Chapter 258: Train No. 444-21

Chapter 258: Train No. 444-21

The Third almost dropped his jaw in shock!

There was no need to ask any more questions; he had been thoroughly deceived. Until just now, The Third hadn't imagined things would turn out this way.

"Third Brother," Baiqiu looked at The Third with sympathy.

The Third swallowed hard and, with trembling lips, instructed, "Go, use the remaining money to buy towels and blankets, then we'll return to Carriage 11."

Back to Carriage 11, to face the thunderous wrath.

Of course, The Third didn't want Zhou Yong and Butterfly to know about this, but it was impossible to hide it from them.

Not to mention anything else, the guild channel was always open, and every word of their conversation had already been clearly transmitted to those two.

The Third's face turned ashen.

...

Before the cold wave officially arrived, the Black Feather and Dark Fire groups moved to the rear half of the train.

Carriage 7 was already crowded, without any available seats, so they continued walking towards the back.

They walked all the way to the end of Carriage 9, where Qin Fei saw The Third and Zhou Yong.

The two were huddled together, looking like they had lost their closest relatives, each bearing injuries that painted a colorful picture of bruises and welts, indicating they had suffered greatly.

Seeing this, Lu Cheng couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Butterfly is quite ruthless, not even giving his own men a towel; he must be planning to freeze them to death directly," he commented, smacking his lips.

Qin Fei slightly curled the corner of his mouth, "He won't do that."

Although these two looked miserable now, the cold wave hadn't arrived yet.

Butterfly merely wanted to give them a lesson and vent some anger.

But he wouldn't really watch them die.

After all, once the cold wave ends, players will continue on to the next instance.

It was said that Butterfly had put in a lot of effort for this guild competition and had declared long ago that he aimed for one of the top three spots on the guild leaderboard.

However, no one expected that the key to winning this competition would appear just a third of the way through.

It was too sudden, catching everyone off guard.

All of Butterfly's preparations were in vain; none of the puppets he arranged could join him, and he only had two somewhat useful people and two ordinary guild members by his side.

With so few usable people, Butterfly wouldn't recklessly harm his own members anymore.

Qin Fei lightly clicked his tongue, feeling a faint sense of regret.

Xiong Li patted Lu Cheng's shoulder forcefully, "Instead of worrying about those guys, we should worry about ourselves."

The approaching cold wave was truly unsettling to think about.

"Huh, there's nothing to worry about."

As they passed by Zhou Yong, Lu Cheng didn't even glance at him, seemingly engrossed in talking to Xiong Li.

He took out his blanket from his personal space, holding it close. The light brown fleece looked exceptionally warm under the car lights.

"Anyway, we have blankets, and our food supplies are ample; whoever dies, it won't be us."

Lu Cheng emphasized the word "die," successfully earning a venomous glare from The Third and Zhou Yong.

This glare didn't scare Lu Cheng; instead, it made him feel great.

Mi Yang chuckled along and gave Lu Cheng a thumbs up.

The main force of Black Feather sat down in Carriage 10 with arrogance, and Lu Cheng used his skill to relay information:

"The back of Carriage 12 only has Butterfly and a few others. It seems the people in Carriage 11 are contacting Carriage 12; they might be players bought by the Butterfly Guild."

No wonder everyone was crowding to the front; it turned out the back seats were taken.

In this vast train of strange tales, the three major guilds gathered, but none had the same grandeur as Butterfly's.

It wasn't that they couldn't, but rather that it wasn't necessary.

The rules world changes rapidly, and the least trustworthy thing in an instance is human hearts. A temporary alliance is like a tattered old fishing net, full of holes.

"The more Butterfly makes a show, the more he reveals his inner weakness," Cui Wenxuan pointed out sharply.

Butterfly has always been arrogant and rarely cooperates with other players in the strange tales. His behavior now is different because he is panicking.

The train sped forward, and the wind outside grew louder. The windows rattled in their frames, as if they might shatter at any moment.

At nine o'clock in the evening, the train stopped on schedule.

At the end of the dining car, the carriage door slammed shut, followed by the sound of chains dragging.

"They're starting to unload the front carriages," Qin Fei said, slightly lowering his eyes to look outside.

Even in Carriage 10, he chose a window seat. Sitting by the window gave Qin Fei a slight sense of comfort, even though the view outside the train was always pitch black.

About five minutes later, snow began to fall outside the window.

Finally, the scenery outside the window changed, and Qin Fei sat up straight with great interest to admire the snow.

At first, it was just tiny, salt-like snowflakes.

Soon, it turned into heavy, fluffy snow.

The snowflakes swirled and slammed against the car window, and Qin Fei noticed that fine scratches were appearing on the glass.

...Was this snow or knives falling?

"Damn!" came Lu Cheng's curse from beside him. "Why is it so cold?"

The temperature drop exceeded the players' expectations. It had only been less than a minute since the snow started, yet the perceived temperature inside the train had rapidly dropped from a comfortable ten degrees to near zero.

High-level players usually carried various types of clothing to cope with different scenarios in different instances, and many had already taken out their winter coats.

However, these clothes, which should have provided excellent insulation, seemed to be of little use at the moment.

Lu Cheng wrapped himself in a thick jacket but still shivered uncontrollably.

"Is it really this cold at zero degrees?" Lu Cheng muttered.

Gala held a detector in his hand. "It's already minus seven degrees."

The temperature drop was terrifying. In just a short while, a thin layer of snow had accumulated outside the windows.

The connections between the carriages were leaking air, blowing away the players sitting nearby. But even when they moved to other seats, the windows were also leaking air.

Cold drafts seeped into the car like snakes, coiling around the players' faces, leaving a sticky, icy sensation.

Qin Fei had taken out a blanket early and wrapped himself in it.

He didn't feel any of the cold that Lu Cheng complained about; the soft, fluffy blanket felt like a continuously burning stove.

Qin Fei's entire body felt warm, as if he had become a cup of hot chocolate in a warm room, incredibly comfortable.

Members of Black Feather and Dark Fire each had a blanket, and even the temporary team members enjoyed this privilege.

A group of them sat close together, and from a distance, the brown, fluffy blankets formed a continuous patch, drawing envious and jealous glances.

The blankets weren't too expensive, and most players had enough money, but this item wasn't something you could buy just because you had the money.

The stewardess sold only thirty blankets at a time.

Before 8:00, the stewardess was delayed by the players in Carriage 1, meaning there were only sixty blankets circulating in the train, excluding those in Carriage 1.

Many players only had small towels, unable to wrap themselves entirely like with a blanket. They could barely cover their bodies.

Covering their necks left their heads exposed, and covering their bodies left their knees freezing.

The Source of Pollution sat among players who were either bundled up like bears or shivering, looking like an anomaly. The man wore a not-too-thick black trench coat, revealing his slender neck.

Just looking at him made Lu Cheng's eyes twitch, but the NPC seemed completely unaffected, his fingers moving lightly... peeling an orange??

Lu Cheng: "???"

What was he doing at a time like this!

And where did he get the orange??

After peeling the orange, the Source of Pollution naturally handed it to Qin Fei, who lazily took it from within his blanket and popped a piece into his mouth.

The corner of Carriage 10 was relaxed and peaceful, but the other players were far from comfortable.

Those with towels could barely manage, but some players who hadn't managed to grab anything had already started losing health.

"Damn!" came an angry curse from afar, audible even through two carriages. "The health potions are starting to fail!"

In the extreme environment created by the urban legend, the effects of the players' health potions were greatly reduced.

Someone shouted loudly, "Does anyone have food for sale? Anything will do!"

"Snap!"

The response was a crisp sound of something breaking.

"The light in Carriage 9 has gone out," reported Lu Cheng. However, this report wasn't necessary because soon, all the lights in the train began to break and go out one after another.

What was happening?

Players looked at each other in confusion and alarm.

Some hastily took out lighting devices, while others stealthily stole towels from their neighbors in the darkness.

"Who stole my stuff?!" the unlucky player jumped up from his seat!

Amidst the chaos, a shout came from Carriage 6: "The stewardess has appeared!"

The stewardess has appeared!

Was she here to sell something again?

Someone immediately perked up and rushed forward, but the stewardess didn't even glance at him.

She walked around, looking left and right as if searching for someone. When a player tried to stop her, she simply sidestepped.

She continued walking until she reached Carriage 10, and upon seeing Qin Fei, the stewardess finally smiled.

"I finally found you," she said, quickly approaching Qin Fei. "The train has entered an extremely cold area, and many devices on board have frozen and broken. You must be very cold. I've brought you something that might help."

In full view of everyone, the attendant took out a lamp.

It was an old-fashioned oil lamp, not too large, with an orange-yellow flame flickering within a glass shade wrapped in copper wire, resembling a sun rising slowly in the darkness.

Qin Fei reached out to take it: "Thank you so much, I really needed this."

This was probably the invisible reward for achieving the highest NPC favorability within the strange tale.

Zhou Yong, watching from the corner of the carriage, nearly twisted his nose in anger!