Chapter 1321: This Time the Xenomorph Activity Time is Thirty Seconds
After the long-robed man left, the carriage fell silent again, especially once the two doors at the front closed. Many people visibly relaxed. Although most of the passengers on the train were of the same level, it was still possible to run into one or two higher-level players by sheer bad luck. If that happened, "unlucky" wouldn't even begin to describe it, especially since the train wasn't like an instance dungeon.
"That should be a B-level player, right?" someone said. "In just that short time, everyone in the same carriage is dead."
The purple-eyed woman and her group who escaped naturally didn't count.
"B-level players should go do B-level instances. Why are they crowding onto a C-level train..."
Grumbling aside, no one made any more moves after that. Players of the same level might be evenly matched, but if someone was clearly much stronger than you, wouldn't provoking them be asking for death?
The rest of the journey was bathed in moonlight. When the lights came on the next day, the sky switched back to daytime. However, the scenery outside the train was no longer as magnificent as before, instead turning into a barren wasteland. The damp ground had rotted all the plants that grew there, and mottled soil occasionally revealed half-buried bones of unknown animals. In some places, strange footprints or handprints could be seen.
"Are there xenomorphs active here?" many players in the carriage wondered. "I've never heard of xenomorph swarms near the tracks during the day."
"As long as it's a place where xenomorphs live, there should be xenomorphs whether it's day or night," another person replied. "But the trains usually pass through these areas at night. No one said there aren't xenomorphs during the day."
Additionally, unless it was a particularly rare species, most xenomorphs weren't afraid of light.
"The trains used to pass through these places at night. Why is it daytime now?" someone worried. "Does that mean even C-level trains aren't safe anymore?"
This put some psychological pressure on the passengers. Even veteran players who frequently did C-level instances wouldn't dare say there was absolutely no danger during the day. The ride guidelines never guaranteed absolute passenger safety.
"Ding dong!"
The train broadcast suddenly sounded:
"Welcome aboard this C2579 train. The train is currently passing through the Mud Swamp Space. It is estimated that in one and a half minutes, we will encounter a xenomorph swarm. This time, the xenomorph activity time is calculated to be thirty seconds. From now on, the train will increase its speed. Please take care of your own protection."
"Hey hey hey, what does this mean? Another xenomorph swarm is coming?" The players grew restless. They had encountered xenomorph swarms a few times during instances, and those things were especially agitated when you could see them!
"Where? I can't see anything!" someone immediately used a prop to observe the distance.
"You idiot," the person next to him scolded. "The train is speeding along, and it'll take a minute and a half to reach the xenomorph swarm. Where are you looking now!"
"That means a huge swarm of xenomorphs is charging toward us right now. What does 'activity time' mean? Does it mean the train is going to collide head-on with the swarm?" Some players seemed to have psychological trauma from xenomorph swarms, especially frantic. "Why don't we take a detour or speed up earlier? If the xenomorphs knock the train off the tracks, everyone will die!"
Every carriage was filled with curses and complaints, but soon, a large dark mass appeared in the forward view—not the small xenomorph swarms players occasionally encountered surrounding a building in instances, nor the ones that would suddenly stick to the train at night and then leave on their own. This was like a pitch-black tidal wave rushing from the horizon at incredible speed, carrying an overwhelming, disaster-like pressure—a living killing machine!
Even Xu Huo was startled.
He had seen quite a few xenomorphs during his high-risk instance, but this was nothing compared to this. Looking out from inside the train, it seemed that every inch of land outside the tracks was covered in xenomorphs. These humanoid xenomorphs, with their super speed and super strength, were far more terrifying than any mutated animal.
"It should be fine. If the train weren't sturdy enough, how could it pass through different dimensions?" someone tried to comfort themselves, but as the xenomorph swarm got closer, they couldn't help retreating to the middle of the carriage.
Soon, the first xenomorphs to reach the tracks began leaping at the train. But because of the train's speed, most of the xenomorphs that pounced were splattered against the carriage walls like mosquitoes. However, as more and more xenomorphs jumped on, the train was quickly covered in splattered flesh and blood. During this time, a considerable number of xenomorphs managed to climb onto the train. They weren't completely mindless—they knew to hide at the rear of the train to avoid the high-speed wind, and to use their own kind as wind shields to buy a moment or two of time.
"Crack!" A faint cracking sound came from somewhere, but under the overwhelming noise of impacts, the players couldn't tell exactly where it came from. Through the blood-smeared carriage walls, twisted, distorted faces kept pressing against the glass, letting out greedy roars at the people inside.
Thirty seconds was enough to drag a person through hell several times over.
After thirty seconds, the xenomorph swarm outside the tracks passed. Although they continued running alongside the train, they were quickly left behind, turning into a tiny black dot on the horizon before disappearing entirely.
At that point, the players on the train finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Even high-level players can't have peace just riding a train?" the severely injured woman supported by the burly dark-skinned man sighed.
"There's no safe place in the game," the burly man said. "The train is even more dangerous than an instance."
It was also a place where you couldn't escape with a ticket. In an instance, at least there were clearance requirements to hold things back, but on the train, many people were thinking of grabbing something before entering an instance. If they could snag one or two decent props, their chances of clearing an instance would be much greater.
But after just experiencing a xenomorph attack, the players temporarily calmed down.
Soon, Xu Huo reached his station.
Unlike the smooth disembarkation before, this time he was thrown out. The gloomy sky flashed in his vision, and the next second, he was falling at extreme speed!
Adjusting his posture in midair, a bubble ball shaped like a cloud wrapped around his body. This was an A-level prop called the "Do-As-You-Please Ball," which could resist gravity or water pressure. So when the ball expanded, he couldn't feel the force of the fall.
The ball descended like a cloud, though not slowly. But just as it neared the ground, a long, thin shadow shot out from a tall forest not far away, streaking across the cloud at incredible speed. The ball was quickly pulled off its original trajectory, turning in midair and flying back toward the tall forest.
A sudden force of gravity struck the ball, not only pressing the entire cloud downward but also dragging the mutated bird-beast clinging to it sharply down...
(Chapter End)