Players, Please Board the Train

After they entered, the escort personnel didn’t completely seal off the connecting carriage. Instead, they used an item to create a transparent water wall between the two carriages.

The water wall, made from a thin layer of flowing water, not only had defensive capabilities but could also automatically dismantle any defensive walls the players in Carriage One tried to erect. This ultimately forced them to abandon blocking the line of sight, only sealing off the other sides of the carriage.

Carriage Two’s side remained sealed with a metal wall, while the scroll in Carriage One was replaced by a huge wooden box. It was unclear what kind of mechanism was outside, but inside was a massive turning wheel. As the Short-haired Female Player pushed it, the sound of clacking mechanical movement rang out from outside. At the same time, the Mutant tide outside also surged onto the train!

The entire train stalled for an instant, as if overloaded, but it quickly began moving forward again, though its speed was greatly reduced.

The item in Carriage One kept turning, and the continuous sound of puncturing flesh and skin echoed from outside, like a meat grinder. It would even get jammed due to the Mutants outside.

”There are too many Mutants,” someone said as the turning wheel gradually became stuck as well. What made the situation worse was that special Mutants appeared outside again, and the items in Carriage One and Carriage Two sustained damage once more.

”If this continues, the train might not make it to the next station,” Xu Huo remarked at this moment.

This was also a concern for the other players, so the Tattooed Player put on a protective mask and took out a bottle of potion.

The other escorts also donned protective masks. Xu Huo originally planned to share his stored protective face shields with Dr. Deng, but Dr. Deng produced two laboratory-grade protective face shields instead. ”These are specially supplied for the lab, usually unavailable outside. Using these is safest.”

Xu Huo complied and took one. After putting it on, he saw the Tattooed Player open the potion and aimed it at the crack above, blowing the gas out.Several Mutants that had been clawing at the crack immediately let out agonized screams, struggling to retreat from the gap. However, this potion seemed to have another effect. Soon, the sound of the Mutants outside beginning to cannibalize their own kind could be heard. Similarly, the Mutants that had eaten their kin exhibited symptoms of pain and madness, only to be devoured by other Mutants in turn.

The stomping sounds overhead indicated that the effect of that potion spread like a plague. Within a few short minutes, a brief calm settled over Carriage Two, while the attacks on Carriage One grew increasingly fierce.

”These Mutants aren’t stupid either,” Vivi said with a laugh. She then released several smoky little insects from the crack. As her face turned pale, the Mutants outside began lining up and jumping off the tracks. Coincidentally, the area the train was passing through had cliffs on both sides; once they went down, there was no coming back up.

”That’s good. With no way on either side, there shouldn’t be any more Mutants boarding...” Dr. Deng cautiously peeked out through the crack, but the next second, his eyes widened and he stumbled back two steps in shock. ”Winged Mutants!”

Xu Huo had better eyesight. With just one glance, he saw a swarm of creatures resembling prehistoric pterodactyls swooping in from outside the tracks!

”Boom!” The first Mutant slammed into the train. Pitch-black blood and a kind of pus-green adhesive mucus splashed in through the cracks, landing on nearby tables and chairs. It actually dissolved small indentations on the metal surfaces!

”This type of Mutant is an evolved version of a mutated bat. The venom it carries is highly corrosive and can melt metal... Generally, unless specially guided, this kind of Mutant doesn’t usually appear near the tracks!” Dr. Deng said, holding his head.

How the Mutants got here was self-explanatory, but the key point was that these things were plastered onto the carriage exterior layer after layer like paper, almost all engaging in suicidal attacks. They would pounce and automatically spew mucus. Even standing inside the carriage, one could feel the metal outside melting!

The players in Carriage Two didn’t show much change in expression, but the faces of the seven players in Carriage One gradually grew grave.

This wasn’t just a problem of item and characteristic depletion. The sheer number of Mutants being lured one after another was simply too vast. It was impossible for them to kill them all or rely on defensive items to hold out until dawn!

In just a few minutes, the defensive items in Carriage One were melted full of holes. Vivi and the others had no choice but to fully arm themselves, preparing for a hard fight. Just as they finished putting on their protective suits, the first Mutant breached the defenses and entered, pouncing on the Short-haired Female Player with extreme speed!

The female player was slammed against the opposite side of the carriage. When her back touched the mucus, the outer layer of her protective suit was immediately dissolved. She blew the Mutant’s head off with a gunshot, but before she could even stand up straight, another Mutant outside reached through a hole made by an item and clawed through her protective suit. The corrosive mucus it got on her made her cry out in pain. Before she could react, she was pinned down by another Mutant that had pounced in!

The other players were also entangled by Mutants. After Vivi’s father killed the Mutant grappling with him, he took out an item resembling a beehive. Several miniature bees crawled out from it, flying onto the other Mutants inside the carriage. With several ”boom” sounds, the Mutants’ heads were blown open.

Vivi and the others worked together to throw the Mutant corpses out and used items to patch the holes in the carriage. However, the item serving as the carriage shell was already riddled with holes. Plugging one spot meant another would be left unblocked. It was only a matter of time before the Mutants swarmed in.

At this point, Vivi’s mother looked towards Carriage Two. She took a swift step forward, her body enveloped in a rainbow-colored red light as she used a small knife, not even as long as a finger, to slash through the water wall defense.

The barrier between the two carriages was broken, but the moment her foot stepped inside, her body was instantly compressed into a bloody, mangled pulp in the next second. The fluid that flew out splattered right onto the faces of the two players following behind her, who had wanted to take refuge in Carriage Two!

The two players’ expressions changed drastically. Without even having time to wipe the stuff off their protective face shields, they hastily retreated.

At that moment, Mutants poured into the carriage one after another, and the remaining six players were plunged into a bitter struggle once more.

These people weren’t without real skill. Almost every one of them possessed items with large-scale killing power. However, the narrow carriage wasn’t suitable for wide-open, unrestrained combat. Not only was it easy to accidentally injure companions, but it also prevented the items from displaying their true effectiveness.

Yet, they also didn’t dare to completely dismantle the item serving as the carriage shell, because the dimensional train might be traversing space-disordered areas. If they went out, they could be swept away by air currents or Mutants. Once separated from the train, there was almost no hope of survival!

Thus, these six people remained on the train with great difficulty under these circumstances.

What seemed like a prolonged fight actually only lasted over ten minutes. Xu Huo could see that Vivi and the others were consciously conserving items, choosing to engage the Mutants in direct melee combat instead. However, as a new round of high-frequency sound rang out from the direction of the locomotive, a brand-new type of Mutant appeared on the train, their pairs of crimson eyes seeming to glow on their own!

”It’s the car-slaughtering monster!” Vivi cried out from the front. ”Such terrible luck!”