Players, Please Board the Train

”Hey! This side turned white again!” The speaker looked around and exclaimed repeatedly, ”These colors seem to be moving!”

It wasn’t just one person—in an instant, everyone in the square cried out in alarm as black and white stripes resembling zebra crossings surged out from the direction of the movie theater right beneath their feet. Like progress bars constantly extending, they quickly covered the entire square!

The origin of these black and white lines was unknown, but within an extremely short time, even the nearby streets were occupied. These lines ignored wall barriers, directly extending into the surrounding shops!

Inside the shop where Xu Huo was, the server who had been watching at the doorway jumped up as if scalded. Looking back and seeing Xu Huo’s group of three already standing on tables, he quickly scrambled onto a table too.

”What is this?” the server asked in panic.

Xu Huo looked outside. From his position, he could see the adjacent streets—when the zebra stripes appeared in the square, the streets had already been overrun. So the coverage range of these zebra stripes must be enormous, and buildings offered no resistance against them. Even if they tried to escape now, they probably couldn’t quickly leave this area.

Moreover, even without touching the ground, the moment the shadows passed beneath his feet, he still detected a subtle sense of restraint.

Was this also the power of an item?

”What the hell is this thing?” Wang Chaoqing panicked and shouted, ”Bro, is it players? Is it high-level players doing this?! Will we be killed?”

At this moment, the chefs and several other people in the shop all came out. Though everyone looked panicked, the manager among them immediately said when he saw people standing on tables, ”What are you doing? Are tables meant for standing on?”The server on the table showed hesitation but, intimidated by the manager’s authority, slowly climbed down.

The manager then strode toward Xu Huo’s table with a professional smile, but before he could speak, Wang Chaoqing snapped at him, ”Shut the hell up! Keep talking nonsense and I’ll smash your shop, believe me?!”

The manager’s face turned pale, but then a server pulled open the main door, and the chaotic sounds from outside flooded into the shop!

First, all public channels had been broadcasting strange declarations, then explosive news spread online. Before they could process it, bizarre zebra stripes appeared on the ground... Most ordinary people hadn’t yet recovered from these successive shocks when a young couple at the center of the square suddenly exploded!

They literally exploded!

The two lovers, nestled together, inexplicably burst into bloody mist, their remains splattering onto the faces of nearby people!

”Ah!!!” Piercing screams cut through the square. Someone shouted ”There’s a bomb!” and the crowded masses began scattering in all directions!

But before they could escape the square, people in the crowd exploded one after another. Unlike the earlier crowded conditions, with people dispersed, the view became clearer. Rather than panicking at the mention of bombs, those who witnessed this horrific scene firsthand began screaming, pushing, and scrambling frantically toward any possible hiding place!

Many people rushed into Xu Huo’s location, but the moment they entered, one of them exploded, and the rest fled crawling and scrambling!

The servers standing at the doorway were splattered with bloody foam, their eyes and noses unrecognizable, leaving them trembling in place.

”Close the door,” Xu Huo said to Wang Chaoqing as he jumped down from the table.

”Close the door?” Wang Chaoqing said in shock. ”Aren’t we running?”

”Can you escape?” Xu Huo said. ”This entire surrounding area is covered with these zebra stripes. Do you want to explode like those people outside?”

Wang Chaoqing swallowed hard and hurried to close the door, then woke the stunned manager and told him to get a lock.

”Have those few wash their faces,” Xu Huo instructed the manager after the door was locked. ”Are there other people in your shop? Call them all out.”

”N-no, there aren’t,” the manager instinctively shook his head, telling the server who had climbed on the table to take those three to wash their faces. Two chefs also went in to help.

”How should I address you, sir?” the manager approached Xu Huo and asked nervously. ”Do you know what just happened? Is it terrorists?”

Xu Huo’s gaze swept around the square. ”Did you see the earlier declaration? You could call them terrorists.”

”Were bombs placed on the dead people?” the manager trembled slightly, seemingly wanting to confirm his thoughts.

This time Xu Huo didn’t answer. Painting Woman propped up her phone and glared angrily at the manager. ”Please don’t disturb him!”

Wang Chaoqing came over and pushed him away, lowering his voice to threaten, ”Don’t bother my bro! If my bro can’t figure out a solution, everyone will die!”

”Is there any news online?” Xu Huo asked then.

”I’ll check right away!” Wang Chaoqing immediately pulled out his phone.

The manager beside them was quick-witted and also took out his phone. He followed several aerial live stream accounts, so he found videos near the shopping mall immediately.

”Sir, look at this,” he hurriedly handed it over.

Xu Huo took it and saw it was a live video that happened to be directly above the shopping mall, capturing the shopping mall and some surrounding areas in the shot.

When the view pulled back, the seemingly evenly distributed zebra stripes on the ground showed variations in thickness, all converging from the distance toward the shopping mall.

He took out his phone and pulled up the latest satellite image. In the vast Harbor City, the most prosperous area was covered by a circular black and white pattern. If you removed the buildings above, this pattern looked like a giant black and white roulette wheel, with the center point being a skyscraper some distance from the shopping mall.

”Bro, look at this video!” Wang Chaoqing said. ”This video just captured the process of the zebra stripes appearing!”

Xu Huo shifted his gaze. In the video, a circular line appeared first, as if demarcating an area. Then black and white checkered patterns emerged along the circle’s edge, surging 360 degrees toward the center until concentrating on the skyscraper.

Could such a large range really be achieved with an item?

Was this purely a killing item, or was it a dungeon?

”Bzzzt!” The large screens in the square and various televisions suddenly lit up simultaneously, all showing the same face.

”Now announcing the rules of the Black and White Life-and-Death Game.”

The middle-aged man on screen spoke with a smile.

”First, everyone entering the life-and-death game is automatically considered to be participating in the game.”

”Second, every two people must have at least one roulette opportunity.”

”Third, landing on a black square represents game failure—the player will die in different ways. Landing on a white square represents victory—the player will obtain one survival opportunity.”

”Fourth, one survival opportunity can offset one game failure.”

”Fifth, at least two survival opportunities must be accumulated to exit the game.”

”Sixth, when the roulette wheel appears before your eyes, there is only a ten-minute countdown.”