Players, Please Board the Train

The situation in Country B was somewhat similar to Fairy Tale City. He had suspected this before: the mutant surges in Fairy Tale City weren’t caused by locals transforming; perhaps, like in Country B, those mutants had come in from outside zones. Wherever the Preliminary Trial Train passed at night, a large number of car-assault mutants would appear. That meant many locations in the game world were occupied by mutants. Whether the game forced players to avoid those mutants or deliberately routed the train through those areas to filter players, the altered Evolvers and players weren’t completely killed off; instead, they were left to roam in certain places.

So were the sudden mutant waves in Fairy Tale City and Country B man-made, or were they the game’s own filtering mechanism? Granny Bai had once spoken vaguely: if Zone 014 suddenly had a large influx of players, it wouldn’t become the next Fairy Tale City. And judging whether a game zone had a huge number of players was something players from other zones couldn’t do.

If that was the case, the most likely explanation was that the game introduced mutants into a new, low-potential zone, turning the whole area into a Mutant Zone.

“One third are in the light.” Xu Huo no longer doubted Granny Bai’s words.

“Hey you over there, who are you?” A beam of light suddenly shone on him—one of the patrol vehicles had spotted him. The patrol vehicles were now equipped with heavy weapons; every barrel pointed at him as the armed crew spoke.

“I’m a player returning from a dungeon.” Xu Huo stepped forward proactively. “My identity should be registered. You can check.”

“Don’t come closer!” the armed personnel shouted, then had someone inside the vehicle verify his identity. As the only player who had cracked the method in the Black and White Life-and-Death Game, his identity details were kept restricted in the system—only a photo and the most basic information proved he was a domestic player.

“Get in. Where are you heading? We’ll take you there,” one of the armed men said as he hailed him into the vehicle, then asked about his dungeon experience.

“I was near Harbor City at the time, but the dungeon activated and forcibly transported me into the game. I don’t know what happened afterward,” Xu Huo replied.

The armed men then gave him a rough rundown of what happened after outside-zone players seized the Super Item. Painting Woman had sacrificed herself; a Super Player who appeared out of nowhere snatched the Super Item from a group of high-level players. Other players who had come for the Super Item left one after another, while some went to watch the Phantom Sound Knights’ fight.No one dared approach the Phantom Sound Knights’ side, so surveillance had to rely on satellites. After they clashed, half of Harbor City was forcibly razed; the air was filled with a strange, turbid substance. It was hard to see exactly what happened inside. Then, six hours later, the turbid substance suddenly vanished—and so did the combatants.

The opponent who fought the Phantom Sound Knights was a man in a wheelchair. Afterward, the outside world still didn’t know who had won, but players coming from other zones gradually decreased. Only a few troublemakers remained and were forced to leave Zone 014 under heavy fire.

“Did the Black and White Life-and-Death Game disappear along with the Phantom Sound Knights?” Xu Huo asked.

“No. The Black and White Life-and-Death Game disappeared in the third hour of the Phantom Sound Knights’ fight with the wheelchair player. They probably couldn’t maintain it over there,” the armed man said.

“Do you know how those players got in?” Xu Huo asked again.

The armed man shook his head, indicating he didn’t know. “All information about this incident has been consolidated on the Vanguard Players forum. You can check there.”

“Also, the state has set up an entirely new player department. Since you’re already a registered player, you can go to the local liaison office to sign up. It’s not mandatory, but if you serve the country, you’ll have access to state resources.”

Xu Huo thanked him. As the vehicle passed through an area of ruins, he looked out—tall buildings had been flattened, and from where he sat he could see the vast ocean beyond. Everyone still in Harbor City was being transported under state responsibility, so the armed personnel dropped him at the airport and handed him a plane ticket to the Capital City. They saluted him. “We’re grateful for the Vanguard Players’ sacrifice!”

“Thank you.” Xu Huo took the ticket and boarded the plane.

Two hours later, he stood in the quiet Capital City airport. Although the city hadn’t suffered heavy damage in this incident, netizens had read the news about domestic and international developments and were staying home for the time being. Streets had few vehicles. When he reached the exit, four armed personnel approached him. “Are you Mr. Xu Huo?”

“That’s me.”

They saluted. “Our superiors assigned us to receive you. Do you feel unwell? Would you like to go to a hospital first?”

Xu Huo guessed that when his identity was verified in Harbor City, the Capital had been notified. “No need. I’ll go home first.”

Xu Huo came from a well-off family. His father and stepmother lived in a fairly upscale villa community. By the time he returned, the original security guards had been replaced by armed personnel; even the exterior of the Xu family villa had guards posted. As the car stopped at the gate, a neighbor peered out and then hurried back inside when he glanced over.

His grandmother had already passed away. His grandfather, father, stepmother, his half-brother by his stepmother, and relatives from his stepmother’s family were all there. They’d been informed in advance that Xu Huo would be coming home; except for his grandfather, everyone gathered in the living room.

“Cousin, you’re back!” Yu Qingqing dashed forward first, looping her arm through his and jiggling it. “I heard you became a player, right? Aren’t you amazing? Otherwise the state wouldn’t have sent so many people to protect us!”

Xu Huo disentangled her and greeted the family. “Dad. Aunt Yu.”

He hadn’t seen his father for two or three years. His father patted his shoulder and said, “You’ve lost weight and gotten tanned. Have you contacted your mother?”

“Not yet,” Xu Huo replied, and an armed guard next to him said, “We’ve already sent people to pick up Mr. Xu’s mother, Ms. Fang. She should arrive in the Capital by tomorrow night at the latest.”

“Oh my, we owe you big time this time, Xu Huo. Otherwise we’d be worrying ourselves sick at home,” Yu Qingqing’s mother said, nudging her younger sister. “Go have Tongtong greet his brother.”

His stepmother didn’t really know him. She had married his father after Xu Huo had already left home.

“Tongtong, come on,” she said, pulling her shy young son out from behind her. The small child clung to his mother’s leg from shyness.

Xu Huo glanced at him and said, “I’ll go talk to Grandpa.”