Players, Please Board the Train

”Most people here are neither injured nor infected, but in the other side’s eyes, they’ve become Mutants. Assuming it’s just one person’s holographic glasses malfunctioning, or one person being infected in a way not visible on the surface, it would absolutely not create this kind of opposing factions situation.”

”One side red, one side blue. Regardless of whether they’re infected or not, they see the other side as entirely Mutants. It’s like a game, there must be opposing sides.”

Zhuo Wangsun suddenly understood. ”So the targets and flags mentioned in the clearance task actually refer to the Blue Faction?”

Xu Huo nodded, not caring how much his words affected Master Tu, Sister Shan, and the others. ”The designated location should be the Blue Faction’s main base, at least it’s on the other side of the canyon.”

Judging by the setup between the two sides, the real main base is actually Clown City. But considering this is an E-rank dungeon, the difficulty shouldn’t be that high.

”Impossible... this can’t be...” Master Tu was heavily shaken, forcing himself to ask, ”If the area outside Clown City isn’t completely occupied by Mutants, why would the government hide it from everyone? They could have both sides act together to clear the cleanup area...”

Zhuo Wangsun felt quite pity for him, but that was the extent of it. He destroyed his own holographic glasses and said to Xu Huo, ”Should we cross the canyon now?”

Xu Huo released the player Wen Ping and prepared to leave.

”Wait!” Sister Shan called out to him, pressing for answers, ”What exactly did you mean by two Clown Cities and red and blue factions? You’re not leaving until you explain clearly!”

”You still want to stop us?” Zhuo Wangsun became wary. ”We exposed the Clown City government’s conspiracy, you should be thanking us!”Xu Huo wasn’t angry. He patted Zhuo Wangsun’s shoulder, signaling him to step back, and said, ”Let me ask you a few questions.”

”First, since the goal is to clear Mutants and reclaim our homeland, why not use high-lethality weapons? I’ve already tested it; neither high-frequency sounds nor massive sonic vibrations attract Mutant tides.”

”Second, if the cleanup area is so dangerous, why are there so few players coming? And most of the participating warriors haven’t undergone strict training, and their equipment is poor.”

”Third, the food and water sources in the cleanup area are polluted. Normal people eating or drinking them will lose their minds. Clown City definitely knows this. Why haven’t they informed people of the truth, nor prepared sufficient backup resources?”

”These points alone show that the task of clearing Mutants is actually a farce. No government would act like this when it involves territorial resources.”

”The Mutant transformations you’ve seen might indeed include some who truly degenerated into Mutants. But I can say definitively, if someone just loses their mind due to the influence of the cleanup area’s food and water, they won’t turn into a Mutant. A single antidote can verify this. Conversely, if the things growing in the cleanup area can cause people to Mutate, then the soil and groundwater must be severely polluted. Clown City should either completely relocate or implement strict protective measures.”

”Ask those people.” Xu Huo pointed at Master Tu. ”Some of them have lived in the high-temperature zone for years. They repaired and modified the city’s pre-abandonment water filtration system to filter drinking water. To this day, not a single person has shown infection symptoms. And this is within the cleanup area.”

These words shattered the deeply ingrained beliefs of everyone present. Many even lowered their guns, especially Sister Shan and her group. Unlike Master Tu’s people who had that experiment as a transitional stage, they were completely caught off guard by this ”devastating news” right in the middle of the thrill of hunting ”Mutants.” Their brains probably couldn’t process it, stuck oscillating between disbelief and ultimate contradiction.

The only ones possibly happy were the two injured people. They wept with joy. ”I won’t turn into a Mutant! I won’t turn into a Mutant!”

”So that means, those people didn’t have to die at all...” Sister Shan murmured.

Wen Ping looked at her with conflict and sorrow. ”Sister Shan, what happened to Sister Hu isn’t your fault...”

To eliminate Mutants, some might have personally killed their comrades, their own family. Master Tu’s group even resorted to cannibalism. If even the government can use a colossal lie to play with countless lives, nothing that happens in Clown City should be surprising.

The reason Xu Huo said so much was to spread this information.

”W-wait!” Sister Shan called out to him again, though her tone was much softer this time, still tinged with doubt. ”Whether there’s another Clown City, and whether what you said is true, can’t be considered Case Closed yet! You need to come back with us as a witness!”

”The holographic glasses aren’t actually made very precisely,” Xu Huo didn’t answer directly, instead saying, ”I can create a fake wound, and the glasses will judge me as a Mutant. But if I put on a Protective Suit, I return to normal.”

”Red glasses see blue glasses as Mutants. But if you take off the glasses, everything appears normal again.”

”This live-action game’s details are very poorly executed, full of loopholes everywhere. Do you think anyone has ever noticed the problems here?”

Having said that, he didn’t linger any longer, leaving the forest with Zhuo Wangsun.

”These people born in Clown City are truly pitiful,” Zhuo Wangsun sighed. ”Maybe someone discovered before that the infection isn’t fatal, or realized the existence of a second Clown City. But people like that were probably secretly executed.”

”In the Arena, these people were fervent, talking constantly about reclaiming their homeland. Who would have thought their lives were worthless?”

”There are even more pitiful ones.” Xu Huo stopped at the canyon cliff edge and pointed to a spot in the valley below. There, many people were exchanging fire, some with red glasses, some with blue.

Before touching the truth of the matter, one might not think much of it. But looking at it now, it’s utterly absurd.

”Are they that stupid? Do Mutants use guns and fight in coordinated teams?” Zhuo Wangsun found it hard to believe.

”You forgot places with vegetation cover can confuse people’s minds?” Xu Huo said.

”But that still doesn’t make sense...” Zhuo Wangsun still wore a face full of suspicion. ”Do they really trust the Clown City government’s words that much? Just take off the glasses and look!”

”Those who took off their glasses probably all died,” Xu Huo said. ”After all, most who enter here are ordinary people.”

”No wonder Clown City doesn’t let high-level players in. Besides not wanting people to expose the truth about the cleanup area, they also want complete control over the situation. That way, even if someone notices something’s off, they can deal with it.” Zhuo Wangsun paused. ”If that’s the case, the reason we were attacked in the Gobi Area was because the number of players increased, with the goal of splitting us up?”

”That’s most likely the intent.” Xu Huo looked towards the dense forest on the other side of the canyon. ”Let’s get a map first.”