Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 671: Contrary to Background Introduction

Chapter 671: Chapter 671: Contrary to Background Introduction

The hotel’s main entrance was a glass door, which offered an even clearer view than from upstairs, but outside, it was completely enveloped in darkness, except for the faintly discernible fog; one couldn’t even see two or three meters ahead.

"It’s like our movement range was restricted just like in a Level E Instance," Wei Xian said.

Probing the unknown was unwise, and Tian Kunwen said, "Let’s continue looking for You Jun tomorrow."

"Tonight it wasn’t just one room that got knocked on, Xu Zhi and the guests on the third floor didn’t open their doors and nothing happened to them, so if someone knocks later, nobody should open it," he added.

The players each returned to their rooms. Fu Danhong joked with Xu Huo, "Big bro’s got quite a temper, huh?"

She must have heard the "Get lost" from earlier.

"But it’s also thanks to that. If you had gone to open the door, maybe you’d have ended up like You Jun," said Fu Danhong before heading back to her own room.

Tian Kunwen nodded at him and also closed his door.

Xu Huo turned around and unexpectedly saw a head poking out from the end of the hallway. Their gazes met, and the other person immediately withdrew back into their room.

That player had checked in a day before.

Everything remained peaceful until the next day. Xu Huo went downstairs early. The receptionist was already seated at the front desk and greeted him with a smile, "You’re up early, guest."

"I called the front desk yesterday, but nobody answered."

"Ah, look at me," the receptionist said as he took out White Notes from his bag, "I had to step out and wasn’t on duty yesterday, so here’s your refund."

Xu Huo reached out to take it, but the receptionist seemed reluctant to let go, pointing at the handicrafts on the back shelf, "Why don’t you buy a couple to enjoy? Our handicrafts here are second to none."

Xu Huo glanced at them and decisively pocketed the money, "The eyes are carved too ugly."

The receptionist pursed his lips and sat back down.

Before long, Yi Pei and the others also came down. Tian Kunwen said with a grave expression, "Three people disappeared last night."

Aside from Liu Shiyen from the first floor and Fang Penghui from the third floor, the other players who had not shown up yesterday began to trickle down for breakfast. The disappearances were discovered by the roommates on either side. Some were anxious, others took pleasure in the misfortune, but after giving Xu Huo and the others a look, they left the hotel.

"They won’t tell you anything," Fang Penghui, with his curly hair, said to Wei Xian, who kept trying to strike up conversations, "This is a survival instance; everyone’s a competitor. Someone else’s safety means a risk to your own—one would be a fool to do otherwise."

After speaking, he gave them a meaningful look.

This plunged the already temporary alliance of Tian Kunwen and the others into silence.

Once the other players had left, Yi Pei said, "Let’s go out and look for clues on our own. We can’t just stay ignorant and wait for others to set traps. We should also keep looking for You Jun."

Last night there were three instances of knocking. The two who did not open their doors were fine, but You Jun, who did, disappeared. The obvious deduction was that opening the door made a difference, yet two others disappeared as well, which suggested that the disappearance of the players was not related to whether they opened the door or not, or at least not significantly. The reason behind it was something they had to discover themselves.

"It was all rushed yesterday; today we’ll have a good look around," Fu Danhong surveyed the group, "We were the last ones to arrive. If we don’t stick together, the others might target us."

Still agreeing to cooperate temporarily, they left the hotel and split into groups of two and three, with Xu Huo and Yi Pei together and Tian Kunwen, Fu Danhong, and Wei Xian as another group.

After eating breakfast outside, Yi Pei, with her backpack and voice recorder, pretended to be a magazine writer and asked the locals for information about Sifang Palace City, under the pretense of writing an article about it.

They didn’t collect much of substance, instead buying many handcrafted items to ingratiate themselves with the homeowners.

"They’re all animal sculptures," Yi Pei caressed a wooden bear, "just not very finely made."

Having visited several homes, Xu Huo decided not to continue following them. He said, "I’m going to take a look outside the city."

"Outside the city, there’s nothing but forests... Are you going to look for You Jun?" Yi Pei was rather surprised, "Why?"

"Whether he is alive or dead, there should be some clues or traces left behind. I’m trying my luck," Xu Huo asked her, "Do you want to come with me?"

In fact, the mere fact of the disappearance itself was a very valuable clue.

Yi Pei declined, "I’ll continue to learn about the background of Sifang Palace City and after we regroup, we can each report our information. How about that?"

"Okay," Xu Huo walked alone towards the woods outside the city, and before even entering, he saw the girl they had encountered yesterday emerging from the woods with a half-basket of wild vegetables.

"What a coincidence, have you had breakfast yet?" The girl with the big braid smiled sweetly, "Would you like to come to my house for some wild vegetable porridge? It tastes really good."

"I’ve had breakfast," Xu Huo smiled, looking somewhat frail, "The air is good here, I’d like to take a stroll. Are there any paths in the forest?"

"There are some trampled paths that everyone made when looking for mushrooms and wild vegetables," the girl with the big braid pointed behind her, "But this area has many mountains and forests, and people generally don’t go too far. There might be snakes, so be careful."

Xu Huo thanked her and then noticed the lifelike wooden cat carving hanging from her basket, "This is your family’s handicraft, it looks better than others’."

"This is my brother’s handiwork." The other person said with a hint of pride: "In the county city, no one dares to claim to be first if he says he’s second, and we have the best sales outside!"

"That’s pretty good," Xu Huo said, "Could you sell me two?"

"Sure," the girl with the big braid’s eyes lit up, "I didn’t bring any with me right now, but I can deliver them to you later. Where are you staying?"

"I’ll go to your house and choose. It’s okay to buy a few more," Xu Huo said.

The two bid each other a friendly farewell, and Xu Huo continued walking into the forest.

He wasn’t the only one there. On the way, he ran into Fang Penghui who was squatting under a tree looking at something. When he sensed Xu Huo coming, Fang Penghui immediately stood up, and the soil brought up by his feet covered whatever was on the ground.

Xu Huo glanced at it. It looked like a stone.

Seeing this, Fang Penghui stepped aside and walked away, saying as he left, "In this instance, it’s better not to be too curious."

Xu Huo obviously wasn’t someone who heeded warnings easily. He pulled out the object buried beneath the mud with one kick and was surprised to find it was a broken stone carving. The top half of the face was missing, while the bottom half portrayed a somewhat abstract religious figure. Looking at the break, the damage was quite old, and there were signs that the ground had been disturbed multiple times.

This was the first religious item he had seen since entering the county city.

According to the instance information, religious statues should be seen everywhere here, but the modernized county city didn’t have any religious remnants. Even the handicrafts sold had nothing to do with religion.

The few households he had entered earlier had no traces of religious veneration in common areas such as the living room, kitchen, or courtyard, not to mention devotion—it was completely contrary to the background introduction.

The county city itself was also very strange. It was said that the size of the city had been reduced again and again. However, the area around the dwellings was almost covered in thick vegetation, not at all like it had been inhabited. Even if people had migrated, there should be some traces left nearby.

Changing direction, he was about to continue deeper into the forest when someone suddenly called out to him from behind, "Hey!"