Don't Look Back After Getting Off
[All valid passengers have completed homecoming registration.] [The Lightless Train is about to arrive at its final station.]
The announcement ended.
At the end of car four.
A white door that had never appeared before slowly opened.
There was no platform behind it.
No tracks.
Only a white light so dazzling that nothing could be seen.
At the same time.
The tickets in every player's hand grew hot.
At the very bottom of each ticket, a new line of bloody words slowly appeared.
[After getting off, please do not look back.]
Shen Niannian looked down and read it twice.
After making sure she hadn't missed a single word, her little face gradually grew serious.
(｡ŏ_ŏ)
The final step.
A-rank instances loved to screw people over at a moment like this.
After struggling so hard to survive up to this point.
If she suddenly dropped dead only ten meters from clearing the instance...
She figured she'd be so angry that even as a ghost, she'd die all over again.
Cheng Ye wasn't in a hurry to get up either.
He checked his ticket again.
[Car: 4] [Seat: 11C] [Final stop: Homecoming Station] [Homecoming destination: Homecoming Station] [Valid rides remaining: 1]
There was nothing unusual about the information.
Only then did Cheng Ye look at the remaining players.
"Keep walking forward once you're out. The rule only requires one thing: don't look back. So no matter what you hear, don't stop or turn around to check."
After everything that had happened at the previous stops.
No one thought the reminder was unnecessary anymore.
The first player stood up.
She walked to the white door.
Took a deep breath.
And stepped inside.
Whoosh-
Her figure vanished.
Two seconds later.
A cold notification appeared.
[Player Xu Jing has completed disembarkation.]
There was no death notification.
That meant stepping through the white door was safe, at least.
The second.
The third.
They left one after another.
Soon.
Only Cheng Ye, Shen Niannian, and Ning Hongzhuang, who was sitting not far away, remained in car four.
Cheng Ye stood up.
But he didn't leave immediately.
He glanced at Ning Hongzhuang.
"Aren't you getting off here?"
Ning Hongzhuang didn't even look up.
Clearly, she had no interest in answering him.
Cheng Ye didn't continue making a fool of himself.
He was already well aware.
The fact that this peak A-rank weird entity was willing to stay in the same car as them didn't mean she was on the same side as the human players.
From beginning to end.
There was only one person she truly saw.
Shen Niannian.
Sure enough.
Only after Cheng Ye walked toward the white door.
Did Ning Hongzhuang slowly raise her eyes.
"Niannian."
Shen Niannian looked at her.
"What is it?"
Ning Hongzhuang reached out.
She brushed Shen Niannian's long silver hair, which had become somewhat messy during everything that had happened, behind her shoulders.
The gesture was perfectly natural.
"After you get off, no matter who you hear calling you from behind, don't look back."
Shen Niannian blinked.
"Is that an extra rule?"
"No."
"Then why?"
Ning Hongzhuang said calmly, "Because once you leave the Lightless Train, you'll no longer be under its protection. Just because some things don't dare touch you on the train doesn't mean they won't dare once you're off it."
Shen Niannian immediately grew alert.
(｡ŏ_ŏ)
That's a thing too?
Cheng Ye had already reached the door.
He had obviously heard it too.
He paused for a moment.
But he didn't turn around to ask.
Because Ning Hongzhuang had only been warning Shen Niannian from the start.
Whether he could listen in on that information was his own business.
Ning Hongzhuang didn't care at all.
Shen Niannian nodded.
"Got it."
After saying that.
She couldn't help asking, "Aren't you coming with me?"
"I'm going back to Mirror City."
"Isn't this the final stop?"
"For you, it is."
Ning Hongzhuang said indifferently, "For me, it isn't."
Shen Niannian: "..."
(￣ー￣)
Great.
Another mechanic exclusive to the Weird World.
Even if she asked now, she probably wouldn't understand.
Cheng Ye didn't linger any longer.
He stepped into the white light.
His figure vanished in an instant.
Ning Hongzhuang looked at Shen Niannian.
"Go on."
Shen Niannian nodded.
She had barely taken two steps.
When Ning Hongzhuang suddenly called her back.
"Shen Niannian."
"Hmm?"
"The next time we meet, you'd better not let me see you entering an A-rank instance in pajamas and slippers again."
The corner of Shen Niannian's mouth twitched.
"The system suddenly grabbed me last time. What did that have to do with me?"
Ning Hongzhuang remained expressionless.
"That's what you said every time you got into trouble as a child, too."
Shen Niannian: "..."
(╥﹏╥)
How could this woman turn everything into a reminder of her embarrassing past?
"I'm going!"
She stepped through the white door without looking back.
Whoosh-!
An intense sensation of weightlessness hit her instantly.
The next second.
She felt solid ground beneath her feet again.
Shen Niannian opened her eyes.
Before her was a pure white corridor with no end in sight.
There were no walls.
No ceiling.
She couldn't even tell up from down or left from right.
There was only a straight path stretching ahead.
Farther ahead.
She could just make out the backs of Cheng Ye and the other players.
No one looked back.
No one stopped.
Shen Niannian immediately set off after them.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Footsteps echoed continuously.
At first.
Nothing happened.
Until she had walked several dozen meters.
"Niannian."
A sweet voice suddenly sounded behind her.
Shen Niannian's eyelid twitched.
Bai Feiyue?
"Niannian, you dropped something."
Shen Niannian kept walking.
She ignored it completely.
(￣ー￣)
The same trick.
It had already fooled her once at the Blood Moon Hotel.
Still trying to scam her?
That scam was outdated.
One-star review.
A few seconds later.
The voice changed.
"Miss Shen."
Gu Changsheng's gentle voice came from behind her.
"You left your checkout voucher behind."
Shen Niannian nearly burst out laughing.
How long had it been since she cleared the Blood Moon Hotel?
A checkout voucher? Seriously?
Hadn't this scam database been updated?
But the other players were clearly hearing something different.
A middle-aged man at the back suddenly stiffened.
"Dad?"
Cheng Ye abruptly stopped in his tracks.
But he didn't look back.
"Don't listen to it. Keep walking!"
The middle-aged man's breathing grew noticeably ragged.
"Dad, didn't you... ten years ago?"
His voice had already begun to tremble.
Behind them.
An aged voice slowly spoke.
"Zhiyuan, Dad has been waiting for you for a long time. Turn around and look at me."
"Is it really you?"
"Don't look back!"
Cheng Ye warned sharply.
But Chen Zhiyuan had clearly lost all composure.
His father, who had died ten years ago.
That familiar voice.
It had even called out the childhood nickname that only the two of them knew.
He finally couldn't resist.
He spun around.
"Dad-"
Smack.
The voice vanished.
There was no scream.
No sound of flesh tearing.
It was as though someone had casually switched off a light.
[Player Chen Zhiyuan has died.] [Players currently alive: 7]
Footsteps in the white corridor instantly quickened.
The livestream chat exploded.
"You can still die at the end!"
"Whatever you do, don't look back!"
"It's not just the moment you step out of the car when you can't look back. It applies until you've truly left the instance!"
"Chen Zhiyuan survived so many stages, only to die in the last few dozen meters!"
"This is an A-rank instance..."
Shen Niannian didn't dare complain anymore either.
She kept her head down and walked.
Soon.
A pitch-black exit appeared at the end of the white corridor.
The players ahead stepped through one after another.
And disappeared.
Cheng Ye also made it out safely.
Soon.
Shen Niannian was the only one left in the corridor.
The exit was right in front of her.
Ten meters.
Five meters.
Three meters.
Shen Niannian could already sense the presence of the real world.
Just as she was about to step through.
All the jumbled voices behind her.
Suddenly vanished.
It was quiet.
Completely quiet.
Then.
A man's voice she had never heard before slowly spoke.
"Niannian."
Shen Niannian's steps faltered slightly.
Deep.
Calm.
It had none of Bai Feiyue's sweetness.
None of Gu Changsheng's gentleness.
It wasn't even deliberately tempting her to look back.
But for some reason.
Those two syllables alone.
Made her heart suddenly skip a beat.
The next second.
The man spoke again.
"It's time to come home."
Buzz-!
The Identity Archive popped open on its own without warning.
A scarlet warning instantly filled her entire field of vision.
[Target with an ultra-high-level authority connection detected!] [Target's authority level is too high!] [Inspection currently unavailable!]
Shen Niannian's pupils contracted slightly.
Another one I can't inspect?!
And it's a-
Connected target?
She really did want to turn around and take a look.
Just one look.
To see who was behind her.
But almost as soon as the thought appeared.
Shen Niannian dug her nails hard into her palm.
The pain brought her instantly to her senses.
The rule was perfectly clear.
[After getting out of the car, please do not look back.]
I don't care who you are.
I'm getting out first!
Shen Niannian didn't look back.
She stepped straight into the black exit.
"Come home? No way."
"If you've got what it takes, come find me yourself."
(￣ー￣)
Whoosh-!
The white corridor vanished completely.
And in the last moment before she lost consciousness.
She seemed to hear the man behind her-
Give a soft chuckle.