Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 765: Shang Shuming

Chapter 765: Chapter 765: Shang Shuming

"You’re very smart, I won’t hurt you," Xu Huo said. "The other roads are not safe, no one can take them, and there’s nothing to do blocked up here. It’s better to chat and pass the time."

A group of girls cried tears of joy, and the girl holding his handkerchief said, "My name is Peng Ya, and this is Tian Ningning. We both grew up at the Shang Family Welfare Institute."

The girl with a bloodied head reluctantly smiled at Xu Huo.

"That welfare institute was where Mr. Shang Shuming once lived," she said.

The descendant of the Shang family who rebuilt The Solar Museum City was named Shang Shuming.

"Wasn’t Shang Shuming adopted by relatives who took him abroad?" Xu Huo said. Teacher Pan’s information had no record of Shang Shuming living at the welfare institute.

"He didn’t go abroad right away," said Peng Ya. "Mr. Shang was in a bad psychological state after his mother’s suicide. He couldn’t have changed his living environment suddenly, so he received treatment at the welfare institute for over a year before he left."

According to the game background and investigation into Shang Shuming, he was born sometime between fifty and forty-five years ago. The first shutdown of the Museum City, which served as an experimental base, was forty-three years ago. Since many children were born during these years, and particularly because Shang Shuming’s mother committed suicide shortly after being rescued, it was difficult to pinpoint Shang Shuming’s exact birth date.

But the records stated he was four years old when rescued and spent over a year at the welfare institute; he most likely left Mao City when he was about six. Returning around thirty, he hadn’t been back for many years before he committed suicide. He died over a decade ago when Peng Ya was just a few years old.

"Did someone tell you about Shang Shuming receiving treatment at the welfare institute?"

Peng Ya nodded, "The old director told us. He often mentioned Mr. Shang. Because of Mr. Shang, we were able to receive a good education, and after growing up, we could even go directly to work at some charitable organizations. The children who left the welfare institute are all very grateful to him."

"Are there any photos?" Xu Huo paused before asking.

Peng Ya found it odd but still pulled out her phone and flipped through the photos for him, "This is the welfare institute’s group photo from before. Mr. Shang is standing in front of the director."

"Which one did the psychological counseling?" he asked.

"This one," Peng Ya pointed to a simple-faced middle-aged man by the side.

Xu Huo felt a moment of disappointment. He knew instantly that this was not the person he was looking for when he saw this man.

"Only him?"

Peng Ya glanced at him cautiously, "Big brother, do you have some connection with Mr. Shang? If you want to know about him, I can take you to see the old director."

Xu Huo suppressed his emotions and returned the phone to her.

The old director was also in Teacher Pan’s information and was still alive and well, without sickness or dementia, just a bit hard of hearing and now living in a retirement home financed by the Shang family’s name.

He had planned to meet her on his trip to Mao City.

The vehicle in front finally started up, and Xu Huo told the driver, "Go directly to the Shang Family Welfare Institute."

The bus began moving, and under her companions’ urging, Peng Ya asked softly, "Brother, can Tian Ningning and the others get off first? Several of them are injured. If you’re going to the welfare institute, I can guide you. I know all about the room Mr. Shang stayed in and the toys he played with."

"You pick the place," Xu Huo said indifferently.

After reviewing Teacher Pan’s information, he intuitively felt that Shang Shuming was like those children who had received treatment at the Seventeenth Hospital.

The growth of an ordinary person has limits. The high IQ antisocial personality child who received treatment with him could only manage to poison his entire family in one go, yet Shang Shuming was able to carry out his abusive killings for years, meticulously and without leaving a trace. Besides a strong psychological constitution, the more crucial factor was ability—he most likely had become a Player.

Zone 009 hadn’t been game-ified that early. So who was it that trained him into a cold-blooded criminal and then turned him into a Player?

Thinking of the doctor who appeared in his dreams but whose face and name were unknown, Xu Huo’s gaze grew heavier. The doctor who provided psychological treatment to Shang Shuming might not necessarily be the person in the photo.

A checkpoint appeared ahead, and the bus driver stopped the vehicle abruptly, leaping out and scrambling towards the armed personnel for help, "There’s a Cannibal Player on the bus..."

His words were cut off by a gunshot that ended his life.

A Player in black leather checked his phone and said, "It matches. There are five more on the bus."

"It’s my big brother!" a girl with curly hair exclaimed in the bus, her voice filled with surprise and delight.

About ten Players and more than twenty armed personnel quickly surrounded the bus, their guns trained on the vehicle. The Player who had killed someone shouted, "Get off and we won’t kill you. You have half a minute, or we’ll have to do it!"

These people were clearly serious, not even bothering to negotiate for the release of any hostages. Bald Head and a few others grew desperate, "Grab someone and get out. I don’t believe they dare to shoot..."

Bullets shattered the glass and struck his temple with deadly accuracy.

As he fell, the remaining three, who were blustering bullies, immediately raised their hands to surrender. Several Players pulled them out of the bus doors and handcuffed them, while the girls in the bus scrambled to get out, with the curly-haired girl hugging the Player in black leather, crying and laughing.

"There are two more on the bus, one dead and one alive," the armed personnel reported after checking.

"He’s a good person!" Peng Ya hurriedly explained, "If it hadn’t been for him, we wouldn’t know what might have happened to us!"

"Yes, brother," the curly-haired girl added, "The one who’s dead was the bad guy. He tried to hurt Junjun, and if Ningning hadn’t desperately stabbed him, and Xia Ya hadn’t managed to call for help, they would have killed us all!"

The Player in black leather wiped her tears away, "Don’t wander off like this anymore."

He then approached Xu Huo proactively, "Ye Yingdong, thank you for saving my sister and the other girls."

While they were talking, the captured tall and strong man was taken behind the bus and shot dead on the spot.

"My name is Xu," Xu Huo said without much interest in speaking further. "Mao City isn’t under lockdown, right? Can I leave?"

Ye Yingdong nodded, waved to signal people in the distance to open the checkpoint, and handed Xu Huo a business card, "The Ye Family has a bit of a name in Mao City. I know Mr. Xu is a man of integrity, but if there’s anything the Ye Family can help with, please be sure to ask."

Xu Huo accepted the business card and listened as Ye Yingdong advised, "There are quite a few Players from other zones coming to 009 these days. For safety’s sake, Mr. Xu, better not go to remote places."

After finishing, he presented Xu Huo with a more detailed map of the city, which marked the ranges of some random dungeons.

Xu Huo accepted his kindness, borrowed a car along the way, and was just about to leave when Peng Ya proactively opened the car door, "I said I’d take you to the welfare institute."

Xu Huo smiled, started the car and glanced in the rearview mirror. The tall and strong man and a few others were being pressed to the ground and executed.

Players wielding firearms and killing in the streets... The existing government had almost completely lost the ability to control its citizens. Zone 009 was now dominated by Players.