Chapter 2013: Drowning
Everyone raised their heads one after another, catching sight of that semi-transparent thing. In a hurried glance, it looked like a large tarpaulin, or perhaps a slimy creature similar to an octopus or jellyfish that quickly crawled past. In any case, the thing moved across four train cars in a very short time, leaving water stains wherever it passed.
"Is it raining outside? Or does that thing bring its own water?" someone asked, unable to hold back. "Has anyone done a water-related instance? Can you recognize what kind of xenomorph it is?"
"Related to water?" another person interjected. "Could the tracks actually pass through a sea or lake? That's a land xenomorph—don't be fooled!"
Aside from someone pulling others' thoughts back, some players also shared their own instance experiences, concluding that there were far too many similar xenomorphs in water environments to match them up.
"That thing that just passed didn't seem to have claws. There might be more than one type of xenomorph attacking the train. Which car was just attacked? Did any players come to the back?"
No one answered this question. Earlier, to protect the transition car, almost all the car doors had been opened. Although not all the front cars were completely emptied, there was indeed some movement of people. In the panic, no one could clearly see which car the people had come from.
"Let's go check the front." Immediately, some players moved forward.
Xu Huo picked up the three metal boxes and followed.
The scratching sound came from the second car, so by the time the players from the rear cars arrived, the players from the first car had already inspected the front.
"All the train staff are gone," a female player with a red headband said, raising her communicator. "A worse piece of news is that the people on this train aren't strictly considered employees of the dimensional rift. Their training manual mentions that they can abandon the train when encountering a B-level or higher incident."
"What's a B-level incident?" someone asked, confused. "Last time I rode the train and encountered a dimensional storm, the staff didn't abandon it. Why would they abandon the train for a B-level incident now?"
"Dimensional storms and xenomorph attacks are different," the red-headband female player said. "The way train staff abandon the train must be similar to using a ticket. After a dimensional storm, the surrounding space is unstable—how could they leave? Now that the train has been forced to stop, even if game maintenance personnel come, it'll take a long time. You can't expect them to share life and death with the players, can you?"
That was true, but everyone knew that B-level wasn't low in the game's common ranking system. The train had been forced to stop, and the staff had directly evacuated, which meant there was likely a tough battle ahead.
"How did the players in the second car die?" Xu Huo asked after inspecting.
The large hole in the second car's window had now been patched up. Around the hole, besides scratch marks, there were water stains both inside and outside. Nearby lay the bodies of three players, each looking as if they had been soaked in water.
"All three drowned," the red-headband female player, a passenger in the second car, said. "The window was probably broken after the train stopped. Some people from the second car went to the front to check the situation, leaving five behind. But by the time we returned, we only saw three bodies."
"Where did the other two go?" The female player from Xu Huo's car also came over, pointing at the boxes in Xu Huo's hands. "Have you seen boxes like these?"
"Related to the boxes?" A male player from the second car frowned. "Earlier, a pair of twins came aboard this car, both holding identical boxes. They got off before midnight. Someone opened their boxes—I don't know what was inside."
He looked at the others in the car.
"Could the boxes be empty?" a curly-haired player said hesitantly. "The ones who took the boxes were the two who left the car. I happened to see them open them. I thought they had taken the contents, but now the boxes are gone... Could there be something fishy about the boxes?"
Everyone looked at the three identical boxes in Xu Huo's hands.
"Maybe we should open them?" the male player who had spoken earlier suggested.
"Better not," the curly-haired player said. "What if they contain some special potion that attracts xenomorphs? Opening them would only make things worse."
"Are you sure the window wasn't broken before the train stopped?" Xu Huo asked.
"What, are you saying we're lying?" the male player said, displeased.
"That's not what he means," the red-headband female player said. "He's trying to determine whether the xenomorph came from outside or was released from the boxes."
"Can a box that small hold something that big?" someone found it hard to believe, since the mass they had seen could almost wrap around half a car.
"It's possible it can reproduce quickly," Xu Huo said, pointing at the hole in the window. "If the xenomorph actively broke into the car and killed these three, it would be more likely to stay inside the car—more people, easier to attract it. But it's also plausible that it came out of the boxes and then escaped the car. So far, that mass has only been circling around, not trying to break into the train again to kill. That might be related to its habits."
"Or it could be taking a break," the female player standing behind Xu Huo made an ill-timed joke, then shrugged under everyone's gaze and smiled, adding, "My trait lets me see a bit of people's luck. Don't worry—everyone here probably has a long life ahead."
The others didn't take that seriously. Instead, they split into three groups: one to check the front of the train to see if it could be restarted, one to stay in the second car to guard the broken window and the three boxes, and the third to search the rear cars for the two players who had left the second car, preferably retrieving the two boxes they had taken.
Xu Huo naturally stayed in the second car. He examined the bodies of the three players again. Their stomachs were full of water, as if it had been forcibly poured down their throats. What was even more puzzling was that the bodies showed little sign of resistance—no weapons or items on them. The unknown gas from the boxes might have had a hypnotic effect, but when the train stopped, all the players had woken up. They shouldn't have been drowned alive without fighting back. Moreover, based on the red-headband player's description, they died quickly and quietly.
It was also astonishing that the xenomorph could directly breach the players' defense layers, let alone kill them in such a short time.
The female player who claimed everyone had long lives crouched beside him and asked, "Could they have been poisoned? If that xenomorph carries poison, that would explain it."
"Clearly not," the red-headband female player said, arms crossed as she leaned against the window. "Any poison would leave traces. They were simply drowned alive."