Players, Please Board the Train

Xu Huo didn’t linger long before continuing forward, because people were catching up from behind.

Putting on the invisibility item, he grabbed the piano wire and moved ahead.

The invisibility suit couldn’t completely conceal his tracks and wasn’t entirely safe either. He paused briefly up ahead, and once someone showed their face, he released ”The Repentant Poster,” watching its ugly face slither along the stone wall toward those pursuing players before speeding away.

The later arrivals spotted his boat. One of them said, ”The boat’s here, but where’s the person?”

”Players have plenty of tricks. He probably spotted us following and abandoned the boat outright,” another said. ”Anyway, the Styx only has one path. He’s got nowhere to go but forward. He can’t escape.”

They exchanged a few brief words before continuing along the waterway. However, at the turn, the player at the very back drew his sword and swung backward. ”Skulking around like a rat! Come out!”

The player next to him was holding something like a gaming device. ”There’s no one near us.”

”Impossible!” The attacking player insisted. ”There’s definitely someone!”

It was common for item effects to nullify other item effects. The player at the boat’s bow tossed something like a pebble into the water. Instantly, several thin water jets shot up from the channel, splashing several meters high before falling back into the water.

”My item only attacks living targets. No target means no one’s nearby,” the player at the bow said. ”Are you mistaking the venue’s entertainment effects for a real person?”After two failed attempts to find anyone, the player began to doubt himself. He hesitated. ”Maybe I really was seeing things.”

The boat continued forward. They passed through the tombstone area in silence. At the next turn, all the players facing forward spun around simultaneously—and sure enough, they caught a shadow flickering at the stern!

”Someone’s really there!” The two players at the stern immediately gave chase.

There weren’t many of them to begin with. Xu Huo had killed two earlier, and now two had run off, leaving three behind.

In games, it was best not to be alone. The three stopped the boat in the middle of the waterway, planning to turn back, when suddenly the boat was overturned by a powerful force. Several figures leaped out of the water. One of them, his head wrapped, lunged savagely at the nearest player, roaring, ”Bullying us with numbers! And now you’re back for more!”

The player sneered at the sight of him, pressed something on his chest, and a giant donut-shaped barrier sprang up in front of him. Long Aotian was bounced back a meter or two, but he grabbed the stone wall to stop his momentum and swung a knife back in retaliation!

The player was prepared and blocked the strike with a defensive blade. However, while he protected his front, he didn’t watch his back. Xiao Ling, after ramming one player aside with a toy car, turned and tossed out a indiscriminate short arrow. The arrow ricocheted back and forth in the narrow waterway, its trajectory unpredictable and thus impossible to preempt. In chaotic fights, items like this often produced unexpected results.

The player fighting Long Aotian, after his own companion dodged the short arrow, took it straight through the chest. Moments later, a mechanism triggered, ripping his stomach open!

Ugly and pretty things alike spilled from the wound. The player clutched at himself, but Long Aotian wasn’t about to let that opportunity slip. He stepped in, finished him off with another strike, and kicked the body into the water.

One dead. Of the remaining two, one was a puppet. The player controlling the doll used it to take a slash from Xiao Ling before scrambling up the stone wall, crawling like a gecko along the ceiling toward the Styx entrance.

A thin thread shot up after him, pierced the stone wall, and tore off a large chunk of rock like ripping cloth. The escaping player lost his grip, tumbled down, and was intercepted by Yu Guangnan, who had chased over the water’s surface. Yu punched him square in the chest and abdomen.

Yu Guangnan was wearing a special pair of gloves. When his fist connected, the explosive force bursting from his knuckles even shredded the player’s clothes. As the audible crack of bones echoed, the player was sent flying several meters before crashing into the water.

Long Aotian had been itching for the kill. He flipped his small knife, and a cold light split the water, slicing toward the man. But his opponent reacted quickly, dodging underwater before scrambling forward in frantic escape.

Long Aotian wanted to give chase, but the man hadn’t gotten far before he was suddenly yanked underwater—like something had dragged him down!

Yu Guangnan’s characteristic item was water-related, which was how the three of them had hidden underwater to ambush. When they’d gone down earlier, they’d found nothing but some skeletons.

Still, to be safe, the three exchanged glances and all returned to the boat.

There was no movement from underwater for a long time. Just as they suspected their target had escaped, blood and chunks of flesh surged up.

Yu Guangnan poked at it with a stick. ”Looks like bite marks from a large beast. Could there be crocodiles living down there?”

”A crocodile getting that close should have set off our senses.” Xiao Ling frowned. ”Forget it. Let’s move.”

The three continued toward the Styx entrance. Before long, they encountered another corpse. Long Aotian said, ”Part of their group. Six people, and now there’s only one left.”

”They were chasing someone in. There should be another player ahead. Whoever went back was killed, and someone else came down from behind.” Xiao Ling said.

”Stay alert.” Yu Guangnan warned.

They traveled a bit further down the waterway. At the next turn, they spotted the remaining player stumbling along the stone wall—seemingly suspended in midair, or perhaps fleeing.

The light in the channel was too dim. He could barely make out the figure’s silhouette and erratic movements. By the time Yu Guangnan brought out an illumination item, the player had already crumpled into a corpse, falling stiffly into the water. At the same time, a ghostly shadow flickered past the corner of the stone wall.

”What the hell was that thing? Something that looks like that can’t be a living person, right?” Long Aotian saw it too. ”Is it one of the venue’s props?”

After the Wax Figure Hall and the Doll riot, nothing moving in Museum City surprised them anymore. The real question was how dangerous it was.

”Could be another player’s item.”

But they’d come this far; turning back wasn’t an option. Just as they were about to press on, a writhing ribbon of light swam up the channel. Before they could react, the small boat was rapidly pulled toward it. Yu Guangnan’s nostrils flared, and his face immediately changed. ”It’s those people from last night.”

Compared to the ones they’d just dealt with, the players who’d ambushed them last night were the real deal. The only reason they’d retreated was because the player fighting Xu Huo had sent out a signal.

”Move!” Xiao Ling spun around quickly and attached a propeller-like gadget to the boat’s stern. A burst of thrust sent the small boat hurtling back the way they’d come. But the winding channel made it hard to steer, forcing them to stop and start constantly.

”There’s no way forward either, right? Aren’t we trapped underground?” Long Aotian said.