Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 965: The Dying Man

Chapter 965: Chapter 965: The Dying Man

Luo Changren’s face was a poorly concealed mix of shock and disbelief. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly, his attempts to speak resulting only in breathless gasps. Eventually, he gasped for air, stretching his hands out long before collapsing into the chair with his eyes rolling back as if he was about to faint.

Xu Huo casually walked over and patted his face, "You’re not dead, are you?"

Luo Changren abruptly sat up and grabbed Xu Huo’s arm, his eyes fixed intensely on him as he gasped louder and longer as if trying to squeeze the last bit of air from his lungs.

"Stay calm, risking your life for a couple of sentences isn’t worth it."

After hearing these words, Luo Changren seemed to recover a bit, but his face was still ghastly pale. He said, "Someone once told me, to make a race strong... the best way is to optimize its genes... but he lied to me... and killed so many people..."

"I’m a man full of sins... I never planned to survive... yet someone told me... to seek redemption... I tried everything to redeem myself... but she continued the sins..."

Xu Huo listened emotionlessly, "Then your life is pretty dull, doing exactly as others say."

Luo Changren choked, choosing to pretend he hadn’t heard that, "I once wanted to make the Base Station stronger... Now... I just want to save those poor people..."

"Aren’t you even more pitiful?" Xu Huo looked at him, "In your whole life you didn’t manage to accomplish these two things."

Luo Changren clenched his forearm, "You, you are different from us..."

Xu Huo silently watched his performance, Luo Changren waited two seconds for him to respond, but when Xu Huo didn’t, Luo Changren’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed.

"The man fainted." Xu Huo said to Gao Zhen, "Find someone to take him away."

Lou Jia entered from outside, pushing a wheelchair.

Now only Xu Huo and Gao Zhen remained in the office, and the main show was set to begin.

"Xiao Yan mentioned that you are very curious about the W37 Base Station." As an older woman, she looked at Xu Huo with admiration and hope, like she was looking at a promising junior.

Xu Huo, who was still five meters away from the desk, asked the visibly exhausted mayor, "How about we sit down to talk?"

"I may be old, but I can still stand for a while," Gao Zhen indicated for him to take a seat instead.

Xu Huo didn’t sit down but instead looked out through the floor-to-ceiling window.

Base City seemed less chaotic than before, but the cries and calls for help were increasing. The Law Enforcement Team could control people’s desperate struggle to survive but couldn’t stop their final screams.

Not far under the Canopy Pillar, a building lit up with an electronic screen showing numbers jumping; it started with "57", but in less than two seconds, the unit digit began to increase.

"The death toll?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow, "How many people need to die in Base W37 City this time?"

When he had come to the government hall earlier, the Law Enforcement Team had begun setting up blockades stair by stair. After many years, even if they couldn’t cure the infection, W37 should have some experience in preventing the spread of the SE virus, which meant the death toll was somewhat controllable.

"At least more than half." Gao Zhen stood with her back to him, her face hidden and her voice emotionless.

"When I first arrived in Base City, I noticed that the area for food cultivation isn’t very large, certainly not enough to feed everyone in the city," Xu Huo said.

In fact, W37 Base wasn’t just short on land, but also lacking in fertilizers needed for farming. Food production was surely not high enough to sustain so many people, which meant importing food from outside areas. However, this didn’t fundamentally solve the problem and would gradually increase the burden as the population grew, leading inevitably to an uncontrollable situation.

Players had absolute control over ordinary people, but this also didn’t allow them to simply cut the problem from the root. Ordinary people were the basis for Evolver sustenance, how many Players could come out without a substantial population?

It also wouldn’t be appropriate for the W37 government to solve this trouble through brutal means in public, as this would leave hidden dangers.

"The optimal solution for the base government would be a large number of casualties caused by the SE virus carried in by players from outside areas W11."

"It seems I and a few friends are set to take the blame," Xu Huo realized Gao Zhen’s willingness to meet him was not just for Ren Man, but also as a way to handle public anger towards the government’s perceived ’incompetence.’

Although the virus was brought by outside players, the base government’s failure to stop it was a dereliction of duty. The death of so many people couldn’t just be blamed on outsiders, Gao Zhen came in person at this critical juncture firstly to take responsibility herself, leaving no troubles for her successor. The new mayor only needed to placate those who survived, and W37 would once again thrive as a promising place; secondly, to garner some sympathy for the base government at a crucial moment.

"It’s been tough on you," Gao Zhen said with a smile, "but I won’t stop you from leaving here. You’ve borne infamy for the base government; you shouldn’t have to sacrifice your lives too."

Xu Huo listened and then replied, "Mayor Gao has devoted herself to W37, isn’t it a pity to tarnish your latter years?"

Gao Zhen looked back to the increasing death toll outside the window, "When you live to my age, you realize we are but mere grains of sand in the river of time. A small grain of sand doesn’t need to be revealed; fame and power aren’t that important anymore."

"But as a person, of course I hope those who remember me will recall my good."

Xu Huo laughed. This old lady was hopeful, committing bad deeds herself but leaving others to carry the pot, and hoping to make a graceful exit in the end.

"I figure by the time I walk out of this room, you’re probably already dead." He didn’t make it too clear, "Let’s talk about the SE virus incident before that."

"I heard you haven’t finished the game yet." Gao Zhen suddenly brought up this topic.

"That’s true," Xu Huo said, "The live sample I brought was killed by your people in the training base."

Gao Zhen sighed, "Xiao Yan is a good kid."

The "good kid" she mentioned was now leading a group that had surrounded the office, probably waiting for her signal to break in.

"It’s hard to perform a monologue, but it’s different with someone else’s cooperation," Xu Huo said, "I’m not a person of W37 Base Station; leaving unattached isn’t difficult, but I can also act in a play with you before I go, what do you think, Mayor?"

Gao Zhen turned around, her previously gentle gaze now sharp and daunting.

"Most people in the world are normal, and normal people can empathize; they can empathize with others who have similar experiences," Xu Huo said. "In this incident, they lost family members, and the base government lost a great person, I believe this sympathy will dissipate a lot of the anger towards the base government."

"Ha ha!" The old lady laughed out loud, "This is also a little help from me to the younger generation."

Xu Huo remained silent, the old lady’s laughter gradually ceased, and she asked him, "Would you really help this dying person with one last favor?"