Players, Please Board the Train

”Xu Huo should be fine, right?” Yan Jiayu was speaking, ”Didn’t you say he just killed that twin player?”

”But that was before I separated from them...” Peng Ru was quite worried. Xu Huo put away his item and entered from the balcony, ”I’m fine.”

He looked at the three of them, ”How did you all end up together?”

”Weren’t the twins chasing me?” Yan Jiayu said, ”Their characteristics were too powerful, I couldn’t beat them. I happened to run into Tang Xiao while escaping, and he helped me. Otherwise, I might not have gotten away so quickly.”

”We ran into Peng Ru while coming to find you.”

While the two were talking, Peng Ru subtly retreated a bit, ”Mr. Xu, isn’t Jin Chao with you?”

”We got separated when the game started,” Xu Huo said, ”We entered the secret passage one after another. After I went in, he disappeared. He might have been caught by the Puppets and eliminated. We should be able to find him outside the ancient castle after passing the game.”

Tang Xiao nodded, ”Many players got eliminated right when hide-and-seek started. There’s no helping it, and we don’t dare attack the Puppets randomly.”

”Did you encounter those players?” Yan Jiayu asked Xu Huo, ”Did someone else come after you?”

”I’m not sure either,” Xu Huo said, ”After hiding in the secret passage for a while, I came out to this scene. If you hadn’t come, I would have planned to leave. The smell of blood might attract Player-Eaters.””Then let’s hurry and go,” Yan Jiayu said.

The others naturally had no objections, but Peng Ru’s eyes rapidly scanned the room. She fell behind the others, and when she withdrew her gaze and looked forward, she unexpectedly saw Xu Huo staring at her. Her scalp tingled, and she immediately said, ”Is something wrong?”

”Nothing,” Xu Huo said, ”I just feel you don’t quite trust me.”

Yan Jiayu turned back and said, ”Xu Huo wouldn’t lie to you, he’s a good person. If you’re worried, you can go out and look for people yourself. There will be more random games later anyway.”

She spoke sincerely, and if Peng Ru continued to hesitate, it would seem awkward.

”It’s not that I don’t trust Mr. Xu, I’m just worried about Jin Chao,” Peng Ru said, ”This place has become even stranger after entering game mode.”

”Like a haunted house, you never know where ugly Puppets will pop out from,” Yan Jiayu had just finished speaking when the display cabinet in the corridor suddenly opened from inside. A bloody, rotting bear head stretched out, snarling ferociously at her.

Yan Jiayu moved aside slightly to avoid being bitten, then swiftly closed the cabinet up and down with both hands, switching to one hand to grip the bear’s mouth before pressing it back into the cabinet. She used a handle she’d picked up from somewhere to latch it shut from the outside.

Watching the banging cabinet, she smiled, ”Pretty fun actually.”

To avoid the noise attracting more Puppets, the group quickened their pace to go downstairs. But just then, they almost ran into several players creeping upstairs. Xu Huo stopped the group and opened the nearest door.

After they hid inside, Yan Jiayu pressed her ear against the door to listen for movement outside. Only when the footsteps faded did she turn back and gesture to the other three.

”The game doesn’t end until dawn, let’s rest for a while,” Tang Xiao moved a cabinet to block the door, then placed a black stone on the cabinet corner.

”What’s this?” Yan Jiayu asked curiously.

”An item called Thousand Catty Weight,” Tang Xiao explained while moving the cabinet toward the secret door, ”It works like a door stopper, but more effective.”

Xu Huo went over to help, kicking aside a fallen doll by the wall, and said to Yan Jiayu, ”Find some rope to tie them up.”

Yan Jiayu nodded and immediately pulled a bag of zip ties from her luggage compartment, binding the Puppet’s hands and feet behind its back, ”Even if they revive later, they won’t be able to catch people.”

”Good idea,” Xu Huo also came to help tie them up.

Soon, all visible Puppets in the room were tied up. Not only that, Yan Jiayu dismantled several curtain cords and tied all these Puppets together.

Tang Xiao looked at the suddenly transformed stuffed toys and couldn’t help saying, ”Is this necessary? They’re just some Puppets.”

”This is called preparing for rain before getting wet,” Yan Jiayu patted the twisted Puppet, ”Who knows if they’ll eliminate us while we’re resting.”

Tang Xiao didn’t say anything more and found a place to sit down.

Xu Huo sat by the door, looking through the window at the broken bridge behind the ancient castle.

”Has anyone been back there?” he suddenly asked.

”You mean the other ancient castle across the broken bridge?” Peng Ru responded, ”Probably no one’s been there.”

”I haven’t been either,” Tang Xiao said, ”Black Maple Valley’s ancient castle isn’t a game location either. Many players found it strange that this question-and-answer game appeared here.”

”Is there something wrong back there?” Peng Ru stood up and carefully looked toward the broken bridge, ”It’s just broken and dilapidated, nothing there.”

The ancient castle structure in the back was quite damaged, with many areas visible from far away. Even if players came here, they could see inside clearly just by standing on the bridge or in front of the door, making it not worth exploring.

”Should we go take a look?” Yan Jiayu said, ”It’s just hide-and-seek anyway, as long as we don’t get caught.”

”That might not be good,” Peng Ru said, ”Hide-and-seek is part of the question-and-answer game. Who knows what questions the Puppets will ask after dawn? What if it’s related to this hide-and-seek? Would leaving the ancient castle on our own count as elimination?”

”Even if we complete this game, we can’t clear the stage,” Xu Huo said, ”I still have more than ten unused Small Hats.”

”You can’t just give up completely,” Tang Xiao quickly said, ”The more Small Hats you have, the harder it is to clear. We finally got this random location to appear, we should at least get one Small Hat.”

”One or several are about the same,” Xu Huo simply stood up, ”You stay here, I’ll go take a look.”

Yan Jiayu also stood up—she was definitely going.

Tang Xiao looked hesitant, but just as the two were about to leave, he quickly followed, ”I’ll go too. My Small Hats are already plenty anyway.”

Peng Ru watched the three jump down from the building, hesitated, then chose to follow.

The moonlight outside was bright. The moment the four reached the stone bridge, they felt gazes shooting from behind them. Fortunately, no players followed them out.

”This bridge looks really unstable. Can we jump across?” Peng Ru glanced at the cracked stone blocks underfoot.

”No problem for me,” Yan Jiayu stretched her legs, retreated some distance, took a running start and leaped through the air, landing lightly on the other side.

”I have an item that can take you across,” Xu Huo controlled the piano wire to fly to Tang Xiao’s side, signaling for them to grab it. After sending them across, he went over himself.

Just as the group was about to head toward the ancient castle in the back, Yan Jiayu suddenly stopped, ”Do you smell something foul?”

As she spoke, she looked up and met eyes with a small, capped head sticking out from the suspended lighthouse structure.