chapter 31
Jiang Li’s hand had already pressed down on his shoulder-the child was subdued.
But in the very next instant, darkness fell, and Jiang Li was back in the corridor of the original Train Carriage.
She lunged but missed.
At that moment, there was a rustle of footsteps ahead.
Jiang Li looked up. It was the Black-Vest Attendant.
Next to the attendant was a young man, walking this way.
The young man had a black shoulder bag and was wearing headphones. He stopped right in front of Jiang Li, who had nearly stumbled.
“Are you alright?” the young man asked.
She looked at him, nodded, and stepped aside.
He walked past her.
Jiang Li caught a clear glimpse of his face.
This was the same college student with headphones who had been sitting next to Tang Shuang earlier.
How did he end up here?
And-there was no sign of contamination on his body.
That meant he hadn’t eaten anything from the Train, nor had he been affected by the singing.
Jiang Li watched the young man’s back.
The Black-Vest Attendant led him around Jiang Li, heading straight for Middle Bunk No.15 and Lower Bunk No.16.
The attendant pointed at the bunk above Xia Xiaoqiang. “Mr. Liang, this is your bunk, Middle Bunk No.15.”
He handed over a slip of paper. “These are the Hard Sleeper Carriage guidelines. Please try to rest early.”
With that, the Black-Vest Attendant politely turned and left.
The college student took the slip, shoved it into his pocket, tossed his bag onto the bed, climbed up to the middle bunk in two steps, and crawled under the covers.
Jiang Li glanced at him a few more times, then turned her gaze back to Xia Xiaoqiang.
Was this young man here because he knew Xia Xiaoqiang?
But during the day, the two hadn’t spoken at all. They didn’t seem familiar with each other.
Suspicion crept into Jiang Li’s mind. She walked over to her own bunk.
She had just returned, barely sitting down, when she suddenly noticed something on the floor. Her pupils contracted sharply.
Something was wrong!
She stood up at once, face tense.
“This isn’t my bunk.”
She lowered her voice, but spoke with certainty.
Her gaze fell to the floor at the end of the bed.
There should have been a bloodstain there.
It was left from when the Aberration was chopping off fingers…
Hard Sleeper Rules, Article 8:
[Without the permission of the Train Attendant, it is forbidden to change bunks in the Hard Sleeper Carriage.]
This Carriage Jiang Li had returned to wasn’t Carriage No.10 at all!
To confirm her suspicion,
She stepped forward, pressed down on the “person” in Xia Xiaoqiang’s bunk, and turned it over.
Their eyes met…
It was a face hidden by long hair, grotesque and twisted, barely able to contain an overwhelming joy!
Within its pitch-black pupils, a strange red glow flickered.
Luckily, Jiang Li hadn’t broken the rules. This Aberration could only eye her hungrily, but couldn’t harm her.
A chill ran through her.
She dared not imagine what would have happened if she had mistaken Lower Bunk No.16 for her own just now.
Jiang Li looked up at the Carriage indicator-it was dark.
She couldn’t tell which Carriage this was at all.
So it was the Aberration’s doing!
The purpose was to confuse her, make her mistake her bunk, and break the rules.
Thinking this, Jiang Li frowned.
After considering it carefully, she decided to use the most basic solution.
She walked to the middle bunk, reached out, and tapped the young man she’d just seen.
“Excuse me, sorry to bother you, which Carriage have you been assigned to?”
The young man had just lain down and wasn’t asleep yet.
He glanced at her. “Carriage No.16.”
“Thank you.”
She thanked him, then immediately turned and headed toward Carriage No.10.
Counting as she walked, she passed through six Carriages, and in each one’s Lower Bunk No.15, there was a “Xia Xiaoqiang” lying there!
If she hadn’t been on guard, she’d have been swallowed up by the Aberration already.
She returned to Carriage No.10, found her own bunk, and hadn’t even sat down yet-
She saw Xia Xiaoqiang shrinking warily at the head of the bed, clutching Scissors with both hands, the sharp ends pointed at her.
“Who are you?!” Xia Xiaoqiang demanded, eyes fixed on Jiang Li.
Jiang Li only needed a glance to guess what had happened in the Carriage.
Apparently, Xia Xiaoqiang had just encountered an Aberration disguised as her.
“I’m Jiang Li,” she said quietly.
“How do you prove it?!” Xia Xiaoqiang gripped the Scissors even tighter.
With that posture, if Jiang Li dared to come any closer, she would stab her to death with the Scissors.
Jiang Li thought for a moment, recalling that she had just returned from that timeline, had been contaminated, but hadn’t had time to drink any Honey Water yet.
So she simply took out a cup from her Space, held it in her hand, and took a few sips.
“Do you believe me now?” Jiang Li looked at her over the rim of the Honey Water, the corners of her lips lifting.
When Xia Xiaoqiang saw the cup of Honey Water Jiang Li had taken out, the Scissors in her hand fell to the floor with a clatter.
Her tears broke through instantly, streaming uncontrollably down her face.
“Sis, where did you go… Wuwu, you finally came back…”
Xia Xiaoqiang’s voice trembled terribly. “Just now there was someone who looked exactly like you… scared me to death! Wuwuwu…”
“I was this close to being fooled by it.” Xia Xiaoqiang sobbed, her nose sniffling.
She wiped her tears as she recounted the scene.
Jiang Li raised her eyebrows slightly. “What did it do to imitate me?”
Xia Xiaoqiang cried as she spoke:
“It wore Sister Jiang’s face and said it was scared to sleep alone at night, asked me to go to her bed and keep her company.”
Jiang Li almost spat out the mouthful of Honey Water she had just drunk. “Cough! Cough cough…”
Xia Xiaoqiang handed Jiang Li a tissue.
Her tears had ruined her face:
“Sis, luckily I know you’re brave, and besides, you specifically told me to always be on guard against others.
So I deliberately said I wanted another cup of Honey Water. That person kept making excuses, didn’t want to give it to me, so I saw through her.”
Jiang Li took the tissue and wiped her mouth. “Pretty clever.”
Xia Xiaoqiang managed a small smile, and gradually stopped crying.
She saw Jiang Li finish her Honey Water, put down the empty cup, turn around, take off her shoes, and crawl back into bed.
Jiang Li looked utterly exhausted, collapsing onto the bed and falling asleep the moment she touched it.
Seeing Jiang Li like this, Xia Xiaoqiang knew she must be worn out, so she didn’t disturb her further.
In these Instances, Jiang Li had almost developed the habit of falling asleep as soon as she lay down.
However, every time her sleep was very light; the slightest disturbance would wake her up.
That night, she didn’t know what time it was.
Jiang Li seemed to hear the sound of someone sucking on Chicken Feet nearby.
It was the sound of a tongue stretching out, sticky saliva slurping hard on the Chicken Feet, stripping tendons and bones.
Just hearing the sound was enough to make one feel nauseous.
The sound came from a few bunks away, right at the foot of a middle bunk.
The first rule of the Hard Sleeper Rules:
[After lights out, if you hear the sound of sucking on Chicken Feet, do not panic. Just pull your feet back under the covers.]
Jiang Li was awakened by the noise and couldn’t help but frown.
She was about to go back to sleep when the Red Infant in her arms nudged her.
“Mommy…”
The Red Infant rubbed his sleepy eyes and pointed toward the foot of Xia Xiaoqiang’s bed. “Look, what’s that? Is it Chicken Feet…”
Across the aisle, Xia Xiaoqiang was sleeping soundly, but not long ago, she had turned over, pressing down the blanket and leaving her feet exposed.
Jiang Li followed the Red Infant’s gaze.
She saw a hand as pale as Chicken Feet slowly reaching out from under the bed, stretching up onto Xia Xiaoqiang’s bed.
That shriveled hand groped along the edge of the bed, frantically probing at the foot of the bed.
Jiang Li became more alert. She instructed the Red Infant, “Baby, go cover Little Xia’s feet with the blanket.”
The Red Infant responded with an “Oh,” crawled out from under the covers, and jumped onto the opposite bed.
He tucked Xia Xiaoqiang in, covering her fair feet, then jumped back.
Jiang Li saw that the shriveled hand groped around the foot of the bed for a while, but found nothing.
A few seconds later, the hand slowly withdrew under the bed.
When the Red Infant returned from Xia Xiaoqiang’s side, he saw that there was also a hand groping around at the foot of Jiang Li’s bed, probing incessantly.
The Red Infant was a little angry.
He went straight over, grabbed the person’s ring finger, and snapped it backward.
The pale, withered hand twitched in pain a few times, then shrank back timidly.
After that, the night passed without dreams.
When Jiang Li woke up again, it was already six in the morning.
It was still dark outside the window.
But Jiang Li felt it was unusually noisy in her ears.
It was as if a large crowd was scrambling for something.
“Congee! Congee! The Kitchen has just made fresh Crab Roe Congee, free of charge, anyone want some?”
Early in the morning, an old, hoarse voice shouted in the corridor.
“The Kitchen just slaughtered a female crab, and it’s full of roe…”