Players, Please Board the Train

Xu Huo nodded, took the towel he handed over and wiped his hands, then asked, "Is there anything I need to handle while I was away?"

"Your baron title has been recognized by the government, and the corresponding badge and identity papers have been delivered. Also, the Duchess Tal sent two invitations, one asking you to attend Duke Tal's funeral, the other for a charity banquet. The Duchess plans to auction the Duke's personal effects to raise funds for charity."

Duke Tal had also been on that ship. Xu Huo was not surprised he hadn't survived. He told Mr. Dong, "Call the Duchess and tell her I'll pay my respects in person in a couple of days."

That his baron title was processed so quickly surely owed something to the Duchess's influence.

Mr. Dong agreed, then mentioned that some other nobles had invited him to visit or attend dinners. It wasn't because of Madame Butterfly this time, but because of his new status.

After investigating the ship incident, Black Epaulets discovered Xu Huo hadn't died on the ship; he had obviously entered a dungeon afterwards. The Duchess's natal family could intermarry with the Tal family because they had produced a few capable players— even in District 011 with its advanced weapons and equipment, a player with solid potential, even if not high-level, was worth courting by nobles.

Besides, judging from the infighting on the ship, there were factional struggles among the nobility. Black Epaulets rising to power was actually the result of those conflicts, and at a time like this players became critically important.

"Has Bai Kou returned?" Xu Huo asked.

"No." Mr. Dong's expression and tone remained unchanged.

To survive in District 011, the ship incident had to be kept secret.

Xu Huo had no strong feelings about Ran Ying bringing him onto the ship; she was a capable woman, they simply had different mindsets.

Putting her invitation aside, he asked Mr. Dong to make some tea. After everyone left, he called Painting Woman out.

Painting Woman had been holding herself back for a while; she eagerly assumed human form and was about to bolt outside. Xu Huo called her back and had her change into a more inconspicuous appearance.

"You can live here, but you must follow the rules we agreed on."

Painting Woman nodded and typed on the phone, "I promise not to randomly take other people's forms, will behave and not run around, and won't go killing people everywhere."

Her blunt phrasing was a bit chilling, but Xu Huo nodded in satisfaction. "Go see Mr. Dong and have him prepare a room for you. Tell him if you need anything."

After a pause he added, "When in Rome, dress local. The clothes and jewelry in District 011 are quite nice. Go pick some out."

Painting Woman had experience and scooted up next to him, "Let's go together."

"Not this time, I have money now." Xu Huo said generously, "Buy whatever you like."

Painting Woman beamed and dashed out. A while later Mr. Dong came in and told him he would arrange two maids to accompany Painting Woman to help her, "She'll also need an identification document."

That was easy. Xu Huo handed Mr. Dong everything Painting Woman needed, including a communicator and other items. Painting Woman also got a new name: Xu Chun.

After arranging Painting Woman's affairs, Xu Huo continued reading messages on the communicator.

Some were from the game base, task notices from Shi Youzhi.

Xu Huo was now auxiliary personnel for the base; he enjoyed certain game privileges but also had obligations. The Track Supply Department didn't impose hard rules: if you could do dungeon missions you could go do them, then report back when finished, and completed tasks brought corresponding rewards.

Task notices therefore had a two-day validity. If a player missed the window they wouldn't be assigned to the task. He had already missed two tasks.

That didn't matter. Xu Huo hadn't joined the game base to get grey player status and escape dungeons; he valued the base's benefits. Good items couldn't always be bought with money. Whether at the game's auction houses or the base, there were limits on who could buy things; money alone couldn't monopolize high-grade items, and some advanced items couldn't be bought at all, only traded for other goods.

The final rating for the "Shared Eyes" dungeon had been A. He didn't get a new characteristic this time. The most notable item he obtained was a C-grade item, "Standardized Weightlessness." Its effect was somewhat similar to the Floating Balloon: it made people or objects weightless and float. But its range was broader—any people and objects within five meters of the item's holder would be affected—and the duration was ten seconds.

Although both were C-grade, "Standardized Weightlessness" was clearly much more useful.

However, he already owned several B-grade items, so a C-grade item didn't stand out.

What he currently lacked were combat-ready items. The Crimson Sword was handy, but its drawback was that it was too obvious and easy to guard against.

Besides combat gear, evolution agents were what he urgently needed. Compared with other players at the same level, a 30 percent evolution rate was low.

Putting the things on his desk down, Xu Huo stood and went to the study on the third floor.

He used the "key" to open the "lock" and entered the castle's sealed space. He picked up V. Fanxiao's photo album again and turned to the page where the Stone was placed.

This irregular black stone looked more like metal. He had searched online for similar minerals before but couldn't find an exact match, so he hadn't bothered with it.

But after the Nüwa Stone incident in Clown City, he gave this ore a new interpretation.

A stone important enough for V. Fanxiao to collect could not be an ordinary mineral. With the Nüwa Stone in mind, this might be a special ore that could affect biological traits.

Wearing the Nüwa Stone allowed King Fungus in his body to proliferate continuously, achieving permanent detoxification. He didn't know what this black stone could do.

Of course, Xu Huo didn't expect it to work exactly like the Nüwa Stone, but ore must be a very valuable resource in the game—advanced energy weapons and even high-tier items could use ore as raw materials.

He took out the diamond key and rubbed the numbers at the bottom: E27-001-01. This was a fairly large-range address, corresponding to Area 01 of Subdivision 001 under the E27 Wormhole Point. A game partition would be divided into smaller zones, but relative to a precise location the address still covered a large area.

The address was vague, but the diamond key looked custom-made. He didn't know how hard it would be to find.

Xu Huo took V. Fanxiao's arson news from the 001 District out of the album and left the sealed space.

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