The misty mountain air still carried the lingering scent of burning. Among the charred remains, corpses in varying stages of decay lay scattered everywhere. The entire city was saturated with the stench of death and rot, wrapped in a stillness like underground plant roots silently rotting away—unnoticed, unknown, and uncared for by anyone. Their emergence and demise mattered even less than a speck of dust.
Half a day had passed since the dungeon was cleared. The townspeople had all been taken away by tourist buses, the damaged buildings temporarily set aside, and the remaining Black-Armored Soldiers were busy repairing the blown-up gate of Sifang Palace.
*Click-clack... click-clack...* The sound of leather shoes striking stone grew closer from afar. A man in a hat and overcoat appeared before Sifang Palace's gate, carrying a black suitcase as he stepped inside. The busy Black-Armored Soldiers twitched like short-circuited machines until he passed through, then they returned to normal—though instead of diligently fixing the gate, they simply stood still with heads lowered.
Silence reigned within Sifang Palace. The staircase Xu Huo had struggled so hard to find was right there in plain sight. The Suitcase Man stepped onto the second floor and soon spotted the words carved into a pillar: "Guess Who Was Here—A Little Souvenir."
The half-masked face showed no expression. But at that moment, a paper airplane flew out from a room, drifting slowly to land at his feet.
The next second, the Suitcase Man turned to face the palace entrance. He took one step and vanished from his spot, then reappeared before Sifang Palace's gate.
Less than fifty meters away, a shabby middle-aged man in a tattered leather coat stood atop a fluttering paper crane...
The two faced off—one above, one below. The moment their eyes met, the paper crane transformed into a steel-and-bone metal beast diving downward. Meanwhile, the Suitcase Man's black suitcase burst open, and a massive plush doll's head swelled out, opening a mouth full of metal teeth to bite the paper crane clean in half!
Then, multicolored tiles spread rapidly from the suitcase like an expanding carpet. Accompanied by bursts of laughter and music, Sifang Palace and the entire city were pushed outward in a circular wave. Folded buildings rose from the ground, balloons and parrots flew out everywhere, and crowds appeared on the colorful streets, bringing with them soap bubbles and the cloying sweetness of cotton candy. They opened their arms, rushing forward to embrace the flying paper birds...
Xu Huo arrived at District 011 without incident. Walking out of the station, he found the city even livelier than when he'd left.
Citizens and robots were parading through the streets, and flight devices with "Celebrate Harvest Festival" banners frequently crossed the sky. Large screens and projections played interview clips of government figures, all gleefully boasting about District 011's bountiful gains and the individuals who had made absolute contributions. They announced that not only would those who had rendered meritorious service be rewarded, but all district citizens could claim gift packages with their identification, plus extra celebration subsidies—basically free food, drink, and entertainment for the whole district.
Xu Huo hailed a flight device to Rose Castle, then pulled out his District 011 communicator to browse online news.
Nearly a month had passed since he'd left that cruise liner where nobles killed for sport. To escape the ship back then, he had activated the "Seventeenth Hospital" dungeon for the first time. The result was excellent—Hugo of the Phantom Sound Knights was dead, and Xu Huo had successfully claimed his A-class item, "Life Core."
At the time, the ship wasn't just a chaotic melee between Bai Kou and the Phantom Sound Knights; the District 011 nobles were also feuding among themselves. Combined with his dungeon's interference, quite a few "Prey" players were still alive when he left.
That cruise liner itself was an item, owned by Captain Matt—a B-rank player with A-rank strength. The ship sailed out periodically, and people still considered boarding it an honor. That spoke volumes about how well they kept secrets. Captain Matt wouldn't let players escape easily.
However, the sea the liner sailed through hadn't originally been within the game's bounds. But since "Seventeenth Hospital" could activate successfully, that meant the area had entered the game. When the hospital closed, other players must have escaped into other dungeons. Where there were survivors, there were witnesses. Unfortunately, the online platforms seemed to carry no such news. The only thing even remotely related to the cruise liner was an obscure social news piece.
The content was absurdly brief. The gist was that the liner had sailed into danger and suffered significant casualties, with no mention of what the danger was. Instead, it praised Captain Matt and Black Epaulets' Ran Ying for staying calm under pressure. Not a single word about hunting games or noble infighting.
The Harvest Festival, meanwhile, marked the return of District 011's government-assigned player teams, who had brought back massive supplies from other districts.
This festival had no fixed date—it happened whenever players brought back good stuff. Ordinary citizens didn't care where these things came from; they only knew that during this time, District 011 saw an influx of out-of-district players and tourists, generating staggering revenue.
In this environment, even if players who survived the cruise liner returned and exposed the nobles' killing games, it would probably accomplish nothing.
Xu Huo also searched for government-related information. Aside from a few noble players receiving high-profile funerals under the guise of "sacrifice," the rest was about personnel changes among the Black Epaulets and White Epaulets.
Black Epaulets Captain Ran Ying had been promoted again, now with authority to oversee the White Epaulets, while government members and nobles who supported the White Epaulets had been disciplined.
A suffocating sense of overinflated prosperity swelled throughout District 011.
*Ding-dong! You have a new message.* A notification popped up on the communicator. Xu Huo opened it and read Bai Kou's message first: "Good news—Whale has his eye on you."
Whale was a member of the Phantom Sound Knights.
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. Even though he'd altered his appearance in the dungeon, during the final chaos, he had used "Director's Authority" to try deleting Hugo and Whale's memories of him taking the former's palm and item. Naturally, Hugo had been killed by Bai Kou in the end, solving a major concern and letting him obtain "Life Core." But given the situation at the time, Whale shouldn't have focused on him...
There was more: "The Phantom Sound Knights have a cooperative relationship with District 011. The Black Epaulets will handle screening the ship's personnel on their behalf."
The Phantom Sound Knights were undoubtedly Rong Xin's contractors, using stolen weapons for risk-free business. No wonder this player organization was so infamous.
But given the chaos at the time, even Ran Ying couldn't confirm his identity. Returning openly and boldly would actually arouse less suspicion. Judging by the situation, Whale didn't know who he was—he'd only roughly narrowed it down to the players who had boarded the ship.
The flight device soon arrived at Rose Castle. Mr. Dong stood at the entrance as always. "You're back, sir."