Players, Please Board the Train

”Really?” Xu Huo expressed genuine surprise.

”Of course it’s true,” the diner said with a hint of excitement as he chewed on a piece of meat from his meal. ”I have a friend whose brother lives nearby. He’s seen tourists enter this place and never come out. Sometimes you can hear screams here in the middle of the night, but you never see large garbage bags being thrown out. Where do you think those people went?”

Xu Huo looked at his plate, and the diner quickly added, ”This is made from vegetarian ingredients.”

”Looking at the tourist city, it’s quite large and prosperous, but it’s a shame such a huge area is occupied by mutants,” Xu Huo changed the subject.

”What’s there to regret?” The diner waved his hand dismissively. ”Even if the mutant zone were cleared out, it wouldn’t be habitable. Those are all areas that were previously contaminated by pollution leaks. They can only be used to breed mutants.”

Just then, new customers entered the shop. The diner moved faster than the server, carrying his tray over to them, but they waved him away. Unbothered, he simply found another place to sit.

Ignoring the two large men outside the shop who were making faces and gesturing for him to leave, Xu Huo called the server over to inquire about staying at the inn. The server smiled and led him to the back hall for registration.

”What is he doing? Didn’t he hear what that local just said? He still dares to stay here?” The short-haired man expressed disbelief.

”If he wants to get himself killed, that’s not our problem,” the eyebrow-pierced burly man said. ”Let’s move to the next location.”

The young man showed hesitation but had no choice as the two men forced him to follow them away.Xu Huo, who had followed the server to the back hall, certainly didn’t actually intend to stay at the inn. Although that diner was full of tall tales, the two discount coupons given by the old woman on the tour bus were definitely not for good places. On the contrary, the business card given by the long-faced guide seemed somewhat credible.

After telling the server he no longer wanted to stay at the inn, he left through another door of the restaurant.

Walking in the opposite direction of the short-haired trio, Xu Huo entered a flower shop and stopped before a flower with purple-black petals adorned with intricate patterns.

”Sir, you have excellent taste,” the female shop assistant introduced. ”These Golden Powder Purples just arrived this morning. They’re cultivated using purified water from the Corrosive Sea—beautiful color, long blooming period, and they can even freshen the air when placed at home.”

”The Corrosive Sea is also a contaminated zone, right? Flowers grown with that seawater won’t harm people’s health?” Xu Huo asked.

”Of course not,” the shop assistant laughed. ”The original seawater undergoes pollution treatment before it can be used.”

”Sir, since you’re traveling, why not take some of these flowers back? Your girlfriend or family would definitely love them.”

Just as Xu Huo was about to take out money to buy the flowers, the shop assistant added, ”There’s actually a beautiful story about these Golden Powder Purples.”

She invited him to sit down, served tea, and began recounting the tale.

”The story happened twenty years ago, before the pollution leak. A beautiful newlywed woman moved from the outer districts to Building Block Fairytale City, planning to settle here.”

”But unexpectedly, just one month after their arrival, the woman’s husband suddenly disappeared.”

”The woman spent a long time searching for her husband until one day, a man covered in fish scales appeared before her and revealed his identity.”

”It turned out this scaled man was the woman’s husband. During an outing, he had been captured by a mysterious organization for experiments, gradually mutating into this monstrous form. His tastes had completely changed too—he’d developed a craving for human blood.”

”Any woman would struggle to accept her beloved transformed into such a horrifying appearance, but this beautiful woman embraced everything about her husband. She hid him in the basement and took on all responsibility for supporting their family.”

”Although the husband had developed a taste for human blood, for the woman’s sake, he chained himself up with iron chains. Worried he might give up on himself while alone, the woman asked him to grow flowers for her. But how could flowers grow in a basement? The two encouraged each other like this and persevered for two years, until the pollution leak incident erupted.”

”It turned out most of Building Block Fairytale City had already been contaminated long before. So when the first mutated person appeared, many people quickly turned into mutants. They no longer recognized their loved ones and friends, seeing them only as food to satisfy their hunger.”

The shop assistant paused to take a sip of tea to calm herself, then returned to the woman’s story. ”Unable to bear the thought of her husband dying alone, the woman fled with him. But during their escape, the husband revealed his true nature to save the woman when she was surrounded by mutants, and was driven out of the safe zone by others.”

”Unable to bear completely degenerating into a monster before the woman he loved, the husband committed suicide by jumping into the sea while holding the flowers he’d grown for her. Heartbroken, the woman followed him in death.”

”Unexpectedly, half a month after their deaths, the seaside became covered with a deep purple flower that gradually developed colorful patterns.”

”Moved by their love story, the people of Building Block Fairytale City even erected a monument for them in the city.”

The shop assistant took out a tourist route map and pointed to a particular square. ”Right here, True Love Square.”

After noting this location, Xu Huo asked, ”I’ve heard many people mention the pollution incident. What kind of pollution leak could affect such a large city?”

The shop assistant shook her head. ”I was only a few years old at the time, how would I know these things? If you’re interested, sir, you could ask some older people.”

Xu Huo paid for the flowers and casually bought a tourist guide from a nearby small shop, finding the memorial museum mentioned within.

There were many records about Building Block Fairytale City before its area was reduced, but mentions of the pollution leak twenty years ago were only briefly touched upon.

It simply stated that a genetic experimentation company had been using live human subjects for experiments, developing a pollution source that could cause human degeneration. After devastating most of Building Block Fairytale City, this genetic company was shut down by the government, and the contaminated city was isolated. Besides establishing mutant viewing routes and breeding zones like the Corrosive Sea, the government also set up research institutions in the contaminated areas dedicated to developing genetic antidotes.

Interestingly, all government agencies of Building Block Fairytale Tourist City were established within the contaminated zones. Those serving the current government weren’t the original military forces of Building Block Fairytale City but rather foreign mercenaries.

Shifting his gaze from the city literature, Xu Huo looked at two people not far to his right and smiled. ”What a coincidence.”

Those two people were precisely the female player and large man who had left earlier.

The female player stepped forward. ”You came to look at the city literature too? Find anything interesting?”

Xu Huo looked shrewd. ”Trying to pump me for information?”

This time the female player actually smiled. ”We’re both here for the mission. Exchanging information would save time.”

”Then you go first,” Xu Huo said, crossing his arms. ”I’m holding something important, so I need to see if your clues are worth exchanging.”

”Fine,” the female player agreed readily, lowering her voice. ”The tourist city has no children. Strange, right? Building Block Fairytale City was once known as ’Children’s Paradise,’ but so far I haven’t seen a single child. Even visiting tourists don’t bring children with them.”