Shen Yalong froze for a moment. Only then did he understand why Zhao Xun had tied him up.
He had been turned into a guinea pig to test the consequences of failing a personal mission.
Despite his anger and frustration, he had no choice but to bow to the man who held his fate in his hands. Shen Yalong obediently played the lackey.
"Five points were deducted," he answered honestly.
It wasn't that he didn't want to lie, but with his limited brainpower, he simply couldn't invent a punishment on the spot.
If his lie was exposed and angered the other man, he might really die here.
He was better off telling the truth.
Zhao Xun raised his eyebrows slightly.
That was an unexpected punishment.
He had considered many possible penalties: a more difficult mission, instant death, physical injury, psychological damage, and so on. All of those could deal a direct and devastating blow to a player.
By comparison, a point deduction seemed much milder.
Of course, losing points was hardly good news for a player either.
After pondering for a moment, Zhao Xun said, "Read out the punishment in the system notification, word for word. Don't change anything."
Shen Yalong opened his personal panel with a thought, brought up the messages tab, and read the text. "Unfortunately, player Shen Yalong has failed his personal mission for September 1. Five points have been deducted."
Zhao Xun frowned slightly.
From the wording, it was hard to tell whether five points had been deducted for failing this particular mission, or whether the penalty was always five points regardless of the mission's difficulty.
If it was the latter, with every failed personal mission costing five points, that would be tolerable.
But if it was the former, things would be grim.
By Zhao Xun's estimate, Shen Yalong's mission was most likely worth only ten points. A five-point deduction was half of that.
If failing a mission always cost half the points it would have awarded, then a mission with a difficulty of fifty would cost twenty-five points.
For a new player, how was that any different from a death sentence?
After all, aboard the [Endless Train], without points, even basic food and shelter weren't guaranteed.
Even if reaching zero or a negative balance carried no additional penalty, having no points meant being unable to buy food or drink. Sooner or later, they would starve to death.
That amounted to a slow, agonizing punishment by another name.
In any case, he needed to spend less and save more early on, in case the missions grew harder later and inevitable mistakes led to failures.
"Boss, can you please let me go?" Shen Yalong started pleading again. "I've answered all your questions. Keeping me tied up here won't do you any good. Just let me go back, okay?"
"Wait until dawn." Zhao Xun said nothing more.
Shen Yalong: "..."
He hadn't eaten a single bite since boarding. After an entire day of misery, he had only five points left. Not only had all four limbs been broken, but he was also tied up, and now he had to wait until dawn before he could go back??
What kind of fucking miserable life was this!
Shen Yalong felt like screaming, rolling and writhing on the floor, and crawling around like some creature in the shadows!
But he didn't dare.
No matter how violently his emotions churned inside, he could only sit there as quiet as a mouse.
Late that night, the entire carriage grew quiet.
Even the carriage lights dimmed to a level suited for sleep.
Some passengers slumped against their seat backs, while others lay sprawled over the tables. After the day's ordeals, everyone was exhausted and quickly fell asleep.
Zhao Xun leaned back in his seat, dreaming.
Suddenly, he faintly sensed something out of the ordinary.
He was already highly sensitive to danger, and the personal mission for the second had struck him as particularly strange, leaving him more alert than usual.
Almost the instant he sensed something amiss, he opened his eyes.
The moment he did, a constantly changing countdown appeared before him.
But he had no time to pay attention to it, because a burly man with a full beard stood right in front of him, holding a kitchen knife.
The gleaming blade thrust mercilessly toward Zhao Xun.
Zhao Xun sprang onto his seat and twisted sideways, dodging the knife.
The bearded man hadn't expected Zhao Xun to wake so suddenly. He had put all his strength into the thrust, holding nothing back.
So when Zhao Xun dodged, the blade plunged deep into the seat back.
It sank in so far that he couldn't pull it out immediately.
Taking advantage of the brief moment the bearded man spent tugging at the knife, Zhao Xun quickly adjusted the setting of the ring on his right index finger with his left hand.
Then his left hand seized the bearded man's knife-wielding wrist, while his right clenched into a fist and slammed into the man's temple.
The spike protruding from the center of the ring's face drove deep into the bearded man's temple with the force of the punch.
After that single strike, Zhao Xun immediately withdrew his hand and retreated two steps into the aisle.
While everyone's attention was on the bearded man, Zhao Xun discreetly turned the ring's setting, instantly retracting the thin little needle.
The entire sequence took just three seconds. No one noticed anything unusual about the ring.
The bearded man merely felt as though a cactus thorn had pricked his temple. It stung a little, but wasn't particularly painful.
But a second later, before he could speak, his vision suddenly went black.
Then he began struggling to breathe.
Instinctively, he dropped the kitchen knife and clawed desperately at his neck, trying to get more oxygen.
The passengers around him looked utterly bewildered.
The bearded man's sudden midnight attack had caused such a commotion that everyone in Carriage 14 had woken up.
But following the principle of staying out of anything that didn't concern them, they merely watched from a distance.
Once the passengers sitting beside Zhao Xun realized what was happening, they all stood and perched on the seat backs, trying their best not to get caught up in it.
Most had only just been jolted awake and were still groggy. Naturally, they hadn't noticed Zhao Xun's subtle movements.
So none of them understood what was wrong with the bearded man. One moment, he had been viciously trying to kill someone; the next, he was clawing at his own neck.
Before anyone could figure out what had happened, the bearded man began to list to one side. Finally, he foamed at the mouth and collapsed heavily to the floor.
Watching the bearded man quickly stop breathing, Zhao Xun gradually relaxed his tense body.
The others didn't know, but he knew perfectly well that the bearded man had been poisoned.
Naturally, he hadn't boarded the [Endless Train] unprepared. Everything he had brought was something he believed could prove useful.
This bronze-colored ring was certainly no mere ornament.
A small mechanism had been built into it, and the fine needle was coated with poison.
The dose was small, but lethal.
Striking a vital spot, in particular, would hasten the victim's death.
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