Chapter 10: Reminder

“Have you gone stupid from being a nun!” Li Fei looked at Yan Jiayu as if she were a lunatic. A kind heart, indeed?

But the old man and He Yang immediately agreed. The female student followed Professor Han’s lead, and once the professor nodded, the remaining people were in the minority; one cannot twist an arm against a thigh.

Professor Han and Li Fei stood on either side of the door, leaving Xu Huo to open it.

The person pushing the wheelchair was a tall man. He stood where he was and nudged the wheelchair forward. “Her legs are disabled; she won’t survive the night in third class. Can you take her in?”

The young woman in the wheelchair was pale and frail, her expression timid. She hadn’t fully recovered from the terror of the past day and night, and her eyes held only fear as she looked at Xu Huo and the others.

“Are you siblings?” Xu Huo bent down and lifted the hem of her nightgown. Sure enough, her legs were somewhat deformed.

“No.” The man did not stop his action.

“No way!” Li Fei was the first to object. Even if the person in the wheelchair looked like she would blow away in the wind, he couldn’t take the risk. “What if she’s a Bloody Player?”

The young woman reacted, “I’m not a Bloody Player…”

Perhaps thinking of the scenes she had witnessed, she began to retch before she could finish her sentence.

Xu Huo stepped aside. “Come in.”

The man did not step into the carriage; he merely pushed the wheelchair inside.

The young woman looked back at him, but the man didn’t say anything else, nor did he even glance at her. He turned and headed back to the third-class carriage.

“You let someone in without everyone’s consent. Is this carriage yours?” Li Fei was furious. “Every extra person is an extra danger…”

Before he could finish, Xu Huo pulled the wheelchair to the side, grabbed Li Fei by the collar, shoved him out the door, and slammed it shut. “There, now it’s exactly the right number.”

Li Fei’s face changed drastically. He pulled at the door desperately, shouting and cursing, but Xu Huo simply held the handle, staring at him expressionlessly.

Professor Han felt this wasn’t right and was about to intervene when Yan Jiayu also ran over to hold the door, saying sternly, “We’re being reasonable! If you agree, we’ll let you back in!”

Xu Huo tugged at the door and found her strength was astonishing, so he let go and stepped back.

Li Fei’s face was filled with intense resentment, but the gazes cast from the third-class carriage made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles. With no other choice, he shouted, “I agree! I agree to let that woman in!”

The door behind him rattled. Li Fei’s resentment vanished, replaced by a deathly pale face as he screamed, “I was wrong, Grandma, I was wrong! Open the door quickly…!”

Just as the players from the third-class carriage lunged forward, Yan Jiayu loosened her grip, swiftly pulled Li Fei in through the gap, and slammed the door shut again, cutting off the Bloody Player!

Having lost the meat that was already at his lips, the player kicked and punched the metal door in frustration. However, the glass on the door was specially reinforced; he struck it over a dozen times without leaving a single mark, and in the end, he could only leave in a huff.

Li Fei collapsed onto the floor of the carriage, gasping for air. Fear and anger intertwined, his eyes fixed on Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu.

Yan Jiayu widened her eyes. “Are you going to go back on your word?”

Li Fei was about to retort, but catching sight of Xu Huo, who was glaring coldly at him from beside her, he immediately swallowed his words. He turned his head away and muttered, “If she really is a Bloody Player… well, it won’t be me who regrets it.”

Having seen Li Fei’s example, the middle-aged woman didn’t dare say anything and silently found a seat.

Xu Huo waited for a while, and hearing no broadcast about a rule violation, he pushed the wheelchair to the window and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Wang Xiaohui.” Wang Xiaohui gripped her hands into fists on her lap, saying nervously, “I’m not a Bloody Player.”

“I know,” Xu Huo said. “I’m not responsible for protecting you. There are Bloody Players in second class too, so be careful yourself. By the way, how many players are left in third class?”

“Seven, including me,” Wang Xiaohui replied quickly.

Xu Huo nodded.

Yan Jiayu gave her a packet of compressed biscuit paste. “Are you hungry? This was soaked in water we bought.”

Wang Xiaohui took it with teary eyes and stuffed it into her mouth. “You’re all so kind.”

The time that followed passed quickly. After setting the rotation for the night watch and having everyone take turns using the restroom, they returned to the carriage.

This time, Professor Han and the female student guarded the front door, while Yan Jiayu and Li Fei guarded the back.

The back door wasn’t much of a concern; the main issue was the front. Professor Han blocked the door with tables and chairs in advance and instructed the other players, “No matter what happens, do not turn on the lights. Don’t even use your phones; they must be powered off tonight.”

“I don’t think there’s any punishment for violating the rules, so there’s no need to be so on edge, is there?” The heavily made-up woman glanced at Wang Xiaohui.

“What if it affects the rewards at the end of the game?” Professor Han said sternly. “Just because there’s no punishment now doesn’t mean there won’t be later. I’ll guard the switch tonight. Liu Jia, stand a bit to the side.”

The female student, Liu Jia, followed his gaze to the switch and stepped back nervously.

Xu Huo noted her movements, frowned, and looked out the window again.

“Except for those guarding the doors, can everyone else sit in the middle seats?” Professor Han scanned the group. “That way, there’s a buffer distance between us.”

Maintaining distance was essentially a precaution against Bloody Players attacking others.

“Aren’t there three corpses in the carriage?” He Yang said coldly. “Isn’t that much more convenient than attacking others?”

Every player had this subtle thought. Using the dead to keep everyone safe until they got off the train was the best-case scenario.

The heavily made-up woman walked to the side and sat down. Xu Huo chose a seat diagonally opposite her, while the middle-aged woman and the old man sat at a table nearby.

Wang Xiaohui didn’t know who to trust, so she subconsciously rolled her wheelchair next to Xu Huo.

“Mr. Xu…” Just before the lights were about to go out, Liu Jia suddenly spoke to Xu Huo: “You… be careful.” She also glanced at the heavily made-up woman.

Because of the incident with Chen Yi, the others assumed she was just worried about her savior and didn’t pay much attention. However, Xu Huo confirmed one thing: the female student must have “seen” something last night.

At first, he thought Chen Yi was a Bloody Player, but the fact that he attacked him first last night actually proved he wasn’t—it would have been much easier to attack Liu Jia.

The old man and the woman with the melon-seed face, who both looked weaker, had been attacked.

Chen Yi killing him might have been out of a desire to play the game itself, to get a high score for the reward.

Liu Jia’s screaming wasn’t caused by being attacked, and now that she was specifically warning him to be careful, she was actually implying that the heavily made-up woman was a Bloody Player.

The heavily made-up woman’s behavior didn’t seem like that of a Bloody Player; she had even reminded other players to keep things confidential when they first boarded. Liu Jia had initially liked her, but after the lights came on today, she had been keeping her distance.

The woman with the melon-seed face had three wounds of varying sizes. Excluding the square-faced man and Li Fei, the old man who was by the door at the time, the heavily made-up woman nearby, and Yan Jiayu, who moved silently in the dark, were all highly suspicious.

These three were all major suspects, and Liu Jia’s hint might not necessarily be true. Setting the Bloody Player issue aside for a moment, Xu Huo looked at the two people guarding the light switch. They were too nervous. Although Professor Han had emphasized following the rules about lights and phones yesterday, he hadn’t been this on edge. This change only happened after they exchanged information today.

“Did you see what was outside the window, too?” he suddenly asked.