[I'm almost there.]
Xu Xi quickly received a reply and let out a small sigh of relief.
At that moment, her dormmates emerged from other classrooms and gathered around her, and then everyone began the usual post-exam complaints.
"The essay was too difficult this time. I realized I didn't have enough time towards the end and had to wrap it up hastily."
"Sss... that's better than me. Halfway through, I discovered I was off-topic and had to forcefully shift the focus back."
The morning exam was in Chinese, and there wasn't much point in comparing answers; the ordinary questions were too easy, while the more challenging reading comprehension and essay questions were subjectively graded.
Xu Xi quietly listened to their discussion, occasionally responding, her face expressionless, but inside she was already uneasily anxious.
Her essay was incomplete – when the teacher discovered it, they would definitely want to talk, and then surely report it to her brother...
It's over, she was too rash.
...
...
On a rickety bullet train.
Xu Shuo tried sending a message, but his phone showed no signal, and the message remained in "sending" status.
After entering the tunnel, the thunderous noise continued to fill his ears. The train was like those green-skin trains from decades ago, not only with poor soundproofing but also unstable, occasionally shaking violently.
In the empty carriage, voices still echoed from all around.
So, after thinking for a moment, Xu Shuo turned to the empty seat next to him and tentatively asked, "Pei Sheng, do you have a power bank?"
Pei Sheng's languid voice came through, "I do, but my phone is also dead – don't you have one yourself?"
"I'm too lazy to get up and dig through my suitcase," Xu Shuo calmly replied, then stretched out a hand towards him, "Alright, hurry up and give it to me. You aren't playing games anymore, so it shouldn't drain too fast."
"No one exploits others quite like you do!"
Pei Sheng grumbled dissatisfied, but after a moment Xu Shuo felt a weight in his hand, the cold electronic device resting in his palm.
But in his line of sight, there was nothing there.
Xu Shuo drew back his hand and placed the power bank on his lap, then without looking away, he followed the cable and accurately plugged it into his phone's charging port.
Ding-dong~
The phone screen lit up with the charging icon, and simultaneously, Xu Shuo could see the white power bank lying on his lap.
A thick liquid plopped onto the floor, and the shuffling figure gradually came into Xu Shuo's view.
The Hoodie Man sat on the outside, with no seats obstructing his view, so he saw it as soon as it appeared, but Xu Shuo, sitting inside, only got a clear view when the entity came closer.
A long, dark trail of blood followed from the end of the carriage. An old man's leg was broken, dragging as he moved, his exposed flesh and blood crawling with clusters of black bugs, his body tattered, clothes so stained with blood that their color was indiscernible, hanging off him.
The person with his head hung walked over slowly and silently, messy hair glued in clumps to his face, the stench assaulting from him.
And as he reached Xu Shuo's seat, the dragging sound suddenly stopped; he stood there hunched over, motionless.
The corner of the Hoodie Man's eye twitched a few times, the cigarette in his mouth indented with teeth marks; he stared straight at the seatback in front of him.
After a while, the figure still had not moved, but the sound of something scraping the floor continued.
Soon, Xu Shuo saw another figure, a woman whose upper body was nearly severed at the waist, with only a strip of flesh and blood connecting her lower half, her head hung down, arms drooping, her appearance exceedingly terrifying.
Because the path in front was blocked, the woman also stopped.
Then, one after another, slow dragging sounds followed.
The weird low hum came from nowhere, and more and more of the sticky liquid flowed onto the floor, emitting an unbearable stench of decay and spreading towards where the two were seated.
Xu Shuo kept his composure and casually crossed his right leg over his left, mirroring the action of the Hoodie Man next to him.
The Hoodie Man couldn't help but glance at him, but the young man's expression was as usual, still focused on playing with his phone.
The thick, foul-smelling liquid meandered along the floor's grooves without any pattern. The Hoodie Man's peripheral vision caught it bypassing his shoes, which eased his mind slightly.
But just then, the old figure that had been standing in front of their seat slowly turned its head towards them.
Beneath the matted hair was a pair of hollow, pitch-black eyes. Wrinkled skin cut and fell away, blotched with blood, swarming with wriggling black bugs, inducing a wave of nausea.
The Hoodie Man, under that gaze, shivered all over, feeling as though he had fallen into an ice cellar, fear surging uncontrollably!
What's going on?
Why is it looking at him?
What exactly is this Illusory Realm?
Just as the Hoodie Man's fingertips twitched slightly, Xu Shuo suddenly spoke up, "You might as well take that cigarette out, or the steward will misinterpret it later."
That voice, like a thunderclap in spring, suddenly dispersed some of the Hoodie Man's fear; he came back to his senses, his gaze hardened.
"Alright, I know I can't light up, I just wanted to hold it to curb the craving," he said reluctantly, removing the cigarette from his mouth and stuffing it into his pocket.
But at the same time, the fingers that went into the pocket unexpectedly pinched a card.