CH 85

The red light at the gate went out after three flashes.

All was silent again, leaving only the long, rich smell of blood in the air still announcing that the brutal killing that had just taken place was not an illusion.

After that person, who was not sure whether he was a player or an NPC, had demonstrated with his own life that he could not escape the ticket, Xiao Lan naturally did not have his head so hardened that he was going to try out his protagonist aura to see if it worked.

Xiao Lan moved forward carefully, stepping over a trail of blood and broken flesh, and approached the gate entrance where it remained silent.

As we approached, Xiao Lan could hear the sound of rain coming from far away, as if it was raining outside the station, the sound of the rain was a temptation to say that this Little Xiao gate was all that separated the players from the hope of life.

The light of the torch shone on the blood-stained gate.

The man's mouth just kept saying "ticket", and with the standard swipe card exit mode of this underground, it seems that you have to find a ticket to leave this game.

Xiao Lan pondered, "And I wonder what kind of a ticket it really is."

There are many different types of metro tickets, from the ancient paper, coin-shaped and the most common ic cards, to even electronic versions for mobile phones, and it's no surprise what they would look like if it were a game world.

Xiao Lan's brow furrowed after a closer look at the gates.

In the 90s, the underground was still a manual ticketing system, right? But this row of gates in front of me is an all-metal automatic ticketing type, and the pure white colour looks a bit abrupt in this environment.

He looked around the gate again and found no area resembling a conductor's station.

"Does it mean that this game is also introducing high-tech products to save manpower?" Xiao Lan wondered, "Are they that short of people?"

Luo's voice came in hushed tones, "Maybe they especially want someone to join them."

Xiao Lan: "......"

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You make a good point.

He was suddenly a little wary as he thought of Zhang Dong and Gu Mo. Would this lack of copies be particularly death-trapping, just to get players to join their warm family as well.

Xiao Lan felt a little chill down his back when he thought of the crowd of players he had seen behind Gu Mo.

The light from the torch moved to the side and Xiao Lan began to look around the area.

The neighbourhood still looked shabby and cluttered, with only the overstuffed bins drawing his attention.

Xiao Lan approaches: "This is ......"

It was two bins side by side, full of something so burnt and black that it was impossible to tell what it had originally looked like. He found half a steel pipe nearby and fiddled with it, and found that the bottom of the bin was still exactly the same.

After examining it, Luo said, "It was some debris, mostly carbonised, and some burnt plastic material."

Perhaps this is the source of the mushy smell that I smelled earlier and wondered when it was burnt.

But there are no traces of the burning around.

But the pile clearly had little to do with tickets, and the pair shifted direction, heading for another place.

An underground route map appears in front, occupying a large part of the wall, but for some reason, all the other parts are blacked out, leaving only this lone No. 13 underground station, like an island in an ocean.

Other than that, no further clues were found at the exit.

--

The two men left the exit and returned to the platform area below.

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This time the footsteps were not encountered on the steps, and it was not clear whether it had left, or whether it had chosen to shut itself up after seeing the two men.

The station was still silent, and the faint musty smell in the air was the same as before. The two men advanced, and only each other's footsteps seemed to be left between heaven and earth.

A distorted poster appears on a pillar in front of it.

The poster is also very old looking and has faded a bit, vaguely visible on it is a woman with black hair and red lips, wearing the popular make-up of the 80s and 90s, and is smiling charmingly at the camera, a beauty with a vintage air.

It looks like the kind of beauty pictorial that was once popular.

The edges of the poster have curled up and are swaying slightly with the wind, as if to tempt prying eyes.

Xiao Lan reached out and gently lifted a little, only to feel a handful of black dust.

He twisted his fingertips, the black ash was a little wet from the humidity of the air, and the colour of the ash was too dark, not like dust, but more like it had been left behind by the black smoke from the burning.

Luo reached up and lifted the poster off the pillar. The pillar behind the poster looked intact, not clean and tidy but no signs of burning either, the black ash just seemed to appear on the back of the poster.

Xiao Lan's brow furrowed slightly at yet another seemingly burned mark, adding to the pile he had seen earlier in the bins upstairs, this was the second. Yet there were no similar signs throughout the station, and the two sides seemed contradictory.

Just then, the woman on the poster that had been placed on the floor suddenly blinked.

Her movements were fleeting, but did not escape the two men.

Under the gaze of the two men, the woman's red lips flicked open as if she wanted to say something.

Suddenly a fire from nowhere rose from the edge of the poster and the expression on the woman's face shifted to one of horror as the words that were about to come out of her mouth turned into a screaming gag.

The fire spread with an incredible speed and engulfed the entire poster in a flash, leaving no time for the two men to even put out the fire.

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In less than a second, all that was left on the ground was a fragile trail of ashes, interspersed with a few unextinguished sparks, which were quickly dispersed by the wind in the underground station.

Xiao Lan stared at the ashes being blown into the distance and had a bad feeling in his heart, "Is this ...... silencing?"

What was this woman trying to say just now? Something to do with the fact that the poster she was on had different fire marks than the ones around her?

Unfortunately, she could no longer say it.

Xiao Lan's mood sank a few notches with the sudden change of events.

This station does not have the kind of monsters with open teeth and claws, its threats are all in the form of unseen and untouchable, but instead more dangerous. Even if the player's force is strong, he can easily get hit in these dangers.

And there was nothing they could do but be alert and careful.

--

The two men continued in the direction of the track.

A black stain appeared on a section of track in front of us, like an old stain that had fused with the track, and there was something that looked like a thin white line, but it was a little too far away to see clearly.

On the right side of this area are several long seats, which are supposed to be used by passengers to rest during the waiting period.

On one of the chairs was a neatly folded newspaper, one that looked like it had been deliberately deposited here, in marked contrast to the rubbish that had been thrown around earlier.

A white coin-shaped object is embossed on top, with an embossed '13' and nothing else, reminding Xiao Lan of a ticket, which is not uncommon, although not used in many areas.

Xiao Lan walked up and picked up the paper, and found it to be thick and fine, with clear handwriting and an extraordinarily delicate look.

Turning the paper over, the most prominent place on it reads.

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"According to our news agency at 23:44 on xx 199x, there was an underground train collision in the city, where two trains of underground line 1 collided severely at underground station 13 ......

...... The accident killed 103 people on the spot and injured 39 people to varying degrees.

Following the accident, police, fire brigade and paramedics have rushed to the scene to rescue the injured, who have been admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment, and the metro lines in the area near the accident have been temporarily suspended.

The police are currently working with the traffic management department to conduct further investigations into the cause of the accident."

The news was accompanied by pictures of the train that had been mangled, and although the pictures were in black and white they still showed the blood and faintly visible human limbs that made the accident so horrific.

The train was vaguely recognisable from the wreckage, and it was - the one Xiao Lan had been on before!

So, what they were travelling on was a veritable train of the undead?

"Hello there, young people." A gentle and courteous voice suddenly rang out from the side.

Xiao Lan turned his head to see an old man in an old-fashioned broad suit sitting next to him, his hands on a cane, his head bowed, a hat on his head covering his face, no wrinkles in his suit, and his tie properly tied, as if he were a gentleman.

But when Xiao Lan walked in, all the seats were empty, so where did this old man come from?

His movements looked stiff, his whole being did not move at all with breath when he spoke, and his outstretched hand looked a few shades of green and grey, not unlike the complexion of a living person.

This one, I'm afraid, is also one of the ghosts of the station.

The old man still did not look up, but simply continued, "Get out of here, danger is coming."

Xiao Lan was a little confused: "What do you mean?"

The old man's tone became serious: "Get out, get out of here. Take my ticket and you'll get out of here!"

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Xiao Lan and Luo looked at each other and saw a bit of confusion in each other's eyes as to what he was referring to.

Just then, a system prompt appears.

[Trigger hidden mission: The Last Wish]

[Mission Statement: Take away the old man's ticket and fulfill his last wish for him]

[Mission Reward: Unknown

[Hint: This task is not compulsory and can be abandoned at any time, no penalty for abandonment]

Xiao Lan, however, frowned imperceptibly.

The old man was earnest in his words and kept trying to persuade them to leave, looking like a good old boy who was eager to help.

However, he did not explain what the danger was and appeared immediately after Xiao Lan saw the train accident in the newspaper to persuade him to leave the station, even with his ticket to leave the station ready.

It may not be too much of a coincidence, as if it was specially prepared.

Moreover, he had just said, "Take my ticket and you can leave here", but the mission statement only said, "Pick up the old man's ticket and fulfil his last wish", without mentioning anything related to leaving the station.

Although it is easy to associate his heart's desire with getting out of the station, he did not say so himself.

What lies beneath the surface of concern seems to have another purpose.

Xiao Lan took a cautious step back and did not choose to accept the task, while putting the ticket and newspaper back in his hand.

"Don't you want to leave?" The old man's tone went a little colder.

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"We'd like to take another walk, so we'll leave you to it." Xiao Lan said as he walked away from him with Luo.

Xiao Lan was about to leave the area when he felt a sudden, morose glance. He looked in the direction he felt it and met the gaze of the old man, who raised his head slightly, his eyes a grim look of malice, as if he was annoyed at the departure of his prey.

The two men quickened their pace and walked straight out of his sight.

After the two men had left, the old man's figure disappeared and the ticket and newspaper returned to their places, waiting like a trap for impending prey.

--

Shortly afterwards, a male player arrived.

He had some blood on his body and had obviously been attacked earlier.

He sat back in his seat with a few moments of discomfort, panting heavily, he hadn't expected the dangers of this game to be all about playing dirty, it had been a close call to get out of it a few times, if he'd had a few more he'd probably have been out cold.

"Damn it, where the hell are the bloody tickets!"

He kicked the chair next to him with some annoyance, just in time to kick down the newspaper that had been sitting on it, and the coin-shaped ticket that had been staying on top of it rolled grunting to him.

"What the hell?" The male player looked at the odd object, clearly not recognising it as a ticket.

He casually put the ticket aside, picked up the newspaper on the floor and began to read it, saying heartily, "Hiss ...... the death train, good thing I got off."

At that moment, the old man appeared once more, concerned and anxious, warning him of the impending danger, with an eager and gentle look.

As the old man's words fell, the sound of a train came from afar, sounding like the song of death, which startled the male player who had just read the paper.

The old man took the opportunity to point to the white coin beside him, "Young man, take my ticket and leave the station,"

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The mission also appears at the same time.

The male player's heart fluttered with joy and he took up the task decisively.

Great! He was in a very bad state, facing a train of undead with all 100+ ghosts was definitely bad luck. He didn't expect that he had come across a hidden quest and could now get out early. After he got out he must turn on the light and get a good night's sleep, this copy was too damn tiring.

He picked up his ticket and turned to leave -

Only to find in the next moment that his body was out of control.

Like a puppet on a string, he was controlled by an invisible force that turned his body around, taking one rigid step in the direction of the track.

"Stop ...... stop ......," he struggled desperately to try to regain control of his body, but unfortunately every muscle felt like it didn't belong to him at all anymore, rendering his resistance all but ineffective effect.

He could only watch as he walked to the tracks and lay down.

In front of me was an old, crumbling ceiling and behind me were the cold, hard rails. The fishy smell of metal from the rails was all that could be smelt in my nose, and all around me was a black stain that had been there for who knows how many years and was now deeply infested with the ground.

There were some silvery strands in the middle of the black stain that seemed a bit familiar, and when he looked closer - wasn't that hair! It was exactly the same as the old guy's hair.

"Damn it ...... old man ...... you shady me!"

His heart was already cold, he didn't think he would fall for this old man's trick in his haste! When he thought about it, this old man had appeared too coincidentally and his words were ambiguous, but his opponent's timing was too good, setting a trap just when he was tired and anxious.

At the male player's angry look, the old man stood up, revealing his grim eyes as he looked at the male player lying on the tracks and stiffly pulled up the corners of his mouth to give him a satisfied smile.

Then he took off his own hat and tossed it towards the male player with the roar of the approaching underground.

"The hidden quest [Last Wish] has been completed, get the reward [Hat]"

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It turns out ...... his wish was ...... to find a scapegoat ......

That was the last thing on the male player's mind.

The train roars past, taking his world into pitch black.