Players, Please Board the Train

Dungeon upgrades brought more than just increased owner privileges, they also raised player levels.

If you stay away from Sifang Palace and avoid the Black-Armored Soldiers, this mental-type dungeon isn't that strong. Evolvers tend to have some mental enhancement, and with special methods it's not impossible to last until the end.

If you get close to or enter Sifang Palace, that's a different story.

Xiao Yun's Brother seemed about to move when he heard that, but he calmed himself quickly, "Even if it's not strong, you still can't do it. The best outcome is only getting out alive."

Exactly. For players, the result in this dungeon is getting out alive, while the people who originally lived in Sifang Palace City might repeat this for years or decades without ever leaving the county.

"How do you know until you try?" Xu Huo steered the conversation back, "You can stay conscious. Are you sure what your eyes see will also be shared by the God Eye?"

"There was a player who died like that before, near Sifang Palace. The Black-Armored Soldiers didn't find her, but I accidentally opened my eyes and saw her," Xiao Yun's Brother said, lowering his head slightly, then added, "And I didn't figure this out by myself. It was another player who told me. Until the ritual ends tomorrow morning, whether you're conscious or not, your eyes will turn like ours."

"Only the shared vision? I heard information like whether the person is conscious or not can't be shared?" Xu Huo asked.

Xiao Yun's Brother hesitated, "It should be like that."

"There is a small door in the crack of the stone behind the main hall," Xiao Yun's Brother said. "A person can barely squeeze through, but the Black-Armored Soldiers usually don't go down there."

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow, "Have you checked it afterward? There's still no Black-Armored Soldier guarding it?"

Xiao Yun's Brother understood immediately, "So that was a trap!"

His expression looked a little sad.

But this wasn't entirely bad news for Xu Huo. A deliberate flaw left to lure players in indirectly confirmed some of his suspicions — at least in this dungeon, the dungeon boss still couldn't openly come out and slaughter players.

The dungeon holder is only a part of the instance; they can interfere with the game, but they cannot directly massacre all players through the dungeon mechanics. The game imposes constraints on holders, and such actions count as violations and may be punished.

Punishment is basically limited to reclaiming the dungeon and issuing a wanted status.

The specific standards surely have gray areas. The players who "died from medical accidents" in the Seventeenth Hospital were killed by him personally, but the game did not interfere.

But it stopped there.

If the hypothetical "Suitcase Man might appear" didn't exist, burning Sifang Palace City and destroying the ritual drum in front of the palace would be enough to clear the dungeon.

"After the ritual ends, will the county's residents keep staying here?"

"We won't leave until you all die or are all controlled," Xiao Yun's Brother said without emotion.

Xu Huo asked a few more detailed questions. Xiao Yun's Brother answered them one by one and also told him some things he had thought of. Finally he asked, "Can I become a player?"

Xu Huo glanced at Xiao Yun, who danced tirelessly not far away, "Becoming a player won't let you take others away."

But becoming a player could indeed be a route. The preliminary review forces Evolvers onto the dimensional train; as long as, after the initial review, you use a train ticket to go directly to the next dungeon, you can escape this place forever.

"Before turning into a player there's an Evolver threshold, and you might become a cannibalistic beast with no humanity."

Not everyone who is injected with Evolver blood succeeds in becoming an Evolver.

Xiao Yun's Brother grabbed the window frame suddenly, excited, "You have a way?! Please! I want to become a player! I can definitely become a player! I don't want to live like this anymore!"

"There is fresh flesh everywhere here, you might not be able to resist."

"That is still better than living like this!" Xiao Yun's Brother said resolutely.

There was scrutiny in Xu Huo's eyes. After a moment he set down six vials.

"The syringe can cause bodily changes, but after injection, only with good fortune will one become an Evolver. With bad luck the mind will regress. Becoming an Evolver doesn't mean safety; during the time before and after entering the game you absolutely cannot eat people."

"The potions are a healing potion and a nutritional supplement. New Evolvers need massive energy. I hope this helps you get through it."

No sooner had he spoken than a rumbling sound came from the entrance. Xu Huo moved his feet and leaped out of the alley.

Only after he left did Xiao Yun's Brother reach for the windowsill, find the two syringes inside, first delighted, then quickly hug them to his chest, and solemnly say "thank you" out the window.

Once outside the alley, Xu Huo took out his lighter and set fire with abandon.

All the houses were wooden structures, plus scattered accelerants. In less than ten seconds more than a dozen flames and six explosions erupted nearby, and the blaze flared up. That wasn't all; the lighter never stopped on his way toward Sifang Palace, and the fires cleared the path. For a moment he experienced V. Fanxiao's joy...

The flames quickly replaced the ritual lights and illuminated half the city. Such a large fire is not put out by a little rain; it soon became continuous.

The city's temperature rose and there was movement at Sifang Palace as well.

At this time the Black-Armored Soldiers in Sifang Palace City were roughly split into four groups: some at the entrance, some staying on rooftops acting as "eyes," and aside from those chasing Xu Huo, the majority were in front of Sifang Palace City.

Xu Huo didn't tangle with the Black-Armored Soldiers that pursued him. While blocking attacks he used items to lay small traps to buy time. Here the advantage of item variety and the robots' shortcomings became apparent. Lubricant, strong adhesive mucus, and smoke bombs could all delay the Black-Armored Soldiers to some extent.

He was also wearing the invisibility coat, so relying only on the "eyes" to catch him was inefficient. After completing the arson task, he reached Sifang Palace as fast as possible.

By then Black-Shirted Player and Yi Pei were already surrounded by Black-Armored Soldiers. Xu Huo stood on the roof of a two-story building opposite Sifang Palace, set up a small energy cannon, and fired at the palace gate!

Boom!!! A deafening explosion shook the world. Wood and stone flew in front of Sifang Palace, dust and mist filled the air, and the Black-Armored Soldiers along with those unconscious players and Yi Pei were all blasted outward!

They were not the intended targets, merely swept by the close-range shockwave, so the Black-Armored Soldiers' outer shells peeled and deformed, but they were not rendered completely unusable. Dizzy Yi Pei scrambled up, felt the ritual drum fall beside her, and hurriedly grabbed it and threw it into her luggage compartment.

Those unprepared controlled players suffered many casualties.

With this, Yi Pei and Black-Shirted Player had achieved their objective and immediately retreated toward Xu Huo's position. The priority now was protecting their success, yet Xu Huo didn't move. He stared ahead, "The gate didn't open."

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