As soon as the second seconds struck, Sho's knees collapsed and his butt fell down to the wet floor drenching his slacks.
*Just two seconds but that felt like eternity!*
It honestly felt that each second was a hundred years. It might have been because of too much information going through in his head. That seems to be reasonable as the brain works faster compared to one second.
*Ah! I don't have time to complain.*
"Everyone! Say "glitch" if you want to survive!" he shouted as he tried to steadily get up.
He flinched seeing the expression of almost everyone, looking at him like he had lost his mind.
He couldn't really blame them. If someone would say the same thing as he did, he would surely think that person is crazy. Who in their right mind would randomly spat words in this bizarre scenario? If the same thing happened, he might even mock the person for someone who wants attention.
"You think this is time to joke around? Screw off!" an agitated man spew at him.
"Yeah! Let's just wait for the rescue! We don't even know what would happen to us if we go out! This just feels like a terrorist attack. If we wait surely..."
"H-how can we just wait?! Let's get out of here!"
And so, the argument started. Honestly, he was amazed that some people even listened to him. Or maybe, they just have the same line of thought with him. They needed to get out of here.
"This is no time to argue! Please, just say "glitch" and you would know what I mean!" Sho tried again. He knew it would be pointless, but even if one or two people listened to him, then that would be helpful as it would backup his claim. He didn't even think about the consequences of people revolting against him. What he had in mind was to have someone else see what he saw.
"Screw off!"
"Shut up, bastard!"
But it seems no one listened to him.
*At least I tried. Sho, you won't blame me, right? I did try. I know you would do the same because you would think about Asahi. And Asahi would forgive us for not succeeding. Right, Asahi? No one should blame me for anything.*
He firm his stand and walk at the side of the train, a subtle wave of water was created in each step. He was looking for a way to open the door amidst the bickering and argument of the crowd. Although he was inspecting the train, he didn't dare touch it. He got an eerie feeling about it. He didn't want to be one of the "common characters" that dies at the start of the anime Sho usually watches. Like Sho, he doesn't want to be the main character, either. He just wanted to get the hell out of here and figure out what is really going on. He believed that the answer to his question was outside. That he might find reasons for all the bizarre things happening around him once he gets out of this scenario.
"Stop! Look around us! The water is already at our knees! We really need to get out here! Unless you want to drown!" A baritone voice echoed throughout the train, towering over all the messy situations.
Sho glanced over the area that suddenly quieted down. A man in a gray suit with respectable bearing was standing in the middle of the crowd. His black hair is neatly and handsomely combed back. And damn, even if he is a guy, he just can't describe the dude without pointing out how handsome he is. It felt like no one should stand to mess with this dude. As a guy himself, he felt how unfair the world was.
He thought that finally, someone with senses came forward. But it seems not everyone is in their right mind at the moment. The agitated guy who questioned him earlier suddenly pulled an army knife. Countless gasps surfaced in the surrounding area. "Who cares?! Let's all die together! I was just thinking about how I should die. But look at this! God is giving me a chance to not die alone! Let's all die together!" He then crazily laughed.
Everyone backed off away from the man who was mindlessly swinging the knife. The aisle that became crowded earlier immediately emptied out.
"You know that what you are doing is punishable by law, right? I would like to read you the article, but I know we don't have time for it. I'll read to you later to educate you." said the guy who made him feel that he was born on the wrong side of the world.
"Ha! Law! Who cares! We're all going to die here! Hey! Step away there, asshole!"
"Waaah!"
"Kyaaah!"
The man madly dash to Sho's location, leaving panicking passengers wounded in his wake. Sho gritted his teeth and backed away from the door. He didn't even touch the door but the man seemed to notice that he wanted to open it up.
*How is it fair to have a crazy person when it seems life and death is just around the corner? I know our suicidal rate is high… but why are you trying to increase it more, old man?* He bitterly mocked as he tried to think of a solution to survive here.
"Please, mister, it's not time for you to die yet." a lady tried to convince the old man. Sho immediately recognized the heroic lady who was sitting beside him earlier. With the help of phone lights, her beauty was enhanced. Even when she was wearing jeans and a shirt, that didn't dwindle her mature beauty.
*Miss… not really a good time to be heroic here…* Sho cursed inwardly as he saw the old man getting crazier after hearing her.
"What do you know?! You don't know anything about me! You! You look like a pampered princess to know anything about how hard life is! Ha! This is for the better! I'm just releasing everyone here from this painful life! Don't you agree that living is so painful?! Maybe, you're just like me, waiting to die but couldn't take the last step! This is our chance! God is giving us the sign!!!"
It seems crazy people are hard to understand. This old man changed his words when a minute struck. Great, just my luck. What a lie. My character information is showing me that my luck is 37. The highest stat that I have! But this situation clearly is bad luck.
""Sho, you shouldn't give up on one failure. One failure doesn't mean anything. As long as you succeed, no matter how many failures you endure, it won't matter.""
*Damn Asahi. He cursed inwardly as he heard Asahi's voice in the very crucial moment. Damn it! Why did Sho's memory got to be enhanced at this moment?!*
"Please, just listen to me!" He looked at the other people who were panicked stricken. "Just say "glitch" and you'll understand what I mean! There's no time to argue. If you manifest your glitch now, then we can fight this old man!"
He wasn't sure. But as glitch were skills, he felt like others would have different skills than him. They should be right? It's not like he's special. He was just really lucky to accidentally activate his character window. And from the looks of his character window, he doesn't have any attack skills. That virus glitch seems too dangerous, it might make the situation worse. Maybe if he used that skill, everyone here would die!
Sho felt that he would only use that at the last minute if things really don't play out well.
Like his last card.
"Bastard!" the old man with a knife suddenly charged at him.
Caught off guard, he felt the pain in his shoulder.
*Shit! Maybe I'm really lucky. Or Sho is lucky. Whatever.*
He commented as he turned in time to somehow manage the strike that was aimed at his nape to his shoulder. He didn't really know what happened. He just moved and was able to avoid the vital hit aiming at him.
*But damn. Even though I won't die from this, this still freaking hurts! Ah… now I'm sure this is not a dream.*
His sarcasm to himself made his lips twitch upward, making him look like smiling a little. He didn't know it, but he looked like an evil man smiling as his prey. Maybe it was the effect of different flashlights from phones, but he looked different from eighteen year old Sho who was the epitome of laziness. This made the old man more agitated.
"What are you smiling at?! You're dead!" He angrily swang the knife.
*Great. He thought I was taunting him.*
He instinctively raised his hands to shield his face, like how he saw it in anime and movies. But he grimaced as he felt his skin getting wounded one after another as the old man kept swinging the knife on him.
*This is so hard! Why are they showing it as if it's easy on those shows?!*
He didn't know if he was imagining it. He felt that his body was too slow to keep up with what he had planned. But then, maybe it was because of Sho's memory. Having no memories was really taking a toll at him. However, there was a part of him that was happy to have no memories. To have no burdens…
He cursed inwardly as his back hit the chair, he couldn't even care about the scream of people who backed away from the two of them. He somehow felt that the people didn't want to come in between *two crazy* people fighting.
*Understandable. They think I'm spewing nonsense saying that they should shout something. And this old man wants them to be dead. Damn. this old man… is he from the military? Why do I feel some sort of danger with each of his swings? The only good thing in this situation is that the water is making this old man slow his swings.*
But as soon as he thought of that he cursed. The water already reached his chest level. He was at a great disadvantage. He was only eighteen years old, as a young man, he was still growing. Sho's height was only 165 cm. Compared to the old man who was at least 175 cm tall, it might even reach 180 cm. Sho's slow body became slower because of the obstruction of water.
He groaned when he felt a small cut in his arms from the old man's knife. He didn't know if he was really lucky. But he noticed how the old man's army knife was actually not too sharp…? It seemed to be the reason why there was no deep cut in his skin. Even the cut on his shoulder wasn't too deep that needs stitches. However, he was still cut bleeding.
He specially noted the stinging pain of his body part that was underwater. It hinted the water was ocean water.
However, he put that thought aside. It didn't matter if there was water between them, the old man insanely kept swinging. The more he swung, the happier he seemed. Clearly, he didn't want to die alone so he was trying to take as many as he could. And Sho was his first target.
He was having a hard time moving around the water. He wanted to go up the chair like the other passengers. Nevertheless, he rejected the idea. He knew it would be disadvantageous if he did that. Sho was not good at balancing, and if he slips, then he would really die. Although the water would save him from impact, the knife would surely kill him. Even if it's not sharp, if he didn't even defend himself, the old man could kill him.
He suddenly felt helpless.
*Is this how am I going to die? I'm not really satisfied with this, I need my goddamn answers. I don't even know who I am! Damn it.*
As the water reached their neck, Sho didn't have a choice anymore, he got up on the chair, he flinched when he felt the knife hit his thigh. But he resisted the urge to fall down. Falling down meant his death. Instead, he backed away from the man.
"Abide!" someone shouted. Strangely enough, the old man who was swinging madly suddenly froze. "There's no time! Let's find the exit." The eye-catching man, who stood up from the madman before, said.
"Ahhh! My body won't listen to me! What did you do to me?! Ahhh!!! Let's die together! Let's die togetheeer!!!"
Sho didn't really know what happened. But he felt the handsome man listened to him and used his own skill. He gasped for air, even as they stood at the chairs, the water already reached neck level. Only then does Sho have the leisure to observe around.
There were fewer phone flashlights than before. Not everyone has a waterproof phone. The only thing that he could feel happy about was that the train had emergency lights that were flickering. It seems that the light was struggling to survive too.
He gasped for air and continued observing around. The first thing he saw was the water that was turning red. Not only from his own blood, but from the blood of the passengers… who leaned on the train's body! His head worked overtime analyzing why that happened, and understood as he saw someone who extended his arms towards the flickering body of the train. The man who was reaching outside got his hands cut off after the flicker died down.
It was gore.
Screams, cries and gasps could be heard everywhere.
It was chaos.
He didn't notice it earlier. But the screams he heard were not all focused on him. Instead, some people tried to examine the train and got hurt! Seeing people who got hurt while trying to figure out why the train was flickering freaked everyone out!
They only thought that the situation was about a theorist attack, but they knew this kind of thing was too surreal! They thought they were in a nightmare. They perceived death was looming at them.
*Is this it? Is this how I would really die?*
Sho felt helpless. But then he gritted his teeth.
*No. I can't accept this. I didn't take over Sho's body to just die! I refuse to believe it! Think, think… think!*
As he stared desperately at the surroundings, he remembered the word flicker from his Overview skill. So he decided to risk and observe the flickering of the train.
One… two… three… four… five… flicker.
The train went back to its original look.
One… two… three… four… five… flicker.
This time the train's body disappeared, letting the waters get inside.
He continued to observe two more rounds before quickly deciding. "Quickly move near the wall of the train! When I say swim, swim as fast as you can outside! We only have five seconds!"
Distrust. Hope. Fear.
But Sho didn't have time to care anymore. The train was constantly getting filled with water. Four more rounds and the train would be filled with water.
He swam near the wall, trying his best to stay afloat. He couldn't reach the chair anymore and though the back of the chair is taller, it's more unstable to put his feet there.
He counted as soon as the wall came back to normal.
One… two… three…
"Now!" He shouted. They need to hug the wall as soon as four hits so that when the wall "opens" they would have more time to swim across.
He madly swam like everyone who listened to him. He didn't even stop after reaching another five in his mind. He didn't want any part of his body to get cut off if he prematurely stopped. He swam and swam, until he was sure he was safe.
"Haa… haaa…" he gasped for air as he looked around. He was proud. There were many people who followed him. There were many who were saved.
He felt relieved. But he couldn't deny that there was still adrenaline in his blood.
~Roaaaaaaar!~
However everyone stiffened at the loud roar in the vast water they were in.