Players, Please Board the Train

”It’s good that the kid’s fine.” Xu Huo gave the Painting Woman a rare look of approval. ”You did well. I’ll give you overtime pay later.”

The Painting Woman lowered her head shyly and added, ”A few people got away.”

”Don’t worry about them. The Special Defense Department will handle it.” Xu Huo led Tongtong out of the secret room, weaving left and right through several rooms until they reached one with a window. ”We’ll go down from here.”

But instead of moving, he stood by the window. The Painting Woman turned to look at the wall behind her. ”Is there something there?”

Xu Huo stared at the wall covered in graffiti. Only after the person hiding behind it had walked away did he withdraw his gaze. He lowered his head and smiled at Tongtong. ”Are you scared to go down from the window?”

Tongtong’s small eyes glanced at the window, and his face clearly showed fear, but he quickly said, ”I’m a man! I’m not scared! Even when the bad guys caught me, I didn’t cry!”

”Then who was the one dropping golden beans just now?” Xu Huo teased him.

”That was Sister Lichun hurting me!” Tongtong’s face turned red as he defended himself. Then he stepped forward and hugged Xu Huo’s leg. ”You jump! If I cry, I’m not from Our Country!”

Xu Huo laughed, scooped the kid up in one arm, and grabbed the piano wire with the other. ”Close your eyes if you’re scared.”

He and the Painting Woman leaped down from the ninth floor. To accommodate the child, he deliberately slowed the descent and landed gently.Setting the boy on the ground, he said to Tongtong, ”Follow the uncles and aunties from the Special Defense Department home.”

Tongtong grabbed his clothes. ”Brother and Sister Lichun won’t come with me? The uncles and aunties from the Special Defense Department are totally unreliable! Those bad guys snatched me right out from under them!”

The Special Defense Department agents quickly surrounding them felt a bit embarrassed. Xu Huo pressed down on the kid’s head. ”Don’t talk like that from now on, or someone might knock you out.”

”They’ll take you back. I have other things to do.”

”What other things?” The small child’s face was filled with adult-like worry. ”What if those bad guys come kidnap me again? I’m not scared—I’m just worried Mom and Dad will worry. You know old people have very small courage.”

Xu Huo ruffled his hair. ”I’m going to take care of this. Once it’s done, no one will dare come to our house again.”

The casually spoken words made the surrounding Special Defense Department members sense a storm brewing—especially Team Leader Wu, who arrived in a hurry. ”Xu Huo...”

Xu Huo turned to him, his expression calm. ”Did you receive the big gift I sent the Special Defense Department?”

Team Leader Wu’s expression was complicated. ”That water is very useful. Even mildly poisoned people can recover in a short time.”

”That’s good.” Xu Huo patted Tongtong’s back, signaling him to go. ”The kid is in your hands. I hope you can send him home safely.”

Team Leader Wu took Tongtong’s hand. ”Don’t worry this time. I’ll personally escort him. There won’t be any more slip-ups... Whatever you plan to do, be careful.”

After borrowing a car from the Special Defense Department, Xu Huo waved at Tongtong and left with the Painting Woman.

”Team Leader, should we send someone to follow him?” a team member asked. ”I have a feeling he’s not up to anything good...”

Team Leader Wu cut him off sharply. ”He’s not a Special Defense Department player. The SDF can’t control what he does. Have you started the cleanup work on the building?”

The team member felt his scalp tingle and immediately organized the team to enter the building.

Xu Huo drove to their previous stronghold.

After confirming that the reservoir water was effective, the Special Defense Department drove all the Mutants toward Wenshan. The follow-up would be handled there, so the blockade around headquarters was lifted, allowing Zheng Liang and the others to break free.

Once communications were restored, Zheng Liang received a call from a friend saying the information he’d asked for was found.

The person Nie Xuan sent to pick them up was also a player. After overhearing the phone conversation through an item, he immediately reported it to Nie Xuan.

”Smuggling route?” Nie Xuan hadn’t expected someone to still be operating across the border under these circumstances.

It wasn’t unusual for some shady channels to exist between national borders. But after the player incident broke out, the border had become Our Country’s first line of defense—especially after the small-scale war, when most of the old cross-border channels had been cleared out.

Of course, the situation was different now. Ordinary military force might not hold against players, so he made a phone call to verify.

The channel his subordinate mentioned wasn’t on the border warriors’ elimination list, which meant it was new.

”Don’t touch that line for now. Keep it under surveillance. I’ll report this up the chain.” Nie Xuan ended the communication, sat alone in front of the conference table for two seconds, then let out a soft laugh. ”Looks like your spatial item isn’t as useful as you thought.”

After a brief pause, he dialed Team Leader Wu’s number. ”Have you settled on the items we discussed giving Xu Huo earlier?”

*

After leaving the Special Defense Department headquarters, Zheng Liang relayed the purchased information to Xu Huo.

”This route was opened by a new player. So far, they’ve only been bringing people in from abroad—no one’s been sent out yet...” Zheng Liang said hesitantly. ”They also have foreign identity documents. But everywhere overseas is chaos right now, with the virus spreading. I still think it’s too risky.”

”I’ll take Lichun with me.” Xu Huo was writing a list without looking up. ”Prepare one set of identity documents.”

Seeing his unyielding attitude, Zheng Liang’s temper flared. ”Fine, fine, fine! You’re awesome, you’re tough—go wade through the mud if you want!”

Gu Yu came over and patted him. ”You’ve been up all night. Go rest.”

Zheng Liang left unhappily. Gu Yu walked behind Xu Huo, and after a moment, she pressed her lips together and said, ”I think I know roughly what you’re planning. Do you have to do it now? If you wait until your player level goes up, your chances of success will be higher, right? There’s no need to rush.”

”Now is the most effective time.” Xu Huo paused and looked at her. ”I don’t do things I’m not sure about.”

Gu Yu couldn’t help but smile. ”I know you plan ahead. Anyway, we have the train tickets. If things go wrong, just escape into the game. You can always come back later.”

Xu Huo gave a slight nod in agreement.

Seeing this, Gu Yu didn’t bother him further. ”Let me know if you need anything. We can handle preparing the supplies.”

As she was about to leave, she heard Xu Huo ask, ”Have all the players returned?”

Gu Yu’s voice relaxed. ”Most of them are back. The rest probably entered the game. We should have results in a couple of days.”

”I’ll compensate everyone afterward.” Xu Huo added, ”The antidotes you have can last for a while. Measure your own conditions.”

Gu Yu nodded and left the room.

Xu Huo had already finished his list. He put down his pen and opened his personal panel to search for spatial items through the bounty platform. ”Fifty-Fifty Air Window” had been used once in Zone 014 and couldn’t be used again. Although his plan didn’t currently require spatial items, it was better to be prepared.