Chapter 244 Train No. 444 – Part 7

Chapter 244 Train No. 444 - Part 7

The so-called "ticket inspection" that the players had been waiting for turned out to be here!

The rotting corpses flooded into the train car, and the players from Black Feather and Dark Fire suddenly bolted like greased lightning, leaving a group of people behind with bewildered faces.

The five members of the temporary team didn't catch what the rotting corpses said, but seeing their strong allies run, they quickly followed suit.

"What's going on?!" The leader of Carriage No. 3, Zeng Huan, grabbed the collar of a player beside him, but how could that person answer his question?

The rotting corpses entering the carriage did not attack humans; instead, they wandered between rows of seats as if searching for their designated spots.

Zeng Huan watched this scene, his face growing paler by the second.

"Hurry..." He finally understood why the players from the major guilds were in such a rush.

He struggled to open his mouth and issued an order: "Hurry back to your own seats! Find the seat numbers printed on your tickets!"

After saying this, Zeng Huan immediately rushed to the seat indicated on his ticket.

The carriage was filled with rotting corpses. The players, who had originally gathered together, now had to disperse and squeeze through the crowd of corpses.

Their exposed arms brushed against the slimy, decaying flesh of the corpses, the wet and cold sensation making Zeng Huan's scalp tingle.

But this wasn't even the worst part.

In Carriage No. 3, two people still stood helplessly in place, unsure where to go.

...

The members of Black Feather and Dark Fire moved swiftly, returning to the first two carriages in no time.

Qin Fei looked back; the rotting corpses had already filled the aisle behind them. If they hadn't run fast enough, they would have been surrounded by now.

Qin Fei's ticket read "01-22," a window seat. After finding his seat, the source of contamination sat next to him.

Qin Fei glanced at His hand—long fingers, empty palm. Yet, the man's expression remained calm, showing no concern over the missing ticket.

The train didn't stay at the platform for long. About five minutes later, it jolted, and the wheels rolled forward again.

All the players in the two carriages had taken their seats.

Except one.

A member of the temporary team stood in the middle of the aisle in Carriage No. 2, wearing a smile more miserable than tears.

"What... what should we do?" he turned to look at his teammates.

Being a hastily formed team, no one was willing to risk their lives for him. The nearest person looked away, unable to bear the sight.

Most of the rotting corpses had squeezed into their seats, creating some space around the man, but he couldn't relax at all.

He looked out the window; the fog outside grew thicker, obscuring everything along the tracks. But for some reason, this time he could see clearly.

Not far ahead was a pitch-black tunnel.

Clank—clank—

As the train entered the tunnel, the world outside turned from gray to ink-black, as if the train had entered an endless night rather than a tunnel.

The rotting corpses in the seats lowered their heads, eyes closed, as if asleep.

However, the rotting corpses still in the aisle suddenly became agitated!

Their eyes widened, glowing a shocking red. A sense of panic rose in the male player in the aisle: "Don't come any closer, don't come any closer!"

His threats were meaningless. The wandering rotting corpses visibly grew more violent.

They showed no interest in the seated players but all turned to look at the man standing in the aisle.

The closest one opened its mouth, a stench wafting out. Its sharp teeth, like steel nails, seemed about to pierce the player's skull.

The man's face turned deathly pale, but thankfully, he could still control his body.

He activated a translucent shield to reduce damage, then pulled out a steel pipe from the store, gritted his teeth, and mustered the courage to smash it onto the head of the rotting corpse opposite him!

Qin Fei's seat was not far from Carriage No. 2, giving him a clear view of the battle from a diagonal angle.

He squinted his eyes.

The rotting corpses on the train looked no different from when they first appeared at the station, but their combat power seemed to have increased significantly.

At the station, the rotting corpses moved slowly and lacked targeted attacks, behaving like confused beasts tearing at the air aimlessly.

Now, however, they seemed to have gained intelligence.

The narrow aisle made attacking difficult, so five rotting corpses surrounded the male player, closing in step by step.

The man was drenched in sweat!

Before boarding, he had also encountered rotting corpses up close. He managed to stay calm because he thought these creatures weren't too hard to deal with.

The previous rotting corpses were strong but had very brittle skin, disintegrating easily upon attack.

Though not a combat talent player, he had decent reflexes and had imagined that if the third announcement came after thirty minutes and the rotting corpses boarded, he could handle it alone for half an hour.

But now—

A massive shadow approached, bringing a chilling intent to kill. The player reacted quickly, dodging the attack and striking back with the steel pipe!

The silver steel pipe smashed through the decaying skin and muscles, landing heavily on the corpse's skull.

*Bang!*

The reaction force shook the player's wrist, causing it to tremble slightly, but in the end, only a light gray mark appeared on the monster's head.

The scalp of the corpse was torn, with cracks appearing on the side of its skull. The scalp could no longer contain the rich internal organs, and grayish-white brain matter mixed with various solid objects oozed out, dripping down limply.

Yet, this did not affect the corpse's mobility at all.

These monsters seemed to have suddenly been reinforced, possessing a framework as strong as steel. Breaking their skin and flesh did not damage their core, and even if they were reduced to mere skeletons, the corpses could still move freely.

The player swung the steel pipe wildly. There were still a few empty seats left in the carriage, and he retreated towards one of them, but it was useless; the corpse continued to focus its attacks on him alone.

Simply sitting down was pointless; one needed a ticket.

The player was forced to stand up again. He had not given up and continued to fight the corpse, but as soon as one monster was pushed back, another immediately took its place.

Under relentless attacks, the player was quickly caught off guard.

A corpse lunged forward, biting fiercely into his arm!

Damn it!!!

The pain of torn muscle made the player gasp for breath, blood splattering across the floor. The despair in his eyes was almost palpable.

In Carriage 2, the other players watched in horror as the unfortunate man suffered, fearing that any moment he might be torn to shreds.

Qin Fei leaned lazily against the back of his seat, his amber eyes half-closed, silently observing the scene unfolding ahead.

Although the monsters in Carriage 1 had not gone berserk, the stench of blood and decay in the carriage was overwhelming, making people want to vomit.

Qin Fei endured it for a long time but finally could not help but wrinkle his nose slightly.

This tale was truly... not very appealing.

A hand extended from beside him, offering a handkerchief.

Qin Fei glanced at the source of the pollution, took the handkerchief, unfolded it, and saw a vivid black rose blooming in the corner.

The young man covered his mouth and nose with the handkerchief without showing any expression.

Apart from the five corpses attacking the player, there were a few scattered monsters wandering in the aisle. Qin Fei's movement attracted the attention of one of the monsters, which stumbled over and bent down to sniff the more exposed source of pollution.

The source of pollution did not have a ticket, but it was clearly not of the same kind as the struggling human player.

Before the corpse could get close, it suddenly recoiled as if electrocuted, jumping nearly half a meter away and knocking over another approaching monster.

The involuntarily involved monster let out an angry roar, but the first corpse completely ignored the roar and ran away in fear, even going directly to the second carriage.

The red-haired female player in the temporary team turned her head to check the commotion behind her, and upon seeing this, she couldn't help but be puzzled.

What's going on???

Due to the distance and angle, she couldn't see the whole picture, but based on what she observed, she pieced together what had happened:

It seemed that one of the monsters wanted to attack those two people from Black Feather.

Then...

It got scared away.

Did those two do anything?

The red-haired player thought carefully and concluded: No, they didn't do anything.

From the moment the corpse bent down to when it fled, only two seconds had passed.

Could it be—

A somewhat bold guess formed in the red-haired player's mind.

In the nearly ten minutes that had passed, none of the seated players had been attacked.

But people always cherish their lives, especially when the miserable fate of the unfortunate player was being broadcast right before everyone's eyes. No player would dare provoke the monsters.

The red-haired player looked at the unfortunate man; he looked even worse than before, bleeding profusely from his head.

If no one helped him, he would surely die.

Thinking about this, the red-haired player bit her lip.

She whispered a few words to Wen Tao nearby, who frowned deeply, seemingly pondering and weighing the situation, but ultimately nodded with determination.

Then, the red-haired player took a deep breath.

She shouted loudly to her temporary teammate in the aisle, "Penggang! Come here! Join us!"

"What is she trying to do?"

In the Black Feather guild channel, Lu Cheng asked curiously, "Is she planning to give her ticket to that person and take his place for a while?"

That's too... kind.

Almost naive.

After all, they were just a team hastily formed after the tale began. How much trust could they really have in each other?

In the face of true life and death, would that seemingly smooth-talking player be worth trusting?

Perhaps if he had obtained her ticket, he wouldn't have returned it.

In Carriage 2, apart from the temporary team, there were also three other players from Dark Fire who were originally in this carriage.

Those people would never risk their lives to help them.

Moreover, the redhead's method of swapping tickets might not even work.

Perhaps the players, tickets, and seats had already been bound together after the first correspondence.

Lu Cheng shook his head while seated.

Qin Fei still held the handkerchief given to him by the source of contamination.

The handkerchief was made of an unknown fabric, soft to the touch, and emitted a faint scent of roses, which helped to neutralize the overwhelming stench of decay in the carriage.

Qin Fei looked up toward the direction where the redhead player was sitting.

Glasses Wen Tao was quite close to the redhead, with only one rotting corpse between them.

That rotting corpse was sound asleep, completely unaffected by the commotion they had caused.

So that's how it is.

The young man suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Qin Fei did not believe that the redhead would be as kind-hearted as Lu Cheng speculated.

Such a selfless act could easily push the player into peril, and the redhead did not seem like someone so foolish.

As for what she intended to do,

after seeing the seating arrangement of the redhead and Wen Tao, Qin Fei had already guessed most of it.