Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 947: All As Usual, Yet Dissonant

Chapter 947: Chapter 947: All As Usual, Yet Dissonant

Since this stretch of the journey was within the key surveillance area of Base W37 City, it went very smoothly. They didn’t encounter any alien attacks along the way; instead, they came across several groups of people heading from the city to the training base. Shangguan Xi used a prop and potion to modify the appearance of the car slightly, which did not attract the attention of these individuals.

Or perhaps these people were more concerned about the situation at the training base and paid little attention to the passing players.

"Hasn’t Gao Xiaoyan notified Base City about our situation?" Shangguan Xi was somewhat surprised. They still had a contaminated alien corpse in their possession. Didn’t Gao Xiaoyan worry that they might take the opportunity to seek revenge?

"Could this be some sort of trap?" Zhu Feiyun thought even further.

"With such a large base city, they wouldn’t go to such lengths over a few foreign players," Kuang Wenjun said rationally.

What she said made sense. Xu Huo and his group hadn’t been pursued along the way, and they hadn’t noticed any players from the base city up ahead as they approached. Instead, there were some scattered players looking to exploit vulnerabilities who surprisingly ambushed them in different places, but since Xu Huo’s group was not small in number, there were often more people trying to probe than those willing to initiate a confrontation.

Base W37 City was actually a semi-old city located on a plain, with tall protective walls obscuring most of the city. From a distance, only the spires of a few buildings in the center of the city were visible.

Presumably to expand the field of view, aside from a few broad straight roads, the trees in other areas around the city had been cleared, leaving behind a fan-shaped field that seemed to have undergone special treatment.

The car drove all the way to the edge of the protective wall, and to their surprise, the city gates of Base City were still open. People could come and go as usual, and the players guarding the gates didn’t seem to inspect them much.

Most of those coming and going were players. Those who entered simply had to pay a fee, and players from the base city usually didn’t interfere much. However, if there were common people who came from afar to seek asylum, their identities would be registered, and then they would be taken for quarantine checks.

"Isn’t such lax protection afraid of the epidemic spreading?" a foreign player walking in front asked one of the gate-keeping players.

The player guarding the gate smiled and said, "This kind of virus basically can’t infect players. The common residents all live inside the city, far from the gates."

Xu Huo and his companions drove past. To be safe, they had all changed their appearances, but the gate-keeping player only gave them an extra glance, took the money, and let them through.

The simplicity of the process made Shangguan Xi and the others find it somewhat unbelievable.

"Could something really have happened there?" Shangguan Xi looked at Xu Huo with a mix of shock and suspicion. "And there were not a few people?"

"People were watching the whole way. Where would I go to look for the laboratory?" Xu Huo didn’t seem too surprised and signaled for Teacher Ai to find a place to park.

The base city inside wasn’t as desolate as it appeared from the outside. The edge was mostly old buildings, but there were plenty of plants and greenery, and the environment wasn’t bad. Plants resembling vegetables could be seen everywhere on the streets and roads, residents went about their usual business, and children who had finished school were frolicking by the roadside.

Xu Huo cast his gaze into the distance. The closer it was to the center of Base City, the more reconstruction there was in the buildings. Some of the buildings even had a technologically advanced look that exceeded those of the base stations, with branch-like pillars lifting the buildings into the air and forming a continuous passage. People could be seen moving about on top.

The layout was roughly circular and somewhat irregular.

From such a distance, only a rough outline could be discerned. However, it was clear that there was a notable difference in the city on either side of this circle of buildings.

"Hey!" A woman from an upstairs apartment called out to them, "You can’t park your car here. Move forward a few hundred meters; there’s a dedicated parking lot there."

The car that was about to stop slid out again, and they could still hear the woman talking to a neighbor as they moved away: "Ah, these foreign players don’t follow any rules. They just abandon their cars when they arrive. Without a start code, how is one supposed to move the car? They just create trouble for the Law Enforcement Team. They don’t know how tiring the young people’s training is every day..."

The street they were currently on was about three hundred meters long, but there were three players in uniform patrolling this street. A similar arrangement was in place on both side streets as well, with a member of the Law Enforcement Team every two hundred meters or less. Conversations with nearby residents revealed that this high-density defense, known as B2-Level Alert, had begun half a month ago and showed no signs of being lifted anytime soon.

"Players and common people living together seem to create a good atmosphere," Kuang Wenjun mused as she looked at the people outside going about their typical day. "Having been tossed about in this abnormal world for too long, I’ve almost forgotten what normal life looks like."

The fact that the common people here dared to argue with foreign players showed that the government had given them considerable confidence. This also showcased the strength of Base W37.

Walking forward, they could see signposts. Under the watchful eyes of five surveillance cameras above two streets and the houses, Teacher Ai drove the car into the "parking lot"—an empty space filled with abandoned vehicles, with a large control panel next to it dismantling those unclaimed cars.

"You can only leave the car here for half a month. If nobody moves it within that time, it becomes the property of the base government to deal with," a worker in a safety helmet came over and told them.

Leaving the parking lot was the moment to part ways. Zhu Feiyun left first, while Kuang Wenjun and Pan Qiao lingered a bit longer, asking for directions to areas where foreign players often hung out before they also left.

"According to our agreement, I’ve brought you to Base W37 City. Do you have a place to go?" Xu Huo asked Teacher Ai.

Teacher Ai, touching the armrest of his wheelchair, replied, "Thank you. I’ll go register with the Law Enforcement Team. After reporting to the government and getting approval, I might be able to secure a room."

"That’s good," Xu Huo nodded and, without lingering further, set out toward the center of Base City.

Shangguan Xi followed behind, keenly observing the surrounding environment. "Compared to what ’Beneath the Dimension’ says about other base cities, this place is really good. Ordinary residents can still live their lives normally, and it seems they’ve got good welfare too. Look at the announcements, if you work on the government’s experimental farms, you get food, accommodation, and even a salary."

"No wonder people are willing to come after hearing the news. But has this policy been in place for a long time? Do they have that many fields to plant?"

This was just one of the welfare policies promulgated by the government. There were many others, such as road repairs, forest clearance, or seed identification, suitable for common people.

Slogans encouraging childbirth and valuing education were posted everywhere. There were rewards for having children. The government paid for newborns up to the age of ten, and general education was free. If a child showed talent for becoming a player, they would be specially trained.

"Are you hungry?" Xu Huo suddenly turned around and asked.

Shangguan Xi grinned, "I’m okay, but if you’re hungry, let’s go eat. My treat..."

"If you’re not hungry, give me a hand," Xu Huo interrupted him, "Follow Teacher Ai. See what he does, whom he meets, and note down everything in detail."