Chapter 2021: Suicide
The night became even more agonizing, especially after discovering that Xu Huo's mental state was unstable. The players in Car 10 had originally been deliberately isolated, but now, to guard against Car 11, the players in the front cars refused to allow Car 10 to close its doors. Additionally, several people were arranged to enter Car 10, both to monitor Xu Huo and to keep an eye on the players in Car 10.
The players in Car 10, already ostracized, now found themselves targeted because of Xu Huo, and their expressions turned sour.
With the majority against the minority, no one cared about their attitude.
Perhaps because everyone was overly focused on Car 11, in the middle of the night, a player in Car 3 died silently.
The player had been dead for a while before being discovered by someone coming for a shift change. The method of death was the same as before: a small slit in the back of the protective suit, water everywhere inside the clothes, and the victim showing signs of drowning.
But this time, the windows of Car 3 were not broken, the sealed areas of Cars 2 and 7 were intact, and there was no water stain on the floor. It was as if the player had been drowned by water that appeared out of thin air.
"Should we dissect him to check?" someone suggested.
"It's probably the same," said the man in the white suit. "Otherwise, where would the water come from to drown someone on the train?"
"Drip! Drip!" The sound of water suddenly came from outside the car. Everyone's expression changed, and they quickly opened the windows to look outside.
It was raining.
The alien lurking near the train was related to water, and it was so coincidental that it started raining.
"It seems they really don't intend to let us live," a burly player said to the group. "Instead of waiting to die, why not take the initiative? Is anyone brave enough to go out with me?"
"Wait, haven't you guys watched any movies?" the high ponytail girl said. "Generally, those who leave the group or take the initiative are the first to die."
The burly player laughed heartily. "If I'm going to die anyway, I'd rather not die so cowardly. Who dares to go?"
In fact, many players in the car had already been itching to act. Immediately, three people stepped forward, quite confident. "Every species has a weakness in evolution. Since this alien hasn't dared to show itself until now, it means its physical abilities have degraded while evolving mental interference. Shouldn't we be the ones taking the initiative in this situation?"
"Maybe we should wait until the rain stops," another person suggested. "There's no need to go out specifically when it's raining."
This idea was accepted by the burly player and his group, so everyone waited for the rain to stop.
However, the rain near the tracks couldn't be predicted by common sense. One second it was a drizzle, the next it was a downpour, and the weakening of the rain was just as erratic. It might be heavy one second and stop completely the next.
After this happened several times, the burly player estimated the timing of the rain breaks and led three players out of the train.
They first circled the front of the train and checked both sides. Finding no more signs of damage, they tried to explore the area on either side of the tracks.
Although there were green plants on both sides, they weren't very lush. Standing outside, they could use props to test if anything was hidden inside.
Unfortunately, after crushing all the surrounding grass, they still found nothing.
A few minutes later, seeing that the rain break was almost over, the burly player called the others to return to the car.
Just as they approached the open door of the train, the rain suddenly started again. The protective suits of the two players at the back were completely soaked. When they got on, they had to change their suits in the transition car before entering the other cars.
They threw the suits out again. To be safe, they even had a robot clean up the water on the floor, leaving not even a towel behind.
Although this trip yielded nothing, it told the players that the outside of the train wasn't as dangerous as they had imagined. Even if there really was an alien, given the frequency of it killing one or two people at a time, its numbers couldn't be large, and reproduction wouldn't be easy.
So, after the first group went out, a second group quickly followed. They went out during the rain breaks and returned before the rain started, allowing everyone to take turns getting some fresh air.
However, with more people going out, some inevitably couldn't return on time. The other players didn't care much. Once the rain started, they closed the door and refused to wait.
The first two players left outside were a bit panicked at first, but as time passed and they found nothing unusual, they even set up location props by the tracks to rest. Once someone started this trend, others stopped being so strict. The train had limited space and couldn't accommodate large location props, so for the players, staying inside their own props might be safer.
Seeing the number of people stranded outside gradually increase, the players in Car 10 were astonished.
"How long has it been, and they're not afraid anymore?"
"Do you think they're stupid?" the red headband said. "Everyone is trapped on the train, which might actually make them a bigger target for the alien. Using props on the train is also restrictive. It's more convenient to be in their own location props. Besides, location props are sturdier than the train. If things get really bad, they can just come back."
The heavy rain continued, not stopping until the morning of the third day. By this point, everyone had given up on searching and was resting. However, less than twenty minutes after the first player fell asleep, he suddenly woke up from a nightmare, slashing his knife at the wall in front of him before realizing he was inside his location prop.
Soon, a second and third person were forced awake.
They then walked out of their location props, looked up to see people all around them, and guessed that everyone was in the same situation.
"Whoosh!" The rain suddenly intensified, then stopped half a minute later. At this moment, some people were outside, while others had already returned to their location props.
By noon, the players outside the train started gathering to cook some hot soup. Three players hadn't shown up, so the man in the white suit sent someone to call them. Unexpectedly, the moment the messenger touched the location prop, he found it had become ownerless. After picking it up, the bodies inside fell out.
Three more people had died, still by drowning.
Seeing this scene, some players immediately packed up their props and rushed back to the train. The rain was intermittent, and there were many players outside, making it difficult to have them all change clothes. The people on the train couldn't block them all in the transition car, so they had to vacate two cars for them to use, keeping their distance.
Now, besides Cars 11 and 10, the vacant Cars 7 and 2, as well as Cars 3 and 4, had also been separated.
But getting on the train didn't mean safety. Within less than an hour, a player suddenly went berserk, completely unresponsive to any words. After frantically attacking the surrounding players, he pulled out a dagger and slit his own throat! (End of Chapter)