Players, Please Board the Train

The Player-Eater had been caught. Shangguan Xi was delighted and started to hurry over, but just then, the barrier sealing the other player suddenly broke. Before the Player-Eater emerged, several hidden weapons resembling water jets shot out. They were stopped half a meter from Xu Huo, but what surprised everyone was that the jets struck the air barrier and clung to it, spreading rapidly like ice and “freezing” several cracks into its surface.

Only then did the Player-Eater let out a strange laugh. He leaned forward, smashed through the air barrier, and lunged at Xu Huo. Whether it was the effect of a characteristic or an item, at least to Xu Huo, the instant the Player-Eater came at him, every gap in his field of vision seemed to fill up, like a gigantic blanket.

Of course, no human body could cover such a vast area, but the effect suppressed Xu Huo, leaving him unable to move.

Xu Huo first used “Like Repels Like.” The item could push apart two people of the same gender within three meters, but it failed, so he drew a line between them with “This Road Is Blocked.”

“This Road Is Blocked” was an upgraded version of “Beautiful Rays.” The laser’s area had expanded from three square meters to fifty. Its ten-meter-long, five-meter-wide range formed a broad enough barrier in front of him. To cross it, one first had to withstand being sliced apart by the rays. Some tables, chairs, and decorations within the ray field were effortlessly cut in half. Though the rays could not burn through the ceiling, they were more than enough to threaten the Player-Eater.

The other player retreated without hesitation, pressing himself against the door of the opposite room, but he had no intention of giving up. He was simply waiting for the item to expire.

“This Road Is Blocked” lasted only ten seconds. Xu Huo activated “Heartbeat Discount” and “Thick Protective Coloration.” When the ten seconds were up, he charged at the Player-Eater and brought his sword down on the other player’s head!

The Player-Eater was startled by his speed. He tossed a handful of powder into the air, then repeated his previous trick, spreading his arms and flying toward Xu Huo.

But Xu Huo, who had remained where he was after the failed attack, smiled. “Looks like I got lucky.”

The other player’s arms-outstretched, body-clinging attack was clearly a characteristic. Players were classified during the Preliminary Trial Train. Those who had eaten people before boarding and didn’t want to devolve into Mutants had to keep eating people on the train, making them Player-Eaters. Evolvers who had never eaten anyone before boarding but did so on the train were also classified as Player-Eaters. The difference was that the latter still had their characteristics when they boarded.

“Thick Protective Coloration” could randomly grant immunity to characteristics. He hadn’t expected it to work the very first time he used it.

With that constricting sensation of being trapped in the air gone, Xu Huo made a feint and used the “Murmuring Sphere.”

The Player-Eater paid no attention to the mental interference. He grabbed something that looked like a spinning top. Its sharp shriek seemed to drown out the “Murmuring Sphere’s” whispers. Then he tossed out a lock clasp, binding Xu Huo’s sword-wielding right hand to his right leg.

“Watch out!” Shangguan Xi threw an item resembling a firecracker. It burst with a series of crackles, sending a barrage of tiny steel balls flying at the Player-Eater!

The item struck the Player-Eater with metallic thuds. Once the clothes he wore over his gear were punctured, they could see that an item-based Protective Suit covered him completely from hands to feet to neck. The steel balls hadn’t even left a single scratch on it!

With a casual sweep of his hand, the Player-Eater caused the door to Xu Huo’s room to close by itself, locking Shangguan Xi inside. He fixed his gaze on Xu Huo. “You’re the most appetizing person in this carriage. You must taste delicious.”

Xu Huo frowned in displeasure. “Do Player-Eaters have to disgust people before they attack?”

The other player’s expression darkened. “Once I’ve drained your blood, you won’t be so mouthy!”

But as the distance between them closed, a hand plunged into his heart without the slightest resistance!

Their eyes met. Xu Huo gave the Player-Eater a faint smile. The other player could barely hide his shock, but still raised a hand. Any large movement might tear his own heart out, so he only moved his lips. “Memories…”

Before he could finish, Xu Huo kicked the man hanging in midair away!

The beating heart was dragged straight out of his chest as his body flew backward, and the Player-Eater passed through the automatic door and landed in the Connecting Carriage.

The carriage’s sensor door silently closed again.

Xu Huo walked over and casually tossed the blood-soaked thing onto the floor.

It was only two meters away, but the Player-Eater no longer had the strength to crawl over and reclaim his heart. He lay facedown, gasping, liable to breathe his last at any moment.

The sensor door opened again. Xu Huo stood in the doorway, washing his hands with cleaning solution as he said, “He won’t die that quickly. He can last at least two minutes.”

“Your corpse isn’t worth much to me, but the two people in the carriage behind us are waiting.”

Hearing that, the two Player-Eaters waiting behind the door silently backed away.

The man on the floor had no mind to care about them. He glared at Xu Huo with bloodshot eyes and tried to use an item, but Xu Huo raised his clean, freshly washed hand and made a pulling gesture beside his own lips. The Player-Eater’s lips stuck together as if they were melting. It wasn’t just his mouth; his hands and feet began to melt like wax, gradually flattening and growing limp, until at last he lay like a puddle of stagnant water against the train floor...

After the man died in his hallucination, gripped by boundless fear, Xu Huo briefly checked the items listed on his personal panel, took the items from the corpse, then gave one more steady look at the two people watching from Carriage Seventeen before returning to Carriage Sixteen.

The inside and outside of the carriage were peaceful.

Shangguan Xi had opened the room door by then. The Short-haired Player and the player with the mechanical dog had also come out. The three watched Xu Huo return, and of course, they saw the corpse too.

Meeting their gazes, Xu Huo asked, “Do you want to eat him?”

All three looked disgusted to varying degrees. Shangguan Xi said, “We’re not Player-Eaters. Who’d eat that thing? But is it really okay to leave the corpse there? Won’t that just be a free meal for the Player-Eaters in the carriage behind us?”

Xu Huo sat down inside the carriage. “You can go get it back.”

Shangguan Xi hurriedly shook his head. “Forget it, forget it. It’s fine if they have something to eat. That way, they won’t go kill anyone else.”

“They won’t dare come out,” the Short-haired Player said. “If they were going to, they would’ve attacked as soon as the man rolled out.”

Shangguan Xi hesitated at first, but quickly brightened. “They really haven’t opened the door. Those cowards must be scared of my Brother Xu!”

The Short-haired Player gave him an amused look.

Shangguan Xi seemed to guess what she was thinking and explained, “They’re scared of Brother Xu, and Brother Xu is my good friend. So, by extension, they’re scared of me. Who knows how many days we’ll be on this train, but they definitely won’t dare come looking for trouble!”

The players from the carriage behind couldn’t get in, and the only Player-Eater in Carriage Sixteen was dead. As long as they stayed on guard against Carriage Fifteen in front, they could get through the rest of the journey in peace. That was better than living in constant fear every day.

“Then it looks like we got lucky.” The Short-haired Player laughed and took the seat opposite Xu Huo of her own accord. “You just made it to C, right? Which station are you going to this time? Maybe we can team up!”