Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 1200: An Ally with Character

Chapter 1200: Chapter 1200: An Ally with Character

The woman kneeling on the ground and throwing up was accompanied by a man, clearly someone she knew. However, rather than helping her, the man stood behind her laughing, saying as he chuckled, "This is what they call reaping what you sow. If you can’t take it, you can’t take it—just give up; I won’t laugh at you. Enjoy throwing up now, huh? Look, even the cleaning robots are gathering around."

Vomiting after descent wasn’t an uncommon sight. Apart from having cleaning robots prepared, there were also robots handing out clean towels and mouthwash.

The woman, half-sprawled on the ground, pushed herself up, quickly rinsed her mouth, wiped her face, turned her head, and greeted Xu Huo. "What a coincidence!"

It really was quite the coincidence—it was Ye Bingxin.

"I spotted you guys from mid-air earlier. You’re here for the Poker Card Maze, too, right? What a small world! This is my friend, Jiang Zifeng."

Ye Bingxin came over and quickly introduced the two sides. Unexpectedly, Jiang Zifeng had heard of Xu Huo and cheerfully remarked, "Ye Bingxin mentioned that you drew the Sun Moon Star Card—impressive stuff! I’ve been trying twenty times a day and still can’t draw it."

"Just proves you’ve got lousy luck!" Ye Bingxin couldn’t help rolling her eyes. She turned to Xu Huo and said, "Don’t mind him; he’s just a clown... So you’re going into the instance too? How about we team up?"

Saying so, she pulled out a few small poker-card-shaped pins. "One for each of us. The more people, the better the chances we bump into each other in the maze. Who knows, we might even clear it together!"

"Sure," Xu Huo said as he directly grabbed a pin.

Liang Shuang hesitated briefly, but seeing Xu Huo take one, she said nothing further.

"Let’s do it!" Jiang Zifeng chimed in enthusiastically. "The more, the merrier. If we have enough people, maybe we’ll take over the maze!"

"Hah, dream on. Don’t you know the new rules?" Ye Bingxin said. "If we get transported to the same Maze Gate, the first people we’ll have to eliminate will be our own group."

She then turned back to explain to Xu Huo and Liang Shuang, "Previously, when you entered an instance, players would still be filtered out, but the rules were more lenient. One Maze Gate could admit two to three people. Now it’s different. If you enter the same Maze Gate, in the end, only one person can participate in the instance."

So, if they entered the same gate, they’d have to eliminate their teammates first.

"Isn’t there a Linking Prop?" Jiang Zifeng said confidently. "Generally, teams won’t get transported to the same gate. If it happens, just follow the instance rules. If we miss this round, there’s always the next one. Anyway, Maze Tickets are pretty easy to obtain."

Ye Bingxin nodded in agreement. "Let’s just hope we don’t meet up inside. Otherwise, this team’s effort will be wasted."

A retail food cart passed by, and Jiang Zifeng’s eyes followed it. He called it to a stop and generously offered, "What do you guys want to eat? It’s on me. I highly recommend these meat-stuffed flower buns—they’re amazing! I can down three in one go!"

As he spoke, he effortlessly ordered three for himself.

"Don’t mind if I do," Xu Huo said, ordering one. Then, spotting a "Crazy Flavor" option on the menu, he inquired, "What kind of flavor is this?"

"Extra-stuffed flower buns, with death risk doubled," Jiang Zifeng said with a mischievous grin. "This flavor is only available to players."

"I’ll try the Crazy Flavor," Xu Huo decided.

Jiang Zifeng stared at him in surprise for a moment, then, after less than a second of contemplation, decisively changed all three of his orders to Crazy Flavor. He turned back to Ye Bingxin and Liang Shuang with eager anticipation.

"I’m not looking to punish myself. I’ll have a regular Blast Beads pie," the former said.

"I’d rather not waste antitoxins. I’ll stick to the pie as well," said the latter.

Though slightly disappointed, Jiang Zifeng respected his companions’ choices.

The group grabbed their food, found a less crowded spot, and declined the free mobile seating. Instead, they simply squatted along the roadside to eat.

"Why are we doing this?" Liang Shuang asked, puzzled. "Isn’t sitting on chairs more comfortable?"

"Did you notice the company behind those mobile seats?" Jiang Zifeng replied.

"Hengxing Mechanical Company... What’s wrong with that? It’s pretty normal. You see this company everywhere in the game."

As he munched on his food, Jiang Zifeng explained, "I have a personal grudge against this company. I’ve decided I won’t use any of their products for the rest of my life."

The three others fell silent simultaneously: His stubbornness was... unique, to say the least.

"But," Liang Shuang protested, "how do you avoid Hengxing in this game? Even White Notes come from Hengxing, and the entire game might even belong to them. How do you survive avoiding Hengxing?"

"Easy—bartering," Jiang Zifeng said as he finished off one of his flower buns and opened his second. "Besides, I don’t hate all of Hengxing, just Hengxing Mechanical."

"Why’s that?" Xu Huo asked, intrigued.

"I spent fifty million to custom order a Combat Robot from Hengxing Mechanical, but the thing self-destructed in its first fight. I took it to another place for repairs, and they told me the core materials were substandard," Jiang Zifeng said, elongating his tone. "Unbelievable! The core materials were ones I personally provided—Secondary Stones! And they still dared to cut corners!"

"Then what?" Liang Shuang asked, unable to resist.

"In a fit of rage, I blew up that branch of the company and swiped a batch of Secondary Stones in return," Jiang Zifeng said with some pride. "Made myself a tidy little profit."

"Aren’t you afraid of becoming a wanted criminal?" Liang Shuang asked, stunned.

Jiang Zifeng glanced at him. "Simple—just buy a High-Level Face-Changing Prop and take care of business quickly. They rarely catch anyone."

He spoke nonchalantly and then moved on to his third flower bun. After taking one bite, he froze. His face and lips quickly turned a purplish-blue.

"Poisoned!" Ye Bingxin immediately pulled out an antitoxin, but Jiang Zifeng laughed carelessly and croaked out, "I took an antitoxin an hour ago. Do you think I’d dare eat this stuff otherwise? I won’t die... won’t die..."

Without a word, Ye Bingxin grabbed his not-so-long hair and yanked his head back, biting off the antitoxin bottle’s cap before pouring the contents straight into his mouth—seemingly intent on shoving the entire bottle down his throat.

Choking, Jiang Zifeng coughed and sputtered, mumbling through the ordeal, "Miss... Be gentler... Ugh!"

Xu Huo calmly finished his flower bun while Liang Shuang looked on. "Not bad. The flavor’s quite good," Xu Huo commented.

Holding her head in her hand, Liang Shuang looked visibly unwell.

"Refined... taste..." Jiang Zifeng managed to croak out between gasps, giving Xu Huo a thumbs-up, only to be ruthlessly cut off by Ye Bingxin, who kept shoving the bottle into his mouth while crying, "Your luck already sucks! Treasure your life, dammit!"

Xu Huo watched the scene with a faint smile, then turned to summon an automated vending cart. He bought more flower buns and offered them to the rest of the group.

The other three looked over. Only Jiang Zifeng raised his hand, but it was promptly smacked aside as the bottle lodged in his mouth made him roll his eyes upward.

Liang Shuang glanced at the sky, then at the people around her, her gaze filled with profound doubt and confusion.