Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!

Next, Xu Huo visited several residents of the Capital City who had previously tracked the whereabouts of the "National Treasure" on the Collection of Information Terminal. Apart from Professor Shi, these individuals had no prior professions related to historical heritage, nor were they associated with the government. They were simply decryption enthusiasts, some of whom pursued the "National Treasure" just a few years ago, spending a considerable amount of money. Now, the information has been shelved.

A few persisted, but with little success. As information became increasingly difficult to efficiently obtain, much of their news was bought from players, and its authenticity was uncertain.

Xu Huo spent some money recording this information, browsing through it all regardless of its truth.

This half-intact park was not small. Many residents would take evening walks here, and Xu Huo, sitting alone on a bench checking the terminal, naturally drew some attention. However, given his clear Outer Zone appearance, no one approached him.

Two patrolling security members did come over to check but, seeing he was doing nothing else, watched from a distance for a while before leaving.

The Girl in the painting, who had long joined the children fishing, returned after some time carrying a plastic bag. Inside was a small grey fish the children had given her. She raised it in front of Xu Huo, declaring, "I’m going to keep it."

Xu Huo, having some regular tools in his luggage compartment, gave her a bowl seeing her so excited.

As soon as the Girl in the painting poured the fish into the bowl, she suddenly turned to look at a corner of the park. Xu Huo followed her gaze to see a masked man standing under the bare willows there. Though wearing sunglasses, he was undoubtedly staring at them.

No emotion-representing numbers shown above his head.

After a couple of seconds, Xu Huo retracted his gaze, closed the terminal, stood up, and said to the Girl in the painting, "Let’s go."

She nodded and followed him out of the park.

The man did not stop following after they left the park, openly tailing them without hiding or evading.

The doll the Girl in the painting mentioned before, near the canyon, resembled those in the castle. Although Xu Huo found no special marks, one couldn’t guarantee it wasn’t one of the Suitcase Man’s dolls, especially considering the odd behavior of these dolls not limited to targeting the district’s players but seemingly randomly selecting their targets.

Yongta Country’s players likely understood this, which is why they said the doll focused on him.

"I’ll deal with it," the Girl in the painting said, "I know how to dismantle dolls."

"No need for now," Xu Huo replied, "The instance isn’t finished yet, no reason to take this risk."

Soon, they arrived near a restaurant; Xu Huo looked up to see two shadows moving at the second-floor window. Inside there were three players — this was the address published on Beneath the Dimension by someone claiming to be from the "Defender Camp."

Apart from these five, there were other players observing around the restaurant.

Walking inside, many turned their gaze to Xu Huo. Upon entering a private room upstairs, a friendly-faced female player greeted him courteously, "Welcome, my friend, traveling from afar. To prevent any unnecessary trouble, we need to verify if you truly belong to the Defender Camp."

"How do we verify?" Xu Huo glanced around, noticing the two by the window hadn’t moved, one tall and one short leaning against the window smoking, while two others sat at the table. A scholarly-looking man wearing glasses was having soup, and across from him, a female player was leaning on the table, twirling her red hair, her gaze full of scrutiny.

"It’s simple," the female player said, "Handwrite the instance’s background content. It must be perfectly accurate, no approximate meanings allowed."

Xu Huo agreed, "You all need to prove yourselves as well."

"No problem." The female player smiled, "We verify each new arrival this way."

Then and there, a Detector was placed beside each person, along with the activation of a Defensive Barrier. To prevent someone from extracting the instance background, they compared only one sentence or half-sentence at a time, proceeding to the next only if all simultaneously matched.

"Why use such a cumbersome method?" The red-haired female player complained boredly, "I’ve written it several times already. Must everyone do it all over again? And it’s not foolproof, what if someone went around collecting a sentence here and there? It becomes whole eventually!"

This instance has existed for such a long time; it’s hard to guarantee someone hasn’t done this.

The previous female player placated her, "Nothing can be perfectly thorough. But it efficiently filters out those with ulterior motives. Whether someone makes the effort to mix in, we’ll each have to stay vigilant."

"The National Treasure instance has probably existed for at least twenty years. Who knows how many ticket players have remained?" The man with glasses took them off, cleaned them, then put them back on, "Perhaps someone here is among them, likely being the least eager for newcomers to clear it."

An instance without a time limit means that once the National Treasure is found, hordes will be forcibly transported to a high-risk instance.

The amiable female player rotated the ring on her thumb with a faint smile, "An instance that hasn’t been cleared in twenty years, maybe they think later arrivals can’t clear it either."

"Certainly," the red-haired woman drawled, "If it were me, in this bleak place, two or three years would kill my interest in watching newcomers, let alone ten years. Life’s already so dull, and keeping an eye on them would be utterly exhausting. If anyone clears it, that’s just my bad luck."

"Next to fate, a bit of exhaustion is nothing," said the tall smoker, shuffling his tobacco-stained fingers, addressing Xu Huo and the Girl in the painting, "I am He Liang, what’s yours?"

"Xu Zhi, this is my sister Xiao Chun." Xu Huo then looked at the others, "And how should I address everyone?"

"Where there’s a will, there’s a surrender." The red-haired woman first responded to what He Liang said, playfully winking at everyone, "I’m Xiao Mei."

The short one was Fu Kua, glasses man was Wu Zishuang, and the friendly female player was Fei Jingyi.

"With identities confirmed and names exchanged, shouldn’t we share the information we each possess?" Xiao Mei took the lead, showing her compiled data, "Though my information is scattered, there’s some insider news from government personnel. If you have leads, let’s trade!"

"With the team formed, is there still cause to hide crucial info from one another?" He Liang objected, "If you truly have useful intel, seek it out yourself, why bother teaming?"

"I said it to prevent freeloading," Xiao Mei said, shrugging, "Do you want to offer what you struggled to find for free?"

"Can’t call it struggling," Wu Zishuang with the glasses pulled out a stack of newspapers, pressing them under his palm, "Actually, I do have a particularly juicy tidbit here."

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