Chapter 2022: The Bugs
Those who witnessed this scene were stunned. How could a xenomorph reach such a level? Forget ordinary illusions, even if someone held a revival item, under any circumstances, it was absolutely impossible for a player to willingly commit suicide!
"What's going on? He didn't have a single drop of rain on him, even his shoes were changed. If something was affecting him, why are we all fine? Can mental interference just arbitrarily target areas now?" After the shock, the players grew angry instead. They were all high-level players; even if they didn't fully understand, they could at least look up relevant information. Since when could mental interference achieve point-to-point precision? If it were that easy, then detection devices would be completely useless.
"And what if it really can?" A voice from the corner asked the soul-stirring question.
What if it really could?
"In this damn game, I wouldn't be surprised if a ghost popped up in front of me one day." The high ponytail shrugged, then started putting defensive items around her neck and chest. "I don't want to die without knowing why."
The other players also increased their protective gear. However, just as they were preparing to move the corpse to the rear carriage area, the window-blocking player from Car 10 silently approached the veterinarian from behind, conjuring a short blade and stabbing toward his lower back.
The defense barrier automatically activated, and the veterinarian immediately turned and kicked him away. "What are you doing!"
As the window-blocking player crashed into the train window, a string of glass beads fell from his body. Before anyone could react, those beads exploded one after another, completely tearing apart the entire Car 10. The windows and the sealing materials outside were all blasted out of shape. The players dodged in time and didn't suffer serious injuries, but the worst off was the window-blocking player himself. He hadn't used any protection during the explosion, and his clothes, along with a layer of skin, were blown off. He lay in a bloody mess in the corner.
No one approached, all wanting to see if he was still insane after being blown up like that.
But a few seconds later, everyone realized he had stopped breathing.
"What kind of xenomorph is this!" The yellow-haired player couldn't help scratching his head. "Too bizarre! It's everywhere, but we can't catch it!"
Rainwater from outside flowed in through the broken windows, splashing everywhere and soaking the corpse.
The players in Car 10 prepared to retreat to Car 11, but as soon as they opened the door, they found Xu Huo already standing at the entrance.
His condition looked much better than yesterday, and his expression wasn't as tired. He walked past everyone straight to the window-blocking player's side, using a glass tube to collect the blood and water flowing from the corpse before sealing it.
"Is the water still the problem?" The red headband frowned. "But we've checked the water on the bodies. There's no other substance mixed in."
"The water you checked came from bodies that had been dead for a long time. If the xenomorph's body is close to water, or mostly made of water, and changes state within a certain time frame, ordinary instruments probably wouldn't detect it either." After speaking, Xu Huo also collected several tubes of water from the dripping ceiling, not filling any of them completely.
"That's a good idea," the white suit said from behind. "If the xenomorph's form is truly close to water, being drenched by this heavy rain might scatter it everywhere. If they reproduce from tiny individuals, then the water we collect should also increase in volume over time."
After saying this, he also collected some water for preservation.
Car 10 was destroyed, and now wasn't the time for repairs. So the remaining people from Car 10 and a few players from Car 9 all moved to Car 11.
"It's crowded enough." The fortune-telling female player said, using her eyes to hint at others to move back, but everyone ignored her.
No one contested Xu Huo's spot. After sitting down, he carefully observed the water in the glass tube.
Perhaps due to the dispersion of his mental power, he hadn't noticed anything wrong with the water from the drowned player earlier. But the spinal damage in the dissected bodies indicated that something had infiltrated them. The players all assumed the xenomorph must be a single entity, and judging by the holes in the windows, no matter how much it changed shape, its volume couldn't be too small. So they naturally overlooked what was right in front of them.
If the so-called xenomorph was composed of some substance that changed state with the environment, then that slowly increasing mental power could also be explained.
The water in the glass tube was now in that state.
Clearly sensing that the power in the tube was denser than the surrounding area, Xu Huo was about to examine it more closely when the white suit's voice came from the front carriage. "Found it!"
The players were drawn over and learned that the white suit had used a microscopic instrument to observe the changes in the water's composition. He discovered a very tiny worm mixed in. Although there were many impurities in the water, these worms had the strongest growth ability. Once one swelled up, it would quickly split into two. Most of their bodies were transparent, and they died in large groups. After death, their internal organs rapidly faded, dispersed by the water overflowing from their bodies.
These tiny worms were constantly reproducing, but also constantly dying, which is why their state always looked like water that wasn't completely clean.
"Could that giant thing we first saw moving outside the window also be composed of these worms?" The high ponytail found it hard to believe. "It only showed itself once and then disappeared... and they reproduce so fast. Is the rain outside made of these bugs?!"
This speculation sounded absurd yet somewhat reasonable. Otherwise, it couldn't explain why those bugs hadn't regrouped. And since they targeted the people on the train, such behavior made sense.
"Then we're doomed. It's been raining all day. Aren't the bugs everywhere?" The tie-wearing man said from behind. "Even if we pour insecticide by the bucket, we might not be able to kill them all!"
"Why not just burn everything?" someone suggested.
Burning was hard to test. There was no light near the tracks, and if the train lit up, it might attract new trouble. The players hadn't used any lighting items when they went out earlier.
They could try insecticide.
But with bugs so small they were barely visible to the naked eye, even if players frequently changed their protective suits, it was hard to guarantee they weren't carrying any. If even one bug survived, it might split into more in no time. So everyone had to change protective suits collectively again and move to the rear carriages.
Perhaps the insecticide worked. Within half an hour of deploying it, even the rain outside began to lessen.
"So the rain really is bugs." The fortune-telling female player looked outside through a small crack in the window. "This probably can't be considered a xenomorph, right? I wonder what kind of insect evolved into this. There's no relevant information in the Under Dimension database."
Xu Huo, also standing by the window, didn't respond. He frowned: Something was wrong. The insecticide had taken effect, so why did he feel an even stronger pressure than before?
After a moment's hesitation, he still released his spiritual realm. But just as his spiritual vision expanded outward, a tremendous pressure suddenly descended from the sky—the next second, Xu Huo's figure vanished into the spiritual gate!
(Chapter End)