Chapter 2049: Don't Argue with Someone Who Has a Screw Loose
A few deaths on the train weren't a big deal. After the initial shock, the players returned to their own compartments, though no one went to the dining car to eat that day; everyone stayed in their compartments.
During the day, people got on and off the train. Overall, there were fewer people than on the first day. Five people had gotten off from the compartment where Xu Huo and the Painting Woman were staying, leaving only seven people including themselves.
The Painting Woman was very curious about whether there really were vampires on the train, so she started visiting the other compartments again. She couldn't speak, but she was very skilled with the communicator and typed very quickly, so it didn't stop her from asking everyone if they were vampires.
Thanks to her, the compartments behind also learned that there was a Super Evolver in the front compartment who specialized in drinking blood, and his movements were very ghostly.
Advanced players were indeed powerful, but they also had a lot of pressure. Not everyone could stay calm when questioned by the Painting Woman. Some were like firecrackers, ready to explode at the slightest provocation. There were plenty who wanted to hit her or even kill her.
This time, the Painting Woman didn't go out with her backpack, so she had nothing to throw. She fought if she could, and ran if she couldn't. Anyway, those players couldn't really seriously injure her. And she seemed to have a rebellious streak, taking pleasure in provoking others—the experience of being disliked but unable to be killed brought her a different kind of joy.
After almost turning the compartments behind upside down, she returned to Compartment Four and pestered everyone who hadn't left yet with questions. The players in Compartment Four were angry, but they tolerated her for Xu Huo's sake. Not getting her release of happiness, the Painting Woman found it boring and went to knock on the doors of the compartments ahead.
If they didn't open, she kept knocking until someone got annoyed enough to open the door for her.
"What do you want?" the bald player asked, veins bulging on his forehead. He seemed to have a bit of OCD. Actually, the players in his compartment had already sealed the door with items, so they could have completely ignored her. But seeing the Painting Woman standing at the door waiting like an idiot, he couldn't hold back and came to open it.
The Painting Woman slipped right past him and squeezed inside, then started asking each of them if they were vampires.
This made the other players look at the bald guy: Why did you let this idiot in?
The bald player was also annoyed and reached out to grab the Painting Woman's shoulder. However, she slid forward to dodge it, floating like she had no weight onto a table. She stood there, bent down, and asked a male player with shoulder-length hair in front of her, "Are you a vampire?"
The long-haired man didn't even lift his eyelids. He reached out to grab her throat. The Painting Woman didn't dodge, letting him catch her. Since she didn't need her throat to speak anyway, under everyone's watchful eyes, she pressed the play button on her communicator again:
"Are you a vampire? Do you sleep hanging upside down? Does your head get congested? Does your face turn red when it's congested? Do your teeth suck the blood directly into your stomach? Does your stomach get bigger with all that blood?"
The Painting Woman's neck was almost twisted out of shape, but her expression didn't change at all. The long-haired man's expression shifted, and he exerted force with his wrist, intending to snap her neck. However, the expected sensation of breaking bone didn't come. He suddenly threw the person in his hand away, and then watched as the Painting Woman landed lightly, straightened her head, and poked at her communicator again.
Veins bulged wildly on the long-haired man's forehead. But by then, the Painting Woman had lost interest in him and turned to ask others.
Most people were unwilling to argue with someone who wasn't right in the head. After a female player briefly answered the Painting Woman's questions and she decisively walked away, the others realized she wasn't really trying to find out anything—she was just having fun. So, to avoid trouble, they all chose to perfunctorily answer her questions.
One person was curious about why she was so determined to find a vampire.
"Because it's fun," the Painting Woman said. "If vampires all drink blood, I want to cut one open and see if there's anything else growing inside."
The compartment fell silent. After a moment, the person who had asked the question let out a cold laugh. "You look so refined, but I didn't expect you to have such tricks up your sleeve."
The Painting Woman didn't quite understand the sarcasm in his words. She stared at him blankly for a moment, then turned and walked back.
After returning to Compartment Four, she quietly said to Xu Huo, "I think that blond guy is a vampire."
The blond guy was the one who had questioned her. Xu Huo glanced forward. "You can tell?"
The Painting Woman shook her head. "I guessed."
Xu Huo was speechless. He changed the subject. "Stay in your room tonight. We might have to get off the train."
The Painting Woman nodded. Before the lights went out, she went to the restroom at the back. After lights out, Xu Huo brought her, now turned back into paper, back to the compartment.
Many people had gotten off, so the compartment was relatively spacious. Only two players were guarding the front, and for some reason, neither of them used items to defend the compartment door, as if they wanted to stay out of it.
The remaining three people couldn't figure out their move, so one of them went to guard the front door. But just a second before lights out, two more players in Compartment Four got off the train.
Now, besides Xu Huo and the Painting Woman, only three people were left in Compartment Four.
Interestingly, after a brief hesitation, one of them went directly to the transition car at the back, apparently not planning to return.
And within a few minutes, the other two also left. The compartment door closed, and there was no more movement from them.
Xu Huo didn't know if these people were worried that he would attack them, or if they were worried that he was the hidden killer player. In any case, only Xu Huo was left in Compartment Four.
In this situation, he didn't need to stay in the single room. He simply rested on the spacious sofa.
Late at night, the front compartment door opened silently, and a shadow appeared at the compartment entrance.
This time, neither the front nor back doors had item barriers. Xu Huo could clearly sense someone moving in the space, but he heard no sound. At the same time, he felt that the other person's presence was extremely weakened.
Under normal circumstances, even with silencing items, a person couldn't be completely invisible. And as evolution rates increased, players' perception of their surroundings also improved. Even without hearing a sound, they could detect changes in nearby objects. But this player's entry into the compartment felt more like merging with the environment, making it very hard to notice.
The other person was looking for someone.
So Xu Huo turned around and asked him, "Who are you looking for?"
The other person probably didn't expect him to react so quickly. In a swift motion, he pulled off the item cloak draped over him and waved it. Then he disappeared from his original spot, also trying to vanish from Xu Huo's perception.
But Xu Huo pushed aside the item cloak that was blocking his view and looked precisely at a corner behind him. "Who are you looking for?"
That player had used an item to disguise himself. His face and body were invisible, making him look completely smooth, as if wrapped in a layer of skin. But at least his eyes were still exposed. So when he met Xu Huo's gaze this time, he was clearly surprised. Then he threw out a handful of small items. After they scattered, they were like a startled flock of bats, suddenly swarming and filling the entire compartment.