Players, Please Board the Train

”Xu Huo!” Team Leader Song heard the name and was both shocked and furious. ”You are Xu Huo?! What are you trying to do! Taunting the Special Defense Department again and again—do you think no one can rein you in?!”

He had only been back a few days and had already caused such a huge incident. Team Leader Song suspected he was being targeted personally.

”I have no grudge with the Special Defense Department. How is that taunting? You were the one who sought me out today.” Xu Huo glanced at the video call that had already ended, slid his phone into his pocket, and added, ”You should be thanking me for this.”

”I risked everything to get the antidote fungus from another district, originally to save those poisoned by mutant venom. I never thought the antidote would still be undeveloped before Mr. Qiu could gift a specimen to someone,” he smiled slightly. ”There were only five antidote fungi in total... I didn’t expect your Special Defense Department would be so generous. But once those things are given away, they are gone. I solved the source for you—don’t you feel much more at ease now?”

Team Leader Song’s expression shifted repeatedly. His murderous gaze swept first across the black-cloaked figures who had crawled out of the lake, then landed on the players behind Xu Huo who were filming with their phones.

”Don’t change the subject!” he snapped. ”Xu Huo, based on your actions, the Special Defense Department has the right to arrest you!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Special Defense Department players who had just come out of their panic over poisoning began moving toward the lakeside club.

Xu Huo knew that this sly old fox would never address the matter publicly, but it didn’t matter. He had simply laid the secret out in the open to add himself a bargaining chip.

Exposing the King Fungus was a major contribution, but credit only mattered to the living. When facing the Special Defense Department, it was best to hold the initiative. If Team Leader Song didn’t want the state’s and the department’s credibility ruined because of him, he would be afraid to take decisive action.

He turned to the player who had been filming him and asked, ”Did you get everything?”The player froze for a moment, then replied, ”We did, and it’s all uploaded!”

Xu Huo paid no attention to the players who were about to reach the lakeside club. Instead he looked at the camera and said, ”Welcome, Double Snake members, to come and get your revenge. Over the next ten days, I will be visiting the Special Defense Department headquarters.”

Nearby Huang Junjie and the others’ eyelids twitched. They knew he was reckless, but they hadn’t expected him to play this big. From the sound of it, he even intended to hitch a free ride to the Special Defense Department headquarters?

A minute earlier, when Xu Huo revealed his identity and provoked the department, they were entertained. Now their thoughts were gone; so long as the department didn’t turn its attention to the First Association, what Xu Huo did was none of their business.

Tan Yang subtly signaled to the players beside him: they were withdrawing.

But at that moment, a loud bang came from the club entrance. Accompanied by the hum of engines, three military vehicles sped to the lakeside and screeched to a halt in front of Team Leader Song!

Nie Xuan, dressed in a camouflage uniform, was the first to get out of the passenger seat. He swept his gaze across the scene, then fixed it on the black-cloaked men and said coldly, ”Kidnapping, murder, promoting a cult—execute them on the spot.”

Ten heavily armed Special Defense Department players who had disembarked with him raised their guns in unison. After a rapid burst of gunfire, several bodies fell into the lake, red blood slowly seeping outward.

Nie Xuan then picked up a megaphone and announced to Team Leader Song’s side, ”Xu Huo and the First Association members are all Ting City players. I will take over the subsequent matters!”

People on Team Leader Song’s side froze and turned their gazes to him.

Facing one another, Song’s momentum was noticeably weaker. Nie Xuan looked travel-worn and still carried the scent of blood on his clothes—clearly just back from some battlefield—his stern coldness contrasting with Team Leader Song’s anger.

Song’s face was not a pleasant sight. ”Nie Xuan, are you trying to shield Xu Huo?”

”Ting City players being handled by Ting City is not an issue,” Nie Xuan said. ”When the Special Defense Department was established, corresponding rules were set. If Team Leader Song hasn’t read the Player 203 regulations, go back and look them up.”

”In addition, the undercover player Sima Xiao Er has already reported the events and their causes to me. Double Snake not only engages in cult promotion but also organizes large groups of players into abnormal gatherings and has spread to several cities, with the children of high-ranking officials involved.”

”Team Leader Song, if I were you I’d think in advance how to write this report so it doesn’t get dragged all the way down.”

What Nie Xuan said struck at the core of the matter and explained why Team Leader Song was so desperate to catch Xu Huo: this wasn’t the first time Xu Huo had caused trouble. Two uncontrollable player organizations fighting each other would be better than a single Red Player organization having its secrets exposed by a few players.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t take anyone away right now.

At that moment Nie Xuan’s phone rang. He answered, listened to one sentence, and then passed it over.

Team Leader Song took the phone. His expression darkened severely. A moment later he returned the phone and ground his teeth, ”Hand the people over to you!”

”Alive people I will take away, the dead you dispose of.” Nie Xuan turned and said to the players gathered on both sides of the lake, ”First Association players, please go to the Ting City branch office within three days to cooperate with the investigation.”

He waved, indicating that the First Association players could leave.

”Is that it?” The players were a bit incredulous, but Team Leader Song’s people had already withdrawn and Nie Xuan’s side made no move. They could leave the club at any time.

Both sides of the players gradually backed off. Tan Yang was helped to Xu Huo’s side. ”Thanks for what you did tonight.”

”Let’s keep in touch.” Huang Junjie said as well.

Xu Huo glanced at them and said nothing.

The two couldn’t really chat now and had to leave.

Pu Kang lingered and looked at him a few more times, but when he saw the dark pathogens on the ground he carefully circled around them.

Guan Zuhong and Little Zhang were not yet ready to leave; they wanted to ask Nie Xuan about other Double Snake strongholds. But soon Little Zhang received a text from Brother Liang—he had followed a vehicle carrying corpses to a Double Snake stronghold and had turned off his phone to avoid exposure. Now that things were resolved smoothly, he was already en route back to Yang City.

Brother Liang suffered several casualties, but considering tonight’s overall outcome, it was a good result.

”Brother Xu, thanks to you we were able to root out Double Snake’s cancer,” Little Zhang came over to thank him. ”If it weren’t for the few of us, finding this place would have been impossible. If we’d tipped them off and they moved, it would have been so hard to find them again. Who knows how many players would have died at their hands!”

”We all did our part.” Xu Huo smiled. ”Maybe later the Special Defense Department will hand out rewards.”

This group had mixed feelings about the Special Defense Department, and Nie Xuan’s arrival didn’t fully restore the department’s image. Seeing Nie Xuan leading his people up the club steps, they said their goodbyes to Xu Huo and left.

The survivors had already blended into the crowd and gone. Only Xu Huo and a few Double Snake members, whose fate was uncertain, remained in the dining hall.

”Captain Nie!” Outside, Sima Xiao Er ran toward Nie Xuan in excitement.