Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!-Chapter 2201: Protected by the

Outer Zone Players may be brainwashed upon entry, but it isn’t guaranteed for everyone. Even if the Divine Temple’s people painstakingly raise normal children born here, they can’t ensure that every child becomes a believer without resistance. Even if these children are brainwashed or fail to grow successfully due to various accidents, wouldn’t those watching over them start questioning?

If children with mixed genes from the Outer Zone can grow healthily, then what has been the point of the Goddess Church’s persistence until now? They are no longer the nearly extinct nation they used to be and don’t need the sacrifice of dual-gender individuals anymore.

Xu Huo could easily find stranded Outer Zone Players, but after talking to a few, he realized another thing: The offspring of stranded Outer Zone Players and locals might be more numerous than he initially imagined because some stranded Players live together, raising children born with locals as if they were offspring of two Outer Zone Players.

This group is larger than he imagined, as they regularly hold gatherings, even worship the Goddess, and haven’t been troubled by the Divine Temple because of it.

A stranded Player led Xu Huo to a small temple they built for the Goddess, casually offered the brought flowers, and said, "The Goddess in the instance is not as powerful as you imagine. The eye patterns seen everywhere in the Holy Land are her ears and eyes, but without these, she can’t see or hear much."

Xu Huo had already informed them he wasn’t a Player who conquered the level, so he straightforwardly asked, "You exchange children so that locals believe their children died right after birth... and I’m someone who has been here only a few days and can inquire about these things. Wouldn’t the Goddess Church people find this out?"

"Even if they know, it doesn’t matter." An earnest and kind female Player said, "We are few in number, and no matter how many children we have, we can’t match the locals’ numbers. But we are not insignificant; if they dare to act, we dare to fight to the death. Without the Goddess’s help, how strong can they be?"

"Are you saying the Goddess is willing to help you?" This speculation left Xu Huo visibly surprised.

"The Goddess, well, whoever believes in her, she protects." The female Player bowed in front of the faceless Goddess Statue, "We are now believers too."

Xu Huo’s gaze shifted from the faceless Goddess Statue to the Player bowing devotedly before him, and then to eye patterns carved into the adjacent wall. Two overlapping eyes looked down from above on the believers and Outer Zone people, surveying everything in this temple.

His sight lingered on those two eyes for a moment before he turned the wheelchair and left.

Xu Huo returned near the Divine Temple. Before heading to the hotel, he visited A Hai once more, then rested in the hotel. When dawn broke, Huang Mao and others, delayed by the closure of the Satellite City Temple, rushed to the Holy Land.

Huang Mao had five patterns collected on his body. Upon meeting, he began recounting the situation in the Satellite City, "The gate was closed for two days. No one knows who they were looking for anyway, the Saintess was nowhere to be seen. The Player with the fake didn’t fool them either, probably because there isn’t really a Saintess. After delaying for two days, they finally opened the gate."

"Things are lively on the Holy Land’s side. If it weren’t for the delay in Satellite City, I would definitely wait until after the Day of Divinity before entering the instance. By the way, what’s happening inside the Divine Temple?"

"One good news and one bad news, which one would you like to hear first?" Xu Huo said.

"The good one, the good one." Huang Mao said hurriedly.

"The good news is that there’s likely an internal problem within the Goddess Church. The Goddess’s control over the Divine Temple is weaker than over the Satellite City; I can enter freely without any eye patterns."

"The internal discord within the Goddess Church weakened the Goddess’s strength?" Huang Mao immediately started dreaming of better scenarios and asked, "What’s the bad news?"

"The bad news is something may happen on and around the Day of Divinity in the Holy Land, possibly impacting the instance." Xu Huo said calmly, "Impacting the instance doesn’t necessarily destroy it; it could introduce unforeseen changes."

Huang Mao’s expression turned serious. "That really is bad news. Compared to the bad news, the previous good news isn’t much. If the instance is destroyed, it’s easier to handle, but if it gets provoked and loses control, my life might be at stake. The worst-case scenario is encountering an instance level-up, and that would be dire."

After furrowing his eyebrows for some time, he finally sat down with a long sigh, "Didn’t arrive at a good time, seems like I should wait until after the Day of Divinity."

He then looked at Xu Huo again, "That suits your intentions."

Xu Huo turned his head to scrutinize him, his face slowly breaking into a smile, "After five visits to the Inquiry Hall, how do you feel about it now?"

Huang Mao had always worried about being brainwashed unknowingly and quickly recounted his experiences in the Inquiry Hall. The first two times involved old stories and extensions of them. After the last conversation, he felt that mere escape wouldn’t work, so he tried casting a door, but it failed.

Xu Huo was quite surprised by his courage; without Spirit Evolution, he dared to imagine a portal himself. The door he deepened an imprint of wasn’t necessarily open outward; it might very well open inward.

"Who said it isn’t?" Huang Mao lamented, patting his thigh. "As soon as the door opened, I realized that all that rushed out were Cannibal Players. Then, it wasn’t pedestrians chasing me in the streets but Cannibal Players. You know I’ve developed a bit of psychological shadow over Cannibal Players; I ran from noon till night in the illusion before getting out."

Not seeing any psychological shadows on him, Xu Huo said, "Haven’t you tried killing them?"

"Of course I have," Huang Mao replied somewhat speechlessly, "They split apart. Can you imagine? Kill one, and it stands up to become two. Mushrooms don’t have children as fast as they do; I was nearly bitten to death. In the end, I shamelessly found a metal cabinet to hide in and swore not to come out."

"This is how I managed to persist until waking from the illusion." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"The next two times, this Illusion Realm was completely out of control, turning into an apocalyptic world. I saw scenes envisioned during evolution that never appeared in the game but now did in the Illusion Realm."

Huang Mao’s expression carried a hint of unintentional fear; even though he knew it was fake, the realistic fake still frightened him.

"Did you forget you’re a Player?" Xu Huo interrupted him, "Never forget you’re a Player at any time."

"It’s not like I can remember just because I want to," Huang Mao seemed helpless, "My props can’t be used in the Illusion Realm. No matter how much I imagine, I can’t conceive them, just like dreaming of flying in the past, exerting all effort but failing to lift off. The real and the illusory are separated by a fine line, but whether it’s from reality to illusion or illusion to reality, I can’t cross this line."

"To be honest, I even considered suicide to see if experiencing things in the Illusion Realm doesn’t affect reality at all."

Xu Huo looked at him with an incredulous expression.