"There is one minute left until the next stop, Hexagon Avenue. Passengers who are getting off, please prepare." The female voice was sweet and clear. "Passengers getting off, please do not block those getting on and jam the doors. First let them board, then disembark—"
Mu Sicheng's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. He waved his hand irritably and glanced at Bai Liu, who was sitting in the carriage with Du Sanying.
"Bai Liu, what if you can't transfer the hate value? If these monsters lock onto me, I'll die easily."
"Don't you have my Mermaid Amulet?" Bai Liu replied lightly. "You can use it to escape once if necessary. We're just testing this. If it doesn't work, we'll discuss another plan."
"Did you fucking let me steal that item just to use it here? What teleportation nonsense?!" Mu Sicheng snapped. "Once a monster locks hate value onto me, it'll chase me the entire game as long as it sees me."
Du Sanying looked at Bai Liu with a conflicted expression. "Bai Liu, are the broken lenses really inside the passengers? If that's true… then this game is way too…"
Too difficult.
"If the lenses are really inside them—" Mu Sicheng switched to an acceleration wristband and sneered while rolling his wrist. "Then this instance is probably one of the harder level-two games. Bai Liu, you really have a talent for picking games."
"I'm confident I can transfer the hate value," Bai Liu said calmly. "I have a strong attack weapon, though it consumes quite a bit of stamina. Oh, right—speaking of that."
He suddenly seemed to remember something. Taking out 1,000 points from his wallet, he handed them to Du Sanying.
"I'll need to keep buying stamina supplements later. The price will probably increase on my end. Hold onto these points. If the price doesn't rise for you, buy them for me."
"Oh—oh." Du Sanying had been nervously watching outside the carriage door. Caught off guard, he instinctively accepted the points. "I just need to help you buy stamina supplements? Okay."
Buying large quantities of the same item would indeed drive up the price in a player's shop.
The moment Du Sanying took the points, Bai Liu smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
"We need to cooperate well during this game. You'll help me, right?"
Du Sanying, still dazed, clutched the 1,000 points and nodded. "Yes… okay."
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu has spent 1,000 points to establish a cooperative agreement with player Du Sanying. In exchange for purchasing stamina supplements, player Du Sanying must provide timely assistance when requested by player Bai Liu.]
"The train has arrived at the station—"
Mu Sicheng looked at the charred corpses—no, the "passengers"—waiting outside the carriage doors. He snorted impatiently and pressed down the monkey headphones on his head.
His entire face morphed into that of a monkey. A dazzling red glow filled his eyes. Fangs protruded from his lips. His hands transformed into slender black monkey paws tipped with razor-sharp claws. Pale yellow fur appeared at the back of his neck, and a black-and-white tail slipped out from his pants, curling into a question mark.
[System Notification: Player Mu Sicheng has activated the personal skill "Thief's Full Armor."]
[System Notification: Player Mu Sicheng has entered skill state: "Monster Book – Capuchin Monkey Tamed by a Thief."]
Bai Liu stood at the back of the carriage. His ankles were strapped to Du Sanying's small go-kart with a safety belt to prevent him from being thrown off.
He slowly drew out the snow-white bone whip from his waist and flicked his wrist lightly to adjust to its weight. His eyes locked onto Mu Sicheng.
Whenever Bai Liu did something, he focused completely. When necessary, that concentration reached an almost frightening level.
Once his gaze settled on Mu Sicheng, even Du Sanying could barely hear Bai Liu breathing. He stood utterly still, like an inanimate object.
"To concentrate one's attention" wasn't enough to describe it.
Du Sanying stared at Bai Liu's slowly contracting pupils. He hadn't blinked for nearly a minute. For a moment, Du Sanying felt as if the figure standing on his small car wasn't a human being—
—but a precision weapon calibrating its target. The carriage doors slid open.
A wave of scorching wind and blackened, burning corpses with gnashing teeth rushed into the train.
Mu Sicheng hung from the overhead handholds with one hand and one foot, staring at the oncoming monsters. He appeared calm, but sweat streamed down his temples as the temperature soared.
The intense heat distorted everyone's vision. Even the doorframe began to melt under the passengers' touch.
Mu Sicheng inhaled deeply and flexed his trembling monkey claws.
Facing these passengers—burned alive, trapped in flames—an overwhelming fear clawed at him.
What if Bai Liu was wrong? What if the monsters didn't carry the lenses? What if Bai Liu couldn't transfer the hate value at all and was simply using him as an experiment?
If any part of Bai Liu's plan failed, Mu Sicheng would be the first to die.
The burning passengers before him would become his future.
Doubt, anxiety, fear, despair—even murderous intent—flared inside him. The emotions overlapped like raging flames in his chest, suffocating him. Faced with inevitable death in an endless inferno, Mu Sicheng's claws trembled.
Perhaps no one could remain unmoved before such a scene—except a monster like Bai Liu, who cared more about money than life.
But Mu Sicheng had no way out. Bai Liu controlled him. Whether he wanted to or not, he had to charge forward.
"Mu Sicheng." Bai Liu's voice cut through the smoke.
His eyes reflected a cold, inorganic light. His tone was flat.
"You are the most valuable card in my hand. You're too important. I won't let you die."
"You will survive."
"So don't hesitate. Do what you need to do. Leave the rest to me."
Through the thick smoke, Mu Sicheng looked at the flying sparks, the writhing corpses, and Bai Liu.
The carriage was a sea of unquenchable flames. The passengers' wails rang in his ears. Blackened bodies twisted grotesquely in the fire.
It felt like standing on a battlefield of burned corpses—certain death waiting ahead.
Bai Liu's words sounded like a greedy, ruthless master urging his soldiers forward to win him greater profit.
And yet, absurdly—
Mu Sicheng felt inspired.
When he saw himself reflected in Bai Liu's eyes—surrounded by flames—he truly believed Bai Liu wouldn't let him die.
"Tsk." Mu Sicheng turned and grinned.
He took a deep breath, calming his racing heartbeat.
"If I die, Bai Liu, I'll haunt you as a ghost."
The moment he finished speaking, the red glow in his eyes intensified. The shrill laughter from the monkey headphones echoed through the carriage.
His tail hooked onto the overhead ring. His body moved in a blur.
Faster than the human eye could follow, he darted among the monsters. His monkey claws plunged into one charred corpse after another and withdrew instantly, bringing out debris and black ash.
Du Sanying could barely track his movements—only afterimages flickered before his eyes.
[System Notification: Player Mu Sicheng has been burned by flames. Health -1. Mental value -1.]
[System Notification: Player Mu Sicheng has been burned by flames. Health -1. Mental value -1.]
-----------------
Sweat dripped from behind Mu Sicheng's ears onto the iron floor of the carriage, sizzling like cold water hitting burning metal.
After losing 5 health points, the system notification finally changed.
[System Notification: Player Mu Sicheng has obtained a Broken Lens (1/???). Congratulations to Player Mu Sicheng for being the first player in the game to obtain a Broken Lens.]
A fragment about the size of a three-carat diamond was pinched between two fingers of Mu Sicheng's black monkey paw, emitting a crystal-clear glow.
Mu Sicheng couldn't help but whistle. He turned to Bai Liu and grinned.
"I got it. You were actually right. Damn, this game's trap is huge. The broken lens is tiny—I almost missed it. Do you know how much effort it took to grab this thing?"
"Now the real fight begins," he added.
The passengers he had attacked staggered briefly. Then their half-melted eyes locked onto him. The flames engulfing their bodies surged violently in his direction.
[System Notification: Player Mu Sicheng has stolen items from 5 passengers. The passengers are enraged. They have decided to capture the despicable thief and punish him severely.]
Mu Sicheng twisted sideways, hooking his body around an overhead handhold to dodge a passenger's reaching hand. As the other four lunged at him, veins bulged along his arms. He shouted,
"Bai Liu—!!! Pull them away!"
Bai Liu stood at the front of a pink bumper car, gripping a bone whip in one hand.
Scorching wind rushed into his loose white shirt, inflating the fabric. The gust lifted his hair from his forehead, revealing eyes sharpened with extreme focus.
With a flick of his wrist, the whip cracked through the air and lashed across the back of the passenger about to seize Mu Sicheng.
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu has used the Siren's Fishbone to strike a passenger. Hate value has been transferred. The target has decided to capture the mischievous player Bai Liu and punish him severely.]