"Is that so? That’s truly heartbreaking," Xu Xiaoyou said in a sentimental tone, lowering her head.
Angelina ignored the affected Xu Xiaoyou. Standing on the roof, she looked back at the pitch-black, freezing sea. The pods of flat-fronted tusk whales lurked beneath the surface, letting out mournful cries around their dead kin.
Deep under the sea, a pair of crimson eyes locked onto her. Indescribable sorrow and rage flowed within the eyes of that oceanic king.
The previously calm sea became turbulent. Dark clouds spread from the distance, accompanied by howling winds. Amidst lightning and thunder, siren tentacles hundreds of feet high shot into the sky, churning up vast waves. The approaching mountains of water were so high their peaks were invisible, piercing straight into the gloomy firmament!
The rumbling thunder descended, and the wind and waves converged toward the Kui-niu. Before the divine wrath of natural power, everything in the world became wild!
"It seems their king is angry."
Angelina leaned on her lance, gazing into the distance.
"Take care of yourself for the time being."
"I won't be able to look out for you."
Xu Xiaoyou noticed the apocalyptic scene outside the window. The passengers in the carriage were still in a deep sleep, with no alarm systems sounding to warn of the approaching crisis.
Angelina flashed an arrogant smile. She lifted the tip of her lance, sweeping it through the hidden air to draw a lethal arc.
She pointed directly at the oceanic king, whose silhouette was faint amidst the storm clouds. The black fur-collared coat danced wildly on the girl's shoulders.
"Hunting the king of the flat-fronted tusk whales? I’m looking forward to it."
"Use all your strength to struggle. Don't let me down!"
The storm over the sea ceased. Wind and waves receded. The moon was like a silver plate, and scales shimmered like starlight. The sea surface was as calm as usual, with not a ripple in sight.
Everything returned to its original state, as if the previous oceanic disaster and the apocalyptic vision were merely Xu Xiaoyou's hallucinations. Only the silver-haired girl’s presence had vanished into the distance.
Xu Xiaoyou withdrew her gaze, placed the immersion device on her head, and reloaded Oasis.
A flash of multicolored light passed before her eyes. Blurred black dots appeared at the edges of her vision, like tiny swarming insects.
As the dizziness brought by the halo gradually receded, Xu Xiaoyou shook her head and took in her surroundings.
She appeared to be in a small room. Dark red moonlight spilled in. A picture frame sat on the bedside table, the woman's face in the photo blurred by the light.
This should be the room of the doctor she was playing.
The alarm clock on the wall ticked away. Xu Xiaoyou looked at it; it was 11:30 PM.
There was still half an hour before the main quest began.
Xu Xiaoyou walked to the bedside table and picked up the woman's photo.
The photo looked quite old, with yellow stains from oxidation lining the edges. It seemed to be a photo of the doctor with a woman. The woman's features could no longer be clearly seen. The photo wasn't taken on the train; it was in a forest, looking somewhat dazzling amidst the dappled sunlight.
【Dungeon Item: Photo of the Doctor's Wife.】
【Quality: Dim (White).】
【Description: A photo of his wife? The gender of the 'Doctor' in the dungeon has not been mentioned.】
【Clue 'Photo of the Doctor's Wife' has been added to the notebook and can be viewed at any time.】
She put the photo back.
Xu Xiaoyou also noticed a potted plant on the windowsill, growing bright cinnabar-red flowers. She felt like she had seen this flower somewhere before.
She remembered. It was in the laboratory. The glass petri dishes there were filled with these bright cinnabar-red flowers.
The researchers' experimental logs had mentioned this plant, called the 'Akabane camellia'.
Xu Xiaoyou continued searching the room. Finally, in a white research lab coat hanging on the wall, she found a common staple of horror mystery games—a diary.
Who in their right mind in the real world keeps a diary?
After a brief internal complaint, Xu Xiaoyou opened the diary to the first page. Since the diary was quite old, the paper was rough and fragile, threatening to crumble at the slightest touch. She had to turn the pages very carefully.
On the yellowed pages, Xu Xiaoyou could barely make out the handwriting.
【June 13, 1376.】
【The weather today is quite decent. Perhaps it's because Lena looks so happy when she smiles that I feel the weather is good. Due to magnetic field disturbances, the St. Punier had to stop and rest in a mountain gorge. No one knows where we are. Perhaps on the Huan-Asia Continent, perhaps at the Cape of Eternal Hope on the Ofei Continent, or maybe the Melsen Strait in a corner of South Lija. Who knows.】
【June 27, 1376.】
【The train still hasn't started. To be honest, the situation is terrible. We've been trapped here for half a month. We don't have to worry about food resources; the existing reserves on the train are enough to sustain everyone for a whole year without going outside. The severe problem we currently face is that most people on the train have fallen ill because they aren't adapted to the local environment. Their immune systems are overloaded, causing persistent high fevers and constant vomiting. Perhaps there are other reasons!】
【I heard from the patients that they hear singing coming from the valley—melodious, beautiful singing, like a flute. This is very bad. I'm worried about their mental state because neither I, nor Lena, nor many of the transport team members have heard the singing they speak of.】
【The people from the Traidy family want to figure out where we are. The archaeology team on the train has to stop here to monitor the water quality and survey the geology and soil. God, I hope everything will be okay.】
【July 15, 1376.】
【Without my pen, everyone on the archaeology team would be numb to the passage of time. It's generally believed in psychology that when people face hardships, if they cannot clearly perceive the flow of time, even if they are rescued later, it's easy for them to suffer a series of stress-induced sequelae.】
【We got lost in the primeval forest. The magnetic field here is disturbed, geographic detection tools are useless, and the stars in the sky are invisible. The food and water we carried have vanished. The accompanying doctor is gone, the cook sprained his ankle, and an archaeology expert's wound is infected.】
【Just when we were in despair, we found a settlement of savages. We almost fell into their bear traps. Fortunately, there was a linguistics expert in the archaeology team. Who knows how she did it, but through a few jars, mineral water bottles, and apple cores, she successfully communicated with those savages.】
【The linguistics expert's name is Louise Banks. Her most frequent saying is that language affects a race's thinking patterns; language is the cornerstone of civilization.】
【She said the language we currently possess is extremely backward because it must obey logic and regularity. If one day we can understand the scripts of higher civilizations and successfully cross the shackles of time and space through language, our thinking will also sublimate. We will no longer be restricted by time and space and can gain insight into the past, present, and future.】
【It seems the patients were right. The singing they heard was made by these savages. When people are in a state of delirium, their perception of certain things becomes more acute.】
【In short, those savages bear no ill will towards us. We are saved, for now.】
【Lena and I didn't sleep well tonight.】
【I saw a figure, entirely crimson and abnormally swollen, looking like a person who had been skinned, staring straight at us from not far away. Was he smiling?】
Just as Xu Xiaoyou was about to turn to the next page, a knock sounded at the door. Caitlin's voice came through:
"Doctor, it's time to head out."
【Clue 'Doctor's Diary' has been added to the notebook and can be viewed at any time.】
Xu Xiaoyou responded, silently tucked the diary away, and pushed the door open. She saw the transport team members who had been waiting for a long time, as well as the players with fanatical gazes.
Xu Xiaoyou nodded and waved the suitcase containing the new vaccine in front of the transport team members.
"Let's move out, Dr. Xu. We will ensure your safety."
Leaving the room, they passed through the rear carriages where refugees gathered and arrived at the heavily guarded frontline carriages. No bionic robots could be seen here. Dawn Resistance soldiers patrolling with guns stood in full readiness, nodding to Xu Xiaoyou. A chilling atmosphere of slaughter spread.
As far as the eye could see, many players were huddled together here, accepting faction quests and exchanging severed zombie ears with the quartermaster for supplies.
An excited newbie held up a newly exchanged blue sparrow handgun to show off. A player specializing in the thief class walked past him, casually filching the refined grade weapon worth fifteen zombie ears, giving the newbie a harsh lesson.
Leaving the heavily guarded front line and entering the uncleared areas, the atmosphere instantly became silent and cold. Only the whistling sound of the wind and snow outside the carriages remained.
Sparse footsteps stepped on the steel partitions, the clicking sounds exceptionally crisp. The aura of danger grew and spread freely in the corners.
Occasionally, lone mutants wandered through the carriages, but they were quickly cleared by the transport team members.
Walking in the middle of the group, Xu Xiaoyou sensed countless faint gazes from behind. The newbies, finding everything novel, carried their backpacks as neatly as elementary school students following a teacher on an autumn outing. They curiously looked left and right, secretly taking photos of the blonde girl from all angles with no blind spots.
No kidding, that was a luminous prism grade fixer, the mysterious, powerful, and beautiful 'Dark Gold Rose'. She was an idol many people dreamed of, and now she was appearing right before their eyes. How could they not be excited?
Before long, many close-up videos of 'Dark Gold Rose' were posted on the world forum, sparking a wave of discussion.
Xu Xiaoyou was not affected; she was still thinking about the diary.
What did the events recorded in the diary have to do with this plague on the train?
The primeval forest with the disturbed magnetic field, the savages' singing, the bright and eerie cinnabar-red flowers...
What exactly was that red figure Dr. Xu saw on July 15?
And what exactly happened to Dr. Xu's wife, Lena?
At that moment, Caitlin, walking at the very front, raised a hand in a fist. The transport team members all stopped and remained silent.
"Look ahead," Caitlin said, placing her index finger in front of her lips.
Everyone followed her gaze into the darkness ahead. They saw a thin, small figure, pale and festering all over, crouching with its head in its hands. It let out bursts of mournful, plaintive crying. With disheveled hair, its face could not be seen, but one thing was certain—this creature was definitely infected!
An infected in this form?
Xu Xiaoyou noticed the bruises and needle marks covering the small figure. The children in the laboratory had similar features.
"It hurts so much..."
"Doctor... it hurts..."
"Stop sticking me with needles..."
"I want to go home... Doctor, please let me go home..."
"I want my mommy..."
The next carriage was the train's abandoned water storage area. Large, rust-stained water storage tanks stood tall amidst the gray gloom, and dust swirled in the air.
The high-pitched, thin crying of a child echoed beneath the dark network of pipes. Nearby, sluggish walking corpses wandered past the small figure.
The players at the end of the team were moved. Just as one was about to speak up, Xu Xiaoyou quickly reached out and covered their mouth, placing her index finger on her lips in a gesture for silence.
"It's a screeching horror. Be careful not to disturb it. Move forward by crawling," Caitlin ordered.
Xu Xiaoyou's eyes filled with thought.
It seemed those children were abandoned after failing to survive the experiments. These mutated infected, known as screeching horrors, were the children who had secretly run out before they could be disposed of.
The St. Punier had a total of seven hundred and twenty carriages, arranged from A to Z. Different carriages served different functions: industrial production, water resources, greenhouse cultivation, entertainment, freezing and processing, school education, cargo storage, and so on. Everything was there.
The Traidy Commercial Alliance had spent decades building a large-scale ecosystem on this permanent train that was sufficient for self-circulation.
Before the disaster broke out, the first two hundred and forty carriages were for nobles. Only nobles were qualified to enjoy the entertainment facilities on the train. Commoners gathered in the middle carriages for warmth and were required to work in the train's service industry. Refugees struggled for breath in the rear carriages, only able to exchange survival resources through hard labor.
The group silently crouched and carefully bypassed the screeching horror's location. Dozens of people crawled on the ground.
Under the cover of the large water storage tanks, carrying heavy packs and with their bellies pressed to the floor like frogs, the scene looked somewhat comical from a distance.
The screeching horror suddenly seemed to catch a familiar scent. It snapped its head up and sniffed the air. Its cloudy eyes regained a bit of clarity, revealing endless hatred and madness.
"Doctor?"
The small figure began to move, looking left and right. Its legs, as thin as bamboo poles, passed back and forth in their line of sight. Everyone held their breath, none daring to make a sound, fearing they would be the next one to suffer.
"Doctor..."
"Where are you... You promised me that you'd let me go home and reunite with my mommy... You promised me flowers would bloom in the ruins."
Xu Xiaoyou silently shrank back, thinking that Dr. Xu really had done all kinds of evil, leaving such a mess for her. Had he said those words to all the children?
The thin, small figure vanished from their sight at some point. The plaintive crying also stopped. The faint sound of water flowing through the pipes began, and a few drops of water fell through the gaps onto Xu Xiaoyou's face.
"Has that monster gone?"
"It seems so..."
The group let out a sigh of relief. A cold wind blew from nowhere, lightly caressing Xu Xiaoyou's neck. A faint voice entered her ears.
"Doctor."
Xu Xiaoyou scanned her surroundings. She saw a look of bewilderment and confusion on the faces of the transport team members; it wasn't clear who had just called out to her.
Then, she quickly realized something. With an expressionless face, she looked up. A large, swollen face suddenly burst into her view!
Saliva dripped from the gaps in the steel partition. The cloudy pupils were bloodshot, and the wide-open mouth was full of sharp teeth connected by strands of bloody saliva.
"I found you, Doctor."
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