Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 1163: Equal Trade is the Core of the World’s Operation

Chapter 1163: Chapter 1163: Equal Trade is the Core of the World’s Operation

The "City Sandbox" was a Rank A Prop traded from the W37 Base’s government. The entire prop is half a meter long and wide, resembling more of a chessboard. On it are six small models representing people and buildings. When one’s Psychic Power evolves to a certain degree, these six models can be moved, and through their movement, one can achieve the effect of moving corresponding buildings or Players. However, Xu Huo’s current level of evolution is far from the extent of controlling an entire city through the sandbox. So after obtaining the prop, he had never used it.

Now, the reason he took it out was that his Psychic Power and the Magician’s Psychic Power overlapped in this area. Combined with the Cubic Space, the Experimental Building in this region had already become extremely chaotic. Perhaps the "City Sandbox" could come into play; if he couldn’t move buildings, maybe he could at least move people—move himself.

Under the influence of the "Angel’s Tooth," the Spatial Pyramid seemed unable to complete the final step and failed to seal the top. It was apparent the Magician was quite surprised. He split his hands apart and then clapped them together; the pyramid quickly collapsed and rebuilt itself, successfully spitting out the "Angel’s Tooth."

At that moment, Xu Huo successfully moved the character model on the sandbox—even if it was just by one grid, he had indeed succeeded. He had moved himself out of the pyramid’s encirclement!

However, this action took a heavy toll on his energy, so after avoiding the pyramid, he promptly packed away the prop and distanced himself from the Magician.

After two failed attempts at entrapment, the Magician also withdrew from the pyramid. Whether it had caused him mental exhaustion was unclear, but in any case, he did not use the pyramid again afterward.

The sudden collapse of the Experimental Building had already caught the attention of the Special Defense Department and the local government. A large number of Players were heading this way, and sirens could already be heard from a distance.

Xu Huo and the Magician landed successively on the ruins, separated by a hundred meters. Neither made another move. After standing still for three seconds, the two silently retreated in different directions, tacitly ending the battle.

After days of little rest and continuous use of Psychic Power, Xu Huo felt extremely fatigued. After leaving the Experimental Building, he casually found a hotel to rest—Nie Xuan’s list of people had been mostly dealt with, his tasks were essentially concluded, and any subsequent turmoil no longer concerned him.

Gu Yu called him and briefly summarized the Special Defense Department’s recent operations over the past few days. Just within Jing City, they had ruthlessly dismantled several cult organizations and Player crime groups with efficiency so high that it unnerved other Players who were merely observing.

"I always knew the Special Defense Department was formidable, but I didn’t think they were *this* formidable," Gu Yu remarked with a touch of awe. "With how things are now, hardly any Player organizations would dare to openly oppose them. The only path left is to keep a low profile."

"Though, I heard the government has also seen quite a few of its people assassinated," she added mysteriously. "Do you know where the news leaked from?"

"The Special Defense Department?" Xu Huo replied offhandedly.

"How did you know?" Gu Yu was a bit surprised. "I thought this was insider information."

"Government-level information wouldn’t be leaked easily. If it’s out, it can only come from those directly involved," Xu Huo said. Being one of the participants himself, he hadn’t told anyone, and Nie Xuan shouldn’t have spilled the details either. That left only the Players involved in onsite security, likely pulled from the Special Defense Department’s roster at the time.

The government treated Evolvers as less than human, which naturally extended to Players. Like lips without teeth, Players feared that such individuals might eventually encroach upon them too.

"Let’s hope the government and the Special Defense Department learn to act more human," Gu Yu said. "These days, even going home for the holidays feels like living on edge."

"For now, things should be fine. Take your association friends back; tomorrow I’ll come find you," Xu Huo replied.

Gu Yu already knew he was no longer in the safe zone—after all, the commotion caused by the Special Defense Department searching for him earlier had been significant.

After reminding him to stay safe, she hung up the phone.

Xu Huo slept in the hotel for a night and left early the next morning by plane.

Unexpectedly, not long after the flight took off, the Magician sat across from him once again. This time, however, his appearance was much more ordinary. He looked like a somewhat frail young man, dressed in a suit and glasses, polite and composed.

It was hard to tell if his face was real, but the pale complexion beneath the makeup was unmistakable.

Xu Huo was eating breakfast and paused to ask if the Magician wanted a serving himself, remarking, "I hope you’re not planning to stage another performance on the plane."

The Magician didn’t answer the question, instead asking for breakfast and sitting face-to-face with Xu Huo to eat.

After finishing his meal, he gracefully wiped the corner of his mouth and said, "These past few days I’ve been following you, yet I don’t quite understand why you go out of your way to do such thankless tasks."

"Are you referring to injecting them with Evolver’s Blood?" Xu Huo sipped his water. "To me, it doesn’t feel like going out of my way."

The Magician placed both hands on the small table, conjured a playing card from his fingers, and flipped it over. "So you’re deliberately complicating the killings as an act of revenge against them. If that’s the case, you should either leave your name afterward or stop concealing your identity entirely; otherwise, no one will thank you for it."

Xu Huo pushed his water cup aside with his index finger. "I do things purely because I feel like it and not for anyone else’s sake. How other people perceive it is irrelevant to me."

The little clown face on the metal playing card shifted from a frown to a smile. The Magician said, "Once, in a certain district, I saw an old beggar. When he was younger, he inherited a vast fortune. He passionately dedicated himself to philanthropy, established a medical research institute, and invested enormous funds annually to provide free healthcare for the poor. Over time, his fortune ran dry. He even had to sell his house. The institute he founded was renamed, and the people who had once worked under him—paid by the salary he provided—rose to become prominent benefactors, celebrated for their generosity."

"The old man ended up wandering the streets, unable to afford even a single meal."

"People who had benefited from his kindness walked past him without offering him even a penny or a shred of sympathy."

Xu Huo looked up at him. "That story... you just made it up, didn’t you?"

"Shaped in thirty seconds," the Magician admitted without hesitation, adding, "Only when there’s reciprocity does exchange validate the value of both parties. For example, when you show good intentions, you should rightfully receive gratitude in return. Otherwise, down the line, the next person with good intentions might suffer consequences because of your behavior."

"Fair trade is the cornerstone of how the world operates."

"What you’ve described, I agree with," Xu Huo replied. "But other people’s gratitude doesn’t concern me, nor do I care about whether the next good deed does or doesn’t invite condemnation. As I’ve said before—I do things purely for my own satisfaction."

"When I feel like it, I act. And when I don’t feel like it, I won’t."

"Still, your notion of fair trade interests me. What kind of trade are you proposing?"