Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 540: The Twisted Clown City

Chapter 540: Chapter 540: The Twisted Clown City

Xu Huo gave Jin Dong, Fish Ball, and Ice Cream the same antidote for the two children. There was no special formula; it was just a Rank-C Potion he had bought for emergencies.

All three of them had consumed food from the Clean-up Operation area that hadn’t been treated and had all lost their voices. Their symptoms varied on the surface of their bodies, but after losing their sanity, they could all regain consciousness through the Rank-C Antitoxin, especially Jin Dong, who had been delirious for almost a year, could also come around in a very short time.

This meant that it was very likely they hadn’t mutated into Aliens, but were repeatedly intoxicated under special conditions.

Soon after Jin Dong entered the High Temperature Zone, he fell into confusion again. The Aliens from beneath the fissures would also lose their sanity shortly after reaching the surface, which indicated that the high-temperature environment might exacerbate the symptoms of intoxication.

The fact that the first and second who had been injected with Fish Ball and Ice Cream’s blood showed no problems until now proved that directly injecting a small amount of Alien blood, just like eating the Aliens themselves, did not meet the conditions for infection.

As for Master Tu and the other, they were identified by the holographic glasses as infected the moment they cut themselves, which was different from those wounded by Aliens like Yi Mao. Xu Huo’s dagger had been sterilized, offering no condition for infection, so the only two possible reasons for their identification as Aliens were:

"One is that the infection source is the air. After contacting the wound, they got infected quickly, just temporarily without showing symptoms."

Xu Huo gave them each a bottle of Self-Healing Potion.

"If we keep staying in high-temperature conditions, we’ll also mutate into Aliens," Master Tu sighed deeply, his face turning pale.

"That’s not necessarily the case," Xu Huo turned around and suddenly pulled out a knife, making a cut on his own left hand. As the blood flowed out, he turned back to face Zhuo Wangsun.

Shocked, Zhuo Wangsun said, "You’ve changed too! But this sacrifice is too great; actually, there’s no need to make things so clear..."

Before he could finish, Xu Huo’s hand loosened, and a piece of bloody skin fell off, revealing his unharmed palm beneath.

"How about now?" Xu Huo asked.

Zhuo Wangsun saw the piece of skin on the ground and exclaimed in surprise, "You’re not injured? But why do I still see you in the thermal imaging?"

"Whether or not a person is an Alien is determined by holographic glasses; maybe it locks on after one confirmation," Xu Huo suggested.

"What does that prove?" Zhuo Wangsun said, "Holographic glasses might identify Aliens by the wounds and surface data, but that doesn’t mean the injured aren’t infected."

"That’s true, but it proves that the judgment of the holographic glasses is quite crude," Xu Huo said. "To put it another way, Clown City would rather wrongly kill than let go, but in reality, people like Jin Dong only need an antidote to regain consciousness."

"Have they really turned into Aliens?"

This made everyone present fall silent. Indeed, they had never heard of anyone who devolved into an Alien being able to recover. Yet Fish Ball and Ice Cream, even in a state of frenzy, regained consciousness with just a random shot of an antidote, which made no sense to anyone.

"Maybe it’s just a regular infection," Zhuo Wangsun said. "Most of those who lost their voices had directly consumed food and water from the Clean-up Operation areas, and Master Tu and the others didn’t show such symptoms. The old filtration equipment from a deserted city from years ago could avoid it, suggesting that the virus isn’t that potent."

So the question arose: if the existence of Aliens was in doubt, then those who were wounded, lost their voices, and temporarily lost their sanity, ironically became the main force of the Clean-up Operation, which was completely illogical. It was like continuously replenishing the Aliens and the conditions for them to crazily slaughter each other.

"Do you have the original map of Clown City?" Xu Huo asked.

Master Tu, unable to regain his composure amidst the uncertainty, hurried to his pile of belongings and found an old map, "This is the full map of Clown City from the planning bureau. Now, Clown City uses a new version of the map; the Clean-up Operation areas are not included."

The long map spread out on the table; from the marked position, Xu Huo and his group were currently located in what used to be the left part of the old Clown City map, close to where they emerged. The rest, including the Clean-up Operation areas, took up half of the original map.

"Wasn’t the Clean-up Operation area originally in the center of Clown City? Why has the landscape become so complex?" Zhuo Wangsun couldn’t help asking.

"The Gobi Zone and the desert area were originally part of the city, and plenty of towns were built in between. But due to the appearance of Aliens and the formation of the Clean-up Operation areas, most were submerged or destroyed. You’ve also seen the recently formed Stone Forest; it’s not hard for a city to disappear," Master Tu explained.

"The Clean-up Operation area does not even constitute a third of Clown City’s lost area," Xu Huo said. "Do your clean-up tasks always end in this area?"

He was pointing to a canyon area, traversing the center of the original Clown City map and piercing through the entire city.

"The canyon is where the clean-up tasks end," Master Tu said. "This is the first phase of the clean-up task, but since this phase never gets completed, the second phase of cleaning cannot begin."

"Cleaning Aliens like this, I bet it’ll never be completed in a hundred years!" Zhuo Wangsun picked up a knife to damage his holographic glasses but paused midway and asked Xu Huo, "Does this thing still have any use?"

"It does," Xu Huo nodded. "If we run into other warriors, at least one person can do the talking."

Zhuo Wangsun put down the knife but quickly added, "The holographic glasses should be connected to the main controller right? Could the images we’re seeing be monitored?"

It was very likely so, but Xu Huo had no idea about the purpose of such monitoring at the moment. To him, the Clean-up Operation seemed entirely unnecessary. There were numerous other ways to deal with the original Aliens without sacrificing so many people.

Bringing in so many people seemed suspiciously like population control, but according to the information Zhuo Wangsun and his group obtained in Clown City, the city’s population hadn’t reached unsustainable levels. Moreover, with Clown City’s level of technology, they could alleviate population pressure by developing new cities outside.

Many thoughts flickered through his mind in an instant, and Xu Huo asked Master Tu again, "Does Clown City have any incentive policies for newcomers?"

Master Tu nodded in surprise, "Every year Clown City has special ambassadors who go to other cities or gaming districts for exchange. Whether ordinary people or gamers, as long as they settle in Clown City, the benefits are great. Especially for gamers, not only can they enjoy privileges themselves, but their family members and relatives can all move with them. The government provides housing and offers basic living support for families in difficulty. Even if they don’t want to work, as long as they have three children within ten years, they can receive lifetime benefits."