Players, Please Board the Train

The gas station in Decibel Town wasn’t very large, and it didn’t store much fuel either. After deducting what was used by the bus earlier and for setting traps, there wasn’t much gasoline left. Even if it exploded, players could safely retreat, which was why they had considered detonating the gas station in the first place.

To increase lethality, Lin Pei and Ke Liang had previously gathered plenty of broken glass, furniture iron frames, and other materials, piling them into a small mountain inside the gas station. The string of bells used to attract Mutants was placed on top, with one end connected to a rope that led thirty meters outside the gas station.

The fuel valve had already been closed now, and Ke Liang’s group were all in the rest area next to the gas station.

Wu Qiuyi lay on the only bed, covered with a white cloth. Shen Yi and Shen Xin, the sibling pair, stood somewhat farther away. Lin Pei sat by the bedside while Ke Liang stood behind him—both looking at the person on the bed with grief-stricken expressions.

Xu Huo pushed the door open and entered. Shen Yi immediately stood up and asked, ”What about the Pit Cages?”

”Only the Pit Cage closest to us opened. The other two are fine,” Gu Yu spoke first, then turned to look at Lin Pei. ”Where were you just now?”

Lin Pei turned to look at them, momentarily silent, as if enveloped in immense sorrow.

”He was injured and unconscious. When I found him, he was still lying on the ground,” Ke Liang explained on his behalf. ”As for Wang Chaoqing, we couldn’t find him.”

Xu Huo tilted his head to glance into the gas station and said, ”You mentioned earlier that he was conscious when you left.”

”Right after you left, the building collapsed. Not only was I knocked unconscious, but my leg was broken too,” Lin Pei pulled up his pant leg, revealing his severely swollen and red right calf that had received basic treatment.”What a coincidence,” Gu Yu walked over to examine it.

”I’m the one who bandaged his leg. Wouldn’t I know?” Ke Liang reached out to stop her.

Gu Yu pushed his hand away. ”Who knows if you’re accomplices?”

Ke Liang’s expression turned grim, but Lin Pei, who had already been informed about this matter, said, ”It’s reasonable for them to suspect me. After all, I wasn’t present at the time, and only one Mutant escaped from the three Pit Cages.”

Gu Yu snorted coldly, actually examined his leg before stepping back, frowning as she nodded to Xu Huo.

Xu Huo remained silent for a moment. Lin Pei looked displeased. ”I wouldn’t break my own leg, would I? In this town that uses Mutants as security guards, what would I gain? And we still can’t leave now.”

”I think it’s probably just an accident,” Shen Yi tried to smooth things over. ”We’re all companions who’ve been through life and death situations together. Let’s not be suspicious of each other.”

”But only one of the three Pit Cages had problems, and someone ambushed us earlier. It’s hard to say for sure,” Shen Xin looked around and said, ”Didn’t that Wang Chaoqing disappear without a trace? Probably guilty conscience.”

”He’s right here,” Xu Huo suddenly spoke, turned around and went out, quickly walking to a standing cabinet in the gas station. He pulled the cabinet door open and dragged out the person hiding inside.

The others who followed out looked in surprise at the person he dragged out. ”Wang Chaoqing! How is he here?!”

”So you were hiding in the gas station!” Ke Liang strode forward, grabbed the person and was about to hit him. ”Was it you who released the Mutant?”

Wang Chaoqing was scared out of his wits, shielding his face while shouting, ”It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me! I don’t know anything! I just found a place to hide. I don’t know what happened!”

”You...!” Ke Liang was still about to strike, but Xu Huo reached out to stop him. ”What good would forcing him to confess do?”

Ke Liang’s eyebrows knitted together, his scarred face showing a fierce expression. ”If we don’t interrogate him, how do we know it wasn’t him? You can suspect Lin Pei, so why can’t we suspect him?”

”Didn’t we end up in this damned place because of him? He’d be thrilled if more of us died so he could take our items!”

”If we die at the hands of Mutants, where would he go to get items?” Xu Huo paused before countering him. ”Do you want to avenge Wu Qiuyi, or are you just looking for a punching bag?”

Ke Liang slowly unclenched his fists. He threw Wang Chaoqing to the ground, stepped back two paces and said, ”You were the one who suspected someone sabotaged the Pit Cages. Now when I want to interrogate Wang Chaoqing, you stop me. What exactly do you mean?”

Xu Huo didn’t directly answer his question, instead saying, ”What if there’s someone else in this town besides us?”

Ke Liang was momentarily stunned, then said, ”Impossible. We’ve searched everywhere in this town.”

”And come to think of it, first you suspected Wu Qiuyi of deliberately giving the wrong puzzle clock, then you thought it was one of us who ambushed you. Now I agree with you too—the Pit Cages might indeed have been sabotaged. Lin Pei can prove his innocence, but when it comes to Wang Chaoqing, you suddenly say there might be someone else?”

He suddenly laughed coldly, then stared at him with a grim expression. ”Are your words true or false?”

”I was mistaken earlier,” Xu Huo rubbed his temples. ”The other party didn’t show themselves, so I suspected our fellow passengers. But if they did it on purpose—deliberately making us suspicious of each other while finding ways to open the Pit Cages and release Mutants—then it makes sense.”

”That does seem plausible too,” Gu Yu walked over, thoughtful. ”To be honest, it was quite strange that Wu Qiuyi remembered the flower wreath colors backwards. Memory blur is normal, but she was quite certain at the time that she hadn’t remembered wrong. Maybe someone secretly swapped the flower wreaths.”

”Wait, wait,” Shen Yi interrupted them. ”You’ve confused me now. Wu Qiuyi only mentioned the flower wreath matter to us. Assuming there really is an outsider, how would they know about it?”

”And why would they only release one Mutant? If they wanted players dead, they should have released all three.”

Their gazes focused, and Shen Xin’s face turned pale. ”What if the other two Mutants were released too?”

”No way!” Shen Yi exclaimed first. ”What should we do now?”

”Don’t panic yet! This doesn’t make sense at all!” Lin Pei said sharply, then looked at Xu Huo. ”If there were other people in this town with means to open the Pit Cages, we wouldn’t have had any chance to seal them shut in the first place.”

”Whether Wu Qiuyi misremembered the flower wreath colors or the Mutant escaped from the Pit Cage—both could be coincidences. Other than that, is there any other evidence pointing to an outsider, or to a traitor among us?”

Just as Gu Yu was about to speak, he cut her off first. ”I know you want to mention the ambush, but aside from Xu Huo himself, who actually saw that happen?”

”Nobody saw it, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” Shen Xin said.

”Right, nobody seeing it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. But don’t forget—whether suspecting an outsider or a traitor, it’s all based on him being ambushed. If this incident hadn’t happened, would you suspect me or Wang Chaoqing just because a Mutant escaped?” Lin Pei retorted forcefully.

”Motive? He must have some motive for doing this,” Gu Yu said. ”What you’re saying is just your conjecture, not fact.”

”To make us fight among ourselves so he can have an opportunity to strike,” Lin Pei said coldly. ”Isn’t deception and betrayal between players completely normal?”