Players, Please Board the Train

Chapter 596: The Clubhouse Kitchen

Little Zhang and Guan Zuhong started making phone calls to summon people. Abel looked excited, as if he couldn't wait any longer. Xu Huo, as calm as ever, said to the hesitant Huang Junjie, "If you don't want to go, get off the car yourself."

The First Association's headquarters was in Yang City. With the chairman and vice president both kidnapped, how could the association's players just sit by and do nothing? In the end, Huang Junjie made several more calls to notify the association.

"No one willing to come?" Abel asked.

Huang Junjie's expression darkened. He shoved his phone back into his pocket with visible irritation.

Whether intentionally or not, Abel offered some consolation, "It's understandable to have second thoughts. After all, there are so many people in the association."

As they spoke, the car pulled up outside the Taole Club. The moment they stopped, two men who looked like security guards immediately walked over, shouting from a distance for them to go somewhere else.

Xu Huo got out of the car and said, "I'm here to deliver supplies."

The guards looked at him suspiciously. "Didn't we already get a delivery? ... I've never seen you before. Are you new?"

Hearing this, Xu Huo didn't bother being polite. With a swing of his Crimson Sword, one guard's head hit the ground. The other, seeing this, grabbed an item at his waist and charged forward. Unfortunately, he was still a few steps away from Xu Huo when a suddenly generated ray sliced him in half.

The people getting out of the car behind him could only follow along to clean up the bodies. Huang Junjie, after helping Abel load the corpses into the vehicle, looked at Xu Huo, who had cut open the club's back door from a distance, and said, "I haven't seen him in two months. He's gotten a lot stronger."Abel nodded. "Back in the Headhunter Demon dungeon, we had to join forces just to deal with a single player."

This wasn't the time to dwell on personal differences. Brother Liang's side had already sent five players, led by a long-haired woman. She said, "A few more people are on the way. Where's Brother Liang?"

"Still unclear," Little Zhang said. After the earlier phone call, he had already explained Brother Liang's disappearance to them. The man was most likely not in the Taole Club. If he hadn't been killed, then he had entered a Random Dungeon, leaving no clues for now.

"Simple," the female player said, cracking her knuckles. "Go in, grab a few people, and interrogate them. Someone's bound to know Double Snake's other strongholds."

Brother Liang's group had been keeping an eye on Double Snake due to their missing comrades, but they had never found any major leads. Now, they had stumbled upon a big fish. They'd found the location, and asking the parties involved was better than asking anyone else.

The vehicle carried them into the club.

The Taole Club was built on an artificial lake. The main leisure area was at the lake's center, while the buildings around the shore were mostly where the staff operated. As the car drove in, a staff member walked out. "Why is there such a strong smell of blood? Didn't I say not to send anything that isn't fresh here?"

Xu Huo rested one hand on the steering wheel. "We just got a call saying to add more dishes. Maybe today's guests have a bigger appetite. Where should we deliver it?"

The staff member pointed to the kitchen area, then added, "Can't you clean up a bit when you do the work? How are we supposed to serve this mess to the table all sloppy like this?"

Xu Huo let out a snort. "It's not like you're eating it."

With that, he hit the gas and drove off. Following the lakeside path to the kitchen, the scent of cooking wafted out from a distance. Xu Huo killed the engine and got out, nodding at Huang Junjie and the others getting down behind him. The group immediately spread out to surround the kitchen.

Xu Huo, Abel, and Little Zhang walked straight into the kitchen. There were about a dozen people inside, all busily running around. When the three walked in, no one even bothered to acknowledge them; they just breezed past like a gust of wind.

The kitchen was preparing normal food, but Xu Huo still caught the smell of blood. He crossed the kitchen to a small door in the back. Just as he was about to open it, someone finally came over to stop him. "Who are you people? How did you get in?"

The moment the "Like Repels Like" effect kicked in, the man was flung three meters away. Xu Huo turned around, kicked open the small door, and leaped into the room. He raised his gun and shot through the head of the chef, who was holding a butcher's knife and chopping bones. With a smooth motion, he flipped the chopping board over—bloody bones and meat spilled everywhere, scaring two assistants nearby so badly that they knocked over their buckets. The dark-colored liquid and cooked meat inside poured out completely!

"Ugh...!" Little Zhang turned his head and dry-heaved, but as he bent over, he couldn't straighten back up. The man Xu Huo had just pushed aside was clearly also a player. He raised a rusty decapitating knife high and swung it down at Little Zhang's head!

"Watch out!" Abel quickly shoved the frozen Little Zhang out of the way while simultaneously raising a giant cross to block the blow. But the opponent's strength was clearly superior. He pressed Abel back step by step, the knife driving against the cross.

Abel's item could only last a few seconds. Just as the cross dissolved into foam, he dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the decapitating knife. Another glass bottle appeared in his hand. "Holy Water Baptism!"

With a "hissing" sound, the liquid poured from the bottle splashed onto the player's face, rapidly corroding his flesh. The decapitating knife hit the ground, and the player clutched his face, screaming in agony.

Little Zhang, now free, rushed over, picked up the knife, and sliced off his head!

With two people dead in quick succession, everyone in the kitchen—whether they were players or not—reacted. Aside from a few timid ones who turned pale and ran out, the rest chose to surround them!

"As expected of Double Snake people." Xu Huo stepped out of the small door. Using his characteristics "Straight-Line Distance" and "Forced Forgetfulness," he strung the remaining people together and bound them with "Hurt Others, Not Yourself" in just a few seconds. After a series of dizzying flashes, the crowd turned around to see him already standing at the kitchen door. He twisted his hand, which was wearing sparkling diamond gloves, and the rope binding the people instantly transformed into razor-sharp blades, cutting them clean in half!

The dozen or so people tied together fell like a row of chives being mowed down. Two who managed to save themselves with items didn't even have time to react before Abel and Little Zhang pounced in to finish them off.

With that, aside from the two in the small door, everyone who hadn't managed to run out had met their end in the kitchen.

After the killing, Xu Huo retracted his items and casually called the two people inside the small door out.

They crawled out, and upon seeing the messy corpses scattered everywhere, they didn't even have time to vomit. They fell to their knees and kowtowed to Xu Huo and the others, begging for mercy.

Outside, the people had also dealt with the few who ran out. Huang Junjie walked in, glanced at the blood-soaked floor, then quickly looked away. He said to Xu Huo, "We caught one alive."

Xu Huo nodded, and the three people were dragged into the kitchen.

Huang Junjie said to them, "You're all ordinary people. I believe you were forced to work here. But don't worry now—the players in this club can't threaten you anymore. We'll rid you of these pests. You just need to tell us how many people are in the club, how many players, and how many D-grade players. Also, have you seen these two people?"