Players, Please Board the Train-Chapter 170: The Cause of Evolution

“You guessed it pretty accurately.” Granny Bai spoke calmly. “But I don't have the authority to activate dungeons. I happened to become a dungeon character when the Tourism City dungeon was created — you could even call me the dungeon boss.”
“So I can't leave Tourism City. But the dungeon's rules are indeed set around me.”
“There are three tasks. As long as someone finds me, they clear the dungeon.”
“In the past I wouldn't make things difficult for outside players.”
She stopped for a moment, then shook her head. “But the world has changed. Fairy Tale City used to be a place where everyone smiled and told children bedtime stories. Now people smile as they sell mutated creature products to outsiders. Even the outside players get worse year by year.”
“The game world is a warped world; it turns originally kind people into twisted perverts.”
“That's why you don't want Fairy Tale City to continue.” Xu Huo said.
“My husband sacrificed himself to save the people of Fairy Tale City, but in the end he was driven out of the safe area and was torn to death by Mutants. I jumped into the sea on purpose and hid inside the dungeon to survive.” Granny Bai recalled the past with a blank expression. “To survive in the game — whether you're a Player-Eater or not — you end up a pitiable person.”
“When I realized Fairy Tale City would never get new players again, I actually felt relieved.”
After hearing that, Tao Chengxin sighed. “Compared to other zones, Fairy Tale City is pretty tragic.”
Xu Huo wasn't particularly interested in Fairy Tale City's history. After lasting this long, he wanted to know only two things.
“What was the cause of the huge outbreak of Mutants twenty years ago, and why did new players stop being born?”
Granny Bai looked up at him and suddenly revealed a strange smile. “You're a player from Zone 014.”
“Zone 014!” Tao Chengxin blurted, eager. “Is that the new zone where someone obtained a Super Item?”
The others at the table all turned their gazes to Xu Huo.
“After the Super Item appeared, a lot of high-level players from other zones entered Zone 014. Before I escaped into the dungeon, I heard the item had already been seized by someone.”
He continued, “But Zone 014 and Fairy Tale City have similarities. Both suffered a great catastrophe right when evolution had just begun, and outside forces intervened. Could Zone 014 become the next Fairy Tale City?”
“That depends on how the people of Zone 014 respond.” Granny Bai said vaguely. “If a large number of players show up in a short time, Zone 014 will be safe. Otherwise, it will become a breeding Zone like Fairy Tale City.”
Xu Huo frowned, keenly sensing the connection between the two situations. “You mean that when, at the start of evolution, large numbers of players die and there are no successors, the new game zone gets absorbed by other zones and used to breed Mutants?”
“This... this is ridiculous, right?” Sun Jirou exclaimed in shock. “I never heard of this!”
“You haven't been to high-level Random Dungeons.” Granny Bai said. “If you had, you'd know that only one-third of this game called Dimensional Rift is bathed in light.”
Players who had done several dungeons had heard of Random Dungeons: if you miss a dungeon even once, three months later the game can randomly dump you into one. These Random Dungeons differ from the ones that appear in real life; they are almost always dangerous high-level instances where one in ten survivors is generous.
Everyone present was an E-grade player; none of them had truly seen a high-level Random Dungeon. Granny Bai's evasive remarks made the atmosphere heavy.
At that moment Granny Bai stood up.
“Don't kill us!” Gao Baimei shouted. “We didn't plan to get involved in whatever feud you have with the Government Hall. We're just here to finish the task!”
Granny Bai shook her head and walked to the sofa, taking an Access Card out and stroking it gently.
Xu Huo produced the forged elimination Access Card he'd had copied; the two cards were placed side by side. Granny Bai continued, “When Fairy Tale City first evolved, the Government Hall and players like us were so proud. We used metal scavenged from the game world to make storage vaults, and those patterns became our players' emblem... But now, Government Hall's people are all dead, and I'm the only player left from Fairy Tale City.”
“When I die, Fairy Tale City will truly disappear.”
The elderly woman, full of sorrow, looked like an ordinary old woman at the end of her life — she might die tomorrow.
At that moment, Yang Sheng somehow broke free from control at the dining table and an ice spike formed on his hand. The room's temperature plummeted. In the blink of an eye, frost formed on everyone's eyelashes, and the cold swept along the floor straight toward the stunned Granny Bai.
Xu Huo stepped back, making room. Granny Bai turned, curling the four fingers of her right hand into her palm, and a huge mouth appeared behind Yang Sheng. The lips opened, and the two rows of teeth, glistening with saliva, swallowed him and several people around Sun Jirou whole!
The sound of tearing rang out. Yang Sheng and those closest to him — Wang Qiao and Gao Baimei — were bitten off at the waist. The big mouth closed, chewed, then moved back and vanished, spitting Sun Jirou and Tang Yuan out!
The two who escaped were drenched in cold sweat, severely shaken. Limbs trembling and eyes rolling, they collapsed onto the table, unable to get up.
Tao Chengxin was frightened and tumbled off her stool, hastening to clarify her stance. “Granny Bai, I'm on your side!”
Granny Bai patted Xu Huo's shoulder, signaling him to help the others up, and smiled. “Only players who have eaten people can't stand interrogation.”
Xu Huo pulled Tao Chengxin up. Seeing that three teeth were missing from those rows just now, he couldn't help asking, “Granny Bai, are you really looking for teeth?”
She waved her hand. “It doesn't matter whether they're there or not. The people who came for me have arrived. You lot should go play somewhere else.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than Xu Huo and the others, along with their belongings, were teleported to an unfamiliar room. Outside was no longer a garden but a pitch-black forest.
Tao Chengxin looked around, then at Xu Huo. “She won't starve us to death here, will she?”
Xu Huo didn't want to waste words on a fool. He carried his bag and sat down in a corner.
Although Granny Bai hadn't stated it outright, from what she said and what happened in Fairy Tale City, it was clear that the Mutant surge and player extinction had nothing to do with pollution, and might not even be caused directly by people. What humans did interfere with were the establishment of breeding Zones after the Mutant surge and the cessation of new players appearing in Fairy Tale City.
What exactly caused the players' extinction?
He rubbed his chin. The first batch of Evolvers in Zone 014 had apparently appeared without any warning, and then the game intervened... Which came first, the Evolvers or the game?
Did the companies or people playing the game administrator roles have any part in this?
“What are you thinking about?” Tao Chengxin ran back to his side after circling the room, tilting her head and staring into his eyes. “Say it out loud. I'm curious.”
Xu Huo leaned back slightly, creating distance. “I'm thinking about the cause of the first batch of Evolvers.”
Tao Chengxin was stunned — that was outside her wheelhouse.
“What good is thinking about it? You can't change anything.”
Sun Jirou, who had been slumped on the floor, stood up at that moment. “Because of wormholes.”
“In any game world, the first group of evolved people are caused by a natural evolution triggered when a wormhole opens.”