Players, Please Board the Train

Xu Huo used the same type of antidote for Jin Dong and the two children, Fish Ball and Ice Cream. It wasn’t specially formulated, just a C-grade potion he had purchased for emergencies.

All three of them had eaten untreated food from the cleanup area and had lost their voices. The symptoms that appeared on their bodies were different, but after losing their sanity, they could all regain consciousness with a C-grade antidote. This was especially true for Jin Dong; he had been delirious for nearly a year, yet he could also regain clarity in a very short time.

This indicated they most likely were not mutating into Mutants, but were instead being repeatedly poisoned in a special environment.

Jin Dong fell into confusion again shortly after entering the high-temperature zone. Mutants emerging from the crack below would also lose their sanity within a short time. This suggested that a high-temperature environment might exacerbate poisoning symptoms.

As for Subject One and Subject Two, who had been injected with the blood of Fish Ball and Ice Cream twice, they still showed no issues. This proved that directly injecting a small amount of Mutant blood, just like them consuming Mutants, did not constitute an infection vector.

As for Master Tu and the other person, they were judged as infected by the Holographic Glasses the instant their wounds were made. This was different from the wounds Yi Mao and the others received from Mutants. Xu Huo’s dagger had been sterilized, so there was no infection vector. Therefore, there were only two possible reasons they were judged as Mutants.

”One possibility is that the source of infection is the air itself. Contact with a wound leads to rapid infection, but the infection symptoms haven’t appeared yet.”

Xu Huo gave each of them a bottle of healing potion.

”If we stay in these high-temperature conditions continuously, we might mutate too,” Master Tu sighed heavily, his face pale.

”That’s not necessarily true,” Xu Huo said, turning around. He suddenly drew his knife and slashed his left hand. As blood flowed out, he turned back to face Zhuo Wangsun.Zhuo Wangsun, shocked, said, ”You’ve changed too! But this sacrifice is too great. There was really no need to make things so clear...”

Before he could finish, he saw Xu Huo relax his hand, and a piece of bloody skin fell off. Yet, his palm was completely unharmed.

”What about now?” Xu Huo asked.

Zhuo Wangsun saw the skin on the floor and exclaimed in surprise, ”You weren’t injured? But why do I still see you as a thermal image?”

”Judging whether someone is a Mutant is done through the Holographic Glasses. It’s probably a one-time confirmation that gets locked in.”

”What does that prove?” Zhuo Wangsun said. ”The Holographic Glasses might lock onto Mutants based on information like wounds or body surface, but that doesn’t mean the injured person isn’t infected.”

”That’s true,” Xu Huo admitted. ”But it proves the Holographic Glasses’ judgment criteria are very crude. Taking a step back, even if Clown City’s policy is ’better to kill the wrong than let one go,’ the reality is that people like Jin Dong only need to take an antidote to regain consciousness.”

”Have they really become Mutants?”

This question plunged everyone present into silence. Indeed, they had never heard of people who had degenerated into Mutants being able to recover. Yet, Fish Ball and Ice Cream, even in their frenzied state, could recover with just a random injection of antidote. Anyone looking at this would find it illogical.

”Maybe it really is just a common infection,” Zhuo Wangsun suggested. ”Most of those who lost their voices directly consumed food or water from the cleanup area. Master Tu and the others haven’t shown this symptom. Old, outdated filtration equipment from years ago in an abandoned city can avoid it, which shows the virus isn’t that powerful either.”

So the question arose. If the existence of Mutants was in doubt, then those injured, voiceless, and briefly insane warriors had instead become the main force targeted for cleanup. This was completely illogical. It was like they were constantly replenishing the Mutant population in batches and creating conditions for them to go mad and kill each other.

”Do you have the original map of Clown City?” Xu Huo asked.

Master Tu, still struggling to regain his composure amidst the shock and doubt, hurriedly rushed to his pile of luggage upon hearing the question. He rummaged through it and pulled out a tattered map. ”This is a complete map of Clown City found from the Planning Bureau. The current Clown City uses a new version of the map, which doesn’t include the cleanup area.”

The long scroll map was spread out and opened on the table. Judging from the marked locations, the city where Xu Huo and the others currently were sat slightly to the left on the original Clown City territory map, closer to where they had emerged. The remaining half, including the cleanup area, occupied half of the original map.

”Wasn’t the cleanup area originally in the center of Clown City? Why has the topography become so complex too?” Zhuo Wangsun couldn’t help but ask.

”The Gobi Area and the desert area were originally part of the city. Many towns were built in between. However, with the appearance of Mutants and the formation of the cleanup area, most were submerged or destroyed. You saw the Stone Forest that appeared not long ago. It’s not hard for a city to disappear,” Master Tu explained.

”The cleanup area is less than one-third of Clown City’s lost area,” Xu Huo noted. ”Does your cleanup task end in this place every time?”

He pointed to a canyon zone that stretched across the middle of the original Clown City map, almost penetrating the entire city.

”The canyon is the endpoint of the cleanup task,” Master Tu confirmed. ”This is the first phase of the cleanup mission. But because this phase’s task has never been completed, the second phase of cleanup cannot begin.”

”Cleaning up Mutants like this, I’m afraid it would take a hundred years to finish!” Zhuo Wangsun grabbed his knife, about to destroy his Holographic Glasses, but he subconsciously paused mid-action. He asked Xu Huo, ”Is this thing still useful?”

”Useful,” Xu Huo nodded. ”If we encounter other warriors, at least one person can help speak.”

Zhuo Wangsun put down the knife but quickly added, ”The Holographic Glasses should be connected to the main controller, right? Could the images we see be under surveillance?”

Most likely. But regarding the purpose of doing this, Xu Huo had no clue for now. The cleanup task seemed completely unnecessary to him. There were plenty of other methods to eradicate the original Mutants; there was no need to sacrifice so many people.

Letting in so many people seemed suspiciously like population control. However, judging from the information Zhuo Wangsun and the others had obtained in Clown City, the city’s population hadn’t reached an unsustainable level yet. Furthermore, with Clown City’s technological level, they could establish new cities outside to alleviate population pressure.

Many thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. Xu Huo asked Master Tu another question, ”Does Clown City have preferential policies for immigrants?”

Master Tu nodded in surprise. ”Every year, Clown City sends special propaganda ambassadors to other cities or Game Partitions for exchanges. Whether they are ordinary people or players, anyone who settles in Clown City receives excellent benefits. This is especially true for players. Besides the individual enjoying preferential treatment, their family members and relatives can all move here together. The government allocates housing, and for families facing difficulties, a minimum living allowance is provided. If you don’t want to work, that’s fine too. As long as you give birth to three children within ten years, you can receive lifelong welfare.”