Players, Please Board the Train-Chapter 149: Something to Eat

"Let's take a taxi," the large man who never left her side pointed at the nearby ride-hailing button. "There's autonomous driving service here."
Xu Huo, who had been leaning against the bulletin board, moved closer. "Two hundred White Bills just to start? That's so expensive!"
The female player stepped back to distance herself from him, signaling the large man to call the car.
The large man pressed the button, and Xu Huo, not to be outdone, pressed it too. Soon, two small autonomous RVs arrived.
Just before getting in the car, Xu Huo waved his Discount Coupons at the female player. "Want to ride together?"
The female player didn't even glance at him and directly got into her vehicle.
"Can we share a ride?" the young man asked Xu Huo.
Xu Huo lifted his eyelids and gave him a once-over. "Fine."
As they just got in the car, two burly men rushed out from somewhere, squeezing into the vehicle just before the door closed. Each held a gun pressed against Xu Huo's and the young man's sides, growling, "Shut up! Drive!"
The small RV's passenger compartment was completely transparent, so people outside could see what was happening inside. The couple who originally wanted to hitch a ride turned and left when they saw this, while the female player who had already put some distance between them coldly withdrew her gaze.
After the car started moving, the young man couldn't help saying, "Brothers, let's talk this out. I've got some money on me..."
The burly man with the buzzcut next to him slapped him across the face. "I told you to shut up!"
The young man's head hit the car window, and when he turned back, two streams of blood flowed from his nose, looking utterly pathetic.
"Someone like you can become a player?" the burly man with the eyebrow piercing who was restraining Xu Huo sneered, then turned back to Xu Huo. "Hand over your stuff."
"I don't have any money!" Xu Huo quickly shoved the Discount Coupons in his hand toward him. "I only have these!"
The two were specifically after these. The eyebrow-pierced burly man grabbed them, exchanged a look with his partner, and asked, "Where did you get these coupons?"
"An old woman from the same car gave them to me," Xu Huo said. "She recommended these two places for lodging."
The two Discount Coupons were for "Bear Claw Restaurant" and "Beauty Aromatherapy Shop" respectively.
"Do these look like proper lodging places?" the buzzcut burly man muttered to himself.
"They do offer accommodation," the young man spoke up again. "The bulletin board mentioned that most shops here provide lodging, and Beauty Aromatherapy Shop even has a four-star recommendation."
"You're players too, right? This tourist city is huge, and it's not easy for players to gather. More people make it easier to find dungeon clearance clues."
"I'm still completely confused about the dungeon task myself."
The two burly men clearly weren't doing much better, but compared to simply being clueless, they seemed more irritable. Especially the buzzcut burly man, who without thinking slapped him again.
When the young man looked up again, blood flowed even more freely from his nose.
"Brother, do you think these two places are reliable?" the buzzcut burly man asked.
The eyebrow-pierced burly man appeared quite hesitant, taking several seconds before saying, "Still better than what that damn tour guide suggested."
"We've got two ready options here. We can try them one place at a time."
Hearing this, Xu Huo immediately widened his eyes and exclaimed, "These places aren't dangerous, are they? I'm not going!"
"Such a big city, you can stay anywhere. What difference does it make where you stay?"
"If really necessary, I can just squat somewhere for the night!"
"What do you know?" The eyebrow-pierced burly man raised his hand to strike, but then noticed the obvious scratch marks on the arm Xu Huo had raised to protect his face. He quickly withdrew his hand. "Where did those injuries come from?"
"Monkey scratches."
"Was it from that tour guide you bought it from?" The eyebrow-pierced burly man immediately said, "Was the monkey from the contaminated zone?"
Xu Huo nodded suspiciously, only to see the two big guys practically trying to shrink into the corner of the car, pointing at him and saying, "Stay away from us!"
"I've already applied medicine," Xu Huo reached out, but this prompted both men to aim their guns at him.
Xu Huo had no choice but to sit back, exchanging a bewildered look with the equally confused young man.
"You're not injured, are you?" The eyebrow-pierced burly man asked the latter.
The young man shook his head. After confirming, both men moved entirely to his side.
"Does being scratched by animals from the contaminated zone have bad consequences?" The young man, not learning his lesson, started talking again.
This time however, Buzzcut didn't hit him. After exchanging a look with the eyebrow-pierced burly man, they stopped speaking and instead stared intently at Xu Huo.
Both sides maintained this state until they arrived at Bear Claw Restaurant.
The four got out of the car, with Buzzcut hiding his gun in his clothes while pointing it at Xu Huo, forcing him to go inside.
Xu Huo struggled for a moment before finally entering the shop "under duress."
The restaurant was quite crowded at this time, with most people eating the same meals.
He looked at the menu board.
This restaurant only had two set meals: red and blue. The red set was a simple Bear Claw meal, while the blue set was Bear Claw steak with a pumpkin soup.
Just after ordering the set meal and sitting down, a diner next to him mysteriously leaned over. "Young man, want something to make your meal more interesting?"
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "Sure."
The man directly reached out his hand. "Fifty White Bills."
"How do I know if it's worth the price?" Xu Huo refused to pay.
The diner sat down beside him, lowering his voice. "I know some inside information about this restaurant."
"But that requires White Bills. Since you seem like a decent fellow, I'll give you a discount first. Those injuries on your arm—were they caused by contaminated zone animals?"
"You can tell that too?" Xu Huo said in surprise.
The diner smiled smugly. "Only you outsiders get carelessly scratched by contaminated zone animals. We locals would never touch those things."
"Why?"
"Do you know how Mutants came to be? At first they were contaminated people who slowly turned into Mutants. All contaminated people either get locked up in breeding zones or exhibition gardens. Perfectly good people, it's really pitiful."
Though the diner spoke of pity, his face showed no trace of sympathy. He looked at Xu Huo with schadenfreude. "Contaminated people can spread it to ten, then a hundred others. Your injuries aren't serious, so it's not obvious yet."
"If they were any worse, government mercenaries would definitely capture and lock you up. Once you degenerate into a Mutant, they'll throw you into the Mutant zone to generate revenue."
"In this place, tourists often go missing. I suspect they've all been captured."
"Then is there any hope for me?" Xu Huo asked.
"We locals have lived here since the Great Contamination twenty years ago. Those who survived mostly developed immunity, not afraid of contamination. At worst, if injured, we'll be sick for half a month, so nobody sells any potions..." The diner continued, "But I know a place that sells antidotes smuggled in from other zones. You could try your luck."
As he spoke, he rubbed his hands together, clearly wanting money before giving the clues.
Xu Huo smiled and gave him fifty White Bills. "First tell me about this inside information."
The diner gave a thumbs up, praising, "Young brother knows what's up."
Then he changed his tone, lowering his voice to an almost inaudible whisper. "The bear claw steaks here are all made from human flesh."