Infinite Train
Chapter 682: Here, you will find no life.
“……”
Inside the cabin, No.8 didn’t know what had happened. He only felt that this period of silence seemed to have dragged on for far too long. Growing slightly anxious, he cast a sidelong glance toward Wen Jianyan, who stood not far away.
The young man was turned slightly away from him, his head slightly bowed.
From No.8’s angle, he could only see the hand gripping the telephone receiver; the bloodstained knuckles were drawn slightly pale.
What happened?
Who was the person on the other end of the phone?
No.8 was puzzled and wanted very much to ask, but before he had the chance to speak, Wen Jianyan suddenly opened his mouth.
He seemed to let out a soft laugh, and then said to the person on the other end:
“Yeah, long time no see.”
“……Su Cheng.”
The other end of the line fell silent as well.
It was as if the whole world had descended into dead silence along with it, leaving only the bzz-bzz of static buzzing through the receiver.
Finally, the other person sighed wordlessly. His voice was filled with complex, indescribable emotion.
“……You still came back.”
After paying such a heavy price and enduring so much pain to finally get off the ship, he had come back once again.
Crossing the pitch-black ocean to return to this ship that carried countless deaths and fresh blood.
“But of course,” Wen Jianyan raised an eyebrow, his tone as casual as usual. “You didn’t think I’d just let you sacrifice yourself like a hero and take the chance to sweep everything you’ve done under the rug, did you? ——That’d be letting you off way too easy.”
There was a subtle pause on the other end. Soon, Su Cheng spoke again, and this time, his voice seemed to carry a hint of a smile:
“True. It seems I still underestimated things.”
In just two or three sentences of banter, it was as if they had instantly reclaimed their old familiarity. Those conflicts, confrontations, and their fallout…… in this moment, seemed like dust blowing away in the wind, completely vanishing without a trace.
“Did you find me through divination?” Wen Jianyan cut straight to the chase.
To locate him so precisely, and to time it so perfectly, there could be no other method but divination.
“Yes.”
“And besides that, what else did you see?” Wen Jianyan pressed.
The other end of the phone went quiet.
Finally, the other person spoke.
“You found a way to end everything.”
“……That’s right.” Wen Jianyan smiled. “As expected of a prophet.”
Destruction is born from the beginning.
The origin is the destination.
——In order to end this nightmare, he had to return here.
Su Cheng: “So, where do you plan to go next?”
Wen Jianyan: “Negative Seventh Floor.”
The other end fell silent once more. Wen Jianyan knew what the person on the other side was doing, so he didn’t interrupt, merely waiting patiently.
Half a minute passed before Su Cheng’s voice came through again:
“Your opponent’s power far exceeds your imagination.”
“Here, you have no chance of survival.”
Hearing this, Wen Jianyan’s heart inevitably sank a little.
“The safest path lies further away, deeper down. Head toward the elevators. Only there lies any hope of breaking the stalemate.”
“Alright.” Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and nodded. “Thanks.”
“If you manage to escape successfully, we’ll meet up on Negative Seventh Floor,” Su Cheng said. “Don’t worry, my situation is much better than yours—as one of the proxy captains, as long as I’m on the ship, no one can do anything to me. But for you, a nine-deaths-and-one-life survival chance might be putting it conservatively. I saw too many shadows on the path ahead of you; you must be careful.”
Wen Jianyan: “Oh right, one more thing.”
He paused, then continued to ask:
“During your time on the ship, did you see a, um……” Wen Jianyan stumbled over his words subtly, “……person?”
Before he even had the time to figure out exactly how to describe Wu Zhu’s existence, Su Cheng on the other end suddenly spoke, picking up right where he left off:
“Black hair, golden eyes?”
That familiar description sent a jolt through Wen Jianyan, and he drew in a sharp breath. “You saw him?!”
“I did indeed see him.” Su Cheng replied.
Even now, that scene remained vividly clear in his mind.
The cruise ship was collapsing, the pitch-black, freezing seawater rushing into the cabins, smashing through the keel. The entire world shook and trembled with it—as one of the proxy captains, Su Cheng’s fate was tightly bound to the ship, and he could clearly feel his own life draining away alongside it.
But suddenly, everything stopped.
He looked up in shock, only to see an existence entirely unfamiliar to him standing in the ruins not far away.
Black hair, golden eyes.
Even though the entity possessed an appearance that fit human aesthetics, it was enough to make him immediately, acutely aware:
This guy is not human.
The entity scrutinized him carefully, its gaze carrying a cold, emotionless curiosity that brought with it a needle-like sense of danger.
A few seconds later, he spoke:
“I will make sure the other one doesn’t wake up for the time being. Hurry up.”
After saying that, the guy turned and walked away.
But before taking two steps, he suddenly paused, turned his head back, and added an instruction, seemingly a bit worried:
“Don’t die.”
Hearing this, Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
“Yes, that’s him.”
That was indeed something he would say.
“However, my encounter with him was limited to that one time when the ship was sinking,” Su Cheng continued. “After that, he never appeared again.”
Wen Jianyan: “……Is that so? Alright, I understand.”
Before the two could say anything else, No.8, who was standing not far away, spoke up, his voice somewhat anxious:
“Are you not done yet? We can’t stay here too long, otherwise—”
Over the receiver, Su Cheng also heard No.8’s urging:
“He’s right, you need to go.”
“Yeah, see you later.”
Saying this, Wen Jianyan pulled the receiver away from his ear. However, halfway through setting it down, he seemed to suddenly remember something and brought the phone back to his ear: “Wait!”
Su Cheng: “……Hm?”
“Before getting on the ship, I went to Yuying Comprehensive University and saw Yun Bilan.” To save time, Wen Jianyan spoke very quickly.
“……” The other end of the line was silent for a moment, and the static buzzing seemed to instantly grow louder.
Soon, Su Cheng spoke, his voice somewhat dry:
“Really? What did she say?”
“She said you’re a little bastard,” Wen Jianyan laughed. Yun Bilan’s expression when saying those words leaped vividly into his mind once again, and he even imitated her tone perfectly. “She also said you can’t beat her in a fight, and you’re nowhere near as good with words as me…… If you act on your own and think you’re taking all the credit, she’s going to jump out and beat you up.”
On the other end of the receiver.
In the darkness, the Tarot Reader suddenly clamped his jaw shut tight. His fingers gripping the phone spasmed as they clenched down, as if that was the only way he could barely suppress the intense emotions suddenly exploding outward.
“……Is that so?”
He heard his own voice trembling uncontrollably, the feigned calmness seemingly on the verge of falling apart in the next second.
“Doesn’t sound like her—are you sure it isn’t you she wants to hit more?”
“Of course, I’m not lying,” the young man’s smiling voice came through the receiver. “If you don’t believe me, ask her yourself after you get off the ship.”
The call ended, and the busy tone beep-beep-beep came through the receiver.
“……”
Inside the cabin, Su Cheng stood with his head bowed.
He dropped his hand and slowly placed the receiver back in its cradle, his eyes downcast.
In the pitch-black room, the young man stood entirely alone. His feet remained motionless as if nailed to the spot; he stood there for a long time, as if he had turned into a statue.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, his back slowly hunched over, as if crushed under the overwhelming weight of an invisible force, and then—he folded down as if collapsing.
He leaned over the table, a faint sound forcing its way out of his throat.
Like a whimper, or a sob.
Wen Jianyan hung up the phone and turned around.
No.8: “Done?”
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath: “Yeah.”
“Then let’s hurry up and go,” No.8 glanced around tensely and urged. “Even though Lady Dan Zhu’s control over the residential levels isn’t strong, staying here too long is still highly dangerous.”
Wen Jianyan: “Alright, alright.”
After simply wrapping up the final touches on dressing their wounds, the two of them quickly left the cabin one after the other.
“While you were on the phone just now, I wasn’t idle either. I found a passageway that’s highly likely to still be traversable. If we’re lucky, we should be able to enter Negative Seventh Floor directly from there……” No.8 explained as they walked.
Wen Jianyan: “Is it in the direction of the elevators?”
No.8 paused his steps and turned his head, slightly puzzled: “No…… it’s in the opposite direction.”
“Although there’s a path over there too, the danger is too high,” he added. “Did you forget? The closer to the elevators, the more dangerous it is.”
Although Dan Zhu hadn’t fully controlled all the residential levels, the elevators that connected all the floors were under her control. Once their movements were detected nearby, they would have no way to fly to heaven and no door to escape into the earth.
Wen Jianyan stopped, shook his head, and said calmly: “We are going toward the elevators.”
No.8: “But……”
“It was the Tarot Reader,” Wen Jianyan cut him off. “This was the prophecy he gave.”
Hearing this, No.8 was fiercely shocked.
“Are you saying, the person you were just on the phone with, was—”
“Yes,” Wen Jianyan nodded. “It was him.”
The person on the phone just now was exactly the elusive, ghostly Tarot Reader No.8 had spoken of.
The second proxy captain who still couldn’t be caught, despite Dan Zhu’s exhaustive, blanket-style encirclement.
No.8 stopped talking.
He stared at Wen Jianyan critically for a moment, seemingly pondering something. Finally, he nodded: “……Since you put it that way, alright then.”
And so, the two changed direction and headed toward the elevators.
The further forward they walked, the more obvious the sense of ruin became. It was clear that the deeper the floors went, the closer the ship’s condition was to the state it had been in when Wen Jianyan had previously left. Deep fissures ran through the floor and walls, and cold seawater had soaked the floorboards and peeling wallpaper so much they curled up, dripping down from the ceiling. Dark brown stains of dried blood were everywhere, yet not a single corpse could be seen. This bizarre feeling made the surrounding environment seem even more eerie.
Soon, the tightly closed elevator doors appeared not far ahead.
The iron doors were shut tight, covered in rust spots that looked like bloodstains under the dim light. A fissure stretched between them and the elevator, splitting the corridor in two.
No.8 stopped far away, looking in that direction nervously for a few seconds before retracting his gaze:
“This way.”
He turned around, his fingers feeling along the wall.
But suddenly, the heavy sound of footsteps approached from behind, moving from far to near.
The sound came abruptly, echoing in the empty, deathly silent corridor, making one’s hair stand on end instantly.
Wen Jianyan was startled, a sense of danger striking him like needles. He jolted and whipped his head around to look back.
What was going on?!
Had Hugo chased them here from Negative Fifth Floor already?
But the elevator clearly hadn’t moved; how was this possible—
Deep in the corridor, a silhouette unhurriedly walked forward.
But strangely……
That outline wasn’t familiar to Wen Jianyan.
He wasn’t as tall as Hugo, and his shoulders were broader, but the oppressive feeling was identical.
At that moment, No.8’s pupils contracted sharply—even earlier when they were blocked by Hugo on Negative Fifth Floor, he had never looked this terrified—he screamed hoarsely: “She found us, hurry up and go!!!”
Saying that, he stumbled toward the wall, frantically searching for the door.
Wen Jianyan’s gaze was uncontrollably drawn to the silhouette.
The light and shadows shifted.
The newcomer’s figure was finally illuminated by the faint light.
It was a face that was completely unfamiliar, yet inexplicably somewhat familiar.
His skin was covered in cracks like shattered porcelain, splitting wide open from his neck down to his chest. But inside, there was no flesh and blood; just empty, void-like darkness.
He didn’t look like a human at all, but rather like an empty shell.
Wen Jianyan only felt a shudder run down his spine, as dust-covered memories in his mind were awakened. He seemed to realize something and opened his mouth:
“……You?”
He searched frantically through his brain, finally finding the name of this guy he had only met once in some corner of his mind.
“Lin…… Muye?”
A member of the Dark Fire Guild.
At the very beginning of the Lucky Cruise instance, Qi Qian had introduced this person to him at the captain’s banquet ①. Later, when the Dark Fire squad was in danger, he, Qi Qian, and An Xin were the only survivors ②. However, after the auction was flooded by seawater, this person disappeared into the sealed Negative Seventh Floor—and after that, Wen Jianyan had never seen this person again, nor had Qi Qian ever mentioned him again.
Why was he appearing here, and just what was he—
“Lin Muye……?”
The man paused his steps, his handsome, indifferent face showing a slight trace of blankness, but that sliver of emotion quickly vanished.
“Oh, right, Qi Qian introduced me to you.”
Even though he was a member of Dark Fire, the tone he used to mention Qi Qian was very unique.
It didn’t sound like the way a subordinate would address a vice president. Instead, it seemed dismissive and casual, as if describing an irrelevant person he didn’t care about at all.
An eerie sense of terror climbed up his spine, and a certain ominous premonition grew stronger and stronger.
“However, I’m more used to you addressing me by another name.”
The man looked down at him condescendingly.
“Ye Lin.”
Ranked second on the Nightmare Points Leaderboard.
President of the Dark Fire Guild.
Lin Ye — Ye Lin.
A clever play on words.
At that moment, Wen Jianyan felt all the blood in his body run cold.
He stared at the other person’s hollow shell, recalling information he had learned from the live chat bullet comments during his early days entering Nightmare.
Some high-level anchors were able to “swap shells” to enter instances—unlike the disguises he had used before, this was a more thorough, higher-level clone that could not be seen through, and even their livestream rooms would be reassigned. ③
And the price for this service was so exorbitant that no ordinary anchor could ever afford it.
In a flash, all the questions had answers.
Why Qi Qian had obeyed Dan Zhu completely and followed her lead on the Lucky Cruise; why his tone had subtly changed when he introduced his “members” to Wen Jianyan; why Qi Qian never spoke a word about the teammate left behind in the sealed floor after escaping Negative Seventh Floor; why, after the cruise ended, Dark Fire had cooperated with them so directly and targeted Oracle’s Gentleman. ④
On one hand, it was because the president of the Dark Fire Guild was absent, so Qi Qian became the guild’s direct decision-maker.
On the other hand, because the president couldn’t return for a while, Dark Fire outside the instance urgently needed to weaken Oracle’s power immediately.
And—why, even when Dan Zhu couldn’t move freely, she was still able to act as if commanding her own arms, easily controlling the entire cruise ship.
[Your opponent’s power far exceeds your imagination.]
“What are you still waiting for??!”
Behind him, No.8 was screaming, his voice laced with unconcealable terror.
“The door’s open, run quickly!!!”
Wen Jianyan awoke as if from a dream and spun around abruptly.
But strangely, Ye Lin merely watched them indifferently, taking no action whatsoever.
A pitch-black passageway was slowly opening—but halfway through opening, No.8 suddenly stopped moving. He just stood there, his feet rooted to the ground, his body stiff and completely motionless.
“Hey…… hey!!” Wen Jianyan stepped forward, trying to reach out and grab the other’s arm, “You—”
The next second, his hand suddenly froze in mid-air.
The half-opened door seemed to be violently restricted by some force.
Beneath the peeling wall, something eerie was writhing. In an instant, it violently sprouted from below—dense, fine vines tangling tightly as if alive. In just the blink of an eye, they solidly completely blocked the path in front of them!
“……”
Accompanied by two bizarre clack-clack sounds.
No.8’s body remained motionless, but his head slowly twisted around.
The intact half of his face was panicked and terrified, while the other, hideously undulating half…… wore a huge, eerie smile.
“Oh…… darling,” No.8 slowly opened his mouth. His tone of voice was exactly the same as before, but the cadence was completely different, carrying a feminine lightness and seductiveness. This terrifying contrast made one’s blood run cold.
“Don’t be so tense.”
“……Dan Zhu.” Wen Jianyan stood frozen in place, saying word by word.
“Guessed right.” The other half of No.8’s face giggled. “Surprised, darling?”
“No wonder you could have Hugo lay a trap in advance on Negative Fifth Floor, and have Ye Lin find me on this floor,” Wen Jianyan calmed down and said slowly, “—You knew where I was right from the start.”
“So smart.”
The other person giggled, raising a hand, her fingertips caressing the intact half of No.8’s face.
No.8’s eyes darted around in terror, his gaze locked tightly onto the uncontrollably moving fingertips caressing his own face.
“It’s all thanks to him……”
“A cute, naive little traitor.”
The other half of his face beamed with smiles.
“To actually think I would allow such a thing to happen right under my nose.”
The sharp fingernails bit into the skin little by little, and thick, dark red blood flowed sluggishly down.
An expression of extreme agony surfaced on No.8’s face. He seemed to want to scream, but his vocal cords were firmly controlled by Dan Zhu, unable to make the slightest sound.
“But, it’s also thanks to him being so naive; otherwise, how would you have let your guard down so quickly?”
Wen Jianyan stood alone and isolated on the spot.
Behind him was the hidden door sealed by Dan Zhu; his only guide had been planted with a seed by Dan Zhu right from the start, controlled early on; Hugo hadn’t appeared yet but surely wasn’t far away; and guarding not far off was the strongest person among all Nightmare anchors—second only to the Executors—the founder of the Dark Fire Guild.
——[Here, you have no chance of survival.]
“A little birdie told me…… you spoke with the Tarot Reader.”
No.8’s twisted half-face spoke with a charming smile. That was Dan Zhu speaking through his body.
“That guy is truly a nuisance……”
“It’s all because he occupied the captain’s quarters while I wasn’t awake, causing me to be trapped in the room unable to leave—and he even used captain privileges equal to mine to hide away. He’s just like a rat in the gutter, truly annoying.”
She smiled as she looked at Wen Jianyan:
“But now that you’re here, everything is different.”
“After vanishing for so long, this is the first time I’ve seen him stick his head out.”
A telephone was pushed in front of Wen Jianyan.
“Call him, would you?”
__
Author’s Note:
① Chapter 550
② Chapter 598
③ Chapter 3
④ Chapter 652
