Card Room

The emergence of Shao Qingge's consciousness finally made Ye Qi feel relieved. Shao Qingge was disconnected from time to time and Ye only had a chance to talk to this person for a few minutes before his mind became quiet again. Shao Qingge didn't respond at all after that. Even so…

At least Ye Qi knew that Shao Qingge's consciousness was still here. As long as Shao Qingge was here, Ye Qi didn't have to worry too much. They would take Shao Qingge through this secret room. For once, Ye Qi slept well and had no dreams all night.

He didn't know that Chief Shao, who was placed in the bottle, woke up abruptly in the middle of the might and crawled around the bottle anxiously. The bugs liked the cold and were afraid of the heat.

However, Ye Qi was worried that Chief Shao would catch a cold. Therefore, he placed the bottle in bed and hugged it to sleep. There was a stove in the tent and the closed mineral water bottle became like a natural greenhouse. The bug was going crazy due to the heat.

At first, it crawled around. Then it was unknown what happened but it suddenly quieted down and fell asleep in the bottle. Shao Qingge tentatively asked, "Xiao Ye?"

Ye Qi was asleep and had no idea about what was happening in the bottle. Shao Qingge smiled. "Xiao Ye is really smart. Continue to hug the hot bottle and make it die of heat."

Shao Qingge wasn't acting smart. He just cared about Chief Shao and feared he would catch a cold. Instead, he ended up helping Shao Qingge suppress the bug.

***

The next morning when Ye Qi woke up, he picked up the bottle and took a look. The bottle was warm from being covered by the quilt. Chief Shao was covered with the quilt that Ye Qi had temporarily made yesterday and he was curled up on the fingernail-sized pillow and sleeping soundly.

Ye Qi couldn't help smiling. Chief Shao was quite cute when he was smaller. Once Ye Qi returned to reality, he would make a chibi pendant version of Chief Shao and hang it from his phone.

He didn't disturb Shao Qingge. He went out of the tent and asked Liu Qiao, "How much longer is left for Thumbelina's transformation?"

"One hour."

Then he would let Chief Shao sleep for another hour. Ye Qi walked over to eat with everyone.

Nothing happened last night. Yu Hanjiang went around early in the morning and found no traces of the bug. Everyone was a bit puzzled and Old Mo asked while drinking water, "If the bugs dug up the ground to look for us then they should've found us by now. Why hasn't there been any activity for the last two days? Did they get lost?"

Xiao Lou also felt it was strange. His brow furrowed as he thought about it. He analyzed, "Is it because they met a difficult challenge team and a large number of bugs were wiped out?"

The two groups of bugs who chased everyone that night had suffered from the gasoline explosion, the use of the hair dryer, the pigeon delivering more gasoline and the badminton hitting over the alcohol bottles. The rest of the bugs either fled for their lives or merged to attack the challengers. As a result, Li Qingzhao's group control slowed them down.

The past two days had been very calm. The bug army might not have caught up.

Yu Hanjiang concluded. “It could be as Xiao Lou said. The remaining bugs were wiped out by other challengers. Another reason is that they learned to be smart after suffering a big loss. They are staying still for the moment to organize the next offensive.”

Everyone felt this made sense.”

Old Mo smiled. "Then we will continue to wait here!"

There was the physical energy wasted on long-distance travelling. In addition, everyone didn't know where it was safer. They would be miserable if they ran around and ran into a bug nest. At least this place had been visited by them in advance. The surrounding area was uninhabited and it had a wide field of view. It wasn't easy to attack them here. If they really were surrounded by the bugs, it wouldn't be too late to use Li Qingzhao's card skills.

Yu Hanjiang made a simple decision. "We will stay here. In the present, it is important to protect Chief Shao."

Ye Qi heard this and excitedly informed them, "Chief Shao connected with me through the Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings channel last night and he chatted with me for a while!"

His teammates looked at him, all their eyes showing a hint of joy.

Long Sen wondered, "Really? His consciousness is still there?"

Ye Qi nodded hard. "I can't be deceived because of the heart channel. He asked me to tell everyone that the bugs' parasitism isn't so simple. Humans can assimilate the bugs if their willpower is strong enough. Moreover, the humans who have assimilated the bugs will not only retain a human consciousness, they will also have the bugs' abilities."

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other. They always thought that after Shao Qingge was parasitized, he was equivalent to being in a 'vegetative' state. His consciousness had fallen into a deep sleep. They didn't expect that Chief Shao's consciousness could actually awaken after being parasitized by the bugs.

Xiao Lou looked at Ye Qi and inquired, "After he woke up last night, was there anything wrong with his behaviour?"

Ye Qi thought about it carefully. "Nothing. He didn't look to be in pain and was joking with me. Chief Shao was exactly the same. He wanted me to tell you to be careful. If a human who assimilates the bugs and has the abilities of the bugs wants to do bad things, it is really terrifying."

At present, the bugs' IQ wasn't high and their ability to disguise as a human was very limited. However, once a powerful human assimilated the bug, what if they wanted to join the bugs and become an enemy of humans?

Yu Hanjiang frowned and was silent for a moment. Then he spoke to Xiao Lou. "A challenger who is infected by the bugs. If they can assimilate with the bugs, won't they be able to use their cards and the bugs' abilities?"

Xiao Lou nodded. "According to Chief Shao, this should be the case."

Yu Hanjiang touched his chin and thought about it.

Xiao Lou saw the man's serious expression and was in a rush. "Don't tell me you want to take the risk with your body? Don't take this risk. Chief Shao is already infected. If you are also infected, it will be troublesome…"

It was rare to see Professor Xiao in such a hurry. Yu Hanjiang's heart warmed and he lightly pressed a hand to Xiao Lou's shoulder. "Don't worry, I won't take risks. If I can't control the infection, I will infect all of you. Then the group will likely be destroyed."

Ye Qi also nodded urgently. "Yes, it is already difficult for us to take care of Chief Shao. We don't know how long assimilation will take. Don't try it. Group Leader Yu… if you attack us after you are infected, we can't beat you!"

Qu Wanyue laughed. "We really can't beat Group Leader Yu."

Liu Qiao added solemnly, "Group Leader Yu's physical fitness is the best among us and your fighting ability is the strongest. After transforming into a bug, your attack power will increase and we will probably all be knocked down by him."

Long Sen agreed. "Yes, if Group Leader Yu becomes a bug then he will have the same speed as wearing two pairs of acceleration shoes!"

Old Mo seriously echoed the others. "That's right. Chief Shao loves to sleep late. The bugs parasitized his body and became lazy. Group Leader Yu is different. His fighting force is so strong. Once he is infected, it is just like a tiger. In order to upgrade quickly, he will eat all of us."

Yu Hanjiang, "……"

Were his teammates complimenting him? It sounded strange…

Xiao Lou stared at Yu Hanjiang and spoke seriously. "Everyone isn't joking around. You can't have an accident. After all, we have been following you in the Spades secret room. You are our captain."

Yu Hanjiang could feel Xiao Lou's worry through the heart channel and couldn't help smiling. "Don't be so nervous. I didn't want to try infecting myself. We already have Chief Shao as a sample. I meant that we can observe Chief Shao to see if he completely assimilates the bug and gains the abilities of the bug."

Ye Qi's eyes lit up. "Yes! He temporarily suppressed the bug last night to talk to me. Maybe it is really possible for him to assimilate the bug. In this way, his human self is combined with the bug and his combat power is increased significantly. Moreover, the bugs will think he is the same kind and won't attack him.

Everyone thought about it carefully and felt that it would be good if Chief Shao could assimilate the bug. Liu Qiao told them, "The card's transformation is almost ending."

Ye Qi returned to the tent, took out the mineral water bottle and let Little Shao out of the bottle.

The moment Shao Qingge turned back to his original body, Ye Qi immediately controlled him with an instrument. Then Yu Hanjiang once again tied him up with the white silk and stuffed the cloth into the mouth to prevent the bug from talking with Shao Qingge's body.

Shao Qingge's eyes narrowed and he stared at the group of people in front of him.

His eyes were scarlet and his expression looked a bit hideous. Ye Qi didn't dare to look at such a Chief Shao so he stepped back and hid. The bug might be controlling Shao Qingge but this body still belonged to Shao Qingge after all. His wrists and ankles had deep red marks from being tied and Ye Qi inevitably felt distressed. Even so, for the overall consideration of the team, he had to let Group Leader Yu tie up Chief Shao.

The day passed quickly. It was still very calm. There were three days of calm so this strange calm made everyone feel a bit uneasy. Were the bugs completely wiped out? That was impossible. An A-grade secret room wouldn't be so simple.

Therefore, it was likely that the bugs were conspiring or something even worse was happening. For example, a powerful human with bug abilities had been added to the bugs. They had human wisdom and the bugs' abilities. This would lead the bugs to attack in a smarter manner.

At present, everyone had no better way. They could only stay in this wasteland and wait.

[8 of Spades Doomsday Escape, the tenth day, 00:00 in the morning]

[Number of challengers remaining: 150]

Ye Qi remembered the numbers every day. He saw this and couldn't help saying, "In these three days, only a bit more than 20 people have died."

Based on Chief Shao's situation, it could be inferred that challengers weren't removed from the contract book after being infected. In other words, those who were infected weren't judged to be dead. Only those like Xue Qing and Cheng Ziyang, who were burned by the fire and had only ashes remaining, would be erased from the contract book and subtracted from the number of people living.

The remaining number of people was 150, which included Shao Qingge who was still on the contract book. Then would other teams still have infected people? Had they assimilated the bug and continued to lurk around their teammates?

Ye Qi thought up to here and shuddered. "I always feel it isn't right that the bugs haven't come to us for three consecutive days. Now the bugs have started a large-scale attack on the east district. How can it take three days to kill only over 20 people?"

Ye Qi's words made everyone feel a bit nervous. The strange calm made it seem that a storm was coming.

Yu Hanjiang ordered solemnly, "Everyone, stay on guard. Take turns to keep watch during the night and keep supplies close to your body. We must be ready to evacuate at any time."

Ye Qi suggested, "I will keep watch tonight. In any case, I'm not sleepy. Chief Shao doesn't need to be transformed to a smaller size. He can keep being tied up and I'll watch him. If there is an attack tomorrow when the transformation skill is cooling down, it won't be convenient to take him away. The bugs are easy to spot and Liu Qiao can turn him smaller once they are spotted.

The transformation skill lasted only eight hours. If it was used tonight, it would be difficult to manage Shao Qingge when escaping. Ye Qi's idea of staying awake was correct. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang agreed after discussing it in the heart channel.

Xiao Lou warned before leaving, "Don't believe what he says unless you can connect with the heart channel."

"I understand." Ye Qi nodded cautiously.