Players, Please Board the Train

”Lichun is asking you if you really have a job for her,” Gu Yu said, holding the Painting Woman’s phone, looking rather helpless.

Previously, both the Special Defense Department and the national security agencies had contacted the Painting Woman, saying all sorts of nice things, but she refused to leave the hotel where she was ”working,” even though that hotel had no work at all.

But Xu Huo sent a casual message asking if she wanted a part-time gig, and the Painting Woman immediately started calling him nonstop. When the calls didn’t go through, she kept pushing Gu Yu until she got an answer from Xu Huo.

”I do. A legitimate job.” Xu Huo smiled. ”The reward is a Gentleman of Light medal. Are you in?”

”Yes! Yes!” the Painting Woman answered through her electronic voice.

Xu Huo had Gu Yu pull up a map, then said, ”See the map? Do you sense anything different?”

”My house! My land!” The electronic voice betrayed no emotion, but Xu Huo could hear the Painting Woman happily pacing around on the other end.

”Alright then, come over now.” Xu Huo rummaged through the pile of ash and pulled out C’s ”Swallowtail” item—a pair of thin, swallow-shaped blades. C had detonated the explosives and died along with his two companions. The three of them couldn’t be considered killed by Xu Huo, so the only item he could claim was the dropped ”Swallowtail.”

Better than nothing. He stowed the item away when Team Leader Wu called again.

”Thank goodness! I thought you were dead!” Team Leader Wu said with relief. ”How are you? Are you okay? The Special Defense Department has already taken over. In about twenty minutes, they might launch heavy weapons to bomb Wenshan. You can leave on your own or take a helicopter.”Xu Huo looked up toward Wenshan. ”The helicopters are all circling the mountain. Did the Special Defense Department players go in?”

”You remember Wang Chaoqing, right? He’s in today’s team too. He detected that those players you mentioned entered Wenshan. You’ll need to confirm the count—there are eight in Wenshan.”

The surrounding smoke was too thick for Xu Huo to see what was happening near the depression. But the rain hadn’t stopped, meaning the Special Defense Department’s operation hadn’t produced any real results yet.

”How many players did the Special Defense Department bring?” he asked.

”Twenty-three,” Team Leader Wu said. ”Aside from three special operatives, they’re all D-grade players.”

Xu Huo paused. ”Are these really the Special Defense Department’s elite?”

Team Leader Wu froze for a second. ”What do you mean?”

”The place those players are guarding is the depression. It has nothing to do with Wenshan,” Xu Huo said. With over twenty people, not one noticed that the rain over the depression was falling upward?

”But all those players went into Wenshan,” Team Leader Wu said, already ordering his subordinates to contact the team.

”There’s one missing,” Xu Huo said. ”Only three players died in the woods. Eight entered Wenshan. That leaves at least one more near the depression. Didn’t Wang Chaoqing find him?”

”Not only did the players not find him, but aerial surveillance also didn’t spot anyone near the depression,” Team Leader Wu said. ”I’ll pull the team out immediately!”

He hung up in a hurry. Xu Huo grabbed the piano wire, swung through the ring of fire, and returned to the vicinity of the depression. But he didn’t rush out of the woods.

Sure enough, the moment he approached the depression, someone locked onto him. The number above the target’s head kept climbing, radiating murderous intent.

He took out his binoculars and scanned the depression. Finally, his gaze stopped beneath the number—just an ordinary tree stump. The trunk had been eaten through by insects and broken in half, leaving only about a meter standing. It wasn’t even very thick, nowhere near enough to hide a person.

Seems like the enemy had a player skilled in concealment.

The stump was right next to the depression in a fairly open area. For such an obvious spot to go unnoticed even by Wang Chaoqing, who was on sentry duty, meant the opponent’s characteristics or items were extremely powerful. At least at first glance, there was no trace.

Xu Huo wondered if he could even hide his heartbeat and breathing. Too far away to verify for now.

He set the binoculars on a branch, but a sniper shot came from across the way. The binoculars shattered, and a small hole was punched through the arm-thick tree trunk.

The opponent’s attack seemed to expose his position. The helicopter circling overhead suddenly opened fire on the opposite side of the depression. Bullets shredded the tree stump, and the number that had been hovering above it shifted deep into the woods before being blocked by the trees.

The figure was gone, but the helicopter’s barrage continued. It seemed like indiscriminate suppression fire.

Not a bad approach, but Xu Huo couldn’t stay nearby either.

He retreated some distance, found another tree to hunker behind, and occasionally shifted positions to let the enemy player spot him.

Half a minute after the helicopter stopped firing, the bouncing number reappeared. This time, it wasn’t on the opposite side but to Xu Huo’s left, about a few hundred meters away, racing toward him at incredible speed.

Xu Huo climbed down from the tree, casually set up ”Counting Squares” and ”Murmuring Sphere,” then leaned against the tree root to rest.

Code name B slipped silently across the depression. He recognized Xu Huo as the player with the umbrella from earlier, so once he entered the woods, he concealed himself.

His characteristic allowed him to move without making a sound, but the downside was that he could only walk. So he moved very slowly as he closed the distance to Xu Huo, deliberately circling a bit wider until he could clearly see the man crouched behind a tree, tending to his wounds.

Xu Huo was badly injured. The wounds on his right arm and right leg were deep enough to show bone. There was no way the flesh would grow back anytime soon. This was the perfect moment!

”Pfft!” He pulled the trigger. The bullet shot toward Xu Huo!

Just then, Xu Huo turned sideways to grab some gauze. The bullet grazed his shoulder and embedded itself in the tree behind him. His expression shifted, and he immediately spun behind the tree, pulling out the water jet gun and firing wildly in the bullet’s direction!

B easily dodged the shots, dropping flat to the ground. His transparent, seemingly nonexistent body crushed a patch of weeds as he quickly mimicked the appearance of the grass. No matter how he moved, the grass swayed with the wind through the woods. It was nearly impossible to spot at night, and even in daylight, it would be hard to notice anything unusual.

Xu Huo peered out from behind the tree. Seeing no movement, he hesitated briefly before emerging, quickly ducking behind another tree. Using the cover of the trees, he retreated away from the depression.

B followed him like a cat toying with a mouse, occasionally taking potshots. He couldn’t kill Xu Huo, but he forced him to dart around like a startled bird, constantly shifting positions. The burning zone lay ahead, and Xu Huo couldn’t get through.

”And here I thought he was some formidable player. C died unfairly.” After a few probing attempts, B reached this conclusion. But in the next second, he found his feet frozen to the ground. As he scrambled up, a cold light flew toward him from a distance. He quickly ducked, and the light skimmed right past the back of his head, shaving off all the hair on his scalp!