Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 1005: Ornamental Plants

Chapter 1005: Chapter 1005: Ornamental Plants

A giant flower, about three meters tall, was placed in the center of the venue. It had a short rootstock, and its petals touched the ground, opening up to a diameter of over ten meters by overlapping layers. Both the pistils and petals were transparent, only the rootstock was tinged white, giving it the appearance of a translucent glass product from a distance.

The venue staff were introducing this giant flower.

"...It comes from White Mist Canyon, discovered by a botanist and named the most beautiful in Snow City. As everyone can see, its quality is the best among the plants presented here. Usually, plants of this size do not have such crystal-clear blossoms and pistils; even more rare is that it has grown in the dark in District 002 without any human intervention!"

The staff’s enthusiastic tone was met with applause. After the applause died down, he continued: "Apart from its pure, natural rarity, this Snow City’s most beautiful has a very unique feature which many people have heard of and seen before. Honestly, I too have watched it more than once, but nature’s beauty, no matter how many times seen, is still stunningly breathtaking!"

"Let us witness it once again!"

As the venue staff exited, the central passage of the venue slowly opened, and sunlight streamed through the gaps, shining on the giant flower, which seemed intolerant to the sunlight exposure. The moment it touched the light, it quickly retracted its petals, but the next second, the petals opened up again, catching a piece of meat that flew down from the passage!

The blood-stained piece of meat was swallowed by the open pistils, and amidst the wet, squirming sounds, a strange crunch was heard. Moments later, the meat, as if chewed, was squeezed out, and the blood instantly dispersed into the petals through barely visible veins, quickly spreading throughout the whole giant flower.

In an instant, it looked as if a network of blood vessels was activated, but the densely packed veins made the giant flower look as if it had turned completely red from transparent.

This state lasted only for three seconds; the blood quickly receded, and the petals became clean again.

No one cared about what the dropped piece of meat really was. After witnessing this less than ten-second "performance," everyone immediately burst into excited applause.

"What was that falling?" Xiao Dou looked up and asked the adults around her.

"Perhaps some birds or beasts," Dong Jingxuan replied nonchalantly: "The spatial passage connects mostly to secluded places, and occasionally when it opens, some birds accidentally fall in, only to be shredded during the passage."

Xu Huo glanced at the closed space passage, at least confirming that the passage connected here in the Plant Archive wasn’t leading to any desolate mountains or wilderness.

The thing that just fell was a human. To be precise, a part of a human.

"There is another flower over there that only opens when at least three people surround it," Dong Jingxuan said: "Mr. Xu, let’s go and take a look at that one."

Xu Huo agreed smoothly, the plants inside the Plant Archive combined District 002’s aesthetic standards and interesting designs, indeed some plants were very intriguing.

"I wonder if it can survive in a place with sunlight."

"That’s easy, just take a few pots back to try," Dong Jingxuan immediately called on the venue staff to pack some portable plants and send them to the Dong Family Estate.

Upon learning Xu Huo’s needs, the venue staff quickly brought out a list, "These plants won’t wither under brief sun exposure, but it’s best to keep them in a shaded room usually, with good care they should have a lifespan of three years."

"Flowers, why keep them that long?" Dong Jingxuan waved his hand and told them to pick the most beautiful and interesting ones to send, then suggested going to the Animal Museum with Xu Huo, but Brother Lei stopped him, "Young Master Xuan, if we don’t go back now, the master might get angry."

"You can hide for a while, but not for a lifetime." Dong Jingxuan sighed theatrically, proposing to go back and face the scolding. Xu Huo could continue the visit accompanied by Dong Family members, and whatever he needed or decided to buy, the Dong Family would cover.

Xu Huo couldn’t possibly meet important people in the Dong Family, so he let Dong Jingxuan choose casually.

Brother Lei arranged for two players to stay behind, one, a mediating player, and the other, a female player taking care of Xiao Dou.

Xu Huo then visited other themed archives, tasted local delicacies guided by local players, and two hours later finally got in touch with Chi Minghong.

She had already found the instance venue, "I’ll have a full meal and then head over, are you in this instance?"

"I’m not entering the instance right now," Xu Huo replied.

"Alright then, I’ll look for you to divide the props after I come out of the instance," Chi Minghong sent another message, "If you leave before then, don’t blame me for hogging it all by myself."

Xu Huo’s tickets for the_instance venue were not in Snow City; he had come here seeking Doctor Zhang’s residence.

Luo Changren provided an address not far from Snow City, in an independent courtyard area where houses were sold along with the land; owners could do whatever they wanted with everything on the land once they purchased it, including the vegetation, animals, and underground resources.

Based on some photos taken by photography enthusiasts from the periphery, Doctor Zhang’s residence area was well protected, not developed into a large castle or commercialized like other divided areas, but surrounded by a vast, white forest.

While searching for related information, Xu Huo found a rental notice, located at Doctor Zhang’s residence.

The information displayed in the rental notice did not match Doctor Zhang; he continued his search on the public network in District 002 and found that this property was owned by an elderly lady named Jin Li, who had passed away, and her adopted son had inherited the property. There had been two renovation applications in the middle, which for some unknown reason came to nothing, and in the end the land remained as it was, with Jin Li’s adopted son renting out the property.

There had been quite a few tenants, Doctor Zhang among them, and information on the other tenants was not hard to obtain.

Because this property had briefly been notorious in the "supernatural curse" circles, some seemingly true tenant information was revealed, with many claims, but two points were consistent: one was that the property was within a natural magnetic field, causing communicators and general electronic devices to malfunction, and two was that all tenants who moved in mysteriously died within three years, either inside the house or in the outside forest.

Including the original owner’s adopted son and his wife.

Doctor Zhang’s name was also listed, but his "conclusion" was disappearance.

Unlike what Luo Changren had described—as the neighbors informed him that Doctor Zhang had left on his own accord.

Although both statements were questionable, Xu Huo believed Luo Changren’s to be closer to the truth; if Doctor Zhang was also tracking down Dr. Wu’s whereabouts, then he was very likely a player, or at the very least like Dr. Deng, toggling between two identities, using non-player tickets to move between different districts.

"Snow White Villa?"