Players, Please Board the Train

Xu Huo endured until dawn, then set down his cards and stood up to stretch, glancing toward the carriage behind him first.

Someone from the back had come out to use the restroom. When the door opened, he spotted several headless corpses in the far corner of the rear carriage, two of which bore varying degrees of bite marks.

The female player had already gone ahead to open the front door.

When the commotion broke out last night, players from the front carriage had rushed out. To guard against them, the carriage doors had been sealed, and by now those people were already gone.

There was quite a bit of blood in the aisle, but the front carriage door was completely locked. Ringing the bell brought no one to open it, and even the windows were covered so tightly that not a sliver of light could get through.

The female player came back and shrugged. ”It can’t be that much of a coincidence that it’s only our three carriages in the back, right?”

Clearly, the others had doubts about yesterday’s assumptions too.

”Let’s ask the train attendant,” the severed-finger player said.

The burly player summoned the train attendant, ordered some food, and slipped her a tip while asking about the situation in the front carriages.

But this time, the attendant didn’t answer truthfully. Instead, she said, ”Train attendants have professional ethics. We can’t casually disclose information about other players.”The burly player, who had wasted two thousand white bills, twitched. He reached into his pocket, seeming to hesitate over whether to offer more money.

The train attendant smiled and walked away.

No one else in the carriage stopped or pressed the issue.

”What’s your deal?” The burly player turned around. ”I was gathering intel for everyone!”

”Brother, that’s not what we meant,” Xiao Xianglin said. ”Didn’t you notice? The attendant who came today isn’t in a good mood.”

”Mood?” The burly player hadn’t even connected that word to the train attendant.

”Trust me. Reading people is the basic skill of my trade.” Xiao Xianglin said with certainty.

”You called her over with pocket change at the crack of dawn. Nobody’d be happy about that.” The severed-finger player chuckled.

The burly player’s face darkened and he started to step forward, but the female player added, ”You guys aren’t going to fight, are you? That’d be great. Nobody gets off until tomorrow. If you happen to beat the person who hypnotized everyone to death, we can all get a good night’s sleep tonight.”

Hearing that, the burly player pulled his foot back.

There was no hope of killing the hypnotic player. But if too many people died, they might all get wiped out in one sweep.

Silence settled over the carriage.

Xu Huo sat for a while before getting up to use the restroom. He dragged out the corpse of the player with the black mole, lingered a moment, then headed for the attendants-only corridor next door.

But he hadn’t taken two steps before someone blocked him. The train attendant politely informed him that the dining car was currently unavailable.

This time, Xu Huo didn’t tip for information. He simply returned to the carriage.

When he got back, he saw the severed-finger player heading out. The two crossed paths, and Xu Huo gave a slight nod. As they passed each other, the other man said, ”You look a bit familiar. Have we met before?”

Xu Huo offered a faint smile. ”Same here.”

The severed-finger player grinned too. ”Maybe we just both have one of those faces.”

”Actually, it’s a bit sad. That person was practically an acquaintance of mine, but they left without even saying hello.”

A moment ago it was ”have we met before,” and now it was ”acquaintance.”

Knowing the man had likely recognized him, Xu Huo kept his expression neutral. ”Even blood brothers can turn on each other in the game, let alone acquaintances. Don’t overthink it. Maybe they just plain don’t like you.”

The severed-finger player laughed out loud. ”Fair point. Next time, I’ll ask him myself.”

Xu Huo watched the number above his head on ”Good Friends Come to Score” jump to ”9” and then drop back down. He knew this man was already scheming about how to kill him.

Although the two hadn’t faced each other directly, back at the courthouse building, he had left a brand on the man’s item. That was how he’d been able to track him in real time afterward. He wasn’t sure if the man could pinpoint the exact location of Rose Castle, but Bai Kou had appeared before he left, and this man had only exposed his right hand at the castle. Now he was missing two fingers. If it really was the same person, odds were ten to one that Bai Kou had forced him into the game.

He’d run pretty fast too.

He had electrical burn marks from torture on his hands, and conveniently, it was his right hand that was injured. It was highly likely he was that captured C-level player from the Holy Sword Society.

If the man hadn’t spoken up to probe him, Xu Huo would have almost thought the man’s item could track him all the way to the station.

Back in his seat, Xiao Xianglin immediately leaned over. ”So, brother, what intel did you dig up?”

”The dining car up front is out of service,” Xu Huo said.

”Huh?” Xiao Xianglin blinked. ”After all that, that’s all you got? It’s dangerous out there, why do you care about the dining car?”

The dining car being out of service meant someone had brawled and trashed the place last night. The fighting had been fierce, and judging by the scene, it didn’t look like someone who’d just woken up confused.

”Maybe the player who beheaded people while they slept went up front and never came back.” The female player said nonchalantly while touching up her makeup in the mirror.

”Brother, you probably had an illusion last night.” Xiao Xianglin turned to him. ”Have you recently been injured or poisoned?”

Xu Huo looked at him. ”I’m not buying potions.”

Xiao Xianglin patted his shoulder. ”What’s the big deal? I’ll give them to you as a gift. Thanks for waking me up last night!”

With that, he actually pulled out several bottles of potions and pointed at one. ”I can see the dark circles under your eyes. You haven’t been sleeping well. This one helps with sleep. Forget humans, even a Mutant would conk out till morning on this. Take it, I promise it works!”

Xu Huo found it hard to refuse his kindness, so he reciprocated by spending some money to buy two bottles of evolution agent.

There was no five-thousand set meal at noon today. After a simple lunch, the players started catching up on sleep.

The carriage returned to calm, with only the faint rumble of the train running. But before long, Xu Huo felt that same sensation from last night. He abruptly stood, sword in hand—yet this time, there was no one before him!

The others in the carriage were alert enough and snapped awake instantly.

Xu Huo rubbed his brow and said with a hint of exhaustion, ”I haven’t been resting well lately.”

”Then let’s take turns resting,” Xu Jinfeng suggested. ”That way nobody gets proper sleep, and not everyone gets off tomorrow.”

If they didn’t reach the station, they might have to endure two nights. Previously, staying alert at night was enough, but now they also had to fight off drowsiness.

No one objected. The people in the carriage split into three shifts to rest.

Xu Huo wore the ”Like Repels Like,” ”Moving Metal,” and ”Life Core” all at once before lying his head down on the table to rest.

It was impossible to truly sleep on a train, but now he was especially restless. The moment he closed his eyes, he felt the presence of killing intent beside him, and his mind simply couldn’t relax.

Last night, he had indeed seen a dark figure. If it wasn’t the doing of other players... could it be a side effect from taking the potion?

That possibility made him frown involuntarily.

But it had been a while since he took the potion. Symptoms couldn’t appear this late—unless the potion itself was problematic.