The train car was in chaos. People were shouting, pushing, and crushing each other as the centipedes continued to crawl in from the bridge. Someone tried to force the doors open, but they wouldn't budge. Another man laughed nervously a harsh, piercing laugh that made everyone wince.
"What kind of joke is this?!" he screamed. "This isn't funny!"
The echo of his voice bounced off the metal walls, mixing with the rustling of countless paws outside, creating a sickening rhythm.
Phones were frantically pulled out of pockets, trying to call and text, but nothing worked.
"No signal what the hell?!" someone shouted.
"It's the system! It's blocking everything!"
The light from the screens illuminated pale faces, highlighting wide-open eyes filled with panic and disbelief.
Voices overlapped, panic spreading faster than the creatures crawling outside. But through all the noise, one figure remained untouched by the chaos. Saigid's gaze was fixed on the message floating before everyone:
[Survive Until Tomorrow]
[Reward: 1,000,000 Coins]
This wasn't a game. The air around them felt too heavy, too real, too final. People were losing control screaming, thrashing, trying to fight the invisible restraints that held them. Sweat poured down their foreheads, their hands trembled, but the creatures outside didn't stop they approached inexorably, their segmented bodies glinting in the dim light of the train.
And suddenly, cutting through the cacophony, a calm, even voice rang out:
"The same as last time."
It wasn't loud, didn't sound panicked, didn't demand attention. There was even a hint of boredom in him. Saigid turned his head toward the source of the sound.
The man leaned casually against the wall, his dark hair falling into his eyes. His posture was relaxed, as if he were waiting for a train that would never arrive. There was not the slightest tension or fear in him. It seemed as if this scene had happened countless times before.
Saigid's gaze followed him. There was something... wrong about the man's presence. It seemed as if chaos was enveloping him, as if the screaming, jostling crowd and the relentless centipedes existed in some other layer of reality.
A glowing panel suddenly flared before him:
[Yushai Level: Σ]
One of the passengers nearby noticed it and whispered reverently:
"What... what is this?"
"A symbol? A level?"
"I don't have that!"
Confusion swept through the crowd, momentarily displacing the panic. Everyone stared at the figure, trying to comprehend what they were seeing. The usual cacophony of fear died down for a second, as if the world itself had taken a short breath.
Then another panel appeared this time in front of Saigid himself:
[Saigid: Level F]
He narrowed his eyes. Level F. The ranking system was real. This wasn't a glitch.
This wasn't a joke. His pulse quickened slightly, a spark of adrenaline ran down his spine, but his voice remained steady.
Exhaling slowly, he looked at the man again. Yushai still calm, collected, unperturbed amid the chaos. There was something almost predatory in this calm a quiet superiority over a situation in which others were barely surviving.
Saigid took a cautious step forward. Not too fast, not too slow, moving deliberately.
"You're not surprised," he said quietly.
Yushai glanced at him for a moment, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.
"And you?"
"...Not particularly," Saigid admitted, tilting his head slightly, feeling the inevitability pressing down on him like metal walls around him.
A pause fell between them, the shouts and noise fading into a distant background, like a crackling static. Saigid studied him carefully.
No fear, no confusion, no doubt only confidence.
"You knew," Saigid whispered.
Yushai closed his eyes, remaining just as calm, waiting for something that hadn't happened yet. When he opened them again, there was a hint in them that he knew the rules of the game, while everyone else, including Saigid, was just starting out.