Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 691: The Key to Clearing the Level

Chapter 691: Chapter 691: The Key to Clearing the Level

The night breeze stirred slightly, and the several people hidden in the grass fell into silence as if by an unspoken agreement.

A moment later, Yi Pei spoke up, "So, it seems that no matter if we hide or try to destroy the props, we’re essentially on a path to certain death?"

"High risk, almost zero reward," Fu Danhong sighed deeply. "I surely don’t want to become a walking corpse, cannibalism is just revolting to even think about."

"That’s not so bad," the player in the black shirt suddenly remarked. "If it’s a man, he also has to bear the heavy responsibility of reproducing for Sifang Palace City."

"I just saw a living person embracing a corpse."

The air fell silent again, this time with a strange awkwardness permeating it.

Fang Penghui gritted his teeth, "Damn it, I’ll go all out against this Level D Copy!"

"It’s not that bad," Xu Huo took out the Black Armored People’s head, and on the top of the skull was a row of numbers that obviously represented a date. "This copy probably hasn’t been in this state for very long, otherwise the ordinary people of Sifang Palace City wouldn’t have died off in such large numbers. Merely the psychological influence is not enough to kill all the task players."

"I knew something was off," Fu Danhong said. "The difficulty of the copy is way too high, there’s no way for players to survive it."

"May I take a look at this head?" Yi Pei asked Xu Huo.

Xu Huo, knowing her situation, handed over the mechanical skull to her. Yi Pei pulled out a detector and placed it on the skull, while her hand reached inside the bone, soon looking shocked she said, "This is a prop made by Suitcase Man!"

"Suitcase Man? A high-level player?" Fu Danhong hadn’t heard the name before.

"A Super Player," Fang Penghui interjected. "He’s pretty famous in E27, though it’s said he originally came from another Wormhole Point. He’s a notorious fugitive in the game, always carrying a suitcase wherever he goes, hence the nickname Suitcase Man. Anyway, not many people know his real name."

"Why would Suitcase Man’s prop appear in this copy?" Fu Danhong mused. "Would a fugitive still engage in commerce?"

"Maybe it’s for the bodies," the player in the black shirt said gravely. "I’ve heard another player from a different Wormhole Point mention that Suitcase Man likes to make human puppets. He uses any materials, but especially favors using the bodies of players. It’s said that for this hobby of his, he has repeatedly broken into the Game Government to specifically capture high-level players."

Fu Danhong felt goosebumps, "Someone of that caliber wouldn’t stoop to coming to a Level D copy, right?"

"Perhaps high-level player materials are more precious and harder to come by, so he uses ordinary players to practice," Xu Huo chimed in.

For a moment, everyone turned to look at him.

Xu Huo didn’t seem to care. Instead, he said, "Now we face an even more pressing issue. The Shared Vision copy doesn’t adhere to the rule of one copy every seven days. Nearly every day there are players arriving. The number of players accumulated in a month must be considerable, and the end of the month might be the delivery time."

He said this as he took back the mechanical skull and asked Yi Pei, "Do all of Suitcase Man’s creations have a special mark?"

"...Yes," Yi Pei was still struggling to recover from the shock of "a murderous and twisted Super Player might come." After pausing for a second, she continued, "There’s a small hidden compartment under the top of the skull. If you press it, there’s a carving inside shaped like a box."

Xu Huo felt around and with just a few casual strokes, uncovered a mark that was not even half as big as a fingertip.

The mark was simple and crude, clearly not created with much care.

Of course, no one would dare to risk forging Suitcase Man’s workmanship either.

Suitcase Man... The encounter in Brick Tale Town was the first time he directly faced the formidable power of a Super Player, so much so that even Lawrence Lee and the Paper Servant Master he met later didn’t impact him as much. For one stolen puppet, he had followed the trail to Fairy Tale City and leveled half the city with his actions.

He believed that one puppet was of little significance to Suitcase Man, yet the man would fit every puppet with a tracker and seek revenge given the chance, less out of spite and more for enjoyment.

This kind of pleasure was different from the Paper Servant Master’s, devoid of obsessive pursuit, simply joy in the game’s human world.

"Forget the puppets," Fu Danhong interrupted them. "We need to figure out what to do first!"

"Survival copies cannot be cleared prematurely, even if we could survive the copy’s influence for seven days, we still have to pray that Suitcase Man doesn’t suddenly show up," Fang Penghui spoke with a hint of dejection. In fact, he felt that he wouldn’t be able to hold on until the seventh day.

The situation for Xu Huo and the others was even more difficult; only half of their copy time had passed.

"Whether Suitcase Man will come is just a guess. But combining these two points, the original difficulty of the copy lies in the psychological influence. That means, aside from the Black Armored People, the copy has no other way to wipe out all the players. Reducing the copy’s influence on us is key to clearing the copy," Xu Huo said calmly. "Since we know that any eye-shaped patterns are problematic, the best method would be to burn down Sifang Palace City, and it so happens most of the buildings here are made of wood."

"As for the drum in front of Sifang Palace..."

"Leave the drum to me," the black-shirted player cut in. "I have a prop that suppresses sound."

"Then how are we going to start the fire?" Fu Danhong looked at Xu Huo. "You must have a range for your props, and it’s raining. Some arson-type props can’t be used in the rain."

Xu Huo took out a Combustion Potion, "This potion is highly flammable; we just need to figure out a way to pour it on the buildings."

"That’s not difficult, but every person in the city is an informant for the copy. Once we’re discovered, the Black Armored People will rush here immediately. We’re no match for them alone," Fang Penghui said.

Leaving the job to the Girl in the painting was an option, but without knowing the role of the copy’s boss, he didn’t want to reveal her. If the boss really had something to do with Suitcase Man, exposing a Super Prop could bring endless disaster.

"We can distract the Black Armored People separately," Yi Pei suggested. "Create a disturbance at the entrance first, to draw some of them in. That can be done remotely."

They roughly formulated a plan and then began to carry out each step.

To aid combustion was not just a matter of pouring Combustion Potion. The wandering corpses were excellent kindling; they could carry the flame anywhere.

"I have an explosive, a one-time use item," Fu Danhong presented something resembling a mine. "This thing can blow up an entire building."

She handed the device directly to Xu Huo, "You excel in using fire. It will be most effective in your hands."

Xu Huo placed the item in his inventory, distributed some Combustion Potion to everyone, and said, "The accelerant ensures the fire won’t be easily extinguished, and it will self-ignite if there’s a fire within a fifty-meter radius."

"Perfect, the rituals are all full of lamps and candles," Fang Penghui took out a double-headed rope embedded with metal pieces. "Those corpses and living people are also a problem, especially those players. There are too many and they can’t all be killed off, but luckily they’re slow to react. This tripwire should come in handy."