Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 321 Peace No More

Chapter 321: Chapter 321 Peace No More

"Shameless!" Yuan Yao spat from behind.

"You make some sense," Xu Huo stroked his chin, "I just find it odd, since your goals are so lofty, why didn’t you come talk to me directly, instead of hiring someone to kill me... I see now, because you are a bunch of filthy rats hiding in the sewers, using the pretense of righteousness to cover your greed."

Hou Song’s face, pale from too much blood loss, reddened with anger, "How could someone as selfish and shortsighted as you understand our ideals? We want to establish a powerful player nation quickly, to fight for more opportunities for survival in the game for Zone 014. Is that wrong?"

"So what you mean is that because I’ve evolved for the second time, I should sacrifice myself to pave the way for the likes of you." Xu Huo’s smile gradually faded, "If you’re running a cult, just admit it. Why dress it up as something noble?"

He glanced into the bucket; Hou Song’s severed limb had stopped bleeding.

"You’ve got a strong healing ability. How about I hand you over to the Special Defense Department for research? Maybe it could benefit all players eventually."

"Sima Xiao’er."

Upon his call, the previously hiding Sima Xiao’er leaped out and walked over swiftly, "Brother Xu, rest assured, The First Research Institute was originally set up for this very purpose. Hou Song... I’ll personally deliver the experimental sample to Chief Wu, I guarantee no one will find him."

Hou Song looked at the two of them in shock, "What do you want to do? Dissect me?"

"Isn’t that what you said? Contribute to Zone 014. If all players’ healing abilities improved because of you, your name would surely be inscribed in the roll of honor, and then you’d become a hero to all of humanity!" Sima Xiao’er grabbed his hand and shook it, "Congratulations!"

"Get lost!" Hou Song shook off his hand and shouted angrily, "The Special Defense Department only serves those with power and influence. Why should I become a stepping stone for those gluttons?!"

Sima Xiao’er slapped him backhandedly, "You were so excited when you demanded others to sacrifice, weren’t you? And now you refuse to sacrifice yourself!"

"Kill him." Xu Huo handed him a dagger, "There’s no reasoning with this kind of person."

Sima Xiao’er hesitated before taking it, "After all, he is one of Chief Liao’s men..."

"No one will know," Xu Huo said with a faint smile, "Tonight, none of us were ever here."

Sima Xiao’er looked hesitant, but Hou Song took the chance to say, "Sima Xiao’er, you can’t kill me, I told Chief Liao before coming here, you can’t shoulder this responsibility!"

Sima Xiao’er clearly became more shaken, but at that moment, a bullet from nowhere shot through Hou Song’s forehead, splattering drops of blood. His eyes wide open, he toppled over into the bucket.

"Who?!" Yan Jiayu and the others took cover while remaining on alert.

Xu Huo looked up towards a nearby building, "I heard you were seriously injured, didn’t expect you could still come out."

"You incited my man to kill a colleague who is also a Pioneer Player; I had to crawl out if I had to," Nie Xuan said as he emerged in a wheelchair, nodding to the person behind him. The player quickly approached, pulling out a standard-sized briefcase, slipped it over Hou Song’s head, and both the body and the bin vanished on the spot.

Then he went to collect the bodies in the factory.

"Leave the clean-up work to my men," Nie Xuan gestured with his chin toward Xu Huo, "Shall we find a place to talk?"

Xu Huo went with the flow, letting Yan Jiayu and the others leave first, while Nie Xuan and people like Sima Xiao’er didn’t follow, the two headed to the nearby riverside.

With no one around, Nie Xuan gazed at the lights on the opposite side of the river and spoke, "This time, only one-third of the players from Ting City Special Defense Department who entered the Mist Area returned, the whereabouts of the rest are unknown."

"Condolences." Xu Huo hadn’t searched everywhere at the time, he only saved those who appeared in the hospital, as for the whereabouts of the other players, he had no clue.

"People often die around me since the game started, a friend who joked with lewd stories yesterday could silently die today, how they died, where they died, where their bodies went, no one knows." Nie Xuan said with a sigh, "Maybe tomorrow, you and I will be the ones who die silently."

Xu Huo turned his head to look at him, "Aren’t you still alive?"

His gaze shifted to the other’s feet, "You’ve evolved a second time, haven’t you?"

During his conversation with the amusement park girl, he had guessed that Nie Xuan must have an item with spatial attributes or something else that was causing the mist’s spatial energy to reject him; as soon as he saw him, Xu Huo noticed energy fluctuations in Nie Xuan’s right foot, its density and intensity unlike anything else in the space.

"Blessed by a misfortune." Nie Xuan touched his own leg and didn’t intend to go into detail, then added, "I’ve already heard from Sima Xiao’er about the situation in Hua City, but there are many things he doesn’t know. It was you who called the Player Association to find the Special Defense Department, right?"

Xu Huo didn’t respond, and Nie Xuan didn’t seem to want a definite answer, continuing on his own terms, "Accelerating the player transformation process isn’t all good, there are ambitious individuals, fence sitters, foreign forces, and newly emerged sect members, all kinds of people dare to come out, and within just two or three months, peace has ceased to exist."

With the rise of the players, the nation was bound to lose some control, and this process would inevitably be accompanied by chaos, first within the nation and then between nations. Now everyone was busy accumulating power or tending to wounds, without the energy to turn their attention to other countries, but that day would inevitably come.

Xu Huo passed him a cigarette, and this time Nie Xuan took it; both stood and sat smoking by the riverside.

"Maybe in the future, even moments of leisure like this won’t exist," Nie Xuan said with a laugh.

"As long as we’re alive, there’s hope, no need to be so pessimistic; when has humanity not survived out of catastrophe?" Xu Huo spoke casually, "If there comes a day when the world is destroyed, the best thing to do is to roll up our bedding and leave to preserve the embers of humanity, maybe we can create another civilization."

Nie Xuan turned to look at him, "You think quite broadly."

The cigarette embers glowed faintly, then flew into the river, making a slight sound.

Turned away in the darkness, Xu Huo’s whole figure was completely shrouded in dark colors, leaving just a faint shadow. He raised his hand, tossing a metal lighter to Nie Xuan.

"I plan to move in across from the Special Defense Department."

Nie Xuan ignited the lighter, the flame reflecting his stern features, that face no longer showed the spirit from the initial trial train but was replaced by profoundness.

"Sure." He said expressionlessly, then closed the lighter and put it into his pocket, rolling his wheelchair into the darkness.

Xu Huo stood behind, a patrol car passed on the opposite side of the river, its lights shining on the water’s surface, the glittering reflections casting a bright edge on him.

"Hey, who’s that over there?" A flashlight shone over.

Xu Huo waved toward the other side before leaving at ease.