They didn't know how they managed to make their way back to the cabin.
All the clues piling up in an instant, the quiet train, the suicide note, the recipe. This train didn't run off coal, it ran off the foul, putrid blood and flesh of humans. There's no need to think about where the recipe came in. The human heart was the most terrifying and disgusting thing. Once suspicion and paranoia bred, it wasnt far before all the darkness and filth was released.
They could imagine at the moment the passengers realized their imminent death, their panicked clamors growing louder and louder; cynicism and suspicion spreading amongst the passengers, like a plague, insidiously haunting the depths of their mind and stealthily embedding a poisonous sense of dread deep inside their souls. The moment all hell was let loose.
They spent the third day resting, because the harshest trial of the instance would be coming up.
The fuel chamber.
The Time came quickly.
Nobody cowered at this critical moment. Only by venturing deep into the heart of the train would they be able to gives themselves a fighting chance.
By this time, the train had already itself to almost brand new and they could occasionally hear the footsteps of awakened ghost passengers roaming unseen be in the cars.
"Putting together all we've found in the past 3 days, we can conclude that the train runs on human flesh. Dan Bai's untimely death could be seen from that. There's three more days until the instance closes off. Its either were killed one by one in this train or we find a way to break it ourselves. This is our only chance and I dont believe anyone of us wants to give up our lives."
Chun Li still left one thing unsaid. The imposter that had been forewarned by the system from the very beginning had never made an appearance. They couldn't be sure when this hidden danger would break out but they could do nothing but wait for an opportunity.
With another short grunt, they set off.
The darkness stilled around the dim lights of the trains, outside the windows was the sight of an unusually bloody moon. Their shadows contrasting against the saffron of its light. No one spoke as they made a beeline for the fuel chamber.
The corridor was silent, not even their footsteps echoed in the tiny space but the thick metallic smell of blood wafted suffocating into their nose.
They turned the last corner and came upon the fuel chamber.
Chun Li at the front stopped abruptly, face visibly contorting into silent horror.
Chu Yi took a peek, only to see thick, crimson blood spilling from the crack between the closed door and ground, trickling along the floors of the corridor and forming into puddles.
The amount of blooded needed to overflow from even the hinges of the door was phenomenal and the air smelled of resentment and hatred.
No one volunteered to be the first to open the door, they all had a feeling that whatever was behind it wouldn't be something they'll be able to get over in this lifetime.
Chun Looked around at the group, from the 7 they had started off with, they were only left with 4 Zhan only barely clinging to life with Bai Chuan's support. The dismal group cut a sorry figure in the dark night, with clenched teeth, Chun Li made up his mind.
Taking heaving strides towards the door, he yanked it open resolutely.
At the sight of what came into view, even Chu Yi who stood quietly to the back the entire time, felt disgust.
Piles upon piles of dead bodies stacked onto each other towering mountain of ground flesh. Many of them had been skinner while still alive only the decaying flesh and muscle left of their skinless corpse. Blood flowed like a river onto the floor, leaving bloody stains on the walls of the train, a fishy pungent smell the only thing to remind them that these things were once alive.
There was a large fire that burned to the side, the orange flames reflecting onto the bodies a sinister glow.
It seemed yet that the system wasn't cruel enough to force them to wade into the pile of flesh and blood in order to find clues because plastered against the door was a strip of paper.
[1 Corpse = 1 day of travel]
[1 Skin = 1 day of warmth]
[1 Liter of blood= 1 day of food.]
It was written in the manner of a equation. The different parts of the human body providing different necessities for the train. How it work wasn't much of a concern to them because at this moment , the skinless corpses had begun to move the minute Chun li had flung open the door.
At first it was an occasional shuffle before quickly it snowballed into corpses cracking and twitching as they struggled to move!
Bai Chuan was the first to react, feet moving before his brain could even catch up as he made a mad dash towards his room, Zhan Xi held firmly on his back.
With a jerk, the others also quickly started to run. No one wanted to stay behind and face the stampede of skinless creatures that was bound to come.
At this, Ren Yuanqing didn't dare stay here any longer. He quickly turned on her heels and made a run for it. Wanting to reach his room, he dashed haphazardly, throughout the train, feet clomping heavily on the wooden boards. All that could be heard in the dim corridor were his loud footsteps and his labored pants.
The timid expression had long been discarded at this life and death moment. Face twisting into a horrifying glare, ,
"Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp."-The clear sound of his own wild footsteps reverberating throughout the empty train thundered in his ears. Throughout the hallways, Ren Yuanqing ran and ran and ran ... for a very long time ...
And yet, the hallway in front of his eyes seemed to show no signs of end. It was as though he was merely running in circles, trapped in this nightmarish, eternal cycle.
"Haha---"
Eerie chuckles came from behind him, the loud sound of something crashing in this trapped space.
"Hah–hah–hah," Ren Yuanqing violently gasped for air, taking in deep ragged breaths. His body was sweating intensely, as his energy had left him. Legs finally caving in underneath him, and he could no longer run.
But in spite of him collapsing, the sounds of crawling still echoed all around him, replaying like a broken record.
He could still see the wide open door, of the fuel chamber. The light of the fire shifting sinisterly, beckoning and calling him to sacrifice himself to the depths of the train. No sooner, Ren Yuanqing caught the faint stench of coal permeating in the air. His whole body was immediately wracked with tremors of horror. Paralyzed to the spot, he shakily turned his head around, only to see a dark shadow, quietly standing at the foot of the corridor.
With frantic fumbling, Ren Yuanqing desperately grabbed for something in his pocket, lungs threatening to collapse as the skinless creature advanced steadily onto him. A trail of putrid blood streaming behind it.
Hah–hah!–
The creature raised its arms, the light of the fire, glinting onto its sharp black nails, with a swing it cut down,
"Ah–––."
There was a wail.
At the very last moment, Ren Yuanqing had sprung a tiny blood red doll out of his pocket.
The thing glowed brilliantly for a moment, and skinless creature let out a bloody screech, crawling away frantically from Ren Yuanqing.
It wasn't long before it crawled out of sight.
Chests still heaving from the life and death moment. Ren Yuanqing took a moment to rest, a triumphant grin once again gracing his lips.
He was the child of fortune, he managed to survive plenty of moments like this with the help of his prop. With it none of these imbeciles stood a chance against him.
Grinning he crawled up from the floor, ready to make his way back to the others.
He turned around placing the little doll carefully into his pockets, his triumphant grin freezing as he caught sight of two blood red orbs staring back .
Chu Yi had stood there watching the entire farce play out.
"Well‐well-well, if it isn't a little imposter. How wonderful. Tell me Mr. Ren Yuanqing, how are you going to explain this now."
Fuck.