Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 791: Xu Huo and the Little Girl

Chapter 791: Chapter 791: Xu Huo and the Little Girl

It had started to rain outside.

The children who had been lingering around the hotel and refused to leave gradually all left, except for the little girl who squatted under the electric pole, sheltered by a plastic bag, occasionally smearing some mud on her face. Her eyes were bright, fixedly staring at the second floor window of the hotel as though she would leap up the moment the curtain opened.

Xu Huo drew back the curtain and she immediately stood up.

However, Xu Huo made no other move, just glanced outside and closed it again.

His condition had not worsened for the moment. Although the blood flowing from his slashed palm was black, the mycelium was starting to take effect, he just couldn’t move right now.

An unofficial wanted notice began to circulate online, supposedly for the player who had attacked Jiang Jiang. There was now a nationwide search for him.

The portrait of the man on it was quite different from his own appearance, and although he didn’t understand Jiang Jiang’s intention in doing this, he knew that she knew he had not left Zone 009... perhaps she was waiting for him to return.

This was the first time Xu Huo had encountered someone who might have been trained by that doctor, just like that antisocial child from The Seventeenth Hospital. Jiang Jiang, too, was indifferent to life, unconcerned about the safety of her protectors, and skilled at disguising her emotions, with equally brutal methods of killing.

However, there were differences between them. Violent and brutal people might be more inclined to kill with their own hands, to directly experience the thrill of torture and a sense of superiority over life, but Jiang Jiang seemed a bit contradictory on this point.

She had not killed her own adoptive parents, whether due to a lack of time or an unwillingness to do so. She would even bring them up during conversations, which was unusual.

Another boy might have left Zone 009, so why did Jiang Jiang stay?

Clearly she wasn’t a "defective product," or was it that she had been abandoned in another way?

"Boom!"

A clap of thunder resounded, and the rain grew heavier. Xu Huo lifted a corner of the curtain and peered out, and the little girl across the street stood up again.

Letting go of the curtain, he opened the game panel and searched for a Temporary Pass on the reward platform, but aside from basic information, no player was selling one—not surprising, since with a Temporary Pass, you could get on a vehicle anytime, anywhere, something every player wanted.

He then switched his search to Spatial Artifacts related to painting.

Basing his search on the description of the artifact used by Jiang Jiang, it wasn’t long before someone offered information for three thousand White Notes.

"The artifact you described might be the work of the renowned Artifact Maker, Dan Qing. Both the paintbrush and the frame are artifacts, but the frame needs to be completed by the paintbrush. It’s called the Octagonal Gallery, a field artifact that can create a small space that’s very deceptive, and you can even keep artifacts inside."

"It’s a pair of Rank-B props, rumored to be Dan Qing’s last creations, because he was killed shortly after making these two artifacts."

Great, the clue he’d just obtained had broken off.

But this also indirectly indicated that Jiang Jiang was indeed related to that doctor. An Artifact Maker who could make Rank-B props wouldn’t lack protection; whoever killed him was undoubtedly a high-level player.

"To train disciples and gift them artifacts too, how generous," Xu Huo scoffed with a cold laugh, then turned off his personal panel and closed his eyes to rest.

When the rain stopped, he opened the curtain and saw that the little girl was still there, so he waved to her.

The girl scrubbed her face and ran over. She didn’t enter the hotel, instead just stood downstairs and looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

Xu Huo threw her fifty White Notes, "Buy two dishes and bring them up."

The girl quickly picked up the money, pressed it to her chest, and took off running.

The owner was downstairs drying umbrellas, smiling as he said, "That one’s relatively honest; she won’t take your money and disappear."

Less than twenty minutes later, the girl was back, holding steaming hot food in her arms. However, there were fresh scratches on her arms and face. The owner allowed her to come upstairs, and she placed the intact packaged food on the table. She also put down the change she had hidden away, then stepped back obediently.

"I run very fast, and I react quickly. The other kids can’t snatch the food I buy. I can get it for you every day!"

Since White Notes didn’t come in smaller denominations, the change was given in Zone 009 currency.

Xu Huo picked out a five yuan note and slid it over to her, "Yours."

The girl was a bit disappointed to see only five yuan. But she quickly took the money and said, "Uncle, let me clean your shoes for you. They are dirty. I won’t charge you, but if you have any leftovers, could you give them to me?"

Xu Huo nodded, eating while watching her polish shoes and asked, "How old are you?"

The little girl hesitated before saying, "Eight."

Xu Huo fell silent.

After a while, she said, "Actually, I’m nine..."

Xu Huo did not say anything else and gave her the remaining one-third of his meal.

After neatly placing the shoes, the little girl kept bowing and thanking him, then carefully carried the food outside.

Xu Huo heard her squat just outside the door to drink the soup; she probably did not eat the rice and vegetables and left after a while.

He didn’t need to look to know that someone had followed her, both children and adults.

A night passed, and early the next day the little girl returned outside the hotel, with new injuries on top of old ones and one eye so swollen she couldn’t open it, yet she still tried her best to show a pleasing smile.

There were two more children next to her.

"My name’s Xiao Yuan!" the little girl announced loudly.

She was a smart child.

"Come up," Xu Huo pulled the curtains shut.

The girl ran quickly; she arrived at the door even before the wheelchair moved away.

Xu Huo opened the door to let her in and looked at her injuries, "Did an adult hit you yesterday?"

Xiao Yuan shook her head, "Adults don’t hit girls."

Xu Huo raised his hand slightly; they were very close, and it was obvious she was poised to run away, but she forced herself to stay put, fear mixed with a touch of other emotions.

"Don’t be afraid," he gave her some ointment for external injuries, "Can you still run if you can’t see out of your eye?"

"I can!" Xiao Yuan nodded vigorously, "I’ll make sure to deliver the meals!"

Xu Huo gave her some money and sent her on her way.

This time it took a bit longer, but once the meals were safely delivered, she said with joy, "I grew up here and know the place well, I know all the roads, they can’t block me if I take a different route!"

Xu Huo invited her to eat with him.

Xiao Yuan stood frozen in place, astonished, "You’re willing to give me food to eat?"

Xu Huo handed her a pair of chopsticks, gesturing for her to move a chair over.

Xiao Yuan dared not sit, standing at the edge of the table and swallowing continuously without picking up her chopsticks, "Uncle, aren’t you disgusted by my dirtiness? Other people think we carry germs."

"Aside from a bit of malnutrition, there’s nothing," Xu Huo said.

Her face and hands were covered in dirt, but her teeth were very clean.

"Yesterday, when you took the meals back, was there anyone else at home?"

Xiao Yuan shook her head, "My grandma died. She hadn’t eaten a hot meal for two years before her death; I wanted to take some back for her to try."

"Did she get to eat?"

"She did!" Xiao Yuan’s eyes shone unusually bright, "They couldn’t catch up with me. They thought I ate the meals myself so they beat me to vent their anger!"

Xu Huo added more food to her bowl, "Chew slowly, don’t eat too much."