Just like a fish that took the bait, the Ghostly Shadow struggled desperately on the super-strength adhesive. Xu Huo pulled on the kite string and wrapped the raincoat over it again. However, this time, after moving a few times inside, the Ghostly Shadow stopped, becoming like a lifeless sheet of drawing paper. The next second, it turned into powder within the raincoat’s wrapping.

Xu Huo wasn’t at all surprised that the Ghostly Shadow would use this method to escape. After all, when you got down to it, it was also an item with a physical form. It had to go through doors and cracks to enter and exit rooms, so being caught wasn’t entirely impossible.

Higher-level players definitely had more handy items at their disposal than he did. If the Ghostly Shadow was simply about wrapping people up, it couldn’t have stayed in the laboratory until now.

Even though the Ghostly Shadow had turned to powder, Xu Huo didn’t let go. Instead, he packed the powder up and stuffed it into the luggage compartment before walking out of the room.

“Any results?” The moment the door opened, Chu Yuan poked his head in. Seeing the complete mess inside, he exclaimed in surprise, “Did you work for a demolition crew or something?”

Xu Huo, however, took out a set of architectural blueprints for the Deep Blue Laboratory. He had found them while searching the room, and among them was a drawing for the peripheral expansion of the third underground level.

“What’s the use of this thing?” Chu Yuan asked, puzzled. “The expanded sections outside are sealed off from the laboratory, and they’re all mechanically operated. People can’t get through either.”

Xu Huo wasn’t sure if it would be useful; he needed to see for himself.

So, the two of them headed towards the far end of the laboratory. The end was a corridor running lengthwise. According to the map, the area on the other side of the wall should have an undersea work tower constructed.

This expansion wasn’t about wrapping an extra layer around the entire undersea structure. It was only built separately outside the third underground level, seemingly intended to construct individual storage pods. On the complete design drawing, this added ring of buildings looked like a honeycomb from the outside. In reality, each hexagon forming the honeycomb was a small pod placed horizontally, and there were a vast number of them.

Xu Huo arrived at the location marked on the blueprint for the planned connecting passage. Unfortunately, while the spot was planned, the door hadn’t been opened yet. The wall surface was sealed.

After checking two more passage entrances in a row with no success, he put the blueprint away and asked Chu Yuan, “That cabinet of yours, can it still be used?”

“Yes,” Chu Yuan answered instinctively, but then added, “It can only hide one person at a time.”

Xu Huo nodded to indicate he understood.

Chu Yuan wore an uneasy expression, looking like he was afraid Xu Huo would snatch his item.

Xu Huo paid no attention to his gaze and made another round through the nearby rooms before returning to the spot where they had separated from Dr. Deng and the others earlier.

Unexpectedly, only Dr. Deng remained waiting here. Seeing Xu Huo arrive, he quickly said, “The other three went to clear the corpses again.”

“Are they stupid?” Chu Yuan complained. “We already said, even if they find some ghostly potion from the corpses, can it still be used? Since it can’t be used, why not just replace it with a fake one? Make up a couple of lies, and that’s it. Why go through all that trouble for no good reason?”

Dr. Deng also found it a bit strange. “They seem very eager to find the potion.”

“Blinded by greed,” Chu Yuan said disdainfully.

Xu Huo had doubts about the words of Wu Xiaonan and Qiu Xiangdong, so he said, “As long as they don’t move the corpses out of the elevator, it’s fine.”

None of the three intended to go over and help. They simply sat down on the spot to rest.

Chu Yuan offered Dr. Deng some food, but Dr. Deng shook his head and took a tube of nutritional supplement from his pocket to drink.

“This is something I brought from another Game Partition. The water and soil quality at the Sayir Coast have undergone severe changes. Things made here might have side effects if eaten.”

Chu Yuan had already stuffed the biscuit into his mouth. Hearing this, he paused for a moment before continuing to eat. “I’ve been eating them for several days already. One more meal won’t make a difference.”

Dr. Deng, embodying the spirit of a highly educated intellectual, explained, “You players are different from ordinary people like us who have merely taken the evolution agent. You have undergone the evolution reaction—that state before getting on the Preliminary Trial Train where you wanted to eat anyone you saw. Your genes are different from ordinary people’s. You can resist some of the radiation and toxins from natural mutations. Even if you get hurt, you can heal yourself with potions or have your body absorb the damage to further evolve.”

“Ordinary people, those who have only taken the evolution agent or injected the blood of the earliest evolved players but didn’t show an evolution reaction, find it very difficult to resist these damages. Therefore, when traveling outside, they need to be extremely careful about everything.”

“How do non-players ride the dimensional train?” Xu Huo asked. “You don’t share trains with players. How did the Bolun Family bring you here?”

“Non-players have their own trains to ride. They need to apply to the Game Government for special permits. Players within the system cannot board such trains, but those who have suspended their player status can.” Dr. Deng said with considerable regret, “At that time, they were chatting with people on the train. I wasn’t on guard and talked too much, so I was coerced and brought to the Sayir Coast. It’s been almost half a year now.”

He sounded quite bitter by the end.

“Can non-players board players’ trains?” Xu Huo asked again. “If they have a train ticket, that is.”

“That is also possible, but they need to apply to the Game Government to become a player… People without player qualifications won’t be actively absorbed by the system.” Dr. Deng glanced at him and said, “Some people also use this method to leave their original Game Partition. If handled properly, after getting off the train, they can apply to the Game Government or the Partition Government of another partition to suspend their player status and return to a normal life. The time between suspending player status and reactivating it isn’t counted towards the trigger time for Random Dungeons.”

“Once you leave this island, how do you plan to leave the Sayir Coast?” Xu Huo said. “Given your condition, you can’t go ride the non-player train anymore, can you?”

“Do you have a player status?”

Dr. Deng sighed. “What can a powerless pharmacologist like me do?”

Judging by his tone, being kidnapped and coerced wasn’t the first time for him.

“You’re really lucky to have survived until now,” Chu Yuan marveled.

After receiving sympathy, Dr. Deng said tactfully, “So now, the only way for me to leave here is through a train ticket. After leaving, I can find a way to suspend my player status. Unfortunately, I don’t have a train ticket on me anymore.”

“You’ve got quite a plan. I’m afraid giving you a ticket would also mean having to act as your personal bodyguard,” Chu Yuan said. “Otherwise, how would you survive the night on the train?”

Dr. Deng adjusted his glasses and said to Xu Huo, “Taking me with you will definitely not be a loss.”

Xu Huo had never intended to do anything to Dr. Deng from the start, and of course, he also had this kind of intention. The knowledge gap was difficult to bridge. He found it very hard to fully grasp He Pu’s notes on potion research. It would be different if there was a pharmacologist doctor proficient in this field to look at them. Naturally, it would be even better if he could take the person back.

However, he couldn’t give him the train ticket right now.

“I’ll consider it,” he said, putting on a hesitant expression. Then he added, “But before that, you need to prove your worth.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep