Players, Please Board the Train

”Not really,” the middle-aged man didn’t mind, calmly withdrawing his hand, ”I hold J Country citizenship, but my deceased parents were both from our country. Coming back this time could be considered returning to my roots.”

Xu Huo invited them into the car.

Despite their long separation, Ms. Fang didn’t show much warmth toward him. After briefly asking about his situation, she said, ”Your Uncle Tang and I have our own place to stay. We won’t crowd in with your father’s family.”

”Things are unstable everywhere recently. Living together would be safer,” Xu Huo said. ”There’s also an empty villa in the residential area. You could stay there.”

The car was already heading toward the Xu family home. Ms. Fang showed anger in her expression, ”My words carry no weight at all!”

”When public security improves in a while, you can go wherever you want,” Xu Huo closed his eyes, ending the conversation.

After settling them both in, Xu Huo left with the words ”Call me if anything happens” and departed the villa. After leaving, he didn’t return to his father’s side but instead called Team Leader Wu, asking him to send epidemic prevention personnel to quarantine the villa. He then went to another Xu family property.

Within twenty minutes, Team Leader Wu called back, ”We’ve conducted thorough checks. Ms. Fang and Tang Guangbo show no infection. As a precaution, I also checked Tang Guangbo’s relatives, friends, and neighbors—no one has visited Country Y recently.”

”Tang Guangbo’s breathing and heartbeat seem somewhat abnormal,” Xu Huo said.

”He has heart-related conditions,” Team Leader Wu said. ”We confirmed this earlier—he’s been taking medication consistently.”Xu Huo paused briefly before adding, ”I’d still like to trouble you to find an appropriate opportunity to take my mother out for separate quarantine.”

”Since you say so, I’ll arrange it,” Team Leader Wu said. ”If you suspect Tang Guangbo is infected with the epidemic disease and you’ve been in contact with him, you should also get checked.”

”Not necessary for now. I’ll contact you if any issues arise,” Xu Huo said before hanging up. He went online to carefully review news related to the epidemic in Country Y.

The timing of Country Y’s epidemic outbreak coincided precisely with the days when foreign zone players invaded Zone 014. In less than half a month, the number of infected people had reached five hundred thousand. The mortality rate wasn’t high, but infected individuals needed centralized quarantine.

While our country was publicly sharing game and player information with the world, Country Y was vigorously suppressing news about the game and players. Government officials debunked rumors, labeling the game details our country disclosed as fake news. They portrayed the foreign player invasions as terrorist attacks from neighboring Country P and publicly revealed military secrets about preparing for war.

Some regions within Country Y were already engulfed in warfare. Excessive videos and messages nearly crashed the national network. People inside the country began fleeing northward. Combined with the impact of infectious diseases, some had already crossed the border into Country P. Meanwhile, Country Y used military force against Country P under the pretext of protecting its own citizens, formally starting war between the two major nations.

Compared to the epidemic, more people were dying from the war.

However, aside from Country B, there were no news reports about mutant swarms from other places yet.

Confirming this point, Xu Huo relaxed slightly.

Country Y’s epidemic appeared suddenly, but so far, no news had emerged about patients mutating into mutants or degenerating, suggesting there was likely no risk of turning into mutants either.

Previously, he believed it impossible for potions or contamination sources to cause ordinary people to mutate through water, air, or other means. Now, events in Country Y and Country B indirectly confirmed his speculation.

However, this epidemic was quite likely the work of players. Most fatalities were elderly people with weak resistance, indicating this epidemic’s lethality wasn’t as strong as imagined. Country Y’s current chaos was partly the responsibility of those in power.

Next, he opened the Pioneer Forum to review the detailed information about this foreign player invasion event that the government had published.

Besides the cause and progression of events, there was a comprehensive set of videos and audio recordings documenting the appearances and disappearances of some foreign zone players.

From the minimal information available, it could be inferred that foreign zone players found it difficult to enter Zone 014. With the super item’s disappearance, large numbers of high-level players probably wouldn’t come to Zone 014 next.

However, the forum didn’t publish the information Xu Huo had provided. Most players browsing the forum were simply relieved to have survived the catastrophe.

Additionally, he carefully reviewed all the compiled player information.

Most members of the Phantom Sound Knights, plus the wheelchair player and the child with him, along with image comparisons of the high-level players who surrounded Painting Woman.

Xu Huo noticed that the eyebrowless player called ”Human Tongue” had two companions, but during the Fairy Tale City incident, only two of the three appeared.

He paused briefly.

High-level players probably had their own communication methods. If the man carrying the leather suitcase was strong enough, the third person had likely already received news about Human Tongue and one companion’s deaths by now.

Even if these two hadn’t died, they would most likely shift their targets.

This situation essentially confirmed the fact that the super item had been taken by a super player. If other high-level players were still paying attention to the super item, they would eventually hear the news too.

At this point, the super item incident was basically over. What followed would be the contest between players and the game.

”Ding ding ding.” Painting Woman initiated a video call.

Xu Huo answered, and a large face immediately appeared on screen. Painting Woman leaned closer to look, then stepped back and took out a notebook to write.

”When did you come back?”

Xu Huo paused, ”You didn’t know? I thought the poster secretly watching me from the cracks last night was you.”

Painting Woman shamefully covered her face, then wrote: ”I like Harbor City. The houses and land here are all mine.”

”Don’t worry, you’re already dead. They’ll reclaim it eventually.”

Painting Woman immediately drooped her eyebrows, ”Could you ask them not to take my land and houses?”

”No,” Xu Huo refused directly, then asked, ”Why aren’t you leaving Zone 014?”

Painting Woman touched the medal hanging on her chest, ”I want to follow you.”

Xu Huo didn’t speak. Then she waved her pen and wrote quickly: ”You won’t take the medal back, will you?”

”What’s given is given,” Xu Huo changed the subject. ”You mentioned before that you saw puppets in a castle. What kind of puppets were they?”

Painting Woman wasn’t skilled at drawing, so she used some paper to fold into puppet shapes—three puppets of varying sizes, including human and animal forms.

”Like this?” Xu Huo drew the Smiling Puppet.

Painting Woman immediately nodded, ”Yes, this puppet is really fun. I took one with me.”

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow, ”You stole a puppet?”

Painting Woman looked ashamed as she wrote: ”Not stolen. I asked it, and it didn’t object.”

”But I lost it later.”

Xu Huo roughly understood why that Smiling Puppet was described as ”troubled fate.” He showed a slight smile, ”Did you see the castle’s owner?”

Painting Woman immediately shook her head, ”The puppets there were all so fierce. I didn’t stay long.”

”Then do you remember which station that castle was in?”

Painting Woman looked confused.

Having gained some preliminary understanding of part of a high-level player’s information, Xu Huo didn’t push for more. He simply said, ”If you want to follow me, come to Capital City. I have a small matter I’d like your help with.”