Chapter 1692: I Think You Guys Need a Referee
The station fell silent.
Xu Huo and the golden-eyed player were both focused on each other. Though they hadn't made a move, neither had they let down their guard. The other five players standing in the corner of the station watched them warily, neither provoking them verbally nor attempting to stop them, simply preparing their own defensive items.
"Your explosive item can't be used a second time in such a short period," the golden-eyed player spoke first.
"Want to try?" Xu Huo stared at him calmly.
After those two sentences, the atmosphere tensed up again. Just as everyone was concentrating, a player who had arrived at the station later, after briefly observing the situation, suddenly walked between the two. He took off his jazz hat and held it to his chest, looking left and right at them before smiling and saying, "It seems you both want to settle this. Why don't I act as the referee?"
The moment he finished speaking, both Xu Huo and the golden-eyed player changed expressions. On Xu Huo's side, "Life Flashback" took effect, freezing the hat-wearing player in place. Meanwhile, on the golden-eyed player's side, a thin veil-like shadow emerged from his body. The flickering shadow made him appear ethereal, and in the next second, the shadow shifted, moving the golden-eyed player from his position opposite Xu Huo and the hat player to another corner of the station.
This sudden change made the five players who had just experienced the explosion curse under their breath, and they moved as far away from the three as possible to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
But just as everyone braced for an impact, none of the three made a move. The hat player even smiled and said, "It seems you two don't need a referee. My apologies for the intrusion."
This wasn't just a simple intrusion. Although he had arrived last and hadn't experienced the explosion, the attitude of the other five players in the station was telling enough. In this situation, daring to provoke trouble meant he wasn't relying on just one or two particularly powerful traits.
Player evolution rates varied widely. Generally, high-level players had evolution rates around 50%, but unless something unexpected happened, C-level players were usually above that number. This was because, after starting to travel between different zones, relatively cheap evolution agents were easier to obtain than high-level items. Improving personal physique and speed was also a cost-effective evolutionary direction, especially for those who couldn't get good items or didn't have strong traits. Sufficient speed and robust physical ability were crucial survival tools for players.
However, as the evolution rate increased, the effect of each dose of evolution agent diminished, which also had a proportional relationship with time. Therefore, players with evolution rates fluctuating between 50 and 90 could be of any level. Of course, the stronger the physical evolution, the higher the assumed evolution rate and player level.
So, the hat player standing in the center of the station now, after the other players compared their own situations, was judged to be most likely a B-level player.
The trains players boarded were generally divided by level. Whatever ticket you got determined the level of train you rode. Under normal circumstances, players should board trains corresponding to their own level. However, it was possible to enter lower-level instances or cross zones using lower-level tickets, though there were strict limits on how many times you could use a ticket of a lower level than your own. With so many players, encounters like this were bound to happen sooner or later—like with the hat player and the golden-eyed player.
As a C-level player, Xu Huo naturally wouldn't be so "tactless" as to deliberately provoke a B-level player. So even though the hat player had actively attacked him, he just smiled and let it go, pointing his chin at the golden-eyed player and saying, "I think you two need a referee more."
Although he had fought with Xu Huo for quite a while, the golden-eyed player wasn't severely injured. The wounds caused by the space entity were only superficial, and by now they had almost healed. He had also changed into a new protective suit.
He sized up the hat player, his beast-like pupils carrying an innate coldness.
As their gazes met, the golden-eyed player moved his finger, and from dozens of meters away, he pulled the jazz hat off the hat player's head.
This wasn't telekinesis; it was a trick he had pulled on the hat player when the latter made his move. He had threaded an extremely fine needle through the jazz hat, but clearly, the effect hadn't met his expectations.
However, just as the golden-eyed player grew displeased and the hat player reached out to catch his hat, the train arrived.
Xu Huo and the other five players were all on this train. He, along with two of them and the hat player, entered the same car. The golden-eyed player and the other three ended up in the car behind.
When Xu Huo looked back, the golden-eyed player was also looking his way. The moment their eyes met, both rushed toward each other at top speed—only for Xu Huo to slam the door shut.
"Bang!" The door forcefully closed. Through the glass, they stared at each other. After a tense two seconds, the golden-eyed player turned and returned to his own car.
Xu Huo's gaze darkened slightly. The other party's reluctance to act on the train, just like at the station, clearly indicated some restraint. But this also meant the golden-eyed player might know where he was getting off, and might even have the same ticket as him.
Could it be that coincidental—that the golden-eyed player just happened to have the same ticket and just happened to board the same train? Or was it a temporary pass?
Temporary passes in the game were like universal tickets. It was said they could be used to board any nearby train or to choose a suitable transfer station based on where the player wanted to go. Xu Huo had once heard Dr. Deng say that a single temporary pass could fetch a high price of one hundred million white notes. That sounded astronomical, but for players who could casually spend one hundred million white notes, the temporary pass seemed somewhat overpriced. Of course, temporary passes were extremely hard to come by—money alone couldn't buy one. Whether they had other uses was hard to say.
With this question in mind, Xu Huo purchased a room next to him, opened the door, and sat down.
The hat player was a very affable person. He had already warmed up to the other players in the car. A few who were playing cards invited him to join, and the atmosphere was fairly good.
The two players from the same station cautiously kept their distance from him, and naturally didn't come near Xu Huo either. Instead, they seized the opportunity to move into the car ahead.
Three other players rested alone, not mingling with anyone.
There were also two other players in the car resting alone like Xu Huo, and they didn't talk to each other.
Before long, a female player entered from the transition car ahead. She walked straight to the room opposite Xu Huo, but came out again quickly. Holding a cigarette, she asked him, "Hey, buddy, want one?"
Xu Huo looked at her and shook his head slightly.
"Then got a light?" The female player casually patted her pockets, found nothing, and looked up again.
(Chapter End)