The needle of the compass rotated slowly. William and his party changed the direction of the sphere fighters from time to time. The wind whistled around them, mixed with a sound that sounded like a whine. Under the faint stars, the branches of the trees were stirred by the breeze. From a distance, they looked like the tentacles of the devil. The fog rose, and it gathered itself into a ghostly shape, looking at the fast-moving sphere fighters. Gradually, more and more "ghosts" surrounded them.

Ranran felt horrible. "We'd better be invisible," She radioed. "No." William replied, "The compass didn't warn us."

They saw something shining on the ground. So the sphere fighters dived immediately.

The sphere fighters thundered to a halt in front of the glowing objects. The party approached them and was surprised to find that the objects turned out to be crystal clear diamonds. They had a deep red or blue-green glow, like stars fallen on the ground. "Ah, how beautiful it is!" Deliriously, Aria ran over to some of the huge diamonds and examined them. Their shapes were diamond, clover, heart and olive leaf. The diamond-shaped and heart-shaped diamond had a deep red glow, while the other two were blue-green. Stranger still, when everyone else got close, they arranged themselves in the same order as before. Then, they rotated slowly and pointed to the same sign as the compass needle did,

Go down here and you'll be surprised.

"What? What surprise?" Natalie asked, puzzled.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if we told you now." Said the diamond, and the other three laughed.

This made the party even more confused. In desperation, they had to step into the elevator ahead. Aria went in last, and then the elevator doors closed quietly.

As the elevator descended, four fluorescent signs inside the car lit up. They were still diamonds, clovers, hearts and olive leaves. "What do these signs mean?" Ranran asked William quietly. "I guess the surprise has something to do with it." He replied.

The elevator stopped and the party came out of the car. They could not believe their eyes -- they were now in a large hall. The four shapes of diamonds were hanging from the circular dome, and they illuminated the whole hall. The floor under their feet as well as the curved walls around them was made of bright white diamonds with carved designs. Several stout pillars, covered with those four shapes, supported the dome.

William looked in front of them, and soon he spotted two comfortable sofas. The sofas were made of memory cotton, which was light and comfortable. Sitting on the sofas were two clowns, one deep red, the other blue-green. Beside the sofas were four round tables and twelve chairs, and each round table and its three chairs had been painted with one of the four shapes. Ranran noticed three people sitting at each round table -- a man wearing a crown, a beautiful woman with flowers, and a young man with an ax or a sword. The tables and chairs were surrounded by diamonds of four shapes, while each table had 55 diamonds beside.

"Wow!" Natalie exclaimed in admiration, "How beautiful!"

"Yes, indeed." Agreed Photon after looking carefully, "I wish I could live here forever."

The red clown on a sofa stood up and laughed. "Ha ha ha, you aliens are really funny. Welcome to the kingdom of playing cards! I am Red joker, and this person beside me is Black joker." The green clown stood up, too.

"These round tables correspond to the four departments that we administrate -- Diamond Department; Club Department; Heart Department; Spade Department. Each department has ten people, a jack, a queen, and a king." Black joker said.

William also made a brief introduction and bowed to the two clowns. "Don't bother!" Red joker said kindly.

"Mr Red joker," Said Photon respectfully, "it seems to me that those diamonds are floating. Do you know who they are? How do they do it?"

Red joker said, "Oh, I was about to tell you. But your captain, Mr William, was so enthusiastic that I forgot to say that. I'm sorry. Now, all the people of the department, assemble in increasing order!"

In half a minute the diamonds were all lined up. William gaped at them. "These are our loveliest people." Said Black joker, "By the rules, their statuses are lower than those of the jacks, queens, and kings, while their statuses are lower than those of us both. But we don't really care about statuses -- we're more like a family than a kingdom.

"These diamonds have built-in magnets, and there are electromagnets under the diamond floor under your feet, so they defy gravity and stay in the air. However, the magnetic fields of the magnets are limited, so the two to ten of each department must connect their patterns."

Aria looked carefully. The diamond-shaped patterns of Two of Diamond were connected rather than separated, which was not the case in playing cards.

"It doesn't seem true," Said William, pleasantly surprised.

"It's not unusual for an alien tourists to say that." Said King of Spade, standing up, "Because I bet there aren't places like ours on most alien planets."

"What are your daily routines, please?" Ranran asked.

"Oh, a lot." Four of Heart came slowly up to her and said in a sweet voice, "We have tea parties, garden parties, and games that are the most exciting." Her four interlinked heart-shaped diamonds glowed red.

"And we have a New Year party every year!" Said Ace of Club, "We also have delegates' meetings -- just we four aces with the jacks, queens and kings, because aces are what we call 'representatives of the people', which means we collect opinions from ace to ten and give opinions to the jacks, queens and kings. Then they will feed back to Red joker and Black joker."

Ace of Diamond continued, "Red joker, Black joker and the four kings will discuss and decide on the feedback. Finally, we will tell the people. Sound good?"

"Indeed," Replied Photon. Seven of Spade remembered something. "Gosh, I almost forgot." He said, "These alien friends arrived just in time! We're about to start playtime."

The other cards also started to talk. They all seemed to have forgotten about it. "I'm really sorry," Said Ten of Club, "Except for the New Year party and delegates' meetings, which are regular, the rest of the activities are all irregular." Her patterns gleamed blue-green.

The cards were discussing what game to play. "Excuse me," Said William, as a good idea flashed through his mind, "but would you allow alien visitors to provide new games? I have a customized game, but I don't know if you want to play it."

Everyone stared at him, surprised. "What's your idea, Master?" Natalie's eyes were full of expectation. He blinked, smiled mysteriously, and said, "Wait and see."

"Oh, dear. This alien friend is very resourceful." Queen of Club got up from her chair and went over to him, looking at him with a smile, "Could you tell us the rules now, William?"

"Wait a moment, Ms Queen. I'll finish it soon." He took out his computer, created a new empty text document, and typed the following words:

How to play Flying to the top

1 Types and values of cards

All cards are required in this game. Their order of value is determined only by points. The order is:

A < 2 < ...... < K < Black joker < Red joker

Types that consist of one card are called singles, such as A. Types that consist of two cards with the same point are called doubles, such as 4 4. Types that consist of three cards with the same point are called triples, such as Q Q Q. The above three types are basic types with no special abilities.

Types that consist of at least three singles with a point difference of 1 are called straights, such as A 2 3. Types that consist of at least two doubles with a point difference of 1 are called straight doubles, such as 5 5 6 6. Types that consist of at least two triples with a point difference of 1 are called airplanes, such as 10 10 10 J J J. The above three types are higher-ordered types with no special abilities.

Types that consist of four cards with the same point are called bombs, such as 7 7 7 7. Type that consists of two trump cards is called a hydrogen bomb. The above two types are top-level types with special abilities. They can control any type of cards.

2 Team dividing and game process

A deck of cards is suitable for 3 to 5 players. At the beginning, each player receives his or her hand. Divide the team according to the hand.

If there are 3 players in the game, the player who owns Red joker is one team, and the other 2 are the other. If there are 4 or 5 players in the game, the player(s) who own(s) the trump cards is or are one team and the other 2 to 4 are the other.

The player who owns Ace of Spade plays first, and then the rest of the players play in a certain order. There are no restrictions on the type of cards played. After the previous player has played, the next player must choose to control his card or give up. If he chooses to control, he must play a card of the same type with a bigger point. For example, after player A plays A, player B can control with singles or top-level types, instead of any other type of cards. A player continues to play after all other players give up controlling that player's hand.

After one player has played all of his hand, the next player continues to play, and there are no restrictions on the type of cards played.

3 Result Determination

There are and only are two things that can happen in this game:

The team with the trump cards wins;

The team without the trump cards wins.

When one team has played all their hands, that team wins and the game ends.

"Wow, that sounds good." Queen of Heart smiled with satisfaction, "I think we'd better start now."

"Yes, Ms Queen of Heart." Said Jack of Spade, "But how would you like the cards shuffled, alien friends?"

William laughed, "That's easy. I will choose two friends to play the game with me. You just have to stand in line choosing your positions randomly. After that, card number one, four... fifty-two go find me, number two, five... fifty-three go find the first friend, the rest go find the second, and that's it."