"Detected this player's attributes, providing the following three career options:"
"A Gambler; B Adventurer; C Passerby A."
"Please make your selection carefully."
The countdown began on the screen, dropping from sixty to fifty-nine.
One minute to choose.
Xu Huo clicked on C and then entered a nickname; a line of text floated on the screen:
[Congratulations Passerby A on becoming a reserve player in the Dimensional Rift game]
[Player Nickname: Passerby A]
[Profession: Passerby A]
[Note: As a person who is always on the road, his chances of becoming the main character are one in ten thousand.]
[Player Level: E]
[Evolution: 7%]
[Wealth: 200 White Notes]
[Note: The chairman of Hengxing Company is undoubtedly the most popular man.]
[Note 2: The initial amount of wealth is exchanged according to a certain ratio based on the player's already accumulated assets.]
[Main Feature: Tireless Legs]
[Note 1: How could Passerby A, who has been on the run all his life, not have a good pair of legs?]
[Items: (None)]
Personal information quickly switched:
[Player Passerby A will head to the preliminary review train number 301, which departs at eight in the morning train time and arrives at the terminal, Five-Dimensional Station, three days later at eight in the morning.]
[Based on the asset status of Player Passerby A, your seat is in the Second Class. We wish you a pleasant journey.]
When the countdown on the screen hit zero, the surroundings lit up again; Xu Huo, who had just been in the hotel, was now sitting in a train booth, with the flame on his lighter yet to be extinguished.
The moving train continued to emit faint mechanical sounds; bright sunlight shone inside and outside the carriage. With just a lift of his eyes, he could see the outside scenery through the three transparent carriage walls.
Under the azure sky, the train that traveled in a straight line divided the space into two halves; to the left was a forest, and to the right, a white snowy plain. One side was a bloom of flowers and green grass while the other had floating ice and snow, looking utterly lifelike.
The panoramic carriage was extremely futuristic, and the disparate yet strangely coexistent sceneries made the twelve passengers inside the carriage wear varying degrees of surprise, but soon this surprise turned into wariness of the others.
As Evolvers, the intoxicating fragrance filling the carriage was simply dizzying!
"Gulp!" No one knew who swallowed loudly.
Xu Huo felt for the folding knife in his pocket at the first chance.
"Ding-dong!"
Just at that moment, the electronic announcement sounded:
"Welcome all Evolvers aboard the preliminary review train number 301. This train departs from a three-dimensional point, passes through the Dimensional Rift, and will arrive at the terminal, the Five-Dimensional Station, at eight in the morning train time three days later. There might be bumps during the journey, please stay calm."
"As reserve players for the Dimensional Rift, the train will classify and rate the Evolvers based on their performance during the journey, so please mind your behavior and speech."
"Now we will play the rules of the train."
"One, consumption is mandatory."
"Two, please do not enter other carriages at will."
"Three, lights out at eight in the evening."
"Four, the attendants have the right to expel reserve players."
"Please abide by the above rules, all prepared players. I wish you all a pleasant journey,"
After the electronic announcement stopped, the carriage fell quiet, and it was a while before someone spoke. "Where is this? Can't we get off?"
The speaker was a young girl with a ponytail, clutching the sleeve of a young man in a dress shirt next to her tightly.
"Get off?" A man who looked like an executive tapped on the transparent glass. "I was just working from home, and suddenly I was brought onto this train. Looking at everyone, it seems we all came from different places, so we must no longer be in the city we know. Getting off the train might not mean we can return,"
"Besides, did everyone see that game screen?"
"The announcement said this is a game, and we are all players, so there shouldn't be any danger, right?" A man in pajamas nervously said while holding an electric toothbrush, "Games are virtual; it's very likely we're still in our original locations, just that our consciousness has entered the game."
"Do you think current technology can do that?" A fashionable woman with a camisole raised her mobile phone, "I'm more inclined to believe the online talk of spiritual energy reviving."
"What spiritual energy reviving, miss, can you show me?" A middle-aged woman with apron sleeves reached out.
The camisole lady saw the blood spots on her body and subconsciously stepped back a bit.
The middle-aged woman quickly took off her sleeves, "I was just killing a chicken, didn't have my phone on me."
The camisole lady pursed her lips, "No signal on my phone."
"Mine neither," the executive-looking man said.
"Are we unable to go back? Professor Han?" The ponytailed young lady grabbed the young man next to her.
Professor Han's expression was grave, "The announcement just now said the train is going from a three-dimensional point to the Five-Dimensional Station."
"In fact, besides the Evolvers, many other anomalies have appeared on Earth, some of which can no longer be explained with our current scientific knowledge. It could be an invasion of Earth by some other, more advanced civilization,"
The rest of the people in the carriage were clearly not very familiar with this, and no one continued the conversation. The camisole lady, who read novels frequently, countered, "Invade Earth in this way? Creating an enigmatic game?"
Professor Han had no answer; the situation with the Evolvers was already puzzling enough, let alone getting to the bottom of it.
While they were talking, Xu Huo had already checked his personal belongings.
Everything he carried on his body was there, his cell phone, cigarette case, and foldable knife, plus two thin sheets of paper. Their texture was similar to regular banknotes, each printed with a black silhouette of a human head on both sides, and in the lower corner, the words "Hengxing Company Virtual Currency."
Hengxing Company, it must be the company that developed the game Dimensional Rift.
He tucked away his slightly warm lighter and glanced at the time; the digital clock in the carriage showed it was 8:00 a.m. precisely, and the time on his phone was exactly 10:00 p.m.
The carriage had transparent walls on three sides, but the doors at the front and back were made of metal with a glass window in each, through which one could see into the next carriages. There were people in the carriages both front and back.
To the right of the front door hung a "Second Class Seat" sign, and next to it, a light switch.
Inside the carriage, six square tables were arranged in two rows, each table accompanied by seats for two people facing each other, with two seats of the same row connected together yet separated from the table.
The camisole lady sat alone in the first row on the left, with the executive-looking and pajamas man on the right side of the first row.
Professor Han with the last name Han and the ponytailed female student were to the left of the second row, Xu Huo was seated in the second row on the right, next to a young girl in Patchwork Clothes, opposite a large-framed woman with heavy makeup.
Sitting behind him was an elderly man of advanced age, and at the table next to him was the middle-aged woman who had spoken earlier; across from her sat a man and a woman.
A total of twelve people.
"Anyway, now that we're on this train, it's best to follow the rules here," the executive-looking man said, "If this train could bring us here, it can also make us disappear without a trace."
"Do we really have to play the game of Dimensional Rift as instructed?" the ponytailed young girl said with a teary voice, "I don't like to play games."
"It's okay, I believe that as long as we do as the broadcast said, we'll be fine," Professor Han comforted her.
"So what do we have to do?" the middle-aged woman said uneasily, "I've never played a game either."
Everyone looked at each other, as the announcement only told them to sit on the train for three days and follow the rules without any other hints.
"Maybe it's just about surviving these three days," the camisole lady shrugged.
That comment made everyone go silent again, and they each returned to their original spots.
"Everyone, don't be so tense. I think our current situation isn't hard to guess, the initial trial train is definitely a test for us, the Evolvers. Perhaps there will be prompts in the upcoming three days. If we work together and cooperate, we'll get past this first hurdle,"