[Chapter 453, Return to the Palace]

"How to deal with these three hunters?" Xiao Lou turned back to ask Yu Hanjiang for his opinion.

Yu Hanjiang stepped forward, looked at the miniature version of Xiao Lou in the bottle, and asked in a low voice: "How did the Hunters come to this world? Where did you find out about our experiences in other secret rooms?"

Xiao Lou said coldly: "Of course we have a source of information, otherwise how could we kill you?"

Yu Hanjiang asked: "What benefit does killing the challenger do to you? Can you live in the card world for a few more years?"

The other party suddenly fell silent, his pale face expressionless, as if he had turned into a statue.

Yu Hanjiang frowned and softened his tone: "If you tell us the information about the Hunter organization, I can consider not killing you because you and Xiao Lou look exactly the same."

"Ha..." Xiao Lou suddenly curled up the corners of his mouth, as if he had heard a big joke. He let out a strange laugh in the bottle, laughed for a while, and then said lightly: "Anyway, I will survive even if the mission fails.

No, just give me a break." After saying that, he closed his eyes and put on an indifferent expression of "die calmly."

Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou and shook his head.

Xiao Lou had no choice but to force the three hunters back to the Peach Blossom Spring and set them on fire.

These predators are simply stubborn.

Until now, we have encountered many hunters. What they have in common is that they would rather die than reveal any secrets about the organization after failing the mission. It is as if they have been collectively brainwashed.

Their loyalty to the organization even exceeds the most instinctive desire of human beings to survive? Why?

People who are not strong-willed enough are likely to betray their friends and relatives when death is imminent. Not all hunter-killer organizations are strong-willed and tough guys who regard death as home. But every time, even if you put a knife on their neck, you can't find out.

To any news about the organization, this is too strange.

Xiao Lou said softly: "No one is afraid of death. I don't believe that all the people in the Hunter organization regard death as home. I guess if they leak the secrets of the Hunter organization, they may be more sad than death, so they would rather

Choose death without saying a word."

Yu Hanjiang thought about it carefully and agreed: "It makes sense. Those who leak the secrets are likely to be worse off than dead? When the mission fails, many hunters simply commit suicide by taking poison."

Xiao Loudao: "This organization has its own rules, such as the 'head bounty system' and the method of traveling between different secret rooms to replace some special plot characters. I now wonder if the hunter organization... is a gatekeeper.

An organization created by the attackers to fight against our challengers?”

When Ye Qi heard this, he suddenly slapped his forehead, walked to Xiao Lou and said excitedly: "Professor Xiao's suspicion is very likely! If there are no gatekeepers involved, how can these hunters enter the secret room world?

How about becoming a key plot character? Whether it’s Mr. Shao’s adoptive mother in the tenth level or the clone in this level, it would be too coincidental to suddenly appear, right?”

Shao Qingge said: "If this is the case, maybe the hunters also have to travel to different worlds to complete tasks?"

Lu Jiuchuan said solemnly: "While I was undercover in the Hunter organization, I often received mission instructions from my superiors. The mission had only one goal - to kill foreigners. However, because I was not a real Hunter, every time

Zhou Chang asked Hua Ying to help with the cover. They didn’t know that I failed the mission, and they didn’t punish me. I don’t know what kind of punishment a hunter who actually failed the mission would receive.”

Tang Ci said: "In other words, it is very likely that from the moment we entered the card world, there was a force that was always opposing us. Our goal is to clear the secret room, and their goal is to kill us?"

After hearing Tang Ci's words, the teammates looked at each other.

At first, everyone thought that this force was organized voluntarily by the "aboriginals", like a "cult" targeting outsiders, but now it seems that the Hunters can not only find out all their cards, but even know who they are.

Experience in the secret room in the past? How could the aborigines have such great abilities?!

After all, aborigines are limited to one world. For example, the princes and princesses of the ancient world of 8 of Hearts cannot appear in the entertainment world of 9 of Hearts, so they cannot know what is happening in the entertainment world.

When Yu Hanjiang tested the fake Liu Qiao, she was able to answer fluently the information on the eighth, ninth, and tenth levels, which shows that she is very aware of the experiences of Xiao Lou and his group in different worlds.

Thinking of this, everyone felt shuddering.

It's like there is a pair of eyes always watching them from behind.

In the card world, there are only four people who know everything that happens in each secret room - the ace of hearts, the ace of diamonds, the ace of spades, the ace of clubs, and the four gatekeepers!

The gatekeepers can freely control the time flow rate of each card world. They are the real leaders of the card world. Behind them are kings and kings. Perhaps as Xiao Lou speculated, the hunter organization itself is them

They personally created a camp, but from the very beginning, they selected a group of people to stand on the opposite side of the challenger?

Ye Qi gave an analogy: "It's like when playing online games, there are two official camps. For example, World of Warcraft has two camps: alliance and tribe. When players meet in the wild, they have red names and can attack each other. Put them on the card

The same thing works in the card world, Hunters vs. Challengers, are they two opposing camps?"

Xiao Lou was not sure about the origin of the Hunter organization before, but after this time, the Hunters had more and more information about them, and he had to doubt the intentions of these gatekeepers.

The feeling of being toyed with and applauded is not pleasant, but since the camp is an official setting, the mission will not be a lie. The way they want to leave here is to clear the secret room. It is just more difficult.

At this time, Liu Qiao had already spent ten minutes informing His Majesty the causes and consequences of the clone incident.

His Majesty, the mermaid clan, looked horrified. He couldn't believe that the killed elder Karen was actually secretly researching clones and had produced version 2.0.

In order to convince him, Liu Qiao took him through the maze and found a large number of petri dishes similar to glass coffins in the laboratory at the end of the fish, in which many identical "human specimens" were indeed soaked.

When His Majesty saw so many specimens, his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

Liu Qiao suggested: "Father, the clone plan is too crazy. We must stop it as soon as possible. Otherwise, if a large number of identical tribesmen appear in the future, the order of our mermaid tribe will be completely disrupted." She paused and added.

He said: "Moreover, after gene duplication, our bloodline will no longer be pure."

The last sentence is the key. The mermaid clan attaches great importance to bloodline. If the mermaid clan in the future is mixed with genes of humans and bugs, this is something that His Majesty will never tolerate.

His Majesty made a decisive decision: "Destroy all specimens in these laboratories!"

Liu Qiao nodded: "Father, don't worry, the aftermath of this matter will be handled by my brother and me."

The specimens should have genes from the Zerg, humans, and mermaids. They were soaked in the nutrient solution and have not yet awakened. The mermaid palace was deep in the ocean and could not be lit. Liu Qiao told Xiao Lou this matter with a clear heart: "Father, the king

Agree to destroy all human clone experimental products and ask Mr. Xiaoye and Shao to help and carry away the petri dishes in the laboratory."

The [Teleport] cards in the hands of Ye Qi and Shao Qingge can not only carry people, but also carry 200 kilograms of things. The two swam back into the deep sea maze again and used the teleport cards to move hundreds of petri dishes in batches.

Back to the Peach Blossom Spring.

Looking at the hundreds of "glass coffins" placed under the peach blossom tree, the teammates looked solemn.

Yu Hanjiang and Lu Jiuchuan looked at each other, and the two brothers stepped forward in tacit agreement, took out the clones one by one from the glass vessels, and stacked them together. Yu Hanjiang did not hesitate to pour a few bottles of alcohol on them and set them on fire.

Lose.

This scene made the teammates feel a little psychologically uncomfortable.

Especially when he saw that the burned replica looked exactly like himself...

Ye Qi resisted the urge to vomit, and his face turned slightly pale. Shao Qingge put his arm around his shoulder with one hand, covered his eyes with the other hand, and whispered: "Don't think too much, these clones are not

Without consciousness, you just think they are inflatable dolls made in our image."

Ye Qi was stunned for a moment: "Inflatable doll... Mr. Shao, you know so much."

Shao Qingge chuckled and rubbed his hair: "Of course, otherwise, how can I be your father? I will teach you slowly in the future."

Ye Qi was choked to the point of being speechless.

The original discomfort of the teammates was instantly relieved when they heard Shao Qingge's words. If these experimental subjects were treated as unconscious dolls and burned to death, it would indeed feel much better psychologically.

Lu Jiuchuan joked: "Today's Peach Blossom Spring is simply a crematorium. Wouldn't Tao Yuanming have any objections?"

Xiao Lou said helplessly: "You can't light a fire in the sea, you can only bring it back to the Peach Blossom Spring and burn it. Fortunately, the Peach Blossom Spring will disappear automatically after 3 hours of existence. It will be a new space that will be opened again tomorrow, and there should be no traces or smell left."

At this time, the ground under the peach blossom tree was covered with black ash, and there was a strange burning smell in the air, which was really uncomfortable.

Xiao Lou glanced at the Taohuayuan, which was used as a temporary crematorium, sighed, looked at his teammates and said: "Let's go to find your Majesty. After all, my tail was dyed by Lao Mo, and it won't be good if it fades."

Everyone imagined that Xiao Lou was swimming in the sea, and the silver tail suddenly faded. They would probably be shocked by the mermaid clan members - the prince's tail was actually dyed? This is okay!

In the palace, Liu Qiao and Xiao Lou had a close connection and stayed with His Majesty to comfort the agitated old man.

His Majesty patted her shoulder and said sincerely: "Although your brother is the illegitimate son of his father who is living abroad, you are brothers and sisters after all. My father hopes that you can live in harmony and never kill each other..."

The old king still has lingering fears about the tit-for-tat scene between Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao. He is really afraid that one day the brother and sister will kill each other for the throne. The last thing a father wants to see is this scene.

"Father, don't worry, I have always respected my brother. However," Liu Qiao looked up at his father in front of him, his eyes were calm, and he said slowly word by word, "it is more appropriate for me to inherit the mermaid clan."

"What?" His Majesty stared at Liu Qiao in disbelief, "Did you...have you always had ambitions?"

"Father, my brother does not want to be the leader of the mermaid tribe. He has already communicated with me privately that he wants me to succeed him. I respect his decision and am willing to shoulder this burden for him. If you don't believe it, you can personally

Ask him." Liu Qiao lied and didn't draft, and his acting skills are already perfect. Of course, this is what Xiao Lou told her through telepathy.

Xiao Lou's tail is dyed, so he cannot stay in the mermaid tribe and become the king. What's more, Xiao Lou's true identity is still the prince of the Luoke Empire, and he must go back as soon as possible to solve their own country's problems.

"This...I have to discuss this with your brother." His Majesty looked worried.

At this moment, Xiao Lou just finished handling the clones and returned to the palace. He walked up to His Majesty, bowed, and said respectfully: "Father, those experimental subjects have been processed."

"Your sister said that you don't want to inherit the throne. Is this true?" His Majesty asked with doubt on his face.

"Yes, father." Xiao Lou looked extremely serious, "Although I am your child, my mother has never been found. Many people in the tribe think that my origin is unknown. I am afraid that I will not be able to convince everyone if I succeed. On the contrary.

"Liu Qiao is the only daughter of you and the queen, and her bloodline is the purest." After he said this, he turned his head and looked at Liu Qiao gently, "Besides, my sister has been smart since she was a child, and she must be the best to succeed the king.

The perfect choice.”

"..." His Majesty's face was full of confusion, as if he was hesitating to whom to pass the seat to.

"Why don't you make a decision after your father discusses it with the elders?" Xiao Lou suggested.

"Okay, I'll invite some elders to hold a meeting." His Majesty turned and left.

There are a total of 7 elders of the mermaid tribe. Karen has been eliminated. Of the remaining 6 elders, Guiyuan Zhang can vote for 3 of them. In other words, there are at least 4 votes on Liu Qiao's side.

.

That night, His Majesty called the elders for an emergency meeting. More than half of the elders believed that Xiao Lou's origin was unknown, and that it would be easier to convince the public that the mermaid princess born to His Majesty and the Queen would inherit the throne.

The next morning, His Majesty announced the result in front of all the clan members.

Liu Qiao walked through the palace in a formal dress, took the crown from his father, and officially became the heir of the mermaid clan. Xiao Lou stood beside him and smiled slightly, looking quite pleased.

Liu Qiao is his student in reality. After so long training in the card world, this girl's carefulness, rationality, and courage have all improved to a higher level, becoming more and more outstanding.

This time the mermaid tribe's side mission was successfully completed. Although Xiao Lou is the commander-in-chief, Liu Qiao's vigilance and self-poisoning and self-rescue methods must be given a thumbs up. If she is really stunned, what will her teammates do?

With their hands tied, it will definitely not be easy to deal with the hunter-killer team.

After the succession ceremony, Xiao Lou said goodbye to Liu Qiao and the old king.
To be continued...