Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 1223 "Well" Character Line

Chapter 1223: Chapter 1223 "Well" Character Line

The people nearby were stunned. They instinctively tried to distance themselves from the corpse of Mutton Chop Beards, but Xu Huo immediately warned, "Don’t move!"

In general, humans are conditioned to respond reflexively to certain verbal cues. For instance, when someone yells "Don’t move," many people instinctively pause their actions. This reflex can become a tool in life-or-death survival games, such as when someone shouts, "Hidden Weapon!"—true or not, one would instinctively become vigilant or dodge.

However, some players excel at resisting reflexive reactions. Possessing a heightened sense of judgment, they are unaffected by habits or common sense. So, when Xu Huo gave his warning, Big Belly’s movements remained uninterrupted. Just as he stood to retreat, a line sliced across his waist, releasing a spray of blood. It wasn’t until he was cleaved neatly in two that he realized what had happened!

Mu Yan and Glasses Man, prepared to retreat but stopped mid-motion by Xu Huo’s order, froze at the sight before them. Their gazes then shifted to the stationary players who hadn’t moved at all.

"What’s happening?" Mu Yan tilted her head slightly, making cautious movements. "I didn’t feel anything!"

Xu Huo’s face darkened as realization dawned. When Mutton Chop Beards died, he noticed someone had already laid traps around them. Upon closer attention, he identified four threads surrounding him—two horizontal and two vertical—forming a grid-like "井" structure that trapped him at its center. Mutton Chop Beards’ bad luck placed him just outside the boundaries; when he nodded his head, a thread sliced cleanly through his throat. Meanwhile, the rest of the group was within the confines of the grid.

Mutton Chop Beards had barely nodded, but the thread possessed an inexplicable smoothness. Infinitely sharp, it sliced through his entire neck like it was butter.

It wasn’t an ordinary prop. Upon closer scrutiny, Xu Huo noticed its resemblance to a Spatial Ray but far thinner, more imperceptible, and possessing far greater lethality.

Using Cubic Space, Xu Huo could generate Spatial Rays to craft blade-like structures. These invisible, intangible blades could cleanly cut through human flesh but struggled against Defensive Props. Spatial Artifacts countered them even more strongly. The limitation lay in his insufficient evolution in spatial powers. Improving their lethality without upgrading evolutionary power required a suitable prop. Such props were rare, and though Mr. Kang once possessed similar items, following his suicide, it was uncertain whether they existed or what they could have been.

At least for now, Xu Huo lacked the ability to create Spatial Blades capable of piercing Advanced Defense Items.

Yet, the thread before him—which had claimed two lives—neither merged with Cubic Space nor reached a level where he could perceive it directly. Perhaps its distance from him prevented detection, but whether Spatial Ray or something else, it was clearly an unknown entity confronting them now.

Xu Huo’s mind raced with thoughts. After brief deliberation, he projected his psychic power outward, revealing the threads interwoven around the group to Mu Yan and Glasses Man.

Glasses Man, noticing the threads thinner than hair, took out a small prop to test. When the prop was instantly sliced cleanly into halves while the threads remained unmoved, he exclaimed in shock, "What is this?"

"Still unclear," Xu Huo replied without moving. "No idea if there are even more invisible threads beyond these visible ones."

This revelation froze Glasses Man in place as well. Mu Yan’s expression shifted repeatedly before she finally remarked, "Could this be Super Evolution power?"

"I’ve heard stories of players post-Super Evolution seeing everything as threads. Space, time—they perceive it all as threads and manipulate evolutionary powers to control timelines or spatial lines. If they wish, they can use these threads to remotely move objects, alter their temporal states, or even kill people..."

"But rumors say only the elite among Super Evolvers can achieve this sort of mastery. Our luck can’t possibly be this bad..."

"Yet isn’t that exactly what we’re facing now?" Glasses Man glanced at Xu Huo. "How do we escape?"

Xu Huo’s face hardened. "I don’t have an answer. I don’t even know what these are."

"But you can see them!" Glasses Man pressed urgently.

"My prop is purely supportive," Xu Huo replied. "It helps us visualize these threads but can’t do anything else. If we’re feeling lucky, maybe there are only these four threads."

Mu Yan, who had spent the previous night with Xu Huo, had a partial understanding of the situation. The player who ambushed them and led them into traps the day before manipulated threads. Now another thread wielder confronted them tonight. Though these threads might differ, it was absurdly coincidental for two players to employ identical methods.

"I’ll try my prop!" Mu Yan gritted her teeth and pulled out a paper figure.

The paper figure landed on the ground, seeming infused with life. It stretched and moved its limbs, then cautiously stepped forward—only to be sliced cleanly into two halves.

The paper figure’s proportions were imperfect, so the thread missed its arms as it cut through its pelvic region. Its lower half remained standing outside the thread while its upper torso clawed at the ground. It then twisted its body, leaped upward, landed back on its legs, and used its hands to stabilize its lower body—reconnecting itself before continuing forward.

Mu Yan exhaled in relief. "This is a prop created by a Paper Servant Master. If it can move past, it proves the path is safe."

With that reassurance, she bent low and carefully maneuvered to slip below the thread.

Her attempt proved successful. Following the paper figure, she safely exited the grid.

"Let me try," Glasses Man muttered. First testing the area around him with a prop to confirm safety, he stepped forward cautiously and bent low to pass underneath the threads, successfully escaping to Mu Yan’s side.

"It’s fine! You should hurry and come out too!" Mu Yan called to Xu Huo.

As Xu Huo stood, however, the four seemingly motionless threads suddenly rose higher and constricted—targeting him directly!

Not certain if these were Spatial Rays or how lethal they might be, Xu Huo hesitated to rely on his Rank-A Defense Item or his Secondary Stone "Eternal Time," which protected him against Time Force. Unsure of their ability to resist weaponized threads, his first choice was evasion.