Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 922: Tracking the Sample

Chapter 922: Chapter 922: Tracking the Sample

Upon hearing Shangguan Xi’s words, Teacher Ai showed no expression, while Xu Huo glanced at him and said, "Take him away with the prop."

Although Shangguan Xi did not understand why he was so insistent on bringing a guide, he wasn’t going to object if he didn’t have to put in any effort, and readily handed the person over, even telling Teacher Ai, "Bro, you’re lucky to have met good people, otherwise you would have been dead eight hundred times over already."

Teacher Ai stared at him coldly, retorting, "You won’t lose out by taking me with you."

Shangguan Xi shrugged his shoulders.

Xu Huo used the Balloon String to lift Teacher Ai so that he was semi-floating in the air and then started to walk out.

Outside the south gate was a piece of unfinished underground city, covered with metal plates. As he walked onto it, Xu Huo estimated the probable scope and then, after passing through this area, he turned over the soil until he found a bit of a metal plate bridge. Only after touching it with the "Life Core" did he retract his hand and casually cover the spot with soil again.

The casually laid traps might not necessarily be of use, but it would be pleasing if they did come in handy.

"Towards the Destination" could not take a third person, so their speed was not fast. Along the way, Teacher Ai, observing Xu Huo’s unhurried veneer, couldn’t help but speculate, "Did you really get your hands on a live specimen?"

Shangguan Xi also looked at him.

Xu Huo did not directly answer that question, instead saying, "The live specimen at the south gate is just a decoy; there’s no specimen inside, only a Player."

Shangguan Xi was shocked, "To be able to deceive so many players!"

Given the availability of a vehicle positioning system at the underground parking lot, it wasn’t difficult to shake off the effects of a prop near the south gate. As for blurring the Players’ senses, that was even easier. Without seeing it with their own eyes and in close contact, it was hard for average Players to discern whether or not someone was inside and how many were there.

Xu Huo had changed positions in and out of the building multiple times precisely to confirm this point; aside from one Player, there wasn’t a second person inside.

There were two possibilities: one was that the Player used the specimen as a decoy to lie in wait to hunt other Players, and the other was to buy time for a teammate. The latter seemed more likely at the moment.

In any case, the second specimen was no longer at W19.

Among the Players laying siege, some had already spent more than a day’s time. That length of time was enough for the specimen to have been moved a considerable distance. With the right means of transportation, it would be impossible for the other Players to catch up.

So the person who took the specimen also had no better way to hurry along.

As for the Player who stole the car, trying to fish for opportunities within a city was obviously unrealistic, but Xu Huo was more inclined to believe that the thief was related to the Players guarding the south gate. Even if not, it didn’t matter; whether they left earlier or later, a meeting was inevitable.

"This road is harder to travel than I thought." Two hours after leaving W19, they had already encountered three alien ambushes. Shangguan Xi, looking ahead at a jungle with exceptionally lush greenery, couldn’t help but raise his head and say to Teacher Ai, "Such a good spot, hasn’t anyone thought to develop it?"

"There’s a nest of Aliens living inside." Teacher Ai said expressionlessly, "Base City did send people to set fires there once, but instead of killing the Aliens, it drove a large number of them to flee towards a nearby Base City. Moreover, there is a type of poisonous plant inside the forest. The fire couldn’t clean it out and instead caused it to release its seeds wide-spread. If inhaled, it causes poisoning, and the neighboring Base City suffered heavy losses."

"The best plan is to go around, keep the noise down, and not attract too many Aliens."

"Going around sounds like a good idea..." Shangguan Xi said while pulling out a map when his voice suddenly changed, "Going around would take several times longer!"

Xu Huo had already checked both ways and come back, "The people ahead have taken a detour, let’s follow them."

"If we don’t catch up to the live specimen, this trip will have been for nothing." Shangguan Xi frowned slightly, "To be honest, it’s not just us who are planning to intercept the specimen outside of W37."

"The worst outcome would simply be failing to clear the instance." Xu Huo looked at him, "Don’t you have any extra Return Tickets?"

If the Player’s original gaming zone had completely integrated with the game, the significance of the Return Ticket was practically negligible, as one could return using regular Tickets.

Shangguan Xi was silent for two seconds before saying, "If I don’t clear this round, my ranking is sure to drop out of the top twenty thousand."

Both people present had clearly not expected this reason. Teacher Ai said with an ironic tone, "Is a ranking that important? What’s the difference between ten thousand and twenty thousand?"

"How can it be the same?" Shangguan Xi said as if it were obvious, "People vie for a breath of respect, who wants to be at the bottom? And the more frontward your ranking, the more famous you become. Once your renown grows, other Players will invite you to join instances with them. This way, not only can you increase your odds of clearing instances, but your chances of getting good Props also go up."

"That’s a tangible benefit right in front of your eyes. Who’d want to team up with someone who can’t even make it onto the leaderboard?"

His argument was logical, and Teacher Ai couldn’t contradict it.

Xu Huo then patted his shoulder, "Don’t worry, we definitely won’t make this trip for nothing. Even if we don’t clear, it won’t be easy for others to do so."

Hearing this, Shangguan Xi instantly gave a thumbs up, "Brother Xu really gets me. If I can’t make it, it’s the same if everyone else goes down too."

Teacher Ai looked at the two in astonishment, then after a moment restrained his expression, looking vacantly at the sky, "We should hurry. It’s going to rain."

"Rain is no fun," said Shangguan Xi. "It’s acid rain here; if it lasts too long, you’ll lose a suit of protective gear."

There were traces of people passing by the outskirts of the forest—this also further proved that indeed someone had passed with a live specimen, otherwise, they wouldn’t have left so many traces behind.

"Is transporting a live specimen that difficult?" Shangguan Xi wondered, "Even without the right Prop, isn’t one or two small vehicles a must-have? Why leave such obvious tracks?"

"You haven’t seen the metal cages for holding live specimens. They’re heavy," Xu Huo explained. "The Players typically buy small tools for one or two people. The big luggage compartments can’t fit them, nor can they support such heavy cages."

"Like this Prop," he gestured with the Balloon String in his hand, "it can certainly lift objects, but there are substantial limitations on weight."

"If there’s no weight limit, there’s usually a time limit." Shangguan Xi chimed in, "So far, I’ve never seen a perfect Prop."

"Can’t they just ditch the cage?"

Xu Huo’s gaze flickered slightly, "The wristband authentication is on the cage."

"Then there’s no way around it." Shangguan Xi glanced again at the tracks crushed into the ground and then looked towards the distant dark clouds, suddenly saying, "Don’t you feel like it’s gotten suddenly cold?"

"It might snow," Xu Huo replied nonchalantly, "We should hurry and then find a place to shelter from the snow."

Teacher Ai could only offer information on some abandoned animal dens for temporary refuge, but this wouldn’t spare them from the trouble of low temperatures. It was Shangguan Xi who mentioned having a high-temperature furnace, but it could only be used in a place sheltered from the wind.

A wind-sheltered place wasn’t hard to find – Xu Huo already had a ready solution in hand.