N-M Chapter 153 Black and White Poker, Joker Card!
Chapter 153 Black and White Poker, Joker Card!
Chapter 153 Black and White Poker, Joker Card!
From the moment Li Jiuhe first woke up in the official car until now, he has had a strange feeling.
This feeling made him very uncomfortable, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember why he had this strange feeling.
At this moment, after combining Song Zhixing and Ma Li's words, he suddenly realized that this mission reset was not only very strange, but even the total mission duration was wrong.
If I slept for eight hours, then the task duration of only five and a half hours should have ended long ago, so why am I still able to reset the task now?
He glanced at the mission reset points again; there were 38 points in total, while his current reset point limit was 40 points.
Li Jiuhe knew that the mission reset would be automatically triggered again around the time he and Ma Li came out of the haunted house last time.
Moreover, the reset point he returns to will be the official car he was in when he woke up from his sleep.
"Since I can reset the mission, it means the mission duration hasn't ended at all, and I'm still in the mission line." He thought quickly. "But it's already night, and according to Song Zhixing, I've slept for eight hours. It seems that one of the results is wrong. None of these people have noticed, but I discovered the anomaly because I triggered the mission reset."
"However, even if the mission is triggered and reset, it's not a complete reset; it only returns to the moment I woke up in the car. Let's assume something strange is happening around us right now, clouding our perception—"
The moment the thought crossed Li Jiuhe's mind, he was jolted.
He turned to look at the haunted house in front of him, wondering if the haunted house had misled everyone's perception, making them think it had become very ordinary and no longer worth investigating.
Just like You Hong did back then, it set up a "domain" in this area.
Everyone has unknowingly fallen into this "domain".
Thinking about it this way, it seems to make some sense. The reason I was able to react, besides the task being triggered and reset, is that the reset could happen because my sequence rank is relatively high.
Otherwise, even if he is in a "domain", if the other party's rank is higher than his own, his mission ability will definitely be suppressed and he will be unable to reset the mission.
Realizing this, Li Jiuhe immediately tried to summon the Death Pass.
In the past, if he wanted to communicate with the Death Pass, he only needed to summon it with his thoughts, and the unique text of the pass would naturally appear before his eyes.
But he summoned it several times, and there was no response.
I looked down at my palm, but I couldn't see anything. It was as if the black card had never existed.
"It's a domain. We're all trapped in it. Even our Death Passes are suppressed, preventing us from using our abilities." Li Jiuhe already had a general idea.
Upon closer inspection of the Boundary Stone, although it was still functioning, its operation was not directly connected to the operation of other objects in the real world, because its internal world was independent and had no relation to this world.
At most, the boundary stone cannot enter at this time, and cannot forcibly suck in the creatures within its range.
"Since the task can be reset, it means there's a way to make the reset work properly, instead of just resetting it to when I woke up in the official car," Li Jiuhe quickly deduced.
He felt he had found the crux of the problem.
Why do I only get back to the moment I was in the car after resetting twice, instead of the moment I first entered White Stone Park?
It might be because the "domain" that controlled them all was very strong, or it could be said to be very special, so special that no one noticed it at all.
Even with so many investigators and sequencers present, they assumed that time was simply passing naturally and that the case was progressing smoothly.
This indirectly confirms that the haunted house sequence in front of them is extremely terrifying. At least Li Jiuhe had never heard of anything similar, and no one else had ever seen anything like it.
"Investigator Li, Investigator Li————"
Song Zhixing noticed that he seemed absent-minded and didn't know what he was thinking.
Li Jiuhe regained his composure and said, "Director Song, think carefully, is there anything suspicious that you've overlooked? Especially when I got in the car to rest and you were rescuing those two missing investigators."
"Have you already noticed anything suspicious?" Song Zhixing frowned.
Li Jiuhe nodded.
Song Zhixing's heart tightened, and he turned to look around, but he couldn't find anything unusual. He then tried hard to recall.
"We lifted the two investigators' stiff bodies out of the haunted house's passageway, then removed the earplugs from their ears. The two men went limp and fell unconscious. Then the door to the haunted house's entrance fell down. Investigators shone a powerful flashlight inside but found nothing wrong. We then tried placing a light at the entrance, but nothing unusual happened."
At this point, Song Zhixing thought for a moment, "At the time, through the light, I saw some props placed at the entrance of the haunted house, such as talismans, willow leaves, copper coin swords, and Bagua symbols. Later, the investigators went in to check one after another, but they didn't find anything."
He racked his brains for a moment, but couldn't find any useful clues.
Instead of entering the haunted house, the group stood outside and discussed for a while, at which point Li Jiuhe's mission reset was triggered again.
In a flash, he was back in the car, with Ma Li fast asleep next to him.
I checked and there were 37 reset points left.
This can't go on! If we keep letting it reset passively, we'll eventually run out of these thirty-odd reset points.
At that time, I would certainly die!
The reason for the mission reset must be found before the reset points run out, and it must be found out what kind of sequence ability "domain" these people are trapped in.
Li Jiuhe didn't get out of the car, nor did he wake Ma Li. After turning his gaze away from the direction of the haunted house outside the car, he sat alone in the car, lost in thought.
Based on my understanding of the mission, I tried to reset it to a more advanced mission line.
After trying it out, I opened my eyes and found myself still sitting in the car. It was still dark outside the window, and the queen ant next to me was still blowing bubbles.
"It hasn't been eight hours at all. My task can still be reset, which means it's still within five and a half hours. It hasn't even reached the total task duration."
He was determined. He glanced at the 36 remaining reset points and tried to reset the questline further ahead.
I opened my eyes again. It was night, inside the car—the same scene and elements.
Although it seemed unchanged, Li Jiuhe had a feeling that there was still room for further experimentation.
He glanced at the remaining reset points subconsciously, and was about to start the reset again when he suddenly froze and realized that there were only 34 reset points left.
"Two points were just consumed! Why is that?" Li Jiuhe was surprised.
After a moment's thought, he guessed the reason.
It's highly likely that you wanted to move the reset point earlier in the questline, and this method actually worked, but you were asleep at the time. When you woke up, you would mistakenly think that you hadn't moved the reset point earlier.
It seems that I can use the method of consuming more reset points to move the reset points to a higher position in the quest line and break through the blockade of this "domain".
Li Jiuhe no longer hesitated and tried to make his reset earlier this time, at least three times longer than before. In fact, he didn't know how many reset points this would consume.
If all of this is an illusion, then I shouldn't have fallen asleep three times the time ago, and therefore wouldn't have missed the reset after waking up.
The scene before my eyes went dark for a moment, and then it lit up completely.
This brightness wasn't from the lights outside the car windows, but from the light of the sky.
After regaining his senses, Li Jiuhe immediately looked out the window.
It was still daylight! And the car was moving!
The entire mission line has returned to the point when they first entered White Rock Park.
It was indeed still daytime in the normal world, and the darkness they had just experienced was most likely an illusion they had all experienced while trapped in the "domain".
Li Jiuhe immediately perked up and checked the remaining reset points, finding that there were still 23 points left.
In other words, this reset consumed 11 reset points, and it was these 11 reset points that allowed his mission reset to break through the mysterious "domain" and return the mission to the moment it was initially set!
Once he was certain that it was a safe time, Li Jiuhe breathed a sigh of relief, then looked warily toward a corner of the park.
The convoy was now approaching that direction.
Before long, the Rubik's Cube haunted house appeared before us.
Looking at the haunted house, Li Jiuhe was on high alert. After the car came to a stop, he didn't wake Ma Li, but immediately opened the car door and jumped out, standing with Song Zhixing and the others.
A short while later, the two missing persons investigators, covered in plaster powder, were found, in exactly the same manner as before.
But this time, Li Jiuhe did not return to the car to rest. After Song Zhixing made the suggestion, he rejected it outright.
He and the other investigators entered the passageway in front of the haunted house entrance.
The two missing investigators stood on either side of the entrance, like two gatekeepers.
Their eyes were closed and their bodies were stiff; they really did look like sculptures.
Under Song Zhixing's command, the other investigators carefully approached, then transported the two men out, immediately removed their electronic earpieces, and put them in the car.
Li Jiuhe did not step forward to make a move, but witnessed the entire process. This scene was basically consistent with what Song Zhixing had told him before.
Soon, Song Zhixing ordered his men to bring over four or five powerful spotlights. In this dark and unpowered haunted house, the spotlights illuminated the passageway brightly.
Two of the lights were pointed at the entrance at the end of the passage. Two meters inside the entrance, there was a blood-stained burlap slab hanging on it, with the words "Imperial Edict" written vertically on it.
Below the strip of cloth was a table, on which were indeed placed talismans, willow leaf strips, copper coin swords, Bagua diagrams, and other items.
However, since people had already entered the haunted house before, most of the items had been touched, and the dust on the table looked messy.
"Don't follow me."
Li Jiuhe gave an order, then took a few steps forward and slowly arrived at the entrance of the haunted house.
The closer proximity here allows him to see the items on the table more clearly.
There are entrance passages on both sides of this table, but the scenes inside the haunted house seem to be different.
Before a previous mission reset, he and Ma Li had entered the haunted house to check it out, but Song Zhixing told him at the time that the haunted house had become normal and there was nothing unusual about it.
Everything in the haunted house that was worth investigating had already been moved out, including the burlap strips hanging at the entrance, the altar, and the items on it.
As Li Jiuhe approached, he examined each item closely, his gaze lingering on every single item in an attempt to find anything unusual about them.
Before long, his gaze fell on one of the playing cards on the table.
This playing card looks ordinary; it's a black and white joker.
Li Jiuhe noticed it because he realized that the card seemed to have moved slightly just now.
Upon closer inspection, the playing cards remained the same. Since he hadn't gotten very close, he wasn't sure if he was seeing things.
But Li Jiuhe soon noticed that there was a stripe in the dust next to the playing card that was completely free of dust and looked very straight.
Upon closer inspection, he sensed that there was something small under the playing cards, but he couldn't see it clearly from this distance unless he got closer.
However, he dared not approach, fearing that it might trigger the haunted house to release the same kind of "domain" as before.
While I was hesitating, I suddenly saw the playing cards move on their own without any wind, falling off the edge of the table.
This sight made Li Jiuhe's pupils shrink, and he suddenly realized what was under the playing card.
That's most likely a tiny hair; a gentle tug and the playing card will fall.
The ordinary-looking playing card suddenly fell to the ground with a thud.
At the same moment, Li Jiuhe's mission reset was immediately initiated.
The scene shifts, and he's sitting in a car, back to the moment he entered White Stone Park.
He let out a long sigh of relief. He had almost instinctively activated the reset just now, without waiting for the dangerous situation to occur.
In fact, Li Jiuhe had already roughly guessed what would happen next. He chose to quickly start the reset because he didn't want to fall into that strange and mysterious "domain" again, otherwise he would have to consume a lot of reset points to get out, just like before.
At this point, he only had 22 reset points left. If he fell into that "domain" again, he would probably be unable to escape after at most two attempts.
Thinking to himself, "That was close," he looked up at the approaching Rubik's Cube haunted house.
Li Jiuhe wasn't sure if the playing cards were a product of the haunted house. If even a product was this terrifying, he couldn't imagine what the inside of the haunted house would be like.
But upon closer inspection, the appearance of that playing card in that place seemed rather abrupt.
After all, the other items on the table are all related to the theme of this haunted house and are key props that can be used in the haunted house.
Furthermore, there was a long hair under the playing card, and pulling the hair caused the card to fall off. This seemed intentional.
"It shouldn't be a problem with the haunted house!" he guessed to himself.
Because they have not yet discovered the hidden Sequencers, nor have they seen the Moth Woman.
Therefore, the dropping of the playing cards may be related to these people.
After all, they were incredibly bold to prevent the news of the haunted house from being reported, and dared to secretly control the Yuanmeng City Investigation Bureau.
Several cars stopped about twenty meters in front of the haunted house. After Li Jiuhe got out of the car, he pulled Song Zhixing aside and told everyone not to approach the haunted house for the time being.
"Director Song, have you ever seen a sequence of items similar to playing cards?" Li Jiuhe asked.
Song Zhixing was slightly taken aback, wondering why he suddenly asked about this. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Yes, there are serial items made of playing cards, but there are quite a few of these types. I wonder which kind of playing cards you're referring to?"
Li Jiuhe said, "This playing card has a very powerful sequence ability. It's a black and white Joker card, with patterns not much different from other playing cards. After its sequence ability is activated, it will form a powerful domain," trapping people within a certain range inside, and these people will not notice and will continue to do their own thing.
As he began to explain, Song Zhixing's eyes widened even more.
As soon as Li Jiuhe finished speaking, he immediately said, "Possessing a domain?" This level of sequence item is very rare. For example, this haunted house we speculated about is also a sequence item possessing a domain, and its haunted house space is its domain.
He paused, then took out his phone and, while making a call, explained, "I need to ask one of our retired investigators. She's over eighty years old and knows more about sequence items than any of us."
The call was quickly connected, and Song Zhixing explained the situation in detail to the retired investigator in front of Li Jiuhe.
He then turned on speakerphone, and an elderly woman's voice came through the phone.
"The sequence item you're describing is somewhat like a deck of cards." This sequence item is of national annihilation level; it's terrifying, but its power can only be unleashed when all the cards are collected. It's said that the Black and White deck only has eighteen cards in total, with the two Jokers being the strongest. However, even if an ordinary sequence user possesses a single ordinary Black and White deck, dealing with it would already be quite troublesome for us."
At this point, the old woman coughed.
After she stopped coughing, she asked, "Xiao Song, did you run into a deck of cards? What suit and number are they?"
Song Zhixing didn't speak, but looked up at Li Jiuhe.
Li Jiuhe quickly replied, "It's a little devil."
"9
"What? Jokers!"
The old woman's hoarse voice instantly rose eight octaves, making her seem much younger at that moment.
"Who is speaking?" she asked again.
Song Zhixing hurriedly replied, "It's Li Jiuhe, an investigator from the General Bureau. He's assisting our Yuanmeng City Investigation Bureau in solving the case."
"Oh." The old woman then added, "With the investigators from the General Bureau here, I'm relieved. This black and white imp card is at least a semi-city-destroying level sequence item. It possesses a domain," meaning it can do whatever it wants within that domain, including changing rules and perceptions, making everything irrational reasonable. For example, even making people kill each other would become perfectly reasonable.
Upon hearing this, Li Jiuhe had a sudden realization.
That's right. The Rubik's Cube haunted house is still here, unchanged, and remains an extremely powerful sequence object.
But because of the black and white ghost cards, they all thought the haunted house had become ordinary and there was nothing unusual about it.
The biggest anomaly is actually the feeling that nothing is wrong.
This little joker card should have a high sequence rank and its actual sequence energy is also very powerful, which is why Li Jiuhe was unable to break through its "domain" even after resetting his mission multiple times.
The only way to force a breakthrough is by consuming a large number of reset points.
"Is there any way to deal with this?" Song Zhixing asked.
He knew that Li Jiuhe must have had a reason for saying these things, although he himself had not yet seen the little joker card.
The old woman's voice came from behind: "I'm sorry, I don't know."
A line of text appeared before Li Jiuhe's eyes; it was from the Death Pass.
Now that you know your opponent has the Joker card, do you still want to continue?
Besides, the haunted house is equally dangerous. Why don't we leave now? You can help me hunt targets, and I'll help you improve your strength. A win-win situation, we can evolve together, wouldn't that be great?
Li Jiuhe's lips curled into a cold smile as he thought to himself, "Why do I have this feeling that you're subtly hiding in this haunted house?"
"And last time you ordered You Hong to kill the Moth Girl disguised as Su Qin, did you really want to kill Su Qin, or were you trying to use You Hong to get rid of the Moth Girl? Do you know these people?"