Players, Please Board the Train

Leaving the Protective Wall, Xu Huo stood on a conspicuous high tower, took out the energy cannon given by Bai Kou, inserted an Energy Plate, aimed at the high wall, and pulled the trigger!

”Boom!!!”

The Protective Wall collapsed once again, the tremor echoing throughout the entire city. This sent shivers down the spines of the General Administration Chief, who had just taken refuge in a safe place, and some high-ranking residents who had blindly followed him without understanding the situation. Fearing a repeat of the Pillar Bridge collapse, they hadn’t gone to the highest floors but had chosen a government high-rise built on a bedrock layer. The helicopter’s temperature hadn’t even cooled down yet, and now the wall was blown up again!

Seeing the large hole in the Protective Wall and the walls gradually collapsing to both sides, the General Administration Chief, whose head was still oozing blood, flew into a rage and ordered the players to investigate the area around the Protective Wall.

”Kill anyone who threatens the peace of Clown City! These people have had it too good for too long, a bunch of ungrateful wretches who can’t be tamed even with meat!”

While the General Administration Chief was cursing, a child hiding in a corner used a toy telescope to look at the Protective Wall and exclaimed in surprise, ”Water is gushing out from under the wall!”

The collapsed Protective Wall had smashed through the ground, creating deep, long trenches both inside and outside the wall structure, similar to Sunrise Clown City. However, as the wall stones tumbled down, water surged up from underground. With the expanding area of ground fissures, countless human bodies were pushed to the surface by the water.

”So many corpses!” someone exclaimed.

But soon, others noticed that those ”corpses” weren’t quite normal. Some deflated upon impact, floating on the surface like seaweed.

Despite this, some people recognized a few faces among these ”corpses”—they were the faces of warriors who had once left Clown City.The General Administration Chief even spotted Xin Lang among them.

”This is impossible!” His face darkened. He grabbed a communicator and ordered the players and soldiers sent to guard the Protective Wall to destroy those mycelium-formed corpses. Then he slammed the communicator down. ”That bitch! I should have killed her long ago!”

”General Administration Chief...” the secretary approached timidly, ”It seems someone on the opposite tower is waving at us...”

The General Administration Chief turned to look and immediately recognized Xu Huo. ”It’s that outsider player!”

Meanwhile, Xu Huo stood on the tower, making sure the people in the Government Building had seen him before leaping down. Landing steadily on the ground, he sprinted toward the building!

Fear flashed across the General Administration Chief’s face. He roared, ”To the station, quickly! I need to leave Clown City!”

As the top authority in Clown City, he possessed special credentials allowing him to leave via non-player trains.

But the others present did not. Realizing they were about to be abandoned, those high-ranking residents, all wealthy or influential, panicked and swarmed around, demanding the General Administration Chief take them along.

”Get the hell away from me!” The General Administration Chief drew his gun to threaten the crowd and ordered the players and soldiers to clear a path.

This provoked public outrage. Several strong men tried to grab the gun. As gunfire rang out and someone fell, the situation descended into chaos.

The General Administration Chief barely managed to extricate himself from the mob. But just as he reached the top floor, all the helicopters on the helipad turned into dust, crashing through the roof into the floor below along with the rooftop itself!

And at that moment, Xu Huo stood on the edge of the wall. Using The Severing Ties Door to block the first wave of bullets, he then put away the door and activated ”Moving Metal” and ”Absolute Safety Distance.”

Several warriors emptied their magazines. The General Administration Chief retreated while firing forward. However, the man opposite didn’t dodge at all; the bullets fired at him were intercepted by items. He didn’t even pause for half a second.

”You’re an outsider player! Why are you interfering in Clown City’s affairs? What exactly did Xin Lang promise you?!” the General Administration Chief screamed hysterically. ”She’s dead! Whatever you want, I can give it to you! Aren’t you players all the same, killing and burning for potions, for White Bills, doing anything? What’s the difference between working for her and working for me?”

”I admired Xin Lang.” Xu Huo gave an answer the other man hadn’t anticipated.

From an observer’s perspective, he deeply admired this woman. Her actions had transcended the vision of an ordinary person. Unburdened by her own hatred, she clearly knew what she needed to do, decisively cutting through the tangled mess to end Clown City’s evils, and even laid groundwork for Clown City’s future.

Those in the know didn’t need to be told. And those ordinary people who had unknowingly enjoyed the benefits would inevitably clash with those returning from the cleanup area and those who had lost family and friends. Either to vent their grievances or to protect their own interests, this might cause a split in Clown City.

Only by enduring the same pain and having a common enemy could the people of Clown City, after venting their emotions, possibly reunite.

This wasn’t just about completely severing the possibility of restarting the real-person games for those who hadn’t suffered the infection’s pain. It was about engraving this pain deeply into Clown City’s very bloodline.

If the entire populace paid a heavy price for this, there would be no fertile ground for people like the General Administration Chief to survive.

Furthermore, Xin Lang also understood that without enough players, Clown City would struggle to establish itself in the game. She gave up the King Fungus, gave up the Nüwa Stone, also gambling on Clown City’s future. If successful, Clown City would turn a new page entirely. If not, Clown City would rot from then on.

Her choice of death also stemmed from her hatred and disappointment towards Clown City, so her plan ended there.

However, what was unexpected was that before the real chaos even began, the massive nest excavated by the fungi saved Clown City once.

Xu Huo had come to Clown City merely to take refuge, but the people and events he witnessed gave him a sense of the wheel of fate turning, as if he were caught in a massive swirling vortex. Just when he felt powerless, he looked up and saw a path to survival, as if this world was reconciling with itself.

Xin Lang was just an ordinary person, not even comparable to an evolved person. Yet she spent twenty years reversing Clown City’s situation. The underground fungi were originally Clown City’s internal threat, to the point of sealing the ground to contain it. Yet, in the end, it was this same threat that absorbed the shockwaves from the battles of high-level players.

This was partly why he had rushed to Sunset Clown City.

The General Administration Chief laughed loudly. ”Well, this is an eye-opener. A player actually wanting to do good deeds?”

”You pity these people? How are they different from other players you’ve killed in dungeons? The strong prey on the weak. It’s their destiny to become stepping stones!”

”Very reasonable.” Xu Huo looked at him, devoid of any other emotion. ”So, I’m killing you for no other reason than that you are weak, and I just happen to dislike you.”

The General Administration Chief’s face twitched. He secretly ordered the players who had gradually arrived and were lying in ambush around them to attack.

”Truth Transcends All.” Xu Huo used his newly acquired Major Characteristic, physically crashing through and sending several players blocking his path flying. With one hand, he grabbed the General Administration Chief’s throat and snapped it.

After discarding the corpse, he used ”Forced Forgetfulness” and left the Government Building.

Back on the ground, he saw a mycelium-formed ”corpse” floating over. Casually plucking a red rose, he placed it on its chest. As he stood up, he paused briefly, then watched it drift away before turning to face the Bearded Man who had appeared out of thin air behind him.