Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 975: Choices and Sacrifices

Chapter 975: Chapter 975: Choices and Sacrifices

What exactly do you want to do?

Standing beside Gao Xiaoyan, Ren Man, and Zhao Jie, who had entered Bird Tower earlier after Xu Huo had obtained the Spatial Barrier Prop but was kept on the second floor, also wanted to ask this question.

Compared to the shock of Ren Man’s sudden intrusion, Zhao Jie, who had been on edge since the confrontation between Xu Huo and Luo Changren began, now felt his heart cool by half. Xu Huo and Luo Changren were outsiders, he was controlled within the Bird Tower, and what he heard might not be the truth. Yet, Gao Xiaoyan’s current attitude made him unavoidably suspicious.

"Before leaving the government hall, I said I would help Mayor Gao with this favor," Xu Huo said with a slight smile. "Now, I am merely fulfilling a promise."

"You should know the password for Bird Tower, right? Isn’t preserving Bird Tower meant to save people?"

"Is the Antitoxin you’re holding real?" Gao Xiaoyan was not stupid, "The SE Virus is not hereditary and was created by chance. To my knowledge, as soon as Luo Changren arrived in Base City W37, he went straight to Bird Tower. That Antitoxin must have been hidden there long ago, right? Currently, not a single Base City has developed an antitoxin for the SE Virus. Can his Antitoxin be trusted?"

"Besides, this person is not to be trusted. Initially, the so-called Evolution Potion that was claimed to improve genes ended up damaging them. How can I know that this stuff won’t repeat the SE Virus incident?"

This was the normal line of thought for a normal person. They didn’t need to verify whether the Antitoxin was real or fake; the mere fact it came from Luo Changren was enough reason to doubt its authenticity.

"That’s simple, just get someone to try it," Xu Huo said, offering a suggestion that Gao Xiaoyan couldn’t refuse. "You can find someone who’s been infected."

Gao Xiaoyan indeed couldn’t refuse, so she nodded to the Lou family outside.

The Lou family opened the previously closed Communicator and asked the man with the ponytail guarding not far away to bring in an infected person.

The infected filled the streets; finding one was not difficult. Soon, a little girl around seven or eight years old was brought over.

Gao Xiaoyan took the partially filled syringe that Xu Huo had drawn from the Antitoxin, looked at it suspiciously, and asked, "Is this really effective? What if the person dies?"

Xu Huo pointed to Shangguan Xi and the others beside him, "So many people here, choose one to kill. Or killing the instigator also works."

The joke now wasn’t funny to anyone, and the little girl Gao Xiaoyan was holding was already half unconscious, a state she couldn’t sustain for long.

But Gao Xiaoyan held the syringe and hesitated to administer it.

Xu Huo didn’t rush her, waiting silently for her to make a decision.

"Sister..." the little girl called out to her, not fully conscious.

The blue solution was injected into her arm. In a matter of seconds, the girl’s condition visibly improved at a speed visible to the naked eye, as the cyanosis on her lips also faded significantly.

"The Antitoxin works!" Ren Man exclaimed with joy.

Whether an Antitoxin existed, Luo Changren, Shangguan Xi, and the others were the most aware. Initially, the SE Virus had even killed Players directly. Unexpectedly, Xu Huo had an antidote with such a rapid effect, a testament to the high quality of the Antitoxin.

He did have it, and he was willing to part with it.

Gao Xiaoyan handed the little girl to Ren Man, then turned to face Xu Huo. Her right hand suddenly lifted, shaking the bracelet on her wrist, and two white barriers reaching all the way to the ceiling appeared beside her. The barriers moved forward, enclosing only Xu Huo inside, cutting off the outside view as well as the sound.

Being face to face, Xu Huo spoke first, "Right now the number on the big screen is 219. When infected individuals start showing severe symptoms, this number will skyrocket."

Gao Xiaoyan’s expression was stern, "Base City W37 can’t support so many people anymore. With more people and fewer resources, to allow a portion to live, some must be sacrificed, otherwise, the situation we’ve hardly created at the Base City will be ruined in an instant. By then, not only will more people die, but it will also destroy the hopes of many others."

"From the perspective of the government hall, what you say is not wrong," Xu Huo nodded slightly. "But there’s a problem—who decides which segment lives and which is sacrificed?"

"You think the ordinary residents of the Base City and the quarantined people are valueless, so they can be sacrificed."

"But they certainly don’t think so."

"No one wants to die, especially those struggling in the Base Stations," Gao Xiaoyan said. "To avoid the worst outcome, the government hall must play this ’villain’ role. We can’t decide life and death for others, but we have the right to choose."

"When this right of choice is in my hands, I have the right to give up on a certain group of people."

"Don’t talk to me about how ordinary people and Players’ lives have equal value. If it really came down to sacrificing a Player for an ordinary person, who would think it’s worth it?"

Xu Huo thought of Gao Chunfeng, who had knelt down to plead for his family’s life from several murderers. After having both feet cut off, he met a tragic death. He must have known from the moment he knelt that those Players would not let them go, yet he hadn’t run away until death.

Whether or not something is worth it isn’t for others to decide.

Similarly, whether Base City W37’s choices and sacrifices are worth it or right is not for him to pronounce.

"Survival at the cost of cutting off the tail; the key point is survival," he said. "Just to stay alive, there’s no need to cite a host of reasons. It’s not shameful."

"However, you might want to consider using the Antitoxin."

"Can you be one hundred percent certain that the SE Virus’s original sample is controllable?"

"What’s the contingency plan if the situation evolves into the first virus outbreak?"

"And, the original samples of the SE Virus are likely not only in your hands; when the news of W37’s infection spreads, will other Base Cities follow suit?"

"In the larger context of Base Stations, W37 isn’t the only one with a heavy burden. Even if you can control the situation within your Base City, can you prevent a virus coming from another Base City? Will there not be Players like those from Base City 02 entering the city?"

"If the virus isn’t controlled shortly and other Base Cities outbreak too, will W37 end up besieged like Base City 01 after the fact?"

Gao Xiaoyan, faced with these questions, showed little emotional fluctuation, clearly having considered these situations before making her decision. She said, "Everything has risks. If a irreversible situation indeed occurs, then it’s just fate not on the side of W37."

Her attitude indicated that she and the senior officials of the government hall had resolved themselves to sink or swim.

Xu Huo fell silent, knowing that without Gao Xiaoyan’s cooperation, it would be difficult to efficiently distribute the Antitoxin throughout the city. There were too many people, and the Antitoxin he had on hand was far from enough for one-on-one treatment. The water supply system of W37 was divided into sixteen branches; even going through the reservoirs would not ensure everyone in the city would drink water mixed with Antitoxin, especially since the reservoirs were under Players’ monitoring. He and Shangguan Xi and others might not successfully elude pursuit from Gao Xiaoyan and her people.

Creating a task wasn’t easy, but ruining one was too simple.

"How many people know about this?" he asked.