Players, Please Board the Train

Xu Huo agreed to Ran Ying’s dinner invitation, but declined her offer to pick him up.

After closing the communicator, he said, ”Captain Ran is really too enthusiastic.”

”Unwarranted enthusiasm is never a good sign,” Shi Youzhi commented before telling him to leave.

After leaving the Game Government base, Xu Huo didn’t go straight back to the hotel. Instead, he visited several exchanges first, finally choosing one to sell off some items he didn’t use.

E-grade items were the lowest rank, and their selling price wasn’t high. When sold from a player’s personal inventory, the price was further determined by the item’s effect. Therefore, the ten items from Xu Huo’s item slots that had never been used, such as the ”Beauty Needle” and ”Muscle Relaxer,” were bundled together and only sold for ninety thousand White Bills. In comparison, the price of a single D-grade item started at sixty thousand or more. The stronger an item’s effect, the more expensive it was, not to mention C-grade items and Special Items.

Even with the ninety thousand White Bills added, the money Xu Huo had on hand barely reached five hundred thousand. It was enough to buy a decent D-grade item, but fell short for a C-grade item.

Both the ”Ox Shield” and the ”Fish Skin Protective Garment” were scrapped, so he needed to buy at least one defensive item. As his level increased, items that simply defended against slashes and stabs were no longer practical. You Qiwen’s move of electrifying the floor in Rose Castle had genuinely surprised him. He figured he would encounter more players who used natural elements as attack methods in the future.

Additionally, he wanted to purchase an offensive item, though the specific direction was undecided; he needed to see what suitable options were available.

He first looked through the catalog of defensive items. There were many similar to the ”Ox Shield,” and also protective items that could release a shield several times the size of a human body. However, these weren’t what he wanted.

”Sir, if you’re not satisfied with these defensive items, you could take a look at the latest combat armor,” the exchange manager said. ”Combat armor might not be as flexible as items, but wearing it provides no problem with fire and water resistance. With sufficient funds, you can even customize versions for poison defense and underwater breathing. With this kind of armor, you wouldn’t have to fear even walking in an A-grade chemically contaminated zone. There are also some models equipped with micro-weapons, though the price is considerably higher.”The projection could display the armor’s appearance from all angles and even simulate its texture. It looked like a set of fully enclosed plate armor, and the price was not low either. Xu Huo only looked at two sets before calling it quits.

These armors had good functionality, but they were troublesome to put on and take off. Moreover, some items could affect metal. If he encountered such an item, he wouldn’t need an enemy to attack; he could finish himself off. This was suitable for large-scale armies, not solo combat.

Furthermore, the price for models upgraded to include electricity resistance and underwater capabilities was also very high. For him, it was better to buy an item that allowed him to travel light.

”Let me see the C-grade defensive items,” Xu Huo said after a slight hesitation.

The manager opened the catalog. Most C-grade items within the five hundred thousand price range had some inconvenient limitations, such as time limits, usage limits, or area limits. Items without these limitations, in turn, would restrict the type or method of attack they could defend against. For example, an item called ”No Further Business” would deploy a protective shield in advance when attacked, but its target was specifically attacks launched by living humans. In other words, if it were other weapon-based attacks, it wouldn’t react.

The way an item functioned was its wondrous aspect, especially certain targeted items that were simply unavoidable. This was also one of the factors that allowed lower-level players to counter higher-level ones. Setting aside personal combat strength and strategy, a good item could perhaps achieve unexpected results. For instance, the ”Fair Wallet” he just obtained could disarm an enemy of one weapon regardless of the target.

Another example was the Chen Brothers’ ”Substitute Mirror.”

Characteristics were the same. Liu Jia’s ”Dare You Answer When I Call Your Name?”, Fleischer’s ”Face-to-Face Negotiation,” and Chen Tu’s ”Draw the Ground as a Prison”—these were all peculiar, highly difficult-to-avoid attacks.

Of course, Xu Huo also wanted to find a defensive item that could evade the power of certain items or characteristics, but there weren’t any that fit the bill.

Hearing his intention, the manager said, ”Items like that are generally B or A-grade. Below B-grade, there are no items explicitly capable of evading items and characteristics. However, there are some items that delay attacks.”

He opened another interface. ”Take this ’Stuttering Malice’ for example. Wearing it can delay any attack by 0.5 seconds, essentially postponing the attack’s effective time by 0.5 seconds. But if a player can dodge an attack within 0.5 seconds, I believe such a player wouldn’t need this item anyway.”

”And this one, ’Seeing is Believing.’ It’s a special defensive item that can resist certain characteristic attacks, but the prerequisite is that you must know who the attacker is and be able to see them. As you probably know, sir, when some characteristics are activated, there might not be a clear indicator.”

The manager introduced several similar items, most of which seemed somewhat useless.

However, Xu Huo was quite interested in ”Stuttering Malice” and ”Seeing is Believing.”

After his Perfect Evolution and subsequent Super Evolution in mental power, his perception and senses had become much sharper, far exceeding his body’s reaction speed. 0.5 seconds was roughly equivalent to blinking twice. Although short, the added 0.5 seconds also provided a certain chance for early warning.

Furthermore, the activation of a characteristic required certain matching conditions, such as a special activation phrase, a specific activation method, or an attack method. Among the people he had encountered so far, most characteristic attacks that were silent and undetectable didn’t have much lethality. Therefore, for him at his current stage, ”Seeing is Believing” was a rather good item, at least until his evolution rate increased.

Under the manager’s puzzled gaze, he chose these two items. Although they were called useless items, they were still C-grade after all. Together, they cost three hundred thousand White Bills. After buying these two, he couldn’t afford anything else.

There was no point in looking further. Xu Huo settled the bill, left the exchange, and went to the food section to buy snacks.

He got a bit of every type of candy, especially the limited editions. He also bought some of District 011’s specialty snacks. After stocking up, he went to the mall and bought several sets of children’s clothes and toys that kids liked, returning to the hotel laden with large and small bags.

Once in his room, he took out the Awakening Doll, tapped its head, and summoned the Little Girl.

The Little Girl, who looked a few years old on the outside but was actually the boss of the Amusement Park, was still wearing her little pink hat, dressed in dirty, old clothes, and holding a tattered doll.

”Wow!” The Little Girl’s eyes lit up the moment she appeared. She directly pounced into the pile of candy, eagerly tearing open wrappers and stuffing them into her mouth.

Looking at her appearance, Xu Huo said, ”Planning to trick people again?”

”Hey, out of a hundred people, there’s always one or two smart ones,” the Little Girl said indistinctly, her eyes wandering to the toys and clothes beside her. ”Actually, I knew you were a good person the first time I saw you.”