Players, Please Board the Train

The scenery along the tracks was almost monotonous, no wind, no sound of animals or plants, beautiful and serene like a blueprint.

It was already approaching eight o’clock in the evening. Darkness near the tracks didn’t follow the normal gradual sunset process; day to night could switch in an instant.

”Do you think Mutants will show up here after dark?” a female player asked.

”Probably not,” someone said. ”Isn’t this area surrounded by water? Unless Mutants can swim or have developed fish-like functions, but from what I know, Mutants that have degenerated to that level aren’t very strong in combat.”

”Regardless, we shouldn’t light any lamps tonight,” the elderly man from Xu Huo’s carriage said. ”That way everyone stays safe.”

No one objected.

In less than twenty minutes, the bright sky suddenly dimmed, transitioning to complete darkness within seconds.

”So dark,” Yan Jiayu said.

It was pitch black, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Even players could only determine others’ positions by breathing sounds and the airflow from movement. To avoid unnecessary conflict, everyone chose to stay in their original spots.

Xu Huo was positioned at the edge. To his and Yan Jiayu’s left were the male players who had been playing cards in their carriage earlier that day. Since they had left early, they occupied the middle position of three carriages, and everyone had survived.To his right were the elderly man and the knitting woman, those two female players, and beyond them were people from other carriages. The injured player and the middle-aged woman were in the center.

After what had happened before, everyone naturally assumed the middle was safer than the edges, so the center was more crowded while the sides were sparse.

The tracks weren’t much wider than a train carriage. Sitting back-to-back or face-to-face wasn’t very safe, so most chose to sit in the center of the tracks, and no other players were allowed in front or behind.

Looking forward along the tracks, Xu Huo saw a female player take out a piece of dried meat and start eating.

The sound of chewing and the faint scent drew the attention of those nearby. Some players instinctively looked in her direction. The female player also noticed and said with a smile, ”Is anyone hungry?”

It was normal for Player-Eaters to be on the train. Even the most righteous person wouldn’t attack her at a time like this. Everyone remained silent. The female player snorted and continued eating on her own.

But soon, the expressions of two or three people in the group changed, and in the darkness, they showed greedy, intoxicated looks at those sitting beside them.

Within just a few minutes, the atmosphere became tense.

”Click!” With a sound, light suddenly appeared in the middle of the tracks. Bright illumination instantly covered a radius of nearly a hundred meters. The train operations director who had used the illumination item patted the lamp. ”Everyone, don’t worry. There are no Mutants nearby because the environment in this space the tracks pass through is extremely harsh. Even Mutants that can prey on their own kind would starve to death here. The light won’t bring any danger.”

A player suddenly stood up. ”You say so and we’re just supposed to believe it? What if not all the Mutants here are dead? If you actually attract Mutants, are you dragging us all to die with you?”

The other players stayed quiet because the staff members beside the train operations director all turned in unison to look at this male player.

”Idiot, risking your life over a bite to eat,” a player wearing a skull-patterned baseball cap sneered.

The train operations director definitely knew more about the conditions around the tracks than the players did. Since they couldn’t leave, and they dared to confidently turn on the lights, it meant there was no risk, or the risk was minimal enough that they could handle it. In such a situation, having light was safe for everyone. What was the point of objecting? Wasn’t it just admitting guilt?

”What did you say!” The player turned around.

”I said you’re an idiot,” the Baseball Cap player said with a grin. ”No one else objects to the lights, but you’re the only one making a fuss. Are you trying to do something while no one can see? Or are you so hungry you’ve lost your mind?”

A female player with pink hair who was playing a game nearby looked up at the man. ”Player-Eaters better keep their tails between their legs. Haven’t you learned that by now?”

The male player sneered and raised his finger pointing at the pink-haired woman. It was unclear what item he used, but a pink bubble barrier rose beside the pink-haired woman. The barrier was struck by an invisible force, creating a small vortex, and the next instant, the male player’s feet were pierced through by iron spikes that shot up from the ground!

The male player let out a scream, then yanked his feet free. Swinging both hands, he clamped four different small items between his fingers and was about to hurl them at the pink-haired woman when a transparent cylinder covered with water droplets descended over him from behind. Like gel, once the male player was sealed inside, he became a standing mannequin frozen in place. His eyes could be seen struggling to move sideways, and then blood burst from his entire body. In an instant, he went from a whole person to a blood-soaked figure in a bubble.

It looked like the man had been squeezed flat.

The transparent cylinder was withdrawn, and standing behind him was a train staff member.

The train operations director said meaningfully, ”Everyone who works on the train has a special skill.”

No one tried to fight after that. Everyone sat obediently in place to rest, including that arrogant female player who had been eating.

”The staff on the train used to be players too, right?” Yan Jiayu said. ”I wonder how they got to work on the train.”

”I heard that people who can work on the train are all veteran players from old wormhole points who’ve gone through long-term training,” the elderly man stepped in to explain again. ”Those wormhole points entered the game early, and many people were born in the game world. From the time they could understand anything, all they knew was a world of superpowers, so they don’t feel any aversion at all. Coming to work on the train is the same as when I applied for a job before I became a player.”

”Really, no aversion?” the unfortunate-looking male player leaned in. ”The game world is completely abnormal, isn’t it? Didn’t anyone resist?”

”Just compare it to the old world and you’ll understand. People get used to things. When unfair things happen, only a minority complain. Most people just want to survive,” the elderly man said. ”Whether it was then or now, it’s all the same.”

The difference was that people used to be accustomed to petty theft, and now they were accustomed to murder cases.

That was just the general environment.

”If only the game didn’t exist,” the unfortunate-looking one sighed. ”I used to stay up all night playing games before, but now just hearing the word ’game’ makes me want to throw up.”

”You’re still young, who knows how things will change in the future?” the elderly man said with a smile. ”Terminal illnesses that were incurable before are now no different from a common cold. Someone like me, who was already on death’s door, can live at least another ten or twenty years. You can never predict these things.”

”When was the earliest game born?” Xu Huo interjected. ”Was it a century ago?”

The elderly man shook his head slightly. ”That, I wouldn’t know. But I’ve heard that there’s a game partition at the C9 wormhole point that places great importance on time. The clock makers there record time generation after generation. Maybe they know the origin of game time.”