Players, Please Board the Train

Vivi stared at him fixedly for a few seconds before her smile returned. ”You’re really interesting, Uncle.”

Then she picked up her skirt and ran off.

Only then did Xu Huo reveal a slight smile. Turning back, he saw Vivi’s parents looking at him and lightly raised his teacup in a gesture of acknowledgment.

The man and woman also wore smiles, though they did not return the gesture.

Dr. Deng now spoke with some concern, ”Better not stir up trouble.”

Anyone who could board this train was certainly no ordinary person. For such a little girl to run around unsupervised without her parents worrying showed they had something to rely on. Wouldn’t saying that in front of her parents and the girl herself get you killed?

Xu Huo, however, didn’t seem to care. ”Just a joke.”

Dr. Deng glanced at the little girl, who had sat down next to her parents but was still staring their way, and immediately averted his gaze, lowering his voice. ”It’s a pity others might not think it’s a joke.”

Evening soon arrived.

The first-class seats could be reclined flat for rest. Xu Huo lay down early, closing his eyes to rest. After the lights went out, he sat up.The others in the carriage were similarly not asleep, each sitting in their own seats.

Not long after, faint sounds of fighting came from the carriages behind. The location was quite far, several carriages back. Due to the fighting in the rear, other carriages also experienced minor disturbances. The second carriage, immediately adjacent to the first-class carriage, also emitted sounds of collision and doors opening.

Footsteps moved to the rear door of the first-class carriage in the darkness, lingered for a couple of steps, then pulled on the carriage door. Failing to open it, the person outside stood still for a few seconds before leaving.

After that, there was no further movement outside the door, and the door to the rear carriage also closed.

The fighting sounds from the tail of the train didn’t last too long either, quieting down after just over ten minutes. Then the train sank into a prolonged silence.

Xu Huo looked at the other players in the same carriage again in the darkness. Throughout this disturbance, not a single one of these players had any change in their breathing rhythm. The state they presented was that they were neither worried about other players breaking in, nor did they seem particularly belligerent or fond of fighting.

In contrast, Dr. Deng’s heartbeat was more audible than his breathing.

However, this state quickly disappeared. A few minutes later, his breathing became long and steady.

Xu Huo frowned, got up, and went to the opposite seat to pat his face. The man didn’t wake up, but a pitch-black insect suddenly flew out of his nostrils. Xu Huo backhanded the insect away—*Splat!*

The insect shattered against the carriage wall, emitting a strange odor. He immediately put on his protective face shield, but at that moment, Dr. Deng suddenly let out a laugh.

Dr. Deng wasn’t asleep; he had fallen into a brief unconsciousness involuntarily and now awoke automatically. However, upon waking, he couldn’t control his expression and began to laugh. It started as a light chuckle, then the laughter grew louder. Soon, he couldn’t lie still anymore, curling up, clutching his stomach, laughing while tears streamed down his face, stammering, ”I... save me...”

Xu Huo knew he had been hit by something. He whipped his head around to look at the little girl called Vivi, but the several passengers who had been sitting there moments ago all appeared in his vision as multicolored clowns, each making grotesque, twisted smiles and swaying their heads at him.

Forcing down the corner of his mouth that had involuntarily twitched upward, Xu Huo smashed a bottle of ”A good thing that makes one utterly infatuated” onto the floor. The foul stench quickly overpowered the faint, strange odor in the air. Two of the ”clowns” retched dryly, then lunged at him!

Xu Huo used the item ”Two-Half Magic Trick” to restrain the two in place, then flung out the kite string, intending to hoist one of them up. However, the two clowns, who appeared split in half in his vision, didn’t seem affected by the item’s interference. They immediately retreated to their original positions, resuming their previous sitting postures.

The ”clowns” still looked like clowns, meaning Xu Huo hadn’t completely shaken off the hallucination either. He turned back, knocked Dr. Deng unconscious, and then took out the flashlight.

The light wasn’t switched on, but the wildly contorting ”clowns” opposite him stopped. Immediately after, Dr. Deng, who was already unconscious, suddenly opened his eyes again, holding his stomach and laughing uproariously!

Knocking him out was useless.

Xu Huo glanced at Dr. Deng, who had rolled onto the floor, then directly switched on the flashlight, aiming it at the clowns opposite.

In the pitch darkness, the sudden light was especially glaring. This light also seemed capable of dispelling the hallucination. At least in the area illuminated by the light, the ”clowns” disappeared. But the next second, he felt something flying rapidly towards him, targeting both the flashlight and his throat.

Accompanied by two *ding* sounds, the throwing dart aimed at his throat was blocked by the ”Mobile Metal,” while the flashlight was, of course, shattered. However, this brief flash of light still disturbed something outside the train. Within a mere two seconds, heavy objects continuously thudded against the outside of the carriage!

*Boom! Boom! Boom!* Mutants struck the glass windows like a rainstorm. The high-speed train began to shake. Because the first-class carriage’s light had only flashed for a moment, the swarming mutants didn’t manage to break the windows, but they still created fine cracks in the thick glass.

The players in the carriage’s expressions changed slightly, as among this group of mutants, several were noticeably larger and had characteristics different from the others. The cracks in the glass windows were because of them!

Xu Huo glanced at the cracks. A second flashlight was already in his hand. ”Next time, you won’t be so lucky.”

It was a blatant threat. He dared to turn on the light once; of course, he dared to do it a second time.

None of the several players moved, only staring at Xu Huo in the darkness. It was unclear who had made the move, but subsequently, Dr. Deng stopped his hysterical laughter.

Xu Huo nudged him with his foot. ”Can you get up?”

How could Dr. Deng get up? With snot and tears streaming, he said, ”Almost... laughed myself to death...”

Being able to speak coherently meant he was okay.

Xu Huo calmly sat down, placing the flashlight on the table.

Dr. Deng struggled to prop himself up against the table edge, fumbled, and hugged the flashlight. Even he was afraid Xu Huo would recklessly turn on the light again.

”If you like it, take it. I have plenty more,” Xu Huo said.

Dr. Deng stopped crying. ”Why did you prepare so many flashlights?”

”Afraid of the dark.” A perfectly valid reason.

Dr. Deng was left speechless and could only say nervously, ”Let’s all stay calm and finish this ride peacefully.”

”Uncle, aren’t you afraid of the mutants?” In the darkness, Vivi asked.

”Terrified,” Xu Huo turned his head towards her, showing a kind smile. ”But when I think so many people are here with me... it’s not a loss.”

”So Uncle really is sick,” Vivi said without much emotion.

After a few more minutes of silence, Vivi’s parents stood up, pulled open the carriage door, and walked out. Seconds later, waves of uproarious laughter rose from the carriages behind. Even amidst the fierce fighting, the laughter didn’t disappear, only gradually diminishing as the number of people decreased.

Half an hour later, the players in the opposite carriage were either dead or had fled. That pair of parents didn’t pursue them into the connecting carriage but returned to the first-class carriage.