Players, Please Board the Train

At three o’clock in the morning game time, a series of urgent knocks sounded at the door without warning.

Xu Huo remained lying on the bed without moving, opening his eyes to look toward the door.

”Knock knock knock! Knock knock knock... Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!”

The urgent knocking gradually turned into pounding, the sound continuously escalating.

Xu Huo simply sat up, listening to the noise at the door, neither responding nor planning to open it.

The knocking continued for a while longer before suddenly stopping abruptly, followed by the sound of footsteps retreating into the distance.

A few seconds later, footsteps with a different rhythm passed by the door.

After about a minute of silence, another set of footsteps returned from the direction they had left, banging violently on the door: ”Help! Save me! Someone wants to kill me! Please open the door...”

”He’s coming soon, if he finds me I’m dead!”

”Please, open the door quickly, if you don’t open it I’ll die!””I have many valuable things, I’ll give you anything if you just open the door!”

”Open the door! Open the door!”

The pounding and shouting grew increasingly intense. Xu Huo pressed the service button by the bed, but when the connection was made, the speaker wasn’t the server—it was the woman outside the door.

”Please save me, otherwise I’ll die here...”

Xu Huo directly ended the communication, but immediately afterward the sound outside the door disappeared, replaced by knocking on the window.

He got up and walked to the window, casually pulling open the curtains. Taking out his lighter, he lit a cigarette and said to the disheveled, blood-covered woman hanging outside: ”It’s the middle of the night, go back to sleep.”

The woman’s face twisted momentarily, then she lunged toward the person inside the window!

Unexpectedly, Xu Huo suddenly reached out and opened the glass window. The barrier between them vanished instantly, and the woman almost couldn’t stop herself from face-planting into him. She reflexively grabbed both sides of the window frame, but immediately realized she had shown fear. As she turned her head, her chin dropped and she spat out a long tongue.

Xu Huo watched her performance expressionlessly. ”The window wasn’t even locked. Isn’t it tiring hanging out there? Why don’t you come in and we can chat?”

The woman’s expression stiffened. Seeing him reach toward her, she retreated from the window instead, floating lightly upward before disappearing.

At that moment, a faint scream came from somewhere not far from Yongxing Club. Xu Huo glanced in that direction before going back to sleep.

Early the next morning, just as day broke, the tourist city returned to yesterday’s liveliness. The tourists who had disappeared during the night suddenly all reappeared, and the aroma of food filled every corner of the city.

When Xu Huo went to the second floor for breakfast, he saw yesterday’s server and asked: ”Does no one work night shifts here?”

The server smiled and said: ”Our working hours are from 6 AM to 9 PM.”

Xu Huo nodded. Game hotels obviously couldn’t be compared to real-world hotels.

After breakfast, he planned to visit True Love Square.

As he reached the lobby, he heard a server coming downstairs say to the front desk: ”That guest just broke a crystal wine glass worth fifteen thousand White Bills. It was missed during the first registration.”

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow slightly, but then heard the backpack-carrying woman walking past him mutter: ”This damned Yongxing made its fortune by scamming customers, didn’t it...”

She then looked up and glared at him. ”What are you looking at! Never seen a woman before?”

Xu Huo glanced at her and turned to leave.

He headed toward True Love Square but didn’t rush, instead stopping and starting along the way. When the mood struck him, he would join groups of locals to chat for a while before moving on.

By the time he reached True Love Square, it was mealtime, but the place was still crowded with people—mostly couples—all listening to guides or locals tell the love story carved on the three stone tablets at the square’s center.

Xu Huo stood at the periphery and read the tablets. The story was similar to what he heard yesterday, but with specific dates added. The ages and life stories of the male and female protagonists were also recorded, particularly the female protagonist who was famous for her expertise in cultivating new flower varieties.

After watching at the tablets for a while, he noticed someone in the crowd watching him. Turning around, he saw a white-dressed girl smiling at him across the sea of people.

She wore a ”Tour Guide” badge on her shoulder and waved to him. ”Sir, come over here. We’re about to start the story from the beginning.”

Xu Huo obligingly walked over and listened to the love story once more.

Some tourists and couples who had finished listening were both tearful and regretful.

”This might have been the best ending for them.” The white-dressed girl smiled. ”Separation by life and death is the most painful thing in the world. Perhaps in another world, they can find happiness?”

The tourists nodded repeatedly, wiping tears from the corners of their eyes before surging toward the shop selling fried Algae Shells. A female tourist said while eating Algae Shells: ”These are the best for hydration.”

The white-dressed girl watched them for a few seconds before turning back to Xu Huo. ”Algae Shells are the most popular delicacy recently. Wouldn’t you like to try some, sir?”

Xu Huo shook his head and handed her a bottle of water. ”Moisten your throat.”

”Thank you.” The white-dressed girl accepted it, then added: ”I noticed you’ve been standing here for quite a while. Are you missing your loved one?”

”I don’t have a loved one.” Xu Huo said.

”Ah, did she leave you?” The white-dressed girl said comfortingly: ”Don’t be sad. You’ll definitely find a beloved girl again.”

Xu Huo smiled slightly and turned his head toward the tablets. ”Aside from these tablets, don’t they have graves?”

The white-dressed girl followed his gaze to the tablets, then suddenly pursed her lips and smiled: ”Sir must be joking. This is Fairy Tale City after all. There are no tombstones in Fairy Tale City—what if they scare children?”

Just as Xu Huo was about to speak again, someone called for the white-dressed girl from afar. She apologetically handed him a business card. ”I have work to do. If you need a tour guide or narrator, you can contact me.”

”Okay.” Xu Huo casually pocketed the card, watching her figure disappear into the crowd before turning to leave True Love Square and hailing a car to the tourist city entrance.

Meanwhile, at the tourist city entrance, the Female Player and Large Man from yesterday’s car, along with that couple of players, had all returned here one after another. The young man who had been kidnapped also returned. When the five of them met face to face, they could all see the exhaustion on each other’s faces.

They found a rest area by the roadside. The young man, his face covered in scars, spoke first: ”Did any of you find clues?”

This opened the conversation. The couple spoke first, the woman touching the scratches on her face: ”Forget finding clues—we didn’t even dare stay in a shop yesterday. Then we ran into a pack of stray cats and dogs on the street...”

”You got injured this badly by stray cats and dogs?” the young man interrupted in shock.

”You think they were ordinary cats and dogs?” the woman said angrily. ”The cats and dogs here are fiercer than tigers and leopards! They all eat people!”