Players, Please Board the Train

”Bang!” Using his shield to block the kitchen knife, Xu Huo looked down and stepped on the head of the wooden puppet clinging to his legs, pulling out his lighter: ”Burn!”

Flames immediately erupted on the wooden puppet’s body. It struggled silently, reassembling into a human shape before staggering and running downstairs.

Xu Huo didn’t give chase. Instead, he controlled the flying arrows to force the person trying to escape upstairs back.

Placing the Rubik’s Cube in his waist pocket, that person reached behind his back and drew two narrow swords over a meter long, slashing through the air. A series of sword shadows suddenly flew out from beneath the blades, splitting midway to attack Xu Huo from both sides!

Xu Huo executed two rapid slashes, but the crimson sword energy passed straight through the sword shadows, striking the tables and chairs behind!

He immediately retreated while raising his lighter toward the player charging at him from the front!

”Burn!” Flames ignited a chair, while that player leaped onto a table to the side just in time. As he swung his long sword, two more horizontal sword shadows flew out.

Combined with the previous ones, there were now two vertical and two horizontal sword shadows hovering in the second-floor dining area. They couldn’t cut physical objects—when they hit tables, chairs, or walls, they would bounce back like boomerangs, and not slowly either.

Xu Huo noticed that the player was also avoiding the sword shadows. He simply took out his lighter and kept setting fires!

In a narrow space with little cover, fire provided an absolute advantage. Not only could that player not get close to him, but he was also exhausted from dodging both the flames and his own sword shadows.Xu Huo predicted his evasion direction. After another bout of arson, he first cut off his escape route with his sword, then emerged from a blind spot and delivered a powerful kick to his lower back!

The player was sent flying—right toward Tao Chengxin’s direction. Tao Chengxin had already taken an antidote after waking from the illusion, and her vomiting blood symptoms had eased. Watching the man fighting Xu Huo, her eyes reddened with hatred. Seeing him coming her way, she spat out a frog the size of a human head, which chomped down on his face!

”You bastard, how dare you trick your grandma!”

Half of the player’s face was engulfed by the frog’s mouth. Howling in pain, he ripped the frog off, only to find that it had grown two rows of sharp teeth in its mouth, biting off his lips and nose completely!

”Ah!” He screamed and stumbled back, then slammed the frog onto the ground.

The thrown frog split into two, both leaping up to bite his arm and crotch. As he howled, Tao Chengxin swung out her fishing rod, using the line to bind him and drag him toward her.

Struggling but unable to break free, the player decided to use the momentum to crash into Tao Chengxin, pinning her to the ground and biting down hard on her shoulder!

Xu Huo rushed over and grabbed him by the collar, but the guy was putting all his strength into the bite—even tearing his clothes didn’t make him loosen his grip.

Seeing the red number on the other’s shoulder, Xu Huo raised his sword and severed his neck.

Blood sprayed across Tao Chengxin’s face. She pushed the corpse away with her hands and feet, scrambling up to thank him when she saw the wooden puppet reappear. It was carrying a large box on its back, filled with various kinds of knives!

”Run!” Xu Huo grabbed the Rubik’s Cube and crashed through the second-floor window. Tao Chengxin tried to snatch the swords from the corpse’s hands but failed. Seeing several blades flying toward her, she quickly followed by jumping out the window.

On the quiet, dimly lit street, Xu Huo and Tao Chengxin fled one after the other, dodging the wooden puppet’s flying knife attacks as they ran. During the chase, Xu Huo set fires, and Tao Chengxin tried to entangle the puppet with her fishing line, but neither succeeded. Because whenever it caught fire or got tied up, the wooden puppet’s body would automatically disassemble, then discard the unusable parts and form a new body using nearby materials.

After chasing through several streets, the originally all-wooden puppet now had half its body replaced with iron rods, glass bottles, and even knife handles.

”What the hell is that thing?!” Tao Chengxin, running out of stamina, shouted to Xu Huo ahead: ”We need to lose it!”

Xu Huo estimated their position, confirming they were about the right distance away. After turning a street corner, he suddenly stopped, intercepted the following Tao Chengxin, said ”Be quiet,” and then grabbed the piano wire to fly into the air.

The wooden puppet chasing them rushed into the alley and lost its target. Its head spun rapidly like a top, the two downward-slanting wooden strips on its face beginning to rise. However, as a scream came from not far away, its mouth suddenly slanted downward again, and it ran toward the sound with an angry expression.

After it went far away, Xu Huo and Tao Chengxin came down. Tao Chengxin pressed the wound on her shoulder and said, ”That sounded a bit like Sun Jirou. What’s over there?”

”Building Block Buns shop,” Xu Huo said. ”Let’s go check it out.”

Tao Chengxin nodded and followed him.

The Building Block Buns shop had a small storefront, but the area was full of narrow alleys, with residences behind the shops—narrow outside but wide inside. Behind the bun shop was a three-story villa.

The two climbed in from the neighboring shop and immediately spotted the large chimney in the yard. The chimney was connected to the ground, and billowing smoke carried a fresh bloody scent.

Xu Huo’s expression darkened slightly. The White-Dressed Girl had used herself to lure him to the Bear Claw Restaurant, then directed the several groups who had questioned her to the ”Building Block Buns shop” and ”Fresh Meat Sausage Shop.” Given the situation, it seemed that all three shops, along with ”Long Nose Nut Pie,” were places that killed people to make food—not his target.

The sounds of fighting and roaring from inside the villa grew louder. He tapped Tao Chengxin’s shoulder, preparing to leave, when Sun Jirou’s voice came from below the chimney: ”Save me... I found a mission clue...”

Tao Chengxin immediately showed a suspicious expression, waving her hand to signal Xu Huo to ignore her. However, Xu Huo didn’t even glance at her and jumped directly into the chimney opening.

Below the chimney was an underground kitchen. Directly opposite was a large pot with boiling red broth containing rolling meat slices and bones. Xu Huo went around the side and landed, his feet immediately stepping in blood. Following the blood trail back, he saw a two-meter-long wooden board slanted in front of him—the blood was flowing out from under it.

When he went to look, he realized there was a bloody, mangled mass pressed inside. The board wasn’t a single piece but consisted of two thin plates drilled full of steel spikes clamped together.

His gaze swept over what looked like an eyeball hanging from the corner. Then he saw a bloody recipe placed on a chair beside it, clearly reading ”Secret Recipe Roujiamo.”

Frowning, he turned and pried open another similar clamping board nearby, pulling Sun Jirou out from inside.

Sun Jirou was relatively lucky—the boards hadn’t been fully pressed together, so she only had some puncture wounds from the steel spikes, not fatal.

She glanced at the clamping board beside her, tears streaming down her face as she tried hard to suppress her sobs and said: ”Shen Tai is dead.”

Xu Huo didn’t speak, leading her out of the underground kitchen.