Players, Please Board the Train

Those who can work on the train, Xu Huo doesn’t consider them normal people either. He paused for a moment before asking again, ”Are there any Mutants that can freely control their body’s growth?”

The Staff Member looked at him with surprise. ”How could there possibly be such a Mutant?”

Xu Huo didn’t ask anything more. After the Staff Member left, he put away the Sound-Muffling Figurine. Facing the curious gazes of the others in the Carriage, he said, ”It seems our luck is just bad, having run into a car-slaughtering monster.”

He briefly recounted what the Staff Member had said. The player wearing a hat was the first to express doubt. ”I’ve never heard of any car-slaughtering monster.”

”The Staff Member said that once encountered, even the train personnel might be completely wiped out. It’s normal for such news not to circulate among players,” the Female Player said. ”Because most players who encounter it die.”

”Then what should we do?” the Middle-aged Woman quickly asked. ”Aren’t we in great danger?”

A whole Carriage of players, killed just like that. The train is only so big; where could we possibly hide?

However, the baby-faced player keenly noticed a loophole in Xu Huo’s words. ”Since that car-slaughtering monster is so dangerous, how did you escape?”

”It left on its own,” Xu Huo said flatly. ”I just happened to see those eyes in the Lightning Strikes. I know nothing about its body shape or form.”

”Then your luck is really good,” Skinny Monkey said.Xu Huo glanced at him. ”Your luck isn’t bad either.”

You went to the tail carriage but didn’t encounter the car-slaughtering monster. Can you say your luck is bad?

Skinny Monkey realized this point too, his expression turning somewhat unpleasant.

”Let’s go to the carriage ahead,” the unremarkable player who had been knocked out by Skinny Monkey said fearfully. ”If we keep staying here, we’ll definitely be the most in danger!”

The others were already thinking the same thing. Without much consideration, they headed towards the carriage in front.

Originally, the seventh Carriage had fifteen people. One died last night, leaving fourteen now. A thirty-seat Carriage could accommodate ten more people without issue. However, with so many players arriving at once, the players originally in that Carriage looked displeased, especially the player who had been tricked by Skinny Monkey, who immediately stood up.

Skinny Monkey was someone who could bend and stretch. Without another word, he knelt down to beg for mercy and offered up the banknotes. ”Big brother, I’ll return the money to you. Please be merciful!”

That player was momentarily stunned, then looked behind him. ”What happened back there?”

Skinny Monkey seemed to have opened the floodgates, pouring out his grievances. ”There’s a Mutant, a car-slaughtering monster! The players in the last Carriage were all killed while passing through the Thunderstorm Zone, each dying a miserable death. The Staff Member said the car-slaughtering monster even kills train staff. How could we dare stay in the back!”

Hearing him describe it so horrifically, another player angrily said, ”No wonder your whole Carriage ran over here. Do you want to get us killed too?”

The players from the eighth Carriage here were secretly annoyed that Skinny Monkey had such a big mouth, actually revealing the matter of the car-slaughtering monster. How would players from other Carriages accept them now?

”It’s better to say it out loud,” Xu Huo said at this moment. ”At least it’s better than being caught off guard and killed. Besides, no one said the car-slaughtering monster would definitely start from the last Carriage and move forward in order.”

”Sounds like it’s real,” a glamorously dressed woman in the seventh Carriage tapped her high heels. ”Have you seen it?”

”He has!” Skinny Monkey immediately pointed at Xu Huo.

Several pairs of eyes in the Carriage turned towards him. Xu Huo also swept his gaze over them one by one, finally resting on the man holding the Black Leather Suitcase. ”I only saw a pair of red eyes. But those eyes...”

”What about them?” the glamorously dressed woman instinctively pressed.

”Seemed a bit distorted, not like the eyes of a living person,” Xu Huo said. After a pause, he added, ”Of course, it’s also possible I saw wrong. The difference between Mutants and humans is significant.”

The man carrying the Leather Suitcase shifted his gaze away.

Seeing is believing. Two players immediately got up to check the back, returning with unpleasant expressions.

”Judging from the external injuries, it looks more like the work of a Player-Eater,” said one of the players with a streak of purple hair. ”The killing methods were clean and efficient, not like a mindless Mutant.”

”But to cleanly and directly target the vital points of so many people isn’t easy either,” the other person’s gaze wandered over the players from the eighth Carriage.

”Don’t bother,” the baby-faced player said. ”We already suspected each other internally earlier. Compared to a car-slaughtering monster, we’d naturally prefer to believe it’s a player inside the train. But the Staff Member has no motive to lie.”

”You reminded me,” the Female Player said. ”The Staff Member’s words were said to him alone. What we heard was all relayed by him, and only he saw the red-eyed Mutant.”

She was, of course, referring to Xu Huo. However, the Blonde Man spoke up then, ”I can read lips a little. What this gentleman said doesn’t differ much from what the Staff Member said.”

Only then did the players in the seventh Carriage start to somewhat believe the matter of the car-slaughtering monster. But some still doubted, specifically the man holding the Black Leather Suitcase. ”Mutants have no thought process. Can they really kill so efficiently?”

”The more powerful an Evolver was before degenerating, the stronger their abilities become. Acting on instinct isn’t impossible,” an elderly man in the seventh Carriage said. ”Some people even specifically train such Mutants for killing or entertainment.”

”What do you think, could it be the train staff who did it?” the Leather Suitcase man frowned. ”After all, the matter of the car-slaughtering monster is something you heard from them.”

Everyone’s first reaction was disbelief. To them, the staff were like NPCs on the train. There was no point of conflict between the two sides. Besides, the train staff are employed by the game. Wouldn’t damaging the train incur punishment?

As early as when he saw the damaged train window, Xu Huo had suspected the train staff.

No one from the eighth Carriage went to the tail carriage, and no players came from the Carriages ahead. The staff who could pass through the dedicated passageways were highly suspect. Even without dedicated passageways, only staff could open the train doors while the train was moving.

At that time, the red-eyed monster fled in fright. He believed those two Skin-Burrowing Worms must have had an effect, but the possibility of killing it was very low. Perhaps they didn’t even cause much substantial damage.

However, he subsequently ruled out that possibility.

The train’s kitchen is contracted by Stellar Corporation’s Yongxing Restaurant. The Staff Member should also be employed by Yongxing Restaurant. Yongxing Restaurant guarantees not to serve human flesh meals, which is an alternative form of security for players. Regardless of the purpose, at least Yongxing Restaurant doesn’t eat people. Having established a bottom line, there must be comprehensive rules. Yongxing Restaurant, which boards the train to make money, wouldn’t allow its staff to cause trouble on its own turf. Cases of car-slaughtering monsters attacking trains have happened more than once. Yongxing Restaurant must have screened its own people.

If the car-slaughtering monster were a person, the chance of evading such screening is almost zero. Additionally, judging by the staff’s tone, car-slaughtering monster incidents have occurred in many places, and the timing likely overlaps.

Therefore, the possibility of it being train staff is extremely low.