Players, Please Board the Train

Though Shangguan Xi had been looked down on, he didn’t care in the slightest. He laughed heartily. “You’re still young. Don’t be so serious. When you get older, you’ll understand. Being optimistic is good for you.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a sharp crack came from beneath his feet. The next second, a powerful burst of flame erupted from the ground and sent him flying!

Xu Huo caught him from behind, and used an air barrier to block the sparks flying toward them. The explosion wasn’t very powerful. At most, it had blown a hole in the passage. Without protection, a person might have lost a leg.

Shangguan Xi was wearing item shoes, and his clothes also offered protection. First angry, then puzzled, he asked, “Why didn’t these people just destroy the passage? Why go to all the trouble of setting traps?”

Xu Huo examined the breach in the passage. “These metal materials are hard to destroy. To damage the passage badly enough, they’d probably blow a hole through the ground too. Then there’d be no point in using the underground passage.”

W37 Base Station had once been a fairly well-developed Game Partition. It was only natural that they would reinforce everything, considering that such a vast territory had dwindled to just thirty-seven cities, the last places where people could survive and reproduce.

“Bringing the Mutants here would definitely be a problem.” Shangguan Xi looked ahead. “How much farther until we reach the exit?”

“Not far,” the Teenager said.

After another ten minutes or so, the Teenager signaled for them to keep quiet. They climbed at least fifty meters up a passage, then turned a corner before finally spotting a small iron door ahead.

The small iron door was probably set high up on the outer wall of the city’s Protective Wall. Beyond it lay a stretch of yellow sand. The strong winds could cover any tracks in no time, let alone those of a few people who might have left long ago.

“They’re all gone. How are we supposed to chase them?” Shangguan Xi said, sounding a little disappointed.

“They can’t have gone far,” the Teenager said with certainty. “Going into the desert area at night is practically suicide. The wind doesn’t look too strong here, but further ahead is a region with frequent sandstorms. There’s nowhere to hide, and it’s easy to get buried in the sand. Even if Teacher Ai wants to die together with them, they’ll come back on their own!”

Shangguan Xi was about to say something else when Xu Huo patted his shoulder and pointed down.

They really hadn’t gone far. They were hiding right beneath their feet, four people in all.

“I’ll go down and talk to them.” Xu Huo gestured for Shangguan Xi and the Teenager to stay above.

The four people were hiding inside a small item space. Most of the item was buried under the sand, effectively hiding them underground. Only a glass opening the size of a palm was visible above the surface.

After Xu Huo climbed down, he went straight over and knocked on the opening. “If you’re heading to W19 Base City too, why don’t we travel together?”

There was no response from underground. But two seconds later, the raised patch of sand suddenly collapsed, and several figures leaped out one after another. One of them had a thin, middle-aged man in a hostage hold and retreated at once, while the other two charged straight at Xu Huo!

With things starting out this way, neither side had any intention of cooperating. Xu Huo sidestepped the two charging at him head-on, then instantly teleported behind the player who was retreating. He caught the other man’s Long Sword with one hand, melted it with the Life Core, then used Like Repels Like to send him flying.

The player was initially startled to see his item melt. But the moment he was flung away, he immediately used the momentum to retreat to his companions and called out urgently, “This guy’s tough to deal with. He’ll definitely be a formidable opponent in W19 City. We can’t let him have this guide, even if we have to kill him!”

The other two saw him holding up an empty hand in a hostage-taking pose and immediately understood. “Watch out! The other player has undergone mental evolution!”

The man who had fought Xu Huo also realized what had happened. His hand was empty. Looking across at Xu Huo, he saw that the hostage had indeed ended up in Xu Huo’s hands!

“Teacher Ai?” Xu Huo asked the middle-aged man.

Teacher Ai had already seen the Teenager waving frantically above. His voice was hoarse as he said, “Thank you for saving me. I can take you to W19 Base.”

Teacher Ai was a clever man. He didn’t beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

Xu Huo nodded, then tossed the Desert Windmill onto the ground. A dense sandstorm instantly engulfed the area outside the Protective Wall.

It was already a sandstorm item, and with the area’s unusual climate, the storm it created was even more powerful than any before. Sand swept across the sky, disrupting people’s senses and making it difficult to move.

As Xu Huo took Teacher Ai up, one of the three players had already cut them off from ahead. From high above, he threw down an item that looked like a transparent sheet of film. It wasn’t affected by the storm and shot straight toward their faces, ready to wrap around them!

Xu Huo didn’t change direction. He swung his sword in advance, but as soon as the film split into two, he realized that destroying the item wouldn’t make its effects disappear. They might even be amplified. So he raised the Stick Like Glue protective suit in front of them and caught both severed pieces with it.

Stick Like Glue was a protective suit that secreted adhesive mucus. It could stick to any object, but once something stuck to it, only a special solvent could dissolve it. He had always found that too much trouble to use, but now it was just right. The two pieces of film, which could automatically track and wrap around their targets, began circling the suit as soon as they touched it. After two loops, they finally twisted together. Xu Huo tossed them into his luggage compartment, then used Important Call and Eternal Brand together.

The other side probably had defensive items too, so Important Call had no effect. But Eternal Brand sent out six light spots that could track their target automatically. While that player was dodging, Xu Huo moved above him and dropped 101 straight down. It was an extremely heavy item. The player couldn’t withstand its weight, and was driven into the ground. As the light spots caught up, one of them branded a fresh mark onto his face!

By then, Xu Huo had already gotten Teacher Ai up above. When he came back down, he swept This Road Is Blocked across the ground. Its laser cut, fifty square meters across, sliced through not only the sandstorm but also the player who had just crawled out from beneath 101, cutting him in half.

Blood seeped into the swirling sand. The two who remained caught the scent of blood and instinctively backed away. One of them tapped a glass bottle, and the sandstorm swirling through the sky was stopped by a Pause Button. Then the sand began to fall with a rustle. The Desert Windmill had lost its effect, and the area returned to how it had been before Xu Huo came down.

Amid the gale, the player who had taken Teacher Ai hostage shouted with wide eyes, “Let’s see who blinks first!”

In an instant, Xu Huo felt his eyelids lock in place. He couldn’t close them anymore. The other player, meanwhile, hoisted a powerful spotlight and shone it at him!

He couldn’t close his eyes, but he still had his hands. He raised one to shield them.

The two opponents had been waiting for this chance. They darted to within three meters of him, and then the wind around Xu Huo formed a small storm, with him right at its center!