Chapter 2012: Memory Unsealed
On the operating table lay a bound, unconscious living person.
From a relatively low field of vision, Xu Huo could see half of this person's profile, an arm resting at their side, a bare chest, fat thighs, and a slightly deformed calf and left foot.
The person's chest rose and fell rhythmically, as if asleep, showing no signs of pain.
As footsteps approached, Xu Huo turned his head and saw Dr. Zhang walking over in a white lab coat.
Unlike the generally gentle person in his previous memories, this Dr. Zhang had a chilling cruelty. The tray in his hands held various dissection tools, and he said expressionlessly, "Yesterday you saw the state of a corpse after dissection. Today, see the difference between a living person and a dead one."
The field of vision in the memory shifted slightly. A young Xu Huo pushed a small stool over from the side, climbed up to steady himself, and said, "Teacher, please begin..."
Xu Huo suddenly slammed the book in his hand onto the table. The hand covering the book cover bulged with veins from excessive force. He was completely enveloped in an aura of anger and hatred, while noseblood dripped onto his clothes and pants.
There might be two reasons for the side effects: first, his mental evolution was too fast, and his physical evolution couldn't keep up, causing excessive strain, leading to headaches and nosebleeds after prolonged use of mental power; second, as his mental evolution progressed, his sealed memories began to slowly resurface. The shadow personality itself possessed great power, and its awakening put mental pressure on him.
Now it seemed that the memory recovery had a greater impact. These flashing memory fragments also confirmed Xu Huo's premonition—the shadow personality had indeed sealed away some bad things. The memory fragments had already progressed to the point where he called Dr. Zhang "Teacher"...
This not only indicated that he had undergone a complete, violent brainwashing in childhood, but also suggested that the brainwashing might have been successful. He was not the failed product abandoned by Dr. Zhang as he had believed.
Previously, he thought Dr. Zhang wanted students like Xue Lang—high-IQ, antisocial personalities—and therefore gave up on him, who hadn't been fully cultivated. But if Dr. Zhang had succeeded... Xu Huo didn't know why Dr. Zhang had never come looking for him, but it made him think of another matter:
Did Xu Zhi really die at Dr. Zhang's hands?
If the shadow personality had sealed away the successfully cultivated student of Dr. Zhang, was the lost memory of Xu Zhi's death also something the shadow personality had participated in?
At this moment, Xu Huo's gaze was as cold and deep as an abyssal sea.
Then he turned to look at the nearby dining table. After using "The Weight of Life" to pressure everyone equally, he sealed the restaurant with his spiritual realm. Materialized objects, tangents, and space rays appeared simultaneously, madly tearing apart the defensive barriers of the player who had made a move, cleanly splitting them from head to toe!
The brief sinking of the train caused by the pressure of "The Weight of Life" hadn't even disappeared yet when the player who had provoked Xu Huo before the meal died on the spot. Blood seeped into the carpet, dyeing the already red carpet even more vividly, though the scene was somewhat unsightly.
The entire process took only a few seconds. The train quickly returned to calm, and Xu Huo also calmed down. He wiped away his noseblood, stood up, and without looking at the others in the restaurant, returned to his own carriage.
Just as the female player had said, there were still nine people left in the carriage. The triplets were still sitting in their original positions, the angle of their boxes unchanged. The other players were either in their private rooms or keeping their distance. There were no bodies in the carriage, but some bloodstains that hadn't been cleaned up.
The female player had also returned, but this time she was much more well-behaved. She didn't try to strike up a conversation with Xu Huo and instead sat in a corner.
They coexisted peacefully until nightfall. Because the train had announced in advance that they would pass through a mutant habitat, the players on board behaved themselves and didn't cause trouble. However, as midnight approached, everyone began to feel drowsy.
Most of the players who boarded had been traveling for a long time, so feeling tired was normal. But so many people dozing off at once was unusual. Xu Huo, who had been suffering from headaches and extreme fatigue, suddenly woke up just as he was about to fall asleep. He sharply looked at the triplets' position and realized that at some point, their boxes had been opened a crack, and some kind of gas seemed to be seeping out.
Xu Huo covered his mouth and nose, but then noticed that the female player and two other players had already fully equipped themselves in protective suits. Catching his gaze, the female player waved at him, then pointed at the other two, then at the triplets, signaling a pincer attack from both sides.
Xu Huo nodded, but he didn't expect the triplets to not dodge their attacks at all. Under the prop attack, one of them deflated like an inflatable doll.
"What's going on?" a player asked in shock and uncertainty, then stabbed the other two with a knife, getting the same result.
The female player went over and picked one up, rubbing it before saying, "This is a protective material. They probably got off the train midway."
After speaking, she was about to check the nearby boxes. Xu Huo stopped her and fastened all the boxes shut. "No matter what's inside, don't open them now."
The three weren't stupid. They knew the boxes didn't contain anything good. But they didn't understand why the triplets, having gotten off the train early, would release a sleeping agent on the players. What was the point?
Xu Huo paused, then suddenly asked, "Are there boxes like this in other carriages?"
The female player and the others were startled, but the next second, they felt the train lurch violently, followed by a sudden brake. Within seconds, it came to a complete stop on the tracks!
This commotion naturally woke up the players in the carriage. Before they could react, a loud crashing sound came from the front of the train, along with the sound of claws scraping against the carriage walls!
"What's happening!" a player asked with some panic.
A train encountering mutants wasn't unusual, but the train being forced to a stop was a different level of event. Soon, someone tried to go to the front carriage to find the train staff.
"Why hasn't the train notified us about something this big? What's the situation now?"
The train immediately fell into chaos, especially as the crashing sounds began to move backward. Players not only used defensive items to protect their carriages and the transition car but also put on various night-vision instruments or items to observe the outside. However, to their surprise, although they heard the sound of something hitting the train, no one could see what was outside. Then someone began to suspect:
"Is it a mutant or a player attacking the train?"
Most of the players on the train were B-level and C-level. They were no longer naive enough to think that only mutants appeared near the tracks, especially in a situation resembling a long-range attack. But this guess was quickly overturned when someone shouted, "There's a shadow! It looks transparent!"