Players, Please Board the Train

It was a Mutant that had undergone obvious mutation. The skin on its head had turned pale and cracked, forming twisted patterns that, at first glance, looked like a brain exposed after the skull had been peeled away. Its face and eyes also showed signs of whitening.

After being driven out by Xu Huo, the Mutant crouched on the ground, baring its teeth at him and issuing a threatening hiss, yet it did not attack him.

Xu Huo paused briefly before throwing out the kite string, intending to capture it alive. Unexpectedly, the Mutant was incredibly fast. It used a nearby stone pillar to evade the string and fled into the distance. However, before he could give chase, a miniature bomb flew in from an angle ahead. With a boom, it blasted the Mutant into a bloody pulp.

”Haha! Sorry about that, beat you to it!” Kang Yongjie then jumped out from behind the stone pillar, tapped a finger on his Blindfold, and said, ”Another one counted.”

With Kang Yongjie were Hao Mei and Zhuo Wangsun. The female player Er Gou and Si Ming were not seen, nor was the Warrior they had taken captive.

Compared to Kang Yongjie’s smugness, Zhuo Wangsun’s expression was rather unpleasant.

”Didn’t expect you guys to get here so fast,” Kang Yongjie said, glancing at Jin Dong behind them before asking, ”Did those guys, Yi Mao and the others, die?”

”No, they returned to Clown City,” Xu Huo replied briefly. He gave Zhuo Wangsun a slight nod and then asked, ”Did you see the Mutant tide just now?”

”Of course we saw it. It was no small scale,” Kang Yongjie said, standing at a distance. ”You guys had good luck not getting caught up in it. I saw quite a few people trampled to death. Where are you planning to go?”

”To the cleanup area according to the original plan,” Xu Huo said. ”It’s just that this stone forest area isn’t marked on the map, so we’re not clear on the exact route.””This is a maze,” Zhuo Wangsun interjected. ”This is my third time circling back here.”

”Dead ends ahead?” Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. ”Judging by the appearance, it shouldn’t be that way.”

The stone forest was relatively dispersed. Although there were vertical partitions below, walking in the same direction shouldn’t lead to repeatedly hitting walls and turning back.

”But that’s the fact,” Zhuo Wangsun shrugged. He also mentioned the female player and Si Ming; those two had gotten separated from them when they encountered the aftermath of the Mutant tide.

”If that’s the case, finding the way is the primary task,” Xu Huo said, pointing to a side path nearby. ”I’ll take this route. My new friend here will come with me.”

Zhuo Wangsun glanced back at Kang Yongjie. ”Splitting up is more efficient. I’ll take one route and leave marks along the way.”

Kang Yongjie had no objections, chuckling, ”We’re all companions. You guys definitely shouldn’t find the way and just leave on your own.”

Neither Xu Huo nor Zhuo Wangsun spoke. Kang Yongjie’s laughter gradually faded, his face turning gloomy. He took the lead and left with Hao Mei.

Zhuo Wangsun did not split up as he had said he would. Instead, he followed Xu Huo, lowering his voice, ”Be careful. The fact that he left so readily just now might mean he did something to you guys.”

”Did he tag you?” Xu Huo asked.

Zhuo Wangsun nodded. ”I’m not sure how he did it, but after entering the stone forest area, I tried several times to shake him and Hao Mei off, but they always found me. He probably used a Special Item.”

Xu Huo continued walking without pause, sensing the direction of the air flow as he moved forward. He asked again, ”That person you took with you, is he dead?”

”Dead,” Zhuo Wangsun said with a grim expression. ”Died by Kang Yongjie’s hand. That man has no bottom line, and I suspect he’s a Player-Eater. His physical prowess is much stronger than mine. It’s best if we can shake him off.”

”Did you receive a prompt for completing the task?” Xu Huo asked. ”My glasses are broken.”

Zhuo Wangsun was relatively frank, directly saying, ”The ten targets for players to clear the first task probably don’t refer to ten Mutants. The number of Mutants I’ve killed so far far exceeds that, and I haven’t received any prompt.”

”Could it be because it’s a continuous task, so completing just one part doesn’t trigger a notification from the game?” Xu Huo suggested.

”That’s possible, but I still feel this cleanup task is strange,” Zhuo Wangsun analyzed. ”Not to mention the poor weapons Clown City equips each Warrior with, even the maps haven’t been updated for a long time. Also, when we were attacked in the Gobi Area, I felt it wasn’t like an ambush by other Warriors. The trajectory of the bullets felt off.”

”Furthermore, after venturing deeper into the cleanup area, I found the soil here also has problems.”

”According to the detector, the soil contains a very high concentration of an unknown element, which has even altered the growth of surrounding plants. Staying too long in places with high concentrations of this element can easily cause influence. Some people who entered the jungle became very excitable and showed homicidal tendencies.”

Xu Huo looked at him with slight surprise. ”You discovered so many clues. Are these related to clearing the dungeon?”

Zhuo Wangsun hesitated, then shook his head. ”I can’t really say, but the game tasks for this dungeon are also strange. According to the game background, what we’re killing in the cleanup area are Mutants. So why isn’t the first task ten Mutants, but ten targets?”

”Polluting the water source can be explained as a method to kill Mutants, but the third task is very strange: planting the Battle Flag. That seems more like warfare. Only after winning a war would you plant your flag on the enemy’s position.”

”Maybe it’s not warfare,” Xu Huo said. ”It actually reminds me of a technologically advanced district I visited before. Their holographic gaming technology was very mature. Doesn’t it resemble the glasses we’re wearing?”

Zhuo Wangsun immediately reacted and reached to take off his glasses. Xu Huo stopped him. ”No rush. Perhaps what people wearing the glasses see and what those not wearing them see are different.”

Like Zhuo Wangsun, Xu Huo also believed the ten targets in the task were not ten Mutants. Although on the surface, the cleanup only has two opposing sides—the Warriors and the Mutants—there are actually two other types of people.

First, remnants like Jin Dong who entered the cleanup area earlier. Some among them may have degenerated into Mutants, but those infected with the pathogens yet retaining their humanity belong to this middle layer. With the glasses on, they are classified as Mutants. With the glasses off, they are merely infected people.

Second, the Warriors participating in this cleanup task.

That’s right, the opposing faction that has split off from among the Warriors themselves. If there is a phase of mutual slaughter within the cleanup task, fellow Warriors can also be listed as targets.

If one keeps the glasses on, then people like Jin Dong are no different from ordinary Mutants. In Xu Huo’s view, the likelihood of them being targets is lower, because the number of Warriors who have degenerated into Mutants within the cleanup area is probably not small, making the distinction less meaningful.

Viewed this way, the possibility of companions being targets seems much higher.

However, there is still another issue: the third task. Despite the vague phrasing of ”designated target location,” if clearing the dungeon is viewed as a war, the game’s unspecified ”designated location” logically becomes the enemy’s position.

The key to the phrase ”enemy’s position” lies in ”the enemy.” That is to say, within the cleanup area, two opposing camps—friend and foe—will be delineated.