Chapter 50 (1/2)

Rainbow Turtle: I’ve been using soul coin previously but based on later chapters, it is more like soul money. So I’ll be changing soul coin to soul money from now on.

Originally, the warning ‘the soul of the player who fails to keep the transaction will be imprisoned’ was a warning given to Bai Liu by the system when Bai Liu got the Empty Old Wallet skill to restrain Bai Liu from abusing this skill.

Since the transaction wasn’t complete, the soul would be imprisoned by the system. It was a restrictive measure for Bai Liu to keep his promises. It was the same as a Taobao merchant’s ‘little black room’. Who would’ve thought it would be used by Bai Liu to pit the people he was trading with.

For a person like Puppet Zhang who liked plans and thought he was smart, there was nothing better than following his plan. He would feel a sense of accomplishment about making his prey step into his own trap and become less vigilant. It was only in this way that Bai Liu could seek a breakthrough.

Bai Liu looked down thoughtfully.

However, Mu Sicheng was indeed in trouble. He had just learned that Mu Sicheng actually had such a love-hate relationship with Liu Huai. It was why Puppet Zhang brought Liu Huai with him. The hallucinations caused by a lower mental value had little influence on Bai Liu, a man who only cared about money. Yet for people with normal emotions and desires like Mu Sicheng, the influence of the illusion brought about by a confidante and friend who betrayed him was probably immeasurable.

Mu Sicheng wasn’t quite right when he talked about Liu Huai.

Bai Liu understood that most people in this game had a mental endurance value of around 70. 60 was dangerous enough and people who could get out of the game without going crazy once their mental value was below 20 were extremely strong psychologically. However, Bai Liu needed Mu Sicheng’s mental value to be further reduced. His requirement for Mu Sicheng was even lower than Mu Sicheng’s record lowest value of 18. By then, the hallucinations and psychological impact would be more severe on Mu Sicheng.

If Liu Huai was there as an inducing factor, it was estimated that a major problem would arise with Mu Sicheng. It was a bit difficult.

[The train has arrived at Huangquan Road—passengers are requested to get on the train first before getting off in turn.]

Puppet Zhang’s index and middle finger moved like he was playing the piano. He pulled the transparent silk and Bai Liu was instantly pulled behind him. Puppet Zhang placed the puppet headgear that Liu Huai previously took off onto Bai Liu and laughed. “Well, now it looks like you are my puppet.”

“I know you aren’t very willing. Perhaps you just pretended to surrender to me. Perhaps you and Mu Sicheng have other plans.” The corners of Puppet Zhang’s lips slowly rose. He seemed to be putting a shackle on Bai Liu as he let go of the heavy, huge and stuffy puppet headgear.

Bai Liu’s face was slowly enveloped by the puppet headgear. He raised his eyes to look at Puppet Zhang. Before the headgear fell, Bai Liu saw Puppet Zhang’s last expression. There was malice and determination. His eyes were arrogant and he seemed to be in control of everything.

Puppet Zhang’s tone was hoarse and low. “But Bai Liu, you must’ve missed Liu Huai’s influence on Mu Sicheng. Thanks to Liu Huai, Mu Sicheng will never be sober and cooperate with you. No matter how many tricks you have, as long as Mu Sicheng collapses here—”

Puppet Zhang smirked and continued viciously, “—Mu Sicheng is the most valuable card in your hand. As long as he collapses, your plan will completely collapse.”

Bai Liu’s expression didn’t change but his mind was moving quickly. To a certain extent, Puppet Zhang was right. Mu Sicheng was indeed the most important part of his plan. The Merfolk Amulet was on Mu Sicheng.

If Mu Sicheng collapsed completely and lost his resistance, if Puppet Zhang got the Merfolk Amulet and completed the transaction then everyone would be finished together. Previously, Bai Liu thought of playing tricks and having Mu Sicheng directly use this item but—

[System tip: During the transaction, the transaction item (Merfolk Amulet) must exist. Otherwise, it will be considered an invalid transaction.]

During this period, if Mu Sicheng fell into a desperate situation or simply didn’t want to listen to Bai Liu and he ended up using the Merfolk Amulet, Bai Liu would be ruined and he really would become Puppet Zhang’s puppet.

Thus, Mu Sicheng was very important to Bai Liu’s plan. If he collapsed then Bai Liu would be in danger.

Bai Liu was making a bet and it was a big bet. The only chip on his table was Mu Sicheng and this was an extremely unstable bargaining chip. At present, it seemed like his chances of winning weren’t very big. In fact, Bai Liu had thought about using Du Sanying but Du Sanying was an intuitive animal, like a keen rodent. If Du Sanying had to fight, he might directly throw the amulet at Puppet Zhang to reduce his danger, just like he wanted to abandon his car to escape the danger he perceived.

Du Sanying was very unstable. Once Bai Liu was under the control of the puppet master, he couldn’t remotely control Du Sanying. This Du Sanying was far less hostile to the puppet master. Mu Sicheng had a grudge against the puppet master and was more worthy of using.

Thus, in the end, Bai Liu chose Mu Sicheng.

The door of the carriage finally opened. Countless burned passengers wailed as they poured onto the train while burning. Puppet Zhang cleanly manipulated the other two puppets to go forward and grab the mirror fragments. He didn’t use Bai Liu. It seemed he knew that Bai Liu’s health was very low and it was easy to die with casual use.

Puppet Zhang manipulated the puppets very quickly. In almost 10 seconds, the two puppets walked through a section of the carriage in a ghostly manner and presented a pile of broken lenses to Puppet Zhang with burned hands. Puppet Zhang accepted it without looking and his expression sank. “Go, clean up the next carriage.”

The aggro of these passengers was locked on the two puppets. Puppet Zhang was safe and the two puppets moved very fast. Puppet Zhang’s operation was very precise and there was almost no additional damage. After cleaning up one carriage, the puppets entered the next one and half of the carriage was swept away in a minute.

Bai Liu’s group of three had such a difficult time previously. They only had Mu Sicheng, a player whose attributes panel was A-rated. Now there were three A-rated players and Puppet Zhang was super A. In the gap between manipulating the puppets, he also cleaned up the passengers to make it easier for his puppets to grab the lens. It was completely different from Bai Liu, the weak chicken, who collapsed with one blow of the whip.

Mu Sicheng had told Bai Liu everything that he currently knew about Puppet Zhang’s personal skill. There were two aspects. The first one was called ‘Thread Doll’. It was to implant the puppet silk to manipulate puppets, but the puppets were self-conscious. It was just that their limbs were controlled by Puppet Zhang.

If the puppet wasn’t voluntary or absolutely controlled, it was difficult for Puppet Zhang to implant the puppet silk in the struggling puppet’s limbs. This was why Puppet Zhang said that he liked voluntary puppets. The most commonly used puppets were the voluntary ones he hired. It was because Puppet Zhang had to use a lot of energy to control the implantation of puppet silk for involuntary puppets like Mu Sicheng.

The second skill was called Puppet Enhancement. At this stage, he sacrificed 50 points of the puppet’s mental value. The puppet had no sense of autonomy while the other panel attributes doubled. (Rainbow Turtle: said half but seems to have been changed from now on to 50 points)

Puppets in this state were more difficult to control. Since it entered the mental value danger area, the puppet itself was in a lot of pain. Sometimes it would struggle instinctively. It was just that since they were unconscious they hardly feared any attack. Their combat power was very tough. As long as the puppet master didn’t stop the silk threads in his hands, the puppets wouldn’t stop attacking no matter how painful.

However, Mu Sicheng told Bai Liu that this skill couldn’t be used on puppet players with a mental value of less than 20. At this stage, the puppets had already entered the rage state and the puppet master couldn’t control them at all.

“In this game, no one has ever tried to control a player with a mental value below 20, not even Puppet Zhang.” Mu Sicheng stared at Bai Liu with narrowed eyes. “That is, except for you. Bai Liu, you are trying to make me remember the planned task you gave me when my mental value is only 10 points. It is completely impossible.”

Bai Liu just smiled. “How do we know if we don’t try it? We have no other way, right?”

As Bai Liu was thinking about this, the female broadcast’s voice was heard in the train.

“There are heavy passengers and special items boarding the train. In order to protect the safety of the passengers and items, the station stop time has been extended to five minutes. Passengers on the train are requested to stay calm and stay away from the door—”

A huge charred corpse that was several times the size of an ordinary player used two huge, still burning hands to open the door of the carriage and lowered his head to squeeze in.

This guy’s eyes were burned out and the eye sockets were full of burnt carbon marks. The skin of the corpse had burned off and the entire body was covered with bare and bloody muscles. There was a palm-sized broken lens embedded in his chest. It was embedded in the bright red, bleeding pectoralis muscles like protective goggles, gleaming in the flames. He stood taller than the carriage and his neck was crooked. He forcibly stuffed himself into the carriage, almost bursting through the carriage.

The large scorched corpse with his crooked neck seemed to feel uncomfortable. He struck the roof of the carriage with a loud roar. The roof burst open with a loud sound and flames emerged from his body, filling the entire carriage.

Puppet Zhang’s face darkened and he quickly retreated to another carriage. He placed his ten fingers together and pulled. The two puppets were sucked back toward his hand like zombies. His other hand lifted Bai Liu up by the back of the neck. Puppet Zhang moved quickly but he was still burned and Bai Liu was also burned.

[System tip: Players Puppet Zhang, Bai Liu, Fang Ke and Li Gou have been attacked by the monster’s flames and HP -10. Player Puppet Zhang and Player Bai Liu’s mental value -20. Player Li Gou and Player Fang Ke’s mental value -9 due to being in the puppet state.]

Bai Liu coughed as he was burned. Blood slowly flowed from the corner of his mouth. His face hidden by the puppet’s headgear became paler and he glanced at his personal attributes panel.

[Health: 11 (decreased after being attacked by player Mu Sicheng and being burned by flames)]

[Physical strength: 70 (restoring in progress)]

[Mental value: 69 (slightly alienated due to being attacked by passengers)]

Bai Liu also quickly glanced at the monster book.

[The Exploding Last Train Monster Book has refreshed—Brother Thief (2/3)]

[Monster Name: Brother Thief (Younger Brother)]

[Features: Extremely strong and tall. Moves very quickly. Can use one large-scale attack every one minute (1,400 movement speed, flames have a bonus effect, likes to use fists to make the opponent obedient, extremely strong attack power)]

[Weaknesses: ??? (Unexplored)]