Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!

Public security in District 001 is very good, and going out at night doesn’t really raise safety issues. But most residents are very health-conscious, so once it gets dark, the streets empty out. The people still hanging around the streets and shops are mostly tourists from elsewhere. There are fewer businesses open at night, so the crowds are concentrated in a few relatively bustling parts of the city.

By the time Xu Huo and the others reached the Eternal Star Hotel, the noise and clamor were already far behind them. On the quiet street, there wasn’t even a single wrongdoer to be seen.

After checking in, Xu Huo and the Girl in the painting went up to the suite. There weren’t many people outside, but there were quite a few Players in the hotel, like there was some gathering going on; the lounge next to the hotel lobby was full of Players sitting around.

When they went upstairs, two people also came out of the lounge, walking along while discussing paying a visit to the watch master.

From the sound of it, they were planning to buy a Prop from that watch master, but the number of people he receives is very limited, and there’s a long-term resident at the Eternal Star Hotel who has connections. They had come here to wait for that person. Only, it was already two hours past the agreed time, and many Players had run out of patience.

That watch master was, after all, a very famous Artifact Maker.

This reminded Xu Huo of how "Three Seconds of a Lifetime" had come about: the pocket watch made by the skilled craftsman Master Niese naturally turned into a Prop after undergoing some sort of change, and what it became was a piece of Super Props.

Props that are naturally born can be obtained in newly opened instances, but the more Players enter an instance, the lower the chances of picking up a Prop. After some time, instances will have no ready-made Props left at all.

And the natural formation of Props seems to depend on a bit of luck as well.

But many naturally evolved Props are also connected to craftsmen. A lot of them are labors of love. No one knows if this counts as some strange mutation triggered by the peak of human craftsmanship, yet from the sound of it, the watch master in District 001 should also be a top-tier craftsman. Otherwise, so many Players wouldn’t be trying every avenue just to get an audience with him.

Once in the room, the Girl in the painting ran straight to the terrace, took a snapshot of the sky, and then called Xu Huo over to look at the stars.

The starry sky in District 001 was slightly different from that in Zone 014: the stars weren’t scattered randomly across the night sky but were clustered in one region. There was no moon here, but there was a planet similar to a moon, larger in appearance and even brighter, and around it was a group of luminous stars arranged from large to small, spontaneously forming several rings that were particularly eye-catching.

Elsewhere in the night sky, there were a few similar clumps of stars, while the remaining portions were deep blue, stretching boundlessly.

The Girl in the painting pointed at the biggest, nearest planet. "There are people living up there."

In today’s game, developing some uninhabited planets in different zones isn’t difficult, but most are used for resource extraction. After all, actually relocating people is costly. If a single zone really couldn’t hold everyone anymore, it would be much easier to seize some ready-made small zone from someone else.

"Go to bed early," Xu Huo said to her, then went into his own room to wash up. After he finished, he first sent the set of bookmarks to Xiao Yuan and Tan Qi via Beneath the Dimension, then read clockmaking books for a while before lying down to rest.

District 001’s nights are relatively long. He slept very well this time and woke up naturally before dawn. Getting out of bed full of energy, he looked out at the empty street while washing up.

At this hour, most people in this zone still hadn’t come out, only some early workers were going around the streets. The bathroom’s floor-to-ceiling window faced a commercial district. Right at seven in the morning, a person wearing clothes with the words "Fast Delivery" printed on them arrived opposite on a low-altitude flying device. He stopped in front of a beauty salon, rang the Doorbell, exchanged a few words with someone inside, and then the shop’s automatic door slid open.

"Fast Delivery" picked up a bag and went in. A moment later, there were two dull thuds of bodies hitting the floor. "Fast Delivery" came out again through the automatic door. As he lifted his head, his gaze met Xu Huo’s, who was just lowering his.

The Eternal Star Hotel’s floors were not low, but unfortunately Players’ eyesight is too good. Xu Huo took the toothbrush out of his mouth. "Fast Delivery" pulled his mask up a bit and even waved, greeting him.

In this zone—at least in this city—there aren’t many poor people. Add in the residents’ self-discipline, who close up shop early, and within such an environment, few people would use their storefronts as their homes. So before opening hours, there’s usually no one inside the shops along the commercial street. The murdered man and woman were an exception.

When daylight fully broke, the shop’s robots finally called the police. The Law Enforcement Team and the hospital both sent people. After only a glance they gave the cause of death: killed with a single blow, throats cut.

As for why they were killed, the killer had left a clue: a bed photo labeled "Adulterer and Whore."

The nearby shopkeepers watched for a bit out of curiosity. After learning about that "Adulterer and Whore" photo, they all showed expressions of "Just as expected."

Apparently everyone around here knew what those two had been up to. Far from panicking, they felt this day had been a long time coming.

When Xu Huo took the Girl in the painting out for the local specialty breakfast, he also heard Players from the Outer Zone discussing the matter.

"Hiring a killer is an old tradition in District 001," one Player who knew quite a bit said, pointing at the occasional projected ads that appeared in corners outside. "Those shops are run by Players. Paid assassinations. If you want someone dead, you contact people from the assassination company in advance. You submit the information, and if the company thinks it’s viable, they’ll take the order."

"Take this morning’s murder, for example—it’s clearly the man’s wife who hired a killer. But there’s no evidence to pin it on her. Legally, not only will she be fine, she’ll get to properly inherit all the assets."

"As for that man, he has no moral leg to stand on. The law can’t punish him, but vigilante justice can."

"So doesn’t that mean you can kill whoever you want?" someone said after hearing this. "Wouldn’t District 001 be in total chaos?"

"You don’t know District 001’s history," the Player from earlier said. "It’s said our ancestors made their fortune by playing the righteous hero and robbing the rich to help the poor. Most countries in the whole zone had assassination organizations; if there was nothing else to do, they killed each other back and forth. Fortunately, none of them were Players back then, or who knows how many more people would’ve died!"

That sigh made everyone laugh. The Girl in the painting had already turned around, holding up her Communicator and eagerly asking, "Do the assassination organizations still exist now?"

"Of course they do. Those companies are exactly that," the man said. "On the surface they’re small business owners with operating licenses, paying legal taxes, protected by the government. Behind the scenes, well, you all get it."

"The government doesn’t intervene?" someone asked the question everyone was most concerned about.