Chapter 1891: Zones That Tickets Cannot Reach
That was what was said, but most people still found it unbelievable. The track maintenance personnel belonged to the Game Government; they should know better than players what existed around the tracks. Yet almost no player had ever mentioned that the area around the tracks was a high-risk random instance.
"Isn't it simple? The people who knew all died in those high-risk instances," a female player said.
The crowd fell silent, staring at the space outside that was gradually returning to darkness. They felt as if that brief glimpse had touched upon a truth of the game they had never directly faced before.
Perhaps they realized that despite being B-rank players, they were still weak within the game.
For a moment, everyone seemed to sink into silence, and that silence continued until the player performing the magic tricks showed signs of his presence again. However, this time he didn't reveal himself—it was just that some players' items inexplicably turned into colored paper scraps.
Everyone was getting a bit hot under the collar by now, so each carriage began a self-check to see if any outsiders had sneaked in. Due to the broken train windows, the players were also restrained, mainly using item removal tools to prevent the player from killing someone and disguising themselves as another to blend into the carriage. Otherwise, there was no explanation for why items would automatically turn into colored paper.
Before they could find any results, the train passed through another area with moonlight. When the space outside lit up again, someone suddenly shouted toward the window, "Someone's there!"
With that shout, the people on the train turned their gazes to the window one after another. They saw the player performing the magic tricks standing beside the tracks ahead, waving at them.
As the train passed, this figure slid past everyone's eyes both quickly and slowly. Seeing the smile on that person's face, someone asked angrily, "How did he get off the train!"
Of course, there were also quick thinkers who felt this should be an effect created by an item, meant to disrupt everyone's judgment. After all, what the eyes saw might be fake, but the loss of items was real.
Xu Huo looked solemnly at the wilderness outside the window. When that person appeared, he clearly sensed that there was someone standing in that space. If it were just a false illusion, there should have been nothing there. Affected by the train, the players' perception was limited—they might not be able to tell if there was a physical body there. But through the fluctuations transmitted by the space rays through the gaps in the window, there was undoubtedly a person standing there.
Unless there was an item that could cross the train to create such an effect—players couldn't get off before reaching their station, but that didn't mean everyone couldn't.
Although they thought the person outside the window was fake, they couldn't find the real culprit, so everyone tried to put away their good items. To vent their anger, when new players boarded, they would actively inform them about the item scam.
After dawn the next day, Xu Huo found the flight attendant and spent some money to ask if people often got off this train midway.
After all, the previous cannibal player that lured people was real.
"So what if someone gets off?" the flight attendant glanced at him. "You don't have the authority. Unless the train derails here. But if it derails here, you've seen the situation—there might be cannibal players everywhere. Even the most powerful players might not hold up."
This meant that some people could indeed get off midway—it just depended on who they were.
Later, Xu Huo asked if this track was often maintained. The flight attendant didn't know the maintenance records but revealed that when they were on duty, they often had to take detours.
Taking a detour could mean two things: either the track was damaged and forced to be repaired, or the track was occupied.
After that, the flight attendant refused to say anything more.
Xu Huo thanked him and returned to the carriage. He had once been a contract staff member for the Game Government, so he knew that the track maintenance personnel actually didn't know exactly which places each track passed through. Each maintenance location was issued by the internal system—they just needed to board the internal train according to the location given by the game.
And industries like Yongxing Hotel, which cooperated closely with the game, would provide VIP clients with certain route forecasts for free. It was a bit like weather forecasting. The difference was that such forecasts generally covered major disasters, only providing the time when a disaster might occur on a certain section and which station was closest, without offering a specific map.
So it was almost impossible to locate the section a track passed through. Even with the same ticket, the train's route might not be the same. Additionally, the spaces connected around the tracks might be different spaces—no one could guarantee that this space would appear in the same place next time.
However, this was enough to prove that the spaces appearing near the tracks were not completely barren, nor did it mean that the game hadn't included these spaces within the ticket range. It might just be that the permissions were closed.
Stellar Pharmaceuticals' laboratories were all in relatively prosperous zones, but the places the laboratories needed to use weren't necessarily in prosperous zones. In other words, entering a barren zone with a cannibal experiment site might lead to finding a laboratory that Stellar Pharmaceuticals didn't make public.
Was this non-public laboratory hidden in those zones that tickets couldn't reach?
Of course, this was a crude method with very high risks.
Standing in the corridor for a while, Xu Huo turned around to look at the naturally curly-haired person who had quietly come up behind him.
"What, still haven't given up on that S-grade potion? Want to try using that wormhole flower you tampered with to see if the potion is real?"
The naturally curly-haired person sneered, "You're pretty good at pretending. How did you figure it out?"
"I guessed it," Xu Huo said with a smile. "Now it confirms my speculation."
The naturally curly-haired person wasn't annoyed either. "Since we both know the score, name your price. You can't use the perfect potion anyway, so why not sell it to me for some cash to buy another potion, so you don't die on the train because your evolution rate is too low."
After taking the P3S potion, Xu Huo's evolution rate had stayed at 50%. Of course, for an ordinary B-rank player, this was quite low. But since the perfect potion took time to fully digest, he hadn't injected the fourth dose yet, which made him appear somewhat unusual on this train full of mostly B-rank players.
Of course, the players weren't stupid—no one came looking for trouble just because his evolution rate was low.
"Are you sure that's a perfect evolution potion?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "What if you end up losing money?"
"My financial strength can handle a losing investment," the naturally curly-haired person said proudly, and spoke again, "Name your price."
Xu Huo smiled. "You're right. That potion really is useless to me. I can sell it to you. How about this—I won't ask for too high a price. Give me two A-rank items, and the potion is yours."
The naturally curly-haired person's face changed instantly, and he said angrily, "Are you messing with me! Do you know that if I say that potion is real, you'll become a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered?"
"Is that so?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow slightly. "Are you sure I'm that fat sheep?"
(End of Chapter)