Chapter 65 "Train"
The subway station at work is always so crowded that it makes people doubt their lives. The crowded situation in the carriage even makes people feel that not only the whole city but also the people are crowding into the subway - if possible, Song Cheng really doesn't want to take the subway at this time.
But there is no way. Under normal circumstances, the "train" will only appear steadily during the second train during rush hour. Although there are reports of sightings at other times, they are uncontrollable.
Song Cheng, a sturdy man, squeezed into the crowded carriage, feeling the slow acceleration of the subway after leaving the station. He saw that the office workers who were rushing to the company during the morning rush hour were everywhere in his sight, and the gaps between people were filled with mixed smells -
The steel cages are filled with squeezed and stacked meat. In the dark underground, the meat is transported from one place to another through concrete-supported pipes. Artificial lights can dispel the darkness in the "pipelines", but in the soil outside the pipes, darkness and the unknown are the true appearance of the underground world.
Song Cheng closed his eyes slightly and kept repeating this association in his mind. He imagined this train of steel "meat cages" crawling in the dark soil like a weird and blind worm. He imagined the suffocating smell of the soil blowing in his face, and the smell of rot seeping in the cold.
He closed his eyes and slowly walked through the crowd in the carriage - the carriage was still crowded, but everyone unconsciously made way for him. The tall and strong Song Cheng walked slowly to the end of the carriage, then opened his eyes and took a look.
The door was marked as the end of carriage number two, and further ahead was carriage number three.
In the carriage behind me, the originally noisy sound gradually died down, and the occasional sound of people talking seemed so distant that it seemed as if there was a thick wall between them.
Song Cheng did not look back, but casually took out a piece of parchment from his pocket. The piece of parchment had been soaked in ointment in advance. He put the piece of parchment into his mouth, chewed it slowly, feeling the strong and stimulating spicy and cool taste rushing straight to his head, and then stepped forward.
Passing through the door of carriage number two, he arrived at an empty new carriage.
The previous carriage was still packed with passengers rushing to catch the morning rush hour, but this carriage was empty.
There were a few old newspapers on the slightly worn-out chairs, but the date on the newspapers showed tomorrow.
Song Cheng turned around and saw the words "Car No. 16" displayed on the automatic door behind him.
The pungent taste in his mouth gradually spread. He turned around and continued to walk forward, passing through the door of carriage No. 16 and arriving at the next section of the train. The next carriage was rusty, and the windows on both sides were covered with dirt. Occasionally, a faint light flashed outside the window, but it was not like the lighting in the subway tunnel, but more like a pair of strange eyes passing by, watching the train of steel worms whizzing past in the dark mud.
This is carriage number 12. Song Cheng continued to walk forward, confirming the carriage number as he walked. As he walked forward, each carriage looked more and more weird - some carriages were filled with plastic models, some were full of mushrooms, and some carriages did not even have a roof or walls, only a bare floor, speeding through the constantly undulating and squirming earth pipes.
All carriages are numbered randomly between 1 and 21 and are not arranged in any order at all.
A warm candlelight suddenly caught his eyes. The structure of the subway car was no longer visible in the next car that Song Cheng entered. He stepped into a large wooden carriage. Several beautiful ladies dressed in extremely gorgeous and charming clothes were sitting on both sides of the carriage. They were having a heated conversation and occasionally made pleasant and crisp laughter. A faint mist floated outside the carriage window, and occasionally a street lamp flashed, illuminating the streets of an unfamiliar city.
A charming lady noticed Song Cheng who suddenly broke into the carriage. She stood up in surprise and walked forward to ask Song Cheng why he came.
But Song Cheng ignored him completely and just looked back at the number on the door: Car No. 23.
He turned and walked back.
A "normal carriage" with the same structure as a normal subway came into his sight. The carriage was spacious and empty, the lights were bright, and the seats were neatly arranged and clean.
There was only one passenger sitting in the middle of the carriage, near the window, holding a newspaper in his hand with his face hidden behind the newspaper.
Song Cheng looked back to confirm, and only after seeing the number 22 written on the door did he breathe a sigh of relief and walk towards the only passenger.
The other person was wearing a black coat, with a black suitcase at his feet and a black umbrella hanging on the railing next to the seat.
Everything from coats to suitcases to umbrellas had an eerie, rubbery quality.
Song Cheng sat down next to the passenger and gently tapped the newspaper in the other's hand.
The passenger finally put down the newspaper and looked up at Song Cheng.
It was a smooth and slightly reflective face - like rubber, and he looked like a thin middle-aged man, wearing an old-fashioned black hat that seemed out of place in modern times.
"Hello," the strange-looking passenger nodded to Song Cheng, his voice trembling and out of tune, but his attitude was quite polite, "What do you want to talk about today?"
The entity, Passenger 22, spawns in the Alien-Train and usually stays in Carriage 22. It is sane, communicative, and will occasionally help outsiders escape from the Alien - but under certain conditions, it can also become aggressive.
Now, he's friendly.
"Have you heard of the address No. 66 Wutong Road?" Song Cheng asked as if he was chatting with an ordinary person, "There is a person named 'Yu Sheng' who lives here."
The rubbery "passenger" shook his head: "There is no such stop on the train."
Song Cheng's expression suddenly became serious.
Passenger No. 22 knows a lot of information related to "places". Except for some extremely strange or secret "places", as long as the question is clear, he can almost answer the basic situation of any foreign land, even if it is millions of light years away - at worst, he will point out whether the foreign land mentioned in the question exists and whether it is located in the border area.
But now he says the train doesn't have that stop.
In fact, this train does not go to anywhere, but what passenger No. 22 said, "There is no such stop on the train," means that he does not know the information about a certain location.
Since the Secret Service had the information about Passenger 22 in its files, there had been no more than a handful of such responses.
After a moment of silence, Song Cheng asked again: "What about Yu Sheng? Have you heard of this name during your travels?"
"If it's information about people, you can ask the 'storyteller'. He knows a lot about people - he is in the park, telling stories to children there... Do you need directions? I can tell you where the 'park' is and when."
"Thank you, but no thanks, I know where the park is," Song Cheng shook his head. He felt the effect of the ointment in his mouth was gradually weakening, so he quickly asked the next question, "Any news about Night Valley recently?"
"Nightfall Valley... ah, a passenger left there, but I don't know the details," Passenger No. 22 said slowly, "If you still want to know what happened after that, I'm afraid I can't help you."
"Why?"
"Because this stop has been cancelled."
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Passenger 22 put the newspaper on his lap and spoke calmly with his rubbery face.
Song Cheng opened his eyes wide and sat in the chair in shock.
This answer has never appeared before! "The train does not have this stop" is at least a reply mentioned in the archives, but "This stop has been cancelled"... He is sure that this is the first time! "Why was it cancelled?!" He asked subconsciously, his eyes anxious.
"Who knows?" Passenger No. 22 shrugged very humanely. "I only know what happened along the train line, but those that happened outside the line... I don't know."
Song Cheng blinked and felt that the effectiveness of the ointment was further weakening. He began to hear faint voices in his ears. He had some more questions to ask, but at this moment, he suddenly noticed the newspaper placed on the legs of Passenger No. 22 out of the corner of his eye.
It was the only thing on the entity's "body" that was not rubbery, it was literally just a piece of newspaper.
The front page of the newspaper was printed with a large black-and-white illustration - in this era when even the cheapest tabloids were printed in color, the black-and-white illustration looked particularly retro, and the picture itself was blurry, abstract and distorted, not like a real photo taken on the spot, but more like a crude graffiti smeared on the canvas by a clumsy painter based on hearsay.
In a desolate valley, a huge eye is floating above the valley, slowly moving away.
Below the illustration is the headline of the news: "After the Feast".
"We're almost at the station." The voice of passenger No. 22 suddenly came from the side, waking Song Cheng from his distraction.
Song Cheng looked up suddenly and saw Passenger No. 22 staring at him. This rational entity had already reached out and picked up the umbrella hanging on the handrail. As he stood up, he asked casually, "What's the weather like now?"
Song Cheng immediately gathered his thoughts and observed the entity in front of him with extra care.
Passenger No. 22 brought an umbrella today, but the umbrella was dry.
"It's cloudy today..." Song Cheng said.
But at this moment, he suddenly noticed a trace of water on the suitcase of passenger No. 22, as if invisible rain had just fallen on the suitcase.
"But the rain has already started to fall," Song Cheng immediately added, "It was the right decision to bring an umbrella when going out."
"Indeed," Passenger No. 22 smiled, and his rubber face made a slight tearing and rubbing sound. "Have a nice trip, and be careful when you get off the bus."
"Have a nice trip." Song Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, smiled and nodded.
Noisy sounds came from all around, and the heat from human bodies filled the crowded carriage.
The sturdy Song Cheng squeezed in the crowded carriage, feeling the shaking of the subway as it slowly decelerated as it entered the station.
(End of this chapter)
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