Chapter 13: Beating to Death

There was still some time before dawn.

The windows needed to be blocked, and the front and back doors had to be guarded. After some discussion, the group decided to take turns.

"But there are still Red Players among us. What if..." Liu Jia whispered.

"If the things outside the window get in, everyone is in danger. No one is that stupid," Xu Huo reassured her.

Professor Han found this reasonable. He was worried about the "what if," so he volunteered to guard the window with the heavily made-up woman.

The woman had no objections.

Wang Xiaohui and the middle-aged woman guarded the door. Xu Huo was "injured" and resting for the time being, so Liu Jia and Yan Jiayu took the first shift. Two hours later, he would come to relieve them, and he specifically asked Yan Jiayu if she needed a rest.

Yan Jiayu said, "I used to carry water and chop wood often; I have plenty of stamina. Let Liu Jia go to the front door." The person guarding the door could rest for a while.

The carriage fell silent once more.

To test whether Liu Jia was truly blind, the heavily made-up woman held her breath in the darkness and crept toward Professor Han, making a motion as if to bite him. There was no reaction from that side.

Three minutes later, she made her move!

The table in her hand suddenly dropped. Professor Han knew something was wrong, but he didn't dare let go of the table he was holding. He turned his back to brace against it with his body and shouted, "Liu Jia, watch out!"

The woman sneered upon hearing this. So, the little girl did know; she had lied just to keep her steady. She feared that once dawn broke, she would become the target of everyone's ire!

She had to die!

Kill Liu Jia first, then kill Professor Han!

She had memorized Liu Jia's position earlier; a wave of her hand would be enough to eliminate the threat. However, she didn't expect that what would greet her wasn't Liu Jia's soft neck, but a thick, heavy metal table!

"Bang!" The blow landed squarely on the woman's face!

The woman saw stars, her head buzzing. She stumbled back a few meters, and before she could steady herself, she felt wind coming from her right. She hurriedly raised her hands to protect her head, but the table, as immovable as a stone wall, ferociously shattered her shoulder bone!

She screamed in pain, and immediately after, she took another hit to her back, spitting out a mouthful of blood. She roared, "A Red Player is attacking me!"

But no one responded. The thumping sounds of the beating didn't stop at all. The woman felt as if every bone in her body was being broken. "Who are you? Xu Huo?"

She couldn't hear the other person's movements at all; she couldn't identify their position!

"It's me," Yan Jiayu's voice suddenly sounded behind her.

The woman turned in shock, but the metal table had already smashed into the top of her skull. This time, she heard the sound of her own cervical vertebrae shifting...

After the sound of a heavy object hitting the floor, Yan Jiayu announced a few seconds later, "Amitabha, this female benefactor has gone to hell to purge her sins."

The teeth-grinding, bone-chilling sounds of the beating and bone fractures still echoed in their eardrums. The middle-aged woman in the corner asked tremblingly, "Why did you kill her?"

"She was a Red Player," Yan Jiayu said. "Xu Huo said she was the last Red Player, and she tried to kill Liu Jia just now."

"So that's it!" The middle-aged woman's tone was cheerful. "Mr. Xu is truly a capable person!"

"Now that's settled, we can spend the last day in peace!"

In the darkness, Xu Huo said faintly toward her direction, "Indeed."

As it neared eight o'clock, the train shuddered, as if it had shed a heavy burden, and began to run smoothly.

Dawn had broken.

"Ding-dong!"

"Welcome aboard..."

The broadcast arrived as promised, and everyone in the carriage breathed a sigh of relief.

After two days and two nights, the train was exceptionally desolate. No sounds could be heard from either the front or the back. After glancing forward and backward and finding no one, Professor Han and the others sat down to rest where they were.

After a night of intense mental strain, Xu Huo was also somewhat fatigued. He rubbed his arm, dragged the woman's corpse into a corner, and then looked toward the third-class carriage.

The blood-smeared door was deformed and twisted, covered in protruding claw marks that nearly pierced the metal. Such power was simply beyond human comprehension.

Through the twisted gaps, one could see that all the glass in the third-class carriage had shattered, leaving only a piece of metal dragging at the tail of the train, covered in dried blood and debris, creaking as the train moved.

The total annihilation of the third-class carriage was unexpected. He had thought that with six people left, they could at least hold out until the third day. He hadn't anticipated that the Red Players who failed to feed would undergo mutations on the second night, leading to the fall of the carriage.

Although the monsters that appeared yesterday retained human physical characteristics, their forms had completely deviated from the human category. They had no reason; their only goal was to feed. They appeared at night, and after being awakened by light, they had a certain period of activity and seemed somewhat dull to sound and scent.

These things were far more dangerous than Red Players. Although they lacked reason, it matched what the woman had said—the more they ate, the stronger their abilities became.

But there were too many of them. Could it be that all those monsters were Red Players who failed to feed?

How long had Evolvers even been around?

Wang Xiaohui came to his side, and Xu Huo glanced at her. "Don't look."

Wang Xiaohui's eyes were red. "If he had come over yesterday, maybe..."

Xu Huo's expression remained unchanged. "Don't be stupid. He couldn't have gotten in."

Under the woman's stunned gaze, he continued, "You were able to get in because you are disabled."

Every additional player meant an additional risk. Even if Xu Huo could hold off other players, he wouldn't rashly let in an unknown risk. But Wang Xiaohui's physical condition clearly lowered that risk, which was why the other players hadn't strongly objected.

Wang Xiaohui seemed unable to accept this. After a while, she lowered her head and said, "I violated the train rules, and my trait duration has been reduced by one-third. If I stay in the second-class carriage until the terminal, the game will permanently deduct this one-third of the time."

After saying this, she operated her wheelchair and moved away. Xu Huo said nothing; this had been his goal all along. There were no truly pure-hearted people in this world.

"There's a suicide note in his pocket." On the other side, Yan Jiayu pulled up the overturned tables and chairs and found the coat the old man had left behind. Perhaps to ensure the letter could be delivered if he couldn't, he had left an address on it.

"It's in the capital. My grandmother's house is in the capital. I'll deliver it," Wang Xiaohui said.

Liu Jia held He Yang's small backpack. "I'll deliver this one."

One had saved her, and the other was barely considered her student. Professor Han's eyes were red, and his breathing was heavy.

Xu Huo, who had been searching the woman's clothes and shoes nearby without success, suddenly looked up and stared at him. "Your wound might be infected."

"An Evolver's recovery ability is very strong; it should be fine, right?" Professor Han was stunned for a moment. He pulled down his collar, only to find that the flesh on his shoulder had been bitten almost into dumpling filling. The color had turned purplish-black, and dark brown pus was oozing from the wound.

"He isn't going to turn into a monster too, is he!" The middle-aged woman screamed and backed away. "That's how it always happens in zombie movies! If you get bitten, you turn into a zombie!"