Players, Please Board the Train

"There were no wax figures in the lounge when we came out," Bai Wenxian said.

Xu Huo motioned for Xie Ling to continue.

"After I entered the Wax Figure Hall, the door behind me was locked, and someone was knocking on it from the outside. The sound came from the lower half of the door. I was scared of whatever pushed me in, so I wanted to get out first, or at least regroup with Xu Ruosi and Long Aotian."

"I didn't get far before I felt someone following me. When I turned around, it was a middle-aged wax figure- exactly like the one in the ghost story Xu Ruosi told!"

"Wait," Bai Wenxian interrupted, "What do you mean exactly like? How do you know it's the same as what Xu Ruosi said?"

"Isn't it the same as the middle-aged male ghost following the teenager?" Xie Ling raised her voice slightly.

Bai Wenxian's face twisted with frustration, and he simply shut up.

Xie Ling continued. When the wax figure first appeared, she was terrified, but being a D-grade player wasn't purely luck. She reacted quickly enough to destroy the wax figure on the spot, and after discovering it had no real attack power, her fear subsided significantly. Just then, she heard footsteps ahead - unmistakably Xu Ruosi's footsteps.

"I can distinguish people's footsteps. Once I confirmed it was Xu Ruosi, I hurried over, but when I reached the room ahead, I found her unconscious. Just as I was about to approach, someone tapped my shoulder from behind... then I blacked out. When I woke up, I saw you." She turned to Xu Huo, "Mr. Yu, thank you for saving me."

She claimed she could distinguish footsteps, but that sound might not have come from Xu Ruosi at all. After all, they were separated by only a wall - if Xie Ling was making noise on her side, it would be strange if Xu Ruosi didn't react.

As for whether the fallen figure was a wax imitation of Xu Ruosi or the real Xu Ruosi herself, it didn't make much difference.

The Wax Figure Hall wasn't that large. The time it took to tell the story was more than enough for Xu Ruosi and Long Aotian to walk back and forth twice. Since they didn't return like Bai Wenxian, the likelihood of something going wrong was high.

"Footsteps aren't necessarily reliable," Bai Wenxian said at this point. "It's very likely they were luring you into a trap."

Xie Ling bit her lip. "The horror stories are coming true, so I can't even be sure if I'm having hallucinations."

"So where did Xu Ruosi and Long Aotian actually go?" Bai Wenxian asked. "I didn't see them up ahead. Did they leave?"

"Let's search. A ready-made mystery of the missing," Xu Huo said.

Bai Wenxian's eyes lit up with realization, but then he glanced at his watch. "It's almost time for our appointment."

"If we've run into unexpected trouble, the others probably have too," Xie Ling said.

The three briefly discussed and decided to move forward.

Bai Wenxian and Xie Ling also tried to break through the walls on both sides, but like the front door, it was walls behind walls. Xu Huo pulled out the "Similarity Seeker" to scan, but to his surprise, the item had malfunctioned.

The "Similarity Seeker's" detection range was two hundred meters, but inside the Wax Figure Hall, it only showed "1."

Xu Huo was carrying quite a few items on him. Even if it couldn't find the missing Xu and Long, this result shouldn't be possible.

A thought flashed through his mind. He called out to the two ahead, "Let's check the Horror Room."

Without another word, he walked off. Bai Wenxian and Xie Ling, thinking he'd discovered a clue, followed closely without asking questions.

The three quickly reached the lounge. Without hesitation, Xu Huo swung his sword and sliced open the outer wall of the Horror Room. He put the Seeker inside - and to his surprise, the Wax Figure Hall still showed "1," while the Horror Room now displayed a new item count prompt.

Although the Seeker claimed it could detect items whether above ground or below, he had used it in the Horror Room earlier to check if Xu Ruosi and her group had left any items behind. At that time, it hadn't shown any items outside the Horror Room at all. So this "underground" claim was somewhat exaggerated.

But that wasn't the real issue. Another flaw of the Seeker had revealed itself: item detection could be overwritten.

Whether inside the Wax Figure Hall or outside, the Seeker only displayed one item. If it wasn't that an item's grade was too high and overwrote all others, then it had to do with the item's form or type.

Xu Huo didn't try using a Super Item, but he was carrying the A-grade "Life Core" on him, and the display didn't change.

"What's wrong?" Xie Ling came over to ask.

"There are people above." He put away the Seeker and sliced open the ceiling of the Horror Room. Sure enough, two wax figures fell down one after another. Like Xie Ling, they were real people sealed in wax shells. When they hit the floor, the shells shattered, revealing the people inside.

"I don't recognize these two..." Xie Ling studied their faces. They weren't Xu Ruosi or Long Aotian.

"They died recently." But the items on these two corpses hadn't been detected earlier - they were likely moved here later.

"These two were probably players in this dungeon too," Bai Wenxian said. "I didn't expect them to die here. I'm afraid Xu Ruosi and Long Aotian are in grave danger."

Xu Huo quickly removed the accessories they were wearing and looked up at the ceiling again.

Above the Horror Room, there was a cavity, also wrapped in metal, roughly the height of a person squatting.

He stabbed upward with his sword. Unexpectedly, at that moment, the Horror Room began to sink!

Xie Ling pulled out a long "work" shaped item and wedged it at the junction of the two rooms, temporarily halting the descending Horror Room. Xu Huo flipped up onto the ceiling, cut through the metal plate blocking the exit, and crawled out.

Bai Wenxian and Xie Ling exchanged glances and followed him up. To their shock, there was another lounge outside!

"What's going on?" Xie Ling was astonished. "Does the Wax Figure Hall have two floors?"

Bai Wenxian caught on quickly. "No, it's not two floors. The one we saw is the only Wax Figure Hall and lounge. We were just underground earlier."

Xie Ling wanted to turn back and check below, but by the time they came out, the Horror Room had risen back up. Going back in, they only saw an empty room.

"So when we climbed up, the Wax Figure Hall automatically rose?" She came back again. "Why was there no sound at all?"

"There might be a soundproofing item," Xu Huo said, studying the lounge that hadn't changed one bit. He began to suspect that the entire Wax Figure Hall might be an item.

"No wonder we couldn't smash through the walls - we were underground!" Xie Ling breathed a sigh of relief. "We should be able to get out now, right?"

"Hee hee hee!" A child's laughter, carrying a hollow, echoing quality, came from up ahead.

Xie Ling's expression immediately changed. "Even back on the surface, it's still not over?"

Xu Huo checked the time. "It's already five o'clock. It's probably getting dark outside. We need to hurry out - I'm worried something might happen tonight."

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