Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 122: Subway
Watching the subway door close in on his chest, getting narrower and narrower, and feeling the safety door scraping against his back as it slowly closed, Qian Ai felt a chill from head to toe.
He absolutely did not want to die like this!
“Ahh— Ahh— Ahh—” With a burst of survival instinct, Qian Ai flung his arms forward forcefully while kicking back hard with one leg!
“Crack—”
“Crack—”
The subway door in front trapped his arms, and the safety door at his back caught one of his legs. Qian Ai, in a stance akin to a one-legged rooster throwing punches, managed to keep a sliver of space open in both doors!
As long as there was a gap, the subway couldn’t possibly move… right?
But then, a slight vibration indicating the train was about to start came from the subway door, trapping his arms.
…Could this get any more horrifying?!
“Xu Wang! Wu Sheng! Xiao Kuang! Xiao Xue—” Qian Ai shouted at the top of his lungs, almost breaking his voice. This situation, like being trussed up like a pig, was impossible to even describe!
And perhaps it was his imagination, but after trapping him, the doors didn’t trigger any alarms and seemed to be tightening even more? His arms and legs were now clamped so tightly that they were going numb!
“Hold on, Lao Qian—”
His captain’s voice came from beyond the layers of people inside the carriage.
Qian Ai felt like crying. “I can hold on, but the train is starting to move—”
“Xiao Kuang, press the emergency door release. The red one!” This time it was Wu Sheng instructing. Obviously, he couldn’t reach it himself and had to rely on Kuang Jinxin, who was closest.
But then came Kuang Jinxin’s anxious voice. “I pressed it. No response!”
The train began to move.
Qian Ai suddenly realized his initial assessment of his predicament was off. Given the current situation, the subway would pull his upper body along with it, while his legs, along with his lower body, would be trapped by the safety door. He wasn’t going to be twisted to death; he would be torn in two!
Closing his eyes, Qian Ai braced for death.
One second.
Two seconds.
Five seconds…
It felt like his arm was indeed moving with the subway, but the expected bodily twisting and breaking didn’t happen.
Confused, Qian Ai opened his eyes to see that the subway was indeed moving, but at a snail’s pace of maybe 1 millimeter per second. So from the time he braced for death to now, his arm had only shifted less than a centimeter with the train.
And perhaps it was an illusion, but it seemed like his arms were visibly thinning?
[Owl: Someone used [(Illusory) Time Slow] on you~~]
[Owl: Someone used [(Defense) Shadow Play] on you~~]
With these two notifications in his ears, the subway had moved a few centimeters. Qian Ai could distinctly feel his upper body moving with the train, but at the same time, his entire body had thinned to half its original thickness!
By the time the subway door and safety door were half open, Qian Ai had completely thinned into a paper-like shadow puppet!
As his arms thinned, the gap in the subway door was only a paper-thin slit!
Qian Ai, who had been waiting for this moment, swiftly slipped through the gap and into the carriage!
Once inside the carriage, the illusory and defense stationery used by his teammates were deactivated. Looking at the subway, it was already speeding away, and looking at his body, it was inflating back to its robust form!
Qian Ai, scared out of his wits, pushed his way through and sat on the ground, gasping for breath, relieved to have survived. Remembering his past experiences squeezing into subways, he was terrified. He swore that from now on, if he could board a subway, he would; if not, he would definitely wait for the next one. If anyone tried to squeeze him, he’d fight back!
Before he could catch his breath, Qian Ai sensed something was off. Alert, he looked up, and sure enough, through the dense ‘wall of legs’, he saw four familiar pairs of eyes.
His four companions, in two pairs, were squatting in front of him, peering through the gap with concern.
Xu Wang: “Lao Qian, are you okay?”
Qian Ai: “Still alive.”
Wu Sheng: “Don’t relax. Danger can come at any time.”
Qian Ai: “Understood.”
Kuang Jinxin: “Sheng Ge used [Time Slow].”
Qian Ai: “Thanks, Class Monitor.”
Kuang Jinxin: “Xiao Xue used [Shadow Play].”
Qian Ai: “…Cough, thanks.”
Chi Yingxue looked at him from a distance with an indifferent and silent gaze.
Qian Ai felt awkward. “Xiao Xue, if you don’t say ‘you’re welcome’ or ‘we’re teammates’, it’s going to be really awkward for me.”
Chi Yingxue said, “Wu Sheng didn’t respond just now either.”
Qian Ai sighed. “But it wasn’t awkward.”
Chi Yingxue quietly looked at him for a while, then suddenly said, “Xu Wang, Wu Sheng, Xiao Kuang, Xiao Xue.”
Qian Ai was a bit confused. “What?”
Chi Yingxue said, “That’s the order you called for help in.”
Qian Ai: “……”
Is he seriously arguing about who was called first?! Is he a preschooler?
“Well,” feeling obligated to appease him since he owed him a life-saving favor, Qian Ai tried to explain, “You don’t understand, the most important person is always called last, to anchor the formation!”
Chi Yingxue frowned, somewhat skeptical, then turned to look at Kuang Jinxin.
Kuang Jinxin didn’t help Qian Ai with his ruse, but sincerely assured him, “Next time I’ll make Qian Ge call you first and last—twice—you can take both the starting and anchoring positions!”
Chi Yingxue tilted his head, picturing the scene, and then shook his head with a frown. “No need.”
Qian Ai: “……”
Does he have to be so blatantly disdainful!
“Zzz—”
Suddenly, a harsh friction sound of the tracks erupted, jarring and piercing, as the high-speed subway abruptly stopped!
The entire carriage jolted violently with inertia. People piled on top of each other, tumbling forward, and cries of alarm erupted instantaneously.
Before everyone could get up and steady themselves, the lights in the carriage went out, and the air conditioning stopped.
The people, who were just exclaiming in shock, were silenced by the sudden darkness, plunging the world into a moment of pitch-black stillness.
Xu Wang’s heart sank.
Underground tunnel, power outage, enclosed carriage, lack of oxygen… The words that popped up in his mind grew increasingly terrifying.
Suddenly, someone grabbed his hand.
Despite not being able to see anything in the darkness, Xu Wang knew it was Wu Sheng.
The hand that grabbed his steadied him, and then he heard Wu Sheng’s firm voice. “Safety hammer.”
Xu Wang understood but was concerned. “Doesn’t this count as leaving the group?”
Wu Sheng said, “First, break the window to ensure air circulation. If the leader leaves, then we’ll follow.”
Soon, passengers regained their senses and started shouting again, causing chaos in the carriage.
However, it was too crowded, so it was mostly just mental chaos, as bodies were tightly packed like sardines.
Finally, the emergency lights in the carriage lit up. Though dim, they were enough for the eyes to adjust to the dark to make out the surroundings.
Xu Wang looked over countless heads, finally spotting the small flag of the leader at the connection between carriages.
Five minutes later, the two struggled to reach the safety hammer. Wu Sheng took the hammer without hesitation and smashed it against the carriage window!
The glass was instantly covered in cracks.
Wu Sheng decisively struck a second and third time!
The entire pane shattered and fell away, bringing in a cool breeze and instantly easing the stuffiness of the carriage.
After breaking the window, the two moved away from it, retreating to the center of the crowd to avoid any potential accidents.
Half an hour later, the impatient passengers began to climb out the window, one by one, walking along the underground tunnel to the next station. The five companions didn’t move, only watching the leader.
Finally, when only a third of the passengers remained in the carriage, the leader waved the small flag. “Let’s go.”
The tour group walked for about twenty minutes in the underground tunnel, with the five companions on edge the entire time, until they finally reached the next station. They climbed up to the platform and returned to the surface.
Seeing the sunlight again was overwhelmingly emotional.
“Everyone must be hungry. Let’s go to the restaurant for lunch,” the leader announced the next activity to the gathered travelers without mentioning the subway incident.
The tour group members, seemingly unfazed by the startling events, eagerly discussed what delicious food to have upon hearing about lunch.
If the sense of horror had seeped into the bones of every companion, then a great sense of absurdity, like a cover, enveloped the entire world of this ordeal.
The leader took everyone to a Western restaurant that was elegant in appearance and stylishly decorated. Upon entering, a handsome man was playing the piano by the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The arrival of the tour group nearly filled two-thirds of the restaurant. The five companions sat at one table, still in the middle of the tour group’s tables, with the leader at a table three tables away to the left, chatting lively with a few travelers.
As soon as they sat down, Wu Sheng collected all the knives from around the companions’ plates, wrapped them in a napkin, and pushed them far away, leaving only forks for everyone.
Xu Wang gave him an approving look, and then the waiter brought the appetizer—salad for each person.
Xu Wang, already with a chilled heart, had no appetite for the cold dish. However, the torment of the journey had drained too much energy. If he didn’t eat something soon, he would starve to death rather than of fright.
Luckily, the seafood pasta arrived soon, its steaming aroma enticing. The five companions immediately pushed away the salad and focused on eating their pasta.
After eating about half the plate and feeling somewhat full, Xu Wang slowed down, picking at the noodles while quietly discussing with Wu Sheng. “Who do you think is the most suspicious?”
Wu Sheng looked around at all 27 members of the group and finally said cautiously, “Hard to say.”
Xu Wang was persistent. “There must be some range of suspects, right?”
Wu Sheng pondered for a moment, his gaze landing on the leader.
“You suspect him?” Xu Wang hesitated. “He’s the leader, leading the way, and he’ll surely survive till the end. But isn’t it too obvious? Can it really be that simple?”
“That’s why I said, it’s hard to say. We have too few clues for now,” Wu Sheng replied, his gaze shifting to a table next to the next one, where four girls were taking selfies.
Xu Wang keenly recognized that two of them were survivors from the earlier road crossing incident!
At that time, due to the sound of an engine, five people quickly ran to the opposite sidewalk. Then, after the electric scooter collision, the chef, a young girl, and another person were thrown back onto the motorway and hit by a sports car. The two who ended up on the sidewalk and ultimately survived were them!
Knowing that Xu Wang had recognized them, Wu Sheng didn’t elaborate further, just saying, “Currently, these are our only two suspects, but the evidence is too flimsy to conclusively point to anyone.”
Xu Wang glanced at the restaurant clock. “It’s already half past twelve.”
Their deadline was before sunset.
Wu Sheng fell silent, scanning the entire place again, intending to review each member of the travel group. Suddenly, an argument erupted from the table next to the next one.
“What did you say? Say that again!”
“I said you’re shameless!”
As the argument escalated, both participants stood up, revealing themselves as the two surviving girls whom Wu Sheng had suspected.
Everyone in the restaurant stopped and looked towards the source of the noise, even those who were halfway through their meal.
Xu Wang’s alarm bells were ringing. He immediately warned his companions, “Everyone, be alert.”
But they didn’t need his warning; any sudden incident was already linked to death in everyone’s mind. Even Qian Ai put down his pasta and was on full alert.
“You’re the one who’s shameless!” One of the short-haired girls, infuriated, grabbed a glass and splashed lemon water in the face of the girl opposite her!
Not to be outdone, the long-haired girl retaliated, throwing her drink back!
But the first girl was prepared, dodging smoothly, and the lemon water ended up on the floor.
Not willing to give up, the long-haired girl grabbed another glass of lemon water and continued the assault!
This back-and-forth exchange continued until they had used up all the lemon water on their table and the adjacent ones. Finally, they were persuaded to sit down by the other two at their table, still huffing angrily, but the “water festival” came to an end.
Xu Wang was tense throughout; his heart was already stuck in his throat. He only let out a long, relieved breath long after the girls sat down.
Time to resume eating pasta to calm down.
Xu Wang twirled some noodles onto his fork, about to eat, when he suddenly remembered the incident at the intersection. After the red sports car passed, they thought it was over, but then the electric scooter and blue sports car followed in quick succession.
With this thought, he turned to Wu Sheng, asking anxiously, “This isn’t another sequence of events, is it?”
Wu Sheng turned to look at him, but his gaze only lingered on Xu Wang’s face for half a second before shifting to his diagonal rear. Puzzled, Xu Wang was about to look back when he saw Wu Sheng’s expression change.
In the next second, Wu Sheng suddenly snatched the fork with noodles from Xu Wang!
Before Xu Wang could react, he heard a slipping sound from behind. Instantly, he felt a massive force pushing against the back of his head, smashing his face into his own hand, and then down into the plate of pasta!
Everything went dark for a moment—his nose stinging and his brain blanking out.
Only when the pressure lifted did he, in confusion, raise his head, not minding the spaghetti sauce smeared on his face and forehead, and angrily turned back to see who was responsible.
The culprit was a burly waiter.
Apparently, he had slipped on the lemon water spilled on the floor, losing his balance and tumbling onto Xu Wang’s back. Now, the disheveled waiter was looking anxiously at the next table.
Xu Wang’s table was very close to the adjacent one. Sitting at the edge, he was only about twenty centimeters from the person at the nearest seat of the next table, who, like Xu Wang, now also had their face and hand stuck in a plate of spaghetti.
Understanding the situation, Xu Wang realized the waiter’s sturdy build had caused both of them to be crushed.
“Are you alright, sir?” Seeing that the customer hadn’t gotten up, the waiter, now worried, leaned in, asking while gently tapping on the customer’s shoulder.
“Clang—”
The customer slid to the floor.
A fork was embedded in his right eye, almost entirely, leaving only a bit of the handle visible.
Xu Wang, looking at the body on the floor and then at his own fork that Wu Sheng had timely snatched away, felt a chill run through his body.
Owl time, 12:45.
The death toll had risen to six.
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