Qian Daniu got off the train

After Randy was taken away by the train police, another officer came over to help put out the flames on Cao Qian’s body and asked whether she needed assistance.

Cao Qian’s injuries were actually very serious. Randy’s flame attacks were extremely strong, and the flames formed by the skill “Passionate like fire” could not be extinguished before the duration of the initial skill ended.

Cao Qian should have been covered in severe burns, with internal injuries from Randy’s kicks. However, “Transformation Girl ” had a special trait: as a transforming magical girl, no matter how severe the injuries were, the appearance always remained beautiful. So even though Cao Qian felt as if her entire body was enduring searing pain, outwardly she only bore a few burns that made her look even more pitiful and delicate. Even though she was lying on the ground, her ultra-short skirt never revealed anything indecent.

The train police did not notice this miraculous scene. He asked Cao Qian whether she needed to get off at the next stop to go to the hospital. Cao Qian naturally refused, saying resolutely that she was fine. The officer then took the unconscious Randy away, and the passengers in the carriage quickly returned to calm, sat back in their seats, as if nothing had happened.

Cao Qian sat directly beside Qian Daniu. She felt that Carriage 13 was unlikely to have only Randy and Qian Daniu as players; there must be someone observing secretly, but they would not necessarily attack her while she was injured.

In the previous fight, although Cao Qian did not display any obvious combat power—she only bumped into Randy and then kept enduring violent attacks—anyone with discernment could tell that Randy’s mental state at the time was abnormal and that he was clearly being controlled. Combined with the combat power of the train police, this would make other players fear harming the rat for fear of breaking the vase (NT: idiom, acting with restraint because of concerns), and before figuring out Cao Qian’s abilities, they would not dare to act rashly.

Knowing she was temporarily safe, Cao Qian leaned against Qian Daniu, endured the pain, and added her as a friend. The two chatted via their phones.

Qian Daniu: I can heal you. Even though you don’t look badly injured, you seem to be in a lot of pain.

Cao Qian: Two choices. First, help Xing Ye deal with the remaining players—then you should save your only healing opportunity. Your healing ability plus “Take What You Can” works very well for restraining enemies. Second, heal me, then get off at the next stop.

Looking at the message from Cao Qian, Qian Daniu bit her lip. Both options Cao Qian gave were considered from Qian Daniu’s perspective: the first was cooperating with teammates, the second was healing a teammate and then withdrawing after accomplishing her task—protecting herself without holding anyone back.

She did not mention the third possibility at all: becoming an enemy of Xing Ye and hunting the thirty million.

In fact, when she first saw the mission of this world, Qian Daniu realized that the enemy this time was Xing Ye. Thinking back to Xing Ye’s performance in the Shanshen Village world, she could not imagine herself standing against him. Xing Ye’s strength made it impossible for her to feel hostility.

People were different. Some would trample all laws for money; others believed that money was only meaningful if you lived long enough to spend it. Qian Daniu was the latter.

She was rational and knew she could never defeat Xing Ye, but she also did not want to fail. She only had 170,000 points; being eliminated in this world would mean two consecutive failures. With her points, losing three quarters would send her back to the melee worlds. Having finally advanced to the advanced worlds, Qian Daniu did not want to return.

She was human too, and she could be weak. So when Randy found her and asked whether she wanted to team up, she somehow did not refuse. But she also did not agree—she merely listened quietly as Randy fantasized about how to fight and how to seize the thirty million points.

Qian Daniu just listened silently. She did not reveal the information she knew about Xing Ye, did not respond, but also did not refuse.

She felt she was despicable. Acting like this was a form of betrayal, but she was also afraid of losing so many points and seeing all her previous efforts go to waste.

Fortunately, at this moment, Cao Qian arrived. At first, Qian Daniu did not recognize Cao Qian, but she saw the swan crystal hanging from Cao Qian’s neck and, through Linlin, recognized her former teammate—the girl who gave her a sense of security.

Xing Ye made Qian Daniu feel admiration mixed with fear, but Cao Heihei was different. Strong and intelligent, she was the person Qian Daniu most wanted to become.

So Qian Daniu chose to help Cao Qian without hesitation, and through reading her lip movements, suddenly understood her own task and restrained Randy.

Cao Qian continued sending messages: That player is someone we encountered in the melee worlds before. His pocket watch is a prop and can kill people. Linlin became a prop because of him…

She sent a long message, telling Qian Daniu how she had nearly brushed past death.

When the guilt-ridden Qian Daniu saw Cao Qian’s message saying “Luckily I made it in time—you’re okay,” she finally could not hold back. She hugged the pink twin-tailed girl tightly and burst into tears with a sobbing “wuwu.”

She did not know whether she was crying over her own meanness or over the relief that Cao Qian had arrived in time and saved her from Randy’s hands.

Cao Qian patted Qian Daniu’s shoulder and said, “I understand how you feel. Actually, you don’t need to feel guilty. What you didn’t do, you didn’t do. Even if you once had greedy thoughts, as long as nothing happened, then it doesn’t count.

“People face many difficulties in life, and having thoughts of retreat or discouragement is normal. I’ve even had moments when I was so angry I wanted to kill someone. But as long as you didn’t act, then you didn’t do it.”

After hearing Cao Qian’s words, Qian Daniu looked at her with tear-filled eyes, staring at the understanding written all over Cao Qian’s face, and cried even harder with a loud “wah.”

But this time, it was a cry of release.

Cao Qian smiled with relief and said, “In one melee world, a teammate and I were affected by mental control and nearly killed each other. At that time, I had countless extremely evil thoughts and even came to hate myself. But Xing Ye stopped my self-loathing in time.

“He taught me that people are imperfect. No one is purely good or purely evil, and having bad thoughts is normal—it’s not shameful. What matters most is accepting your imperfection, accepting that you are an ordinary person full of flaws. On that basis, restraining desire with reason and overcoming evil with kindness will make you like yourself a little more.”

She looked at Qian Daniu seriously and said, “I like who I am now. Even though I’m only 1.5 meters tall, I can still wear high heels, hold my chest high, lift my head, and stride forward. What about you?”

Qian Daniu wiped her tears and said, “I also want to like myself more, but…”

“But not everyone is suited for fighting,” Cao Qian said, gently patting her head. “Being weak is not a fault. It’s okay. Take out your phone.”

Qian Daniu handed her phone to Cao Qian. After glancing at her remaining points, Cao Qian added Qian Daniu as a temporary friend and used two QR codes to exchange, transferring 50,000 points to Qian Daniu.

In advanced worlds, points could be used as an equivalent medium of exchange. Players could trade QR codes, items, and even use points to buy another player’s surrender. However, Xing Ye’s thirty million points were locked by the game and currently non-transferable. Otherwise, he could have simply transferred the thirty million to another player and instantly collapsed this world.

Fortunately, transactions among hunters like Cao Qian were not restricted. As long as they were temporary teammates, they could trade. After receiving Cao Qian’s 50,000 points, Qian Daniu’s total reached 220,000. Even if three quarters were deducted, she could still continue fighting in the advanced worlds.

“I got 410,000 points in the previous world. Adding my original 50,000, even after giving you 50,000, it’s still enough for the system to deduct,” Cao Qian said with a smile. “You don’t need to feel conflicted.”

Qian Daniu hugged Cao Qian again and burst into loud sobs. “Heihei, you’re really too good… wuwu…”

After taking down Randy, the train soon arrived at the third stop. Qian Daniu used her remaining use of “Steady Stream” to heal Cao Qian’s wounds. When the train pulled into the station, under Cao Qian’s gaze, she chose to get off.

She was not suited for combat, but rather for a support role. The duration of this game was too short; once the two uses of “Steady Stream” within 24 hours were exhausted, Qian Daniu would no longer be of much use. Continuing to stay on the train would not only put her in danger, but might also drag her teammates down.

So at this moment, getting off the train was a wise choice for Qian Daniu.

After stepping off the train, Qian Daniu heard the system’s “warning,” informing her that if she could not return to the train within four minutes, it would automatically be considered a failure, and three quarters of her points would be deducted.

Qian Daniu did not return to the carriage. She was very grateful to Cao Qian for giving her a way that allowed her to help her teammates while also protecting herself.

A true teammate does not use friendship as emotional blackmail to make you sacrifice yourself, but instead correctly assesses combat strength and makes choices on the basis of protecting both sides.

Four minutes later, the train departed again. Standing on the platform, Qian Daniu heard the notification sound of “game failed.”

She was not afraid; instead, she felt somewhat happy. She felt that this time, upon returning to the real world, she liked herself a little more, rather than always criticizing herself for not being good enough or strong enough.

After the train set off, Xing Ye refreshed his phone and saw that there were only ten players remaining.

Excluding Yan Hebi, Cao Qian, Shao Lin and his teammates, there were four players left.

Cao Qian stayed in Carriage 13 and did not return to Carriage 12. Xing Ye had been paying close attention to the situation in Carriage 13. After Qian Daniu got off the train, he sent Cao Qian a message: “Well done.”

Cao Qian glanced at her phone and smiled faintly. She touched the swan crystal on her chest and softly said a word of thanks.

The swan crystal trembled slightly, and Cao Qian’s gaze became firm.

She was very strong. With Linlin’s help, and with sufficient combat skills and on-the-spot adaptability, she had become very strong—now a high-level player capable of standing on her own.

Just as Xing Ye was feeling gratified by the tremendous growth of his teammate, Lu Mingze, who had been busy for a long time, finally returned and said in Xing Ye’s mind, “I searched through all the toilets in the carriages and finally found the eliminated player. It’s someone we’ve met before.”

Through the makeup mirror, Lu Mingze showed Xing Ye the entire process of that player’s elimination. Randy dragged him into the restroom. No one knew what they said, but Randy placed his pocket watch on that person, and the player vanished into thin air.

The player eliminated when the number changed from 13 to 12 was indeed taken out by Randy. Xing Ye had also seen this player through the small mirror before—he was one of the two men who entered the restroom together. At the time, the teammate who had been arm-in-arm with him, clapping hands and bumping fists, was nowhere to be seen.

Xing Ye frowned and pondered. “They looked like they had temporarily teamed up back then. Why was only one of them tricked by Randy? What about the other one?”

Lu Mingze was also puzzled. “I searched for a long time and couldn’t find his temporary teammate either. He seems never to have appeared in front of the mirror at all. Could it be that for such a long time, he hasn’t even moved between carriages? As long as he changes carriages or goes to the restroom, he should appear in front of the mirror for me to find.”

Xing Ye thought for a moment and said, “Tell me—if someone, like Linlin, were turned into an item in this world, but their consciousness wasn’t erased, would the system still count him among the number of players?”

“You mean he might also have been harmed?” Lu Mingze asked. “Just that he remains in the game in another form?”

Xing Ye thought to himself and said, “We’ve already passed three stops since boarding, a total of three and a half hours. Apart from the first incident where two players killed a little girl eating a lollipop and were eliminated, no one else has been tricked by the system’s false information and eliminated since. Why do you think that is? If you were a hunter, what would you do?”

Lu Mingze thought for a bit and said, “I’d probably just act without hesitation—no matter what, strike first. After all, there’s only one Thirty million, but there are nineteen hunters. What if someone else gets there first? Even if the train police arrest people, we players have many supernatural abilities. As long as we aren’t discovered, it should be fine, right?”

“But look over there,” Xing Ye said, glancing out of the corner of his eye toward the seat diagonally opposite him, while also shifting the mirror so Lu Mingze could see that passenger.

It was a blind woman, reading a Braille book, practically announcing to everyone on the train that she was blind. And among the options the system had originally provided to Xing Ye, one of them was a blind woman.

“If players were really carrying out tasks step by step according to the system’s hints, after three and a half hours, someone should have noticed that the blind woman was one of the options, right? Moreover, the blind woman has always been in the same carriage as me, and her position is quite misleading, yet no one has harmed her. Why do you think that is? Could it be that players suddenly found their conscience and couldn’t bear to hurt a disabled person?” Xing Ye asked in his mind.

Lu Mingze said, “If it were me, I wouldn’t make a move when seeing a blind woman. But the other players probably wouldn’t be like that.”

Xing Ye said, “Between the second and third stops, I’ve been sitting here the whole time, observing the blind woman through my sunglasses. During that period, the attendant who checked my ticket earlier and a girl about 1.7 meters tall wearing shorts both talked to the blind woman. They were clearly already suspicious of her identity, yet no one made a move. Why do you think this phenomenon appeared?”

Lu Mingze thought carefully, then suddenly exclaimed, “Could it be that the remaining players have already started to join forces? After exchanging information, they concluded that the blind woman is likely a system decoy?”

Xing Ye nodded gravely. “Perhaps.”

 

Translator : DarNan