chapter 38
Rather than sitting and waiting for death, it’s better to take the initiative.
The danger level of this Instance was far higher than Jiang Li had imagined.
Both the S Rank and A Rank clearance methods mentioned that the Chosen One needed to reach the Train’s terminal station safely in order to clear the Instance.
But it was obvious that the further she went, the greater the risk to Jiang Li’s survival would multiply.
By then, the greatest threat to Jiang Li wouldn’t be the Pollution Source, nor the NPCs in the Instance, but people!
The people on the Train, those who would stop at nothing to survive!
The most suitable clearance method for Jiang Li now was actually the first one: eliminate the Pollution Source.
Jiang Li was certain that the boy’s singing was the Pollution Source.
As long as she could find that child again and kill him, making him shut up forever, the Ghost Train Instance could be smoothly ended.
The Train continued to rumble-clattering through the wilderness.
Jiang Li and Xia Xiaoqiang ate some snacks together as lunch.
“Sister Jiang, why don’t we go over now? I’m worried we won’t make it in time,” Xia Xiaoqiang suggested.
But Jiang Li had her own plans.
Going to the Dining Car was important, but once inside, it would be very difficult to get out again.
Jiang Li wanted to try and see if she could eliminate the Pollution Source before entering the Dining Car.
“What time is it now?” Jiang Li asked Xia Xiaoqiang.
Xia Xiaoqiang glanced at her phone. “It’s almost noon, twelve o’clock.”
“Let’s wait a bit longer.” Jiang Li put on her shoes and sat on the edge of the bed.
A few more minutes passed.
The previously empty corridor now had more people-some Translucent People.
Just like at midnight last night, they couldn’t see Jiang Li.
Jiang Li guessed that noon and midnight were the time nodes when multiple timelines were most likely to intersect.
She needed to seize this opportunity to go to the Toilet again, to search for the timeline from last night.
As long as Jiang Li could eliminate the Pollution Source before 2 p.m. and clear the Instance,
then all the horrors about to happen on the Train would not occur.
“Do you have a flashlight?” Jiang Li looked at Xia Xiaoqiang.
Xia Xiaoqiang shook her head. “No.”
“But I can use my phone for lighting. I have a Spare Phone, Sister Jiang. If you need it, I can lend it to you.”
As she spoke, Xia Xiaoqiang took out her backpack, rummaged for an old phone, and handed it to Jiang Li. “No password.”
“Thank you,” Jiang Li said.
“But Sister Jiang, what do you need a flashlight for in broad daylight?”
“Lighting,” Jiang Li didn’t explain further, but got up and prepared to head toward the Toilet.
Before leaving, she turned back to remind Xia Xiaoqiang:
“If I don’t return before 1:30 p.m., go to the Dining Car by yourself.”
Xia Xiaoqiang looked worried but nodded. “Okay.”
After Jiang Li finished giving instructions, she turned and walked toward the Restroom.
This time, unfortunately, someone was inside.
Jiang Li waited for a long time; the Toilet door kept showing “occupied,” and the handle wouldn’t turn.
Jiang Li kept track of the time outside.
Around 12:10, Jiang Li noticed that the Translucent People in the corridor were gradually fading out of sight.
Jiang Li raised her hand and knocked hard on the Toilet door.
The person inside finally heard the urgency and slowly began to come out.
With a click, the Toilet door opened.
The person who came out looked extremely strange.
Like a crazy old woman who hadn’t been cared for in twenty years.
Her hair was a tangled mess, her clothes were tattered, and her shoes were caked with black mud and moss.
The madwoman pushed open the door with one hand, and in the other, she held a rat.
Her eyes were bloodshot, her expression manic, and her hoarse voice carried an inexplicable joy: “Caught you… caught you!”
After saying this, she bared her yellowed teeth and stuffed the stinking rat into her mouth, biting it to death.
The mouse let out a series of squeaks, twitched twice, and then died completely.
Jiang Li stared at the madwoman for a moment.
The madwoman seemed to notice Jiang Li.
She turned her head, her bloodshot eyes glaring at Jiang Li. “What are you looking at! Do you have AIDS too!?”
Jiang Li turned sideways into the Toilet, closing the door with a thud, cutting off the madwoman’s line of sight.
That madwoman didn’t look like she had AIDS-she seemed more like she was mentally ill.
Outside, the madwoman kicked the Toilet door. “You all have AIDS! I have evidence… evidence…”
After cursing, the madwoman limped back to her own bunk.
“Carriage No.10… Lower Bunk No.15…” she muttered as she hobbled away.
Inside the Toilet, Jiang Li quickly took out her phone and turned on the flashlight.
“Red Infant, if something shows up in a moment, help Mommy block it.”
Red Infant pouted. “Mommy, but I haven’t eaten in so long. Your baby is starving.”
Jiang Li thought for a second, then replied, “When we go to the Dining Car this afternoon, Mommy will figure out a way to get you more Hearts.”
Red Infant became obedient. “Okay then~~”
Jiang Li took a deep breath, gripped the Toilet door handle, silently counted to three, and pushed it open.
With a creak, the once-intact Toilet door instantly became a rusty, broken iron frame.
She stepped out, immediately engulfed by darkness.
Twelve noon in that timeline was exactly midnight in this one.
Jiang Li’s vision felt momentarily uncomfortable.
Fortunately, under the light of the flashlight, Jiang Li gradually regained her sense of the darkness.
Jiang Li walked out of the pitch-black, ruined Restroom.
She swept the flashlight around her.
The surroundings were just as she’d seen yesterday.
Inside the Train, the steel was mottled with rust, weeds sprouted from cracks, filth and stench were everywhere, and rats and insects scurried about.
Jiang Li shifted her angle and swung the flashlight to the right.
A meter away, a woman’s smiling face suddenly appeared in the beam!
Jiang Li’s heart skipped a beat.
The second rule of the Hard Sleeper Rules:
[After midnight, do not use any light. It will find you in the darkness.]
The rules were the same on this Train.
Jiang Li had already prepared for this.
It seemed the woman before her, with disheveled hair and a belly soaked in blood, was the Aberration mentioned in the rules.
According to the rules, as long as you used light after midnight, this woman would appear.
But Jiang Li had to use the light.
Without light, there would be no point in coming to this pitch-black Train-she wouldn’t be able to see anything.
That’s why Jiang Li warned Red Infant in advance: if anything lunged at her, Red Infant would help block it.
Jiang Li stared at the woman for a few seconds.
The woman’s mouth curled into a grin, deep red blood flowing out, a stark contrast with her deathly pale face.
Her eye sockets were deeply sunken, and she was staring at Jiang Li with a chilling smile.
Although extremely eerie, she showed no sign of lunging to bite Jiang Li.
Jiang Li tried taking a few steps and saw that the woman moved with her.
When the woman moved, Jiang Li heard a dragging sound, as if something was being pulled behind her.
Jiang Li ignored the woman and instead walked to the left, heading toward Lower Bunk No.16 to look for the child’s mother.
She stepped on the damp, metallic floor, moving slowly to the spot of Lower Bunk No.16.
Unexpectedly, this time the lower bunk was very clean, as if it had been specially tidied.
The pile of bones she had seen last time was nowhere to be found.
Just as Jiang Li was at a loss, the woman suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Jiang Li’s sleeve.