The female player glanced at the blond man for a few seconds before flipping her hair dismissively, "Boring, I’m done playing."
The cloth strips fell one after another, and the blond man patted the strong man’s shoulder again, "Be magnanimous, you’ve been tricked, just make him give you the money back."
Before the strong man could say anything, Skinny Monkey hurriedly returned the money, not even wanting the knife anymore.
Seeing this, the strong man felt even more frustrated and glared fiercely at Xu Huo as he returned to his seat, "What are you looking at, Pretty Boy?"
Xu Huo lit his lighter with a slight flick, causing the strong man to reflexively step back. But then he realized Xu Huo was just lighting another cigarette and smiling at him.
The strong man showed a hint of fear in his eyes and returned to his seat without a word.
The carriage became peaceful once again. Seeing the danger was over, Skinny Monkey didn’t plan on leaving. He stuck around to thank the female player and the blond man and even offered them a small gift.
However, sitting in the carriage for a bit made him restless, and soon he was sitting next to Xu Huo, whispering, "Buddy, interested in some ’Sleep Incense’? I can tell you’re into that kind of stuff."
Xu Huo glanced at the little bottle peeking out of his pocket, which seemed to be some sort of high-inducing substance.
"I’m not interested in that. What did you smear on that dagger?" he asked nonchalantly.
Skinny Monkey paused, then gave a thumbs up, "Sharp eye, brother! Many people can’t tell. Sure, the material of that knife isn’t necessarily great, but it’s well-crafted and soaked in metal water for a few hours. It looks just like a divine weapon."
"Yeah, it’s just coloring liquid," the female player interjected, "A little trick for faking stuff. You find it in many instance worlds."
"Hey!" Skinny Monkey laughed, "I’m just making ends meet. That stuff doesn’t come cheap, and I’ve also paid for the labor and tickets. It’s only right to sell it for a higher price."
After speaking, he packed up his small wares and added, "You all must be riding this train for the first time, right? I frequently travel between these stations. If you want to know any insider info, just ask me. I won’t charge much, just a small fee for passing the message, how’s that?"
"The game hardly ever issues duplicate tickets, how could you possibly travel frequently on this line?" a middle-aged woman couldn’t help interrupting.
"That’s not difficult. This train has seven stations, and getting any of the tickets allows you to board. You can trade tickets both in the game’s system and the instance worlds. Especially in the game system—with such a vast gaming universe, there surely will be some leftover tickets," Xu Huo explained. He too had a leftover Level E ticket which he could sell through the game, but the demand for Level E tickets was low since Level E players who truly needed them didn’t have trading privileges.
"I see," the middle-aged woman said, before asking another question, "So, can you travel to a station with a ticket without entering an instance?"
"Level D players’ tickets are very flexible. No matter when you board the train, you just need to enter the instance during the last opening time of the month," said the female player. "Look at your ticket, doesn’t it have a few extra lines of small print? Those are the remaining instance opening times left before the deadline."
"But if you miss the last deadline, the ticket is invalidated."
The middle-aged woman hurriedly checked her ticket, where four instance opening times were listed on the transparent ticket.
After confirming, she smiled and expressed her thanks.
"The earliest station won’t be reached until tomorrow, and sitting around doing nothing for a day and night is so boring," the female player said. "Why don’t we find something fun to do?"
Her proposal received a response from the blond man, "I have a deck of cards."
"Well, there’s nothing else to do, might as well play," the baby-faced man also said.
Half of the dozen or so players in the carriage showed interest, while the other half kept to their own activities.
Xu Huo stored the lighter back in his inventory and stood up to open the front door, stepping out.
In the corridor, there was a structural diagram of the train. He was again in the next-to-last carriage, with seven more carriages ahead. The doors to the forward carriages didn’t have doorbells; you could just pull them open and enter.
He didn’t go in straight away but instead pressed the service bell to call the train attendant.
A uniformed attendant in a vest and bowtie soon came from a separate side corridor, asking cordially, "Sir, may I help you with something?"
"May I take a tour of this train?" Xu Huo asked.
"Of course," said the attendant. "However, the first and second carriages are reserved, and other passengers are not allowed to enter at will. Other carriages and the VIP dining car and restrooms at the front of the train may be used for a fee."
Xu Huo nodded and handed him a tip, "Could you show me around?"
The attendant opened the door to the next carriage, "This is the seventh carriage of the train. The last three carriages each have thirty seats, all independent. They can be used for resting at night, and the train also provides special Sleep Incense to ensure every passenger gets a good rest. However, Sleep Incense must be purchased by passengers."
Guided by the attendant, Xu Huo naturally drew the attention of all the players in the carriage. Usually, players stayed in their own carriages after boarding, and entering other carriages midway could cause dissatisfaction—since various prop tactics were hard to defend against, players tended to be particularly vigilant toward players who suddenly came from another carriage. This was also the main reason why the female player from the same carriage had driven out the male player who was following Skinny Monkey earlier.
Of course, normal people generally wouldn’t waste energy and props on the train, so those selling things like Skinny Monkey were mostly ignored. As long as Xu Huo was just passing through the carriage, there shouldn’t be any issues. For safety’s sake, he had called the attendant to accompany him.
Xu Huo had already donned his glasses and quickly memorized the faces of everyone in the carriage with a glance. One man carrying a black briefcase caught his attention. Xu Huo looked at him for a moment longer, and the man’s gaze shot back sharply like a knife.
Dismissing it as if nothing had happened, he followed the attendant to the fifth carriage.
When passing through the transitional carriage, he saw an attendant moving through the side corridor and asked, "Can passengers also pass this way?"
"That is for the exclusive use of the train staff, equipped with a biometric identification system and not open to passengers," the attendant answered cheerfully, standing at the door of the carriage.
Xu Huo glanced at the nearby emergency detachment button and handed over a stack of White Notes.
The attendant’s face broke into a smile as he opened the door for him.
The front carriages looked the same as the rear ones, but there was an emergency detachment button every three carriages that could detach the following carriages from the train.
Passage beyond the third carriage was not allowed. Xu Huo suggested going to the restaurant to eat, and the attendant took him there through the staff corridor, enthusiastically presenting him with a menu.
"Do you serve human flesh on this train?" Xu Huo asked.
Two other tables of guests, all in uniform suits, were dining in the restaurant. At his question, all these people looked up.
"I apologize, but Yongxing Restaurant does not serve any human flesh dishes," the attendant replied without changing his smile.