Players, Please Board the Train

”Heh!” A yellow-toothed player behind them chuckled. ”Old buddy, look at how the carriages in front and back are all blocked off. Where can you possibly go? Sooner or later, we’ll all be intimately acquainted, so why leave as soon as we meet? That’s too standoffish, isn’t it?”

The Player-Eaters laughed with varying degrees of amusement. Dr. Deng’s legs were trembling so badly they felt like jelly. Worried the man might scare himself into a fit, Xu Huo summoned a train attendant.

”Kid, you’re pretty bold.” Yellow Teeth sized him up along with the other players, his caution clearly visible to the naked eye.

In truth, the reason the Player-Eaters present hadn’t immediately swarmed to tear Dr. Deng to pieces was precisely because of Xu Huo’s demeanor.

Even though most players on this train were D-level, no one could guarantee there weren’t higher-level players hitching a ride. Besides, Dr. Deng looked like a total weakling. Xu Huo was clearly acting in a protective role. His calm and collected composure made the other players necessarily more cautious.

Xu Huo didn’t respond to Yellow Teeth’s probing words. Instead, he sat down, his eyes fixed straight ahead, quietly waiting for the attendant to arrive.

Yellow Teeth exchanged a glance with the player beside him. The former then stood up and walked towards Xu Huo.

The other players all waited for the first confrontation. Hearing the footsteps, Dr. Deng couldn’t help but look back. Seeing the player approaching, he frantically grabbed and tugged at the arm of the person beside him. Yet, Xu Huo’s expression remained unchanged, as if he didn’t sense the person behind him watching him like a tiger eyeing its prey.

”Putting on an act.” Yellow Teeth quickened his pace, reaching out a hand to press down on Xu Huo’s shoulder. Right at that moment, Xu Huo turned his head, giving him a cold stare. ”You’d better sit down.”

Yellow Teeth’s hovering hand involuntarily stopped mid-air. Dropping his earlier casual probing demeanor, his face darkened as he stood rooted to the spot.A person’s reactions can’t lie. Yellow Teeth was clearly frightened by a single look from Xu Huo. The other players weren’t stupid either. Beyond pure physical strength, high-level players possessed something called presence. That was either an enhancement gained from a special evolution or a sharpness accumulated from countless killings. One only needed a single glance to know this was someone they couldn’t afford to provoke.

The players present didn’t know much about mental evolution. They could only uniformly interpret this kind of mental energy assault and suppression as ’presence’. However, presence was more abstract; calling it ’aura’ was more appropriate. Mental evolution, on the other hand, was a tangible strengthening of power.

Cowed by Xu Huo’s aura, they missed the optimal window for attack. Shortly after, a train attendant arrived via the dedicated passage next to the carriage.

Ignoring the tense atmosphere in the carriage, the attendant smiled and asked, ”Which guest requested assistance?”

The word ”assistance” snapped the terrified and speechless Dr. Deng out of his stupor. He hurriedly said, ”Me! It’s us!”

”The environment in this carriage is too poor. I’d like to change locations.” Xu Huo directly pulled out two thick stacks of White Bills. ”If you don’t have the authority, you can inquire with someone else. I’m a member of Yongxing Restaurant.”

The two stacks of bills already had the attendant smiling. Hearing he was a member added even more sincerity. ”Sir, please come this way. No authorization from the head chef is needed. I can take you to the first-class carriage right now. There are special-supply desserts today, and members can enjoy one serving for free.”

”Excellent.” Xu Huo stood up calmly. Following the attendant’s gesture to lead the way, he exited the carriage first and casually asked, ”Also, what are the signature dishes?”

The attendant quickly but not impolitely introduced several dishes. Xu Huo ordered without hesitation and added, ”I trust the taste of Yongxing Restaurant.”

The attendant was very pleased and proactively let Dr. Deng walk ahead.

And so, a whole carriage of Player-Eaters could only watch helplessly as the two left under the attendant’s protection. Once the door ahead closed, the remaining people once again saw each other as targets.

Compared to the bloody and unbearable-to-watch scene in the back, the first-class carriage was a completely different world. The interior was luxuriously decorated with fresh flower arrangements. The scent of flowers mingled with the aroma of food. Several well-dressed players were dining elegantly. One table looked somewhat like a family of three: a man and a woman conversing, with a teenage girl in a dress lightly running on the carpet beside them, tugging at the design of a decoration and constantly questioning an attendant.

”Vivi.” The woman called her to stop. ”Don’t cause trouble for the adults.”

The girl named Vivi stuck out her tongue. As she ran past Xu Huo, she playfully winked at him.

Xu Huo’s gaze followed her for two seconds before he followed the attendant to his seat. Dr. Deng sat across from him. ”This is much better. I hope nothing happens for the rest of the journey.”

”Let’s eat first.” Xu Huo didn’t pay any more attention to the others, focusing on finishing his meal.

”Haven’t eaten this well in many days.” Dr. Deng said contentedly, ”Having money really is good.”

Without money, simply walking out of that previous carriage would have been difficult. How could one possibly move to such a safe place without shedding a single drop of blood?

After the meal, the train provided holographic news glasses. Xu Huo didn’t converse with Dr. Deng. Instead, he wore the glasses to browse the latest news from areas near the train’s route.

A moment later, he reached out and covered his ”Peeping Eye” placed on the table, then took off the holographic glasses to look at the little girl who had come to touch them. ”This is mine.”

The little girl clasped her hands behind her back, rubbing her shoe against the carpet as if acting cute, her eyes fixed on him. ”I’m very curious about this item. Can you let me see it, Uncle?”

Xu Huo directly put the item away, not very amiably saying, ”No.”

Vivi didn’t mind. She just sat down beside him, placing her hands obediently on her knees, and asked with a smile, ”Uncle, are you a D-level player?”

”You guess.”

”I guess Uncle is.” Vivi’s eyes curved into crescents as she continued, swinging her legs. ”Uncle must be very powerful, right?”

”You guess again.”

”Then that means you are very powerful. My mom said, men who do great things don’t smile at women.”

Xu Huo glanced at her, took a sip of tea, and said, ”What you said is very true.”

”What is Uncle drinking? Can I try some?” After saying this, she reached out on her own.

”Uncle has a contagious disease.” Xu Huo moved his cup away and said to the attendant, ”Get her a glass of milk. Tea isn’t good for a child’s health.”

Vivi propped her chin on her hands, elbows on the table. ”I stopped drinking milk a long time ago. That stuff has no flavor. But all adults like drinking tea. I want to try it too.”

The man and woman at the adjacent table acted as if they hadn’t heard her, engrossed in their own intimate conversation as if they had endless things to say.

”Being an adult isn’t that great.” Xu Huo spoke offhandedly. ”All grown-ups end up getting sick like Uncle. Not only is it incurable, but you also have no friends. Whoever you meet thinks you’re a lunatic. If you don’t respond, they think you’re tacitly agreeing. If you deny it, they think you’re sick and don’t know it. And if you dare to fight back, it just confirms the lunacy. Tell me, isn’t that pitiful?”

The smile on Vivi’s face faded a little. ”Even though I’m not an adult, I’m not stupid. Uncle is lying.”

”I’m not lying to you,” Xu Huo cleared his throat again and continued. ”Uncle has seen many like this. They all want to use illusions to cover up their own ugliness. But adults are all very shrewd. No one fails to see that you’re sick. Everyone will avoid you like the plague, no matter how beautiful your smile is or how innocently you pretend.”