Players, Please Board the Train

Chapter 161: Lost Items

Sun Jirou and Tao Chengxin looked rather uncomfortable. The former asked, "How did you all manage to escape in the end? Why did the Government Hall and LT Biopharmaceutical Company let Building Block Fairytale City go?"

"It wasn't that they wanted to let us go at all, but rather the sacrifices made by the players who finally escaped from Building Block Fairytale City!" The elderly man spoke with agitation. "They traded their lives for this last refuge! But how despicable that those LT people, too afraid to charge into Building Block Fairytale City, instead tampered with the city's drinking water! Except for those children who escaped back then, for twenty years, a full twenty years, not a single child has been born in Building Block Fairytale City!"

"They just want to use this method to grind down all the players and people in Building Block Fairytale City. The young people nowadays simply don't know and don't believe the truth of what happened back then, immersed in the false prosperity of this tourist city... They never stop to think that those Algae Shells and conch shells being traded all grow on living people... How is that any different from cannibalism?"

"The people of Building Block Fairytale City have all become accustomed to it," Sun Jirou said. "Especially the Mutant viewing route—treating former comrades like animals for amusement, and they never seem to tire of it."

"I saw it too when I arrived," Tao Chengxin found it unbelievable. "Among those people who turned into Mutants, there might be their own relatives or friends, yet everyone here seems not to care."

"This is Building Block Fairytale City. Perhaps everyone is happy living in a fairytale," Xu Huo said calmly, then changed the subject. "That man and woman commemorated at True Love Square, were they players too?"

"Yes..." The elderly man began to cry again. "Back then, they fought desperately to protect the people of Building Block Fairytale City, but in the end, they were driven out to fend for themselves. Surrounded by Mutants, they had no choice but to jump into the sea and end their lives..."

Xu Huo and the two others had all heard the story of True Love Square. It was the most widely circulated tale in Building Block Fairytale City. No one avoided mentioning the part where the husband protagonist was driven out of the safe zone, nor did they consider it particularly wrong; they just prettied up the ending a bit, turning a suicide born of utter desperation into a tragic love story where they died for each other.

"Players turning into Mutants, especially during a Mutant tide that nearly destroyed the entire city—driving players out is actually not hard to understand," Sun Jirou paused, then added, "But this method is somewhat ungrateful."

"Right, Building Block Fairytale City is such a big place. They could have built a separate area for others. Why force them to die?" Tao Chengxin also said."They were just trying to survive," the White-Dressed Girl interjected at this point. "A single ordinary person turning into a Mutant can kill eight people in under thirty seconds. A player would be even worse."

"The ones who deserve to die are the LT people!" The elderly man's expression was furious. He turned to Xu Huo and the other two. "It's a pity I can't kill them. You are players too, so you must be able to do it. I have bought items and weapons. As long as you are willing to help, even if you just kill one LT person, all my things will be yours!"

"Alright, that's enough," the White-Dressed Girl patted his chest to soothe him. Within moments, the elderly man closed his eyes.

"I added something to his tea to help him sleep," she said. "His health isn't good. He shouldn't get too agitated."

"You can ask me if there's anything else you want to know. He's told me all about those things."

"Are there any players still alive in Building Block Fairytale City now?" Xu Huo asked.

"I'm not really sure about that either," the White-Dressed Girl shook her head. "After all, I'm not a player."

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow slightly. "In these twenty years, haven't any of the young people in Building Block Fairytale City evolved into players?"

"You heard it just now. Everyone currently alive in Building Block Fairytale City has drunk the water that had the potion added to it. Most people who reacted to the potion turned into Mutants," the White-Dressed Girl looked at him. "Even in your world, not everyone can evolve, right?"

After a moment of silence, she added softly, "Building Block Fairytale City has no players of its own anymore. What can it do against those players who come here and kill wantonly?"

"After Grandpa Bai passes away, who will still remember the hatred of the past?"

Xu Huo narrowed his eyes slightly, scrutinizing the woman sitting opposite him as she tucked the blanket around the elderly man. He then asked, "Have you ever lost anything?"

"I've lost many things. As you know, tourist cities have a large floating population, and petty theft is common," the White-Dressed Girl replied.

"Anything like teeth?" Sun Jirou glanced at the elderly man beside her. "For example, dentures or an item that looks like a tooth."

The White-Dressed Girl looked at them in surprise. "The things you players are looking for are really strange."

Sun Jirou also felt troubled. The three tasks given by the dungeon were too strange. They seemed connected, but also not really related. Honestly, if the White-Dressed Girl hadn't appeared on her own, they probably wouldn't have even been able to complete the first task.

Just like the story they needed to hear, they were completely in the dark about this teeth matter.

What teeth?

Were they referring to a person or a thing?

"We don't really know what we're looking for either. How about you pick something you consider the most important item you've lost?" Xu Huo suggested.

The White-Dressed Girl frowned and thought for a while. "I heard Grandpa Bai say that an item a player left with him for safekeeping was lost."

"But it wasn't stolen. His memory had a lapse, and he mistook that item for a decoration, took it out, and lost it."

"How are we supposed to find that?" Tao Chengxin and Sun Jirou looked at each other.

"What kind of item was it?" Xu Huo asked.

"I don't know its specific function," the White-Dressed Girl said, turning to rummage in a drawer and pulling out a yellowed drawing. "Grandpa Bai drew this when he was still lucid."

Xu Huo took it and looked. On the drawing paper was something resembling a jade pendant with simple patterns on it, lacking any distinctive features.

"Is this a tooth?" Tao Chengxin said. "Could 'teeth' refer to something made from teeth?"

Sun Jirou shook her head and was about to say something when Xu Huo suddenly stood up and bid farewell to the White-Dressed Girl. "If we find it, we'll bring the item back."

The White-Dressed Girl seemed rather perplexed but just waved her hand. "I've looked for this thing for a long time too. If you can't find it, it's fine. Anyway, Grandpa Bai has already forgotten about it."

Xu Huo nodded without saying much more. Walking out into the courtyard, he lit a cigarette, glanced toward the half-full cat food bowl in the corner of the flower bed, and then left.

Sun Jirou and Tao Chengxin followed behind him. The former said, "The game hasn't given any dungeon progress prompts. Are the two people we found even the right ones?"

"'A person who tells the correct story,' 'a woman who tells the correct story'—it should be correct," Tao Chengxin said. "The things they said align with the direction we inferred, and they weren't lying."

"Is your trait based on objective truth or the truth as the speaker themselves believes it to be?" Xu Huo turned back and asked.

Tao Chengxin was momentarily stunned, then couldn't help frowning. "Do you suspect my trait might be wrong?"

"Are you truly clear on how your trait works?" Xu Huo asked seriously.