Players, Please Board the Train

On the first floor corner, Zhou Ning’s hair snakes were completely severed, and she was kicked flying. The person attacking her chased after her, stepping on her throat mid-air and pinning her to the ground.

Zhou Ning’s head filled with blood, her face flushed crimson as she pushed against his foot, but her strength couldn’t match his. Her hair had been completely cut off during the past few minutes of fighting, and new hair couldn’t grow fast enough. Without her hair’s assistance, she had almost no means to fight back.

”Pretty but useless,” the man said triumphantly as he ground his foot against her throat. ”You players can only scare people. That Zhou Xiao is your younger brother, right? Later I’ll stew you siblings together in one pot... What are you laughing at?”

Struggling to breathe, Zhou Ning barely managed to raise her hand to point behind him. The man whirled around just as a black shadow smashed into his face, sending him flying backward. Two streams of blood sprayed out, and before he even hit the ground, he was kicked back into the air, grabbed by one hand and one foot, and folded backward from the waist with a loud crack.

”Crunch!” The sound of his spine breaking was crisp and clear.

Yan Jiayu dropped him to the ground, clapped her hands, and asked Zhou Ning, ”Are you okay?”

”I’m fine...” Zhou Ning ignored the severe pain in her throat and quickly said, ”He’s not dead yet, be careful...”

She had suffered too many losses at the hands of player-eaters today.

”Small matter.” Yan Jiayu pulled out a flashlight from somewhere, shining the light on the man’s face as she asked seriously, ”Are you a player-eater?”

The man with the broken spine couldn’t move. He spat out a mouthful of bloody foam and roared furiously, ”I’m from the Holy Sword Society! Kill me and you’ll never escape! I have thousands of brothers—if I call out, they’ll come charging out...”Yan Jiayu slapped him across the face. ”Young people should tell the truth. Does your Holy Sword Society really have thousands of members?”

The man glared at her without speaking.

”Repeated warnings but no improvement.” Yan Jiayu shook her head, lifted her stone staff, and thrust it downward, sinking an inch into the ground.

The man glanced sideways, realized what was happening, and immediately said, ”No, only sixteen! Half of them came tonight!”

”Then are you a player-eater?” Yan Jiayu asked again.

”Yes... but I didn’t want to become a player-eater either! I was forced into it! I’ve never killed anyone myself—others did the killing, I just took what was readily available...”

”You’re not being honest.” Yan Jiayu sighed, moved her staff, and struck his temple. Within seconds, he stopped breathing.

Hearing the familiar cracking sound, Zhou Ning couldn’t help but ask, ”What about the other two Holy Sword Society members?”

”There.” The flashlight beam shifted to reveal two badly disfigured corpses lying in the left corner. Their shattered heads oozed suspicious red and white fluid, and their limbs were bent at strange angles, as if violently dismantled.

Zhou Ning turned away sadly. ”What about Mr. Yuan?”

”He’s outside throwing up.” Yan Jiayu walked over and helped her up. ”Do you want me to carry you?”

”No, no need,” Zhou Ning said quickly.

”Alright then.” Yan Jiayu returned to the corpses, tucked her stone staff into her waistband, and grabbed one body with each hand. ”Let’s go meet up with the others.”

Zhou Ning held her chest, just as Yuan Yao came in from outside. The two supported each other as they walked ahead of Yan Jiayu.

Returning to where they had separated, Hu Wenhu and Tian Yun had already returned. Both were seriously injured, with Tian Yun even having lost an eye, but they had successfully killed the Holy Sword Society player they targeted.

”All five on the first floor are dead.” Yan Jiayu counted heads. ”Has Xu Huo not come down yet?”

As soon as she finished speaking, her expression suddenly sharpened. She grabbed her stone staff and swung it backward, but stopped mid-motion.

”Don’t be nervous, it’s me.” Feeling the strong wind coming at him, Xu Huo stepped aside slightly and looked around. ”It seems you’ve already handled things.”

As he spoke, he tossed out two corpses.

”It’s all thanks to Miss Yan.” Zhou Ning glanced at Huang Junjie, who was turning away to avoid looking at the ground, then shifted her gaze back to Xu Huo’s unchanged expression.

”Have you checked the numbers?” Xu Huo said as he went through the corpses’ clothes.

”I forgot about that.” Yan Jiayu patted her head and went to help. All five killed on the first floor were player-eaters.

”One person missing from the second floor.” After confirming the numbers, Xu Huo stood up and asked through his earpiece, ”Found anyone?”

”Something strange,” Liu Jia said hesitantly. ”It seems that woman from before came back, and there’s a man with her—the one who should be on the second floor.”

Xu Huo scanned the area and, not seeing Painting Woman, immediately tapped his earpiece. ”Bring them in.”

The others didn’t understand what he meant, but then footsteps sounded from behind. Yan Jiyu shone her flashlight—it was a middle-aged man. He raised his hand to shield his eyes and, seeing several figures in the darkness, couldn’t help but laugh. ”So you’re all hiding here. Good, saves me the trouble of searching one by one. The important backbone members of the Holy Sword Society’s Ting City branch are all gathered—you’re quite capable.”

”Are these the backbone members you’re talking about?” Xu Huo took the flashlight from Yan Jiayu and shone it on the ground.

Seven corpses lay together in miserable states, two so badly disfigured their original appearances were unrecognizable, but their clothes identified them as all being from their Holy Sword Society.

The middle-aged man’s knees went weak. ”They’re nothing! Miss Cao is the most powerful player in our branch—her body carries poison! Miss Cao? Miss Cao!”

The flashlight beam returned to the man. Following his shouts, someone shuffled out from behind a pillar—blue long dress with flat shoes, a small crossbody bag, looking pure and adorable.

The middle-aged man froze: Who the hell is this?

Painting Woman, who had lured him outside, blinked innocently. She hadn’t done anything—just walked out, and this man had eagerly followed her.

”Who are you!” the middle-aged man roared. ”The person who came in with me was Cao Yan!”

Xu Huo glanced at Zhou Ning, who immediately controlled her hair snakes to drag the man over and tie him up.

”How should we handle this person?”

”Turn him over to authorities, but first make him cough up his items.” Xu Huo returned the flashlight to Yan Jiayu. ”Of the nine Holy Sword Society members who came today, one escaped, seven died, and one was captured alive.”

”According to our previous agreement, Zhou Ning’s group doesn’t get to share items and potions.”

Zhou Ning nodded to Hu Wenhu, who took out one item and three potions they had obtained.

Aside from the fishing player, they had only managed to kill one person who came tonight, so this was all they gained.

Yuan Yao took charge of them.

Xu Huo said to Zhou Ning, ”You can leave now.”

Whatever followed—whether distributing items or dealing with the Holy Sword Society members—had little to do with them. Hu Wenhu and Tian Yun were seriously injured, while Zhou Ning, her brother, and Yu Xiaoyu weren’t strong fighters and couldn’t help if they stayed.

Their cooperation with Xu Huo was temporary, and now that their goal was achieved, it was time to part ways.

”Thank you for this time,” Zhou Ning said. ”If you ever need help in the future, feel free to contact me.”

Xu Huo nodded. After the four disappeared into the night, he turned to Yan Jiayu and the others. ”I need to go out for a bit. We’ll discuss dividing the items when I return.”

”We’ll wait for you,” Huang Junjie said.

”Do you need help?” Yan Jiayu asked. ”That Zhao Sheng person must have run back to the Holy Sword Society, right?”

”Our goal this time was only to capture the Holy Sword Society members coming for the exchange. This concludes that part—what comes after isn’t our business. I’m just going to check things out and return.” Xu Huo walked out of the building and looked in the direction Liu Jia had mentioned. Sure enough, he saw a balloon slowly floating over the city. He took out his phone and dialed Nie Xuan’s number. ”Good things are coming your way.”