Players, Please Board the Train

The sharp paper stopped just before his eyeball without moving. Xu Huo raised his hand, ”Pause.”

The paper knife immediately lost its power and drifted to the ground. Painting Woman reattached her finger, then ran up to him, staring at him with watery eyes.

”Well, you’re very impressive,” Xu Huo praised.

Painting Woman’s eyes curved happily with joy. She pulled out her phone and typed: ”Do you want me to hit you again?”

”That’s enough for today, we’ll continue tomorrow,” Xu Huo said while glancing at the medal on her chest, which had remained securely in place even when she transformed into paper form. ”Does this thing provide ability enhancements for you?”

Painting Woman shook her head with slight confusion, then said: ”I really like seeing it.”

Seeing her naive expression, Xu Huo knew he wouldn’t get any useful answers. He brushed the dust off his clothes and said, ”Let’s go back.”

The two drove back. Before getting out of the car, Xu Huo used some cleaning solution, but the damaged parts of his clothes remained clearly visible. The armed personnel at the entrance immediately notified Team Leader Wu upon seeing him.

Team Leader Wu then called him, asking if he had been attacked.

After Xu Huo denied it, he asked: ”Have there been many outsiders causing trouble recently?”Team Leader Wu didn’t hide the truth, directly stating: ”Country Y has fallen into chaos. Besides those countries that can’t manage their own affairs, many people want to take advantage of the situation to benefit themselves.”

Not to mention harming others to benefit oneself—even actions that harm others without benefiting oneself have people willing to do them.

”Be careful too. I’ve received several reports of players being followed these past few days,” Team Leader Wu said. ”Country Y doesn’t acknowledge the existence of the game and players. While desperately suppressing information and conducting secret experiments, they certainly don’t want to see our country cultivate excellent players.”

Xu Huo indicated he understood, then inquired about Tang Guangbo’s situation.

During the quarantine period, Team Leader Wu had thoroughly screened Tang Guangbo’s social connections and all his online traces, confirming he had no contact with Country Y. Over the past decade or more, he had always maintained a longing for his homeland.

”He’s now a specially appointed professor at the National Security Bureau, responsible for psychological counseling for some players.”

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow, ”Is his main focus psychology?”

”Not exactly. He holds three doctoral degrees—one in psychology, and the other two in mechanical engineering and economics,” Team Leader Wu said. ”I just found out that the country had previously considered inviting him back to teach.”

”During the quarantine period, he wrote a thesis based on the information released by the government and published it on Pioneer Forum.”

”Talented people are truly talented. With just that limited information, he managed to thoroughly understand player psychology. Several new players with unstable mental states have calmed down under his guidance.”

Xu Huo held his phone while sitting down at the computer to open Pioneer Forum. A pinned post at the top turned out to be Tang Guangbo’s thesis.

”The distinction between humans and animals is gradually disappearing in this evolutionary disaster. Salute to the heroes who can maintain their humanity despite the storm’s impact.”

This was the first paragraph of his preface.

He then discussed his views on players and the game, predicting that in Zone 014’s mature future, there would no longer be a distinction between the real world and the game world. Zone 014 would eventually merge into the game, becoming a game world itself. At that time, White Bills would become a new type of foreign currency, while players from other worlds would also take trains to Zone 014, forming trade and competition patterns similar to today’s world structure.

Just based on this prediction alone, Tang Guangbo was thinking further ahead than most players. E-grade players mostly encountered closed and semi-closed dungeons, making it difficult to glimpse the full picture of the game world. But the true game world should actually be like Fairy Tale City—becoming part of the game, with players and dungeons becoming normal aspects.

However, Fairy Tale City was an extreme individual case. There should be other, more peaceful game worlds with publicly recognized order, where both players and ordinary people face similar constraints.

After hanging up with Team Leader Wu, Xu Huo continued reading the main body of the thesis.

Most of the content analyzed the psychological states of Evolvers who become formal players, offering various self-regulation methods. However, he proposed one idea in his thesis: that Player-Eaters shouldn’t be uniformly condemned.

Because some Player-Eaters committed wrongdoings while not in their right mind. If they could exercise self-control under national supervision, Player-Eaters could similarly serve the country. The government would only need to control their diet or develop potions that suppress their gluttonous desires.

This was absolutely impossible.

Back on the Preliminary Trial Train, Xu Huo had already understood that the true horror of Player-Eaters wasn’t that they had to consume human flesh, but that they could only enhance their abilities by consuming large quantities of their own kind.

Player-Eaters face limitations in their traits—this fact had also been announced by the government. After completing just a few dungeons, the differences brought by traits would become apparent. At that point, if Player-Eaters wanted to grow stronger, they had to eat people, and the more the better. Under this premise, even if they didn’t have strong desires to eat, they would choose to consume humans to survive in the game.

This was no longer ”forced” or ”having no choice”—it was survival instinct.

Under these circumstances, how could Player-Eaters possibly be controlled by the government?

Whether hunting players from other zones in the game or scavenging corpses to eat—if players became accustomed to this behavior internally, that would be the beginning of disaster.

The thesis had already generated reactions on the forum and had been reposted across various online platforms. Regardless of other aspects, this single point alone had provoked considerable anger among many people. During the previous incident of foreign zone player invasions, some had witnessed Player-Eaters cordoning off entire buildings to indiscriminately slaughter and feed.

”Knock knock.” Tongtong knocked on the door. ”Brother, Auntie Fang is here.”

Painting Woman had brought him several toys, and the child had immediately developed affection for her.

Xu Huo opened the door and went out. The child added: ”Auntie Fang also brought a glasses-wearing uncle. Auntie said he’s your stepdad.”

When he reached the living room, Tang Guangbo was discussing his thesis with Xu Huo’s Father.

”...As a scholar, I’m merely proposing a possibility. The real decisions rest with the country and government.”

”However, I believe that during special times, this could serve as an emergency measure, especially now when the number of players is rapidly decreasing.”

”After we pass this buffer period, we can still deal with them later.”

Tang Guangbo adjusted his glasses. ”After all, cannibalism represents the greatest sin.”

Xu Huo’s Father, who didn’t know much about the topic, said: ”Using them when needed, then dealing with them when not needed—wouldn’t that make the country seem too heartless?”

Tang Guangbo sighed. ”Special circumstances call for special measures. This is the only way given the situation.”

”Uncle Tang, having grown up abroad, you seem quite knowledgeable about domestic situations and rhetoric,” Xu Huo said as he walked over and sat down.

Tang Guangbo smiled. ”This is my homeland. My parents always wanted to return here before they passed away. Of course I would pay special attention.”

”To adapt to life in Capital City as quickly as possible, I even specifically enrolled in classes to learn authentic local dialect.”

Xu Huo looked at him, pausing briefly before saying, ”You’re really thoughtful.”