Players, Please Board the Train

The moment he was shoved aside, Huang Junjie sensed something was wrong. When the elevator started descending, he realized Tan Yang wasn’t with him. He tried to stop the elevator, but the control panel was completely blocked, and the players in front showed no intention of moving aside.

Just as Huang Junjie pulled his hand back, someone next to him yanked at the person blocking the control panel. ”What are you blocking for? We need to get off.”

Huang Junjie looked up in shock, only to see Sima Xiao Er take off his mask and slap his hand across the panel, lighting up most of the floor buttons.

The people in the elevator had all been facing the doors, but now they turned around as one, staring at him in complete silence. The scene was eerily bizarre.

Sima Xiao Er didn’t flinch. Instead, he shot back, ”What are you staring at? Never seen someone get off an elevator before?”

Guan Zuhong and Little Zhang, who were with him, both looked tense. Huang Junjie wanted to offer a warning, but he couldn’t tell whether these people were Double Snake members or other players, so he didn’t dare speak.

The elevator doors opened and closed, opened and closed again. When it stopped at the sixth floor, everyone inside suddenly moved at once, shoving and pushing their way out. Sima Xiao Er, who wanted to stay, was grabbed by the shoulders and forcibly pushed out. When he looked up, he found several black-cloaked people standing outside.

One of them said, ”Please come with me.”

Sima Xiao Er didn’t want to go, but the masked players around him forcibly hoisted him up and followed the black-cloaked person.

”Where are you taking me?” Sima Xiao Er shouted. ”What does the Double Snake really want?!”No one answered him, but a moment later, he found himself unable to speak. He could only turn his head to look for Guan Zuhong, but everyone around him was wearing identical masks, making it impossible to tell anyone apart. After searching fruitlessly, he had to give up.

Huang Junjie pretended not to know anything and followed the group. When they were led to a large door, another group approached from the other end of the hallway. The leading black-cloaked people exchanged greetings, then opened the door. The next second, the three white-masked players from across the way, along with Sima Xiao Er and his group, were pushed into the room.

Huang Junjie, who thought he hadn’t been exposed, turned and bolted. But when he lunged at the door, he slammed into an invisible wall. He was thrown back several meters, knocking over another player before he came to a stop. He grabbed the edge of the table and stared at the doorway in shock.

”Are you okay?” the player he had knocked over asked, moving closer with a thickly accented Mandarin. He extended a hand adorned with several strands of Buddhist prayer beads.

Huang Junjie glanced at him before getting to his feet and surveying his surroundings.

In the overly spacious dining hall sat only a long table. Four white-masked players were seated around it, and ten black-cloaked people stood by the windows on either side of the room, all maintaining a meditative, eyes-down posture.

”Aren’t we only short four people?” a female player seated at the table spoke up.

”Four white masks, isn’t that perfect?” another male player replied.

Sima Xiao Er, along with the player wearing prayer beads and the two who came with him, made exactly eight white-masked players. Eight chairs.

Guan Zuhong, Little Zhang, and Huang Junjie, who had different colored masks, were the extras.

”What the hell is going on?” Guan Zuhong demanded of the others. ”What did they bring us here for?”

”Don’t you get it yet?” Little Zhang said, spinning a long whip and striking back at the black-cloaked person nearest the window. ”These people don’t mean well. Why else would they seal the doors and windows?”

The black-cloaked person stood motionless, but the carpet beneath his feet suddenly rose up, twisting around the whip and then wrapping itself entirely around Little Zhang. In the blink of an eye, he was rolled up like a scroll.

”Little Zhang!” Guan Zuhong lunged forward to catch him, slashing at the carpet with two quick strokes. But the carpet kept tightening. Not only couldn’t they pull him out, but even the hole they cut near his mouth and nose instantly shifted away.

Sima Xiao Er rushed over and sprayed the carpet with a water gun. Wherever the blue liquid touched, the carpet instantly dried up and shriveled, crumbling with a light tap.

The two managed to rescue him, but then the black-cloaked people nearby suddenly struck. Two black nets dropped from above, covering all three of them before automatically cinching shut, binding them tightly.

Sima Xiao Er struggled forward two steps before being pressed heavily to the ground. Furious, he tried to curse, but no sound came out, so he could only mouth the words.

After this scene, no one could claim the Double Snake organization had good intentions. Both standing and seated players were on high alert, quietly clutching their items.

At that moment, the inner door of the dining hall opened, and a gray-robed person walked out, followed by several black-cloaked people carrying chairs. They set the chairs down, and only then did the gray-robed person solemnly invite everyone to sit, offering an explanation for what had just happened. ”A misunderstanding. We only invited eight players. These few tried to sneak in and cause trouble. There was nothing we could do.”

With that, he signaled the black-cloaked people to withdraw their items and release the captives. ”Only the eight friends wearing white masks are the Double Snake’s guests. Escort the others out.”

Sima Xiao Er and his group hadn’t yet come to their senses. Huang Junjie paused, about to speak, when a white-masked player standing across from the table said, ”You invite and dismiss as you please. I think none of us should stay. This is clearly a trap.”

Hearing the familiar voice, Huang Junjie and Sima Xiao Er both looked over in unison.

Xu Huo’s gaze swept past the player wearing prayer beads before he continued to stir up the others. ”This resort isn’t the Double Snake’s territory anyway. We’re all just borrowing the place to trade. The understanding was that players come and go freely. Detaining people and driving others away doesn’t make sense.”

”We’re all players here. Why does the Double Snake have to be so high and mighty? Do you think trapping us here with items will work? Don’t forget, we still have train tickets!”

The players, who had been cowed by the earlier display, now began to chime in. ”Say what you have to say, or fight if you want to fight. What’s with all the mystifying nonsense?!”

The gray-robed person shot Xu Huo an unfriendly look, then forced a smile. ”I don’t know what doubts you all have, but we’re not the ones who decided who’s on the invitation list.”

He walked over to the wall behind him and pulled down the red cloth covering it. Beneath the cloth were three framed oil paintings, each depicting a different scene. From left to right, the first showed a great fire consuming the world, with millions of people trapped in a sea of flames. The second depicted three luminous figures born from the fire, extinguishing the flames wherever they appeared. The third showed these three beings spreading light in all directions, completely eliminating the flames, while the millions of suffering people became millions of worshipers prostrating at their feet.

”Very religious,” the prayer bead player said, walking up to the paintings and making a clumsy religious gesture at them. With great enthusiasm, he asked the gray-robed person, ”May I ask if this is a newly established religion? Are you recruiting believers?”

Compared to everyone else, this man was fervent to the point of being a lunatic. The gray-robed person glanced at the prayer beads, crucifixes, and other items hanging from his hand, pretended not to hear, and turned to address the others. ”These are actually three prophetic paintings.”

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