Card Room

Chapter 68 - 4 of Hearts: Extremely Quick Train

Xiao Lou thought that after pulling out the 4 of Hearts card, they would be directly transmitted to the secret room world. Unexpectedly, the two people actually returned to their personal space. A sexy woman in a red dress was standing at the card wall, smiling at them. “The two of you, we meet again.”

Xiao Lou wondered, “A of Hearts? Don’t we only see the keepers after clearing the instance?”

A of Hearts explained, “The situation of the fourth level is somewhat special and I need to get you ready before you enter the secret room.”

She smiled and made a noise. Then Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang’s clothes changed immediately.

The two men changed into a dark blue uniform at the same time. They wore a hat and the cuffs of their clothes were decorated with several white bars. Their black polished shoes were free of dust. The uniform was a white shirt white a blue and white striped tie.

It wasn’t like a police uniform. Was it some type of professional suit?

Xiao Lou looked over at Yu Hanjiang. This man was handsome and his facial features strong. Once he wore a uniform, he was so handsome that people couldn’t move their gazes away. His figure was tall and slender and seemed inherently suitable for a uniform. There was a black leather belt around his waist that brought the temptation of the uniform to the extreme. The visual effect of this uniform was no worse than his real world police uniform.

Xiao Lou had never worn a uniform before and felt a bit awkward.

Yu Hanjiang turned to look at Xiao Lou and his eyes slightly brightened. Xiao Lou was bowing his head to sort out his clothes and spoke when he sensed Yu Hanjiang’s gaze. “My clothes seem a bit tight.”

Yu Hanjiang whispered, “No… it’s very nice.”

The waist belt framed his lean frame and he could be easily held with one arm.

Professor Xiao might be thin but his skeleton was very even. He had a fine waist and long legs. His smile combined with the uniform gave off a charm, so that Yu Hanjiang couldn’t move his eyes away.

The two people looked at each other for a few seconds before looking away after feeling uncomfortable.

A of Hearts stood to the side and smiled at them. “It is said that a man wearing a uniform will enhance the value of his face. Do the two of you feel that the other side has become more handsome?”

The two people, “…”

The keeper was kind enough to poke fun at them.

Xiao Lou glanced at her and asked, “Is the environment of this secret room special? Changing our clothes, is it to play a role-playing game?”

A of Hearts nodded. “Yes, it is to let you experience different suspense secret rooms. For your convenience, this time an identity is arranged for you. The two of you, please be ready. The 4 of Hearts secret room is about to open…”

The moment she finished, there was a countdown from 10 that appeared in front of them.

The moment the countdown reached ‘1’, the two people’s eyes darkened at the same time. Then they opened their eyes and found themselves in a close space, much like… the upper and lower bunks of a train?

Xiao Lou entered the secret room lying on the upper bunk. He poked out his head to look down and saw Yu Hanjiang sitting on the lower bunk and looking up.

The two people gazed at each other and Xiao Lou immediately smiled. “Group Leader Yu, this seems to be the sleeping compartment of a train?”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “Yes, based on this outfit, we should be train attendants.”

Xiao Lou finally understood.

The uniforms of this world had a big difference with the attendants of the real world. The uniform was tight and gave an abstinent air. It was no wonder why the two people couldn’t judge the secret room’s environment.

It seemed that the 4 of Hearts’ story took place on a train.

The next moment, a prompt appeared on the suspension box of the two people.

[Welcome Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang to the 4 of Hearts secret room, Extremely Quick Train.]

[From now on, the two of you will stay on the train for three days as ‘train attendants.’

Many things will happen in these three days. Yes, someone is going to die on the carriage.

The two of you, please find the killer at the fastest speed. Use the authority of an attendant and bring the killer to the train’s security room. Wait for the train to arrive before handing them over to the police.

Once the train arrives at the terminal in three days, it will be considered a failure if you haven’t caught the killer.

You have the right to check the passenger’s tickets and ID cards but you aren’t allowed to use force against the passengers, otherwise, you will be immediately driven off the train by the conductor. As an attendant, you must obey the conductor’s command. You have a wireless pager hanging from your waist and the conductor will issue a notice at any time. Please pay attention to it.

The train is entering the station. Please be prepared.]

……

There was a shrill roar in their ears, followed by a broadcast: the KP-7311 train has entered the station, stopping at Platform 3.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang glanced at each other and came out of the sleeper compartment.

They found out there were other rooms with upper and lower berths. Attendants dressed in the same uniform as them came out of their room and swiftly moved. Then a middle-aged man’s voice was heard from the wireless pager earpiece. “The two interns should also get off to check tickets. One is in charge of the 4th carriage and the other is in charge of the 6th carriage.”

They had to listen to the instructions conveyed through the wireless headset.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang kept up with the other attendants and used the limited time to quickly observe the layout of the train.

The shape of the train was a bit like the high-speed rails in reality. The head was similar to a bullet and the body line was smooth. It was painted white and marked ‘KP-7311.’

There were a total of nine carriages on the train.

The No. 9 carriage had been where the two men were just located. It was the carriage that was the staff residence and the security room was also there.

Carriages 1-4 were hard-seat carriages. There were 15 rows in one carriage and there were five seats in every row. On the left, there were the three A/B/C seats and on the right, there were two D/F seats. A and F were by the windows while C and D were by the aisles. The middle aisle was around the same width as the high-speed rails, allowing a fat person to easily pass by.

The carriages 6-8 were soft, sleeper carriages. One carriage had eight rooms and each room had two bunk beds for a total of four beds. The rooms had a door that could be closed to protect from outside disturbances. The access outside the door was very spacious and there were many independent retractable seats. The beds were numbered in accordance with the room number. For example, the four beds in Room No. 1 were numbered 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D, where A/C were the lower beds and B/D were the upper beds.

The middle Carriage 5 was the dining carriage. Passing by, window tables and chairs could be seen through the window. The tables were covered with blue ad white plaid tablecloths and were very clean and tidy.

The train stopped at Platform 3. The train attendants were making final preparations and the passengers hadn’t boarded yet.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang walked the carriages they were responsible for while observing the situation of the entire train. Xiao Lou stated, “We are responsible for the 4th and 6th carriages. Will the dead person be someone from these carriages?”

Yu Hanjiang frowned. “One is a hard-seated carriage and the other is a sleeper carriage. There is a dining carriage in the middle and the murder on the train shouldn’t be so simple. Once the train starts, we will meet every hour in the dining carriage to exchange information.”

Xiao Lou nodded. “Okay.”

He looked towards the 9th carriage at the end and thought for a moment. “The last carriage is the train staff lounge. We also appeared in the 9th carriage when we first came here. Will it be evening when the train attendants need to go back to sleep that the murderer will get the chance to commit the crime?”

Yu Hanjiang agreed. “It is possible. Otherwise, we will patrol the carriages and the killer would have no chance to act.”

They experienced the secret rooms and knew that some plots couldn’t be avoided.

In the 4 of Hearts room, they temporarily obtained the status of train attendant. They had to listen to the conductor’s instructions and this was the plot room giving them the maximum limit. The conductor might use various reasons to remove them from the scene when the murderer committed the crime. Otherwise, they would keep watching the passengers in the carriages and there would be no chance for the murderer to kill.

Xiao Lou looked over the train. “If it is all filled with passengers then the amount of information in this secret room will be far larger than 3 of Hearts.”

Yu Hanjiang thought about it. There are a total of 75 seats in the 4th carriage and 32 beds in the 5th carriage. If the case occurs in these two carriages then we need to analyze the information of the passengers. There are 107… it shouldn’t be that hard.”

It was a joke. He couldn’t even remember the names of 107 people!

In the 3 of Hearts secret room, the fact that Ying Xiaoya played a key role was very prominent. The next day, she was late to school and didn’t wear a school uniform. She almost had ‘I am a main character’ written on her face. For the 4 of Hearts secret room, the key roles should also be clear while the other passengers were passersby. Similar to Ying Xiaoya’s classmates, they shouldn’t affect the case.

Xiao Lou raised his spirits. “We have to observe carefully. The key figures will definitely be different from passersby. Moreover, the train carriages might not necessarily by full.”

Just then, a noise sounded simultaneously in the two men’s ears.

-The KP-7311 train from the ‘City of the Sun’ to the ‘City of the Moon’ has started to check the tickets. All passengers, please take care of your luggage and your children. Entry to the station is from the A10 ticket gate to the B10 ticket gate! Thank you!

The familiar sound of the broadcast gave Xiao Lou the illusion of returning to the railway station.

However, the strange name of the station made him curious. In addition to the City of the Moon, there was actually the City of the Sun. In the playing cards, the big joker represented the ‘sun’ and the little joker represented the ‘moon.’ Were these two big cities the main cities of the Card World?

Xiao Lou mentioned his idea to Yu Hanjiang and Yu Hanjiang said, “If there are really two main cities, they seem quite far apart if it takes three days by train. The structure of the world is different from ours.”

“Yes, the spaces of the secret rooms can be infinitely copied. We don’t know what the main cities are like.”

Seeing that passengers had started moving through the ticket gate into the station, Xiao Lou stated, “I will go to the 4th carriage and meet Group Leader Yu later.”

Yu Hanjiang nodded and watched him leave.

The 4th and 6th carriages were separated only by the dining car and the two men could see each other.

The passengers soon entered the station.

Xiao Lou smiled as he checked the tickets and observed the passengers.

The ID number on the ticket was very long and several numbers had been covered with a mosaic. The name of the passengers and the seat number was very clear. It was similar to the rail ticket in the real world. Xiao Lou checked the tickets and quickly remembered everyone’s names.

The first to come to the door of the carriage were four university students. The two men and two women walked hand in hand and wore different couples outfits. They carried a travel bag and chatted while walking, looking excited. They should be two couples travelling together and their seats were in the eighth row.

This was immediately followed by a family of five. There were the grandparents, mother and father and a lovely little girl. Xiao Lou gave them back the tickets and the little girl spoke in a soft voice, “Thank you, Uncle!” The family looked warm and harmonious and sat in the third row.

There were dozens of passengers who were alone and their seats were very dispersed.

A person travelling alone had a low probability of being murdered. After all, there was no reason to kill each other if they didn’t know each other. These passengers should be included. Moreover, their names were things like Zhang Ping, Wang Hu, Zhao Long, etc. It seemed to be telling Xiao Lou: don’t worry about us. We are passersby.

This was immediately followed by the emergence of a group of five female friends. They wore the same series of dresses with slightly different colours. Once it came time to check their tickets, they stared at Xiao Lou and whispered together, “So handsome!” “Does he have a girlfriend?” “Shut up, he can hear you.”

Xiao Lou, “……”

Their whispers were a little loud and hard to not hear.

This 4th carriage was gradually becoming full.

The 6th sleeper carriage had relatively fewer people. Several lone passengers got on carrying luggage and Yu Hanjiang checked their tickets with a blank expression. Like Xiao Lou, he tried to remember the names as much as possible.

Just then, he saw a dozen people wearing the same red hat and walking towards the 6th carriage in a line. They stopped near the carriage and huddled in a group.

A young girl was in the middle. She held a horn and said, “All uncles and aunties are here? 1, 2, 3…” She quickly counted before continuing, “Okay, all 12 people are together. We are in the sleeping carriage No. 6! Once we get on later, put away your luggage. Those with hypertension or heart disease shouldn’t sleep on the upper beds. The other uncles and aunties should cooperate to change with them!”

“This journey lasts for three days. You must pay attention to food safety. I have medicine here to treat stomach pain and diarrhea. If you aren’t feeling well then come find me to get the medicine!”

This female had her hair in a ponytail and wore jeans, a short-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of white sneaks. She held a flag that said ‘Clear Sky Travel Agency’ in her hand.

Xiao Lou immediately glanced at Yu Hanjiang and the latter gave him a ‘rest assured’ look.

The group of 12 people consisted of old men and old ladies with white hair, a stooped back and missing teeth. They seemed to be around 70 years old. The tour guide female held the horn and shouted loudly, as if worried that people couldn’t hear it.

The appearance of this group was too high-profile.

Still, it was before the case happened and everything couldn’t be determined. Perhaps this was just a passersby tour group to make up the number.

As time went by, more and more passengers got on the train. There was a ‘jingle bells’ sound in their ears as a reminder and the voice of the train conductor entered Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang’s wireless headset. “The train is about to leave. All attendants, please return to the carriage as soon as possible.”

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were just about to go back when suddenly, a boy quickly ran down the stairs at the entrance.

His hair was very messy and he had obviously been running crazily for a long time. The boy’s face was red, he was panting and the socks on his feet were different colours. He had probably woken up later and didn’t dress neatly.

He shouted as he ran, “Wait a minute, wait!”

Xiao Lou was about to close the train door and the person squeezed onto the carriage as the door almost closed.

Once the man got on the carriage, he stopped at the junction between carriages, placed his hands on his knees and gasped.

Xiao Lou waited for him to straighten up before asking, “What seat are you in?”

The young man replied, “The 4th carriage, 8F.”

Xiao Lou looked over. The 8th row currently had four people sitting on it, the two couples. The empty seat happened to be the F seat by the window. Xiao Lou smiled at the young man and pointed. “The train is about to start. Go and sit down.”

The boy ran over to the eighth row.

He looked at the female in 8D and spoke with a red face “B-Beauty, can I trouble you to let me in.”

The girl glanced at the shy guy before turning to her boyfriend. “Honey, you sit here.” She changed seats with her boyfriend, sitting next to 8C. Apparently, she didn’t want to sit with this dirty guy. Her boyfriend swapped seats with her.

The broadcast sounded in the carriage. “Passengers, welcome to the KP-7311 train. Our train is about to start. Please organize your luggage and take your seat according to the number on the ticket. Smoking is prohibited on this train…”

The train started and the plot was about to begin.

Xiao Lou took a deep breath and glanced around the 4th carriage.

The seats were all full.

Many of the passengers started to sleep. The ones who attracted his attention were the warm family of five, the group of two couples, the five female friends group and the last young man who was late.

This young man should be a character involved in the plot but wasn’t necessarily the killer or the one who would die. Moreover, the 6th carriage where Group Leader Yu was located clearly had the elderly tour group.

Xiao Lou smiled and spoke to the carriage, “Please cooperate with me as I check your tickets.”

It was normal to check tickets on the carriage and everyone consciously took out their tickets.

Xiao Lou wanted to check the tickets again in order to deepen his impression of the faces, seat number and names of these key passengers.

The speed of the train was rapidly increasing.

Outside the window was a thick white mist and the carriage was quiet. What murderer would be lurking on this train and who would be murdered? The start of this train meant the story of the 4 of Hearts secret room was about to begin.