Players, Please Board the Train

The Special Defense Department had done a good job managing information, as there were no further updates on the forums. However, quite a few people were discussing the sudden appearance of the heavy fog, with most advising others not to wander around randomly to avoid getting pulled into some strange dungeon.

”I’m ready.” Yan Jiayu came out and asked him, ”Are you planning to return to Ting City after we eat?”

Xu Huo had already sent a message to Painting Woman, telling her he would return two days later.

”I’m not planning to go back either, but I need to visit the orphanage later. Let’s go together.” Yan Jiayu said, ”A few days ago, I saw children from the orphanage begging for food outside. Probably no one’s taking care of them with all the recent chaos. It’s so pitiful for children to have nothing to eat.”

Xu Huo had no objections. After having breakfast, the two bought some food and clothes and headed to the orphanage.

However, when they went to knock on the door, someone stopped them outside. A middle-aged man dressed as a security guard vigilantly held a stun baton, ”Get lost, get lost! The orphanage isn’t receiving visitors recently!”

”We’re not bad people, we’re here to deliver things for the children.” Yan Jiayu raised the bags in her hands, ”Some of the older children from your orphanage have seen me in the park. If you don’t believe me, call them out - the teenagers.”

The guard was half-convinced, his suspicious gaze particularly focusing on Xu Huo. Xu Huo glanced at him, ”I’m just making deliveries.”

”Wait here.” The guard picked up the phone, and soon a teenager emerged from the small building inside, immediately recognizing Yan Jiayu.

Yan Jiayu placed the items by the entrance, then took out wrapped money, smiling as she said, ”I originally planned to give this to you when you came to the park again, but you never showed up, so I had to come here.”The teenager didn’t reach for the money, instead saying with a guilty expression, ”The younger children were being naughty, they even threw mud at you. I’m sorry!”

”It’s fine if children are a bit mischievous.” Yan Jiayu waved her hand dismissively and stuffed the money into his hand.

”I don’t want money.” The teenager stubbornly clenched his fists, ”The headmistress has gone missing, the orphanage is haunted, money and food keep disappearing suddenly. We just need clothes and a little bit of food.”

”What haunting nonsense! Don’t talk rubbish!” The guard scolded, ”It’s you half-grown kids with sticky fingers, stealing money and not admitting it!”

”We didn’t!” Two more older children ran out from inside, followed by a string of younger ones, snatching the bags away as if competing, not even letting the guard touch them.

Facing Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu’s questioning looks, the guard quickly explained, ”I haven’t been taking their things! You know how unsafe everywhere is recently. After the headmistress disappeared, the staff stopped coming to work. I’m just guarding here because I’m worried about them, but I can’t wander around randomly either, so I can only get a share of food from them...”

The guard didn’t seem to be lying - he was just cowardly.

”There are quite a few haunting rumors in Flower City.” Xu Huo said, ”The locations are quite scattered.”

The ”haunting” at the park might have been due to a dungeon entrance, but such a wide scope was rather strange.

”What kind of ghost would steal money and food?” Yan Jiayu rolled up her sleeves, ”I’m going to catch this ghost.”

After saying this, she grabbed the gate bars with one hand, nimbly leaped inside the gate, and patted the heads of the older children one by one, ”Leave it to me!”

Then she entered the guard booth, pressed the button to open the main gate, and waved for Xu Huo to come in.

The guard didn’t dare to voice his anger at her actions, could only glare at the group of children, and closed the guard booth door.

Yan Jiayu quickly got along well with the children and learned the full story of what had happened. The headmistress had disappeared half a month ago. The police had come to investigate but found nothing and eventually dropped the matter. Before leaving, they did help contact others to take care of the orphanage, but even the staff here refused to stay, so why would outsiders come?

Xu Huo inspected the orphanage and checked the local news, ”It can’t be haunting, must be some kind of animal.”

”There are some small bite marks on the cabinets. Could it be stray cats?” Yan Jiayu thought for a moment, ”But I haven’t seen any cats or dogs around here.”

”I’ll go check the nearby sewage pipes.” After saying this, she rushed straight out.

Xu Huo didn’t follow her, instead calling the orphanage children over to ask for more detailed information.

Actually, even before the headmistress disappeared, the orphanage had started losing money and food. What disappeared were small amounts of daily expenses money, and food would vanish completely without leaving anything behind. Locking things up didn’t help, which was why the headmistress later kept things in her room, but then she disappeared too.

The possibility of this being human work was quite small. However, after human evolution, it was hard to say whether animals might have mutated too. It was just that during the previous major upheaval, everyone’s attention wasn’t focused on this aspect.

”Uncle, the sister is calling you.” a child came running to say.

Xu Huo went out through the orphanage’s back door, crossed the street, and went to the opposite side.

Yan Jiayu poked her head out from the sewage pipe, ”There are lots of chewed-up cat corpses down here, and a human corpse too. The face is unrecognizable, but the clothes have the orphanage’s logo, probably that missing headmistress.”

”Any other discoveries?” Xu Huo bent down to pull her up.

”Lots of rat droppings too, but much bigger than what I’ve seen before. The sewer network extends in all directions, not sure where the rat nest is. We should call the police...” Yan Jiayu used his strength to get up, only realizing something was wrong when her feet touched the ground.

Xu Huo noticed it too - the moment he pulled her up, the fog suddenly thickened, and their vision underwent subtle changes. The ground and both sides of the street seemed to have double images.

”Did we enter a dungeon?” Yan Jiayu turned her back to him to guard the other side, ”Using a sewer as an entrance, this dungeon is too shabby!”

Just as Xu Huo was about to speak, rapid, dense footsteps suddenly sounded in the fog. Looking up, a black shadow pounced out, roaring as it bit toward him!

Then came the second, third, fourth... countless people surrounded them. Most had bite marks on their bodies, their skin bluish-black, carrying a heavy stench. If not for their faint heartbeats, they looked no different from corpses!

”They’re Mutants!” Xu Huo swung his sword to clear the wave in front of him, his back pressing against Yan Jiayu’s, ”Grab onto me, we’ll go from above!”

Yan Jiayu harvested five heads with her scissors, but before she could reach out, large numbers of people jumped down from the buildings on both sides of the street. Though these people had numb expressions, their movements were exceptionally fierce.

With such numbers, the two were having some difficulty holding their ground.

After several minutes of fighting, Yan Jiayu couldn’t help asking, ”Did we really enter a dungeon? Why hasn’t there been any game prompt until now?”

Xu Huo’s eyes narrowed, and he immediately took out the Fifty-Fifty Air Window. The item showed no reaction.

The Fifty-Fifty Air Window could be opened once in any space outside of dungeons. If they hadn’t entered a dungeon, did that mean they were still in Zone 014?

”Let’s check the opposite side first.” he said.

The two fought their way across the street, but the original orphanage had disappeared, replaced by a broken wall. The moment they crossed the wall, an impact wave swept out from deep within the heavy fog!