Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 712: Wax Figure Gallery

Chapter 712: Chapter 712: Wax Figure Gallery

The gates of Museum City were a pair of enormous city gates, each reaching a height of twenty meters. Having been in place for many years, the gates would let out a cringe-inducing creak when pushed open.

The person leading merely pushed the gate open wide enough to create a narrow slit, and the others followed in single file.

Directly in front of the entrance was a spacious street that wasn’t perfectly straight. Shops of all kinds lined both sides, mostly selling small toys, dolls, snacks, and such. It appeared that the previous operators had left hastily, as most shops still looked as though they were open for business.

Because the stores were arranged in slanting parallel lines yet uneven, even when standing in the middle of the street, there were quite a few blind spots on both sides.

"So, there are passageways on both sides as well," the players observed the shops as they walked on.

Compared to the central street, the spaces in front of and behind the shops were much narrower, only wide enough for three or four people to walk side by side.

"Doesn’t this arrangement make it easy to bump into people?" A female player with long curly hair patted an angular protrusion at the side of the street, "Under normal circumstances, the side facing the main street is flat, but here, they’ve deliberately jutted out a corner."

"The game already said that Museum City has been modified into a horror-themed amusement park, so it’s not strange for it to be designed this way." Adjusting his glasses, the man beside her added, "From a psychological perspective, this is meant to increase the psychological pressure on visitors."

The group continued to move forward.

Although they couldn’t take in the scenery on both sides of the street, looking ahead they could see the buildings further inside Museum City. Xu Huo casually grabbed a map from the wall at the side of the street.

The layout of the entire Museum City was roughly cross-shaped, with most of the themed galleries concentrated in the middle. At the four ends of the "cross," there were two themed galleries each. The Wax Figure Gallery, Human Model Tower, Horror Chamber, and the Doll Costume Shop mentioned in the game’s introduction were located at these ends respectively.

"Styx Ferry, Zhen Mountain Therapy, Spooky Tales Night, Corpse-Hiding Hotel, Insanity Prison, Beheaded Cemetery..." The female player with long curly hair read out a list of themes, "Is Museum City really this big?"

A rather slender female player rubbed her arms and said,"Just hearing these names gives me the creeps. Do we have to visit every themed gallery?"

"What else can we do if we don’t go?" The man with glasses said,"The game’s objective is to solve the disappearance mystery. We at least have to find the bodies, don’t we? Without the bodies, who knows how they died?"

Everyone turned to look at the undulating buildings behind them and realized it was impossible to act together. With only seven days, not only did the themed galleries need to be searched, but also the stores, emergency facilities, and storage installations of Museum City had to be scoured, since the game explicitly stated that before Museum City closed, the police didn’t find any bodies of the missing people, so it was up to them to search again.

"Let’s split up and search," the middle-aged man suggested."It’s not even one o’clock now; let’s meet up at the crossroads before five to discuss what to do next."

"I plan to head for the Corpse-Hiding Hotel first," he declared.

The rest of the players nodded in understanding as the Corpse-Hiding Hotel sounded like a place for hiding things. The police might not demolish buildings, but players could.

Immediately, four players expressed their intention to go there as well.

The female player with long curly hair suggested Beheaded Cemetery, and three others joined her.

The rest chose the Wax Figure Gallery.

The central avenue linked to the entrance diagonally crossed the center of the cross, with the Wax Figure Gallery and the adjacent Spooky Tales Night to the left as one entered, and Human Model Tower and Insanity Prison to the right.

Past the left side were the Horror Chamber and Beheaded Cemetery; the remaining end held the Doll Costume Shop and Zhen Mountain Therapy.

If divided according to the compass directions, the Horror Chamber was due north, facing the Human Model Tower, while the Wax Figure Gallery was to the west, facing the Doll Costume Shop.

It was one o’clock in the afternoon, and the sun was directly overhead, casting shadows that were only slightly off-center.

The long-haired female gamers and the middle-aged man heading for the cross center walked together, while Xu Huo and the rest of the five took the alleyway between shops.

Accompanying him was a seemingly frail female gamer, a man with glasses, a red-clothed woman wearing a mask, and a male gamer with dyed golden Buzz Cut.

"Let’s introduce ourselves," said the frail female gamer, lightening the mood, "Otherwise, it’ll be inconvenient to keep shouting ’hey hey hey’ when calling someone."

"My name is Jie Ling. Please take care of me, everyone."

The man with glasses adjusted his glasses and said, "Bai Wenxian. I was a psychologist before I entered the game."

The red-clothed woman and the man with the golden Buzz Cut took another look at him, and the former said in a raspy voice, "Xu Ruosi."

The latter laughed and said, "Just call me Long Aotian!"

The rest looked at him but he didn’t mind, "A name should show dominance. I use a new name for every dungeon, whatever I feel like calling myself."

He paused, reached out, and clapped a hand on Xu Huo’s shoulder, "Bro, what’s your name?"

Xu Huo avoided his touch before he could make contact, "Yu Huo, I don’t really like physical contact with others."

Long Aotian chuckled, not the least bit embarrassed, instead winking cheekily, "It’s not like you’re a young maiden."

In the game, it was common sense not to touch others at will, nor let others touch oneself.

Xu Huo looked at him, "I once met a player who also liked making up different fake names in the game, but once she didn’t respond when someone called her by a fake name and almost lost her life."

Long Aotian’s expression darkened, he tugged at his hair, "No need to curse me like that."

Seeing this, Jie Ling hurriedly said, "Let’s hurry to the Wax Figure Gallery."

The group fell silent again, until they reached the front of the Wax Figure Gallery.

The Wax Figure Gallery was not small; the facade alone was at least fifty meters wide. In the center of the main door was a giant wax figure bending over to look down. As people walked by, exaggerated little wax figures would suddenly spit out from its wide-open mouth, startling Jie Ling who was following behind Bai Wenxian.

"You’re scared quite easily," Long Aotian said as he reached out to remove the small wax figures, just when the lights of the entire gallery came on. Two full-sized wax figures slid out stiffly and stood by the door on each side, emitting an electronic sound, "Wel, welcome... "

The rhythm and tone of their speech were disconcerting.

The entrance was down the corridor to the left of the main door, Xu Huo led the way, pushing the door aside and coming face-to-face with a wax figure that had been stationed close to him.

This wax figure was gaunt and yellowish, with sunken cheeks and bulging eyes, modeled as though it were made to resemble a person about to die from a prolonged illness.

"Is this a wax museum or a haunted house? They hit you with this right at the entrance!" Jie Ling’s voice trembled as she involuntarily grabbed Xu Ruosi next to her.

Xu Ruosi wordlessly withdrew her hand.

Jie Ling apologized awkwardly, "Sorry, I’ve been scared of these things since I was young. I’ve never faced them in previous dungeons."

"There’s nothing to be afraid of," Xu Huo said, pushing the wax figure aside with gloved hands as he walked in, "They’re just dummies. If you really can’t stand it, turn on some more lights."