Players, Please Board the Train

”These are all bought for you, they’re yours even if you don’t say nice things.” Xu Huo smiled and patted her head. ”By the way, I still don’t know your name.”

The little girl was in a very cooperative mood now. ”I don’t have a name. But if I must have one, I’ll just be called Pink Hat.”

”So you’re a hat,” Xu Huo remarked.

Pink Hat ignored him, her hands and feet already fully occupied.

Xu Huo tactfully sat down beside her and began fiddling with the two new items he had just purchased.

”Stuttering Malice” was a button pin that could be casually attached to clothing and used. Its effect was exactly as previously described—it could cause a 0.5-second delay, essentially providing a 0.5-second comprehensive defense. Of course, this was only a C-grade item. If it encountered an attack far exceeding the item’s capacity, the item itself could be destroyed, naturally nullifying any defense.

”Seeing is Believing” was a very small diamond-shaped object that could be directly attached to a glasses frame. It defended against certain characteristic powers targeting an individual. For example, if a player used a characteristic power against him, and he discovered it in advance and could locate that person, then that person’s attack would become ineffective. Abilities like Liu Jia’s ”Calling Your Name” and Chen Tu’s ”Draw the Ground as a Prison” fell within this scope.

He possessed a characteristic called ”Good Friend Comes to Score,” which could detect people in a crowd who were paying high attention to him. Using this item in conjunction with that characteristic complemented each other perfectly.

However, if the characteristic’s attack range was broad, not targeting just one individual but multiple people or a group—like his ”A Sad Thing” and ”The Power of Writing”—this item could not defend against it. Fortunately, his own characteristics weren’t particularly lethal.

Xu Huo had also seen highly lethal characteristics. The hypnotic player from the Phantom Sound Knights, Dou Shengnan, could command people to die directly. That was also a group-targeting ability. If he encountered something like that, this item would be basically useless.Naturally, there would be corresponding items for such situations. But at that level, items might also prove inadequate. Therefore, characteristics, evolution, and items complemented each other; none could be lacking.

”Quite a few good items, but what a pity...” He glanced at the little Pink Hat, who was trying on hats. ”Do you have time to help me with something?”

The little girl looked back at him. ”Do you adults always have to engage in equivalent exchange?”

Xu Huo was completely unfazed by her disdain. ”Is the candy tasty? Do you want more? Would you like to have candy available anytime in the future?”

The little girl was practically drooling. She wiped her mouth and said, ”Go ahead and say it. But a child can’t do much, you know.”

”A small favor.” Xu Huo took out ”World Within the Painting.” ”I want to put this person into your dungeon again.”

”World Within the Painting” had a shelf life of only thirty days. After thirty days, the person inside the painting would permanently become part of the painting, equivalent to death. However, it was different from the paintings in the art gallery. It wasn’t restricted by dungeon power; there was no distinction between day and night, real and fake. Moreover, he had previously tested it with the Painting Woman. Even after more than a week, the person inside could be brought out alive.

Therefore, he speculated that within those thirty days, the person in the painting could still enter and exit alive. But once inside, the person was temporarily disconnected from the game and couldn’t use the game panel. So, aside from the Desert Windmill the other party was carrying at the time, which the Painting Woman took out, Brother Tu’s personal assets were still with him.

Xu Huo also couldn’t directly pull him out. After leaving the item, he might immediately use a train ticket to escape. Entering a random dungeon temporarily disabled train ticket use, so that wouldn’t be a concern.

Previously, not short on money, he wasn’t in a hurry. Only after building a good relationship with the little Pink Hat did he bring this up.

The little girl looked at him, shocked. ”How can a child kill someone?”

”I’m not asking you to kill anyone. Just make him hand over his money. With money, we can buy candy.”

Which was more important, money or a player? Of course, it was the money that could buy candy. The little girl waved her hand, and the Awakening Doll’s eyes began to glow.

But a few seconds later, the little girl pouted. ”We can’t open a random dungeon here.”

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. Then he heard the abstract man, who had just been taking deep breaths of fresh air inside the frame—though air was useless to him now—speak up. ”Changed locations? Which district is this?”

”District 011,” Xu Huo said. ”I heard when I arrived that there are no random dungeons here. I didn’t expect random dungeons truly couldn’t be opened.”

”How have these days been for you?” He placed the frame on the desk.

The abstract man’s expression was unreadable. He said calmly, ”Not bad. Don’t get hungry, don’t die. Maybe I can live until you die.”

Xu Huo smiled slightly. ”You’ve been in the painting for over half a month now. Have you considered the consequences of missing dungeons?”

The abstract face stopped moving.

Brother Tu was stuffed into the painting and taken out before the Pink Hat’s Amusement Park dungeon ended. This indicated that the item ”World Within the Painting” could, to some extent, circumvent dungeon power. It was equivalent to leaving the dungeon through a special method without clearing it.

This was, of course, exploiting a loophole in the game. However, after merging with the item, one couldn’t leave on their own, or it was extremely difficult. The person became part of the item itself. Items typically had no entry or exit restrictions within dungeons. With assistance, this could be an emergency method to escape a dungeon, though it was unclear if there was a difference between ticket dungeons and random dungeons.

But this probably couldn’t completely shed player status. Even if one could emerge from the item, the more likely scenario was continuing the game.

”Don’t worry,” Xu Huo said. ”I’ll send you into a random dungeon and put you back in before it ends. That might completely avoid the dungeon.” He also wanted to test whether coming out and going back in would accumulate days or restart the count.

”Then I’d be trapped in the painting forever!” Brother Tu shouted. ”Missing three dungeons means certain death for me!”

”Or I kill you in advance,” Xu Huo’s voice suddenly turned cold.

Brother Tu stopped shouting. Xu Huo couldn’t enter the painting, but the Painting Woman could.

”Don’t kill me! Change locations, and I’ll give you all my money and items! Plus, I know many things that will definitely help you!”

”Do you want to understand District 011?”

”It’s the largest district among the five lower districts under the E27 Wormhole Point. The reason there are no random dungeons is because District 011 has a super dungeon. Game partitions where a super dungeon is stationed won’t have random dungeons. This is a privilege the game gives to super players!”

”Many players want to settle here, so train tickets for District 011 are the most expensive among the five lower districts...”

Xu Huo’s mind churned, his thoughts oscillating between super players and super dungeons. After a while, he calmed down and looked at the little Pink Hat. The little girl shook her head. ”I’m just a little child. How would I know so much?”

There was a lot of information about dungeons on District 011’s network, but what could be directly found was often obscured information for outsiders. Here, there was a specialized market for buying and selling dungeon strategies, so specific information related to dungeons wasn’t publicly available. Super dungeons were rarely mentioned, as that was the game of a very small fraction of players.

It seemed he needed to find a time to leave District 011 soon.

The little Pink Hat looked at the man and the painting. ”It’s not that I won’t help you, it’s that I can’t. I’ll go now. Remember to bring me more delicious treats next time.”

The Awakening Doll’s eyes glowed, and the little girl, along with all the snacks and clothes on the bed, vanished.

Brother Tu’s eyeballs turned toward Xu Huo. He said in astonishment, ”You actually subdued a dungeon boss! She’s the boss of the Pink Hat’s Amusement Park, right? That weirdly tasteful pink hat!”

”Subdued?” Xu Huo looked at him with amusement. ”Do you think a D-grade dungeon boss is that easy to subdue?”

”Then how could she help you?” Brother Tu didn’t believe it.

”Isn’t it normal for friends to help friends?” Xu Huo said. ”I have pretty good connections. Someone like you, with no friends, definitely can’t appreciate the benefits of having many friends.”

He glanced at his watch again, put the painting into his item slot, changed into the suit he had casually picked out earlier, took his umbrella, left the room, and went downstairs.

Ran Ying was already waiting in the lobby. She had changed into a wild-style black dress, wearing high heels, displaying a wild beauty different from most women.