Chapter 7 Train Zero: Xie Lu stared at the marble rolling forward on the ground...

[Zero Train Observation Room - Jiang Yang's Perspective]

[Connecting...]

Connection failed...

[Reconnecting again...]

Connection failed...

[WARNING: Player Jiang Yang is no longer in the Zero Train trial and cannot be detected]

Without any visuals, the comments section exploded instantly.

"Where are they? Where are they?!"

"Can't you upgrade this damn system since you're doing nothing else?!"

"Can you please stop causing trouble?"

As for the person involved, after the initial turmoil subsided, Jiang Yang regained his senses and his mind was focused on the train conductor.

From the outside, the train attendant only has a pair of empty eye sockets, but when you look into her perspective, you will find that she has keen senses and can perceive everything around her.

Just like when Jiang Yang left, a dark figure lingered at the door, and the ground was still a mess left by the security guard.

As programmed, Jiang Yang slowly walked to the car door with a standard smile on his face. "Welcome aboard, watch your step."

As you get closer, a dense mass of dark shadows surrounds the entire platform. The swirling mist forms a thick, dark mass above their heads, expanding and contracting, radiating a suffocating sense of oppression, and even lowering the temperature in the air.

Fortunately, Jiang Yang is now practically the same as them, so he hasn't felt any discomfort yet.

But... according to the data in the notebook, so much shouldn't have been lost that time.

Something has sneaked in!

But how can we tell the difference?

If you encounter darkness, please do not panic, and do not move around inside the carriage...

On Train Zero, non-human species may appear in the carriages during the dark.

At K0027, I was able to walk through the carriage with a flashlight.

The flashlight awakened the fang-like black mist in the break room. At that time, the safety officer had not yet appeared, and the two sides were not in an adversarial relationship.

But the security guard just attacked the shadowy figure, and the two sides are now adversaries...

Want to give it a try?

As the train conductor welcomed them aboard, the shadowy figures entered the carriages one after another.

With a thought, Jiang Yang extended his tentacles outside the car and yanked the footboard that was placed between the carriage and the platform upwards, neatly retracting it back into the carriage.

Beneath their feet lay a bottomless fog; once the fog was withdrawn, no dark figure dared to take another step forward.

it works!

[Personal Mission: Player Jiang Yang, please pick up the passengers stranded on the platform of train K0027]

"If you have a ticket, step forward, I'll help you up."

The key point is the passengers left behind by K0027.

First of all, being able to enter No Man's Lands must have involved some necessary screening processes.

Even from the train conductor's perspective, Jiang Yang couldn't distinguish these passengers, indicating that they must have had other, more obvious ways of boarding.

Rule number one: Keep your ticket with you.

As expected, the crowd stirred again, with many dark figures holding up a square object above their heads.

Jiang Yang emphasized again, "Make sure you have your ticket, it must be for train K0027, and don't get into the wrong carriage."

The words came from Jiang Yang's mouth, but through the train conductor's interpretation, the voice sounded hoarse and grating, giving him a deeper understanding of his own talent.

Jiang Yang stretched out his tentacles and reached for the dark figure closest to him. He took the ticket from its hand, checked it, and after confirming that it was correct, told it the location and put it directly into the carriage.

One...two...three...

As Jiang Yang silently counted in his mind while keeping an eye on the time it would take for his talent to expire, his movements unconsciously quickened.

The incident likely occurred in front of the door of car 07 in the distance. As soon as the car extended its body out of the platform and touched the black mist below, it let out a violent scream.

Hearing the noise, Jiang Yang called out, "Those over there, stop queuing! Everyone with tickets, come over here for your tickets!"

Of course, there were also those without tickets who were restless outside the carriage and attacked the dark figure holding up a ticket.

Before it could succeed, the safety officer's chain attacked, most of the fog fell away, and the chain, fastened around its shoulder blade, forcefully pulled it into the carriage.

Well... I guess I guess I've gotten what I wanted.

There were a few things Jiang Yang wasn't sure about; they had tickets, but they were different from the others.

The last time Jiang Yang saw him, his SAN value had decreased; this time...

He still put the human skin ticket inside.

I only paid special attention to their location.

With one and a half minutes left after his talent expired, Jiang Yang drew in the last one, and then a "ding" sounded in his mind.

Congratulations to player Jiang Yang for completing the personal mission!

The passengers stranded on train K0027 have finally received their due, and they have decided to express their sincerest blessings to you.

Jiang Yang received 240 Soul Weights.

[Unlock Shop: Negative Inhibitors]

They received 240 points of leverage but lost 120 passengers.

Jiang Yang suddenly felt heavy-hearted.

Is this the weight of 120 souls?

The mission was to pick up the passengers on the platform, but how these passengers ended up there is explained very clearly in the diary.

"Someone let them go..."

Jiang Yang didn't think bringing "them" back would be a good thing.

After all, the engineer called them "nutrients".

Isn't that right?

As the selected train engineer, perhaps I can make the best use of my abilities.

With his talent deactivated and the negative effects of the scene change gone, Jiang Yang clearly felt the change as his consciousness was being detached from the train conductor.

In my line of sight, the train conductor gradually returned to his original repulsive appearance, from his blank, uncontrolled state.

He felt a heavy pull from beneath the transparent body, before being stuffed back into his own body.

Jiang Yangren was in the engineer's compartment of the camping car, and for the first time, he replaced and overused the train conductor's tentacles. Apart from the novelty, all he felt was the sensation of his brain being crushed.

The moment the mission was completed, the carriage doors closed immediately, and the train moved forward smoothly.

Jiang Yang slumped to the ground, rubbing her temples clockwise with her fingers to relieve the discomfort.

As if struck by a sudden thought, he asked his seemingly unnoticed assistant, "After I take over, will this place be discovered by others?"

"Once the replacement begins, the system will set up a barrier in your body to block it."

The implication was that there was still a possibility that it couldn't be stopped, Jiang Yang said with a pursed mouth.

Inner monologue: I really can't count on him.

[Final Mission: Reach the Final Station]

A new task has been released, and the previous one will naturally have the word "[Completed]" added to its end.

Jiang Yang cut off the power supply to Train Zero for two reasons: to return to 0027 and to delay the operation of Train Zero.

He wasn't sure whether the closed loop of the ouroboros would lead to an eternal cycle or a complete reversal of life and death.

Fortunately, Nan Ke completed the task, and Jiang Yang was now almost back on track with him. The next step was for Jiang Yang to take action.

—On Train Zero—

Xiong Bingxin sat on the ground, panting heavily, disregarding her image.

The decrease in SAN value also allowed her to see everything inside the carriage clearly.

More than two-thirds of the seats were filled with dark figures, and because the train was stopped, people kept squeezing into the carriages from outside.

Because of Xie Lu's experience, they kept retreating to avoid direct contact with the shadowy figure.

"Hey, this won't do," Nan Ke said rudely, but she mixed the medicine and tossed it to Xiong Bingxin.

No wonder Jiang Yang wanted him to cooperate with Xiong Bingxin, and even specifically asked Xiong Bingxin to lower her SAN value.

Few people could withstand such repeated provocations against the train conductor and constant teetering on the edge.

Xiong Bingxin pulled out a crumpled circuit diagram from her pocket, and influenced by her, the paper-like texture indeed turned into human skin.

She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

When the mission was announced, she took the lead and went to the train crew rest room without hesitation. It took a lot of effort, and even the sacrifice of one team member, to get the route map.

But when I got it, I realized that the route map was just a series of stations on Wutoushan that were broadcast on the radio.

The task has indeed been completed, so the problem must lie with the image itself.

Before they could even think about it, the safety officer appeared and ruled it a violation. The group of people were chained together in a row, and no one knew where they were being taken.

In the very center of the human skin picture was also an ouroboros, and several people gathered around to look at it together.

[Final Destination: No Man's Land]

Congratulations to players Xiong Bingxin, Meng Jiang, Azi, Shaqiu, Nanke, and Xie Lu for completing the public quest!

[Final Mission: Reach the Final Station]

"So, are we going back to the no man's land?" Azi asked.

Nan Ke took out the ticket that had returned to its original state, his face scrunched up. "The destination on it is still Wutoushan Station."

Everyone with a ticket brought it out, and the result was obvious.

Meng Jiang slammed his fist on the floor in frustration, "Do we have to buy tickets again?!"

The marble landed with a soft sound, and several people simultaneously looked towards Xie Lu in the corner.

Xie Lu stared at the marbles rolling forward on the ground, his gaze falling on the others, and said calmly, "The car is going backward; we won't reach the final stop."

"Where will we go?" asked Sha Qiu, another teammate of Xiong Bingxin.

"Headless Mountain".

[Zero Train Observation Room - Xiong Bingxin's Perspective]

"It's not scary at all, but I feel a little creeped out for some reason."

"Mommy, please bless Big Bear so he can go back!!"

"!!! The Hanged Man has opened the inspection!!!"

As one of the top three players on the Borderlands player power rankings, The Hanged Man has the right not to open observation.

But this does not affect his status in the trial competition.

His fervent enthusiasts are enough to support the enormous soul behind the tower.

So when he suddenly opened the observation room, which he had hardly ever used since he was listed, a large number of people rushed in.

—In the soft sleeper compartment—

The Hanged Man, who hadn't shown himself to any other players since boarding the train, sat on the lower bunk, playing with the hourglass in his hand.

His gaze swept over the dark figures lying on the other three beds, seemingly ignoring them, and he drew a huge circular crack in the floor.

The dark figure sat up abruptly, jumped off the bed with a blank expression, and was instantly swallowed by the crack.

[Player's Hanged Man Talent Card: The Hanged Man]

[Personal Talent: The Well of Despair with Time Reversal]

[Instructions for Use - The Well: An unbreakable cage where the Hanged Man enjoys the self-struggle and sacrifice of his plaything]

[Instructions for Use - Time Travel: You can travel through time within the well; perhaps you can find a glimmer of hope for salvation.]

With the final mission announced, the Hanged Man finally seemed to realize that he had to complete the task.

The door opened, and the second darkest hour had begun.

The upside-down man walked nonchalantly to the back of the carriage, the crack following him, devouring everything in its path.

The crack emitted chewing sounds, and after a while, it spat out a small piece of human skin as if disgusted. The upside-down man stopped and bent down to pick it up.

It is a human skin ticket whose final destination is no man's land.

A note from the author:

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