Suddenly hearing Tang Ci's voice from the drone, Ye Qi was startled. He looked up and saw a palm-sized, silver-white drone hovering in the sky, its infrared camera flashing intermittently—this was indeed the S-class drone Tang Ci used for reconnaissance. card.
In the past, Ye Qi would naturally act according to Tang Ci's instructions. However, in the current Secret Room World, even his teammates might be fake. Two fake Xiao Lous have already appeared, and it's still uncertain whether Tang Ci is real or fake. Ye Qi has to be careful.
Tang Ci seemed to have guessed his thoughts and whispered, "You can tell I'm right by the bloodstains on the ground. The Hunter who was impersonating Xiao Lou hid in the bathroom in the corner. He's healing his wounds. We must seize this opportunity."
Ye Qi looked down and observed carefully. Sure enough, the bloodstains on the ground led to the right at the corner, towards the restroom that Tang Ci had mentioned, about 50 meters away. Should they follow?
Now was no time to hesitate. Ye Qi gritted his teeth, activated his Teleportation Card, and rushed to the bathroom. He quickly climbed up the wall to the roof, and at the same time used his voice headset to tell Chu Huaying the current situation: " Sister Ying, Mr. Tang sent a drone to inform me. I don't know if this Tang Ci is real or fake. I'm going to chase after Qi Ran first. Be careful!"
Chu Huaying had just led Long Sen and Qu Wanyue out of the rubble when she heard Ye Qi's voice and saw the drone circling in the sky. Chu Huaying frowned slightly, looked up at the drone's infrared camera, and whispered, " Tang Ci? Weren't you away on a business trip?"
Tang Ci explained, "I've run into some trouble here. The person who said I was on a business trip, probably Hunter, deliberately gave you the wrong information so you couldn't meet up with me. Hua Ying, please take me over to help."
Although they couldn't see Tang Ci's face through the drone, the voice transmitted through the drone was as calm as ever. Chu Huaying didn't pull him over. From just these few words, they couldn't judge whether Tang Ci was real or fake. If they pulled over a Boss and he teamed up with Qi Ran, who was pretending to be Xiao Lou, they would be in danger.
Chu Huaying said calmly, "Take care of your own affairs first. I don't need any support on my end for now."
Tang Ci paused for a few seconds, then said, "Alright, go help Ye Qi."
Chu Huaying nodded, and then flew like a gust of wind to the restroom around the corner.
At this moment, Ye Qi had already put on the Invisibility Cloak and was clinging to the bathroom ceiling on all fours. He indeed saw Qi Ran, disguised as Xiao Lou, who was treating the wound on her chest with a healing card.
Ye Qi's attack was too ferocious; Qi Ran's chest was almost ripped open by the Insect King's claws. Fortunately, Qi Ran dodged in time and his heart was not injured.
At this moment, a soft green light surrounded the wound, and the blood hole was healing rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Qi Ran's healing cards were extremely powerful; he couldn't be allowed to heal his wounds only to be subjected to another brainwashing session. Ye Qi acted decisively, leaping off the roof and grabbing Qi Ran's neck with his claws!
The Zerg's sharp claws could cut through iron like mud. Ye Qi almost snapped Qi Ran's neck, but Qi Ran reacted extremely quickly. Just as Ye Qi was about to exert force, he suddenly felt his hands go empty, and Qi Ran disappeared again.
Ye Qi smelled a pungent odor of gunpowder emanating from the surroundings. Then, with a deafening roar, the entire bathroom was engulfed in flames. The flames, like ferocious beasts, lunged at him. Ye Qi's pupils widened instantly—
Ye Qi's deep-seated fear of fire rendered her almost incapable of thinking.
Just as he was about to be engulfed by the flames, a silver metal dome suddenly descended from the sky, enveloping him completely. The raging fire around him was instantly shut out, and Ye Qi, inside the dome, felt no heat at all.
He quickly calmed down and asked, "Who is it?"
Tang Ci's voice came from the top of the metal shield: "Are you alright?"
Ye Qi was taken aback: "...Mr. Tang?"
Tang Ci said, "I'll explain later. I can monitor the scene through the drone. You take this metal cover and leave the fire first. Hua Ying has already flanked us from the right. Don't let this Hunter get away!"
Ye Qi finally believed that Tang Ci was real; otherwise, Tang Ci wouldn't have needed to save him in the first place.
Ye Qi's confidence was boosted by the joy of having new teammates to support him. He quickly left the burning bathroom with the cover on, and after crawling out of the metal cover, he saw Chu Huaying coming from the side, blocking Qi Ran's retreat!
Chu Huaying's spider dagger suddenly gleamed as she engaged Qi Ran in close combat. Qi Ran's injuries had not yet healed, and he was clearly no match for Chu Huaying in close combat.
He took out the rattle drum and was about to shake it, but before he could even make a sound, Chu Huaying swiftly and cleanly severed his wrist with a single stroke!
A hand carrying a rattle drum rolled to the ground.
Qi Ran roared in pain, his eyes blazing with fury. He tried to escape with another card, but just as he threw out the card, Ye Qi suddenly attacked from behind, his sharp claws piercing through his chest in an instant!
This time, Ye Qi didn't miss.
The claws pierced right into his heart.
Qi Ran stared wide-eyed, slowly turning his head in disbelief. Ye Qi had acted decisively to support Sister Ying, but upon seeing Xiao Lou's familiar face, his hand trembled slightly and stiffly withdrew.
Hunter, with Xiao Lou's face on his back, fell straight down in front of him.
Ye Qi looked at his blood-stained hands, his heart heavy. He lowered his head, unable to bear looking at the face that was exactly like Xiao Lou's. Seeing that the boy's hands were trembling, Chu Huaying walked over, gently patted Ye Qi's shoulder, and whispered, "You did the right thing. If we hadn't gotten rid of him, we would have been the ones dying."
Although she knew very well that she couldn't be merciful to the enemy, this was, after all, the first time Ye Qi had killed someone with her own hands...
He still felt terrible; the human blood, sticky and clinging to his hands, felt like it was burning him. He wanted to wash his hands properly, but the bathroom was engulfed in flames, so Ye Qi could only grab a few leaves from the roadside and wipe the blood off his hands haphazardly.
Long Sen and Qu Wanyue also rushed over.
Seeing " Xiao Lou " lying on the ground, the two looked at each other, unsure of what to say.
The most disgusting thing about Hunters is that they can impersonate your closest people, whether they stab you in the back or you kill them... it's a psychological torture for everyone.
Tang Ci's voice came through the drone: " Hua Ying, do you believe me now? Quickly pull me over there."
Chu Huaying said, "Okay, it will take 5 minutes to modify the marker."
She led Ye Qi, Long Sen, and Qu Wanyue to the rooftop of the tallest building in the hospital and placed Li Qingzhao's mark there. Qu Wanyue asked worriedly, "Is this Mr. Tang real?"
Ye Qi said, "He just saved me and helped us take down Qi Ran, this little boss, so it should be true."
Chu Huaying lowered her voice and said, "But we can't rule out the possibility that Hunter might sacrifice his comrades to complete the mission. Xiao Lou has been impersonated twice already, so we must be even more careful. When Tang Ci arrives, Ye Qi should immediately blow the flute to subdue him."
Five minutes later, two familiar faces suddenly appeared in front of everyone.
One was Tang Ci, dressed in black trousers and a white shirt, with a refined and scholarly appearance.
The other was Gui Yuanzhang, who was wearing a Zhongshan suit and had a serious expression.
Ye Qi intended to use the flute to control Tang Ci, who had been teleported over, but unexpectedly, two people appeared in front of him. He was momentarily stunned and hurriedly changed the single-control flute to a group-control guitar. Unfortunately, before he could play, Senior Old Gui lightly flicked his brush, causing his guitar to float in the air and fly into Gui Yuanzhang's hand instead.
Gui Yuanzhang put away his guitar and whispered, "Don't do anything, it's me."
Tang Ci said, "It seems that Old Gui is the last teammate in this world?"
Gui Yuanzhang looked at him and asked, "Can you find out the number of Challengers in this secret room?"
Tang Ci nodded and said, "I learned about this from the Hunters. This is the first world of the relay mission. There are 6 Challengers and 12 Hunters, including two very tough elite Hunters."
Hearing this, Chu Huaying finally understood: " Ye Qi and I went to look for you. Xiao Tang's colleague said you were on a business trip, and Old Gui's butler said you were on a nationwide lecture tour? It seems that was all a diversionary tactic to deceive us?"
Tang Ci said, "My company has two Hunters who told you I wasn't there and tricked you into leaving. Then they transformed into Ye Qi and Hua Ying and came to my office looking for me… Luckily, I was careful enough at the time, or I would have fallen for their trick."
Although his clothes were neat, some bloodstains could be seen on the hem of his white shirt, indicating that Tang Ci's process of identifying the fake teammate and escaping from the company was not easy.
Gui Yuanzhang whispered, "My butler, Hunter, poisoned my food. Fortunately, after the food poisoning incident at the Spade Secret Room, I rarely eat anything given to me by others."
Old Gui is calm and composed in the face of adversity. After seeing through the other party's tricks, it shouldn't be difficult for him to deal with the butler.
Ye Qi asked in confusion, "When did Mr. Tang send Drone to monitor the hospital?"
Tang Ci said, "After I took care of those two Hunters from the company, I went to Western Restaurant to meet up with everyone. As soon as I arrived, I saw you guys leaving Central Square quickly with Xiao Lou. I didn't have a Lightness Skill Card, so I couldn't keep up with you. I had to send Drone to follow you and keep an eye on you. Then I saw Xiao Lou suddenly attack you in the morgue."
Chu Huaying said coldly, "This Xiao Lou is Qi Ran, the murderer from K Secret Chamber, in disguise."
Gui Yuanzhang sighed softly: " It seems that Hunters can freely choose their identities to enter the Secret Room World, making it very difficult for us to distinguish them. Xiao Tang said that there are three times as many Hunters in this world as we do; perhaps we haven't found them all yet?"
Tang Ci nodded: "Yes, Qi Ran has been dealt with, but there's still a small boss. We need to go back to Western Restaurant to meet him."
Ye Qi suddenly realized: "It must be the person who used Card Magnetic Field Shielding to disable our Peach Blossom Spring Teleportation!"