At 9 p.m., Gu Jiu entered the Gray Mist Space on time.
[Player is about to enter a C-level game field: Death Platform.]
[Game Mission: Escape the Death Train.]
[Item: Return Ticket, a non-attribute item. Each ticket costs 1000 points, and each player is allowed to purchase one.]
Upon seeing the description of the item in the game store panel, Gu Jiu’s face showed a hint of surprise.
A non-attribute item? That was new. And the game offered nothing more than a plain ticket as an item, priced at a hefty 1000 points. Wasn’t this overly stingy?
Just as Gu Jiu began to mentally diss the game again, the voice of System 387 sounded, its childlike tone carrying an unhidden trace of worry.
[Miss, this game world is extremely dangerous. Many players have already been trapped inside. You must be very careful!]
Gu Jiu’s expression turned intrigued as she asked, “The players trapped in the game world—are they dead or alive?”
[That depends on their abilities.]
“How many players have been trapped approximately?”
[If not a thousand, then at least several hundred. Due to the high death toll, it’s difficult to estimate accurately.] System 387 sounded somewhat vexed. [My level is too low to choose game worlds for you. I didn’t expect this one to be so dangerous. I’ve heard that this Death Train is a nightmare for players. Even item-using players are powerless against it. Many have perished or gone missing within it.]
Gu Jiu asked with curiosity, “Has no one cleared this dungeon yet?”
[Even a smooth clearance is rare, let alone fully clearing it. So far, the truth of the Death Train remains unknown. Not even our system knows. You players must explore it yourselves.]
This piqued Gu Jiu’s interest.
Previously, the game worlds she entered were all newly created and had never been explored by players. It was rare to encounter a game field that had already consumed so many batches of players, which indicated its high difficulty level.
“Alright, buy the ticket,” Gu Jiu said. “Send me into the game world.”
System 387 placed the purchased ticket in her inventory and repeatedly urged, [Miss, please be cautious.]
It certainly didn’t want its promising S-rank potential player to fall in this terrifying Death Train. Not to mention, it had grown fond of the arrogant young lady. Watching her wreak havoc in game worlds and bully the game bosses brought it endless joy.
With System 387’s anxious reminders, Gu Jiu left the Gray Mist Space.
—
Gu Jiu opened her eyes and found herself standing in a subway station.
Pale, harsh lighting spilled down from overhead. The entire subway station was desolate, exuding an air of abandonment as if no one had set foot here for years. Even the presence of living beings was imperceptible.
She was standing at the entrance gate to the platform.
There were no security personnel, and the gate was wide open, requiring no ticket scan to pass through.
Suddenly, she looked down. Near her feet was a patch of blood, nearly dried.
She stepped aside carefully, as if worried about staining her shoes, and her gaze swept across the subway station. Not only was there no sign of Lu Ji, but there were no other players in sight either.
This was the first time she’d entered a game world without encountering any other players around her.
Recalling System 387’s warnings, Gu Jiu felt a sense of clarity.
This game world was extremely dangerous, with a vast exploration range—not just a subway station, but a moving Death Train and the various stations it stopped at.
Perhaps Lu Ji was on the train, or at another subway station.
She didn’t know how many players had entered this game world, but it was likely quite a number. The overarching game system probably didn’t want players to remain trapped here indefinitely. By sending more players in, it could expedite uncovering the Death Train’s secrets and ultimately clear the game world to rescue the trapped players.
In just a few seconds, Gu Jiu mentally sorted through all the information she had so far.
Adjusting her glasses, she began inspecting the subway station.
The station’s condition was worse than she had expected. The floor was littered with dried bloodstains, and the walls and public facilities bore marks of being slashed by sharp weapons. Some of the cuts still had congealed blood on them, a grim reminder of the recent violent and bloody events here.
Looking up, she tried to find a subway map. After a thorough search, she found none—either it had never been there, or it had been destroyed.
Even the typical advertisements found in subway stations were absent. The glass over the ad boards was shattered, with fragments of torn posters still glued inside. The fresh appearance of the torn paper suggested the destruction hadn’t happened long ago.
What surprised her slightly was that, despite the station’s lighting being functional, many other systems had ceased to operate.
As for the lights…
She glanced up at the lamps overhead. Since the station was underground, losing the lights would plunge it into complete darkness, which would be a very bad situation.
Instead of heading directly into the platform area, Gu Jiu wandered around first.
She checked the exits leading to the outside world and quickly discovered there were none. Or, more accurately, they were blocked. Players could only move around inside the station.
Next, she examined the ticketing booths and the staff offices but found nothing of value.
These areas were either soaked in spattered blood or violently slashed to pieces by an unknown sharp object. There wasn’t a single intact spot, let alone useful clues.
Gu Jiu touched the slash marks on the walls but couldn’t determine if they were caused by humans or something else.
After finishing her inspection, she came up empty-handed.
She didn’t mind much and walked toward the entrance to the platform, finally deciding to proceed.
This station was on the first underground level. To board the train, she needed to descend to the second level.
Standing at the top of the escalator leading to the second level, Gu Jiu peered downward. The escalator had stopped working, making its length even more pronounced. Although there was light at the bottom, her view was limited, and she couldn’t see what lay below.
The silence in the station was almost oppressive, as though the only sound in the world was her own heartbeat.
Gu Jiu didn’t linger long in thought. After about a minute, she lifted her foot and began descending the escalator.
Her movements were steady, each step measured as if it had been carefully aligned with a ruler.
The descent took less than a minute.
As she neared the bottom, she could clearly see the area around the escalator. The train hadn’t arrived yet, and the eerie silence continued to dominate.
When she was three steps from the bottom, Gu Jiu’s keen ears caught the faint sound of footsteps.
The footsteps were light and deliberate, like those of a child, slowly pacing across the reflective floor. The click of little leather boots echoed faintly, each step precise and deliberate.
Gu Jiu’s exceptional hearing often caught what ordinary players missed, and this time was no exception.
She halted her descent, leaning slightly against the escalator’s handrail, listening intently to the faint sound of footsteps.
Moments later, her eyes shifted to the glass wall beside the train tracks. The train had yet to arrive, leaving the tracks shrouded in darkness. The glass reflected the second underground level like a mirror, revealing a portion of the scene behind her.
A little girl in a red dress slowly emerged from the far end of the platform.
Her movements were slow and rigid, reminiscent of a puppet. She clutched a similarly red-dressed doll in her arms. The doll’s head drooped naturally, obscuring its face.
Suddenly, the little girl turned her face toward the glass wall as though locking eyes with Gu Jiu through the reflection.
Gu Jiu stood quietly, her breathing steady and almost imperceptible.
The girl finally reached the escalator on the other side. Turning her stiff head, she revealed her face to Gu Jiu.
It was a cherubic face—plump and pale as snow. Her lips were unnaturally crimson, as if drenched in fresh blood. Her round, black eyes lacked any whites, giving her an unnerving, ghostly appearance.
When the girl noticed Gu Jiu, the doll in her arms also lifted its head to look at her.
The doll’s face twisted into a grotesque smile, its lips splitting back to the ears.
Gu Jiu’s gaze shifted to the doll’s face, noting that its features bore an uncanny resemblance to the little girl holding it.
In a clear, childlike voice, the little girl spoke. “Are you here to play with Sasha? Lisa lost one of her hands. Can you help find it for her?”
Gu Jiu stood her ground, looking down at the girl from her elevated position. She did not reply.
The little girl’s face slowly fell into a pout, her expression growing ominous. The doll in her arms turned its gaze, its eerie eyes locked on Gu Jiu with a cold intensity.
“If you won’t help Lisa find her hand,” the girl said sweetly, her tone taking a sudden, malicious turn, “then you can die!”
The moment the words left her lips, Gu Jiu sensed a force rushing toward her. Reacting instantly, she leaped up, propelling herself off the escalator’s handrail. In her peripheral vision, a blood-red shadow surged toward her, threatening to consume her.
The shadow moved at a terrifying speed, lashing out like tendrils to ensnare her ankle and nearly yanking her back down the escalator.
Gu Jiu steadied herself by gripping the handrail, her other hand brandishing the Lingyuan Blade. With a swift slash, she severed the blood-red tendril gripping her ankle. She lunged upward, leaping several steps ahead, before turning to face her pursuer.
The blood-red shadow she had cut through was a strand extending from the doll.
The doll, frustrated by her escape, opened its grotesque mouth. Its jaw clattered noisily, as if muttering something incomprehensible.
The little girl stood at the base of the escalator, tilting her head to gaze up at Gu Jiu for a long moment. Then, without a word, she turned and walked away.
Gu Jiu’s tense body gradually relaxed.
She deduced that the girl likely couldn’t ascend to the first underground level, her activity restricted to the second. However, players had to descend to the second level to board the train, making an encounter with her inevitable.
Moreover, Gu Jiu couldn’t be sure if the girl—Sasha—and her doll, Lisa, were the only dangers lurking on the second level.
Pondering her next move, Gu Jiu returned to the first underground level and resumed her search.
After an extended search, she finally unearthed something near the blood-soaked ticket counter: a bloodied, severed arm.
She had checked this area earlier but had dismissed it due to the overwhelming bloodstains, finding it too repulsive to investigate thoroughly. Now, upon closer inspection, the arm was unmistakably that of a child.
The little girl’s hands were intact earlier, so it was obvious whose arm this belonged to.
Though she found it repulsive, Gu Jiu still tossed the severed arm into her inventory, letting it take up one grid of space.
Afterward, she headed back to the escalator and descended once more to the second underground level of the subway station.
—
TL: This instance is by far the longest one, I’m also kinda excited with this one.