Players, Please Board the Train

【Stingy Suitcase: As a suitcase unlike any other, it can only hold items it prefers to carry, such as small and cute objects or those brimming with intelligence. However, it can be stored as a whole unit in an item slot, and no one can detect what’s inside before opening it.】

”Turns out it’s a security case.” Xu Huo pondered thoughtfully. The evolution serum the game provided to players was the flawed, defective product mentioned in the notebook—the truly completed version hadn’t been widely distributed. Whatever the reason might be, just like Master Nise, he didn’t want anyone to know this secret, including the game itself.

This security case happened to be perfectly useful.

Carrying the suitcase, he crawled back through the tunnel the same way he came. The moment sunlight touched him, the world that unfolded before his eyes seemed completely transformed.

This evolution wasn’t just about physical enhancement. Beyond gaining night vision capabilities, subtle changes in hearing, perception, and other senses became strikingly apparent. If his previous understanding of the external world had been rough and crude, now it felt like tracing from coarse leaf surfaces down to their intricate vein patterns—every minor existence became magnified.

For instance, back in the tunnel when the Mutant was violently smashing the iron window, he could detect through faint sounds that the window’s screws were gradually loosening, with stone fragments falling to the ground. The feedback from impact noises allowed him to more accurately estimate the size of the tunnel where the Mutant was located, even discerning how sounds curved toward different directions to deduce the tunnel’s layout and branches.

Now standing outside, he perceived the rustling speed of grass and trees, the faint mechanical ticking of clocks previously inaudible, the varying density of dust particles floating in the air, and the simulated 3D spatial structure formed by building heights and air currents... Perception infused the world with richer detail, and these details combined to solidify reality into a more complete whole, as if completing a cycle from microscopic to macroscopic and back again.

This sensation was something Xu Huo had experienced just yesterday when the poison first struck.

He found a nearby room and carefully examined the notebook.

The notebook unquestionably belonged to Master Nise. Beyond some research materials, it contained fragments of his personal diary.The first half mostly documented various characteristics after Mutant transformation. Aside from light aversion and vision deterioration, there were numerous other manifestations—some Mutants became highly sensitive to light instead, entering sleep states when light sources were scarce; some developed extraordinary leaping ability and strength, while others degenerated to the point of losing limbs entirely, eventually starving to death.

In short, Mutant traits were diverse and unpredictable. Their evolution in certain aspects far surpassed that of Evolvers, potentially reaching perfect evolution levels, yet other capabilities would simultaneously deteriorate. They shared one common characteristic: intellectual degradation, reverting to bestial instincts.

Master Nise’s research indicated this resulted from imperfect inhibitors in the evolution serum. The energy required for evolution amplified primal instincts, and neither the initial evolution agents nor the enhanced T-version and A-version serums could control these instincts. Evolution itself acted as a catalyst for primal urges, with the inevitable consequence of bestial nature overwhelming humanity, reducing highly intelligent beings to mere beasts—compared to this, degeneration of limbs or specific functions became trivial.

However, if agents were taken consistently on schedule, most people wouldn’t experience mutation or symptoms before aging. Yet some Evolvers would undergo individual variations, as happened with Master Nise’s granddaughter. At that point, beyond awaiting the final outcome, the only option was using antidotes to delay the process.

Xu Huo looked at the remaining syringes in the case: besides the two blue S-type syringes he had used, there were two green P0T-version syringes—identical to what he obtained from the clock puzzle—and two light green P1A-version syringes, plus three antidotes.

Setting the syringes aside, he continued reading.

What followed was what concerned him most.

But after finishing, his mood slightly darkened.

Because the S-version serum Master Nise discovered wasn’t a publicly researched and released evolution agent, but rather an urban legend.

It first emerged from an Evolver who stopped taking evolution agents yet showed no symptoms. This Evolver was later taken away by the Stellar Pharmaceutical Research Group, disappearing without trace. However, leaked internal information suggested this Evolver had discovered the completed version evolution serum—the S-version.

This evolution serum wasn’t developed by any official or unofficial game organizations, but originated from a medical scientist called Dr. Wu. His identity information and survival status remained mysterious, though fragments of his words occasionally appeared in locations where perfect evolution serum was discovered—always documented by different individuals, most of whom were already dead.

”...S-version evolution serum occasionally appears in game dungeons. Perhaps Dr. Wu is also a medical scientist opposing the Stellar Group, releasing the completed serum into the game not only to leave a path of hope for Evolvers, but also to snipe at the Stellar Group—perfect evolution serum will break the Stellar Group’s monopoly position.”

Master Nise held great admiration for this Dr. Wu, though no further information existed—not even clues for finding P1S serum.

Xu Huo tapped the desktop, his mindset already recovered.

Master Nise speculated that each stage of S-serum required only one dose, preferably spaced three months apart to adapt to the evolution process—this duration could extend based on individual differences.

He had already begun the perfect evolution process. Even without progressing to next stages for extended periods, there would be no side effects. With the biggest concern resolved, as long as S-version serum could be found in the game, everything would be fine.

Before storing the suitcase in his item slot, he checked his personal information. Since the first dungeon, he hadn’t taken any evolution agents, with evolution rate remaining at 10%. After using two S-type syringes yesterday, his evolution rate skyrocketed to 20%.

This was like comparing heaven to earth against the game’s provided agents. When he left the Preliminary Trial Train after drinking two bottles of P0 evolution serum, his evolution rate increased by only 1%. Even if he continued taking P1 evolution agents later, the growth rate would never be this rapid.

”This is the difference between completed version and experimental version.”

Closing his personal panel with satisfied ease, Xu Huo stretched lazily and slowly walked back to the main street, heading toward the mayor’s office building.

If the East Gate couldn’t be used to leave town, then the West Gate side should offer a safe path.

”Special time, special item, hidden only where Master Nise might find; unique shape, unique position, the sole key to leave this town.”

This was the riddle from the note Lin Pei had revealed.

Special time—the gemstone watch from the clock displayed special time, and the only place in town matching that time was the large clock on the mayor’s office building, which also happened to be Master Nise’s workplace.

Moreover, that large clock was unique among all town timepieces—unique in shape, unique in position. Every night at midnight, its second hand would reflect light onto the western gate, indicating both the opening time and location.

Lin Pei outsmarted himself, thinking the ”item” mentioned in the riddle referred to a game item, rushing to Master Nise’s residence to search for keys.

Though there indeed was an item, it simply had nothing to do with opening doors.

Standing below the office building, Xu Huo looked up at the moving second hand on the large clock, listening to its rhythmic ticking, and couldn’t help but think of another matter.