Players, Please Board the Train-Chapter 181: Combat Training

The Painting Woman lingered in Harbor City for a few more days before arriving in Capital City, going directly to the Xu family home using the address Xu Huo had given her.
Before her arrival, Xu Huo had already arranged an identity for her. Just like what he had told Yuan Yao and the others, she was a relative from Ms. Fang's side with vague parental details, roughly classifiable as a cousin.
The Painting Woman arrived in Capital City feeling quite unhappy. Her days in Harbor City had been too enjoyable—she could do whatever she wanted, even though there wasn't much she could actually do. Coming to Capital City felt like having her hands and feet chopped off.
The Xu family welcomed her warmly, but the Painting Woman wasn't very enthusiastic.
"She has some intellectual issues and is mute," Yu Qingqing said from the side. "Probably came to rely on cousin because no one was taking care of her."
Only then did the Xu family rein in their enthusiasm, though Xu Huo's father's late-born child Tongtong liked her very much. He took her to visit his toy room, and after playing together for a few minutes, she completely forgot about Harbor City and houses.
During these few days, Xu Huo only returned home after confirming his body showed no symptoms of infectious disease infection.
"I noticed the young girl's clothes are quite worn and old, and your previous job didn't pay well," Xu Huo's father gave him a card. "Take her to buy a couple outfits. Since you don't understand girls' preferences, have Qingqing go with you."
"I have savings," Xu Huo declined the card. His account contained a recent gratitude payment deposited by the government.
"Lichun," he called the Painting Woman.
The Painting Woman immediately dropped the toys and ran over to him, pointing at things on the ground to indicate she wanted them too.
"I want too," Yu Qingqing squeezed in.
Xu Huo glanced at her, then turned to look at Yu's mother hiding by the door. "Aunt, you need to watch her."
Yu's mother looked momentarily awkward but quickly adjusted. She came over and patted Yu Qingqing. "It's so dangerous outside, why would you go out? How could Xu Huo spare hands to protect two people?"
Then she turned to Xu Huo: "You should hurry and go, the sooner you leave the sooner you return."
Xu Huo left with the Painting Woman.
"Why does that woman smile at you if she doesn't like you?" the Painting Woman typed out her confusion.
"Only her face is smiling, her heart isn't," Xu Huo said.
The Painting Woman nodded, then turned to press against the car window to watch the scenery outside.
After several days of domestic stability, quite a few pedestrians could be seen on the streets again. The most prosperous areas of Capital City had reopened, so Xu Huo directly took the Painting Woman to a shopping mall, letting her choose what she needed.
The Painting Woman happily shopped for two hours. After leaving the mall, the two came to an unfinished construction site.
"What are we doing here?" the Painting Woman typed while eating ice cream.
"You'll practice with me," Xu Huo parked the car and created over ten meters distance between them. "I'll attack you, you can fight back."
The Painting Woman pointed at the cement and steel building nearby.
"We can go inside."
As soon as the words were spoken, the Painting Woman ran toward the building.
Xu Huo immediately gave chase while simultaneously controlling piano wires to intercept her path!
The Painting Woman didn't slow down when facing the incoming piano wires. Instead, she leaped into the air and transformed back into a sheet of paper, floating horizontally to create distance from the wires. After avoiding the wires, she landed back in human form and continued running toward the construction building.
Xu Huo swung his sword toward her, the crimson sword energy forming a cutting plane that instantly reached before her eyes.
The Painting Woman seemed startled, quickly jumping backward, but the sword energy still sliced off one of her little fingers.
Not bothering with the finger that had turned back to paper, she immediately threw several shopping bags toward the construction building. As the bags flew out, she herself transformed back into a sheet of paper and was carried into the construction building by the bags.
Once inside the construction building, the Painting Woman stood up again, while the shopping bags on the ground twisted themselves into fragments that hovered around her like blades. When Xu Huo stepped inside, she sent all the hardened paper pieces flying toward him!
"Ding ding ding!" The tiny fragments rained down on the Ox Shield like raindrops. Xu Huo avoided the fragmented attacks while moving his hand, causing short arrows to circle the building and shoot toward the Painting Woman.
The scattered paper pieces around the Painting Woman seemed to have sensing capabilities. When the flying arrows approached, she immediately detected them and used paper blades to continuously strike the flying arrows, changing their trajectories.
However, the flying arrows were targeted attack items. Even though the paper blades slowed them down, they couldn't stop the arrows from flying toward her.
She retreated several steps, gathering the scattered fragments back together to form a shield in front of her. But unexpectedly, the flying arrows changed direction at the last moment, circling around from the side.
The Painting Woman's eyes widened, and she simply slapped down at the flying arrows.
"Smack!" The flying arrows were actually knocked to the ground by her!
Only then seeming to realize she had this ability, she smiled and rushed excitedly toward Xu Huo.
In aerial combat, although Xu Huo could change positions using piano wires, he was far less flexible than the Painting Woman's paper pieces. In close-quarters combat, while the Painting Woman hadn't learned fighting techniques, she could freely change her body's hardness—whenever she wanted, she could make her body become like metal.
Xu Huo had no advantage in either method, so he could only create distance.
The Ox Shield couldn't protect his body without blind spots. Although he could predict the trajectories of the flying paper pieces, limited by speed, he couldn't completely avoid them.
So within just half a minute, he gained several graze wounds.
He also tried setting fires midway, but the hardened paper blades wouldn't easily burn. Even if one or two pieces caught fire, it wouldn't spread to other paper pieces.
"Burn!" He leaped outside the construction site and set fire toward the Painting Woman.
The Painting Woman who had followed him was instantly engulfed in flames. She struggled and fell to the ground, rolling in pain.
Xu Huo watched her fixedly for two seconds, then went to the car to get a fire extinguisher.
The fire extinguisher quickly put out the flames. The person who had been rolling on the ground had turned into a crumpled, charred piece of paper stuck to the ground.
"Get up and work," Xu Huo threw a stone at her.
The Painting Woman didn't move, as if having lost her vitality.
Xu Huo put down the fire extinguisher and walked over. Just as he reached out to pick her up, the Painting Woman's body wrapped around his arm and climbed up, transforming back into human form the moment she stood up, while simultaneously pressing her palm against his throat!
At this moment, her palm had hardened into a paper blade. Xu Huo cleanly grabbed her wrist and twisted it outward, then drew his crimson sword with his other hand, cutting her in half!
The two floating pieces of paper separated for less than a second before merging back together. The Painting Woman landed in human form, rushed to the side and smashed through a wall, then kicked the collapsing wall toward Xu Huo!
Xu Huo swung his sword to cut through the wall, immediately followed by dense paper blades. He raised the Ox Shield and charged toward the Painting Woman against the direction of the incoming paper blades.
Seeing him run over, the Painting Woman excitedly imitated his posture and ran toward him. The two collided in the open area. The Painting Woman instantly turned back into paper upon impact, floating lightly backward half a meter, while Xu Huo was sent flying into a load-bearing wall several meters away. Yet in the blink of an eye, the Painting Woman along with the paper blades she controlled were already pressing close before Xu Huo's eyes!