At this, the Strange Man gave An Bai a meaningful look.
“Who knows what will happen in the future?” An Bai said with a smile.
“That’s true. I hope we can meet again at the next platform.” The Strange Man smoked as his thoughts drifted into the distance along with the white smoke.
.....
An Bai and the Strange Man returned to the building early and sat in the same area, quietly waiting for time to pass.
With fifteen minutes remaining before the Polar Night ended, a melodious bell rang out, echoing all around them.
At this moment, the five people were scattered across three areas of this space.
They were the couple’s area in the west, the area in the east where An Bai and the Strange Man were located, and the area in the south where the long-haired freak was.
What was stranger was that when the bell rang, none of the five moved. Instead, they watched one another.
“Are they all waiting for someone else to make the first move?” the Strange Man whispered.
“Can you hear anything unusual about the third bell ring?” An Bai asked.
“I can’t. It feels no different from before.” The Strange Man shook his head.
An Bai silently estimated how long it would take to get from here to the train. Given his current physical fitness, it would take three minutes.
“Then let’s wait a little longer!” An Bai said.
Time passed second by second, yet the genuine bell he had imagined never came. There were about ten minutes left before daytime.
Another strange laugh rang out from the western side of the space. An Bai turned toward the source.
At some point, the old woman had pushed open the wooden door.
“Everyone, why haven’t you left yet? Are you planning to stay here and retire?” the old woman asked.
When no one answered her, the old woman rolled her eyes ten times and lightly kicked the seat in front of her, smashing it to pieces as wood fragments flew everywhere.
The couple was naturally the closest to her. If the young man had not been holding the young woman tightly, she probably would have jumped in fright.
The old woman walked up to the couple, and all five heads made fierce expressions.
She said viciously, “What’s the matter? You’ve already paid the ticket price, so why aren’t you leaving? Do you want to stay behind and keep this old woman company?”
“We don’t know whether the bell that rang earlier came from the platform,” the man replied.
“You heard it inside the platform building. How could the bell be fake?”
One of the heads on the old woman’s shoulder stretched out its neck and slowly moved closer to the man.
It was impossible not to be afraid. The man swallowed and said, pretending to remain calm, “Those people haven’t left, so...”
Before he could finish, the old woman interrupted him.
“So are you one of those people? You seemed like a decisive man. Why are you dragging your feet over something like this?”
Seeing that the two still would not leave, the old woman suddenly shouted, “If you don’t leave now, become my food!”
As soon as she said this, the young woman fainted from fright. The man beside her also turned pale, but he still did not move.
Instead, he clung tightly to his girlfriend’s hand.
With a snort, the old woman walked toward the eastern area where An Bai was.
This time, the killing intent surrounding her was even heavier.
“What? You aren’t planning to leave either? Do you like this place that much?” the old woman said as she walked.
The faces of the five heads constantly changed as they moved. At times they were a child’s face, at times a beautiful woman’s, and at times a middle-aged man’s.
An Bai was shocked when he saw this. Weren’t these the people he had previously crushed to death with the train?
Could they all be the same person?
“What? You’ve forgotten us?” The monster with five heads looked at An Bai and the Strange Man with eyes full of resentment.
“That’s right. In your hearts, our lives don’t count as lives, do they?” The monster let out a wild laugh, carrying a hint of self-mockery.
It’s an illusion! It’s an illusion!
An Bai silently repeated those five words in his heart, encouraging himself.
“Andersen, murderer!” In an instant, the little girl’s head appeared right in front of An Bai.
“How am I a murderer?”
Facing this monster, An Bai instead felt considerably calmer.
“If you aren’t the murderer, then who is? You personally killed all five of us. You clearly had the chance to prevent all of this from happening!”
The middle-aged man bared a mouthful of fangs, fire blazing in his eyes. If not for the Station Platform Rules restraining him, he would have bitten this fellow to death right then.
“1567 train killed you. What does Survivor Andersen have to do with it?” An Bai said.
“You!” The monster’s arrogant fury instantly died down, and for a moment, he could not find anything to refute him with.
The monster had just been about to continue when An Bai silenced him with a single sentence: “My conscience is clear.”
“Very well. I hope you can keep your conscience clear throughout the rest of your journey.”
The monster’s five heads turned back into the old woman’s face. For an instant, An Bai actually felt that she looked somewhat benevolent.
The staff member walked straight past the Strange Man toward the long-haired freak, intending to vent the anger she had just suffered on him.
The moment she reached the long-haired freak, the bell rang. Only four minutes remained before daytime.
“Let’s go, Brother Andersen.”
The Strange Man patted An Bai on the shoulder, his eyes carrying a trace of admiration.
“Run, or we won’t make it,” An Bai reminded him.
“You’re really making me furious!” The old woman gnashed her teeth as she watched everyone’s departing figures.
.....
Running nearly one thousand meters in four minutes was more than enough for An Bai and the Strange Man.
Because his girlfriend had fainted, the lovesick man could only carry her on his back and run desperately forward. Surprisingly, he was fairly fast as well!
What surprised An Bai most was the long-haired freak. He looked frail, yet he was the fastest among them.
“Brother Strange Man, I look forward to seeing you again.” An Bai stood at his train entrance and shouted.
Only about half a minute remained before daytime. In the distance, the sky had already begun to brighten.
“All right! Brother Andersen, you’ve got a clear understanding of me now, right?” The Strange Man also stood at his train entrance and shouted loudly.
“Strange Man, from now on, the two of us are fellow station friends.”
“Hahahaha! I hope our fellow station friends relationship turns into a comrades-in-arms relationship.” The Strange Man laughed heartily.
Half a minute passed quickly, and the sky brightened completely.
【Train 1567 is about to depart the platform and enter the tunnel. Survivor Andersen, please close the train door.】
Andersen hurriedly closed the train door.
The train started and began its acceleration. Soon, it left behind this place that had made such a deep impression on him.
After entering the tunnel, he felt that tearing sensation again. Fortunately, An Bai had gained experience.
He kept taking deep breaths and was not nearly as langbei as when he had come the first time.
As the tearing sensation faded, the train also left the tunnel and stopped near a mountain slope covered in green grass.
【Congratulations, Survivor Andersen, on leaving the Station platform. Your reward will be delivered later. Please pay attention to the area around you.】
An Bai opened the train door, and a strong smell of earth rushed toward him.
“The Inner Mongolian grassland? I’m going!” An Bai was stunned by the breathtaking sight before him.
Within the fogless zone spanning only one kilometer, four ideal elements had come together: steeds, a river, a grassland, and white clouds.
This was the place on earth he had always dreamed of visiting.
✦✦✦