Players, Please Board the Train

Though he hadn’t managed to kill it, that explosion provided Xu Huo with an opening. Using the kite string to pierce and drag, his fingers then swept across the ground, creating a ray of light that neatly sliced through the Mutant closing in from the middle.

”I can’t hold on any longer!” Zhuo Wangsun hurled two poison gas bombs at the other Mutant, but the stuff wasn’t very potent, and scattered easily with the wind. The Mutant was fast; even if he littered the area with bombs, it wouldn’t buy much time. No sooner had his shout ended than the Mutant kicked him away.

Xin Hui caught him from behind. Xu Huo immediately drew a line on the ground, forcing the Mutant back, then followed up with a sword slash, severing one of the creature’s arms.

The wounded Mutant fled in pain, leaping several times into a nearby thicket, continuously emitting high-pitched shrieks.

”Not good, it’s calling for its friends!” Xin Hui’s face paled as she urgently said, ”We need to get out of here, now!”

None of the three dared to delay. They sprinted along the forest path, with Zhuo Wangsun scattering some scent-masking perfume along the way. But even that couldn’t hinder the astonishing speed of the Mutants.

Seeing more and more Mutants leaping and chasing from behind, the three plunged headlong into a dense forest shrouded in mist. They ran through the woods for a while, only stopping when the fog grew so thick that trees spaced just a few meters apart could easily be mistaken for people.

”Did those Mutants not follow us in?” Zhuo Wangsun gasped for breath, looking back.

Roars and shrieks came from the forest’s edge; those Mutants hadn’t entered these woods at all.

”Could there be something here that even Mutants fear?” Zhuo Wangsun reacted quickly.”It might be because the fog is too thick,” Xu Huo said. ”Those two Mutants earlier had highly developed vision, a combat advantage. In here, they can’t see a thing. They probably instinctively sense danger.”

”Also, the ground isn’t completely safe either.” He lifted his foot, revealing dense, fine threads like sugar strands clinging to his boot sole—all mycelium.

The forest floor was soft and spongy, not quite sinking underfoot, but the mycelium covering the surface was enough to submerge shoe soles. It had a slight stickiness but didn’t hinder movement.

”So many fungi,” Zhuo Wangsun said. ”I think we shouldn’t go deeper.”

Xin Hui took out her map, propping it up with the flashlight. ”This place is called the Fungal Sea. It seems it was always an area where fungi grew wildly. With the cleanup area left unattended for so many years, it’s probably completely overgrown inside. We can’t go in. We’d better skirt along the forest’s edge to get past. It’s just as well those red-eyed Mutants don’t dare enter either.”

Xu Huo glanced at her almost imperceptibly, then nodded. ”The situation is unclear, and it’ll be dark soon. We at least need to find a safe place to spend the night.”

Xin Hui asked, ”Do you guys have navigation devices?”

”Mine’s been lost for a while,” Xu Huo said.

Zhuo Wangsun handed his over to her.

”Need any help?” Xu Huo asked her.

”No need.” Xin Hui cross-referenced with her map and quickly determined the direction.

After the three set off, Xu Huo asked, ”Your map looks incredibly detailed, different from the ones we got from others.”

”I snatched this from a Clown City player,” Xin Hui said. ”Funny thing is, he was actually doing business in the cleanup area, selling maps at high prices.”

”Now that’s a real character,” Zhuo Wangsun remarked instinctively.

”In the game, you encounter all sorts of people. Nothing surprises me anymore.” Xin Hui glanced back at them and reminded, ”For safety’s sake, try to avoid touching the fungi here as much as possible.”

Noticing her gaze lingering on him, Xu Huo looked up at her and said, ”Let’s just get out of here quickly. This place gives me the creeps.”

That’s what they said, but the three walked until dark without leaving this dense forest.

”Looking at the map, this area doesn’t span that far. If we haven’t walked out by now, we’re probably lost.” Xu Huo took Zhuo Wangsun’s navigation device. ”Is this thing broken?”

How would Zhuo Wangsun know? ”I’m using the navigation device issued by Clown City. Unless it was inaccurate from the start.”

Xu Huo thought for a moment. ”Maybe the magnetic field here is messed up.”

That wasn’t a strange possibility. Both Zhuo Wangsun and Xin Hui accepted this explanation, though they were frustrated at having walked in vain for so long.

”Guess we have to wait for daylight tomorrow,” Xin Hui said. ”Hopefully, we can see the sun from here.”

Xu Huo looked up at the sky, almost completely obscured by leaves. The fog was too thick to see much, only faint contrasts of light and dark at the edges of the canopy.

”The mycelium on the ground seems to be getting stickier,” Zhuo Wangsun said, lifting his leg. He scanned the surroundings and selected a tree as thick as a person.

Xu Huo chose a tree nearby to climb and rest on. Xin Hui was behind Zhuo Wangsun. ”Let’s take turns keeping watch. You two sleep first.”

She was the most injured. Zhuo Wangsun naturally wouldn’t let her take the latter half of the night, giving her the first watch instead. He and Xu Huo would take the second half.

Xu Huo obligingly leaned against a branch to rest. He hadn’t originally planned to sleep, but before long, he slipped into a half-awake, half-dreaming state. It felt like he hadn’t slept, but when he opened his eyes, two hours had passed.

Zhuo Wangsun beside him had also fallen into deep sleep, and Xin Hui, who should have been keeping watch behind him, was gone!

Flying over to Zhuo Wangsun, Xu Huo jabbed him with two needles before he woke up. Seeing the situation, Zhuo Wangsun immediately lowered his voice. ”Why is one person missing...”

Before he could finish, his gaze suddenly fixed ahead. He strained to open his eyes wider and called out uncertainly, ”Xin Hui?”

Xu Huo turned and only then noticed a humanoid figure flashing by not far from them!

He narrowed his eyes, focusing his gaze around the figure’s location, but didn’t detect anything unusual.

Xu Huo could see normally in the dark, but the fog obstructed his view. He couldn’t tell if the fleeting shadow was a person or a Mutant. What was more **unusual** was that he hadn’t sensed how the other appeared!

His perception covered the entire vicinity. Even if someone or something alive moved behind a tree, he should have noticed. Yet the other had silently approached so close.

”Let’s move.” Xu Huo grabbed Zhuo Wangsun and took to the air, only to immediately see more humanoid figures appearing around them.

”They’re chasing us!” Zhuo Wangsun said nervously.

Several figures appeared behind them, their movement patterns gradually encircling them. Zhuo Wangsun urged him to run faster, but Xu Huo adjusted his direction mid-flight, heading straight toward one of the figures without avoiding it!

”Better to meet the enemy head-on than wait passively for death!” he shouted, his voice echoing through the woods.

However, when the two flew over, the figure behind the tree had vanished without a trace, not attacking them at all.

Xu Huo directly landed on a tree, setting Zhuo Wangsun down. ”Follow me.”

The trees here were dense. With players’ abilities, moving through the treetops wasn’t a problem. Seeing the figures showed no intention of attacking them, Zhuo Wangsun found a moment to worry about Xin Hui. ”Where did she go?”