A moment later, everyone returned to the room.
No one had a tattoo except for the girl with a stiff expression. She had a rose tattooed on her collarbone.
Xiao Lou looked at her and asked, “How did you do in 2 of Hearts?”
The girl replied, “I passed but my score was only C-grade. I couldn’t open the phone. By the way, what was the phone’s password?”
Xiao Lou only asked this to confirm her identity as a challenger.
2 of Hearts was a closed secret room that only contained a corpse and clues. The free people of the world couldn’t enter 2 of Hearts. The girl didn’t notice Xiao Lou’s intentions and replied honestly. Xiao Lou smiled and told her, “There wasn’t a password. I used facial recognition to unlock it.”
The people who couldn’t unlock the phones all cursed. ‘Fu*k.’
The bearded uncle saw that Xiao Lou was so cautious and couldn’t help smiling. “Now you should be assured? There is no traitor among us?”
Xiao Lou nodded. “This is the best. Everyone come with me.”
The people followed him to the room in the northeast corner of the third floor, where Xie Qi had laid out tablecloths on the ground. He set out bottles of mineral water as well as milk, melon seeds, peanuts, canned beef, canned fruit, plum candy and other snacks. He had an attitude of welcoming the guests as he smiled warmly, “Everyone, sit down and eat while chatting.”
The group was stunned. Weren’t these people having a too easy life?
A girl recognized him and said, “You are… the one playing the guitar in the square?”
Xie Qi nodded. “Yes, I am also a challenger along with Brother Xiao.”
Xiao Lou told them, “We have many materials. There is a truck outside and a room here. Don’t worry about going hungry. Since we have decided to work together, let’s combine the supplies and do a centralized distribution.”
He looked at Xie Qi. “Xiao Xie, wait a bit later to count the number of materials. Starting from today, go to Xiao Xie to register and collect food, so that we can manage what to eat. In any case, we can’t bring the supplies out of the room so if there are any remaining, we can find some citizens to sell them for gold coins.”
The bearded uncle was moved slightly and lamented, “If the challengers in the Spades secret room had worked together to form such a disciplined organization earlier, a free people wouldn’t be able to take advantage of any loopholes.”
Everyone’s eyes became feverish as they looked at the food.
A young man nodded eagerly. “This is a good way! We can eat and don’t have to worry about being robbed. We definitely don’t have to be afraid of being hungry and if there is a surplus on the seventh day, take them to exchange for some gold coins. Then we can bring the gold coins out of the Spades secret room!”
Several girls nodded in approval.
“Yes, just focus on distribution!”
“I have bought snacks like plums, dried mango and banana slices.”
“I bought a box of spicy sausages that can be eaten with noodles. Everyone can eat it at will.”
“I have Coke, orange juice, Spirt and a box of Red Bull. If you want to drink it then find Xiao Xie.”
Everyone mentioned their own materials and gathered them together for a central distribution. Later, they could eat what they wanted to eat.
In this strange world, the group of people felt a type of collective warmth for the first time.
Humans were head creatures. The collective power was much greater than that of individuals.
Previously, they were frightened when acting alone. This time, a big god organized them and the organized feelings were really good!
The bearded uncle wiped his eyes. “Yes, what are you called?”
Xiao Lou smiled. “My name is Yun Xiao, everyone can call me Old Xiao.”
Yu Hanjiang spoke lightly. “Old Han.”
Shao Qingge smiled. “My surname is Qin. You can call me Qin Shao.” (TL: He used a different character for Shao that means Young. So it can be seen as telling them to call him Young Qin)
Xie Qi stated, “My last name is Xie, you can just call me Brother Xie!”
The bearded uncle smiled. “My last name is Hu and people call my Beard or Uncle Hu.”
The other people also reported their names.
The four girls spoke their last names. The sister with the tattoo of a rose was surnamed Mei, the short-haired girl was surnamed Zhou, the curly haired girl was surnamed Xue and the tall girl was surnamed Gao. The young men were called Xiao Zhang, Xiao Li and Xiao Jin.
Xiao Lou was hiding his real name in order to avoid disclosing too much information that would cause trouble.
For example, in their future, their team would clear the secret rooms more and more. What if these people found him based on his name and asked him to take them to the end? Should he bring them or not? Or what if these people thought the four of them were strong enough to ask for help? Should they help or not?
The contract was limited and he couldn’t bring too many teammates.
If he helped today, they would remember it. If they didn’t help later, perhaps they might be offended and become an enemy. Therefore, in order to maintain safety, it was best of their real names wasn’t known.
Everyone in the group chose a code name and Xiao Lou followed up by saying, “Since we’ve decided to join forces, let’s first say a few rules. An undisciplined organization is a mess. The first rule is that everyone must listen to our commands. If you don’t want to listen then you can leave now.”
They were the commands of a great god and naturally everyone was happy. There was no opinion.
Xiao Lou continued, “Second, I need to know the cards in your hands to assign tasks. Of course, you can keep some back if you don’t fully trust me. However, you should take out at least one strong card.”
The bearded uncle took the lead to shook a card and said, “I drew only one S-grade card, ‘Hound.’ It has two skills. The first one can call a hound to bit people and is an attack skill. The second is a skill to track the target. As long as they don’t leave this secret room, their hiding position can be tracked.”
The curly haired girl pulled out a card. “I only have an A-grade card. I can place it anywhere and it will show any movements within 300 metres on a screen in front of me. It is similar to a monitor.”
The young man, Xiao Zhang said, “I have a tool card that allows me to hide in the ground and seize the prey. It can be used a maximum of 10 times.”
Xiao Li said, “I didn’t draw too many good cards. One useful tool card is ‘Hair dryer.’ The skill is very strange. It lets out a strong wind and something with a weight less than 100 kg will be blown away 50 metres.”
The others showed their cards.
Xiao Lou found that the cards in the Card World were really beyond his imagination.
Sister Gao took out a ‘Mirror’ tool card which could reflect all attacks within 10 seconds. Xiao Xue took out a common item for a physical education class, ‘Shot Put’ and threw it out. It could create a 5×5 metre pit at the landing point and bury people.
The group looked at the other challengers showing strange cards and their expressions were a bit complicated.
The bearded uncle looked curiously at Xiao Lou, “By the way, what are those metal rings just now?”
This skill had been exposed and Xiao Lou also didn’t intend to hide it. He pulled out the card and explained, “It is an S-grade tool card, Compass. I can draw rings that act as a weapon and let the rings float in the air…”
Just then, Xiao Lou unexpectedly found that the card had grown to full level.
He had often used Compass during this time and his growth had increased rapidly.
The second skill would be unlocked at the full level.
The first skill ‘Drawing Circles’ had a significant increase. The speed it took for the rings to be generated was reduced to 0.5 seconds. In other words, he drew the circle and it took 0.5 seconds for the corresponding sized metal ring to be created. Previously, he had to prepare this card in advance but now it could be used simultaneously with the drawing.
The unlocked second skill was called ‘Circular Boundary’ which drew a circular boundary with a maximum diameter of 10 metres to form a circular, transparent ward. Anyone inside the ward would be immune to any form of attack for 10 seconds.
Xiao Lou’s eyes brightened. The second skill of Compass was very strong and created an invincible circle for 10 seconds.
The other challengers saw the card and were full of envy.
A girl praised, “Isn’t this card too strong? It can draw weapons and create 10 seconds of invincibility.”
Xiao Lou said, “I drew it when I got a S-grade clearance score. I was pretty lucky.”
The bearded uncle said, “No wonder why you have the confidence to take everyone through the instance. Originally, you have such a strong card.”
In fact, Xiao Lou’s team had many strong cards. There was Group Leader Yu’s sniper rifle with a maximum range of more than one kilometre, the acceleration shoes, the coat that could withstand one fatal injury, Di Renjie who could help in Hearts and Diamonds, Tao Yuanming with the ready space teleport, Shao Qingge’s lucky aura card, Xie Qi’s listening device and his teleport card.
Of course, Xiao Lou was unlikely to expose his team’s entire equipment.
He had an idea in his heart about how to deal with the prisoners.
Once all the cards were gathered together, Xiao Lou smiled and said, “Let’s split up the work. I will go with Xiao Zhang to use the Compass and Seize Prey cards to set traps in advance. Xiao Zhou will be on the third floor, ready to use Mirror at any time to counterattack.”
“The Shot Put will be on the third floor with the monitor. Once people are detected, throw the lead ball into the crowd to form a pit. This can delay them for a long time. The other two girls will stay on the third floor and monitor the movements the entire time while Qin Shao will protect the supplies.”
“Beard, Xiao Li, Xiao Jin and Old Han…” He looked back at Yu Hanjiang while talking. “We will all stay on the front lines. Once the thugs break into the construction site, we will act together to clean all of them up!”
Xiao Lou let the girls stay on the third floor at a safe distance. They could monitor movements and provide long-range support. Shao Qingge would protect the materials on the third floor and could send text messages downstairs to inform them of the situation. Xie Qi, Yu Hanjiang, the bearded uncle and the young men were on the front lines to clean up the mob.
The cards that the people held were arranged by him.
The females heard this and couldn’t help their blood being ignited.
Everyone had a role. Everyone was given tasks and would cooperate. Uniting together, this was the correct way to clear the instance!
