Monster

Monster

"Keep your voice down. What if you alert those Monsters again?" the middle-aged woman snapped anxiously.

"Those things don't seem to react to sound," Yan Jiayu said. "There was noise in every carriage yesterday, and they didn't react. It was after the Third-Class Seat turned on the lights..."

So that was what lights-out meant in the Train Rules. Just a little stray light from the Second-Class Seat had drawn several Monsters over. The Third-Class Seat must have been wiped out.

"Isn't this a scam?" the middle-aged woman complained. "What kind of garbage train is this? It doesn't explain anything clearly. It's obviously sending us to our deaths. Who would dare go to the bathroom in the dark at night? They'd definitely turn on the lights..."

"Did those Monsters really transform from Players?" Ignoring her, the heavily made-up woman asked. "How could perfectly normal people suddenly become Monsters?"

The bone-chilling sounds of swallowing outside the carriage had yet to stop. Becoming Players, boarding the train, fighting Cannibal Players for their lives, nearly ending up as food in a Monster's belly—was that not enough? They might even turn into those irrational, grotesque Monsters themselves? No one could accept that!

The carriage fell silent. After a while, Xu Huo finally said, "Liu Jia, my arm is injured. Come help me."

Liu Jia hurried over. The moment her hand touched the table, it was seized.

As Xu Huo traced words across her palm, he said, "Those things outside were most likely mutated Players, but that doesn't mean every Player will become like that."

Even without Liu Jia telling him, he could infer the true identities of those "Monsters" from what he had just seen. They resembled humans, but their arms and legs were abnormally long, as though they had undergone a second growth spurt. Though their bodies were shriveled, their speed and strength were astonishing. Essentially, they were much like evolved humans.

"My guess is that only Cannibal Players who failed to feed after boarding the train will mutate."

All of them had eaten the train's food, so that was not the issue. Then it was likely related to the special nature of Cannibal Players.

After the melon-seed face woman died, three people had fed. If the old man was not among them, then that was the key to the mutation.

"The old man was a Cannibal Player? How do you know?"

"How do you know he didn't feed?"

Yan Jiayu and the heavily made-up woman asked one after the other.

"The direction of the bite wound on his shoulder. If someone had attacked him from the front, there should have been other injuries." Not just wounds—smells, clothing fibers, even hair length could all be clues. But the old man had only said he was bitten and mentioned nothing else. The teeth marks were most likely self-inflicted to suppress his urge to feed.

"Maybe he was one of the people who bit a piece of flesh off that woman last night. As for the bite wound, it could have had another cause." The heavily made-up woman clearly did not believe him.

"If feeding also caused mutation, there should have been more than just him in our carriage tonight," Xu Huo said coldly.

"Even while mutating, he still saved my life. I believe in that old gentleman's character," Professor Han said.

The heavily made-up woman gave a cold laugh. "He was a Cannibal Player."

"He saved someone." This time, Wang Xiaohui spoke.

"No matter what, he's dead. There's no point arguing over it now." Once she learned that those Monsters had once been people and that she had no risk of mutating, the middle-aged woman immediately grew bolder. She even clicked her tongue regretfully. "It's just such a pity about that little girl, He Yang. Young and pretty, and now she's gone."

Li Fei had been killed by Yan Jiayu, and the old man had turned into a Monster. Only He Yang had vanished without a sound, leaving behind not even a trace. It was impossible to know whether she had been killed by a Monster or taken out by a Cannibal Player amid the chaos.

"Compared to the dead, shouldn't the Monsters outside be our biggest concern?" the heavily made-up woman said. "Who knows if they'll come in again?"

"That huge swarm..." She abruptly turned the subject to Liu Jia. "Have the Monsters decreased in number?"

"I don't kno..." Liu Jia answered instinctively, then caught herself halfway through and quickly changed her words. "No. They're all lying there without moving."

Two seconds later, the heavily made-up woman said with a smile in her voice, "Your Ability is quite impressive. You can see in the dark."

Liu Jia's heart leaped into her throat.

Yesterday, she had been frightened by the things outside the window. She had only seen Chen Yi attack Xu Huo. By the time she came to her senses, the melon-seed face woman was already dead. She had only managed to see the heavily made-up woman step away from her, wipe something across her mouth, and make the bloodstains vanish without a trace.

She did not dare speak carelessly and only told Professor Han about it. The heavily made-up woman had learned of her night vision and was probing her. She must have guessed that her Ability had a limited duration. To protect herself, she would definitely make a move against her!

Liu Jia was terrified, but she forced herself to remain calm and gestured the heavily made-up woman's situation to Xu Huo. She also mentioned that Wang Xiaohui seemed to have a protective barrier around her that could block attacks. A Monster had actually crashed into her earlier, only to be bounced away.

This surprised Xu Huo. Whether it was an Ability or an item, it was far stronger than ordinary physical enhancement. Still, with Wang Xiaohui's physical condition, simply possessing strength would make it difficult for her to survive. It was a fitting arrangement.

The train rules prohibited passengers from entering other carriages at will. Wang Xiaohui had broken that rule, and it was unknown what consequences that would bring.

But she could still protect herself, which suggested that the punishment was not severe enough to endanger her life.

"Just how many Cannibal Players are there in one carriage?" Liu Jia could not help asking. She no longer dared trust anyone easily and even regretted softening her heart and agreeing to let Wang Xiaohui in.

"Half and half," Xu Huo said. "Six Cannibal Players and six Normal Players."

"Then how many Cannibal Players are still here with us?" the middle-aged woman chimed in.

"Probably two," Yan Jiayu said. "The two people who died last night, along with Li Fei and that old man, were all Cannibal Players."

"The woman who was killed might have been a Cannibal Player too," the heavily made-up woman said.

That was hard to say. After all, she had been murdered.

"Liu Jia, did you see anything yesterday?" The heavily made-up woman tossed the question to her.

Liu Jia tensed, but after receiving Xu Huo's signal, she said, "I didn't see anything. I was scared stiff at the time, and Mr. Xu and Chen Yi were fighting right in front of me. I was focused on them."

The heavily made-up woman said nothing. Xu Huo immediately added, "I am inclined to think that woman was also a Cannibal Player. She had a strong smell of blood on her when she boarded."

"But there's one extra person in our carriage," the middle-aged woman said.

"I'm not a Cannibal Player," Wang Xiaohui explained. "I can't stand or walk. How could I possibly eat people?"

A faint rustle of fabric sounded in the darkness. After several seconds, Professor Han said, "There is one Cannibal Player left. There's no need to worry too much. We have six people."

Though he said that, Professor Han was still concerned. The reason he had stopped Liu Jia from revealing the truth about the Monsters was that he feared Players would act rashly under extreme circumstances. The Third-Class Seat's self-destruction was one example.

He knew the heavily made-up woman was a Cannibal Player, and the corpses in the carriage had been taken away by the Monsters. He did not know whether she had fed before, but Liu Jia was what worried him most now.