Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 1244 - 1245: The Holder of the Flower Cards

Chapter 1244: Chapter 1245: The Holder of the Flower Cards

The ones arriving were Jiang Zifeng and Ye Bingxin. They also saw Xu Huo. Jiang Zifeng abruptly leaped forward excitedly, "I didn’t expect to run into you here, Old Xu!"

Xu Huo had agreed beforehand with Jiang Zifeng, Ye Bingxin, and Liang Shuang to work together to clear the instance. But after entering, though they were now in the later part of the maze, he’d only encountered Jiang Zifeng briefly at the start. Shortly after, random teleportation had sent him somewhere else.

"When did you two reunite?" Xu Huo asked casually.

"Haha, I’ve been lucky," Jiang Zifeng replied with a grin. "After being randomly teleported away, I wandered aimlessly and happened to bump into her—who was also lost. We’ve been wandering around the maze for a day or two now without finding the right direction. Since we didn’t have much else to do, we ended up starting a competition in the maze, and—I’m about to win."

Xu Huo chuckled lightly, "I’ve got clues about the maze’s layout. Shall we head to the finish point together?"

"Of course!" Jiang Zifeng laughed heartily. "I told you I’m lucky, didn’t I? Looks like I’ve hit the jackpot for clearing the instance!"

Ye Bingxin rolled her eyes at him, "Shut your crow mouth."

Jiang Zifeng kept laughing but didn’t say anything further.

The original trio now turned into a group of five. On the way, Xu Huo asked, "My Linking Prop hasn’t detected your positions."

Even though they were face-to-face, the prop didn’t respond.

Ye Bingxin looked a bit embarrassed as she admitted, "We lost the Linking Prop."

The whole incident was straightforward—Jiang Zifeng, a person with bad luck and zero self-awareness, had dragged Ye Bingxin into misfortune as well. He would approach people along the way to "ask for directions." Some would oblige, but many would not. After one particularly unfriendly encounter, they ended up losing several props, including the Linking Prop.

It might sound like Jiang Zifeng was the source of trouble, but in instances like this, these things were rather common. Losing props was just bad luck, and they could only resign themselves to accept it.

"I recognize the player who stole our props. If we run into them again, I’ll just snatch them back," Jiang Zifeng said confidently out of nowhere, "I’ve got a feeling we’ll definitely meet again."

Whether or not they’d encounter the thief again was unclear, but the frequent appearance of dead ends was undeniably frustrating.

After running into dead ends repeatedly, even Mu Yan and Li Cheng began to doubt themselves. "Have we taken the wrong path? All of our position-tracking props have stopped working. Maybe our judgment is flawed after all."

Nearby, Ye Bingxin touched the maze wall and unlocked a new clue:

"The person holding the most flower cards is currently beside you."

She instinctively glanced at Xu Huo, who showed no apparent reaction. She quickly understood. "Clues on maze walls aren’t necessarily reliable."

Xu Huo, however, believed this clue to be accurate. Earlier, Xue Lang had presumably collected quite a few flower cards. Whether he had died or exited the instance, those cards would likely return to the maze.

The total number of flower cards was twelve. Xu Huo held three, while Chen Chou had one. If Xue Lang had more than three cards, the total number accounted for would exceed seven. The remaining five cards were unlikely to all be in the hands of one person. Thus, holding three cards could be considered relatively many.

"I don’t have a single flower card. By the way, what’s the purpose of these flower cards?" Jiang Zifeng asked the others. "Does anyone know?"

"Before the maze instance leveled up, the first flower card could be used to change allegiances prior to clearing the maze," Li Cheng explained. "Whether it’s the Black Side or the White Side, there’s one chance for free choice."

"I’m not sure what changes were made after the instance leveled up."

"Why would anyone change allegiances before clearing the instance?" Ye Bingxin wondered aloud. "Does clearing the maze have something to do with allegiance?"

"That I don’t know," Li Cheng replied. "Only players whose first card was a flower card could change allegiance. Out of all the players who clear the maze, the number with a first flower card is fewer than five. And the number who retain theirs till the end would be even smaller," he added. "Besides, that was already an obsolete rule."

Xu Huo was thinking about something else. If Xue Lang’s cards had truly returned to the maze, they were likely back at the starting point. Which meant the number of flower cards they could encounter further along the route would sharply decrease.

They arrived at another petal-shaped crossroads. Xu Huo said, "Same as before—each person picks one path. If the Communicator doesn’t connect, return to this point after five minutes."

With several paths branching out, the five of them needed to disperse. Within five minutes, Xu Huo could explore farther and deeper than the others. As it happened, just as he was about to head back, he discovered three players brutally beating one man.

The beaten man was lying on the ground, begging continuously for mercy. His legs bent at angles impossible under normal circumstances, and his clothes were covered in blood.

The three standing players seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the one-sided abuse, laughing and taunting as they kicked the man on the ground. One even stomped his head into the floor, sneering, "Spineless worm, and you can still manage a laugh!"

"Gentlemen, please, spare my pathetic life... My old mother and young brother back home rely on me to take care of them. If I die, it’s just as bad as killing three! Please, I’m begging you!"

The man being beaten to the point of Bi Qinglian was none other than Chen Chou. Just as when he begged Xu Huo for mercy earlier, even if his face had been reduced to an unrecognizable mess, he continued pleading shamelessly without any hint of anger or resistance—or more likely, because his prior attempts at resistance had failed, he had simply given up and resigned himself to a beating.

The three players exchanged glances, and one of them pulled out a dagger and tossed it onto the ground. "Want us to spare you? Not impossible. As long as you admit you’re a spineless coward and a useless waste..."

"I admit, I admit!" Chen Chou replied hurriedly.

The speaker chuckled darkly, "Oh, you’ve learned to answer fast... Just admitting it doesn’t cost anything, does it? Here’s an idea. Cut off that thing down below and pretend you’re a woman. We won’t bother with women."

With a sneer, he kicked the dagger toward Chen Chou’s hand. "Your arm is still usable. Do it yourself."

Amidst their mockery, Chen Chou shakily picked up the dagger. Not only were his hands trembling, his entire body and face twitched uncontrollably, large beads of sweat pouring out. It wasn’t clear whether it was fear or rage.

He kept his head down so no one could see his expression—or perhaps no one cared about his thoughts. They just stared at his gradually curling figure, curious whether he would actually follow through.

"Coward! Can you do it or not!" The player in a jacket kicked him. "So slow—you’re already halfway to being a woman!"

The three burst into laughter again. Suddenly, Chen Chou, lying on the ground, hurled the dagger at one of them before immediately trying to escape using a prop. Unfortunately, they had prepared for this. A translucent net snared him the moment he moved.

The attacked jacket-wearing player angrily kicked him away, shouting, "You dog! You’re begging for death!"

Wrapped tightly by the net, Chen Chou rolled and slid some distance before being pinned down by a foot that had extended outward from nearby.