Players, Please Board the Train

”Wow! So many rooms!” The taxi stopped in front of a villa, and Painting Woman exclaimed with astonished text at the rows of windows.

”Houses are meant to be lived in large to be comfortable,” Yuan Yao said with a smile. ”Later you can pick whichever room you want to stay in.”

They had agreed in the car that they would stay at his place tonight.

As soon as they entered, Painting Woman rushed into the bathroom to try on her newly bought clothes, while Yuan Yao poured Xu Huo a cup of tea and then brought over his computer to start working.

”This account address is still encrypted?” After fiddling with it for a moment, he became interested too. ”Usually in situations like this, this person is definitely not simple.”

Seeing his fingers flying across the keyboard, Xu Huo estimated it would take some time to get results, so he got up and thoroughly checked the three-story villa from bottom to top.

Standing at the third-floor window, he spotted a number ”5” floating on an old tree dozens of meters away, continuously rising until it reached ”9” in the blink of an eye.

Full of killing intent.

Xu Huo closed the window and went downstairs.

”Done!” Yuan Yao called out from the living room. ”This guy is definitely a novice. The firewall was probably done by someone else, but everything in his computer isn’t encrypted. I found something interesting.””Holy Sword Society?” Xu Huo looked at the triangular pattern formed by three swords on the computer screen. ”A cult?”

Yuan Yao scrolled through the chat records on the computer. ”Seems like a player organization. This guy has been trying to join, and recently he submitted some kind of proof of loyalty. Now he’s an official member.”

”What kind of proof?”

”Seems like items, tickets, or something similar. You have to hand over something the Holy Sword Society recognizes to join.”

Yuan Yao paused. ”This guy actually posted a phishing thread... Is this Holy Sword Society hunting players?”

Xu Huo glanced out the window. ”It’s getting late. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

The two returned to their respective rooms, and soon the lights in the villa went out one by one, plunging the entire building into darkness.

An hour later, a cat-like figure silently flipped into the villa. With both palms touching the ground and his back arched high, he climbed along the wall like a real cat to the window outside Xu Huo’s room. Pushing the window open, he landed silently and bared his sharp claws at the shadowy bulge on the bed!

Just as he was about to strike, a black shadow suddenly peeled off from the wall, wrapping around his head like a gust of wind!

The shadow was startled, realizing upon touch that it was just a piece of paper. Assuming he had already been discovered, he tore through it with one claw and pounced toward the large bed!

At that moment, the quilt on the bed flew open, enveloping him head-on!

The shadow abruptly halted his momentum, about to retreat, when a leg suddenly shot out from the floating quilt, hitting him squarely in the abdomen!

The kick made blood spurt from his nose and mouth, sending him crashing hard against the opposite wall. Before he could hit the floor, a thin thread shot across the room, pinning his right wrist to the wall!

The shadow extended his nails but failed to cut through the thread. Just then, the lights in the room suddenly turned on. Squinting, he realized there was more than just Xu Huo in the room—aside from a woman in tattered clothes standing in the corner, another person crawled out from under the bed.

Yuan Yao, covered in dust, coughed while complaining that the landlord didn’t clean properly. Glancing at the wall, he immediately cheered: ”We got him!”

”Is this the person who’s been following us from the mall? I don’t know him either. Why was he following us?”

”There must be a reason.” Xu Huo got off the bed, examining the small, thin man. ”So you have animal characteristics. Are you from the Holy Sword Society?”

The thin man kept his mouth shut, his eyes darting among the three people. Suddenly, his pupils narrowed vertically, and then his entire body flipped backward with cat-like flexibility. As he freed his hand from the thread, he hung upside down on the wall, the long nails growing from his hands and feet digging deep into the wall like sharp claws!

”Holy shit! He turned into an animal!” Yuan Yao shouted, stepping back.

The thin man let out a low growl like a wild beast from his throat and pounced fiercely toward him!

”Never learns.” Xu Huo leaped forward, pulling Yuan Yao aside. He caught the man’s hand mid-air and yanked him forward, making him crash to the ground. Then he raised his foot and stomped down hard!

”Boom!” The floor was stamped with a footprint deep enough to fit a foot. The thin man, who had flipped away just in time, jumped onto the bed. Seeing the footprint, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of fear. Looking up into those icy eyes, his beastly instincts screamed at him to run!

But Xu Huo, who had been waiting for him in the villa, wouldn’t let him escape so easily. With a sweeping kick, he knocked the man onto the bed, grabbed his left arm, and yanked hard. With a crack, the entire arm went limp!

”Ugh!” The thin man grunted in pain, swiping back with his claw toward Xu Huo’s face. However, his wrist was caught mid-swing. Arching his upper body, he kicked out with both feet to push his opponent away and leaped toward the window without looking back.

Just then, Yuan Yao, appearing out of nowhere, swiftly propped up a stool. The thin man slammed straight into the stool, his head stuck outside the window!

”Brother Xu! Quick! I got him!”

Xu Huo rushed to the window, about to pull the man back, when several black snakes suddenly slithered out from the window gap, biting down hard on the back of his hand!

The sharp pain made him quickly retract his hand. Looking down, he saw no wound on his hand.

In that brief moment, the thin man was dragged out of the room by several overly long black snakes coiling around him.

”Trying to leave?” Xu Huo drew his dagger and leaped out after them. With a flash of cold light, he severed several black snakes mid-air.

He pinned the thin man to the ground as they landed, only to discover that the black snakes on the ground had turned into several strands of hair.

”Elderly Medusa!” A female voice rang out ahead. He looked up sharply, unexpectedly meeting a pair of lantern-like crimson eyes as a giant python opened its massive mouth to bite down on him!

Xu Huo narrowed his eyes, catching sight of the person hidden within the snake shadow approaching him. He kicked the man beneath him aside and flung his dagger!

Two small snakes intercepted the dagger mid-air, hissing threateningly at him.

Xu Huo grabbed the two small snakes, ignoring the giant python biting down from above. With a fierce yank, he pulled the person opposite toward him. As he seized her by the throat, the python’s illusion enveloped them both but dissolved into dust-like ashes upon touching the ground, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

”Hair.” Xu Huo casually tossed aside the two strands of black hair, watching the woman struggle in his grip. ”I’ll ask one more time. Are you from the Holy Sword Society? How did you find out I’m a player?”

”What Holy Sword Society? I’ve never heard of it!” The woman with a long black braid reaching her ankles gasped with difficulty. She desperately clawed at Xu Huo’s hand, her eyes filled with hatred. ”It was you who captured my brother! Where did you take him!”

”If you killed him, I won’t let you get away with this!”

Xu Huo used his other hand to grip her jaws, preventing her from speaking. ”You’re already in my hands. How exactly are you going to not let me get away with it?”

”Speak honestly to avoid getting beaten.”