Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 734: Exchange Progress

Chapter 734: Chapter 734: Exchange Progress

Xu Ruosi temporarily changed her statement about the task progress to having passed the level in order to avoid letting Xiao Ling and Yu Guangnan know what they had acquired in the Wax Figure Gallery. She hadn’t expected Xiao Ling to have also completed one-sixth of the progress.

Now that things had been made clear, it was natural for Xu Ruosi and her companions to try to gain new progress.

Xu Huo did not acquire new progress; a moment later, Jie Ling and Xu Ruosi nodded at him.

Although Xu Huo did not gain the new one-sixth of the progress, Jie Ling and Xu Ruosi benefited, so they could naturally exchange information.

So Jie Ling informed Xiao Ling and Yu Guangnan about the Wax Figure Gallery, omitting the Strange Tale Room and selectively speaking about what the Wax Figure Gallery ostensibly aimed to express.

Because the answer Xiao Ling provided was merely connecting the contents of two venues, and it wasn’t considered a particularly difficult puzzle to solve—on second thought, the fact that one-sixth of the progress came so quickly and easily made it seem somewhat strange.

But after Xiao Ling checked and confirmed there were no problems, she smiled and said, "Pleasure doing business with you."

"This answer is just too simple." Yu Guangnan harbored doubts, "It’s so simple that I even suspect whether this is really a Level D Copy or not."

"Usually, there’s only one possibility when it’s like this; among the six puzzles, there’s bound to be one that’s incredibly difficult and serves as the final challenge," Xiao Ling said, "Maybe one of them will unravel why the Copy remains on the first day."

"If that’s the case, then the difficulty of the task is extraordinary," Xu Ruosi said.

"I’ve thought of another problem," Jie Ling interjected, "What if the hidden requirement for completing the task is to let the Copy’s time run normally?"

"That’s unlikely," Yu Guangnan hesitated, "Time staying on the first day must be a condition of the Copy itself. For the players, the challenge is whether they can clear it within seven days, which doesn’t have much to do with the Copy’s own time rules."

"Let’s hope so," Jie Ling said.

Even though they spoke this way, each person harbored an unpleasant conjecture in their heart: the name of the Copy was "The Riddle of the Sphinx," and perhaps, in the end, there truly would be a puzzle related to time.

"At least we now know that the Copy’s time is stuck on the first day of entering the game," Xu Huo said, "This is new information which is greatly beneficial to us knowing at the start of the game. Moreover, if there are still players arriving at noon today, it means our speculation is correct."

Time looping back and forth within a single day—this was very likely "The Riddle of the Sphinx."

The Riddle of the Sphinx is a historical legend where a creature with the body of a lion and the face of a human would ask passersby a riddle, "What walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?"

The Sphinx would kill those who answered incorrectly until Oedipus solved the riddle.

Of course, as the story spread widely, many people learned the answer to the riddle, which was "man." Although it seemed to refer to time at first sight, and it related to a day if one only looked at the riddle itself. Whether it related to clearing the task was debatable.

"You’ve been to the Beheaded Cemetery. Since solving the puzzle here at the Human Model Tower was so simple, you two must have already solved the third progress," Xu Huo paused before looking at Xiao Ling and her partner.

Xiao Ling shook her head, "Unfortunately, no use. I’ve told you everything I know about the Beheaded Cemetery. I’m not hiding it from you; I tried when I was still at the cemetery, but it was no use."

"That’s not right," Xu Ruosi said, "The Insanity Prison here is about imprisoning living people for experiments, so it’s easy to understand that the Beheaded Cemetery must be where people tortured to death are buried, perfectly corresponding to the numbers on the human models."

"You can try submitting that answer," Xiao Ling gestured with a "please."

Xu Ruosi hesitated for a moment before resolutely trying, then appeared even more surprised than when she had just learned how simple the puzzle progress was, "Considering the previous two progressions, this shouldn’t be wrong!"

"I think the difficulty of solving the puzzles might be increasing progressively," Jie Ling said, "I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a connection between the stories of the venues; the Beheaded Cemetery must be more than just a place for burying those who served as experimental subjects."

"Both the captivity of living people and the torture of experimental subjects are fine, those experimenters are practically inhuman, would they really be so kind as to sew the subjects back up and bury them with coffins? Burning them or simply burying them on the spot seems more likely."

"The Solar Museum City was built later," Yu Guangnan said.

"I’ve looked at those bones, they don’t seem to have been picked up and reassembled after being scattered," Xiao Ling pondered, "It’s just not clear how long it was between the time of death and the establishment of Museum City."

"A few years would be enough," Xu Huo leaned towards the idea that those people were properly buried when they died. The tombstones could be altered later; it would be difficult to piece together so many broken bones.

Here lay a problem: individuals used as experimental subjects were treated like cattle, so the likelihood of them being buried normally was small. What could have driven those conducting the experiments to do so?

Considering that all of those skeletons had been beheaded, perhaps there were religious elements involved to some extent.

But just submitting this conclusion, without the game recognising progress completion, indicated that there was additional hidden information in the Beheaded Cemetery, or perhaps it wasn’t part of the six progress steps at all.

"If that’s the case, there could be many reasons," Yu Guangnan said, "Perhaps the people here had some special belief that required the dead to be fully buried, or perhaps it was a facade to lure more people into joining the experiment, but neither is the real answer."

"Maybe the Beheaded Cemetery isn’t one of the progress steps," Xiao Ling summarized, "There are so many venues in the Museum City; after running through seven or eight, we’ve only scored two. One-sixth requires further selection, and if we’re looking at the continuity of the story, the Human Model Tower has nothing to do with the subsequent Insanity Prison."

The other players also agreed with this statement.

"Keep your voices down," Xu Ruosi reminded.

The fake people running outside gradually became quieter, whether they had moved farther away or returned to their original venues was unknown.

"I’ll go have a look," Yu Guangnan said and carefully climbed out of the window. After a quiet moment, Xu Ruosi asked Jie Ling, "How’s your injury?"

"I’ve taken a Potion, no problem," Jie Ling casually flexed her hands and feet.

Xiao Ling sneered, "A broken leg isn’t something that can be healed in a moment. Instead of pretending to be fine, you might want to think about how not to drag the rest of us down."

Alertness appeared in Jie Ling’s eyes; being hampered in her movements meant she could possibly be left behind or even become a primary target for her companions. She had tried hard to conceal it, not expecting Xiao Ling to bluntly expose her!

"Let’s be more pleasant," Xu Huo interjected as the atmosphere had started to become somewhat strange, "If we can’t get through, we might end up as neighbors later on. There’s no need to be so tense."

All three women glared at him simultaneously.