Players, Please Board the Train

Xu Huo was holding a camping lantern he had found in the mayor’s office building. Its wattage was too high, so he had propped it up on a mop handle extended in front of him.

The light could radiate over ten meters, allowing him to see Gu Yu and the others first, along with the two Mutants that retreated when illuminated by the light.

Even in darkness, his vision remained unaffected, so he could clearly see the appearance of these two Mutants. They differed from previous ones—their limbs appeared more powerful and elongated, with webbed membranes growing between their fingers and toes that spread open during movement, secreting adhesive mucus that enabled them to walk on vertical surfaces.

Watching those fluorescent eyes in the darkness, he angled the light toward them. The startled Mutants immediately fled toward the door.

”So they fear light.” Xu Huo propped the lantern above his head, glanced at the several people huddled together in defensive positions within the flashlight beam, and lifted his chin. ”Quite lively here. Need some help?”

”Xu Huo! You’re still alive!” Gu Yu and the other three nearly wept with joy when they recognized him.

”You actually detoxified the poison!” Lin Pei’s face still showed undisguised shock. Everyone had witnessed Xu Huo’s condition at the East Gate—with just a graze on his jaw, the toxin had rapidly spread across half his head, driving him toward madness. Yet now not only was he detoxified, his condition seemed different from before.

Xu Huo kicked away two Mutants lunging toward him, one with each foot, and walked forward with calm steps. ”Got lucky. I actually found an antidote in this town.”

”Must be more than just an antidote!” Lin Pei noticed that the two Mutants that had crashed against the metal plate only twitched briefly before their life signs vanished completely. He couldn’t control his sharp intake of breath before saying, ”Seems you’ve had other unusual encounters.”

Xu Huo looked at the sword in his hand. ”Time to return my item.””Come and take it if you can!” Lin Pei swung out his Spring Rope and followed right behind it, taking a swift step onto the metal plate before slashing downward at an angle.

”Xu Huo, be careful! His evolution rate has reached 26%! Don’t let the Spring Rope bind you!” Gu Yu shouted nervously, fearing that Xu Huo without his attack item wouldn’t be Lin Pei’s match. She drew her blade without hesitation and charged forward.

A 26% evolution rate contained no falsehood. Though Gu Yu and the others had evolution rates in the teens, together they still couldn’t defeat Lin Pei, let alone Xu Huo with only a 10% evolution rate!

If one-on-one combat wouldn’t work, they could join forces!

”We’ll help too!” Shen Xin gritted her teeth and stood up, telling Ke Liang and Wang Chaoqing to throw her. ”I can manage one more impact!”

This was the best opportunity—Lin Pei was already injured anyway. If he suffered another heavy blow, Xu Huo would have the chance to kill him!

Lin Pei’s thinking ran along similar lines. He needed to eliminate Xu Huo before he could get into fighting form!

Gu Yu and the other three prepared to provide support from various distances. Lin Pei feigned a frontal assault while actually planning to repeat his trick with the flying arrow sneak attack. Both sides treated this first exchange as the crucial moment that would determine success or failure. Yet Xu Huo, standing at the center of this vortex, appeared exceptionally composed.

With his current perception abilities, he could clearly predict that even at full effort, Gu Yu and the others couldn’t match Lin Pei’s speed. The ten-point evolution rate difference became particularly evident on a micro level—the others were still meters away while Lin Pei’s flying arrow was already less than a meter from him.

”Think I’d fall for the same trick twice?” Xu Huo shifted his body slightly, his left hand snapping out to catch the arrow shaft as it brushed past his ear, while his other hand grabbed the Spring Rope and pulled back hard!

Lin Pei, who had been charging toward him, looked shocked at this development, but it was too late to retreat. He was yanked forward with tremendous force, slamming face-first into Xu Huo’s raised knee before being kicked in the chest as he flew backward, crashing violently against a metal plate several meters away!

With a loud ”bang,” Lin Pei spat blood as he knelt on all fours. His peripheral vision caught sight of the Mutant beside him that had died from shattered ribs, causing his pupils to tremble. If he hadn’t reacted quickly enough to block the impact with his arms, his fate wouldn’t have been much better than that Mutant’s!

His left arm was already broken, his right arm trembling so badly he could barely grip his sword, and his only advantageous item, the flying arrow, had fallen into Xu Huo’s hands... Glancing toward the main entrance, he suddenly threw his long sword toward the nearby Gu Yu, discarded the Spring Rope, and turned to flee!

”He’s running!” Gu Yu dodged the sword and gave chase.

”He won’t get far.” Xu Huo caught the sword, glanced back, and tossed the camping lantern behind him. The area around the main door plunged back into darkness, and the two Mutants hiding in the corners pounced on Lin Pei!

”Ah!” Lin Pei kicked one away but failed to defend against the other, getting pinned to the ground and having his ear bitten off!

Struggling to get up while tearing at the Mutants on him, he tried to move toward the lighted area. But Wang Chaoqing picked up the flashlight and ran toward Xu Huo instead. The group stood behind the camping light, watching coldly as he was torn apart and bitten.

Realizing these people wouldn’t save him, Lin Pei turned back toward the entrance. The two Mutants had completely latched onto him now, the sounds of tearing and chewing filling his ears. But he still had hope—if he could just make it through the main door, he could leave this dungeon!

Xu Huo stepped forward several paces. The ruby on the sword hilt emitted a bright red glow as a sword energy sliced through Lin Pei’s body from a distance.

The shadowy figure split into two halves that collapsed to the ground, then was dragged away by the two competing Mutants.

[Congratulations to player Extra for killing a Black Player. Please receive the deceased player’s belongings.]

Receiving the game notification, Xu Huo confirmed Lin Pei’s death before saying, ”The dungeon has ended.”

”What about those two Mutants? Shouldn’t we deal with them?” Gu Yu pointed toward the corner.

”They fear light. No need to waste energy.” Xu Huo had Wang Chaoqing raise the light. When illuminated, the two feeding Mutants quickly retreated into the holes on the metal plate.

”Are you all right?”

Gu Yu looked at her arm covered in scratches. ”We’ve all been scratched and bitten by Mutants. We need to go back and find antidotes.”

She unbuckled the belt from her waist and returned it to him. ”You should go first. It wouldn’t be good if the door closes later. There’s no danger left in this town—the few of us can manage.”

”Are you sure you can handle it?” Xu Huo walked back. He had already noticed their wounds earlier—although somewhat bluish-black, their condition wasn’t as severe as his had been. They showed no immediate signs of mutation, and would likely follow the same pattern as Professor Han on the Preliminary Trial Train after being scratched by Mutants: developing pustules and weakening.

Additionally, they had wounds of varying severity, all in half-crippled states. Only Wang Chaoqing remained almost completely unharmed.

”We have to manage even if we can’t,” Gu Yu’s shoulders slumped as she smiled bitterly. ”Such bad luck. We finally survived, only to face certain death upon leaving anyway.”

”Even if we survive, what then?” Shen Xin stared at the opening above, speaking calmly. ”The next dungeon, the one after that... sooner or later we’ll die anyway.”

Gu Yu hugged her. ”Staying alive is what matters most.”

Shen Xin shook her head. ”If I hadn’t held my brother back, he might not have died. He was the one who deserved to live.”

Because she was injured, Shen Yi couldn’t climb the suspension bridge immediately and was killed by Lin Pei without any chance to defend himself, without even being able to bring out his body...

Everyone except Wang Chaoqing seemed somewhat despairing. Xu Huo took out a syringe from his case and said to Shen Xin, ”Since you have no will to survive, why not test whether this antidote works.”