Chapter 857: Beheaded in Sleep
The flight attendant smiled and walked toward the next person.
With Xu Huo setting the precedent, the players behind him also generously gave tips and included red envelopes—there was no need to offend the flight attendant over such a small amount of money.
Of course, there were also those who didn't give. The yellow-haired female player was one of them. Not only did she not tip, but she also didn't order a set meal, only calling for a bowl of noodles.
The flight attendant showed no reaction, walking away with a normal expression.
"I don't think it's that big a deal," another elderly man who had given a gift package shook his head regretfully.
"You're pretty well-off," the medicine-selling player said, sitting down next to Xu Huo and introducing himself, "My name is Xiao Xianglin. Brother, let's be friends. We might even end up at the same station."
"Yu Cong." Xu Huo looked at the backpack player across from him, who spoke up: "Xu Jinfeng."
Aside from his name, he didn't seem inclined to say more, and soon put on his headphones to rest with his eyes closed.
Xiao Xianglin chatted with Xu Huo for a bit, revealing that his destination was Sea World. Learning that Xu Huo was also heading there, he smiled and said, "Maybe we'll even run into the same instance. I'll count on your help then."
"Mutual help, mutual help," Xu Huo replied politely.
After the train had been running for three hours, the flight attendant pushed a cart into the carriage.
Except for the yellow-haired female player, everyone else ordered the five-thousand set meal. Those who had given gifts received an extra pudding, said to be a thank-you from the head chef.
Spending a bit more money on the train wouldn't hurt, and most players in the same carriage clearly understood this principle. Xiao Xianglin was the first to eat the pudding, nodding at Xu Huo with a smile.
The yellow-haired female player glanced back, then said to the female player at the next table, "Sister, you have such a great figure, you probably don't like sweets, right? How about you give me your pudding? I love sweets."
The female player didn't even acknowledge her, picking up her spoon.
The yellow-haired female player then looked at the mole-faced player across from her. "The cake on the menu is too expensive. How about I give you a hundred white notes and you sell it to me?"
"Do you think I'm stupid?" the mole-faced player said, swallowing the pudding in one bite.
The yellow-haired female player sneered, "Not afraid someone might have poisoned it!"
The time after lunch passed relatively peacefully. Perhaps because today was special, the afternoon broadcast played some lyrical music, and the beautiful female player took the initiative to invite the mole-faced player across from her to dance.
Good-looking people dancing was also a pleasing sight. The atmosphere in the carriage was relaxed, and Xu Huo and Xiao Xianglin successively invited the female player to dance.
Unlike her coldness when first boarding, the female player seemed to be enjoying herself. Soon her cheeks flushed, and she took out a bottle of wine from the luggage compartment. When slightly tipsy, she left the carriage for the restroom.
The mole-faced player was the first to follow her out.
The others, unfazed, only showed a look of disdain for "the decline of moral standards" and stopped paying attention.
Not long after, the female player returned, her lips a peculiar shade of crimson.
"Youth is wonderful," the elderly man said enviously, then asked the female player with a hint of another meaning, "Where's that young man?"
"Him?" the female player lowered her tone, "He went to another carriage."
This choked off the rest of the elderly man's words. The yellow-haired female player also dropped the contempt from her face.
"Heh!" the female player gave a delicate laugh, walking steadily back to her seat. Sipping her wine, she said, "Some people are just annoying. They keep talking even when you don't want to talk to them."
Xiao Xianglin's awkwardness was mixed with a bit of fear. When the female player looked back, he averted his gaze first.
Xu Huo, however, smiled and nodded at her.
She gave a faint smile, raised her glass to him, and then withdrew her gaze.
Time quickly arrived at night. After the lights were turned off, the carriage sank into darkness along with the sky outside.
There was some commotion in the other carriages when the lights first went out, but it soon calmed down, falling back into silence.
The sounds of breathing in the carriage gradually became slow and drawn out.
Amidst the even, rhythmic breathing, Xu Huo also felt drowsy. He closed his eyes, intending to rest for a while, but his consciousness began to blur. Then, a stench of blood rushed into his nostrils. He suddenly snapped back to reality, opening his eyes to see a large shadow standing before him, holding an axe.
Xu Huo reflexively swung his sword, but the shadow was swept away, vanishing like an illusion.
He stood up and found that half the players in the carriage were asleep on the tables. The elderly man and the yellow-haired female player had already been decapitated, their bodies slumped against the table, blood pooling on the floor.
The young female player and the fingerless player were both awake. The raincoat-wearing man who had been sleeping against his seat during the day was now sitting upright, while the man still holding a cigarette between his fingers was half-lidded and looking lethargic.
Xu Huo kicked Xiao Xianglin.
Xiao Xianglin struggled to sit up, forcefully prying his eyelids open, then took out a loudspeaker item. He pressed a switch, and a prolonged, piercing sound instantly pierced through the carriage. Most of the players who had been lying down were jolted awake, and upon smelling the blood in the carriage, they immediately sobered up.
Some also put on special item eyes and, upon seeing someone had been killed, immediately moved to the wall of the carriage. "Who did it!"
The few who could see couldn't help but turn their gazes toward Xu Huo, who was holding a sword.
"Everyone, stay calm!" Xiao Xianglin quickly said. "It's definitely not Yu Cong. He was the one who woke me up just now. Otherwise, you'd still be asleep."
"Then what's going on?" the backpack player Xu Jinfeng asked suspiciously, his eyes darting around. He couldn't see and could only judge others' positions by sound.
"When I opened my eyes, the people were already dead," Xu Huo said. "I was almost the third."
"Then the people who were awake before you must be suspects," Xiao Xianglin immediately said.
"Before he got up, I was awake," the female player in the front seat said. "Not just me, but three others were awake too."
She raised her finger, pointing out the fingerless player, the raincoat-wearing man, and the smoking player one by one, and said to Xiao Xianglin, "See which one of us it is?"
Xiao Xianglin's face darkened in the shadows. Just as he was about to say something, the carriage ahead also erupted in noise. Soon, someone opened the carriage door and rushed to their carriage, but they didn't intend to enter, instead sealing the door with an item.
Xu Huo immediately looked behind. The two carriages at the back were completely silent.
"It looks like something happened up front too. No sound from the back—could they all be dead?" the female player stood up and peered around.
At this point, no one would rashly go out. Xiao Xianglin cracked the door open and called out twice to the rear carriages. Receiving no response, he immediately closed and locked the door.
"It's not just one or two carriages with problems," the fingerless player spoke for the first time since boarding. "It's been less than two hours since lights out. Under normal circumstances, players wouldn't be asleep at this time. Even with an external trigger, they wouldn't have reached a deep sleep state. It's impossible for a player to move through each carriage and pick targets in such a short time."
"So the problem lies within the carriage itself."