Chapter 11: Mutation

Liu Jia looked at him in astonishment, and even Professor Han frowned as he looked over. Those who understood naturally understood, while those who didn't stared out the window, "Where is there anything?"

"I was mistaken." Xu Huo withdrew his gaze; he had already obtained the answer he wanted.

Liu Jia was filled with trepidation, and Professor Han patted her shoulder to reassure her.

The suffocating night had arrived once again.

This time, the darkness descended even faster than before, switching from day to night almost instantaneously. The train was submerged in silence, and all sounds grew hushed.

However, after only a few minutes of quiet, the train shook violently for over ten seconds, and intense fighting erupted simultaneously in the carriages in front and behind. From the third-class carriage, sounds resembling the roars of wild beasts could also be heard.

"They're inside!" Liu Jia said, her voice choked with tears.

"Don't panic, those are human voices!" Professor Han raised his voice. "Everyone, don't run around! Block the front and back doors first!"

Professor Han and Liu Jia held onto the tables and chairs at the front door, while Yan Jiayu also hoisted a table and dragged it toward the back door. Amidst the chaotic footsteps, the sound of flesh being torn and swallowed echoed through the carriage.

Xu Huo instinctively stopped his movements, and the next second, he rushed toward the source of the sound. However, someone was faster than him—Yan Jiayu swept past him like a gust of wind, and immediately after, Li Fei let out a shrill scream!

Li Fei was not dead; struggling desperately, he kicked Yan Jiayu away. But what had been plunged into his stomach was the table leg Yan Jiayu had dismantled. It had opened a large hole in his abdomen, and feeling something spilling out from inside, he stumbled twice and fell to his knees!

At the same time, Xu Huo caught the retreating Yan Jiayu. Just as he was about to speak, the lights in the third-class section suddenly flickered on!

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The sound of glass shattering rang out in rapid succession. In the blink of an eye, the lights went out again. Yet, in that fleeting moment, Xu Huo had clearly seen the "monsters" clinging to the outside of the glass windows!

So, the jolting in the night was the movement of these monsters boarding the train—at this moment, countless ugly, deformed faces were pressed hideously against the glass. Their humanoid limbs were pale and thin, crowded together in an interlocking mass, wrapping the carriage tightly like locusts. On their heads, a pair of large, sunken eyeballs stared fixedly and blankly into the carriage, saliva hanging from their mouths, poised and ready as if waiting for a signal!

And the signal had already been given!

"Bang!" That flash of light had awakened the monsters outside the windows. The glass shattered in response, but what rushed in was not the wind from the train's movement, but several monsters!

Dull thuds of bodies hitting the floor came from different directions, accompanied by screams. As an Evolver, Xu Huo had keen hearing; amidst the clamor, he heard dragging and tearing. Li Fei, who had been beside him, was dragged away before he could even let out a cry. The chilling sounds were clearly different from those of the Bloody Players earlier!

"What the hell are these things!" Terrified screams rang out one after another. The carriage was in chaos, and the rapidly rising smell of blood and stench permeated the air. Xu Huo retreated to the back door, grabbing a nearby table to block the gust of wind rushing toward him. Under the force of the collision, he and the table were slammed against the carriage wall. A foul-smelling wind slashed at his face; he ducked, and the monster's claws scraped against the metal with a piercing screech!

Taking this opportunity, he used the table to shove the monster pinning him down away. Yan Jiayu was right beside him; using sound to locate her target, she accurately pierced the monster with a broken table leg!

With a "squelch," she hit some part of the monster. The creature let out an eerie, high-pitched hiss before dragging the table leg and clattering toward the window to escape. Xu Huo was moving toward that side when suddenly, there was a "bang" on the roof of the carriage, and a gust of wind grazed his shoulder!

An Evolver's speed is superior to that of an ordinary person, and with Xu Huo's quick reflexes, he immediately turned and grabbed backward, actually catching the opponent's ankle!

But the next instant, he was kicked away by a strange force. Sensing the monster in pursuit, he rolled as he landed and kicked the overturned tables and chairs toward it!

The monster impaled itself on a table leg, wailing as it struggled on the ground!

Although the monsters were startled by the light, there was no guarantee they wouldn't keep coming, drawn by the scent of blood. Xu Huo shouted to Yan Jiayu, "Let's block the window together!"

Yan Jiayu was right there; hearing this, she immediately cooperated with him to lift the table, pushing it along with the monster impaled on it toward the window, using the tabletop to block the hole in the glass!

As soon as the steel plate pressed against the opening, the pressure on both of them increased sharply. Outside, there was another wave of fierce tearing and swallowing, and the thick, foul stench drifted in through the air!

The monsters outside the window were clearly more agitated. Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu could not let go, and they didn't know how many monsters were still inside the carriage...

"Liu Jia, how many monsters are left in the carriage!" Just then, Professor Han shouted loudly.

Liu Jia, who had been scared witless, finally came to her senses. In the span of just a few breaths, all the corpses in the carriage had disappeared. Bloody dragging marks were visible everywhere. Those worm-like, surging monsters were not only fighting over the corpses but even eating their own injured kind. Blood and visceral remains were smeared almost entirely across the windows!

Liu Jia nearly vomited. She instinctively looked for Professor Han, and as she turned her head, she saw a monster pouncing toward his back

"Professor, watch out!"

The human-yet-not-human thing opened its mouth to an eerie angle, its entire gum line protruding from its mouth, dripping with sticky fluid as it bit toward the back of Professor Han's neck!

Hearing the warning, Professor Han tilted his body, but his shoulder was still bitten. Intense pain accompanied by heavy pressure struck him. Realizing he couldn't escape from the monster's jaws, he turned his back to the monster and slammed into the window!

Professor Han miscalculated the position and was about to crawl forward, but at that moment, a hand suddenly pressed onto his shoulder and then thrust into the monster's teeth, forcibly prying them open!

The others didn't understand the situation, but Liu Jia saw that it was the old man in the military uniform who had saved Professor Han. His eyes were bloodshot, saliva drooled from his mouth, and his ferocious appearance was shockingly similar to the monster he was restraining!

Liu Jia covered her mouth, not daring to speak, but the old man looked back at her, said something unintelligible, and then jumped out while clutching the monster!

A large amount of blood splattered out. Liu Jia trembled and said, "Quick! Quickly block the window! The old man jumped out holding the monster!"

Professor Han, who was right by the window, grabbed the table and pressed it against the hole, using his back to hold the tabletop firmly until the jolting subsided before asking, "Are there any more of those monsters in the carriage?"

"No more..." Liu Jia looked around the carriage, her throat choking up: "Professor, He Yang is gone, and Li Fei too..."

"Li Fei was a Bloody Player," Xu Huo interjected. "How many people are left now? Yan Jiayu and I are both fine."

"I'm fine too," a middle-aged woman's trembling voice came from the corner, followed by the heavily made-up woman and Wang Xiaohui. The three of them were badly shaken.

He Yang had disappeared inexplicably, which was hard for Liu Jia to accept. She said somewhat confusedly, "Maybe she turned into a monster like the old man..."

"Turned into a monster?" Xu Huo immediately asked, "What do you mean?"

He could barely guess what had happened just now, as he had also heard the old man's final words, "I still want to see my granddaughter." He had thought the man chose to perish with the monster because he had no other choice to save someone.

"It's that old man... when he saved Professor Han just now, he himself became a bit like those monsters..." Liu Jia suddenly paused, then said in extreme terror: "We won't all turn into those monsters, will we?"