Players, Please Board the Train

“Mr. Xu, is that you?” The paper phone quickly transmitted Peng Fengnian’s excited voice. “I’m about to leave District 014. If we can’t contact each other before I go, I don’t know when we’ll talk next.”

“014?” That number had appeared on Xu Huo’s return ticket.

“Yes, I’m a player from Subdistrict 009 of E27 Wormhole Point,” Peng Fengnian explained. “Once you advance to D-level player, every ticket will have a station address. This time, the Skinner’s dungeon is in District 014.”

“The paper phone only works within the same district. Mr. Xu, you’re not a local player of E27?”

“I am,” Xu Huo replied, then asked, “Are there other wormhole points besides E27 Wormhole Point?”

Peng Fengnian paused for two seconds before answering, “There should be. My older brother once met a player from D13 Wormhole Point inside a C-level dungeon, but that’s extremely rare.”

“Basically, players from a specific wormhole point will run dungeons only within their own wormhole point. I’ve done several dungeons myself and never met players from other wormhole points.”

“Have you heard of a temporary pass?” Xu Huo asked. This was a term the Skinner had mentioned, saying, “If only I had a temporary pass, it would be great—no need to move back and forth so much.”

This hinted that the Skinner’s random dungeon roamed around without being tied to one station, and players couldn’t freely travel between wormhole points. The temporary pass seemed to grant permission for free movement.

Since Peng Fengnian’s older brother encountered players from other wormhole points in a C-level dungeon, it indicated that communication between wormhole points wasn’t a privilege exclusive to high-level players.Peng Fengnian’s voice was no longer as excited as before. He said, “Temporary pass? I’ve never heard anyone mention it.”

“The dungeons have appeared in District 009 for over five years. Currently, fewer than ten B-level players exist here. It’s probably some kind of special item.”

“What do you mean by permanent super players stationed at locations?” Xu Huo asked next.

“Some dungeon bosses were originally players. There are roaming dungeons like the Skinner’s, but there are also fixed dungeons opened at one station. Players like those aren’t comparable to random dungeon bosses.”

“The Paper Artisan who makes the paper phones is a super player of E27 Wormhole Point. He’s very famous in the game world, and some dungeons offer items crafted by him as rewards.”

“E27 Wormhole Point has many subdistricts, which are like multiple separate worlds. Some subdistricts, including 009, have the game and players publicly visible within that world, including basic information. Although there is no communication platform among players, once non-closed dungeons start appearing, players can move within the station world. If you go to areas where the game appeared earlier, a lot of information can be found online.”

“Mr. Xu, you’re not a C-level player, are you?”

The information Peng Fengnian shared was common knowledge after entering non-closed dungeons. If Xu Huo didn’t know this, it meant he hadn’t touched non-closed dungeons at all—in other words, he was a newbie.

“I’m an E-level player,” Xu Huo said calmly. “In my world, Evolvers have appeared in large numbers for only about a month. Based on what you said, District 014 should be a newly developed game zone in the Dimensional Rift.”

“So far, I’ve only been through one dungeon. The Skinner’s dungeon is the first random dungeon I’ve done.”

Peng Fengnian raised his voice in disbelief. “Then how did you cause a D-level dungeon to collapse?”

“I guess it had something to do with the dungeon core, just by accident,” Xu Huo said, a little disappointed by his ignorance.

However, dungeon collapses involve a lot of luck. It’s unknown whether every dungeon has a dungeon core or something similar. Even if such an item exists, not to mention the difficulty in finding it, destroying it would definitely be difficult. There’s too little information and too many variables.

“You’re really impressive. With your mindset and method, I thought your level would at least be above mine.” Peng Fengnian hadn’t expected this result, but Xu Huo’s quality was very good—he might soon advance to D-level.

“You said your world’s dungeons have appeared for five years. Besides the earliest batch of Evolvers, is there any other way to become an Evolver?” Xu Huo thought for a moment and asked.

“Actually, after the game world connected to reality, people have continuously turned into Evolvers, though fewer than at the start. If someone wants to forcibly enter the game, they can transform by injecting the blood of an Evolver who hasn’t taken the evolution agent,” Peng Fengnian paused and asked, “You know about the genetic defect of Evolvers, right?”

“If you don’t take the evolution agent for over a month, your whole body will rot, and you’ll weaken and die,” Xu Huo answered.

“That’s right. This defect is irreversible, even Player-Eater Evolvers are the same. They must take it regularly. That’s why evolution agents are very expensive in the game world,” Peng Fengnian said firmly.

Xu Huo pressed the back of his hand against his forehead. “Is there no other way to improve this?”

“I don’t know about that,” Peng Fengnian hesitated before saying, “Because when evolution values rise, the agent’s grade also improves. P0 targets below 10%, P1 is 10% to 30%, P2 is 30% to 50%, and there are also P3 and P4 evolution agents. As long as you take them, you can keep evolving, and the higher the evolution rate, the stronger you get. Player level usually rises with it. Since there are P3 and P4 agents, it means high-level players also need evolution agents.”

“But even if they’re dependent on the agent, once their level increases, getting evolution agents won’t be hard, right?”

Xu Huo didn’t comment. This feeling of having one’s throat choked made him very uncomfortable.

“Mr. Xu, what did you mean by the last thing you said to the Skinner?” Peng Fengnian couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know there’s bad blood between the Skinner and the Fielder family?”

“It was just a bluff,” Xu Huo returned the favor. “I had previously heard on the radio that E27’s highest administrator was replaced by someone named Karlon Fielder. I pretended to be a relative by marriage. Even if the Skinner appeared, there was no evidence to expose me. The Skinner’s nature is very special—he might not even know if any of the people he killed were important.”

“I didn’t know the dungeon would collapse. Given the situation at the time, the best outcome was a few players escaping; the other ordinary people couldn’t be saved. So I told a lie to trick the Skinner, making him think he offended the Fielder family or related powers. This matter is very hard to verify. If the Skinner believed it, the most likely result is that he would leave E27, or at least leave the dungeon location.”

“This way, the dungeon probably won’t continue devouring people where I live.”

“But if he saw through it, that’s another matter.”

Peng Fengnian let out a short breath. See through it? Now that the dungeon has collapsed, the Skinner would probably think someone is deliberately targeting him and wouldn’t be fooled easily.

Ordinary players struggle to clear dungeons and level up. It’s unimaginable that Xu Huo, a rookie new to the game, could use the game itself to trap the boss despite having no information and even benefit the real world. Indeed, players are not all the same!