At this moment, An Bai was clearly facing away from the staff member, but the instant her head turned toward An Bai, he suddenly sensed an invisible force dragging at his head.
He turned around uncontrollably, while the heads of the other four also involuntarily turned toward the staff member in the middle.
“Come on, smile! Every one of you looks like a bitter melon. You’re hideous.” The five heads gave them a benevolent smile.
At this moment, the five of them were like puppets. Their mouths opened uncontrollably, forming smiles uglier than crying.
Impossible to defeat! Impossible to defeat! At that moment, An Bai completely abandoned any thought of resisting.
“Forget it. You’d better stop smiling. It’s truly awful.”
As the old woman spoke, An Bai felt the invisible force controlling his face disappear.
“All right, all right. How boring. Time to collect the tickets!”
The old woman’s originally pleasant mood had also been ruined by the five people’s bitter-b melon faces.
“We’ll start with you two. I’ve watched you show off your affection for long enough.”
The couple were instantly horrified upon hearing this. Although they knew the rules of the platform, this was still their first time experiencing such a thing.
The old woman came before the couple, and the five heads wore somewhat impatient expressions.
The ten eyes carefully sized up the couple from head to toe, yet made no further move, as if contemplating something.
“I remember you two. I heard that you were assigned to adjacent trains from the very beginning, is that right?” After a while, she finally asked.
“Yes. We were both assigned to the same area,” the man answered first.
“No wonder your strengths are similar and your train levels are the same. It seems you recognized each other from the start.”
The old woman had more or less guessed what the two of them had experienced over the past few days.
“Yes. We supported each other along the way.”
“All right, I won’t waste words. The ticket price I’m setting for you is three days’ worth of food and water.” The old woman got straight to the point.
“Three days’ worth of food and water!” The man’s eyes widened, shocked by the exorbitant ticket price.
“I’m not targeting anyone. Survivors who cannot pay the ticket price can only remain on the platform forever.”
The old woman’s voice was stern and allowed no argument.
Before long, the food and water aboard the man’s train were transferred to the central area of the building by the old woman through some mysterious means.
“All right, your turn!” The old woman ignored the bleak expression on the man’s face and looked toward the girl beside him.
The girl was clearly frightened. The instant the old woman pointed at her, her body began trembling uncontrollably.
“Don’t be afraid! I’m here,” the man comforted her from the side.
“How affectionate!” The old woman smiled without warmth.
The girl’s body trembled even more violently.
“Your ticket price will be five iron blocks!” the old woman declared.
“Five iron blocks! We only upgraded our train recently!” The girl finally spoke, her crisp voice echoing through half the building.
“That’s none of my concern. Hurry and gather them before the third bell ring.”
After speaking, the old woman walked toward the eastern area where the Strange Man was located.
“You have decent mental fortitude!” The old woman offered a word of praise; this fellow had actually dared to meet her gaze.
“May I ask how my ticket price will be determined?” the Strange Man asked proactively.
“One iron tool!” the old woman said.
“I have one aboard my train. Would you like me to fetch it for you?”
“No need. That would waste time.” As the old woman spoke, an iron scythe appeared out of thin air in her hand.
Even the broad-minded Strange Man showed a pained expression upon seeing the scythe.
This was a good grade scythe!
（Item grades are divided into ordinary, good grade, excellent, epic grade, and legendary）
“Not bad. This scythe should do. Remember to pay attention to the next bell Ring.”
The old woman then walked toward the area where An Bai was.
“Andersen, train conductor of train 1567!”
Upon hearing her unpleasant voice, An Bai instinctively shuddered.
“Don’t be nervous.” The old woman approached An Bai with a kindly smile.
An Bai took a deep breath, but it was completely useless. The impact of the five heads was simply too great.
“I have quite a deep impression of you,” the old woman said.
“That is my honor!” An Bai replied.
“You’re the only one among these five who never touched the control lever. The others have all used it to some extent,” the old woman explained.
An Bai did not know how to respond and could only look at her awkwardly.
“I have high hopes for your future performance. Therefore, the ticket price I’m setting for you is five catties of coal.”
Without waiting for An Bai to answer, the old woman walked toward the last Survivor—the long-haired freak.
At the same time, five catties of pitch-black coal appeared in the central area of the space.
An Bai felt slightly relieved. Fortunately, it was not something too valuable.
The long-haired freak sat perfectly straight, just like a student being watched by the homeroom teacher in a classroom.
“What a lunatic.” This time, the old woman stopped two meters away from that fellow, seemingly unwilling to become tainted by its aura.
“I won’t charge you a ticket price, but you must reveal your entire face.”
Upon hearing this, the long-haired freak exhaled heavily through its nostrils, seemingly quite unwilling.
“Don’t forget, this is my territory.” The old woman gave a light cough.
With a soft snort, the long-haired freak did as instructed, using both hands to lift the black hair covering its face.
“Hiss!”
Even the old woman, who had seen much in her life, was stunned by the appearance before her.
Even with its entire face exposed, outsiders still could not tell whether this person was male or female. Its face was covered in ghost hands, even its earlobes!
One could say that not a single patch of intact skin remained on its entire face.
“The boss really went all out!”
For once, killing intent appeared in the old woman’s gaze as she looked at the long-haired freak, completely abandoning her earlier attitude of merely seeking amusement.
However, the old woman was ultimately a staff member here and could not act recklessly. In the end, she merely gave a cold laugh before leaving.
The instant the old woman left the building carrying the ticket price, the long-haired freak let its hair fall over its face again, paying no heed whatsoever to the old woman’s hostility.
For it, this was not yet the time to release its true nature. At the next platform, it would be able to slaughter to its heart’s content.
After the old woman left, An Bai quietly observed the other three. The long-haired freak sat motionless where it was, so he shifted his attention to the couple.
He remembered that the girl had not paid the ticket price.
At this moment, the man and woman were hunched over, whispering with their heads together. From time to time, they would intentionally or unintentionally glance at the other survivors.
Seeing this, An Bai withdrew his gaze as well. For some reason, the way the man looked at him made him uncomfortable.
“The rules don’t seem to say that survivors are forbidden from killing one another!”
An Bai opened the manual and turned to his chat records with the Strange Man. It indeed did not say that mutual slaughter was forbidden.
He suddenly had a bad feeling. After all, he had quite a lot of iron blocks.
If they exchanged them, that would be easy enough. But if they tried to take them by force...
As he pondered, the Strange Man sent An Bai a message through the manual, signaling for him to come over.
An Bai rose and walked toward the eastern area where the Strange Man was located, his expression puzzled. To the others, it looked as though the rough man had summoned him for something.
✦✦✦