Players, Please Board the Train

That player was startled by Xu Huo’s speed, but he had also come prepared, so he wasn’t pushed away by ”Like Repels Like” right away. After the prompt ”Pod door opening” sounded, he pulled out a camera and aimed it at Xu Huo: ”Say cheese!”

Everyone knew that you couldn’t move around randomly when a photo was being taken. Unfortunately, this item failed to stall Xu Huo, because a barrier condensed from air had already positioned itself between them first.

An item’s effectiveness was affected by distance, time, and obstructions. This camera just happened to have no effect. In an instant, Xu Huo had already entered the Pod. On his way out, he even used ”Regulated Weightlessness” on the player.

The player uncontrollably floated off the ground. Right then, the Pod door closed and reopened. The Female Player was not as gentle as Xu Huo. She took out something shaped like a powder puff and gave it a pat. White powder instantly covered several meters of space around her. The man inevitably inhaled a bit and immediately vomited blood.

By the time Xu Huo was delivered back to the ground by the Pod, the footage of his return was just playing above the Friendship Garden Plaza. The Female Player was already gone, and that Male Player, covered in a layer of white ash, was pouring potion into his mouth. Coughing and vomiting, he still looked like he wasn’t going to die just yet.

”Congratulations to Number 313 Guest, he is the second person to complete his task and return today!” the Host announced loudly, as some glittering golden special effects appeared around him.

Xu Huo looked around and found that the Number 91 player, the one who had caught the Golden-Backed Lizard, had also returned, but his teammate was not with him.

”Old Yu, you’re really something!” Xiao Xianglin walked over enthusiastically. ”I’ve seen the others, and none of them are half as smooth as you!”

”Just good luck. The task I drew wasn’t hard.” Xu Huo nodded toward Number 64 Player.

The other party nodded back.At that moment, another Pod was pushed up from the ground. You Si emerged, and the Host announced that he was the third guest to complete his task and return, directly skipping over the Female Player who had returned before him.

The Female Player walked over. ”Thanks for blocking that dog thing earlier. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn’t have made it back so smoothly. The Host didn’t mention me, so I’ve probably been eliminated by the production team. Clearing the dungeon is definitely hopeless for me now. Good luck to you!”

Xu Huo, however, said, ”That’s not necessarily true. The final selection by the production team of who gets to settle in Sea World might not be the same as the dungeon’s requirements.”

The Female Player, who had looked somewhat dejected, immediately lit up with pleasant surprise. ”Right! It’s not certain that just because I fail the show’s evaluation, I definitely can’t clear the dungeon!”

”I don’t think it’ll be that easy,” Xiao Xianglin said. ”Not to pour cold water on you, but I think the dungeon requirements are definitely higher than this show’s.”

”That’s true too.” The Female Player smiled. ”But it doesn’t matter. At worst, I fail to clear the dungeon. At least in the next round of the game, I won’t have to hold back. Good luck, you two.”

After saying that, she left first.

Xiao Xianglin then asked Xu Huo in a low voice, ”Do you have any clue about pure friendship?”

Xu Huo shook his head. ”You?”

”I’ve been thinking about it a bit. I don’t know if I’m right.” Xiao Xianglin was very modest. ”First, you can’t kill people. ’You’re Well, I’m Well’ said that right at the start. Killing a ’friend’ is a no-go. Even if you aren’t ejected during the task, your final score definitely won’t stand a chance.”

”Second, I think earning the friendship of ordinary people is easier than players. Helping them complete tasks is way more convenient than cooperating with players. Even if most of them have mediocre character, you’ll always run into one or two reliable ones.”

”What you said makes sense,” Xu Huo agreed, then added, ”It’s just that we don’t know what degree would be judged as ’pure friendship.’”

”There’s no other clue right now, so we can only try and see,” Xiao Xianglin said.

Another group of people walked to the area around the big screen, one of them being Shajia.

The person opposite him was also a player. Speaking through the screen, they said, ”Brother, those tasks look pretty tough. How about we choose the yellow ball and complete the task together? We can watch with items and press together.”

As they spoke, a full-length floor mirror flew out from his hand and positioned itself exactly at the side of the big screen. To show sincerity, he first stood in front of the yellow ball.

Shajia tilted his head. The two of them simultaneously touched the Projection ball in the final three seconds of the countdown. Unexpectedly, when the results were announced, Shajia’s side was the yellow ball, while the other side had switched to the black ball!

”What’s going on!” The bronze-skinned player Pu Donghai immediately shouted. ”Did something go wrong?!”

”The show’s instruments of course won’t make a mistake,” the Host said with a smile. ”Contestant Number 29 chose the black ball.”

”You tampered with it!” Pu Donghai glared furiously at Number 29 Player, but the other party merely smiled without a care. He waved his hand among the Projection balls, and the colors of the Projection balls immediately changed. ”You can’t blame me for that. My eyes have a bit of a problem.”

Shajia walked over and patted Pu Donghai’s shoulder. ”Don’t worry, I can come back alive.”

Pu Donghai was furious and anxious. ”Even if you choose the black ball again next round, the two people still have to be randomized. If it’s you again, you’ll have to do two black ball tasks in a row.”

The difficulty of players’ black ball tasks was not something ordinary people could compare to. The last player who went to do a black ball task was directly thrown through the air into a swarm of snakes in the middle of mating. He didn’t even last half a minute before dying.

”Then I’ll just count it as bad luck.” Shajia appeared very calm. Instead, he said to Number 29 Player, ”Friend, see you in a bit.”

”Threatening me? Talk after you come out alive.” Number 29 Player sneered.

”Oh my, the task our Number 351 Guest drew is surgery spectating.” The Host dramatically gasped and said to the audience, ”A friendly reminder: friends with poor mental fortitude, please do not force yourselves to watch. If you must watch, it’s best to prepare a vomit bag in advance.”

Shajia was teleported away by the Entry-Exit Pod, and then an operating table appeared in the Projection.

This was already a prepared table. A doctor tightly wrapped up was already standing beside it with hands suspended in the air. So-called surgery spectating didn’t actually mean letting the show’s participants watch the surgery process. Instead, they lay on the operating table as the one being operated on!

Shajia lay on the operating table with his eyes closed, looking completely unconscious. His hands, feet, and neck were each locked in place by palm-wide metal rings.

”What’s going on... You knocked him out and sent him in?!” Below, Pu Donghai was both angry and frantic, hastily trying to pry up the floor. But before he could get any results, the doctor in the Projection had already announced the start of the surgery.

However, Shajia on the operating table didn’t seem to have completely lost consciousness. Seeing his eyelids twitch, the doctor added, ”Increase the anesthetic dosage.”

The anesthesiologist picked up a wrist-thick syringe and was just about to inject it into his arm when he suddenly paused. ”Why don’t we pray for the patient, pray that this surgery goes smoothly.”

The other doctors actually had no objections either. They clasped their hands together and began to pray with exceptional solemnity.

The person lying on the operating table opened his eyes at this moment. At the same time, invisible blades seemed to fly through the air, and all the surrounding medical personnel had their heads sliced off.

Shajia, who had been sent away by the Pod, returned to the Plaza in less than five minutes.