Players, Please Board the Train-Chapter 104: The Righteous Don't Kill

“Now Wu Qiuyi unexpectedly died, I'm injured, and Ke Liang wasn't out of your sight at the time. Him trying to pin this on some nonexistent outsider is just an attempt to hide in the shadows and strike when the chance comes!”
Ke Liang and the others, along with Wang Chaoqing who was kneeling beside Xu Huo, all showed subtle changes in expression.
“If you put it that way, wouldn't blaming Wang Chaoqing be perfect?” Xu Huo only spoke after hearing him. “After all, there's no one to testify to his death.”
“Do you think everyone else is an idiot? Wang Chaoqing isn't that kind of person.”
“Hmm, you do make a fair point.” Xu Huo swept his gaze over them. “But right now, only my sword might be able to cut open the gate. Do you have any other way?”
“It's just an item. Even if you kill me, you can still use it.” Lin Pei's eyes turned cold.
Ke Liang stepped back behind Xu Huo.
“Hey, guys, we're talking—why are you suddenly going to act?” Shen Yi raised his voice.
Unfortunately no one paid him any attention.
Xu Huo looked at Lin Pei in puzzlement. “What if my sword can't break the gate either? What do you plan to do then?”
“Of course we'd go look for the switch.” Lin Pei sneered. “You don't really think you're the only one capable, do you?”
“Then what were you doing the week before I arrived?” Xu Huo stared without blinking. Seeing that his expression didn't change, he suddenly understood. “So you thought that if you killed me, you'd definitely be able to get out.”
“Under normal circumstances, when there's suspicion that others might exist, teammates shouldn't attack each other so easily. You don't even have a shred of solid evidence—just guesses and assumptions—yet you decide I'm lying and insist that the town has no one else. You immediately call for my death. You think the item I got from Master Nise's place is the key to leaving the town, right?”
“And you ambushed me earlier just for that item.”
“At the time, you were the one allocating the search areas. Maybe you'd already discovered that Master Nise's residence contained an item or something you thought important, but you couldn't find it. So you gambled by leading me to look, and then tried to assassinate me as I was about to leave to confirm whether I'd obtained it.”
“But it's a pity—the item I found has nothing to do with leaving the town.”
“Of course, it's also possible you simply wanted the item for itself.”
He sounded disappointed. He'd hoped Lin Pei had other motives—perhaps something related to perfect evolution—but it turned out he was after a single item. Maybe Lin Pei knew a clue about the dungeon, but certainly not much.
Xu Huo paused, then turned his attention slowly to Gu Yu and the others. “You people don't trust those who've fought beside you, yet you wholeheartedly believe someone who disappeared and then returned playing a martyr act. This is a game world—serious wounds can heal, death can be reversed—could you stop using your brains as ornaments?”
“Forget it, there's no point saying more. Anyway, you're all injured, the Mutants are mostly dealt with, and places that don't need you to fight can be handled without you—killing you all is fine.”
Gu Yu and the rest hadn't finished processing that chain of revelations—the Master Nise item, the supposed key to leaving the town, Lin Pei being the one who ambushed him, how did he know about the item, was he really uninjured—and now they were slapped with Xu Huo's line about killing them all. Their faces flushed.
They were shaken, but they would never join Lin Pei in killing people, nor would they stand by if he were murdered. Before they could explain, Xu Huo's “killing them all is fine” left their heads reeling.
Why? Didn't that earlier unveiling show that Lin Pei was the villain and Xu Huo was on everyone's side? Why would he want to kill everyone instead?!
Lin Pei was also caught off guard. While Xu Huo exposed his purpose, Lin Pei had been thinking how to persuade Ke Liang and the others to side with him, but that process could be skipped now—Xu Huo had no intention of debating; he was going to wipe them all out.
Of the players present, everyone except Gu Yu was injured, and Gu Yu had lost a powerful item—her combat effectiveness was significantly reduced. Xu Huo, on the other hand, only had light injuries and possessed an unknown powerful item!
Should they flee or wait?
Before Lin Pei could decide, a piano wire looped around his throat and yanked him off the ground!
Xu Huo immediately used the piano wire to control him, then planted the heels of his feet twice on the ground and, in a lightning-fast move, kicked both Ke Liang and Shen Yi who were rushing in, sending them flying!
His speed was so fast the two couldn't react: one rolled more than ten meters, the other slammed into a concrete pillar and couldn't get up for the moment!
Xu Huo had one hand clamped on Gu Yu's throat while turning his head to look at the half-crouched Wang Chaoqing.
The moment Wang Chaoqing met those eyes, all thought drained from him. He forced a fawning smile. “Brother Xu, I'm firmly on your side!”
Xu Huo tilted his head and pointed at Shen Xin. Wang Chaoqing immediately jumped up, twisted her hands behind her back, pinned her shoulders and barked, “Behave!”
Shen Xin struggled, breathing heavily as she spoke. “Xu Huo, I was so wrong about you. I really thought you were a good person!”
“Let go of my sister!” Shen Yi hoisted up a cabinet to smash through, but Wang Chaoqing, somehow instinctively, clamped Shen Xin's neck and turned to face him. “Don't move! Or I won't be polite!”
Shen Yi hesitated and had to let go of his “weapon,” staring at Wang Chaoqing with hatred. “You better watch out. If anything happens to Shen Xin, I'll die with you!”
Ke Liang on the other side likewise didn't dare act recklessly. His gaze flicked between Gu Yu and Lin Pei.
“Ugh...” Gu Yu clawed at Xu Huo's arm blindly, tears welling at the corners of her eyes. She glared with hatred at the man's cold face, wishing she could dig her nails in, but her arm was too short—she could only reach under his shoulder.
Xu Huo ignored the person rolling his eyes in his grip and instead said to Lin Pei, “These people are useless to me even if I can't use the item. Your elaborate scheme to pull them in looks ridiculous.”
Lin Pei, expecting his injured leg would keep him from futile struggles and hoping companions would “save” him, stopped resisting in vain. He drew his legs up, twisted midair to slip out of the piano wire, and as he hit the ground a longbow materialized in his hands. He notched an arrow and fired at Xu Huo!
Xu Huo had already prepared, sidestepped, and the arrow embedded itself in the ground!
He glanced, a hint of amusement on his face. “Your arrow lost its auto-targeting? Looks like this open, wall-less gas station doesn't suit you.”
Lin Pei's pupils constricted violently. The look he gave Xu Huo held a grinding, gnawing hatred—only one encounter and this man had already seen through his item's characteristics!
“You're clever. Why don't we team up?” he called out loudly. “Kill these people, split the items, then go our separate ways after we get out!”
Ke Liang and the others were livid!
Xu Huo released Gu Yu; a blood-red sword suddenly appeared in his hand, cutting down through the air!
Boom! The break room several meters away was sliced in two, and Lin Pei, who had been standing in front of it, pushed off with his injured leg, leaped onto the gas station roof, shot an arrow behind him, and turned his back to flee deeper into the town!