Players, Please Board the Train

”I also heard Yi Mao and the others mention before that some people can go their whole lives without working.” Zhuo Wangsun said, ”In other game partitions, if such a policy were implemented, the government would have likely collapsed long ago. Clown City’s population isn’t small either, yet it can still maintain itself this well.”

”After all, so many people are sent into the cleanup area every year.” Xu Huo pondered. Clown City’s population import policy and the cleanup tasks essentially offset each other. Since the cleanup tasks seem to hold little significance from the perspective of clearing Mutants, could it be for experiments?

That didn’t make much sense either. Infections like Jin Dong’s weren’t severe and held no value as Experimental Samples.

”Can anything be discerned from this map?” Master Tu couldn’t help but ask.

Xu Huo glanced at him but didn’t elaborate, instead turning back to Zhuo Wangsun, ”I plan to go take a look at the canyon area.”

Zhuo Wangsun, of course, expressed his desire to go as well, ”What about these two kids?”

”Leave them here.” Xu Huo said.

Zhuo Wangsun looked at Master Tu and the others.

”We won’t do anything to these children.” Master Tu said.

”Can your words be trusted?” Zhuo Wangsun retorted.”If you’re truly uneasy, you can send the two children back to the Underground Fissure.” Master Tu said, ”After all, Gao Peng and his men are already dead. The remaining people won’t be able to go down into the fissure to capture anyone.”

Xu Huo changed into a Protective Suit. As he pulled the hood over his head, he paused briefly, sweeping his gaze over Master Tu and the others, ”You’re coming with me too.”

”Why?” Several Young Men panicked, each saying they didn’t want to leave the building, were no match for Mutants, and would surely have no survival ability once outside.

”I’m not discussing this with you.” Xu Huo slid the gun into its holster and tucked it behind his waist. He then picked out a few decent-quality Submachine Guns from their belongings and stored them in his luggage compartment before saying, ”You can choose to die here or shed your last drop of fervor for Clown City.”

Master Tu gnashed his teeth, ”Isn’t this just sending us to our deaths directly?”

”You can choose not to go.” Xu Huo said flatly. He turned and nodded to Zhuo Wangsun, picked up Ice Cream, and jumped directly down through the hole in the second-floor floor. After landing, he put an extra bullet into the chest of the burned scalping man, then pointed his gun at the others, ”Grab your things and get out.”

The first and second floors weren’t soundproof. In fact, those downstairs had heard most of what Xu Huo and the others said upstairs. A total of over twenty people, some furious, some despairing, but even with guns in hand, they didn’t dare shoot at Xu Huo.

Master Tu and the others soon followed downstairs. After distributing food and water to the others, they put on their Protective Suits and walked out of the building, crestfallen.

”Where should we put the children?” Zhuo Wangsun asked Xu Huo, ”Send them back?”

”You watch them. I’ll be back soon.” Xu Huo took Fish Ball and quickly left the building, arriving at the place where he had previously encountered Fish Ball.

Placing the two into the underground passage, he instructed Fish Ball, ”Hide here. Don’t come out, and don’t go back. If anyone comes, hide further inside. I’ll come back to get you once I finish my business.”

Fish Ball urgently grabbed his hand, gesturing to ask: Will you die?

Xu Huo paused, left two antidotes for him, and also gave him a pistol, ”Can you use it?”

Fish Ball nodded.

”Good.” Xu Huo made no promise, pulling the manhole cover over to seal it.

There was still some distance from the city to the canyon. In the high-temperature weather, Master Tu and the others, who hadn’t exercised in a long time, appeared exhausted even before leaving the city. The group had many complaints. However, after Xu Huo shot two able-bodied young men who harbored malicious thoughts, the others became obedient again.

Although Zhuo Wangsun wasn’t entirely clear on his intention for bringing these people, looking ahead, he saw two Mutants mixed into a group of half-dead people—Xu Huo had covered his entire body with a Protective Suit. Though he lacked glasses, he now looked like a normal person.

”Which partition’s player are you from?” He struck up a conversation with Xu Huo, ”Compared to Clown City, my hometown is much more backward. It only entered the game recently. I was fairly lucky, having some modest assets and gaining a big advantage on the Preliminary Trial Train.”

”Just don’t know when I’ll become a D-level player.”

”If your rating is high enough, a few fixed dungeons can get you to D-level.” Xu Huo said, ”But aside from leveling up, the biggest advantage is probably gaining a luggage compartment for storing supplies.”

Zhuo Wangsun smiled upon hearing this, ”That benefit isn’t obvious enough. Just one luggage compartment is even more of a scam than the Preliminary Trial Train.”

”The game’s attitude towards players is the same as Clown City’s attitude towards Warriors.” Xu Huo said, ”It’s just that Clown City’s cleanup tasks can end, but the game cannot.”

Zhuo Wangsun slowly sighed, gazing at the road ahead and suddenly having a whimsical thought, ”Could it be that Clown City is also a game? Similar to a real-person combat simulation?”

After saying it, he shook his head and denied it himself, ”Probably not. What government would be this insane, killing so many people? It’s beyond just having strong mental fortitude.”

Xu Huo didn’t respond, instead looking ahead and saying, ”Someone’s coming.”

Moments later, several people rushed out from a nearby grove of trees, shouting at them loudly, ”Don’t shoot! We’re not Mutants!”

”Mutants!” Someone in the group, startled, fired. Half of the emerging people died on the spot. One injured person fell to the ground, wailing, ”I’m not a Mutant! Why kill me?!”

”Everyone, stop!” Zhuo Wangsun rushed forward and kicked away the person who still intended to shoot, angrily shouting, ”Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear him shouting?!”

The kicked person also raged, ”They’re already infected! If we let them approach, we might all be doomed! You want to die, but we don’t!”

After saying this, he actually disregarded the obstruction and raised his gun again. But before he could pull the trigger, his head jerked violently, a spray of blood mist erupted, and he fell to the ground.

Everyone looked back at Xu Huo, who had fired.

Quelling this brief conflict, Xu Huo walked up to the two survivors, ”Where did you come from?”

The two, still shaken, said, ”The canyon... from the canyon...”

Before they could finish, a person suddenly shot out from the grove, flying over ten meters high to look down at them, ”Thought it was just a few stray cats, didn’t expect so many to come at once!”

He then fired at the people below.

”Bang! Bang! Bang!” Bullets swept across the ground but clearly deviated from their original trajectory, injuring no one. Just as Master Tu and the others began to flee, the hovering player looked down at the string on his arm, frowning and warning, ”Meddling in others’ business!”

Xu Huo didn’t give him a second chance to raise his gun. With a tug of the kite string, he pulled the man down. Simultaneously, Zhuo Wangsun drew his long knife and swung at the landing player, but was forced back by bullets that followed closely!

”There are more people in the grove!” Zhuo Wangsun shouted back, while Xu Huo had already used a small paper strip launcher to inject the opposing player with a dose, pulling the man before him and placing his Long Sword against his neck.