Players, Please Board the Train

Half an hour later, the players at the Coin-Guessing Camp had mostly left, heading to the random location for the fifth quiz question using the address Xu Huo had provided.

Once most people had gone, Peng Ru and Jin Chao hurriedly pressed about the random location. They would have to pay to buy the information, but Xu Huo refused and simply told them the details.

“The quiz location appears the afternoon after tomorrow. If we finish the remaining game spots, we’ll still make it in time.”

“But a lot of people already know this,” Peng Ru said, “aren’t you afraid someone will seize the advantage? The random location only appears for a limited time. If we miss this chance, who knows when or where the next one will be, and that news will definitely spread again. That makes our chances of getting the Small Hat even smaller.”

Xu Huo lifted a stack of Small Hats, “Even if I get the Small Hat this time, I still can’t clear the stage.”

Peng Ru and Jin Chao fell silent. The latter said, “No wonder you sold the information.”

If clearing the stage was absolutely impossible, it made sense to put the news out first rather than wait for people to come and cause trouble — and you could make some money off it.

“In that case, the two of us will go ahead,” Jin Chao said. “See you later.”

Xu Huo nodded, watched them leave, then turned and split the payment for the information in half, giving it to Yan Jiayu.

“That’s a lot of money.” The Plush Bear was still beside them, staring at the thick stack of White Bills in their hands.“I’ll buy you candy later.” Xu Huo patted the top of its head.

The Plush Bear hugged the Candy Jar as it left.

“We should go too.” Yan Jiayu straightened her face, “there are quite a few players heading this way.”

They left the camp at top speed. Although they didn’t stop along the way, ten minutes later someone had already fixed their sights on them.

Xu Huo frowned, manipulated the piano wire to hang the Desert Windmill behind a tree, then gave Yan Jiayu a look and changed direction, running toward the other side.

“Jumping marbles!” A voice came from behind. The two racing forward suddenly felt a gust at the back of their heads and dodged left and right. Two thudding impacts overlapped, and two holes were punched into the tree ahead. A streak of light returned, creating two more holes in the trunk, and two glass marbles shot toward them from different angles!

“Ding!”

“Bang!”

A longsword and a stone staff simultaneously blocked the marbles. The two beads pierced several trees in succession and flew back to their owner. At the same time, six players had already surrounded them.

The one using marbles was a middle-aged man with semi-long hair. He spun the marbles in his hand and glowered at Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu, “How did you coax the information out of the Puppet’s mouth?”

“You’ll let us go if we tell you?” Xu Huo glanced around at the nearby players.

Besides the marble user, the other five were a pair of twins, a boldly dressed young woman, a white-haired elderly man, and an ugly dwarf.

“You want to bargain with us?” the dwarf sneered.

“Don’t be like that.” The young woman flipped her hair, “This kid is fairly good looking. It would be a shame if someone handsome died. The game world is boring enough — keeping a few eye candy players isn’t so bad.”

The dwarf seemed hit in a sore spot and snorted, “I don’t know who’s better looking, him or Brother Tu!”

The young woman batted her eyelid at the middle-aged man, “Of course no one compares to Brother Tu, but this young man is at least clever. He’s the only one who got information from the Puppet’s mouth. Keeping him might be useful. As for that young girl, give her to the twins.”

The twins looked almost identical. One was slightly taller. Hearing the woman, the taller twin said, “She’s too weak. She’ll be done in two hits. I’m not interested. Do as you like.”

“Business first.” Brother Tu impatiently interrupted their chatter and jerked his chin at Xu Huo, “Kid, be smart about this.”

“It’s simple. Just get the Puppet in the game to agree to a simple wager.” Xu Huo gripped the Crimson Sword, “Win that wager.”

“Just that simple?” Brother Tu clearly didn’t believe it.

“We’ve been grinding in the game for days and tried to find a breakthrough with the Puppet. Threats and temptations don’t work. Getting the Puppet to agree to a bet is not so easy.” The white-haired elderly man told Brother Tu, “Keeping this person is useful.”

Brother Tu also intended to use Xu Huo as a probe. He signaled the twins. In the next moment, they flashed to Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu’s left and right, simultaneously pushing from five meters away toward the middle!

The air seemed to be cut into a plane, like a mirror peeling out of the atmosphere, instantly closing in on the two in the center!

Xu Huo immediately held his longsword horizontally to resist the two air planes, but unexpectedly, the seemingly solid plane passed through the blade like normal air, sealing his left and right. He struck back, but his fist actually hit the transparent plane and rebounded with multiple times the force!

He clenched his numbed hand. He saw Yan Jiayu swing her staff to strike, intending to stop it, but the stone staff hit the plane hard, causing cracks to appear. With crackling sounds the plane shattered.

Seeing the plane break, the surrounding players’ eyes lit up, especially the twins, who said outright, “Good stuff, I’ll take it!”

No sooner had they spoken than they began running, conjuring translucent planes from the air as they ran, surrounding from all directions. These planes could stack repeatedly. Once stacked, they were no longer something Yan Jiayu could shatter with her bare hands.

“What kind of item is this?” Yan Jiayu nearly lost her grip on the staff. She looked around and saw the planes had already enclosed them like a cage and immediately tried to climb out from the top.

But as soon as she poked her head out, Brother Tu’s marble flew over, forcing her to retreat within the plane boundary.

“This isn’t an item.” The taller twin said, “It’s a characteristic, a one-in-a-million spatial-affecting characteristic. Of course your characteristics can’t compare. Besides tools that contain spatial elements, attacks from other items are invalid!”

“You’re bluffing!” Yan Jiayu retorted, “If it’s so powerful, why could it be shattered by a stone staff?”

“Are you stupid?” the tall twin sneered, “That’s because your item contains spatial elements. Do you think any random rock can serve as an item? Naturally formed items usually have strange powers. It’s a waste that it fell into your hands!”

They clearly intended to claim the stone staff. Yan Jiayu used it as a simple club, but she wasn’t about to hand it over. She turned to look at Xu Huo.