Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 261: A Hot Potato Hat

Chapter 261: Chapter 261: A Hot Potato Hat

"The amusement park’s guidebook only includes a map, but the upgraded version not only has the map but also the locations where the Q&A games are triggered. To clear the game, you can’t do without either of these," one of the players said as he pulled out two differently colored paper bags. "The silver edition includes additional Q&A triggers, and the gold edition, apart from the Q&A, also has clearance reminders—absolutely reliable and verified by other players."

"Take a look, the silver edition is just five hundred white bills, plus a free little hat. The gold edition costs a thousand white bills and comes with two little hats," he added.

Players within the amusement park seemed to be unfazed by this spectacle, glancing only briefly before turning their gaze elsewhere.

Xu Huo appeared hesitant, just about to say something when someone suddenly sneered from the side, "Here we go again, duping new players. Can’t you guys come up with something else, or are you not afraid of getting killed?"

Xu Huo turned around and saw a young man covered in little hats both front and back, sitting atop a small shop, his expression scornful.

The two players’ faces soured as they pointed at the speaker, "Tang Xiao, are you looking for death?!"

Tang Xiao jumped down and walked straight up to them, patting the little hats hanging on his chest, "If you’ve got the guts, then come at me."

The two players were disgusted, their faces as though they had swallowed flies, and eventually spat in contempt and walked away.

Tang Xiao approached Xu Huo and extended his hand, "Hello, I’m Tang Xiao. Those two are habitual offenders, specializing in conning newbies. In fact, the upgraded guidebooks aren’t that useful. Just stay in the instance for a few days, and you’ll know everything you need to know."

Xu Huo shook his hand and after introducing himself, asked, "Are you unable to clear the game even with all those little hats you’ve collected?"

Tang Xiao nodded to Yan Jiayu as a greeting and motioned for them to walk inside, saying, "Although clearing requires a certain number of little hats, it’s not entirely about quantity. Apart from the ten games in the guidebook, you have to get little hats from five other Q&A spots to clear."

Pointing at a tent ahead, he explained, "This Mirror Tent is one of the Q&A game locations."

"If you’ve looked at the guidebook, you should know that it’s not just about answering the questions correctly to get the little hats."

"But there are way too many people here," said Yan Jiayu. "Even if you tried over and over, you should be able to collect all the little hats."

Tang Xiao shook his head, "If it were that simple, that would be great. The guidebook only identifies ten game points, right? Those are fixed, and anyone can find them with the map, but the Q&A triggers are not fixed—they could appear anywhere in the instance. As far as I know, no one has found all five Q&A games."

"Furthermore, even if you find them and get those fifteen hats, it’s not enough to clear the game."

"How so?" Xu Huo asked.

"Because of the excess hats," Tang Xiao said, pointing to his own. "It’s easy to get hats at the game points, but for each extra hat, you need to complete an additional set of fifteen, or you can’t clear."

"Can’t we just exchange hats?" asked Yan Jiayu. "If someone has extras, they can give them away."

"That won’t work. The hats have no marks, so no one knows where each was obtained," explained Tang Xiao. "As a result of exchanging, you might not only fail to get the ones you want but end up with even more excess hats."

"So, the difficulty in clearing this instance is not about whether you can get the little hats, but whether you can get the right ones," Xu Huo concluded.

"Exactly," Tang Xiao nodded. "So it’s best not to take hats from others. The safest approach is to find them one by one on your own."

"How did you get all these hats?" Yan Jiayu pointed at him. "Have you been in this instance for a long time?"

"Not really..." Tang Xiao started, pausing before gesturing with his mouth for them to look behind.

The noise came from a tent with a queue of players. Suddenly, the curtain was shoved aside as a player rolled out while pressing down on a plush bear, knife at its throat, "Hand over the little hat, or I’ll kill you!"

"You answered the question incorrectly; Bear Bear can’t give you a little hat," said the plush bear, voice steady despite being pinned down, and reminded, "Please step back, players. Harming staff will result in punishment."

"Trying to fool me?" the player scoffed. "Don’t think I don’t know, game time isn’t included!"

With that, he sliced off the plush bear’s head. The bear’s eyes lost their luster, fluff burst from the severed neck, and pink hats began to hop out one after another, over a dozen scattering on the ground.

The player’s face turned green. Just as he was about to rise, a little hat suddenly appeared under his foot. There was a crack, the little hat shattered, and the player, as if crushed himself, fractured into chunks of flesh of varying sizes!

The onlookers were mixed, some looking calm, others shocked but quickly covered it up, and some even laughed mockingly, calling him a "fool."

The crowd hadn’t dispersed before several plush mascots rushed in from different directions, swiftly cleaning up the mess. One of the plush monkeys gathered all the little hats from the blood puddle and, after cleaning up, hopped over to a female player, "These are yours now!"

The female player was initially startled, then her face turned ashen as she reluctantly accepted the items.

"Why would the plush give the little hats to her?" someone whispered nearby.

"I didn’t expect it to be like this," Yan Jiayu said, relieved, "Fortunately, we didn’t kill that rabbit earlier."

Xu Huo didn’t say anything. Like getting extra hats from the rabbit, the loopholes in the game rules were traps. If anyone thought killing a plush during game time was not against the rules, they would end up like that player, with a bunch of little hats and falling into the matching pit.

Destroying the hats, deliberately causing others to break your hats, or even discarding them weren’t options either. The former would lead to being killed by the game, while the latter would be like the female player who stealthily stuffed a little hat under someone else’s foot, inheriting the dead player’s hats.

"As you’ve seen, that’s how I got these hats," Tang Xiao said with resignation. "You can’t destroy the hats, nor can you make others destroy them for you. Throwing them away is even worse—first, if you can’t find them, you can’t match them up, and second, if someone accidentally breaks a hat, you just get more of them."

"But the best part about this game is that no one can force you to take their hats, and having many hats on you also ensures your safety. Since you’ve just arrived, you can go to the plush’s shop and buy a hat to wear, preventing other players from intentionally causing you to break hats to reduce their own numbers."