Infinite Train
Chapter 681: Only a hair’s breadth apart
“Let’s go, follow me closely.”
Leaving this sentence behind, No. 8 was the first to step into the narrow door before them.
Inside this so-called “staff passage,” there was no light source at all. It was pitch-black all around without the slightest glimmer of light, but this didn’t seem to affect No. 8. He moved freely, heading smoothly down the stairs.
Wen Jianyan followed him closely. In the darkness, only the sound of two pairs of messy, overlapping footsteps echoed in the hollow corridor.
Although he couldn’t see anything, he could still feel it… this was definitely not some normal passage.
The air was cold, damp, and stale. The ground beneath his feet had a creepy, soft texture; stepping on it didn’t feel like walking on solid ground, but rather like walking on some kind of flesh and blood… To be honest, even if there really were light here, Wen Jianyan wasn’t sure if he’d have the courage to witness the true appearance of this passage.
“In the past, you could go to any area on the ship from here,” No. 8’s voice came from ahead in the darkness. “But not anymore.”
“The damage you caused before you left last time was too massive. Even though it might look no different from the outside, the inside is a total mess.”
“How so?” Wen Jianyan asked.
“Some paths are broken in the middle, some simply disappeared, and others lead to completely different places,” No. 8 said. “Even I don’t know where the ends of those paths lead… or what’s at the end of them.”
Hearing this, a chill inexplicably ran down Wen Jianyan’s spine.
“Anyway,” No. 8 continued, “You’d better not stray too far from me. If you get lost in here, I’m afraid even I won’t be able to find you.”
The two of them continued downward in the darkness without a moment’s pause.
Every once in a while, No. 8 would check to make sure Wen Jianyan was still following behind him. Only after receiving a positive response would he keep moving forward. The path in the dark was long and complex, and this trek seemed endless… Finally, after an unknown amount of time, the footsteps ahead suddenly stopped.
The next second, accompanied by a creak, a bright slit cracked open in the darkness.
A door was pushed open.
Light beamed in from the outside, shining squarely onto Wen Jianyan’s face.
He raised a hand to shield his eyes. His eyes, having long grown accustomed to the darkness, were stung by this sudden light, reflexively welling up with tears.
“…Are we there?” he asked, squinting.
“Not yet,” No. 8 replied while walking out. “The path ahead is blocked. To get to Level B7, we need to take a different route.”
Wen Jianyan followed No. 8 out of the passage.
The door behind them closed as if it had a life of its own. By the time he turned back to look, the wall behind them had restored to its original state, leaving no trace behind.
Compared to Level B1, the lighting on this level was even dimmer.
The ground folded in a bizarre, twisted state—one end sank into the floor, while the other curled high up, even merging with the ceiling. The entire cabin looked as if it had been rolled up by some terrifying force. The walls and floor displayed a damp, verdigris-like color, like mold spots spawned from soaking in seawater for too long, faintly showing shapes that resembled human faces.
Desks and chairs made of human bodies were firmly nailed to the curled floor. One part remained on the ground, while the other hung upside down overhead, defying gravity.
Everything here looked so eerie, like a scene that would only appear in the deepest, most terrifying nightmares.
“So, what level are we on right now?” Wen Jianyan swallowed hard, suppressing the chill seeping from the bottom of his heart, and turned to look at No. 8 walking ahead to ask.
No. 8 replied: “Level B5.”
…That meant there were only two levels left.
Wen Jianyan took a slow, deep breath.
Knowing that his destination was just below his feet, a layer of sweat involuntarily broke out on his palms… whether from nervousness, fear, or a mix of both.
He raised his head, only to lock eyes with a dull, dead human face right beside him. But before he could look away—
The next second, the eyeball suddenly rolled, staring fixedly at him.
“…!”
Wen Jianyan’s heart violently skipped a beat.
He could feel that the corpses on this level were different from those on the upper level; they didn’t seem to have been completely assimilated into a part of this Bone Ship yet.
“Stay away from them,” No. 8 warned. He carefully led Wen Jianyan around these ‘obstacles’, speaking as they walked, “Although they can’t move for now, they can still sense the aura of humans. If we startle them, we’ll be in trouble…”
The two of them stuck to the wall, cautiously moving forward.
No. 8 looked not far ahead and said, “Alright, go down from here, ahead is—”
His voice abruptly cut off.
Wen Jianyan froze, seeming to realize something, and followed No. 8’s gaze.
A tall man stood quietly in the depths of the light and shadow. A tiny speck of crimson fire flickered between his fingers. There was no trace of emotion on his cold, stern face, and ash-grey smoke curled upward, rising like a silk net.
Wen Jianyan’s heartbeat instantly missed a beat.
—Wait, Hugo?
From the looks of it, he seemed to have been waiting here all along.
Seeing this scene, Wen Jianyan’s heart sank.
He hadn’t expected that the other party would actually reach this level before him. How was that possible? Could it be…
Before he could reach a conclusion, he saw Hugo step forward without a word, walking toward him at an unhurried pace.
Wen Jianyan was startled and suddenly met Hugo’s eyes.
Those deep gray, gloomy, and heavy eyes.
“Run!!”
The tense voice tore through his throat. Without the slightest hesitation, Wen Jianyan reached out to yank No. 8, then violently turned and ran!!
Tap, tap.
Footsteps struck the ground, steady and even, echoing in the dead silence.
Wen Jianyan heard his heart pounding wildly in his chest—in that brief eye contact just now, he saw no emotion in Hugo’s eyes, only a bone-piercing coldness—from that moment, he knew there was no longer any possibility of communication, and he could forget about talking his way out of this…
This time, Hugo wouldn’t hold back!!!!
The light ahead grew hazy, and visibility became even lower than before. Wen Jianyan suddenly seemed to realize something. He abruptly stopped in his tracks and raised his hand.
A sharp pang of pain arrived a step late.
Wen Jianyan looked down.
A cut had appeared out of nowhere on his fingertip, and blood was continuously welling up from it.
Wen Jianyan’s hairs stood on end. He felt his heart leap into his throat and involuntarily took a half-step back.
At some unknown point, they had actually become surrounded by gray smoke. It pressed in on them like an invisible wall; every wisp of smoke here was as tough as steel and as sharp as a dagger!!
If they were to just crash straight into it, the effect would be no different from death by a thousand cuts!!
Tap, tap, tap.
Behind them, the sound of footsteps was still approaching without pause.
Neither hurried nor slow, like a hunter closing in on prey that couldn’t escape.
—Damn it, I’m going all in!!!
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and slammed it fiercely into the wall of smoke before him!!
Sssshrk!!!
Accompanied by a sharp tearing sound, the sleeve on his arm was shredded into pieces by an invisible force, and the flesh underneath was instantly mangled. It was a bloody mess with no good skin left. His face turned deathly pale almost immediately, and a broken scream of agony escaped his throat uncontrollably.
No. 8 was shocked: “You—”
Wen Jianyan forcefully swallowed back the rest of his voice. His dangling fingers trembled and curled up, catching a handful of blood.
He raised his hand and violently flung the blood toward a long table nearby.
The warm blood traced a parabola, splashing directly onto the tabletop formed by tightly packed human bodies.
A face creaked as it turned. It craned its neck, opened its mouth wide, and used a livid, purplish tongue to lick away the blood droplets splashed on its face—then came the second face, the third…
The ghastly pale hands and legs that formed the table legs wriggled together.
The human backs forming the tabletop heaved up and down with creaking sounds as the bones let out explosive pops.
In just a few short seconds, the long table of flesh and blood, which had been perfectly still and twisted together, began to struggle and dismantle!
They had been awakened by the scent of fresh flesh and blood!!
The moment they were awakened, they could seemingly no longer be treated as mere “objects” by the rules. With their movements, the smoke that had just been silently floating past from above was now forced to entangle with their limbs.
Pale flesh was sliced open, yet only a little greenish-black liquid, thick as asphalt, oozed out.
However, this bit of damage was trivial to them.
The corpses writhed, their bodies emitting bizarre creaking noises as they gradually stood up.
Not far away, Hugo’s footsteps paused.
Clearly, he hadn’t expected Wen Jianyan to make such a surprising move.
But Wen Jianyan didn’t stop. He raised his hand, flicking blood farther away again. The thick, murky scent of blood floated in the air, and even the “tables” and “chairs” further away, which hadn’t yet tasted the blood, began to stir restlessly.
As he did this, he gritted his teeth and said:
“Hurry, run!!”
Just like that, in a mere half-minute, the entire floor was no longer quiet.
A dense, ghostly aura erupted in the air. The temperature plummeted until teeth began to chatter; it was utterly terrifying and supremely dangerous.
The corpses fixed above lost their support and fell down one after another, becoming entangled in more smoke.
Their gazes tightly locked onto the humans exuding the scent of fresh flesh. They stepped forward, but their bodies were bogged down by the smoke, making their movements sluggish.
All at once, the air immediately cleared up, and the smoke blocking their path was greatly reduced.
Not far away, Hugo obviously realized Wen Jianyan’s plan—the other party knew full well that his Innate Talent relied on physical entities and wasn’t inexhaustible. So, Wen Jianyan was awakening the other ghosts on this level to make them consume each other, giving himself the opportunity to escape.
And the smoke field had already spread too wide. As the controller, not only could Hugo not move like usual, but he also couldn’t instantly retract all his talent.
Hugo’s eyes darkened. He made a prompt decision, raising a hand to stub out his cigarette.
As the flame went out, the large gray net that had densely covered the air was no longer solid. Instead, it dissipated like morning mist under the sun, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
At once, all the corpses lost their restraints. Even though their bones deformed with creaking sounds, it didn’t affect their speed in the slightest.
A dark, densely packed horde surged forward like a wave!
At the same time, new smoke rose from the firelight behind.
This time, it didn’t spread over a wide area like before. Instead, it condensed into a sharp, thin thread. Moving as nimbly as an extension of his own arm, it threaded through the densely packed corpses, slipping through the gaps between them with a swift, silent agility, and then shot straight for Wen Jianyan ahead!
No. 8’s half-face distorted with a hideous visage. He clenched his jaw, seeming to make a decision:
“This way!!!”
He slapped a hand against the wall next to them.
The next second, a bizarre hidden door appeared before them.
No. 8 grabbed Wen Jianyan with one hand, pushed the door open with the other, and rushed inside without looking back!!
The hidden door slammed shut.
The smoke crashed hard against the wall, scattering into an ashen-white puff—
It missed by a mere hair’s breadth.
Inside the dark passage.
In the narrow space, shallow and rapid panting echoed.
Wen Jianyan leaned weakly against the wall, his vision blacking out in waves. His drooping palm was slick and clammy, and the warm liquid was still dripping down continuously, the ticking sounds stringing together.
“Wait, let me… bandage it…”
His hands were trembling too much. The old injury on his wrist made him unable to control his supposedly nimble fingers, and he could only clumsily tear at the wound.
Finally, No. 8 couldn’t bear watching anymore and stepped in to help him.
While tying a knot with the cloth strip, he said:
“Don’t worry, this is a ‘staff passage,’ that guy can’t get in.”
Although he wasn’t human and didn’t need to breathe like Wen Jianyan, his voice was still a bit unsteady.
“At least that’s not what you need to worry about right now.”
Wen Jianyan heard the underlying meaning in his words.
“…What do you mean?”
“I don’t know where this path leads,” No. 8 told the truth.
Just as he’d mentioned earlier, ever since the cruise ship was nearly destroyed last time, all the internal passages had gone haywire. Only a select few were still under control, and the rest were completely unknown—unknown directions, unknown exits, unknown dangers.
If it weren’t to dodge Hugo’s attack just now, they wouldn’t have entered such a path.
But under the circumstances, they had no other choice.
Wen Jianyan: “Then… can you figure out the general direction?”
“Maybe, I’ll try,” No. 8 forced himself to say.
He helped Wen Jianyan up, and the two continued downward in the darkness.
In the cramped space, the smell of blood grew increasingly heavy. Unlike last time when someone led the way, even though No. 8 used to be part of this place, his progress this time was extremely stumbling. Every now and then, he would stop abruptly and then double back.
They moved forward extremely slowly.
Just like this, after an unknown amount of time…
No. 8 suddenly stopped. He groped around in the dark and said, “It’s a door.”
“What level is outside?” Wen Jianyan forced his eyelids open and asked.
“Not sure.” No. 8 shook his head. “But it’s best we get out here—if we go any further, it’s hard to say if we’ll be able to find another exit.”
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and nodded: “Okay.”
With a creak, a skewed opening cracked on the wall in front of them. It took No. 8 some effort to push the warped, squeezed door away from the wall.
What appeared before them was a corridor that was almost a ruin.
The stale smell of rot floated in the air, and an eerie reddish light flickered intermittently, illuminating the mess below.
With hardly any need to discern, Wen Jianyan knew that they had arrived at the accommodation deck.
The dark red carpet was soaked and dripping wet. The cabin doors on both sides were either tightly shut or left wide open, and the walls and ceiling were plastered with crusty, brownish-gray bloodstains, looking as if a massive, bloody massacre had taken place.
Aside from the absence of corpses, everything looked exactly the same as when Wen Jianyan had visited before.
On the blood-spotted wall, a large number was written:
They were on Level B9.
Unsurprisingly, they had indeed ended up on an unplanned level.
“Accommodation area, huh? That’s not too bad,” No. 8 visibly breathed a sigh of relief. “As far as I know, Lady Dan Zhu hasn’t fully taken control of this place yet.”
By the dim light, No. 8 turned his head and glanced at Wen Jianyan’s mangled arm. The sight was so gruesome that even he couldn’t help but frown: “But before we set off, do you want to treat that a bit first?”
Wen Jianyan also gave it a glance and twitched the corner of his mouth:
“…Good idea.”
The first aid in the dark just now was too crude. At this rate, he would probably die from blood loss before they even made it to Level B7.
Wen Jianyan found a cabin, walked in, and yanked off a relatively clean bedsheet. He bit one end with his teeth and ripped off a long strip.
He turned to look at No. 8:
“Give me a hand?”
No. 8: “…”
Was this guy getting addicted to bossing him around?
“Sorry,” Wen Jianyan’s face was deathly pale without a trace of color, dried blood clinging to his cheek. He gestured at the position of his wound, looking utterly pitiful, “I really can’t reach it.”
“…” No. 8’s baby-face darkened. As he took the cloth strip, he muttered, “Last time.”
Ring, ring, ring!!!
Without warning, a ringing tone erupted, shattering the dead silence of the corridor.
“?!” Both Wen Jianyan and No. 8 jolted. They reflexively turned their heads in unison, looking in shock toward the source of the sound.
Next to the bed was an overturned nightstand. An old-fashioned, bloodstained telephone lay beneath it, persistently emitting a monotonous, mechanical ring.
Ring, ring, ring!
The sound kept ringing without a moment’s pause, echoing in the empty, chaotic, and cold corridor, making it seem even more eerie and terrifying.
Every cabin on the cruise ship had a telephone, but in Wen Jianyan’s memory, they had never been used even once.
These telephones were all without exception connected to the internal line. If the ringing precisely went off in the cabin they were in, it meant their whereabouts had already been exposed.
Unless…
“…”
Wen Jianyan steadied himself, shook his head, bypassed No. 8’s block, and walked step-by-step toward the nightstand.
He reached out with a pale finger, its blood not yet dry, picked up the receiver, and placed it to his ear.
“…Hello?”
From the other end of the line came the bzz, bzz sound of static electricity.
Soon, a voice came through. Even though it was distorted by the static, it was still overwhelmingly familiar.
The voice was as light as a sigh.
“…Long time no see.”
“President.”
