Players, Please Board the Train

Though he called it borrowing, Xu Huo wasn’t actually that unscrupulous, and he still left a fairly generous sum of money for the Boss.

The Boss accepted the money, then said, ”Your legs aren’t in great shape, want me to drive for you?”

”No need.” Xu Huo stood up directly, stretched his limbs, and hoisted the wheelchair into the old van.

”Anything you need to grab?” he asked Xiao Yuan, ”I’ll go back with you.”

”Nope.” Xiao Yuan pulled a small glass vial from around her neck, ”I’ve got everything I need right here!”

Inside was a tooth.

Xu Huo could see she truly had no lingering attachments, gestured for her to sit in the passenger seat, then started the engine and drove toward the edge of town.

Small towns like this didn’t restrict entry or exit, but quite a few ordinary people still kept an eye on the street activity. Xu Huo was leaving, and the small town naturally couldn’t keep him, he would have left sooner or later, but he was taking Xiao Yuan with him.

The adults hiding in their houses wore expressions of envy and regret. A few stray kids chased wildly behind the van until they couldn’t run anymore, some standing dumbfounded in place, others collapsing to their knees and sobbing loudly. One child shouted through tears, ”Xiao Yuan! Can I come with you!”

Xiao Yuan was crying too. She didn’t dare ask Xu Huo for anything more, just wiped her tears while looking at him with hopeful eyes.”Want to bring them along?” Xu Huo asked.

”Can I?” Xiao Yuan was stunned, but then grew anxious. She could vaguely sense that Xu Huo taking her away wasn’t simply about putting her somewhere safe, but if she asked for too much, he might change his mind.

”Ask if you have something to say.” Xu Huo said, ”You’re just a kid, no need to overthink it.”

”If I bring them along, does that mean I can’t call you teacher anymore?” Xiao Yuan asked immediately.

”You shouldn’t have been calling me teacher in the first place.” Xu Huo stopped the car, ”But bringing a few kids along isn’t that difficult. Changing cities is better than staying here. You’re coming with me.”

Xiao Yuan let out a careful cheer, then stuck her upper body out the window and waved frantically at the stray kids in the distance, ”Come quick!”

The children pulled each other along and ran toward the van again. Two kids watching from the roadside also joined the group along the way.

Seven children in total, scrambling over each other to climb into the back seats.

The doors closed again, and the van slowly rolled out of the small town.

There wasn’t enough food on the vehicle for that many kids, so on the way Xu Huo took them out for a meal and bought some snacks to keep in the van.

Whether it was moldy bread or other people’s leftover scraps, these children had almost never eaten packaged snacks with intact expiration dates and fresh quality. Even with full stomachs, they still stared at those bags with green, hungry eyes.

”Can’t eat any more.” Xiao Yuan told them, ”Eat too much and your stomachs will burst!”

The children were good at reading people. Since Xu Huo said nothing, they didn’t dare grab for the food. Some kids, after their initial excitement, started worrying about their situation.

There had been children before who were tricked away by adults and never heard from again, or ended up dead.

”Xiao Yuan, where are we going?” the boy who had chased the car and called out asked in a small voice.

”To a big city.” Xiao Yuan said happily, ”We won’t have to go hungry or get beaten anymore!”

The children were still uneasy, because her words sounded just like the lying adults from before.

When they stopped to rest on the road, Xu Huo had Xiao Yuan go to the back to keep the kids company while he searched for welfare homes in nearby cities.

Safe areas were out of the question.

First, there was no guarantee they could even get in. Second, resource competition in safe areas was bound to be fiercer, and in special times, the weak, the old, and the young might be abandoned.

A relatively prosperous ordinary city was good enough.

It didn’t take much effort to settle on a location, and Xu Huo set off again.

There was a checkpoint on the main road into the city. Xu Huo showing up alone with so many children would definitely attract attention, and some players came over to investigate.

The stricter the inspection, the better Xu Huo’s attitude became. He openly stated that he was taking these children to a welfare home. Given the current special circumstances, even if some players worried about the children’s situation, they couldn’t spare the time themselves. Only one older player, too aged to be of much use, accompanied him to the welfare home.

The moment the old man got in the van, he spotted the fresh bloodstains on the wheelchair and couldn’t help but tense up.

”Don’t worry, I’m the type who respects the elderly and cherishes the young.” Xu Huo reassured him.

The old man’s expression turned even worse.

Fortunately, they made it to the welfare home without any trouble.

Xu Huo really did take the children inside, but he didn’t rush to handle the paperwork. Instead, he went to see the Director and the teachers there first.

The Director had no issues. Xu Huo donated a substantial sum of charitable funds, with the condition that they take good care of the children, not just food and clothing, but if conditions allowed, send them to school.

”That’s only right.” the Director said with a kind smile, ”The children should be going to school anyway.”

”I’ll go register the children.”

Xu Huo nodded, ”I’ve met all four teachers in the institute. One of them has some issues, and I’ll take him along when I leave. No need for the Director to look for him later.”

The Director opened her mouth, her expression shifting between disbelief and anger. In the end, she said nothing, but walked to the small auditorium with visible irritation. Running into the four teachers there, she stared at them back and forth for a long time before finally giving up.

”I’ll do as you say.” she said to Xu Huo.

”That’s eight children in total.” the elderly player who had ridden along said to the Director.

”Seven.” Xu Huo waved his hand, and Xiao Yuan immediately ran to his side, ”I’m going with teacher!”

”Going?” the old man didn’t catch on, ”To another welfare home?”

”To District 011.” Xu Huo glanced at him.

The old man was startled, then said with a hint of envy, ”District 011 is a great place, advanced technology, stable public order, and no random dungeons.”

”Kids can’t run dungeons. You’ll need to buy a non-player train ticket, I’ll give you a website.”

After Xiao Yuan said goodbye to the other children, Xu Huo pointed at one of the teachers and asked him to see them off.

The teacher found it a bit strange, but seeing the Director nod, he followed Xu Huo out of the welfare home with a smile on his face.

The moment they stepped outside, Xu Huo knocked the man out and threw him into the van.

”What are you doing!” the old player had just finished writing down the website.

Xu Huo found the man’s phone, went through the encrypted files, opened one up, and tossed it to him, then drove off directly.

He found some random spot to deal with the man, switched vehicles first, then took Xiao Yuan to a hotel, logged onto the website, and purchased a non-player train ticket.

In the larger game partitions, non-player train tickets could be obtained through the Partition Government or the game base. But for somewhere like Zone 009 that had only just fully integrated into the game, the game base wouldn’t bother with it, and the Partition Government had no real authority either. If player organizations weren’t officially recognized, there might not be any official body managing things uniformly, though plenty of people did this kind of business anyway.

”Take the train by yourself.” Xu Huo instructed Xiao Yuan, ”Non-player trains are relatively safe. Once you board, give the money to the train attendants and they’ll naturally take care of you. When you arrive at the station, find the patrol vehicles and ask them to take you to Rose Castle. The butler, Mr. Dong, uses ventriloquism. Once you get there, follow his arrangements.”