Players, Please Board the Train

Chapter 406: Dealing with the Person in the Painting

This feeling was quite subtle.

Xu Huo had approached Madame Butterfly for sparring with other purposes in mind. Setting aside his own door to create frames was merely an attempt, but he never expected it to be achieved so easily, much simpler than when he first opened a door in the mental hospital.

That's why he fully materialized his Mental World.

Unless under special circumstances, he couldn't enter his own Mental World, but Madame Butterfly had a method to enter the Mental World anytime, anywhere. Opportunities for such attempts and training were rare, so he also learned from the experience and hid the symbols of his own spirit while materializing the Mental World.

In fact, when he was materializing frames and doorways on a large scale, he never entered that door himself. He hid within the painting. The one who entered the door and lured Madame Butterfly into the book tower was another personality.

He was still outside.

Although Madame Butterfly could split into multiple individuals within the Mental World, it seemed different from his distinct personalities.

Hesitating slightly, he entered the frame five times in a row before erasing the world within the painting into darkness, then took out the "World Within the Painting."

A set of footsteps sounded in the darkness. Brother Tu had been running for his life inside the painting's world for who knows how long.

When he first entered, he searched everywhere for an exit, but the frame was pitch black all around. There were paths everywhere, yet none led out. Every direction was the same. Items and train tickets couldn't be used either, making it impossible to escape from the painting. Only when Xu Huo took the painting out would a frame appear before him. Through that frame, he could communicate with the outside.After staying in the painting for a long time, he resigned himself to his fate. After all, he didn't get hungry or die here. Staying put was fine, and he couldn't be bothered to look for a way out anymore. But this brief peace was shattered within a few days when a second player entered the painting.

This bastard tried to kill him the moment he entered without saying a word. If he hadn't run fast, he'd have been dead long ago. Even now, he was still on the run.

"Who knows where he gets his fighting spirit from? We're both trapped in a painting and can't get out. What's the point of killing me?" Brother Tu stopped to rest for a while, carefully listening to the surrounding movements. Confirming the other hadn't found him, he sat down to check his legs.

He couldn't see anything here, but he could still feel the changes in his legs. Feeling upwards along his calves, the rough skin had already spread past his knees.

"Nothing that good ever happens. I thought I could hide here for a lifetime." A few days ago, his feet suddenly felt weak. Then he discovered the skin of his entire foot seemed wrapped in something, feeling a bit like a rough oil painting surface. In just a few days, this thing had grown up to his knees. He understood that in a few more days, he might turn into an actual painting. But living one more day was one more day.

The long-vanished frame suddenly appeared before him again, yet no light appeared outside. Brother Tu was stunned for a moment. The next second, he saw the frame flying towards him. He immediately shielded his head. Looking up again a few seconds later, the frame was still floating obediently in its original position.

The only thing visible in the darkness was the frame. Since it appeared, it meant Xu Huo had taken the item out of his item slot. The darkness outside was probably because it was nighttime.

"I'm almost assimilated with the painting. How about you find a Random Dungeon and release me? As long as you don't kill me, I promise to give you everything I have, including the backup supplies I've hidden in other partitions..."

However, before he could finish speaking, his head flew off his neck.

[Congratulations to player Extra for killing one Black Player.]

Receiving the game notification, Xu Huo walked out from the darkness, kicked the corpse aside, and stepped into the glowing frame ahead.

On the other side of the frame, the player who had tried to assassinate Xu Huo using a wooden sword was standing in place, looking suspiciously at the two frames that had appeared to his left and right.

The frame appeared before Brother Tu and also before him simultaneously. However, it passed through his body and stopped behind him, while the frame in front didn't disappear.

"Is it you? I told you, I won't reveal any information to you, so don't even think about it!"

No one responded. A row of frames appeared around him, and those frames began to squeeze towards him.

Seeing a glow emerge from within one of the frames, he turned and slammed headfirst towards that painting!

He had failed every time before, but this time, he jumped through with unexpected ease!

"I'm out..." His ecstatic expression froze on his face. Passing through the frame didn't lead to the outside world, but to Xu Huo holding a sword. Looking down at the sword piercing his heart, the player looked up in shock. "You... how is that possible..."

Xu Huo pulled out the sword and pushed the man down. "I didn't enter the painting. You know perfectly well you can't use items inside the painting. You came out just now."

"Ugh..." The wooden sword player spat blood, dying with regret.

Both men had been released the first time the frame appeared. He had just used a little trick on the outside, making them unaware they had left the item.

If Brother Tu had been a bit smarter, he should have immediately realized his legs had returned to normal.

The wooden sword player was slightly trickier, so he made a bit more preparation. Although what was wrapped outside was Madame Butterfly's Mental World, he couldn't guarantee the player wouldn't notice at all... Solving the person so easily was completely unexpected.

Xu Huo put away the Crimson Sword, turned around, and looked at Madame Butterfly, who had appeared several meters away, smiling as he said, "You discovered it so quickly."

Madame Butterfly's expression was dark. "Well done. You actually used my Mental World to kill people."

"These two have been trapped in the item for a long time. If I didn't act soon, I was afraid they'd die on their own," Xu Huo said with a thick smile. "The opportunity was too good to pass up."

Madame Butterfly laughed angrily. "Fine then. Since you're so good at applying knowledge creatively, figure out how to get out by yourself."

As soon as she finished speaking, a zipper opened at her feet and swallowed her up. Then the space returned to its previous blank state, and even the two corpses on the ground disappeared.

Xu Huo knew that compared to being used, what angered her more was probably being fooled around by the personality he had split off. That decoy personality had already been found. They had some differences in appearance. Once Madame Butterfly found the person, she'd understand what was going on.

But he had already handled things on his end. Now he could explore her Mental World.

Madame Butterfly was seriously angry this time. He opened dozens of doors before finding a black zipper. Opening it and walking in, four silver zippers floated silently inside, arranged in four directions.

He randomly chose one to enter, but behind the doorway was another empty, featureless space.

Xu Huo had no choice but to turn back and choose again. However, returning wasn't easy either. It took a long time to go through the remaining three doorways, but there was still no new progress.

There was neither an exit, nor could he access Madame Butterfly's true Mental World.

He understood this was a difference in the strength of Mental Worlds. It was like how addition and subtraction become effortless after learning multiplication and division. He had only learned addition and subtraction now. Trying to figure out the rules of multiplication and division left him with nowhere to start.