300 Homecoming Train (Part 4)
◎Someone else is getting on the bus◎
Late at night, a green train was speeding.
"That's the Homecoming?"
An investigator on the flying train sighed. They had just completed their mission and were preparing to return to Dora Station for supplies. The whole train was lifeless and everyone was attracted to the Homecoming. In the ruins outside the wall, everything was silent and the speeding train seemed very strange.
Bobcat was not wearing a helmet. He looked down following his teammates' gaze. The speeding car was moving, and the Homecoming was also moving, and soon they were getting farther and farther away.
Bobcat was staring at the train in a trance. From his perspective, the carriage glass was only as big as a spot of light.
Bobcat: "What's that?"
He wasn't interested in most things. A colleague scratched his head and said, "You new here, don't know this, but that's Captain Zhang's route, not ours. There were six groups of people, and forty-seven investigators went in, and they all died. Their team ran out of people to die on, so the exploration plan was temporarily shelved."
The loss rate of investigators outside the wall is very high, and many of them died this time, but getting on a train six times is really rare.
The scene of getting on the bus emerged in Bobcat's mind. All the investigators were on high alert. Everyone knew they were going to die before getting on the bus, just to leave more information for the next team.
My teammates were just gossiping, "That used to be a doomsday rescue vehicle. It was supposed to go into the wall, but something happened halfway and the whole vehicle was drowned."
That’s why it’s called the Homecoming, but it’s a pity that it never went home.
"It's quite strange. So many people were transferred north, but they didn't bring back any information."
Bobcat: "What's on it?"
Investigation missions outside the wall are definitely profitable, and even for a tiny bit of hope, there will be people who will continue to die.
The chatty teammate fell silent for a moment, staring at the train, his expression gradually becoming serious. "When the disaster happened, there was a reporter who had been recording it. He had some original data on him. He was supposed to be traveling inside the wall on the Homecoming, but he died on board."
Bobcat was stunned. The investigation of the old world was very much like archaeology. If the original data was true and the key scenes of the old world were captured, the files recorded by a reporter would be enough for thousands of investigators to take risks for it.
Bobcat: "Is the information reliable?"
"Who knows? Only the higher-ups have the exact information. We investigators only have a rough idea. It might just be a smokescreen, a rumor spreading by this train to lure people aboard to their deaths. Or maybe it really happened, but when we got there, we found only a blank sheet of paper, or perhaps all the information had been soaked." His teammate leaned his head against the back of his chair and said self-deprecatingly, "We won't even know how we died."
Both situations are very common. They are just small soldiers who only need to follow the orders of their superiors.
Bobcat didn't say anything else. He kept looking out the window until the Homecoming completely disappeared and only darkness remained.
…
Homecoming train.
There was no one on the dining car. Zhu Ning opened Chen Qihang's notebook under the watchful eyes of his three teammates.
When things are bad enough, it's okay to get worse.
The surface of the notebook was worn. Zhu Ning untied the yellowed bandage, revealing the full appearance of the notebook.
Qi Xueliu didn't even blink. Zhu Ning's handwriting was clearly spread out on the table, but Qi Xueliu could only see blurry handwriting and couldn't tell what was written.
Does this notebook recognize its owner? Or is it designed to prevent prying eyes?
Zhu Ning opened the title page and found that the content had indeed changed. It was no longer Songshan Temple, and the date was gone.
The first sentence at the beginning: "The world has collapsed, and dates have no effect."
Zhu Ning was stunned for a moment. As she read Chen Qihang's notebook, it was as if she was reading about the gradual collapse of the world. The more she read, the more she understood the old world.
"My name is Chen Qihang, an investigator of abnormal events..." Chen Qihang wrote this sentence again, but he did not finish it. It seemed that when he wrote this, he had deep doubts about his profession.
It seemed as if Chen Qihang himself was sitting opposite Zhu Ning.
She could even imagine Chen Qihang writing down his investigation notes, feeling very desperate as he did so.
"I thought it had been stopped, that the pollution would be temporarily contained, or even disappear, but it's clear how naive I was. The pollution is back with a vengeance."
"I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. Pollution outbreaks erupted in every country within three days, more severe than before. The concept of a traditional nation vanished, and the land quickly collapsed. By the time people realized what was happening, too many lives had been lost. After an outbreak, the spread slowed. It's because of this slowdown that humanity had room to recover. Otherwise, we would have been wiped out, like the dinosaurs, completely wiped out."
"The remaining surviving humans formed new organizations, gathered all available resources, and built high walls, just like building a fence, keeping humans in captivity like livestock. We lost the vast land and became domesticated animals."
"After the wall was built, the Federation launched a search and rescue operation, deploying four trains, or what could be called doomsday arks. One of them was called the Homecoming. What an ironic name. Homecoming, the land is constantly being polluted and falling. Where is our homeland?"
"The Homecoming will travel through as many routes as possible, stopping at a total of 140 stations, staying at each station for ten minutes. Once the ten minutes are up, it will depart immediately, not stopping for anyone."
"The nearest station to me is called Yinshan Station, which happened to be the boarding point. I didn't make it because something happened soon after."
"I heard someone was parasitized by the eggs of the golden apple snail. He didn't know he was contaminated, or maybe he knew but was deceiving himself, thinking he was harmless. In any case, he rushed onto the train at the last moment, probably driven by his desire to survive. In this apocalypse, it's hard to judge whether his actions were correct. He just wanted to stay alive, always trying to grasp at a glimmer of hope. I don't agree with his actions, but I understand. He was in the last car at the rear, car 22."
"Apple snails were everywhere: taps, water tanks, sealed mineral water bottles, human saliva, and apple snail eggs had invaded the Homecoming. After the outbreak, the train should have stopped to allow uninfected people to escape, but it was too close to the wall. The survivors inside didn't want the Homecoming to stop and wanted to continue running. The conductor had no choice but to obey and drove in the opposite direction. The Homecoming became the Departure. The passengers weren't fools. Some wanted to jump out of the train, and some tried to invade the cab. Anyway, the whole thing happened."
"The Homecoming train went off the tracks, fell off a river bridge, and plunged into the water. Disasters were happening almost every day at the time, but people didn't even spare a second for the Homecoming train. Their attention was quickly drawn to other events. The end was near, and no one wanted to care about other people's problems. They thought that was the end of the Homecoming train."
"But the next day, someone heard the clanging noise again late at night. The dead Homecoming train had returned, parked at the platform like any other train. Some passengers boarded it by mistake and never returned. It was then called the Death Train."
"Now the Homecoming has become a legend outside the walls. It's said that it can take you home. As a complete train, it even has a timetable. The boarding time at each station is different. For example, the train at Yinshan Station is 12 o'clock."
"But this isn't the train that takes you home. The Homecoming fell into the river. There are so many bodies at the bottom of the river, from all ages. New passengers boarded the Homecoming and mixed with the dead. They lived on the train like water ghosts. It became a horrific mixture. It's hard to explain how terrifying it is."
"As an anomalous events investigator, I've gathered some information about the Homecoming. It's all hearsay, so you can believe it or not. If you accidentally board the Homecoming, besides the rules written on your ticket, I have some advice. First, please don't talk outside of the dining car."
"Secondly, the Homecoming Express doesn't announce stations, so you need to look carefully for your getting-off platform. If you miss it, you'll never get another chance."
"Third, please do not touch the water in the car. I'm talking about any water, rainwater, mineral water, water from the toilet, any water source can become a medium for those things."
"Fourth, the source of the pollution outbreak is at the rear of the vehicle."
"Fifth, if possible, go to the sleeper car. If not, seek shelter near the front of the train. Car 1 is the safest. Of course, that assumes you can get there in time."
"Good luck."
Bang, bang, bang, the only sound in Zhu Ning's ears was the sound of the running train. She was so immersed in it, as if she was reading history. Before, she always felt that she was watching the whole process of Chen Qihang taking notes, and his shadow seemed to disappear after writing the last four words.
Unlike the last time they finished reading, they deliberately waited for a while and no danger occurred immediately.
This was the longest note Zhu Ning had ever read, and Chen Qihang wrote it in several sessions.
Each note reveals a context for the information it contains. This time it was written after the full-scale outbreak of pollution. Zhu Ning had previously speculated that the global doomsday should come in 2057. How old would Chen Qihang be by then?
When he was at Songshan Temple, Chen Qihang wanted to commit suicide. It seemed that the end of the world had come and he was powerless to stop it. But he also said that the pollution had stopped temporarily, but it was not curbed. It took several decades before large-scale pollution occurred again.
What method did they find to suppress him? Did Chen Qihang succeed in committing suicide?
Regarding the Homecoming, Zhu Ning once again thought of that person, Bao Ruiming.
Bao Ruiming also remembered a similar organization, but they were a relief ship that docked at the port of Fusha Island and left when the time came. Bao Ruiming and his family were lucky enough to get on board.
The original purpose of the Homecoming was to provide rescue, to pick up more survivors and send them into the protective wall.
Zhu Ning digested the information. She had tested some of the rules in the notebook and found them to be correct.
But there are two key pieces of information that leave no room for trial and error. This train has 22 carriages, and Chen Qihang said the pollution source is in carriage 22. This is a very obvious clue, directly telling the location of the pollution source. If Zhu Ning wants to devour the pollution source, he must find a way to pass through that group of water ghosts?
If it was fake, she might have died on this road.
The second key piece of information is that the direction of the front of the car is the safest. This information is half credible. Zhu Ning also feels that the further forward he goes, the safer he will be. However, this safety is relative and it may just be a trap.
Zhu Ning read the notebook and got the information, but it was difficult to tell whether it was a fraud.
Zhu Ning flipped the notebook over. She had always been willing to share intelligence with her teammates, but after she turned the notebook over, Pei Shu and Qi Xueliu were both confused. "What?"
Zhu Ning frowned and asked, "Can't you see?"
Qi Xueliu stared at the notebook for a long time, as if trying hard to see clearly, then gave up. "The handwriting is blurry, I can't make out a single word."
From Qi Xueliu's perspective, the paper seemed to have been soaked in water, blurring into a large area.
Zhu Ning: "You all can't see?"
Zhu Ning handed the notebook over, thinking that only the person who touched it could read it, but Qi Xueliu couldn't see it clearly when she held it up, and she couldn't see it clearly when Zhu Ning held it up to show her. Zhu Ning then realized that she was the only one among the four people who could see it.
Why? But Huo Wenxi also saw it in the deserted village.
Do Huo Wenxi and Zhu Ning have something in common? The ability to predict direction? Huo Wenxi's ability is intuition, which belongs to the precognitive category. Zhu Ning has just opened the Eye of Prescience, and she originally had the talent of precognitive danger.
Could it be that this was something only the Precognitive Department could see? There were too few experimental subjects. Zhu Ning needed to discuss this with Huo Wenxi next time to see if anyone else in her team had read it.
Zhu Ning: "Let's talk business first."
If she wanted to exchange information with Huo Wenxi, she had to get out of here alive. She quickly dictated the contents of the notebook.
Qi Xueliu looked a little disappointed, but was soon attracted by the rules of the notebook. Zhu Ning asked, "Do you believe it?"
The notebook was clearly alive, and they couldn't figure out where it stood. If even one of the rules was wrong, they would die here.
Before they could answer, they suddenly heard the sound of brakes, sparks flashed from the friction between the train and the rails, and due to inertia, the passengers leaned forward slightly.
The Homecoming train stopped steadily at the platform and opened the doors of all the carriages.
Zhu Ning frowned. The Homecoming Express had arrived at a station. This was the first stop after getting on the train, and it was said that it would stay for ten minutes.
The platform was also dilapidated, with a rusty iron plate that read "Nanlin Station".
The four people all became alert at the same time. They heard footsteps and voices in the distance, and someone was about to get on the bus.
The author has something to say:
It’s the 300th chapter of Wasteland!
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