Players, Please Board the Train

Everyone present laughed at that, and Wan Tingfang didn't mind, earnestly sharing her own troubles. "Don't you all have this problem too? When the moment of truth comes, you can't decide which item to use, or your hands are too slow, and by the time you've pulled out an item, the enemy's already at your doorstep."

"So evolution and upgrading go hand in hand—speed and strength are the prerequisites for using items and characteristics." Shi Youzhi glanced at Xu Huo. "I see your evolution rate hasn't changed much. Have you hit a bottleneck?"

Evolution agents aren't something you can just drink and instantly boost your evolution rate. As the rate increases and dosage accumulates, the time needed to digest the agent lengthens, and the agent's effectiveness also diminishes. At that point, no amount of agent makes a difference.

"Something like that," Xu Huo said. "The evolution agent digests a bit slowly. Taking it at longer intervals isn't a big deal either."

Shi Youzhi nodded. "Exactly."

Wan Tingfang slapped her forehead. "I never even considered the tolerance issue! I thought the higher the evolution rate, the more agents you needed, and that a single dose's effectiveness just naturally dropped off!"

"It's not that serious," Cai Xiangxiang chimed in. "As long as your body doesn't have problems."

Wan Tingfang looked at her in horror. "You mean taking too many agents could have side effects?"

Cai Xiangxiang shrugged helplessly. "If you drink too much water, your body will have problems too. Treating agents like water is definitely not safe."

"But speaking of which," she paused, "if the train can't transport large weapons, how do districts trade with each other? I mean, things like arms smuggling."

The Track Supply Department members weren't shy about such topics. Ai Jia, who had just come in from outside, said, "Crossing space isn't exclusive to the game. Many districts with higher evolution levels can manage it too—just not as conveniently or safely as dimensional trains."

"The best way for players to achieve spatial jumps is through items. But these items are expensive, rare, and usually single-use—and that's for individual players."

"So for large-scale spatial crossings, you need both technological and financial backing."

"That must only be possible for the more advanced wormhole point districts," Wan Tingfang sighed. "I hope one day I can afford a spatial jump item. Forget everything else—just being able to escape to another dimension is tempting enough."

"Don't you think so, Brother Xu? Brother Xu?"

Xu Huo's face was expressionless. "There are plenty of high-level players in the game. Where there's demand, there's supply. If spending a bit of money could grant you an extra life, I'm sure many players would find a way to get one. It's for sale but in limited quantities. Aside from the high price, there must be other reasons."

When out-of-district players used such items to enter Zone 014's real space from the dungeon, judging by the numbers, at least this kind of item wasn't extremely scarce.

"Items like spatial ones have quite a few restrictions," Cai Xiangxiang said. "Usage time, range, and headcount are all very strict. Definitely not the kind of thing that lets players go wherever they want."

She let out a light chuckle. "Not even as good as a train ticket."

She Ping wheeled another cart of ore in from outside. "Less talk, more work. Finish early, get off early."

The group got busy again. By the time they finished, it was nearly dark, but the streets were brightly lit. Shi Youzhi invited his squad members to dinner, and they all headed into the bustling downtown area.

"Eat as much as you want," Shi Youzhi said. "Consider it my treat. What kind of drinks do you all want?"

District 011 had two types of alcohol: one made with traditional techniques, like grain liquor, and another processed with agents that left no hangover even after getting drunk—a type of mental pleasure product, especially popular among women.

Cai Xiangxiang and Wan Tingfang both opted for the latter, while She Ping and the others took the former. Shi Youzhi didn't seem to like the agent-processed kind.

"Captain, didn't you come from another wormhole point?" Wan Tingfang asked curiously. "Shouldn't drinks like this have been popularized earlier? I've heard grain liquor has disappeared in some districts."

"Good things are liked everywhere." Shi Youzhi took a sip. "In my hometown, this is still a luxury item."

"What's the captain's hometown like?" Wan Tingfang pressed. "As developed as District 011?"

"You'll find out someday. Let's eat, let's eat." Shi Youzhi brushed it off with a smile.

The rest of the evening went smoothly. They didn't talk much else, and Wan Tingfang gave Xu Huo a rundown on the missions he'd missed, with other team members occasionally chiming in, helping him understand a lot about handling track emergencies.

Teams like Shi Youzhi's mainly handled repairs and sometimes took on cleanup duty. If a train faced a major incident, other departments would step in.

Overall, the Track Supply Department wasn't considered high-risk work.

After dinner, they parted ways. Wan Tingfang hitched a ride with Xu Huo, half-drunk and slurring, "I'm pretty sure something's wrong with those agent-processed goods. Otherwise, the captain and the others wouldn't refuse to drink them."

Xu Huo glanced at her. "Agents themselves aren't necessarily safe. Evolution agents are the same."

Wan Tingfang was taken aback. "Aren't evolution agents supposed to speed up players' evolution?"

"You could try stopping the evolution agent," Xu Huo said. "It might cause time dilation as your evolution rate increases, but after a while without the agent, your body would start showing signs of decay."

This is easy to notice early in a player's evolution, but once past the initial trials, most players can scrounge up some agents. Those who can't get any won't survive a few dungeons. And those who survive dungeons will eventually have no shortage of agents. To boost strength, dosage and frequency only increase, making them numb to the side effects of evolution agents.

Still, as long as you keep taking a steady dose of evolution agent regularly, it's not really a big problem.

"I'm not short on evolution agents anyway." Wan Tingfang rubbed her head. "Maybe things will improve in the future."

"Get some rest." Xu Huo didn't say more. The side effects of evolution couldn't be completely eliminated through agents—just look at V. Fanxiao and Laurence Li for proof.

After they split, Xu Huo went straight back to the ancient castle. He didn't expect a guest to be waiting for him at this late hour.

"Dr. Deng." He smiled.

Dr. Deng was a medical expert Xu Huo had brought out from the Deep Blue Laboratory dungeon. The man was fanatical in his worship of Dr. Wu, who had created the perfect evolution serum, and was skilled at disguise. He would pretend to "accidentally" leak certain information to get players to kidnap him, all in the hopes of directly accessing Dr. Wu's research data.

The reason he had followed Xu Huo was to find a new target. On the way to District 011, he had even "hinted" at Laurence Li, but Laurence Li didn't take the bait.

Once in District 011, Dr. Deng quickly landed a job with Rong Xin, proving that talent can find work anywhere.

"Looking for me?"

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