Players, Please Board the Train

Like last night when ordering a late-night meal, the Administrator did not refuse. ”I can call and help you order, but it will definitely arrive late. I’ll come collect the money when it gets here, so have it ready in advance.”

”No problem.” Xu Huo said, then hung up.

After cleaning and dressing his wound again, he leaned against the sofa and barely slept for less than an hour. When he got up his head hurt like it would split. He unwrapped the gauze to inspect the wound, and it looked worse than before the heavy dressing.

The King Fungus could not fully repair the wound, which at least meant what he was infected with was not just ordinary poison.

He took a container from the luggage compartment, cut out a small piece of flesh from the wound, put it into the container, and poured in the antidote until the meat was submerged.

He placed the container into his item box and stored it in his item slot, cleaned the blood off his arm, took another nutritional supplement, and then left the hotel again.

He bought some fruit from a nearby shop and carried it to the grandfather-and-granddaughter pair’s house from that morning.

They were repairing the gate. When they saw him arrive they looked guarded. Xu Huo stood at the courtyard gate. ”May I come in and talk?”

The elderly man originally refused, but agreed under his granddaughter’s pleading, though his expression remained sour.

That was understandable. To local residents, players might all be the same.Xu Huo acted as if he were already familiar, set down the fruit and offered to help fix the gate. When going in and out he noticed the side door next to the main hall was broken. Through it he could see another door fitted with a large lock.

”Is that your guest room?” he asked. ”Can I stay there for a while? The hotel environment isn’t great, and I can’t sleep at night.”

Before the little girl could speak, the old man scowled angrily. ”My house does not host guests. If you want to stay somewhere, go to another guesthouse!”

”I mean no harm.” Xu Huo smiled. ”Besides, aren’t you worried that the man from earlier might come back?”

”He won’t live much longer!” the old man gritted his teeth and cursed.

The little girl put the money he had given her that morning on the table. ”Thank you for helping me. I don’t want your money.”

”Consider it a small compensation. Besides, I also broke your courtyard gate.” Xu Huo paused, then took out the item ”Danger Makes You Blind” and handed it over. ”You have some dirt on your face.”

The little girl immediately turned her head, smeared at her face haphazardly, and ran out of the room while urging, ”You should go now.”

When he had used a mirror to deal with the player who tried to assault her that morning, he had noticed the grandfather and granddaughter behaved strangely. Compared to Xiao Yun, who talked casually about handling the mirror, they were afraid of mirrors.

Fear meant more than simple avoidance.

He then visited several households with children. He gave the children some candy and snacks, but when he mentioned letting them play with a mirror, these people politely refused as if afraid to touch it.

The resistance was so obvious that by asking a couple more people he could gather some information — not looking into mirrors was their custom. The locals were particular about it, while outsiders did not care.

They knew nothing about religious history, but they remembered this rule clearly and strictly followed it.

The locals obviously wouldn’t tell the truth, and pressing them got him nowhere. Fu Danhong’s item had no effect on the Administrator. Xu Huo first thought of constraints from high-grade items or strong characteristics; if that were the case, then it made sense that the locals, despite worshiping their gods, still lived here trembling with fear.

After leaving the dwellings, he found a ten-year-old child to lead the way to the nearby cemetery.

The child ate candy as he said, ”We don’t bury people here. When someone dies, they sink them under the water pool.”

Xu Huo followed him to the water pool and unexpectedly ran into the black-shirted player who had been on the same ride yesterday.

They exchanged a glance, and the other man nodded to him.

Xu Huo returned the nod, walked through a densely wooded area, and after pushing through brambles found the water pool the child had described.

Calling it a pool was an understatement; calling it a lake was more accurate. The water stretched a fair distance — at least a hundred meters across — extending deeper into the forest.

This place was already far from the county town; there were almost no signs that anyone passed through here.

”Do people from the county who die get brought here?” Xu Huo tossed a stone at the water. ”No one ever comes here. Are you trying to trick me for food?”

”I didn’t lie!” the child protested. ”Everyone goes out to work and never comes back home. If they die outside, who would know?”

”Has anyone from your family gone away too? Your parents? Have they never come back to see you?” Xu Huo asked.

”My granny says they don’t want me... fine if they don’t! I don’t care! When they’re old, they better not come looking for me!” The child squatted, angrily pulling up grass.

”Think positively.” Xu Huo patted his head. ”Maybe they died somewhere outside and you don’t know.”

The child stared at him in disbelief, then shoved him away. ”My parents just died!”

Xu Huo smiled. ”Think about it. If they hadn’t met trouble, would they completely stop caring for their child? Besides your family, aren’t there other households where young people went out and never returned?”

The child’s expression turned blank. ”Where would they go? My granny says they only leave because our home is too poor.”

”Then your granny must know.” Xu Huo’s smile did not change.

The child immediately turned and ran back. Before he exited the woods he bumped into his granny who had come looking for him. He excitedly ran over and cried, ”Granny—” but before he could finish she grabbed the back of his shirt and smacked him twice with a slipper on his butt. ”I told you not to run into the woods! If you get bitten by a snake and die, nobody will even know!”

The child was not afraid of the pain. ”I went with others! Granny, are my parents really dead? What about Xiao He and Xiao Bing’s parents? Did they die and never come back?”

The old woman’s expression changed. She shot a hateful glance at Xu Huo as she came out. ”Don’t listen to strangers’ nonsense. They just couldn’t endure hardship and ran away, not willing to come back, leaving us old and young behind. You better not do this again, or I’ll bash my head against the wall to death and make you bury me!”

She dragged the child away by the ear.

Xu Huo watched them leave, then looked to his right. A man walked out of the trees with a bowing gesture while muttering, ”If there are monsters, don’t be surprised. I mean no offense, please, don’t take it to heart...”

When the man turned his head he also saw Xu Huo not far away.

Their eyes met, and both read a different meaning in the other’s gaze.

After running this dungeon, this was the first time Xu Huo had encountered a true simpleton.

The man across from him seemed embarrassed and said, ”Do not go flipping the statues in the woods, or you’ll be watched!”

”I already flipped them earlier.” Xu Huo replied. ”You live on the same floor as me, right? You came a day earlier?”

”Cao Dong.” The man introduced himself, and then, with some fear, asked, ”You saw the statue, right? Did you go back to your room and not find anything wrong?”