Players, Please Board the Train

”These kinds of people exist in every era, but since players appeared, the situation seems to have gotten worse and worse.” Sima Xiao Er said to himself, ”I really hope the Special Defense Department becomes even stronger, strong enough to keep these players in check.”

”Desperadoes living day by day, it’s no surprise they do anything.” Xu Huo’s expression was calm. This was just the beginning. Once a large number of players become D-level players and dungeons can serve as a buffer zone for escaping danger, even more lawless people will appear.

”Is there really no way to deal with them?” Sima Xiao Er angrily pounded the steering wheel. ”Bullying the weak is no real skill. If they have the guts, they should go pick fights with players from other districts... Brother Xu, you’ve been to other partitions. How do those places handle such players?”

”Violent suppression.” Xu Huo said, ”In any relatively peaceful game partition, the Partition Government definitely has a large number of capable players under its command, and weapons have also made significant progress.”

”But even that can’t prevent players from using train tickets to escape. Who can catch someone using a train ticket?”

”If they leave, unless they never plan to return, they will still have some level of apprehension. Also, there is a way to restrict the use of train tickets, and that is to force players into a dungeon. Players who have started clearing a dungeon cannot use train tickets again until the dungeon ends.”

Sima Xiao Er let out a long sigh. ”That’s going to take a very, very long time. Even if you want to deal with this kind of person, you at least need to enter the same dungeon.”

Xu Huo didn’t spell it out too clearly. Zone 014 is so vast, there are definitely people who know the relationship between dungeons and their holders, but whether anyone else has obtained a Dungeon Authorization Document is hard to say.

The car drove for another twenty minutes and finally arrived at the toy store Sima Xiao Er mentioned.

The name was very down-to-earth, called ”Master Craftsman’s Handicraft Shop.” Walking inside, it indeed looked like a toy store: toy pistols, prop swords and knives, miniature tanks, cannons, small humanoid figurines, keychains, or stickers, paintbrushes, drawing pads, and even smaller items like rings and bracelets.The items were made very exquisitely, all in miniature versions. However, every single item, including the stickers, was locked inside glass cabinets, not allowed to be touched, and all were priced expensively. A puppet monitor was also hanging in the middle of the shop. Wherever a person walked, it would look that way, its eyeballs eerily realistic.

”Boss, are the prices on your stuff just made up? A single sticker actually costs two hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand in hell money?” Sima Xiao Er said to the old man dozing off behind the counter.

”Young man, do you even know how to talk? Of course it’s priced at two hundred thousand because it’s worth two hundred thousand White Bills.” The old man removed the hat covering his face, revealing a face like that of the Maitreya Buddha, smiling as he sized them up.

”Two hundred thousand White Bills!” Sima Xiao Er’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

”You thought it was paper money?” The old man waved his hand, his gaze then falling on Xu Huo. ”It’s not raining, why are you carrying an umbrella?”

Xu Huo had hung the ”Umbrella of Justice” on his arm when he got out of the car. He smiled and said, ”I heard you can also repair things here, so I wanted to ask you to take a look at this umbrella of mine.”

He handed the umbrella over. The old man put on his glasses, took it, opened it, and closed it again. ”Nothing major wrong with it, just that someone messed with it improperly. The item is fine now.”

Xu Huo confirmed the other’s identity and added, ”Can’t you enhance the umbrella’s effect a bit?”

The old man looked up and gave him a glance. ”You have so many good things on you, no need to waste effort on a single umbrella.”

”That makes sense.” Xu Huo swept his gaze over the toys on the shelves. ”Are these for sale?”

”Of course they’re for sale. However, the shop prioritizes collecting all kinds of ore. If the ore quality is good, a direct exchange is possible. White Bills and ordinary paper money come second.” The old man said, ”Lately, I’m not short on money. If it’s not ore, then don’t bother.”

”Who does business like this!” Sima Xiao Er was utterly amazed.

The old man was also very direct. ”If I asked you for money, could you afford it?”

Sima Xiao Er choked, then immediately slapped Xu Huo’s arm. ”I can’t afford it, but my Brother Xu can!”

Xu Huo: Sorry to disappoint, but I can’t afford it either.

He had basically spent all his money buying items in District 011. Now he only has two hundred and twenty thousand White Bills left, barely enough to buy a sticker.

However, he did acquire quite a bit of ore on Deep Blue Island and in Clown City.

The old man immediately put on gloves and spread a layer of sandpaper on the counter, asking him to place the ore on it.

Xu Huo picked out a few pieces of similar types. For the ore from Deep Blue Island, the old man just glanced at them briefly before putting them down. But when he picked up the stone from Clown City, he cautiously changed to a different pair of glasses and examined it twice. Only after a long time did he reveal a smile. ”Not bad. A-grade ore. I’ll take this.”

”What grade is A-grade ore?” Sima Xiao Er interjected.

”The best ore below S-grade,” the old man said, looking at Xu Huo. ”Do you only have this one piece?”

”Only one piece,” Xu Huo said. ”I found it on a player.”

Seeing the other’s regretful expression, he asked, ”Is this kind of ore hard to find?”

”It can be considered quite hard to find.” The old man added, ”However, A-grade ore usually appears in clusters. It’s hard to say, but it might be a large deposit. It’s a real shame you don’t know the source.”

”What can it be exchanged for?” Xu Huo asked.

The old man gestured with his chin toward the stickers over there. ”You can pick anything priced around two to three hundred thousand White Bills. The other ores will be considered as extras, with an upper limit of four hundred thousand White Bills.”

”A stone smaller than a fist is worth two hundred thousand White Bills?” Sima Xiao Er was utterly shocked, then said to Xu Huo with envy and regret, ”Brother Xu, you really should have found out back then where that ore came from. If that really is a whole mine, you’d be rich!”

Xu Huo also appeared very surprised, but then shook his head. ”Something this good is definitely fought over by many people. Either that, or it’s in a very dangerous place. Even if I knew the location, it wouldn’t be my turn.”

The old man smiled without saying anything.

Xu Huo went to pick out items, while Sima Xiao Er scooped up the pile of ore, told the boss ”We’ll give it back after we’ve chosen,” and then leaned close to Xu Huo, lowering his voice to ask, ”Brother Xu, are these really items?”

Xu Huo nodded, looking one by one at the things inside the glass cabinets. The value of that piece of ore truly exceeded his expectations. It wasn’t the Nüwa Stone given by Xin Lang, but just a few pieces he casually picked up from the King Fungus growth area in the underground nest. And one of those pieces could be worth a lower-tier D-grade item.

”I have a question. Is this kind of ore raw material for making items?” he turned around and asked.

”It can be considered that, but the kind you brought is more often used to make weapons.” The old man walked over, holding his belly, and asked, ”What type of item are you looking for? I have offensive-type and defensive-type items here. Storage-type, daily-life-type, and entertainment-type items are also available. Considering you have ore, if you want to add a bit of money to buy a better item, that’s fine too.”

”I understand offensive and defensive, but what are daily-life-type and entertainment-type items?” Sima Xiao Er asked in confusion.