Players, Please Board the Train

”Help... save me...” Someone called out to them for help. Those who could see them were buried relatively shallowly. Yan Jiayu would pull some people out first, while telling others to wait.

”Miss, please save me...” A middle-aged man sprawled on the ground wailing, ”My feet can’t move... Other people’s lives matter, and so does mine. How can you prioritize some over others...”

Yan Jiayu went over to take a look. ”Uncle, your shoe is just stuck. Put in a little effort and you can crawl out yourself.”

”No way... my leg is injured, I can’t move...” The middle-aged man bellowed with a voice full of vigor.

As he kicked up a fuss, some of the lightly injured people who had been rescued nearby came over to tell Yan Jiayu to go help others instead, saying they would handle this one.

”Maybe his leg really is injured.” Yan Jiayu yanked the middle-aged man out with one hand. Perhaps her movements weren’t gentle enough, causing his calf to be scraped by a piece of rebar as he came out, leaving a long gash of blood.

The middle-aged man let out a scream. Yan Jiayu hoisted him up and made him stand, patting his shoulder as she said, ”Blood but no tears, keep going!”

The middle-aged man’s expression twisted, seemingly wanting to say something more, but the next second she poked his neck and he passed out cold.

She clapped her hands and walked off briskly. The others quieted down at the sight. Those who had been shouting about sending the injured to the hospital first now fell silent.

Half of the collapsed building was still being held up in midair by an item. The two of them didn’t waste time, saving as many people as they could. However, some who were trapped in bad positions were left untouched since there were no medical personnel on site.But once the rescue players from Zone 009 arrived, the injured were quickly evacuated.

The fighting nearby hadn’t ended yet, but the player organizations deliberately drew the battle away, preventing the building from suffering a second wave of damage. The rescue went relatively smoothly.

Of course, there were also players with ulterior motives drawing near, but not in large numbers. The rescue players were enough to handle them.

But the good times didn’t last. A piercing alarm blared, and the rescue players quickly retreated. ”The top is about to collapse! Get out!”

Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu each grabbed two people and fled the ruins. They had just hidden in the nearby street when the building propped up by the item came crashing down, slamming onto the rubble again.

Gray dust covered everything. Yan Jiayu let out a long sigh and quietly muttered a prayer in the direction of the ruins.

Xu Huo watched the figures darting through the dust with a calm expression—men and women, old and young. Whether players or ordinary people, they were all as insignificant as ants.

”What’s the point of saving them?” A Zone 009 player not far from them muttered. ”Even if you pull them out, it might just mean they live a little longer. What’s the difference between dying under the rubble and dying on the way to the hospital?”

”There’s a huge difference.” Yan Jiayu turned back to the person and said, ”In this game, whether you’re a player or an ordinary person, life is hard. But if you just give up, things will only get harder in the future. Everyone wants things to get better. You can’t just trash everything and let it fall apart, right?”

”Besides, maybe you save ten people and only one survives in the end—but at least one survived.”

”Who knows? Maybe the one who survives will become a really powerful player someday?”

Her face was dirty, but her eyes were full of hope. ”You reap what you sow. Plant good seeds, and good fruit will grow!”

”Don’t give up on yourself, brother!”

That player, who had just been touched by the warm chicken soup of inspiration, choked on it. ”...I’m not giving up on myself...”

But Yan Jiayu shook her head. ”You’re ready to give up on what’s happening right in front of your eyes. Isn’t that the same as giving up on yourself?”

The people around who heard this all wore complex expressions, but they no longer seemed as mournful as before.

After delivering her lecture, Yan Jiayu turned back and stared at the chaotic street for a while, then said, ”I wonder if we’ll even get dinner today...”

”The player organizations should wrap things up soon.” Xu Huo said. ”Cleanup of the battlefield won’t fall to us. We can still make it in time for a meal.”

Afterward, the two followed the rescue players back to help for a while. When the sounds of fighting died down a bit and player organization members came out to check for any leftover spoils, it was no longer appropriate for Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu, as players, to stay.

They exited the player organization’s blockade perimeter ahead of time.

To thank them for their help, a rescue player gave them a business card and told them about a nearby hotel where they could get lodging.

After washing up, the two ordered food and watched the news while eating.

The situation in Zone 009 was still deteriorating. Small-scale conflicts erupted almost every hour in the Capital Safe Zone. Several small safe areas in the outer regions had completely fallen. The death toll was staggering.

”I hope Zone 014 never ends up like this.” Yan Jiayu muttered to herself. ”It’d be best if we could get our hands on some large-scale defensive items...”

Night fell quickly. Xu Huo slept for a while before heading to the exhibition hall to check on the Awakening Doll. On his way back, he stopped by the government building that had collapsed during the day.

Everything in the building had been moved out. No items were left behind. He tried using his appraiser, only to get the result that there were corpses in the rubble—the players had dug out their dead, while the ordinary office workers were left beneath.

He wasn’t surprised.

Xu Huo stood in front of the building for a while before leaving. Even wearing the invisibility item, he still drew a few gazes on the street, but that was all.

He made it back to the hotel safely, but before dawn, quite a few players gathered outside the hotel and outside their room.

Yan Jiayu snapped awake instantly. ”They’re coming for us.”

The two exchanged a glance. Neither felt this was good news. Zone 009 certainly wouldn’t come to thank them specifically for helping yesterday—it could only be because of that player suspected to be a member of the Holy Sword Society.

”Knock, knock, knock!” Someone knocked on the door. ”I’m a representative of the Capital Safe Zone. Could I have a word with the two of you?”

”Come in.” Xu Huo called out.

A slightly plump middle-aged man walked in, his face full of amiability. ”My surname is He, given name Hui. Feel free to address me however you like. I’m here today on behalf of the Capital Safe Zone. First, I’d like to express our gratitude to the both of you for lending a helping hand.”

The three sat down, and Xu Huo said, ”It was just a small effort. No need for such formality.”

He Hui chuckled. ”It’s only right, only right. To show our thanks, we’ve also prepared a small gift, which is on its way.”

Xu Huo thanked him, then fell into silent observation of the other man. Yan Jiayu didn’t speak either. The three of them sat in stiff silence.

After a moment, it was He Hui who broke the silence first. ”This is a bit hard to bring up, but there’s something I’d like to verify with the two of you. Now, don’t get me wrong—your goodwill toward Zone 009 is beyond doubt. It’s just that our losses yesterday were simply too severe, and we didn’t get the expected results. After much deliberation, we decided the only way forward was to reconstruct every detail as faithfully as possible. That’s why I’ve taken the liberty of coming to ask you.”