Chapter 1461: The Poison Man
Xu Huo glanced at the man with a long scar on his left cheek, then looked away and found a seat by the side to sit down.
All the rooms in this carriage were already occupied.
When he sat down, the nearby players greeted him amicably and shared half of the table with him, keeping to themselves without interference.
On the train, Xu Huo couldn't test items, so he casually took out the robot-making manual from this game's rewards and started reading.
Before long, the player who had gone to the restroom returned, followed by three others who came from the carriage behind the empty one. The four clearly knew each other. The player who went out deliberately paused when opening the door, leaving a gap for them to enter.
As soon as these three entered, the peaceful atmosphere in the carriage was shattered. The five female players playing cards gradually lowered their voices and moved aside slightly. The three male players standing around them, who had been relaxed before, immediately sat down on the outer side of the female players.
The other four male players stayed out of it and returned to their rooms after resting.
Going back to their rooms showed their stance, but it didn't mean safety, so the female players preferred to stay together rather than return to their own rooms.
The three players who came in later, along with the one who had gone to the restroom, sat on the sofa behind the table of female players, staring at them with burning gazes.
Prolonged staring wouldn't make anyone feel comfortable. A short-haired female player turned around and shouted, "What are you looking at!"
The men laughed instead and teased, "Of course we're looking at how pretty you are. The journey is long, and you must be bored too. Why not have some fun together?"
The female players all showed anger at being insulted, but they instinctively looked at the people around them.
The baby-faced man smiled and said to the four, "You should still respect the ladies. Since you have such big needs, why don't you pair up and take care of each other? Why spew filth everywhere?"
The female players' scolding didn't anger the men because they didn't take these players, who needed bodyguards just to go out, seriously at all. But the baby-faced man was different. The buzz-cut man who had spoken earlier glared at him coldly. "With a bunch of dead weight, you still dare to talk?"
Although they were outnumbered, the female players might not only be useless in a fight but could also hold them back. The buzz-cut man believed his side had the advantage.
Their eyes met, and both sides saw murderous intent in each other's gazes. Just as they were about to make a move, the door to the front carriage suddenly opened, and a person reeking of a strong stench walked in.
This person was covered in clothes that looked like they had been soaked in mud countless times. The filthy fabric was completely unrecognizable in its original color, and it was covered in small, strange plants. But that wasn't the source of the stench. The stench came from the person himself. His face was covered in pus-filled bumps of various sizes, black and green intermingled. When the skin broke, the liquid from the bumps released a suffocating odor.
Not only was it visually and olfactorily shocking, but anyone with sharp eyes could see the man's blackened nails and the purple chaotic patterns in the whites of his eyes, indicating that these things might also be poisonous.
Forget about driving him out; even smelling the odor was unsettling!
The people in the carriage unanimously put on protective masks and re-donned the protective suits they had taken off.
The man seemed extremely tired. After entering, he didn't intend to leave and found a seat to sit down. As he approached, the leather chair began to change color on the surface, as if soaked in a special solution.
"Hey!" the buzz-cut man called out. "Go to the back carriage. The back carriage is empty!"
The stinking man either didn't hear him or didn't react at all. He slowly raised his hand, squeezed a pus bump on his arm, and a red flesh worm crawled out.
The red flesh worm looked like a parasite, but the man pinched the still-living worm, stuffed it directly into his mouth, chewed it lightly a couple of times, and swallowed it.
Anyone normal would feel physically sick at this sight. The buzz-cut man even cursed out loud.
The man ignored him, squeezing several more pus bumps on the back of his hand, each time pinching out a worm and putting it in his mouth.
"Maybe we should offer him some normal food," a female player said, almost vomiting. Her companion shook her head, signaling her not to speak.
After a moment, the man, whose face was completely unrecognizable, leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath. The exhaled air contained some black powder, which didn't disperse into the air but fell onto the table.
The man glanced at Xu Huo and wiped away the black powder with his not-so-clean hand.
"Is that poison or a pathogen?" Xu Huo asked.
The man pointed to his throat and shook his head, indicating he couldn't speak.
Xu Huo seemed interested. "Can I take a sample from you? I have some research in this area."
Clearly, this wasn't the first time the man had encountered someone asking for something from him. He shook his head again and closed his eyes.
Seeing this, Xu Huo didn't press further.
But while things were calm on their side, the buzz-cut man's group felt extremely unlucky. However, they didn't want to risk getting close to the man, nor did they want to kill him and risk spreading the virus. So they cursed and retreated from this carriage. After leaving, they even used an item to lock the door, preventing the man from going further back—it was obvious the man had been driven out of the front carriage.
The remaining players in the carriage also wanted to leave. Soon, several players who had been in their rooms went to the front carriage.
The group of female players also wanted to leave, but the door to the front carriage had already closed and wouldn't accept new players. They could go to the back carriage, but that would mean facing the buzz-cut man's group again. Neither option was good.
During this time, the man who had eaten the red flesh worms was slowly exhaling black gas. Before long, his condition visibly improved, and he even ordered food to eat.
He dared to eat, but the others in the carriage didn't. However, the travel time was uncertain, and no one could go days without eating.
"The things on me don't spread through the air," the man said after eating, his voice especially hoarse but barely understandable.
He said that, but the others didn't dare believe it.
Xu Huo, who was sitting across from him and hadn't left, simply tested the air with an item, then took off his mask and ordered food.
The man was a bit surprised, but that was all. The others in the carriage, seeing Xu Huo eating safely, also tentatively took off their masks. After confirming there was no problem, they began to eat. However, after finishing their meals, they took two doses of antidote and immediately put their gas masks back on.
"The pollutants on you are growing fast," Xu Huo said, looking at the mold-like substance spreading from the back of the man's chair.
(Chapter End)