Players, Please Board the Train

”It’s you.” Xu Huo wasn’t in a hurry to submit the truth. Instead, he pushed the sword forward, pulling the half-kneeling person up and pinning them against the wall before saying with a smile, ”I was wondering why you disappeared during broad daylight. Turns out you were hiding yourself.”

Yu Shuai’s lips twitched in pain, but he couldn’t free himself, so he said, ”I found the vanished guests. Let me go, and I’ll tell you!”

”Lying?” Xu Huo lifted the sword slightly.

Yu Shuai hurriedly pressed down, urgently saying, ”I’m not lying! I’ve already completed Task One!”

”Why haven’t I received a prompt?” Xu Huo didn’t lessen the pressure from his hand.

Yu Shuai’s baby face scrunched up like a wrinkled bun. ”Not every player getting through a level triggers a notification for others in the same dungeon. No prompt is normal. Don’t... don’t pick a fight!”

Xu Huo reluctantly believed him. ”Where are the vanished guests?”

”Most have become skeletons in the water pool, but a few are preserved very well, inside the wardrobe within the wall of He Pu’s bedroom. He turned them into puppets,” Yu Shuai said. ”If you don’t believe me, go check!”

”You think I’m stupid? Going to find He Pu now would be suicide,” Xu Huo sneered. ”Aren’t you supposed to have cleared the level? Why are you still here?”

”I failed Task Two!” Yu Shuai had known the dungeon’s boss was very problematic ever since he entered He Pu’s bedroom. ”Of course I want to complete the task and leave as soon as possible, but multiple submissions were useless.””What’s your version of the truth?” Xu Huo asked.

Yu Shuai didn’t hide this part, telling him everything, because hiding it was useless—it wasn’t the real answer for Task Two anyway.

”The ancient castle’s master, He Pu, brutally kills players. The butler, Mr. Dong, and the maid, Hu Shan, are accomplices. What’s wrong with that?”

”Maybe they aren’t accomplices,” Xu Huo said.

”I’ve already tried every possible combination of other answers,” Yu Shuai said. Having found the people in the wardrobe the day before yesterday, how could he just waste two days? He had definitely tried every possibility, even testing inconspicuous other servants, but none succeeded.

”Maybe those few corpses weren’t killed by people from the castle at all, just a means for He Pu to toy with players...” Yu Shuai took a ragged breath. ”If you’re not planning to kill me, could you pull the sword out first?”

Xu Huo ignored him and asked, ”During these two days you’ve been hiding in the wall, besides the Ma couple, have any other players gone to find He Pu?”

”No,” Yu Shuai said immediately. ”I’ve been on the second floor most of the time. No one could escape my notice.”

Xu Huo stared at him for a moment before finally pulling the sword out.

Yu Shuai gasped and stumbled forward, his hand extending slightly, but he retracted it upon hearing Xu Huo speak.

”I probably know what the truth is,” Xu Huo was saying.

”You know?” Yu Shuai took out a curved needle and stabbed it into his wound. The needle automatically began stitching along the injury. With a pull of the thread, the bleeding stopped immediately.

Seeing Xu Huo looking at him, he added, ”It’s just a temporary item to stop bleeding. The wound isn’t healed.”

Xu Huo nodded. ”Can you still hide in the wall?”

”Of course,” Yu Shuai said, his expression wary. He then asked, ”You said you know the real truth. What’s the condition for you to tell me?”

Xu Huo now believed that players weren’t notified when others completed tasks.

”Steal one corpse out,” he said. ”Tomorrow after dinner, all players will go to the music room for the appreciation concert. At that time, you bring a corpse there, complete Task One, and I’ll announce the truth.”

Yu Shuai was half-convinced, half-doubting. ”You’re that confident?”

”Do you have a choice?” Xu Huo retorted. ”Tomorrow’s concert is clearly He Pu’s final deadline. If we can’t clear the level before he makes his move, do you think we’ll survive until the dungeon’s time limit the day after?”

”You don’t think he hasn’t noticed you, do you?”

Yu Shuai’s face showed shock, but it quickly darkened.

The first time he entered He Pu’s room, He Pu hadn’t played that drum music with mental suppression. But afterward, regardless of whether he was in the room or not, the room started using a shielding item and playing the drum music. You couldn’t hear it from outside, but getting close, even while inside the wall, was agonizing.

”Whether I’m right or not will be clear tomorrow night. Since you have no other options anyway, you might as well try what I said.” Xu Huo paused, then added, ”Don’t pin your hopes on other players either. They’re worse off than you, currently busy hunting Mr. Dong. Also, as I said, there are non-task players in this dungeon. The others might not be trustworthy.”

Yu Shuai hesitated briefly before agreeing.

”Someone’s coming,” Xu Huo signaled for him to leave.

Only after Yu Shuai entered the wall did the door knock, a rhythmic pattern sounded twice, followed by Hu Shan’s voice from outside, ”Mr. Xu, are you there?”

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow in the darkness. He had entered You Qiwen’s room.

”Mr. Xu, I’m coming in.” The other party obviously had no intention of waiting for his response, directly twisting the doorknob open—literally twisting it open, as the entire handle was removed.

After entering, Hu Shan casually tossed the metal handle aside and stood in the shadows, saying, ”You guests are really too unruly, running around everywhere in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, and disturbing the master’s rest.”

”You’re not much better,” Xu Huo said indifferently. ”Aren’t you also running around not sleeping? Instead of helping your own companion, you’re picking on a nobody like me. I’m a pacifist, I don’t cause trouble for anyone. See, I haven’t gotten involved with the other players’ business.”

Hu Shan’s figure slowly grew taller and sturdier, a massive square hammer appearing in her hand.

”Tsk,” Xu Huo made a sound, pulling out a cigarette and lighting his lighter. ”Smell anything in the air?”

Hu Shan didn’t even move her eyeballs, her face shrouded in gloom appearing somber and lifeless.

Xu Huo acted as if he didn’t see it, answering his own question. ”Of course, it’s alcohol.”

”Historic ancient castles are great. The wine cellar stores plenty of strong liquor, and there’s also reserve fuel oil. Those are all highly flammable items. With just one fire, the castle should be able to burn, right?”

”Though the castle’s structure is mostly stone, it probably wouldn’t burn completely. But that’s fine, I noticed many of the flowering trees in the garden maze over there have withered.”

”Setting that whole big area ablaze would definitely attract quite a few onlookers.”

Hu Shan’s expression changed, her flat face twisting into intense loathing. ”No one can destroy the master’s castle!”

”Clink!” The lighter’s flame flickered, and the bed in the room caught fire, followed by the carpet and curtains. Bright flames filled the room. Xu Huo turned to look toward the maze, just raising his lighter when Hu Shan’s large hammer swung at him from behind. He raised his sword to block. The hammer slid and smashed into the nearby sofa. The leather sofa surface immediately turned ceramic-like, simultaneously developing crack patterns.

Xu Huo only had time for a glance before Hu Shan, now close, kicked him into the corner. Before he could steady himself, she flashed in front of him again, one hand pressing the square hammer down on him, the other hand grabbing for his face!