Global Card Master: Start Awakening the Classic of Mountains and Seas

Chapter 257: Flame Cave
Huiyang City, Lian Hotel.

Although they have been investigating these days, it is just incidental. They are mainly playing along the way~
Xiang Yao and Shen Meng's room is already filled with things they bought in the past few days.

I have to say that although the traffic in Huiyang City is closed, there are really a lot of good things.

Especially those technological gadgets, which are eye-catching.

But the most important thing is that the atmosphere in this city is very relaxed, as if everyone does not need to worry about life and just needs to enjoy themselves.

This is what made the two women have such a strong desire to shop.

"When are we leaving?"

Fan Huai, who didn't know Jiang Ming's true purpose, lay exhausted on the bed and asked Jiang Ming in a muffled voice.

They had a lot of fun these days, but accompanying the two girls shopping almost cost Fan Huai and Jiang Ming their lives.

The combat effectiveness is completely on a different level.

"hold on."

Jiang Ming glanced at his phone with a half-smile in his eyes.

"What's wrong? Whose message?"

Xiang Yao was drinking milk tea on the side and noticed Jiang Ming's expression and asked angrily.

Jiang Ming showed her his phone directly.

"Lou Sheng invites you to dinner?"

Ever since Lou Sheng's words that day caused Jiang Ming and the others to stay, no news about Lou Sheng has been heard since then.

It seems like it was just a joke.

Normally it's just a polite remark, but if someone really stays, they will show some appreciation.

But Lou Sheng had no such idea at all.

He simply treated Jiang Ming and his companions as strangers, as if they had never been there.

And Jiang Ming and his friends certainly couldn't take the initiative to ask Lou Sheng to take them around Huiyang.

And now she's asking Jiang Ming to have dinner with her?
There must be a demon in the abnormal situation.

"Do you want to go, Brother Ming?"

Fan Huai also climbed out of bed, glanced at the message and asked.

"Go, why not go, it's a free meal and you'll miss it if you don't eat it."

Jiang Ming rolled his eyes.

"But, we need to make some preparations before we go."

Huiyang City, Juguang Hotel.

As a five-star hotel originally existing in the steel city.

The facilities and infrastructure here are much better than those in previous cities.

Juguang Hotel is located in the most prosperous area of ​​the city. The towering building exterior uses mirrored glass and metal structure, reflecting the light of the surrounding environment, making the entire hotel seem to be integrated with the city.
At the entrance of the store is a spacious canopy, under which is an automatic revolving door. On both sides of the door stand uniformed doormen, smiling and ready to provide service to guests at any time.

Entering the lobby, the first thing that catches your eye is a huge crystal chandelier hanging from the high ceiling, emitting a soft and dazzling light.

The lobby floor is paved with marble, as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the surrounding decorations and passing guests. Behind the front desk is a wall with a huge LED screen embedded in it, which plays the hotel's promotional videos and real-time news.

There are some comfortable sofas and coffee tables in the lobby for guests to rest and wait. There is also an indoor water feature in the corner, and the gurgling sound of water adds a touch of tranquility to the lobby.

The air is filled with a faint floral scent and the fresh atmosphere unique to high-end hotels.

Jiang Ming and his three companions walked to the front desk, where the receptionist greeted them with a smile and asked if they had an appointment.

Jiang Ming nodded and gave Lou Sheng's name.

The receptionist quickly checked the reservation record, then guided them to the elevator and told them that Lou Sheng was waiting in the private room.

The interior of the elevator is luxuriously decorated, with walls covered in mirrors and metal decorations. The elevator door closes slowly and the elevator rises quickly and smoothly.

After arriving at the designated floor, the elevator door opened and they were led to the private room reserved by Lou Sheng.

The interior of the room is elegantly decorated, with some modern artworks hanging on the wall and soft lighting, creating a warm and private atmosphere. In the center of the room is a large round table, which is laid with exquisite tableware and fresh flowers.

Lou Sheng was already waiting there. He stood up alone and greeted Jiang Ming and the other three with a smile.

"Welcome, welcome, Lord Jiang He, and everyone else." Lou Sheng warmly invited them to take a seat.

"Manager Lou is so polite today. Why did he take the initiative to treat us to a meal?"

Jiang Ming smiled slightly and sat directly opposite him.

"Lord Jiang He, you are joking. If I hadn't been so busy with work these days, I would have wanted to treat you to a meal a long time ago and show my hospitality. After all, it is an honor for us to have a person like you come to our Huiyang City." Lou Sheng explained with a wry smile, then pressed the service bell and told someone to serve the food.

Following Lou Sheng's instructions, soon, exquisite dishes began to be served one after another.

The chef team at Juguang Restaurant is clearly highly skilled, and each dish is beautifully presented, with attractive colors and tantalizing aromas.

"Lord Jiang He, these are our restaurant's signature dishes. I hope you and your friends will like them." Lou Sheng introduced with a smile and signaled the waiter to pour red wine for everyone.

Jiang Ming sent a message to several people: Don't touch the alcohol or food.

Then he calmly sat down at the table and looked at Lou Sheng: "Manager Lou, please tell us first what is the matter with inviting us to dinner, otherwise we might be embarrassed to eat."

Lou Sheng's face froze slightly, and then he sighed.

"I still can't hide it from Lord Jiang He."

"That's right. After Lord Jiang He went to Yehuo Temple and saw the murals yesterday, he should have known more about the fire?"

The mural that Jiang Ming and his friends saw yesterday was the one they saw in the Yehuo Temple, so he nodded.

I didn't expect Lou Sheng to take the initiative to bring up the issue of the fire.

"Master Jiang He, you may not know that this fire actually occurred in a secret place."

Seeing that Jiang Ming and his friends didn't touch the food and wine, Lou Sheng drank a glass of wine and said.

"You mean the fire recorded on the mural actually happened in the secret realm?"

Jiang Ming frowned and asked.

"Yes, but too many people died in the fire in the secret realm at that time, and there was no way to conceal the news, so the story on the mural appeared." Lou Sheng sighed slightly.

"What about the fire that happened before the people were relocated?"

Xiang Yao interrupted inadvertently.

"Oh, that fire was actually just a fire in a private house, it's no big deal." Lou Sheng looked slightly stunned, as if he had been thinking about it for a long time before he remembered it.

Seeing this, Jiang Ming and his companions understood.
It turns out that Lou Sheng doesn't even draft his lies in advance.

Even the excuses for deceiving are so lame.

But Jiang Ming didn't expose him.

Instead, he smiled and said, "What does the building manager's call to us have to do with this fire?"

"It's like this. My son went into this secret realm to explore some time ago. He hasn't come out yet. I hired people to go in and look for him for me, but there's no news. Lord Jiang He happens to be here, so I wanted to ask Lord Jiang He for help." At this point, a pleading look appeared on Lou Sheng's face.

The sincerity and anxiety in his eyes almost made Jiang Ming and the others believe it was real.

"Is there a secret place in the city?"

Jiang Ming was slightly stunned and asked in confusion.

"It's not in the city, but it's underground two kilometers outside the city. Could you please ask Lord Jiang He to go there? Of course, I won't ask Lord Jiang He's help for nothing." Lou Sheng shook his head and pleaded again.

Jiang Ming pretended to be embarrassed and looked at Fan Huai and the others.

"Boss, this may be a bit difficult to handle."

Jiang Ming crossed his legs, rubbing his index finger and thumb together, and spoke with an embarrassed look on his face.

When Lou Sheng saw this scene, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

Are people with such combat power so greedy?

But he still forced a smile, took out a bank card and put it on the table, then turned it on the turntable to Jiang Ming and the others.

"Master Jiang He, although I am the director of the points exchange department, I don't have much at the moment. Can you use this 3000 million as a deposit? If I really find my son, I will definitely reward him handsomely."

"Easy to say."

Jiang Ming simply put the card away, his expression no longer embarrassed.

Seeing Jiang Ming put the card away so quickly, Lou Sheng's heart was bleeding.
But when I think about the outcome in the near future, these things are of no use.

"Tell me, what information is there in that secret realm? You can't be completely clueless about that secret realm, right?"

When Lou Sheng saw Jiang Ming accept the bank card, he cleared his throat and began to introduce the situation of the secret realm.

"We call that secret realm 'Flame Cave'. According to the information we have collected, there are several particularly dangerous fire monsters in the Flame Cave." Lou Sheng's tone became serious.

"First of all, the most common creatures in the Flame Cave are 'Fire Scale Flame Lizards'. Their scales are as hot as lava, and they can hide their bodies in flames. Their breath contains highly poisonous flames, posing a huge threat to invaders." Lou Sheng explained.

"Next are the 'Flame Soul Walkers'. These creatures are formed from pure flame energy. They patrol the passages of the Flame Cave and launch fierce attacks on any outsiders." Lou Sheng continued, "Their flames can burn everything. Even the strongest metal cannot withstand it."

"Even more powerful are the 'Purgatory Guards'. They are the guardians deep in the Fire Cave. They have the ability to control high-temperature flames and can even summon fire storms to trap the enemy in a sea of ​​fire."

"As for the core area of ​​the Flame Cave, legend has it that there lives a terrifying creature called the 'Burning Flame Beast'. Its power is enough to destroy the entire Flame Cave and even affect the surface." Lou Sheng's voice was low, and a trace of fear flashed in his eyes.

Then Lou Sheng pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, on which was a rough map of Yanku.

Lou Sheng spread the map out on the table, and Jiang Ming and the other three came closer to take a look.

In the center of the map is a huge circular area marked "Flame Cave Core", surrounded by many small flame symbols, representing the activity areas of fire monsters of varying intensities.

In the center of the core area, a beast head pattern was roughly drawn in red ink, with a ferocious face and flaming mane, and below it was written in trembling handwriting: "Burning Flame Beast".

From the core area outward, the map is filled with intricate passages and caves, each of which is marked with a different color, representing a different degree of danger.

Red represents high-risk areas, yellow represents medium risk, and blue indicates relatively safe paths.

On the edge of the map, Lou Sheng marked some special places in small letters, such as "Lava Spring", "Fire Crystal Vein" and "Eye of the Fire Cave".

These locations are accompanied by brief descriptions, such as "hot, drinkable" next to "lava spring" and "priceless, dangerous" next to "fire crystal vein".

In a corner of the map, Lou Sheng pointed an arrow to a point, marked "entrance", and wrote "abandoned mine" next to it.

Starting from the entrance point, there are several main passages extending into the interior of the Yan Cave, and the end of each passage points to the core area.

Jiang Ming slid his finger along the passage and found that one of the passages was marked with "Fire Scale Flame Lizard", while the other passage was marked with "Flame Soul Walker".

He noticed that there were some small forks and side roads in these passages, but these paths were not described in detail, only with question marks and warning signs to indicate the unknown and potential dangers.

Fan Huai looked at the map carefully. He noticed some strange symbols on the map, like some kind of code or guidance. He pointed at these symbols and asked Lou Sheng: "What do these symbols mean?"

Lou Sheng took a look and explained, "These are the marks left by our expedition team in the Yan Cave. Each symbol represents a specific environment or monster, and we use it to warn and guide each other."

"So which area might your son be in?"

In a state of acting, Jiang Ming asked seriously.

"He must have gotten lost in the mine." Lou Sheng said hurriedly upon seeing this.

"Okay, then give me the map, okay?"

Jiang Ming nodded and pointed to the map on the table.

"Of course, thank you, Lord Jiang He!"

Accepting the map meant that Jiang Ming and the others had formally agreed, so Lou Sheng bowed to them.

"You're welcome. We'll be leaving first then."

Jiang Ming folded the map and put it back in his pocket, then turned around and walked away without any intention of stopping.

Lou Sheng did not try to keep them and just watched Jiang Ming and the others leave.

Until the door closes.

Lou Shengcai slumped in his chair.
Send a message to your gaming friends.

"Jiang He agreed"

And another private room in the Spotlight Hotel.

Jiang Ming and the other three sat down, and Fan Huai asked curiously, "Are we really going, Brother Ming?"

It was obvious that Lou Sheng had deliberately led them there.

"Go, why not? You might even make some money."

Jiang Ming looked at the map in his hand and nodded.

In fact, if Jiang Ming and his friends had not discovered Lou Sheng’s problem, they would have gone in response to such a request, given the information marked on the map.

As for going now, of course I will go.

But I just wanted to see what Lou Sheng and the others were up to.

Not to mention, if Jiang Ming hadn't discovered the problem from Lou Sheng, there wouldn't be any big loopholes in Lou Sheng's words today. After all, asking a strong person for help is a very normal thing in this era.

Not to mention that the two had met before.

"I feel like this person is a bit like a scapegoat."

Shen Meng, who had been silent throughout the entire process, suddenly spoke.

Jiang Ming handed the map to Fan Huai and nodded: "I think so too. If the person behind this really wants to take action, they won't send such a weak person."

"This secret realm should have been prepared to deal with us a long time ago."

"So are we still going?"

Fan Huai looked up in surprise.

"I didn't say we were the only ones going."

Jiang Ming rolled his eyes at him.

(End of this chapter)