[Ding! Safe Exploration Time has begun.]
Lin Qian, who had been waiting behind his door, pushed it open immediately and peered cautiously toward the five-hundred section.
Fortunately, the entire corridor was empty, with no sign of the giant snake. It seemed the Warden left before Safe Exploration Time began, though he had no idea where it went.
He also noticed quite a few people coming out of their rooms at the same time. After a day of adjusting, many had evidently realized that the key to survival was exploring the worlds behind the doors and gathering resources.
Before long, people might even come to blows over unexplored doors.
Lin Qian glanced at the room opposite his. Its light was still red. The occupant had stayed out all night and was still alive, which meant remaining in a world behind a door was a viable option.
He had already made a plan, so he didn't hesitate. He strode over to the unexplored Room 611 next door and rubbed his hands together nervously.
"Come on! Let's take a gamble!"
Gritting his teeth, Lin Qian opened the door and stepped inside...
"Creak..."
Amid the grating sound, Lin Qian stepped into the world beyond the door.
The moment his foot touched the ground, he felt a pronounced rocking motion.
He stumbled forward involuntarily, and the door behind him slammed shut.
"Damn it!"
Lin Qian hurriedly turned and pushed the door open.
"Creak..."
What he saw made his heart skip a beat.
It wasn't the corridor...
The cramped space smelled of urine and disinfectant. Beneath a basic washbasin was a stainless-steel squat toilet. The familiar sight left Lin Qian rooted to the spot.
Wasn't this a train toilet? One of the really old-fashioned ones, too...
"Beeer, drinks, bottled water!"
"Peaaaanuts, sunflower seeds, chocolate!"
"Make way, young man."
While he was still bewildered, a trolley bumped straight into his waist. The middle-aged woman pushing it wore a blue hairnet. Her words were polite, but her expression was full of impatience.
Lin Qian stepped aside and watched the trolley roll past him.
Just then, a system notification appeared before his eyes.
[Ding! Entering Survival Instance: Death Train]
[Death Train: This long-distance train carries many passengers' hopes of returning home. But unbeknownst to them all, a special passenger has slipped aboard. When night falls, terrible things will happen...] This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
[Return condition: Survive for 24 hours]
After reading the notification carefully, Lin Qian fell silent for a long time.
He had never imagined that some rooms would lead to instances like this.
"Bang!"
Lin Qian slammed his fist against the toilet door, producing a dull thud.
"Hey, buddy, you gonna use it or not? If not, quit blocking the way."
A young man in a leather jacket came over with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He spoke indistinctly and fiddled with his belt, looking every bit the hooligan in desperate need of a toilet.
Lin Qian suddenly wondered whether the person in front of him was real.
He stared straight at the young man, making him increasingly uncomfortable.
"What are you doing? What're you looking at...?"
The young man took two steps back and eyed Lin Qian warily, looking him up and down.
"I don't swing that way!"
Lin Qian was speechless. The guy was really letting his imagination run wild. He didn't bother explaining, though. He simply stepped aside and headed into the carriage.
With a thought, a train ticket appeared in his hand, his berth number printed on it.
It had appeared in his Storage Space after the system notification. Lin Qian guessed that missions like this supplied participants with essential items, such as the ticket.
The moment he pushed open the door to the carriage, Lin Qian felt a little dazed.
An old man sat in an aisle seat cracking sunflower seeds. A child was crying and rolling around on a berth. Groups of middle-aged passengers were playing cards together.
It was as though he had been transported back to the world he knew, as if everything beyond that door had been the illusion.
But Lin Qian soon noticed something completely different from the real world.
There wasn't a smartphone in sight.
It was as though time had been turned back more than a decade. Everyone was passing the time in their own way.
As he made his way down the crowded aisle, Lin Qian observed the passengers' every move.
They were too lifelike.
Their speech and mannerisms, their expressions and appearances—nothing about them had the stiff, peculiar quality of NPCs.
It made him wonder just what the Infinite Building was.
Was it a hub connecting different worlds, or was it merely a virtual world, as the person on the channel had claimed?
He had too little information to work it out.
After passing through two carriages, he finally found his berth: a lower bunk.
The small table was piled with fruit, snacks, and thermos cups, while bits of eggshell littered the floor. Someone was sleeping on the neighboring berth, a baseball cap covering his face. You are reading on NovelPing, the official source.
Lin Qian sat on the edge of his bunk and watched the passengers coming and going, but couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary.
"Stop looking. That thing won't come out until night."
A voice suddenly spoke up beside him.
A quick look at will leave you more fulfilled.
Startled, Lin Qian quickly turned toward the neighboring berth.
The man removed the cap from his face and slowly sat up, revealing a weathered face etched with the marks of age.
He was lean and wiry, with graying temples, but his eyes were unusually bright.
Lin Qian remained on guard, his hand drifting discreetly toward his lower back.
The man looked a little surprised by his reaction.
"What? You're not here for that thing?"
The question left Lin Qian bewildered.
"What thing?"
The man froze, apparently realizing he'd mistaken him for someone else, and tried to cover it up.
"Ah... hahaha, sorry. My mistake. I thought you were someone I knew."
Seeing his reaction and recalling what he had just said, Lin Qian's mind raced. He thought of the information in the system notification and ventured a guess.
He spoke tentatively.
"Could it be... you're one too?"
The man's eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't answer.
Lin Qian guessed that he was suspicious of his identity. After considering his words, he added, "I heard a lot of people will die after dark..."
At that, the man's expression immediately relaxed.
"Ah, I knew it..."
"I sensed your aura as soon as you came over."
He pointed at Lin Qian and shook his head with a smile. "You little rascal, putting on an act like that. Had me thinking I'd misjudged you."
"Don't you know you can't hide what you are from your own kind? You must be a rookie, huh?"
He leaned back, crossed his legs, and picked up a thermos from the table. Sipping his tea, he put on the air of an accomplished senior.
Lin Qian gave him an embarrassed smile and played along.
"Sorry to make a fool of myself, senior. My skills aren't up to scratch, so I lack confidence. I can't help being cautious when I'm out and about."
The man took a few sips of tea, let out a long, satisfied sigh, and slowly set down his thermos.
"You're young, but you've already cultivated a touch of spiritual energy. Did your family teach you, or are you self-taught?"
Lin Qian froze. How was he supposed to answer that?