Players, Please Board the Train

”It’s about not fearing death. As long as you’re not afraid to die, you won’t be deceived by the illusions when you go in,” Wang Chaoqing said. ”If you want to rescue people, finding some daredevil squad might work.”

”That approach won’t work,” Dr. Sun immediately responded. ”Our soldiers have tried it. The mental suppression from game items on ordinary people far exceeds our imagination!”

”So only players can handle this?” the commander-in-chief frowned. Most of their players came from ordinary backgrounds. While there were some from military backgrounds, their numbers were too few.

”Ordinary people can do it too,” suddenly a young man wearing a baseball cap appeared on camera. ”There was an elderly man who used to be a soldier who managed it just now. Someone recorded a video.”

”Good, immediately send that video over.”

After the video reached the command room, the commander-in-chief again instructed Captain Xing that they must find Xu Huo, since he had also been poisoned and needed inhibitors.

The video was secretly recorded, capturing the process clearly. Several people in the command room could clearly see Xu Huo’s face, and someone immediately went to verify his identity. After watching the video, Dr. Sun quickly analyzed the difference between the elderly man and their soldiers.

”Being fiercely unafraid of death and being detached from life and death are two different things.”

”Our soldiers can sacrifice themselves without hesitation for the people, but they’re also living human beings who cannot reach that level. Moreover, a person’s psychological state is constantly changing, which is why some people can only succeed once. Who would want to die when there’s hope for survival?”

”So this method is difficult to implement,” the commander-in-chief said after some thought. ”It seems we can only find that player and bring him back.””His identity information has been found,” the secretary brought in the documents. ”His name is Xu Huo, originally from Capital City, currently residing in Ting City. He was among the first batch of players on Ting City First Research Institute’s recruitment list. He has cooperated with the Special Affairs Department before, providing them with game items. The recently submitted POT and POA versions of evolution agents came from him.”

”According to Special Affairs Department records, he played a significant role on the Preliminary Trial Train and received a B-grade evaluation in his first dungeon. In the slaughterhouse random dungeon, it seems the dungeon collapsed prematurely due to his actions, interrupting the dungeon process and rescuing dozens of trapped ordinary people.”

”This person is quite remarkable,” the commander-in-chief commented, then added, ”We must recruit him!”

As he spoke, the secretary obtained new documents. The commander-in-chief asked, ”What else is there?”

The secretary hesitated for a second before continuing, ”We’ve also found information about his past in Capital City.”

”Xu Huo was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder during his childhood, with two years of psychiatric hospital treatment records. Before age seventeen, he was heavily involved in gambling with a notorious record. He once chopped off eight people’s hands in an underground gambling match. He only quieted down after his older brother, one year his senior, was shot dead when he was seventeen. He completed university early and went to Ting City, where he has been working as an extra in the film studio until now.”

*

On a street just two hundred meters from the skyscraper, Xu Huo lit a cigarette for himself, gazing at the towering building ahead as he slowly smoked.

Advanced players were more formidable than he had imagined. To successfully execute this diversion plan, two conditions needed to be met.

First, his contact time with advanced players had to be brief—preferably controlled within ten seconds while maintaining distance. Therefore, he had to wait until approaching departure time to act. After entering the station, he could board the train and leave quickly.

Second, he needed a suitable location. To divert attention, there needed to be witnesses, but not too many. The more players present, the higher his risk of exposure.

There was now one hour and fifteen minutes until train ticket time. Ticket holders had to enter the station five minutes early, leaving one hour and ten minutes until the final deadline.

Harbor City wasn’t an ideal location. Ultimately, he wasn’t a true advanced player, and ”Three Seconds of a Life” wasn’t an offensive item. Being surrounded by so many players created constraints in every aspect, making it nearly impossible to avoid revealing flaws.

But one hour and ten minutes wasn’t enough time to find another suitable location to complete his plan.

Using military fighter jets could quickly take him far from Harbor City, but that would be too conspicuous. While the Phantom Sound Knights appeared to be hiding in the skyscraper, Wang Chaoqing had only detected one person inside. The other members whose exact numbers were unclear, along with other players, were also near Harbor City. Anyone entering or leaving Harbor City would certainly be within their sight, though it was unclear whether they were under surveillance.

Additionally, government personnel couldn’t be fully trusted now.

”Do you want to rescue them?” Painting Woman’s phone appeared before his eyes.

Xu Huo turned to look at her. ”There are so many players here. Aren’t you afraid of being captured if you stay?”

Painting Woman shook her head. ”They can’t catch me.”

Xu Huo turned his gaze back toward the skyscraper.

”The person inside is very powerful. You can’t defeat her,” Painting Woman circled around to face him. ”I don’t like this place. It smells bad everywhere. Let’s go play in the game instead?”

”That’s the smell of blood,” Xu Huo paused, then suddenly said, ”Didn’t you say you could only sense paper materials within one building?”

Painting Woman typed shyly: ”If it’s close enough, buildings belonging to the same person also work.”

”The owner of this shop and the entire eighteenth floor of the skyscraper is the same person?” Xu Huo showed slight surprise, then asked, ”Besides buildings, what about land?”

Painting Woman shook her head again. ”No, they’re not buildings.”

”So only buildings work,” Xu Huo’s eyes flickered with thought. ”If this entire street belonged to the same person, could you freely control all paper materials within it?”

Painting Woman nodded.

”What if they were all your own buildings?”

Painting Woman’s eyes widened: ”Would they give the buildings to me?”

”Would it work?”

”Yes, my buildings are better than other people’s buildings.”

”How large is the range?” Xu Huo asked further.

”I don’t have my own building yet,” Painting Woman smiled shyly. ”Someone gave me a building before, but it wasn’t under my name.”

”Then let’s try,” Xu Huo extinguished his cigarette and took out the Gentleman of Light medal. ”Help me with something, and I can give you this medal.”

Painting Woman’s eyes lit up, nodding vigorously like a pecking chicken. The medal was much more tempting than buildings.

Xu Huo finally showed a smile. He found a voice changer toy nearby and used a picked-up phone to dial the official’s newly updated contact number.

The call quickly reached the office. The secretary put it on speakerphone. ”All leaders in the command room are present. You may speak now.”

”You claim to have a solution for Harbor City’s predicament. You’d better be telling the truth. If you’re like those prank callers before, you’ll regret it!”

The speaker was the military-uniformed elderly man from Capital City.

”I’m the player who obtained the super item,” a delicate voice came through the phone.