Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 1206: The Safe Path May Not Be the Right One

Chapter 1206: Chapter 1206: The Safe Path May Not Be the Right One

The flames were not particularly large compared to the towering maze walls, but the mutant plants, all terrified of fire, had no resistance against it. A few bottles of highly concentrated alcohol specially refined from other regions burned exceptionally well, and with the mutant plants actively dodging in a somewhat human-like manner, the flames spread seamlessly to other areas, igniting even more mutant plants.

For a while, these mutant plants stopped paying attention to attacking the humans passing by. They shrank back en masse, some even resorting to drastic measures like severing their burning parts to survive.

After smoothly reaching the end of the path, the three did not rush forward. Da Hu said, "If we go in now, we won’t just get surrounded, will we?"

Lin Qian, observing more closely, pointed at the maze walls and said, "Look at the leaves on the walls—aren’t they rippling outward like waves?"

Indeed, starting from the areas ablaze, the leaves of the maze wall’s plants shifted their orientation one by one, forming ripples as they layered themselves, all tilting away from the flames.

Following the direction the leaves pointed, the passageway ahead emitted rustling sounds, and its color abruptly lightened.

"Is this some kind of ominous signal?" Da Hu hesitated, casting a glance at Xu Huo.

Xu Huo stared ahead and began cautiously stepping forward. "Aren’t you pretty familiar with the maze? Don’t you know which mutant plants are inside and what their characteristics are?"

Da Hu wiped his face. "You can only recognize them when they show up. Besides, the instance has been upgraded—who knows what kind of crazy stuff they’ve brought in!"

The upcoming passage was not particularly long, but when they stepped inside, the maze walls on both sides automatically retreated, expanding the width of the passage to twice its original size.

"Can’t we discard the cards?" Lin Qian said. "Will we really have to deal with relentless mutant plant pursuit and ambushes for the entire twelve hours ahead?"

"No discarding, no transferring," Xu Huo’s expression darkened slightly. This didn’t just mean that the next twelve hours would be excruciating for him; if cards could only be obtained by touching maze walls or killing other players, the game would be practically unplayable. Was this massive setup just to play an upgraded version of "Flight Chess" inside the maze?

"They can’t be used a second time either," Lin Qian added.

In other words, the card she possessed could only allow her to advance 200 meters before its utility was reduced to one remaining purpose—to act as a key for opening maze wall passages bearing the same card face.

"How the hell are we supposed to play this?" Da Hu shouted, his exclamation quickly followed by a wide-eyed stare at the maze wall as he urgently said, "Look at this!"

The retreating maze walls didn’t signify that the mutant plants feared Xu Huo’s flames. Amidst the shifting branches and leaves, clusters of small yellow flowers emerged from behind the foliage, releasing bursts of green smoke into the air.

The three were wearing protective suits, so they didn’t immediately notice any odor, but Lin Qian promptly recognized the plant. "Firework Flowers. The dust they release can detonate!"

Xu Huo did not use any props; instead, he moved through the space of the passage, crossing directly past it and heading swiftly into one of the branching pathways.

Lin Qian and Da Hu exited as well, but the two chose a different branch and took a separate route from him.

Neither side looked back or slowed down—temporary gaming alliances dissolved in the blink of an eye.

Xu Huo wasn’t bothered by this. Across the subsequent dozen passages he traversed, he faced attacks without exception, no matter whether he moved quickly, used invisibility or muffler artefacts, or attempted to reduce his presence. His progress was only interrupted half an hour later when, after taking a wrong turn, he retraced his steps to a passage he had just passed—where all the plants abruptly ceased their movements.

Touching the maze wall once more, a card-faced door appeared this time: Black 20.

The card-revealed safe passage on the maze wall was accessible only to the cardholder—the cards remained fixed to the wall as Xu Huo turned to enter the next pathway.

For the next half-day, he intermittently faced attacks from mutant plants and triggered encounters during maze wall activations multiple times. No new cards or hidden convenient pathways emerged—confirming Xu Huo’s earlier hypothesis.

With a maze this massive, encountering players was exceedingly rare. Even progressing alone, factoring in wrong turns and potential hazards along the way, reaching the endpoint within ten days was dubious.

Given that the maze walls bore card faces paired with corresponding passageways, there was a high likelihood that not everything within held traps and mechanisms. Cards had varying effects, like "Advance 200 Meters" and "Mutant Plant Amity." Opening sections of the maze wall essentially resembled blind-box scenarios, with diverse outcomes.

Unfortunately, his current route showed no improvement. And while the "Mutant Plant Amity" effect still held for the next ten hours, his progress remained lackluster.

Throughout, Xu Huo frequently examined his three cards. Regardless of the presence of an "×" symbol beneath the first card, none of them lit up or presented hints—the same was true for the face cards. Their surfaces offered no signals or guidance.

Moreover, the Linking Prop he shared with Liang Shuang and the others remained ineffective—likely due to the sheer size of the upgraded instance. Starting from different points made player encounters incredibly unlikely unless someone veered off-course.

As for the giant maze’s structure, his knowledge was limited to what the background information hinted—that it progressed inward from the edges toward a central point. Regardless of the overall shape of the maze, its pathways from endpoint to starting position were said to diverge radially. However, the direction of passageways at the starting position did not guarantee alignment with these radial paths.

Meaning that while Xu Huo walked toward what seemed like the main direction, he couldn’t be sure it led to the maze’s endpoint; he might merely be circling its edges. This was one of his reasons for believing that clues to progress lay within the maze walls.

If no additional hints appeared and player encounters remained nonexistent, the game would become impossible to advance.

Just as this thought passed, an oversized White 12 card suddenly materialized on the maze wall ahead. The door opened from within, and a petite young woman stepped out. Adjusting the straps of her overalls, she smiled at Xu Huo. "So there’s someone here after all."

"Hello! I’m He Xiaoxiao. Do you know the way? Is this the correct passage?"

"No idea," Xu Huo replied without pausing, his steps continuing forward. "Doesn’t your card provide hints?"

He Xiaoxiao had fully emerged now. "I was lucky enough to spot my safe passage, so this direction should be correct, right?"

That wasn’t necessarily the case.

The game rules only specified that maze wall doors paired with matching card faces were safe passages, but it didn’t imply they were the correct ones.

"Still, after walking alone for so long, I’m thrilled to finally meet a living person." Maintaining a safe distance, He Xiaoxiao continued speaking. "Going solo is boring—when problems arise, there’s no one to discuss them with. How about we team up for now? Then when we meet the next player, we can decide whether to kill them for their cards?"