Chapter 212

The train's transformation didn't happen in an instant.

The long night allowed it to safely lay its eggs, the hot climate of the tropical rainforest nurtured and hatched them, and the flesh and blood of bats provided it with ample nutrition.

Now, pale yellow slime spreads from the rear compartment to the front compartment, and the jagged, white spine takes shape in the swelling flesh.

Corrosive acid fumes filled the air, the temperature continued to rise, and the skin and flesh were burning with unbearable pain. The entire interior of the train was irreversibly transforming into the stomachs of insects.

More and more players squeezed into the first carriage to avoid the stomach acid.

Intimidated by the madman's reputation, they dared not covet the seemingly safe driver's seat and instead turned around to smash the car doors and windows with all their might.

The gaps had long been glued together and covered by a tough membrane. Thump, thump, thump! No matter how much you kicked or shoved, you couldn't budge it an inch.

Despair filled their faces, eventually merging with the faces of the group that had just perished.

Neither Lilith nor Xu Qingran suggested putting someone into the driver's seat.

They had all experienced similar predicaments and knew that once this door was opened, it would inevitably end in bloodshed.

At this moment, Xu Qingran noticed that there was no acid seepage from the driver's cab.

White light seems to be able to slow down the alienation process.

She tried to move the white light out, but as soon as it left the driver's cab, the slime in the back carriage of the train became even more turbulent and rampant, accompanied by screams.

Xu Qingran had no choice but to return the white light to its original position and continue illuminating the control panel.

Whether it was good luck or not, she initially thought that the driver's cab couldn't be damaged, so she ran over carrying the white light and unexpectedly controlled the alienation.

Lilith suddenly said in Chinese, "Someone told me that because we will be reborn again and again, death will never be our end."

It took Xu Qingran a while to realize that the other person was trying to comfort her. She turned her gaze away from the players, shook her head, and said in a cold tone, "I'm not pitying them."

On the contrary, I was quite envious.

At least those people had their memories wiped clean after they died, so they wouldn't be tormented by the pain of their tragic deaths.

Time really can change a lot of things. The Xu Qingran of the past would feel heartache, fear, and call for love and peace. Now, she is increasingly indifferent to human life.

On her journey with the madman, she also discovered that she wasn't as unacceptable as she had imagined.

More than once, she wondered whether she felt at ease with the madman because of Xie Xubai's collar, or whether she felt that she was out of place among people and regarded the madman as one of her own kind in the future.

Lilith looked at her for a long while, then smiled faintly and sighed, "So that's how I was in that person's eyes back then."

These words were so inexplicable, like a riddle. Before Xu Qingran could react, Lilith pulled up her other hand, which was holding the long whip.

Without her noticing, her fingertips trembled and dug into her palms, drawing out a trickle of blood.

The mottled bloodstains instantly became proof of the girl's hypocrisy.

Xu Qingran: "..."

The girl was first surprised, seemingly caught off guard, then her eyes widened, and she looked like she was about to get angry and embarrassed.

Lilith readily pointed out the window: "Do you hate them?"

Xu Qingran had reason to suspect that Lilith was afraid of being thrown to the ground and was trying to divert her anger.

But the moment her gaze followed that direction, she lost all interest in arguing with the other person.

On the billboard, a tall, thin figure in a suit speaks eloquently about the players' suffering, condescendingly criticizing humanity as ugly and worthless.

"I once saw two people locked in a room that was constantly heated. The person holding the remote control could have given his friend a quick death and lived on, but he insisted on waiting until the last second before pressing the switch. Not only did his friend suffer terribly before dying, but he also lost his own chance to escape."

"The funny thing is, he was crying as he died, saying sorry. He couldn't give others a chance to live, nor could he honestly use others as stepping stones, and in the end, they both died. Indecisiveness and failure are the characteristics of most people, no wonder they can't succeed at anything."

A happy family is torn apart, brothers who shared joys and sorrows eventually turn against each other, and beloved relatives are separated by death...

All the hardships, torments, and struggles that players have experienced along the way have become topics of conversation and amusement for them.

Xu Qingran stared silently at the smiling face of the thin, ghostly figure, and asked Lilith in a hoarse voice, "Are you asking because there's a way to kill them?"

“I don’t.” The stars in Lilith’s eyes slowly turned. “But you do.”

Xu Qingran: "Me?"

Lilith glanced out the window without making a sound; the nest of hundreds of centipedes was just a stone's throw away.

She gestured for Xu Qingran to look at the white ball of light beside her: "As long as we call upon the name of that being, He will come to save everyone. Only He can save everyone."

The instant her eyes met Lilith's, a flash of inspiration seemed to explode in her mind. Xu Qingran recalled a name, a name she could not forget yet dared not think about: "The being you mentioned, could it be Xie Xubai?"

Seeing that Lilith did not deny it, Xu Qingran's mind went blank. She couldn't believe what she had heard, staring intently into Lilith's eyes, hoping that the other party was joking, but Lilith still looked serious.

A strong sense of absurdity surged through Xu Qingran, and she blurted out, "Impossible!"

Realizing she was losing control of her emotions, she abruptly pursed her lips and said, word by word, "Do you know—"

Do you know that I have called His name more than once in desperate situations? Do you know that He has never answered my prayers?

Lilith, however, said, "If He truly didn't care about you, why would He bless you?"

Lilith raised her finger, dispelling the cognitive interference from the white light.

The white light gradually transformed into a dazzling gold, its halo warm and sacred, reflected in Xu Qingran's suddenly wide-eyed pupils.

Lilith coaxed, "Come on, try calling His name. Don't you want to save everyone in the car?"

Xu Qingran stared blankly at Jin Guang, as if she hadn't heard her at all. Suddenly, a shrill scream came from the back of the car: "The acid is surging up! Push forward!!"

"Help! What should we do?!"

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh!"

Startled, Xu Qingran instinctively cried out, "Xie Xubai, please, save us!"

However, the golden light remained calm, silently suspended in mid-air.

No benevolent and powerful deity suddenly appeared to save everyone from danger, and no miracle occurred.

This was exactly what she had encountered before! Xu Qingran's heart sank instantly, and she clenched her back teeth tightly.

She suddenly looked up, her eyes sharp as a hawk's, pulled a climbing rope from her spatial backpack, and said to Lilith, "Sorry, please bear with me for now."

Then, as quickly as possible, tie Lilith to your back.

Confirming that the target wouldn't fall, Xu Qingran drew her long whip from her waist, which transformed into a sharp longsword the instant she gripped it. She closed her eyes, trying to detect the subtle flow of energy around her, hearing people's painful screams and the sickening laughter of the thin, ghostly figure.

“Lilith,” Xu Qingran suddenly said, “you said only God can save us, I don’t believe it.”

"If God doesn't respond to us, are we just supposed to sit here and wait to die?"

"Absolutely not! I will not!" Xu Qingran suddenly opened her eyes, raised her longsword with both hands, and roared, "If God won't save me, I'll save myself! I can still live!"

Clang!

The longsword struck forward, hitting the red dashboard of the control panel squarely and cleaving a long, narrow gap—the weakest point on the entire train! But the gap quickly began to shrink and heal.

Xu Qingran didn't stop, swinging her sword with all her might and at the fastest speed! The control panel shook so badly that her hands split open, but she ignored it. The sword light flashed like lightning, cutting through the air, its three-foot blade as swift as the wind! The relentless attack cleaved the control panel wider and wider!

Finally, it broke through the seemingly tough membrane and plunged into the soft flesh, blood splattering out!

roar--

The train below let out a painful groan, veered off its original track, and crashed madly into a giant centipede that was lazing around nearby.

Centipedes do not have a robust physique, and their receptors have evolved to have a particularly weak affinity for venom, which makes them more resistant to poison. They usually fight each other by using the intimidating aura emitted by their tentacles, and rarely engage in real hand-to-hand combat.

But this is a mutated giant centipede.

They have hard, ferocious mouthparts and a cruel, bloodthirsty nature. They cannot be provoked in the slightest. After being hit by Xu Qingran's train, they immediately retaliated fiercely.

Crash! Crash!

The centipede's mandibles pierced the train, and driven by the excruciating pain, the train went even crazier, tearing and biting at the giant centipede, rolling and churning on the black earth.

Finally, the fully mutated giant centipede gained the upper hand, its ferocious mandibles chewing up the train's body and forcefully tearing out the train's newly formed spine, stained with blood and flesh—

The roof of the train cracked open, and light, like the first rays of dawn, shone into the carriage, causing everyone to weep with joy.

"We're saved! We can get out! Everyone, quickly climb up!"

Some people rushed forward and used weapons to chisel out larger holes along the cracked sides of the train. Others huddled together, holding hands and helping each other, and stumbled out of the hellish train's stomach when the opportunity presented itself, landing on the ground.

The air became fresh, without the sticky acidic fumes that corroded the skin, and the narrow field of vision suddenly opened up.

However, before everyone could show a smile of relief, more than a dozen giant centipedes, disturbed by the noise, surged in like a dark, turbulent tide!

People's faces quickly turned ashen.

Is it over?

Is it completely over?

A dark figure leaped across the top of the train, the sword transforming in mid-air into a jagged whip, like the spine of a dragon, lashing out at the centipede horde.

"What a joke!" Xu Qingran roared, "Death doesn't mean you can't come back to life! What the hell are you afraid of! Stand up, all of you!!"

But that's just shouting louder.

Xu Qingran stared intently at the point where the whip would strike the centipede, and at that moment, it was crystal clear.

She could barely break through the centipede's defenses from its soft interior, let alone confront these powerful monsters head-on.

—She will die.

But I refuse to accept my fate.

Xu Qingran said to herself.

I will never accept my fate.

In an instant, the golden light following her suddenly swelled, its brilliance, even more dazzling than the blazing sun, clung to Xu Qingran's long whip. She swung it through the air, cleaving the centipedes in front of her into dust, which then fell onto the black earth.

The earth cracked, insects fled, and a deafening roar like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing down! Sharp divine power rippled outwards in concentric circles, drawing brilliant rays of light!

Xu Qingran was so shocked that her mind went blank. By the time she came to her senses, she was already falling and panicked.

Just then, a golden light appeared, gently lifting her up and placing her steadily on the ground.

Xu Qingran looked at the golden light so close to her, her heart pounding like a drum. She stood up with her hands and feet, and looked up in shock along with the others.

As the light faded and the hurricane swirled, a slender figure appeared in the air. The golden afterglow reflected in his gentle eyes, making him appear like a dazzling star in an instant.