Players, Please Board the Train

Sun Jirou stared at Xu Huo in shock. Xu Huo didn’t respond to her, instead saying, ”The stir-fried sunflower seeds are quite fragrant.”

”I have more over there, you can take some when you leave.” Old Lady Bai sat down at the dining table and waved her hand to beckon the others. ”You all come over too.”

Sun Jirou, Tang Yuan, and the others found themselves uncontrollably walking toward the dining table, obediently sitting down and picking up their soup spoons.

”What are you trying to do?” Sun Jirou didn’t dare touch the soup at all, putting on a brave front as she said, ”We only came to complete the dungeon mission!”

Old Lady Bai narrowed her eyes, drinking her soup without speaking, but Xu Huo said, ”Our mission is already completed.”

”What?!” the people at the table exclaimed in unison.

Tao Chengxin’s gaze shifted suspiciously between him and the old woman’s face. ”Am I not awake or did I sleepwalk? Did I miss something? When was the mission completed? How come I don’t know about it?”

”When I brought the cat corpse over, all three missions were completed.” Xu Huo said leisurely, ”The storyteller, the storytelling woman, and finding teeth for the storytelling woman.”

”You’re not saying that cat was the teeth, are you?” Sun Jirou held back the second half of her sentence—weren’t the teeth supposed to refer to the item ”Angel’s Teeth”?

”Of course the cat isn’t the teeth.” Xu Huo said, ”I’m talking about this dungeon mission. The person who tells the correct story and the woman—actually, we only need to complete the first two missions to clear this dungeon.””As for whether the ’Angel’s Teeth’ item exists, I’m not sure, but this dungeon isn’t as difficult as we imagined.”

”Besides when she was on the tour bus and leading us to those locations with the intention of sending us to our deaths, when Granny Bai had us look for the access card during the daytime today, she was actually letting us go.”

”If we were just regular dungeon players, the chance of finding the access card would be almost zero, and we would naturally clear the dungeon when the time limit expired.”

”How can you be sure she wasn’t trying to make us fail the dungeon?” Sun Jirou said. ”This clearance method is just your speculation!”

”Because I found an access card at Bear Claw Restaurant.” Xu Huo gestured with his chin toward Tang Yuan. ”The one you hid in the sofa.”

Tang Yuan’s face changed dramatically, but then he heard him continue, ”The owner of Bear Claw Restaurant was already killed by Granny Bai. The access card was in the secret room, easy to find just by casually looking around.”

”So Granny Bai doesn’t actually need the access card. She just made up a reason to have us wander around Fairytale City.”

”I don’t understand.” Compared to the others, Tao Chengxin’s reaction to his ”betrayal” wasn’t as intense. She frowned deeply and glanced at the old woman at the head of the table. ”Why did she lead us to those shops at first, but then later plan to let us go?”

”Maybe she just didn’t like the look of us at first.” Xu Huo put down his soup spoon. ”Who knows if there are any Government Hall people mixed in among the mission players.”

”Making Government Hall people kill each other is the real goal.”

He smiled and asked Granny Bai, ”Isn’t that right?”

Granny Bai finished her last mouthful of soup, wiped the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief, and only then said, ”Young people’s minds are so nimble.”

”That’s not right.” Wang Qiao, drawn in by the revelations, instinctively retorted, ”If there are Government Hall players among us, then they should know the players in the shops, right? How could they end up killing each other?”

”Leading players there would actually harm the real dungeon players, wouldn’t it?”

”Those players in the shops probably don’t usually interact much. The Bear Claw Restaurant owner’s corpse had already rotted, but no one came to collect it or take over the restaurant and items.” Xu Huo tilted his head to look at Granny Bai. ”They seem afraid to move around freely within Fairytale City.”

Granny Bai nodded. ”Fairytale City has only one master, and that’s me. I can kill anyone within the city.”

”But there must be some risk involved in going into shops to kill people, right?” Xu Huo said. ”Otherwise, knowing the locations of the Government Hall players, you wouldn’t have only killed the Bear Claw Restaurant owner.”

Granny Bai sighed. ”I’m old.”

Clearly an evasive answer. Xu Huo curled his lips slightly and didn’t press further.

”Then among us, are there really Government Hall people?” Tao Chengxin was completely confused.

”Government Hall’s high-level players have almost wiped out the original players in Fairytale City by killing according to a list. It’s unlikely they’d use low-level players to enter the dungeon.” Xu Huo said.

”Then why did you say earlier that Government Hall people might be mixed in among the players?” Tao Chengxin stared wide-eyed.

”Just said it casually. Can’t rule out the possibility of Government Hall spies.” Xu Huo turned to look at Tang Yuan, who was relatively calm. ”By the way, the access card obtained from the Fresh Meat Sausage Shop has been swapped by me. That card has now left Fairytale City with the tour group.”

”What did you say!” Tang Yuan instinctively tried to stand up, but his body couldn’t move.

Xu Huo raised his hand to signal him to calm down. ”If Government Hall players discover they’ve been tricked, they’ll probably contact other players and naturally find out that the Bear Claw Restaurant owner is dead. They’ll follow the access card and track it here, just a bit later.”

”Why did you do this?!” Sun Jirou exclaimed in shock and anger. ”This old woman repeatedly tried to trick us into going to our deaths. What benefit do you get from helping her?”

”Compared to her, I simply trust the Government Hall even less.” Xu Huo smiled slightly. ”You’ve seen the players in the Building Block Buns shop—are they normal players?”

”Those sausages drying at the Fresh Meat Sausage Shop—what kind of meat do you think they’re made from?”

”So what!” Sun Jirou gritted her teeth. ”She caused Shen Tai’s death!”

Xu Huo made a ”please” gesture. ”The person is right here. If you want revenge, go ahead.”

Sun Jirou glared at him fiercely, taking several deep breaths before saying, ”Whether it’s her or the Government Hall, neither are good people. Do you think doing this will make her let you clear the dungeon?”

”I’ve already said it—we’ve already cleared the dungeon.” Xu Huo turned to look at Granny Bai. ”Because this dungeon wasn’t originally set up for players from outside districts.”

”Stop speaking in riddles! Can’t you explain it clearly all at once?” Wang Qiao said impatiently.

Granny Bai casually pointed, and Wang Qiao’s mouth suddenly elongated into a puckered kissing pose, unable to speak anymore.

Seeing that she wasn’t going to speak, Xu Huo proceeded to voice his speculation.

”You’re the one who opened this dungeon, right? The original intention of opening it was to protect the remaining residents of Fairytale City. The reason Government Hall players don’t dare enter Fairytale City freely is because you’re the master of the Fairytale City station dungeon.”

”I think players who can establish dungeons at stations probably have some dungeon privileges. This is a survival dungeon specifically set up for the players of Fairytale City—it can both alleviate the mandatory requirement of entering a dungeon every natural month, and allow them to get some rewards from the dungeon.”

”However, what you didn’t expect was that starting twenty years ago, no new players have been born in Fairytale City.”

”But you must know that using the blood of Evolvers who haven’t taken the potion can produce new Evolvers, right?”