Players, Please Board the Train

”What reason do I have to cooperate with you?” Xu Huo said. ”This isn’t a cooperation dungeon. Everyone here is in competition with each other.”

The young player snorted with a laugh. ”Some people want to reduce the numbers to clear the dungeon faster. You don’t want to become their target either, do you?”

”Cooperation is just having an extra pair of eyes and ears. We look out for each other in the game, and if something happens, at least we’ll know who our opponents are. With so many people here, you can’t possibly suspect everyone.”

”I won’t provoke anyone who doesn’t provoke me. Everyone can clear the dungeon however they want—no problem. But if someone comes after you, can you just swallow that bitter loss?”

His meaning was clear: he wouldn’t cause trouble for those who didn’t cause trouble for him, but if someone tried to make a move in the dark, he would definitely retaliate.

”Besides, letting others clear the dungeon first before doing it yourself is common sense.”

”Fine. How do we cooperate?” Xu Huo agreed.

”Straight to the point!” The young player gave his name. ”I’m Liang Chong.”

”Xu Zhi.”

”Do you have any surveillance items?” Liang Chong asked.”Regular phone equipment can serve as surveillance items too,” Xu Huo said.

”That’s useless,” Liang Chong waved his hand. ”A lot of players have items specifically targeting electronic devices. Those who don’t will at least have interference devices. Besides, without an internet connection, even if the target discovers it, they have plenty of time to remove it on the spot.”

He pulled out a pair of eye-shaped stickers. ”This is my item. Sticking one on your palm lets you record video. When the two eyes come together, you can watch the recorded footage.”

”You do know guests can’t open their own doors at night, right?” Xu Huo held the stickers and said. ”Even if you want to keep the door open to watch, aren’t you worried about becoming an unwelcome guest?”

Liang Chong stared at him for two seconds, then said, ”There’s a gap under the door.”

”Brilliant.” Xu Huo turned and called over Lu Zhen, who had been hovering nearby. ”Do you want to join?”

Lu Zhen nodded eagerly.

”Three people won’t be a problem, right?” Xu Huo asked Liang Chong.

The latter just shrugged.

Xu Huo handed the sticker to Lu Zhen, who looked very pleased. After they went downstairs, she added, ”Maybe we’ll actually catch footage of how others clear the dungeon. It would be great if someone cleared it first.”

Soon, night fell. Lu Zhen voluntarily crouched by the door, pressing her palm against the gap beneath it, waiting patiently.

But their luck wasn’t good tonight. The ”Temporary Master” was upstairs. Even Lu Zhen could hear the footsteps.

”Liang Chong definitely knows who it is. We can ask him tomorrow.”

Xu Huo could clearly sense someone moving around upstairs. But after pacing on the upper floor for a while, the person quietly came down the stairs. They first went to the leftmost room on the second floor, then descended to the first floor, stopping and starting as they moved. It took a good while before they returned to the third floor.

After that, there was no more activity.

When the person first came out, there had been noise—almost like a warning to others that the ”Temporary Master” had appeared. Then they quietly made a circuit of the empty rooms on the second floor before heading to the second floor to pack things up. Was this the game’s requirement for the ”Temporary Master”?

Tidying up the guest rooms and cleaning?

The two dead players in that room had already been stuffed into the bathroom. If the villa owner was supposed to clean up the corpses, there was still another one next door. The Redhead hadn’t moved that body—it was still in the cabinet. Cleaning some but not others seemed inconsistent.

”Go to sleep. No one’s coming out tonight,” Xu Huo said.

The next morning, as soon as eight o’clock hit, someone couldn’t wait to rush out and ask, ”Who’s missing?”

The players from the second floor all went up to the third floor, only to find that all players were still there. No one had died last night, and no one had cleared the dungeon today.

”There are fewer people on the third floor. It should be easy to figure out who it was last night,” the Baby-faced Player said. ”How about we all stop hiding things and share with each other?”

But no one responded to her. Only a player whose roommate had been killed by her yesterday spoke up with anger. ”If you’ve got the skills, go ahead and kill everyone here...”

Before he could finish, the Baby-faced Player’s knife was already flying toward his face. ”Everyone else has a roommate except you. It must be you!”

The player was provoked into action. Raising his hand, he shouted, ”Sever in Two!”

The Baby-faced Player’s knife didn’t actually break. It just stopped mid-swing, unable to cut through. The male player seized the opportunity to throw out a gas mask. ”Unbreathable Mask!”

Just as the mask was about to clamp down on the Baby-faced Player’s head, the Raincoat Man reached out and caught it. He used a small iron hook to snag the item, then smoothly stored it in his luggage compartment. The hook came loose and the line automatically spun in the air several times, forming a loop that wrapped around the male player’s neck!

The thin thread instantly dug into his neck. The male player was dragged to the ground, struggling and clawing at his throat. But the thread was too thin and too deeply embedded—he couldn’t pull it out. He grabbed the line in front of him and tried to cut it with his item knife, but even that failed!

”Too arrogant!” Liang Chong tossed out a White Bill. ”Hey buddy, you dropped your money!”

The Raincoat Man instinctively bent down to pick up the money. But unfortunately, he was too fast. Before Liang Chong could get close, he spun around, grabbed the money, and kicked out at the same time!

Hand-to-hand combat was nothing to fear, but the Raincoat Man’s shoes were clearly items too. When he kicked, a burst of needle-thin projectiles flew out. Liang Chong dodged to the side, but the Baby-faced Player circled around to block him. ”Trip!”

Liang Chong hit the ground as expected. He rolled to the side just in time—a massive black hammer slammed down right next to his shoulder!

The floor cracked open. The Baby-faced Player looked annoyed as she chased after Liang Chong.

Just then, Xu Huo came up the stairs. Seeing the black heavy hammer heading straight for him, he didn’t even hesitate. With one swing of his sword, he cut it in half. Before the Baby-faced Player could react, he kicked her flying.

As her body slammed into the Raincoat Man, Xu Huo had already teleported to the corridor ahead. He also sliced through the item thread in one swift motion.

The male player with the purpling face gasped for air, clutching Xu Huo’s pant leg as he coughed uncontrollably. Xu Huo glanced at the eye on his sword hilt—which had narrowed into a slit—and turned an unhappy look toward the Raincoat Man.

”Actually, there’s another decent way to clear the dungeon. That is to kill everyone. If there’s only one player left in the dungeon, being a qualified master should be pretty easy.”

Those words made everyone’s expression change. The Alluring Female Player and the Redhead, who had been watching from the sidelines, quickly moved away.

The Raincoat Man’s expression also turned sour. But when he caught sight of the eye on Xu Huo’s sword hilt—which seemed to be twitching non-stop—he immediately pulled back his aggression. Putting away his item, he said, ”I don’t want to fight you. Let’s call a truce.”

Xu Huo’s sword could destroy D-grade items. That was already far beyond what players of the same grade were capable of—there was no comparison. Even if someone had the upper hand, the remaining players were no saints either.

Xu Huo turned to look at the others. The Redhead quickly said, ”I have no problem with you!”

The Alluring Female Player and the two who had tried to rape someone yesterday twitched their faces and forced out awkward smiles.

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