Players, Please Board the Train

Chu Yuan rolled his eyes. ”How could there possibly be ghosts in this world? You actually believe that kind of rumor?”

”Better to believe it than not,” Xu Huo said. ”What if there really are?”

Just as Chu Yuan was about to say something more, the curly-haired female player standing beside them leaned over with a smile. ”Want to buy some talismans? Specifically ward off ghosts and monsters, guaranteed effective. If it’s fake, I’ll compensate you triple.”

Xu Huo was slightly surprised. After being in the game for so long, this was the first time he had seen someone connected to supernatural forces. Were there really players who evolved in that direction?

”Apparition-revealing talismans, lightning talismans, house-protection talismans, sickness-warding talismans, peach blossom talismans... In short, whatever effect you want, I have it.” She pulled a small flag from her sleeve, which was covered with yellow talismans of various sizes.

With just one glance, Xu Huo understood what these talismans really were.

”Static electricity powder, miniature electric shock mechanisms, electrified door lock devices, healing potions, hormone injections... You have the nerve to call this stuff ’specifically wards off ghosts and monsters’?” Chu Yuan had also figured it out.

”Keeping up with the times,” the curly-haired female player, Wan Yunrong, showed no anger at being exposed. Instead, she smiled and said, ”The names are different, but the effects are top-notch.”

”Only an idiot would buy...” Chu Yuan’s words trailed off as he saw Xu Huo taking out money. His eyes widened, and he added, ”Rich and foolish.” He didn’t bother interfering with them.

The transaction between Xu Huo and Wan Yunrong was just a minor interlude. What the crew members knew were only surface-level things about the islands, such as common poisonous flora and fauna, and the characteristics of rare ores. When it came to the internal situation of Deep Blue Laboratory that the players most wanted to know about, the crew was completely clueless. If it couldn’t be found online, the crew didn’t know either.In other words, even though many players had been to Deep Blue Laboratory, no one had leaked the internal information about the dungeon. Perhaps there was no suitable price, or perhaps the dungeon was too dangerous—you either died or left, without the opportunity.

”Really rotten luck. Why does it have to be this dungeon? You can find some strategies online for the other dungeons,” He Chunsheng complained.

The remaining players didn’t say anything, but their expressions were not relaxed.

The large ship docked at the island’s original port, and the players began disembarking.

There were over twenty people left on the ship. Nine followed the ship away, and only twelve disembarked here.

Besides Xu Huo, Chu Yuan, the masked player Mao Wei, the short-haired female player Miao Yu, He Chunsheng who fought with her, and Wan Yunrong who peddled ”yellow talismans,” there were six others.

”The water is so blue here,” Wan Yunrong gazed out at the sea. ”It would be nice to vacation here.”

”Vacation? Look at what’s behind us,” Chu Yuan said.

A few meters away from them, dense climbing vines grew along the containers, forming a series of undulating ”small hills” on the dock. Connecting these small hills was a vast expanse of primeval forest.

Fiercely growing but strangely shaped flowers, grass, and trees compressed the island’s scenery into a uniform blackness. From the dock, it looked like a green-turning-black black hole. There were sounds of animals scurrying through the vegetation, interspersed with the occasional cries of strange birds. Even before nightfall, several pairs of glowing, moving dots could be seen flashing deep within the forest.

It didn’t look like a safe place at all.

Xu Huo followed Chu Yuan for a couple of steps, then turned back to look at the gradually departing large ship. On the deck, Dr. Deng was gazing toward the center of Deep Blue Island, speaking quietly with a man and a woman beside him.

The distance was too great, and with the sound of waves and wind, he couldn’t make out the content. However, it was clear that the remaining nine people knew each other.

”What do you think, could this place be full of mutated animals everywhere?” a fair-skinned, refined middle-aged woman asked anxiously. ”The dock is nearly ten kilometers from the laboratory entrance. Isn’t the risk too high?”

”Probably not,” Miao Yu said. ”People built a laboratory here before, so there would at least be protective measures. If there are no protective measures established outside, then there likely aren’t any large animals. The main things to watch out for are poisonous flora and fauna.”

”Besides, isn’t there a path ahead that players have already cleared?”

Her reasoning made sense, and a few players nodded slightly.

”What are you looking at?” Chu Yuan tugged on the rope. ”The ship will come back eventually.”

Xu Huo watched the large ship disappear behind the island’s rocks, then withdrew his gaze and said, ”The dungeon message is here.”

[Player Extra has entered Deep Blue Island, default participation in D-rank Dungeon ”Don’t Open the Door After Dark.”]

[Background Introduction: Deep Blue Island was once a natural island famous for its flora and fauna resources. The island’s complete ecosystem made it the perfect experimental base for researchers. According to incomplete statistics, after the establishment of Deep Blue Laboratory, thirteen types of stubborn diseases were conquered, making a tremendous contribution to human health.]

[After the world began to evolve, the flora and fauna on Deep Blue Island also underwent strange changes. Overgrown plants completely invaded the laboratory built beneath the island. To protect the mutated flora and fauna, laboratory personnel collected sample data and sealed the laboratory, leaving it completely abandoned. Over time, ghost and monster incidents were rumored.]

[”This is a scientific world.” This was the life motto of Professor Wu, the founder of Deep Blue Laboratory, and also the motto of the laboratory members and their successors. To dispel the rumors and seek the truth, batches of scholars boarded the island and played the laboratory’s traditional game—Humans Catch Ghosts.]

[Players must enter Deep Blue Laboratory before midnight today. Special note: The rules for the Humans Catch Ghosts game are posted on the laboratory’s topic board.]

[Dungeon Task One: Participate in the game.]

[Dungeon Task Two: Catch the ”Ghost.”]

[Dungeon Time: Seven days.]

After reading the game introduction, He Chunsheng said with a complicated expression, ”A game within a game?”

”Judging solely from the game introduction, this dungeon doesn’t seem to be an extreme survival type. Mutated animals are a bit troublesome to deal with, but surviving peacefully for seven days shouldn’t be difficult,” a middle-aged man dressed like a hippie said. ”The difficulty should lie in this ’Humans Catch Ghosts’ game.”

”The specifics will only be clear after we see the game rules,” a bespectacled middle-aged man standing behind him said politely. ”Let’s set off first. We can introduce ourselves as we enter the island, so we don’t end up not knowing each other’s names.”

”My name is Ge Pan. I was originally a director.”

”Gan Qing,” the middle-aged hippie nodded.

The group began venturing deeper into the forest while introducing themselves. Besides those Xu Huo already knew, the others were the fair-skinned middle-aged woman who spoke earlier, Zhu Rumin; a young woman with a bun hairstyle, Wu Xiaonan; a man dressed in work clothes, Chang Chengyong; and Qiu Xiangdong, who wore a tropical-style floral shirt and pants.

Since it was their first meeting, the players were all cautious. Aside from Ge Pan, whose original profession was director, and Wu Xiaonan, who was once a single-player game streamer and now worked as a dungeon commentary streamer, the others didn’t reveal much more information.