Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!

Mr. Xi unilaterally won this argument. When he heard that Master Cong wanted to help grind the props for free, he didn’t refuse. Instead, he discussed the direction of crafting the props with him. They haven’t provided a suitable scheme based on the attributes of the Secondary Stone, so Xu Huo didn’t participate in this discussion.

After nightfall, the number of hoods that randomly appeared around the city diminished. It’s unclear whether the local government made significant progress, but overall the manor side was quite peaceful.

However, the good times didn’t last long. After the Night Tour Dungeon, Wanzhi Garden also erupted with a new Rank-B Copy. Those plants listed in the curiosity directory became truly terrifying entities. It’s said that six research teams that went into Wanzhi Garden to collect samples were entirely wiped out despite the protection of players. Fortunately, the instance area was limited to Wanzhi Garden, and no dungeon restricted areas appeared.

Although the entire Wanzhi Garden is very large, as long as it does not spread to the human inhabited city, it’s not a big deal once it’s sealed off.

However, early the next morning, the sky over Xia City was filled with finger-sized green bubbles that resembled seeds of some mutant plants. They were very light, capable of being blown far by the wind, and also possessed a certain level of toxicity.

Outside the manor, shields had already been erected, but many of the green bubbles still clung to these shields, densely packed like insects. Some contained eggs that could hatch mutant varieties within one or two hours. These crawled rapidly and reproduced swiftly, devouring the unprotected green belts down to the bark and leaves in no time.

This isn’t the most troublesome issue; these are just minor annoyances. Busy robots can solve these, but sometimes these green bubbles carry special mutant species that can take root immediately upon landing. In merely a few hours, there were numerous instances of "eye fruit" and "human-head gourd" growing around the city. Some buildings and roads collapsed and were damaged due to their growth, making it seem like a continuous viral and bacterial spread throughout the city.

This mutant plant disaster covered three cities including Xia City. The local government had already conducted preliminary tests and distributed protective masks. The visible mutant plants were not troublesome; the frightful concern lay in the microscopic, hard-to-detect fungal seeds. If inhaled, they could parasitize within vital organs, posing a more complex treatment challenge.

"It’s truly a case where misfortunes never come singly," Jing Shi said with concern. "I wonder how many people will die this time."

"Wanzhi Garden has become a dungeon venue. The district government might consider destroying the dungeon venue," Xu Huo remarked. Since the dungeon venue could no longer be casually entered for sample collection, its existence posed a greater threat than any benefit.

The district government’s response was prompt. Within half a day of the incident, they sprayed potions via high-altitude operations, killing not only many mutant plant seeds that entered the city but also exterminating easily spread mutant plants in Wanzhi Garden.

The city was shrouded in mist, coupled with drifting hoods and untreated mutant plants, making it look otherworldly.

City residents tried to stay at home. Supplies of fruits, vegetables, and meat came from nearby cities, delivered by robots on schedule. They also brought official progress reports, mainly explaining the situation of the instance and repeatedly reminding residents of necessary precautions for home living.

Defense hoods had already been fully distributed citywide. The local government was prepared for long-term quarantine due to the instance restrictions.

Teacher Jing Shi and others remained calm, but some of Master Cong’s apprentices grew anxious. They lived in District 001 and were considered promising within their families. If they could never leave this city due to the Night Tour Dungeon, wouldn’t their future prospects be ruined?

In recent days, they’ve been contacting their families to come pick them up, but their families disagreed, not out of lack of concern for their children, but due to the risk of the instance expanding beyond their capacity to bear. Moreover, whether it’s the government or the Player Organization, accountability would be sought afterward. Taking their children home now would be akin to sending them to their deaths.

However, not everyone understood this. As time passed, these people grew increasingly restless. Some even skipped classes, constantly scouring the Collection of Information Terminal for news and applying to the local government for permission to leave the city.

Less than five days later, a young man, barely looking twenty, overturned the food delivered by a robot and decisively dismantled the robot’s power source, shouting for live humans to come out from the manor since he didn’t want to face cold machines anymore.

This was obviously causing a scene, forcing Jing Shi to step in for reassurance. However, the young people soon made other demands, wanting to go out and play, and asked Jing Shi to arrange for players to protect them.

Jing Shi had only hired a few players. Those who came to help before were purely her fans, but when the situation grew critical, some left Zone 01 and others helped with rescue efforts, and they hadn’t returned. Manpower was also short at the manor, so it was impossible to send people with them, let alone the fact that they couldn’t leave.

The young people, in their twenties, were very dissatisfied, lost their previous politeness, and started looking for fun around the manor. The recreation room could no longer contain them. They took their portable devices and played robot headshot games or reset robot commands for pranks, causing Mr. Xi to run out of his workshop, cursing after drinking spiked tea.

Xu Huo was in the study room looking over some materials Jing Shi had compiled. They were in the midst of conversation when an alarm sounded downstairs, prompting Jing Shi to check. As soon as she left, two young men sneaked into the study. They didn’t notice Xu Huo standing behind the bookshelf and went straight to the desk, shuffled through Jing Shi’s manuscript for a new book, and randomly inserted it into books on the shelf.

After placing five or six books, one of them noticed Xu Huo. The other, startled, quickly took the initiative, "Are you hiding here to steal?"

Xu Huo closed the book and placed it back on the shelf, "Put the manuscript back in its original order."

He looked at the two with a smile and said, "I’m not a player from Zone 01 and can take you to any district. Then you’ll discover that being stuck in the manor now is like living as an immortal."

His smile didn’t convey comfort, and the coldness in his eyes made the two shudder involuntarily. They glanced at each other and reluctantly reshuffled and returned the manuscript to its place.

As they left, Xu Huo instructed them again, "Don’t make trouble for nothing. If you’re truly bored, clean up the garden out back. Those mutant plants haven’t been cleared yet."

They obediently left, and after about ten minutes, a group of young people appeared in the garden with tools.