Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 1238 - 1239 The Eliminated Humanity

Chapter 1238: Chapter 1239 The Eliminated Humanity

The three-person team expanded to four, and as one of the "captives," Chen Chou diligently hovered around Xu Huo’s trio. One moment he was scouting ahead, the next he was doubling back to deliver water and food, completely unbothered.

This made Mu Yan and Li Cheng feel a bit uneasy, as they had never encountered someone like him before.

And even his name was real.

His name was indeed Chou (Ugly), and he wasn’t the least bit embarrassed to share his story, saying he was abandoned at birth for being too ugly—a claim that raised doubts because he had only heard it from others. The family that adopted him named him Chou to keep things "realistic."

Normally, people pick the best names they can for children, or at least something trendy or common. Whoever named Chen Chou clearly had ill intentions.

"Isn’t changing a name pretty easy?" Li Cheng asked. "You’re a Player—you could have one new name every day if you wanted to."

Chen Chou grinned cheekily and replied, "Looking like this, no matter how fancy a name I choose, people would still just call me Ugly Guy. It’s not worth the effort."

"Are you from District 001?" Mu Yan scrutinized him for a moment before asking, "Which city do you live in?"

Chen Chou’s smile froze for an instant but quickly returned to normal as he answered, "Flower City."

Mu Yan abruptly fell silent.

"What’s wrong with Flower City?" Xu Huo, leaning against a wall drinking water, asked when he noticed the reaction. Earlier, some Players had spotted Mu Yan and identified her as being from Flower City, saying its residents often carried a floral scent that made them easy to recognize. However, Chen Chou didn’t have that scent.

"Although Flower City is named Flower City, not every part of it is blanketed in flowers," Mu Yan explained. "The city is enormous; there are bound to be places the government doesn’t oversee."

"That’s putting it mildly," Li Cheng said. "In District 001, the divide between the powerful and the ordinary people is stark. On the surface, things appear under unified management, but in reality, regular people aren’t allowed into the government-administered zones except during major festivals. Otherwise, it’s considered a crime—punishable by imprisonment at best, and death at worst."

"Isn’t District 001 supposed to have highly refined laws?" Xu Huo set down his water bottle. "Are you saying there’s one set of laws for those who control societal resources and another for ordinary citizens?"

"I’ve heard they have special security regulations for the directly governed areas that aren’t publicly disclosed. Regular citizens are simply informed that they’re not allowed to enter those zones. As for what crimes they might commit if they do... well, it’s simple—just don’t go in."

"But Players can enter the directly governed zones."

Li Cheng curled his lip. "Just like all the other gaming districts, District 001 welcomes outside Players to settle there. If you’re an Advanced Player and hold a Bright Gentleman Card, they’ll even rent or sell you a house at a low price."

"If you manage to live in the directly governed zones, the benefits are excellent. Not only does the government provide constant care and seasonal gifts of food and medication, but they also prepare clothing and footwear for you."

"Though to be fair, the clothing benefit isn’t exclusive to the directly governed zones—ordinary citizens get it too. Many medium to large cities distribute clothing to their citizens on a regular annual basis."

Among the trio, Xu Huo seemed to be the least informed about District 001. "So that’s why so many residents of Card City wear similar styles—it’s not just some passing trend."

"Trend..." Li Cheng couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. "During major festivals, citizens are required to wear government-mandated clothing when they go out. If they don’t, they face punitive measures—not to the point of imprisonment, but their welfare benefits will be reduced. A lot of impoverished people depend entirely on government welfare for survival."

With advancements in technology, many manual jobs have been replaced by machines—even the maintenance of precision instruments can be handled by automated processes, let alone lighter industries and intermediary tasks. Artistic fields haven’t been spared either: writing, drawing, music—whatever humans can create, machines can do it better.

So it’s not that ordinary citizens don’t want to work; there’s simply no work to do.

After all, according to District 001’s pursuit of perfection, anything created by human hands is bound to have flaws.

"When I studied District 001’s records, I almost felt like the biggest contribution ordinary citizens make to the city is the illusion of liveliness," Li Cheng said incredulously, also feeling that under the circumstances, it was natural for ordinary people to be marginalized. "The service industry workers we see in Card City could all be replaced by machines. District 001 could achieve a state where every household has its own intelligent assistant robot without any problem."

Mu Yan nodded slightly in silent agreement.

This is District 001—outwardly bustling, yet inherently cold.

"The government doesn’t raise these people for nothing," Chen Chou chimed in. "Every year, a substantial number of Players emerge from the civilian population. Look at me—even as someone abandoned by my parents, I grew up with secure access to food and clothing. That’s much better than ordinary folks in other districts."

Half of his words seemed sincere.

Mu Yan glanced at him, her lips moved slightly, but she didn’t say anything more.

Xu Huo didn’t fully grasp the details of District 001, but judging by the attitudes of both Mu Yan and Li Cheng, along with the overall discussion, the "secure access to food and clothing" that ordinary citizens enjoyed didn’t seem all that great.

"It must be an extremely competitive city," he remarked.

He ended that topic on an oddly phrased note.

Over the next half-day, they finally navigated through the thick fog and came across two more Players. Initially, they just wanted to ask for directions, but the other two were highly vigilant and immediately acted hostile without saying anything, forcing the group to get rid of them.

Mu Yan regained the Black Card 1.

The card had been taken by the pale-faced Player the previous night, but now it returned to their possession.

"Those two brothers are likely doomed," Li Cheng commented.

Soon after, Xu Huo discovered a clue on the maze wall, hinting that someone had obtained six Flower Cards.

This wasn’t entirely new information—it had appeared before. Given that the maze wall information was only partially reliable, there was no guarantee this clue was true.

Mu Yan knew Xu Huo had a few Flower Cards in his possession, and Chen Chou also had one. Wasn’t this essentially saying that twelve Flower Cards had nearly all been divided between two people?

"The information might not be true," Xu Huo remarked, though he was well aware that if Xue Lang’s goal was to collect six Flower Cards to clear the game, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to achieve. The real challenge would be assembling a set of matching suits.

He turned and asked Chen Chou about the card in his hand.

Chen Chou was holding the White Pure Gold Boots Card and again expressed his complete lack of attachment to the Flower Cards, happily offering to trade his card to Xu Huo—as long as he could get an Exchange Card.

Xu Huo currently had two Black and one White Flower Cards, which combined with Chen Chou’s card gave him two cards each of two suits. However, he also wanted to complete a full set.

If Xue Lang truly had six cards, the likelihood of success was slim.

"Should we go looking for an Exchange Card?" Mu Yan asked. "The two Exchange Cards we encountered earlier have probably returned to the starting point and are now held by other Players. We could intercept them there instead."

There was no need to worry about finding the starting point, as incoming Players would definitely head there. Moreover, ambushing new arrivals was a better strategy—their fewer cards meant no need for another reshuffle.