Rong Hui pressed herself close to the balcony window, her tightly clenched palms already soaked with sweat.
From the height of the fifteenth floor, it seemed that the fifth floor below was already engulfed in raging flames. Thick black smoke billowed outward in waves. Judging by the speed at which the fire was spreading, it would only take a few minutes before it reached her side.
Before long, the tongues of fire became clearer to the naked eye, devouring life floor by floor. The desperate cries for help from residents on the lower levels were heart rending. Everywhere there were screams of despair and the wails of children.
The smell of scorching had already reached Rong Hui’s nose. Trembling, she crouched down, her heart pounding wildly.
Even though she had mentally prepared herself, when she was forced to face this tragic human disaster directly, she once again felt a sense of detachment from reality. Not long ago, she had still been just an ordinary person.
All of this had begun because she boarded that unbearably crowded train.
Ten minutes earlier.
…
Jiang City, Shunyang Railway Station.
It was the twenty sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, the time when migrant workers across the country returned home for the Spring Festival.
People packed together as densely as ants, the station roaring with noise. Rong Hui had to wear noise canceling headphones to block out the constant buzzing clamor around her.
Moving forward along with the flow of people, Rong Hui finally squeezed onto her train.
By the time she found her sleeper berth, the train had already been running for quite a while. Rong Hui pushed her suitcase under the bed and sat down on the berth with its blue sheets, letting out a long breath. After all that squeezing, a bit of color finally appeared on her normally pale face.
The carriage had air conditioning on, and the air carried a faint stuffy odor. Rong Hui did not mind it much. She took off her thick down jacket to relieve the thin layer of sweat she had worked up while rushing to catch the train.
It was rare for Rong Hui to ride in a sleeper berth on a train, so she initially found it quite novel. However, after glancing around for a moment, she no longer paid much attention. It was an ordinary green skinned train with crowded carriages. Fortunately it was still quiet enough. Nowadays trains on the market were all electrically powered, so there was barely any noise during operation.
Rong Hui placed her precious Polaroid photo box on the inner side of the berth, then lay down, planning to sleep for a while. She had woken up far too early today in order to catch the train, and she quickly fell into a deep sleep.
…
“Clank, clank, clank, toot, toot.”
The distinctive sound of metal collisions and whistles from an old steam train drilled into her ears. Rong Hui was awakened by the noise. She frowned and abruptly opened her eyes. Who was so inconsiderate as to play sounds out loud?
She suddenly sat upright and immediately realized something was wrong. The vibrations and whistle were not coming from her phone, they were coming from beneath her.
But the train she had boarded used electric traction. Where was this steam train sound coming from?
Rong Hui’s fingers tightened around the bed frame as she felt the jolting vibrations of steel beneath her. Gradually, she regained her composure.
When she finally saw everything in front of her clearly, she even thought she was still dreaming.
The partition walls of the carriage from before she fell asleep had disappeared. What entered her sight was an enormous communal sleeper area stretching as far as the eye could see. Countless bed frames were crammed into the long train, with less than half a meter between them. Every berth had someone on it, men and women alike. From a rough estimate, Rong Hui realized that just the people she could see already exceeded four or five thousand. This far surpassed the capacity of a single train. It was absolutely impossible for this to be the train she had boarded.
Rong Hui’s scalp tingled. Could this be some kind of prank show?
She turned her head, intending to ask the other passengers nearby, but instead found herself staring directly into a pair of dark eyes.
On the berth to her left sat a young man. He wore casual clothes and carried a backpack, sitting halfway on the edge of the bed. His posture was extremely guarded as he silently stared at Rong Hui.
“Hello… do you know how we ended up here?” Rong Hui asked first, releasing a bit of goodwill in hopes of obtaining some clues.
“…I don’t know. My ticket was to Xiacheng. My vision blurred for a moment, and then I was here.” The young man paused for a moment before answering.
“Xiacheng!?” Rong Hui was stunned. She was supposed to be going to Dongcheng.
The man did not look like a liar. Yet people who were clearly not on the same train had been gathered together, and it had been done without anyone noticing. This had already surpassed what science could explain.
Similar conversations were happening repeatedly among the people around them. More and more people were waking up. Some gasped in shock, some cried out in alarm, and others began banging on the train walls while calling for railway police.
“This isn’t even the worst part. Look outside the window…” the young man said, turning toward the train window with a deep frown.
Rong Hui looked toward the window.
The previously white alloy train window had turned into a vintage wooden frame, decorated with blooming morning glory patterns winding around it. The carriage walls had become iron sheets. Everything looked exactly like an old fashioned train.
Smack.
A sticky, blood colored lump of unidentified matter slapped against the window.
Rong Hui focused her eyes to look closer. From within that sticky mass, a blood red eyeball suddenly emerged. It stared straight at Rong Hui, its gaze filled with malice. A chill ran down the back of her neck, and the sanity shattering scene frightened her badly.
Smack. Smack. Smack.
Countless unidentified flesh lumps struck the window like rain. Very quickly, streaks of blood stained the glass.
Rong Hui hurriedly withdrew her gaze. Goosebumps felt like they were about to drown her.
“W… what kind of ghostly thing is that!?” Rong Hui’s throat tightened.
She also noticed something else. Outside the window was always an inky darkness that refused to dissipate. But her train had departed at nine in the morning. Why was it night now? Countless question marks were practically linking hands above her head.
Beeeeeeep.
Suddenly, the train’s broadcast system emitted a harsh burst of electrical static, forcing people to cover their ears. Soon the static disappeared, and the entire train fell into a deathlike silence.
A mechanical female voice without emotion sounded.
[Dear passengers,
Welcome aboard the Doomsday Train.
Please strive to survive the beginner station.
Good luck.]
The broadcast fell silent.
No one dared to speak.
Immediately afterward, a virtual projection the size of a computer screen unfolded in front of Rong Hui, resembling the interface of a VR game. Rong Hui glanced around and saw that everyone’s eyes were fixed on the empty space before them. It seemed that everyone had such a screen, though they could not see each other’s.
In the next second, lines of text began appearing on the screen.
[Player Rong Hui, hello.
You have been bound to the Doomsday Train System.
Please do your utmost to survive at the beginner station.
The beginner station is about to arrive.
Countdown three minutes: 180s, 179s, 178s…]
Wait, what? Why had a countdown already started?
Rong Hui was completely baffled. The people on the surrounding berths also began whispering among themselves with complaints and confusion. The word “survive” brought a great deal of fear.
Another notification box popped up on the projection.
[Player Rong Hui,
The system will issue a virtual backpack.
Please choose three items to bring with you into the beginner instance.]
Immediately afterward, an unremarkable little backpack icon appeared on the screen. When opened, it contained only three empty slots.
Rong Hui tried touching the screen with the bottle of mineral water beside her.
[Item 1: Wahaha Purified Water]
It really could store items.
The water bottle in Rong Hui’s hand disappeared, while a bottle of water appeared inside the system backpack. Could this be the kind of storage space described in novels?
Next, Rong Hui selected another bottle of water. In the backpack, the slot displaying the water now showed a small “2” in the lower right corner. It seemed that identical items could be stacked together in the system backpack.
Seeing that the countdown was about to end, Rong Hui casually selected a bag of bread and her Polaroid photo box. Those were the only few things she had nearby.
[Backpack full.]
The train broadcast began speaking again.
[Dear passengers,
The beginner station has arrived.
Please bring your belongings and disembark.]
In the next second, Rong Hui felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, and she lost consciousness.
…