Players, Please Board the Train

Declining Cai Zhiyuan’s invitation for drinks, Xu Huo called Huang Junjie, telling him to temporarily stay away from the haunted house, then contacted Nie Xuan to ask if there were any other random dungeons in Ting City.

”None discovered so far.” Nie Xuan’s voice sounded somewhat tired. ”After the Skinner dungeon collapsed, there haven’t been any mass disappearances in Ting City for the time being.”

”What’s this? Addicted to random dungeons now?” Laughter came through the phone.

Although Sima Xiao Er had received the dungeon collapse notification, he didn’t know exactly how the dungeon had collapsed.

The Special Affairs Department speculated that other players might have done something, or perhaps the dungeon itself had encountered some issue, but they didn’t investigate these possibilities thoroughly, including the box Sima Xiao Er had brought out.

Evolvers had appeared suddenly, and before things could normalize, the game and dungeons emerged. With limited manpower, even though Nie Xuan thought highly of Xu Huo, he couldn’t focus on just one person.

”Did Eagle die by your hand?” He shifted the topic to the Holy Sword Society matter. ”My people had been watching for ages, but I never expected you’d end up reaping the benefits.”

”Counting the bodies, I’ve handed over more than ten player-eaters to the Special Affairs Department. Ting City will definitely be more peaceful than other places for some time. Isn’t that a good thing for you?”

Nie Xuan didn’t deny it—this incident had earned him merit, even boosting his rank.

”I owe you one for this.”After exchanging a few more words, Xu Huo hung up and turned back to find Huang Junjie.

Huang Junjie hadn’t gone directly into the haunted house but had instead settled in a nearby coffee shop.

”Any problems?” Xu Huo sat down opposite him.

”Not for now, but earlier a man and woman were loitering around this area.” Huang Junjie scratched his face through his mask. ”They were also observing that haunted house.”

He wasn’t the only one who had been lured here.

Xu Huo glanced over there. Few people lived near the haunted house, making anyone walking in that vicinity during broad daylight quite conspicuous.

After waiting a while without seeing the couple Huang Junjie mentioned reappear, Xu Huo decided to head back.

As they walked out of the café, they brushed past a woman wearing sunglasses and a wide-brimmed sun hat. The familiar fragrance drifting from her seemed recognizable.

Xu Huo looked back and saw the woman enter the café, choosing a window seat with her back to them.

”You know her?” Huang Junjie asked.

”She’s a female celebrity,” Xu Huo said.

This woman happened to be the same big star who had left the film studio hours earlier. Given the same circumstances and her appearance near the haunted house, this could no longer be considered coincidence.

Someone was deliberately luring players to this haunted house.

”Seems like someone’s doing this on purpose.” Huang Junjie also noticed the woman secretly examining the haunted house. ”Should we go in and check it out?”

”Not necessary.” Xu Huo said, ”If they could kill, they would have acted last night. Luring players here just means they lack certain conditions. Going in would be playing right into their hands.”

Huang Junjie thought it made sense, so they simply took a taxi and left.

A surveillance camera across the street rotated slightly, pointing toward the direction the taxi had gone.

”Pity two got away.” In a security room of a nearby residential complex, a middle-aged man in security uniform shook his head regretfully.

Beside him, a young bespectacled man with his feet up on the desk said, ”We still have three, right? We’re not taking any risks—just getting free items. Even one is profit.”

”True enough,” the middle-aged man nodded.

”That big star is really beautiful. If only we could get her to play with,” the young man licked his lips.

”Don’t go looking for trouble,” the middle-aged man warned. ”Anyone coming here is a player. With your limited skills, you can’t handle others.”

”Just saying,” the young man said sulkily.

”Have you seen those two who left just now? Where do they live?” The middle-aged man clearly had no intention of letting Xu Huo and Huang Junjie go, planning to track them first and then figure something out.

”Haven’t seen them,” the young man said impatiently. ”You know my trait makes me practically blind—I can only see clearly face-to-face. But I guess they’re among those two or three people who privately messaged me wanting to trade items.”

”Hey, the big star left!”

Gu Yu, wearing a floral maxi dress, settled her bill and left the café. Behind her sunglasses, her cool eyes held faint anger. She found an inconspicuous corner, vaulted over the haunted house’s wall, pushed open the front door, and walked in.

The original owner of this haunted house had been a wealthy man, with exquisite decoration and all furniture and flooring made of expensive materials—it could truly be called a mansion.

However, Gu Yu completely disregarded the luxurious decorations and ornaments, frowning at the dust stirred up by the door’s movement.

As she walked through the living room, she suddenly noticed fresh footprints on the floor and called out clearly, ”Stop hiding. Come out.”

Several seconds later, a young man and woman emerged from under the staircase and the adjacent bathroom respectively.

Gu Yu’s gaze swept over both of them before settling on the man. ”It’s you, right? Using such disgusting things to harass me.”

The young man froze, but before he could speak, he saw a pistol appear in Gu Yu’s hand, its dark muzzle pointed directly at him!

The man’s expression changed as he dodged sideways. A colored bullet grazed past his head, splattering blue liquid on the wall that immediately melted the entire brick into turquoise fluid that dripped down the surface.

”Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Gu Yu fired three shots in rapid succession. A white bullet hit a lamp, turning the colored area into dried mud that suddenly cracked throughout before shattering into nail-sized hard fragments that clattered to the floor.

A yellow bullet struck the sofa, causing the genuine leather backrest to instantly shrink into a small ball. The third black bullet hit a chair the young woman had raised—the chair itself seemed to turn into a burning firecracker, exploding on its own and sending wood chips flying everywhere!

Missing all three shots, Gu Yu ripped off her sunglasses and said furiously, ”You fucking coward, stop dodging! Watch me beat you to death, you pervert!”

”Wait!” The young man pulled wood splinters from his arm and said urgently, ”I don’t even know you!”

Gu Yu laughed in extreme anger. ”Look at this face—you don’t know me? You’re lying to ghosts!”

The young man looked completely bewildered and could only explain, ”I really don’t know you, and I’ve never harassed you. Can you calm down? Let’s clarify things first!”

Gu Yu snorted coldly, too impatient for explanations, and continued firing at them relentlessly.

The man also grew angry. ”If you don’t stop, don’t blame me for being rude!”

”Then bring it on if you’re a real man!”

The man waved his hand, and a leather whip materialized out of thin air, lashing toward Gu Yu.

Gu Yu leaped backward while firing two more shots forward, casually flipping a coffee table toward him.

The whip wrapped around the coffee table and threw it aside. The man turned and struck at Gu Yu again, saying, ”I don’t know if you’ve mistaken me for someone else! I came here to trade items!”

Gu Yu dodged his whip and jumped onto the dining table to stand firm. ”Proof!”

The man laughed angrily. ”Why should I prove anything to you? I just got here and you attacked me! I should be accusing you of posting to fish for players!”

”Hah!” Gu Yu responded with a cold snort. ”You have the nerve to talk about posts...”

Before she could finish, the man suddenly stared toward one side of the living room and shouted in alarm, ”Shen Xin!”

Gu Yu turned her head, catching only a glimpse of a fruit knife falling to the ground in her peripheral vision—the young woman who had been standing there was gone.

”What happened?” She looked back at the man, but found him missing too, his item whip falling through the air.

Gu Yu’s expression changed drastically. Just as she tried to run outside, an invisible force enveloped her the next second, and then her entire person vanished from the spot!