Players, Please Board the Train

Tan Yang was about to say something, but Xu Huo raised a hand to stop him, ”This has nothing to do with sincerity or bargaining chips. I just don’t want to get mixed up in your affairs.”

Tan Yang was quite surprised by his words, pausing for a moment before saying, ”Mr. Xu, your actions in the Capital City didn’t seem like someone who doesn’t want to get involved.”

”That was just me being in a bad mood, finding a few punching bags along the way,” Xu Huo said flatly. ”Instead of looking for me, you’d be better off approaching the Special Defense Department.”

”The state can’t possibly recruit all players. They should be quite willing to support you in establishing an association.”

”Many members within the association are unwilling to deal with the Special Defense Department,” Huang Junjie said euphemistically.

Xu Huo flicked his cigarette, ”In that case, your association won’t last long either. Better to disband sooner rather than later.”

”What did you say!” a young man behind Tan Yang couldn’t help but interject, only to have his mouth covered by the person next to him.

Xu Huo glanced at him briefly before looking away, asking calmly, ”What will Zone 014 look like in the future?”

Everyone was puzzled by his sudden change of topic, their eyes showing confusion. Huang Junjie hesitated, ”You mean the prospects for Zone 014?”

”There’s a professor on the forum who said that perhaps sooner or later, we’ll merge the entire world into the game. When that time comes, there will be no distinction between the game zone and the reality zone in Zone 014. All countries will become game arenas,” Tan Yang immediately caught on. ”But this doesn’t have much to do with dealing with the Special Defense Department. We’re establishing the association simply to provide a place of refuge for those struggling to survive in the cracks.””One day in the future, when Zone 014 merges into the game, it will inevitably have to deal with other game partitions. If there are advanced weapons, will you buy them? If there are special items, will you buy them?” Xu Huo countered. ”Players from other zones have even invaded Zone 014 before. Can you completely sever ties with them?”

”What’s so difficult about that?” the young man pulled his companion’s hand away and said quickly, ”The game world is so vast. Have players from every single game partition been to Zone 014? We can just do business with other partitions, can’t we?”

Xu Huo chuckled at this, ”There are no friends for us outside Zone 014.”

This is how cruel the game world is. It’s not just the game targeting newly formed partitions, all partitions are enemies.

Tan Yang and Huang Junjie had already grasped the meaning. The young man seemed to half-understand as he said, ”Isn’t there a saying that there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests?”

”Didn’t you think it through quite clearly?” Xu Huo gave a slight, derisive smile, then continued, ”Even if weapons and items can be self-sufficient, what if in the future, resources essential for survival become scarce, and the people who possess those resources are the ones who once invaded Zone 014?”

The atmosphere chilled for a moment. Soon, Tan Yang said, ”You’re right. We’ve thought about the problem too simply. Compared to the conflict between us and the Special Defense Department, the future confrontations with other game partitions, and even with the game itself, will be genuine life-and-death struggles.”

”You have people in the hands of the Special Defense Department. You might as well use this opportunity to open a dialogue,” Xu Huo stood up to leave, but Tan Yang also rose, his expression more agitated than before. ”Mr. Xu, since you can see that far ahead, why not join the association and help unite the players? We sincerely invite you. Won’t you really consider it?”

”I have my own matters to attend to,” Xu Huo’s steps didn’t pause. Then he heard the person behind him say, ”Mr. Xu, you don’t need to reject us so quickly. You can consider it and reply later. Although you just killed people from the Iron Triangle, the leader wasn’t among them. We can go deal with him right now...”

”No need,” Xu Huo didn’t even turn his head, walking straight out of the room.

Tan Yang still didn’t want to give up, but when he chased after him, there wasn’t even a shadow of a person outside the door.

Xu Huo went to Yuan Yao’s location.

”Figured anything out?” he asked.

Yuan Yao was hiding behind a trash can keeping watch and was startled by his sudden appearance. He quickly signaled for him to crouch down, ”Brother Xu, how do you appear and disappear so mysteriously? You nearly scared a heart attack out of me.”

Composing himself, he then lowered his voice and said, ”When you guys were wrapping things up at the mall earlier, there were indeed people watching from the sidelines. Probably four or five groups.”

”Among them were people from Team Leader Song, and a female player I saw entering and leaving with Dai Wenqian. I recognize her figure. The others all covered their faces. One of them was even wearing a triangle mask. I suspect this triangle-mask-wearing guy has malicious intentions, so I chose to follow him. Just now, I heard him on the phone with a foreigner, getting scolded like a worthless grandson... This bastard, he’s really happy being someone else’s lackey!”

Xu Huo nodded, ”Send his location to Team Leader Wu. No need to worry about the follow-up. You go and meet up with Zhou Ning and the others. Take out the few players Dai Wenqian sent to the hospital.”

Yuan Yao naturally complied, asking a follow-up question, ”Does Dai Wenqian intend to harm you?”

”His reach has grown too long. If he doesn’t get hurt, he won’t learn his lesson,” Xu Huo said. ”You go first. I’ll follow shortly.”

Yuan Yao still wanted to say something, but when he looked up, there was no one in sight. A sudden cool breeze blew past, and he vigorously rubbed his arms, ”Brother Xu can’t have turned cold, right? Even ghosts aren’t this floaty...”

It wasn’t that Xu Huo didn’t want to travel with him, it was just that he could currently only affect people’s minds. He didn’t even have a substantial physical body and couldn’t participate in combat.

The few players on Dai Wenqian’s side weren’t strong. Zhou Ning’s characteristics combined with mental influence should be enough to handle them.

He had more important things to do.

The three walking personas dispersed in the darkness returned to the hospital. This place had just been searched by people from the Special Defense Department and bore traces of an explosion, looking utterly devastated.

But this was also the place where he felt the power was most abundant.

He had actually regained consciousness when the hospital fell into darkness. The second evolution placed a heavy burden on his body. Apart from self-digestion, there was no other solution. Unexpectedly, after the alternate dimension descended, he suddenly discovered he could control his mental power to project outward and successfully split into three persons, entering Zone 014 from the alternate dimension.

He disappeared along with Professor Lan and the others. His true body was still in the alternate dimension, but his mental power could cross this boundary.

He had tried controlling objects outside but hadn’t succeeded. Influencing others was also limited to places covered in darkness. This meant that without this medium, he couldn’t directly apply his mental power to people.

Now he clearly felt he was reaching his limit. The mental control was nearing his personal threshold, so he needed to return to his body before that, using this method to understand the medium acting as this mental bridge.

Arriving in the warehouse, he lay down in his original spot. The three figures overlapped and then disappeared from the spot once more.

Opening his eyes again, Xu Huo saw a face with a pouting mouth magnified right in front of him. Raising a hand to support the other’s forehead, he slowly sat up, ”Don’t you want your allowance anymore?”

The Painting Woman looked at him with grievance, her fingers typing quickly on her phone, then said, ”I was just worried about you.”

Xu Huo paused, ”Where did you learn that from?”

The Painting Woman raised her phone, showing a little comic inside.