Chapter Five: The Devil Card

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Section Five: The Devil Cards

Mission: Aberration Crisis (No. 10861)
Mission Difficulty: Grade B (Hard)
Main Mission Completion Reward: 3,000 universal points.
Main Mission Failure Penalty: 4,000 universal points.
Note: Each person’s abilities are different, so their roles are too. What you must do is not the same. Therefore, you are strictly forbidden from disclosing any information about mission difficulty, rewards, or related matters to anyone.
At the end of the note, there were four blood-red characters grinning with malice: Otherwise—erasure.

August 15, 1993, 9:35 am
Rendezvous point, southwest, 8,652 meters—Old Duerte Hotel, Sathers Avenue

One bed, one table, one chair.
In the right corner of the wall by the chair, a small hole was cut. Zhu Cunjia sat at the table. Four or five pistols, a box of bullets, two medical kits, and the empty boxes that had once held these supplies were scattered haphazardly across the table.

Zhu Cunjia sat there, shuffling a stack of cards in his hands.
The images on the backs of the cards were unusual. Some had a black background with white patterned borders, a demon’s face at the center; some had a white background with black edges, a pair of demonic eyes at the center; others, black with a border of blood, featured a bloody ghostly hand.

If Yang Wentian—or any moderately experienced member of the Space—were to see these, they would immediately grow wary. Even if they didn’t attack Zhu Cunjia outright, they would certainly keep their guard up, distance themselves, refuse to cooperate, and might even sever contact entirely.

Because Devil Cards, though certainly capable of attacking enemies within the scenario, were most infamous—and most effective—when used on one’s teammates.

Of course, to those who wielded such cards, this reputation was nothing but slander. After all, the price for using a Devil Card was steep—not just a matter of stamina or universal points, but one’s own life force and maximum health.

How could anyone afford to use them lightly? One moment’s carelessness after deploying such a card, and you could be finished.

But now, it seemed, was precisely the moment to use them.

Zhu Cunjia hesitated for a while. There was no doubt; being assigned a mission like this meant something was definitely amiss.

He didn’t know whether Yang Wentian would believe the possibility he’d mentioned to him—but whether he did or not, there was value in it.

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Four or five scenarios ago, the captain and vice-captain had discussed and summarized the varying difficulties of the scenario missions. One of their conclusions was this: some newcomers, though they appeared ordinary, possessed unique talents—if the Space considered them special, it would redesign the scenario according to their abilities. And if such a person was killed, the reward for the mission might be extraordinarily rich.

The trouble was, this was just a hypothesis. In the ever-shifting, unstable Space, nothing could be said for certain.

Even if the theory held, it was hard to know what, exactly, the newcomer’s talent was. When the scenario’s difficulty shifted, all participants were forced to bring their talents to bear in full if they wanted to survive—if someone turned on their teammates early, they would fail; and failure meant death.

As the vice-captain said, if the hypothesis was true, the best approach was to follow such a person, survive until everything was resolved, and only then strike.

Yang Wentian wasn’t the one who needed the most careful handling—but he was the most dangerous. That youth, with his thin frame, sharp gaze, barbed words, and the knife at his waist, was clearly an agile assassin type.

In the early stages, such people excel at clearing scenarios and taking down enemies. But their real specialty is seizing equipment and missions—in other words, the greatest threat comes from within your own ranks.

Having spent so long in the Space, Zhu Cunjia knew how to deal with people like this. After surviving in this harsh, cruel world for so long, he had a good sense of the types he would encounter and how to handle them.

Some people adapted too slowly. Unable to adjust to the demands of each scenario, they still tried to act by the moral codes and laws of their old world. Such people rarely survived more than three scenarios.

Others adapted too quickly, becoming cruel and ruthless. The irony was, those never lasted long either.

The assassin’s approach worked well in early scenarios, but the further one progressed, the weaker they became. Later scenarios demanded teamwork, and there, assassins were nearly useless. At that point, many who chose that path would be eliminated.

Only those like himself—and his team—who understood the importance of division of labor were suited to long-term survival.

With division of labor came the chance to dig deep into the story, share experiences, identify the easiest paths, and find the most lucrative methods. The team had clear rules on how to treat newcomers and those who chose different paths.

Since joining the team, Zhu Cunjia had always followed the rules strictly, and it had served him well. No more desperate struggling; with every scenario, his gains multiplied.

To say nothing else, in the introductory Resident Evil scenario, there were four hidden caches containing guns, ammo, and medical kits, with a chance of yielding equipment. And though this was “Aberration Crisis” rather than Resident Evil, a mutated scenario perhaps… the caches still existed.

This was the main reason he had come to this rookie world. Zhu Cunjia played with the cards in his hand and smiled.

If he could unlock all four secret caches, he could trade for intermediate gear within the team. His status would rise accordingly—and that was vital for survival in the Space.

In other words, it was worth investing some resources.

He recalled the vice-captain’s teaching: “When playing Devil Cards, the most crucial thing is to know when to invest.” Indeed, one must be careful, even stingy, most of the time. But when the moment came for great reward, one had to be willing to risk it.

He smiled, took out a green card from his personal storage: the “Traitor Card.”

Identity Card: Traitor (Devil Card, Level 6 Authority)
Cost: 30 spirit points, 500 credits, 100 health points, and after use, your maximum health decreases by 10% for the next three scenarios.
The effect vanishes after leaving the scenario.

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This card is only effective for the system’s default team assignments.

Effect: During the mission, attacking members of your own faction incurs no penalty, and you can still claim the usual rewards.
Effect: If you attack a teammate and then fail the main mission, the penalty is doubled.
Effect: If you complete the main mission, you must kill a teammate afterwards, or you will be erased.
Must be used within three hours of entering the Space.
Once used, the effect cannot be undone. If your teammates discover your identity, any attacks they make against you will inflict double damage, and killing you will earn them double rewards.

Known colloquially as the “Reaper Card.” In the Space, card masters could exchange 200 universal points for one of these at any time; they were everywhere, and perfect for harvesting newcomers.

With a light tap, the card dissolved into a wisp of smoke, enveloping him.

Over the next thirty seconds, Zhu Cunjia’s health began to drop. The pain from using this card wasn’t severe, but it was far from painless.

Next, he drew out a card that was half black, half white.

Detection Card (Devil Card, Level 6 Authority)
Cost: 8 spirit points, 1,000 credits, 200 health points or equivalent items
Black is Card A, white is Card B. Card A can be fired at a target; once it lands, for the next eight hours, Card B allows you to listen in on sounds around the target and pinpoint their location within a certain range.

You can even initiate a conversation with the target, but that only lasts five minutes.

This card can be used at any time within a scenario, but the best window is right at the start, in the preparation phase. Zhu Cunjia felt a pang of regret—he hadn’t planned to use it at the time!

Next came four magazines and ten grenades. The advantage of Devil Cards was their potent effects and great power, but—on the one hand—the cost was high and they weren’t reusable; on the other—they lacked cards for direct combat.

So, reliable firearms were still necessary—cheap, effective, and deadly. Zhu Cunjia hadn’t expected to use cards in this world. But—

Without investment, without risk, how could there ever be reward?