by N. Heller
"A flatten cigarette b.u.t.t proves that there were other people here in the past, right? Why is there an advertis.e.m.e.nt leaflet here..."
Finding these items, which reminded her of her previous normal daily life, meant that there was some sign of human activity. This calmed Lin Sanjiu's anxiety quite a bit. Once she relaxed a little, she found it funny that she felt an aversion for the train seats. She shook her head and forced herself to sit down in a seat beside the train door. She actually planned to sit down to reserve her energy and compose herself. But seconds after she sat down, before she could think about the unusual aspects of this world, she heard a soft screech from the train brakes. The train slowed down almost instantaneously—she looked up and saw the train gradually driving toward the station platform.
[It has been less than 20 minutes, isn't this a little too fast compared to the previous time?]
The dot which represented 'Home' and the dot which represented 'Mausoleum Elementary' were still very far apart, so she assumed that it would take at least a few hours before the train arrived at the station again. She stood up to alight from the train, feeling very uncertain, but her heart froze for a second without warning.
When she saw Mausoleum Elementary the previous time, the position of the school was directly outside the very carriage she was in. Oddly, when she moved down another five train carriages, the position of the elementary school was still directly outside, such that her field of vision was still in line with the gates of the elementary school. This was the same scene she experienced previously.
It was almost as if the gates of the school were moving according to her position. When the teachers and children saw her, they smiled even more brilliantly. This time, Lin Sanjiu could even see the mole on the teacher's cheek very clearly.
This was because... the road had disappeared.
Previously, there was definitely a narrow road from the train station to the school. Without this road, Lin Sanjiu couldn't imagine how people would actually walk to the school. On the other hand, without the road, the entrance to Mausoleum Elementary was almost right outside the glass wall of the train station. It was as though the entire school had shifted one large step forward.
Naturally, the people standing at the gates of the school were now closer to the train station. The boy who was standing at the foremost position was so close to the glass wall of the train station that he was squishing his face against the glass, showing her his oddly flatten, misshapen face. Yet, he didn't even consider moving back one step. Lin Sanjiu could still see the smile under his squished, crooked nose.
"If I don't alight here, are they coming over to receive me?" A terrifying thought surfaced in Lin Sanjiu's mind. She had made a firm decision to alight just a few minutes ago, but right now her determination had faded like melting snow in spring. She turned her head back and watched the cigarette b.u.t.t, lying on the floor of the carriage, silently. She immediately felt that it was safer staying on the train. [Anyone else would also refuse to get off the train, right?]
[If I don't get off the train, those people might not... come to get me... Maybe, I am overthinking about this?]
The train door beeped twice almost like it was urging her to quickly make a decision. Lin Sanjiu clenched her teeth and was about to take an irrevocable step forward when she caught a glimpse of a ball of paper stuffed in the seat she was sitting previously, it was sticking out from the crevice between the back support and the cushion of the seat. She thought she saw someone's handwriting on the piece of paper as well.
When she was sitting, she didn't noticed it because of its angle. If she didn't hesitate for some time at the door, she would have missed that item...
Lin Sanjiu's heart thumped loudly, she felt like a student who had finally found an excuse not to go to school. She retreated from the door, as if escaping. When she stuck her hand into the crevice of the seat, the door closed once again.
Meanwhile, the teacher and students standing outside the glass window did not look even one bit disappointed. Their smiles were still the same. But now, each and every pair of eyes followed the train as it moved until their pupils reached the corners of their eyes.
Lin Sanjiu only let out a sigh of relief when the school disappeared out of sight. She pinched the ball of paper with her fingers and pulled it out hurriedly. As she was a bit careless, she tore the paper a little.
The paper was very thin, and it appeared to be a torn corner of a newspaper without any print. There were indeed some hand-written words on the piece of paper. Lin Sanjiu quickly unraveled the paper. When she saw the words, she couldn't help heaving a sigh of relief, as it was Chinese.
Concentrating, Lin Sanjiu read the note again and she felt a chill all over. She felt fearful as she remembered what just happened.
"Do not alight from the train! You must not alight from the train—"
It looked like a female's handwriting. It was quite messy, as if the person had scribbled this note in a hurry. Half of the second 'train' on the note had been torn. There was definitely words on the other half of the paper but Lin Sanjiu didn't know where it was.
[Do not alight from the train!] Momentarily, this was the only sentence which echoed in Lin Sanjiu's mind. Cold wind continued blowing at her. Shivering and at a loss as to what to do, she looked up. If it was up to her, she didn't want to get off this train either. She might have limited food supply, but with that [Vending Machine], it wasn't really a pressing problem.
The real problem now was...
Lin Sanjiu stared fixedly at the train's route map. The next stop was still Mausoleum Elementary Station. [What should I do if that teacher and her students come even closer the next time around.]
And... she couldn't help thinking about a horrible thing. If the girl who wrote the note didn't alight from the train... where was the girl now?
Chapter 182 - She Did a Sudden 180
Lin Sanjiu didn't know if she had miscalculated, but this time the train arrived at the station in less than 20 minutes. Lin Sanjiu had already anticipated this. She grabbed the note tightly in her hand and did not move from her seat. She forced herself to turn her head around to look outside through the window. Without the feeling of the note in her hand, reminding her about the messy handwriting, Lin Sanjiu really wouldn't be able to resist just rushing outside to free herself from this torture.
This time, the glass wall of the train station disappeared.
Without the glass wall, half of the train station had already merged with the elementary school building. The gates of the school and its fences were now, without reason, behind a bench in the train station. The signboard with the words "Mausoleum Elementary School" blocked the entire view of the station's name.
That teacher and her students maintained the same postures and smiles. They had also moved forward about ten meters. That skin of the boy, whose face was squished by the glass wall, had a reddish mark. The female teacher, who seemed to have limitless patience, raised her hand and gestured once again for Lin Sanjiu to come to her.
Lin Sanjiu shifted her gaze away hastily, and her hands were trembling slightly. The people in front of this elementary school were really too strange. She had never met any people like them before. Though they didn't attack her, they didn't plan to let her go either...
"What... what are they?" She only noticed that she was stuttering after she said those words. It didn't take long before the train door closed once again. The train resumed its march forward, rumbling, leaving the school far behind and entering a tunnel, embracing the same familiar darkness. Without looking at the map, Lin Sanjiu was 100% sure that the next station was still Mausoleum Elementary Station.
She took a few deep breaths consecutively, but she couldn't calm herself down at all. Perhaps, the cold temperature caused all the pores on her skin to contract. She was cold from head to toe.
Lin Sanjiu had unconsciously crushed the note in her hand, so it was now quite tattered. This time the train would arrive at the stati
on much quicker. She knew that she needed to think of something.
As the train was a little old, the cold wind could seep through the various cracks from the wear over the years. The wind became stronger and stronger each time. Lin Sanjiu exhaled and mocked herself for jumping at shadows. She touched the bandage on her neck. Feeling the hard choker on her neck, she felt a little less worried.
[In the worst case scenario, I'll just fight!]
It didn't matter if those were humans or duoluozhongs, they could still die, right?
She took a stand on that matter and made up her mind. After this, she felt more confident about her plan and that immediately reduced her feeling of helplessness. Estimating that the train would arrive at the station in another five to six minutes, Lin Sanjiu stood up and exercised her stiff limbs, which were numbed by the cold, preparing herself for the upcoming fight.
This time, the train drove into the train station soundlessly. When the train stopped, Lin Sanjiu wasn't even aware because she was doing some back twisting exercises. When she faced straight again, she was so shocked that she took a step back and nearly fell.
The female teacher was now standing in front of the train door and was staring straight at her. The teacher's eyes narrowed into two crescents and her smile was much, much... wider. The students stood very close behind her. All of them had the same smiling expression as they pressed their faces against the train doors. The gates of Mausoleum Elementary School were right behind them. The teacher and the students crowded the narrow gap between the doors of the train and the gates of the school. That is to say, they only had to take one step to enter the train carriage.
However, they did not enter the train. They simply stood outside quietly, without making a single sound. Lin Sanjiu found herself standing face-to-face with the female teacher. A weakness assaulted her and her body grew cold. For a few seconds, she couldn't even make herself move.
In the end, the female teacher did not move either. She merely fixed her gaze on Lin Sanjiu and maintained her smile. The female teacher shook her own head slowly. Though her head moved, her eyes did not move in the same direction, instead, her pupils shifted in the opposite direction, till they were deep in the corners of her eyes. Her eyes never left Lin Sanjiu for even a second.
[What did she want to say? No. No... The question should be, can humans do something like that?]
"What are you—" this question was stuck in her throat. She thought she had already shouted, but she realized that she was scared that she couldn't make a sound. She almost forgot that she was wearing her Pygmalion Choker. It took a few seconds before she came to her senses again. She retreated to the other end of the train carriage and took out her [Tape Recorder]. Just then, the door beeped twice. The sound pierced through the stale atmosphere.
Lin Sanjiu didn't notice how nice it sounded before. She was covered in cold sweat and she felt as if she had barely escaped a certain death. She watched as the train doors shut and brushed past the female teacher's nose.
The latter's expression grew cold in a split second, almost as if she wasn't smiling before. The smiles on the children' faces had also evaporated. They stared at Lin Sanjiu with creepy eyes, as if they were staring at a dead person. Next, they all shook their heads in a uniform manner.
Even a few minutes after the train had left the station, Lin Sanjiu couldn't erase the image of the mole on the female teacher's face while that woman shook her head.
Nothing life-threatening happened, but her heart was racing. The feeling lasted for a long time, and she only regained a little of her composure when she noticed the sparse surroundings around her. This time, the train traveled for a long time but did not enter any tunnel. Lin Sanjiu didn't know when she sat down on the floor of the train. She exhaled a long breath and decided not to get up. She stretched her neck and looked at the route map.
Finally, the next stop wasn't Mausoleum Elementary Station. "Bamboo Grove Mountains Station..." she mumbled its name. The name of the station was considered normal but, at this moment, Lin Sanjiu's nerves were tightly strung, and she hesitated before mumbling, "I think I better take a look at the situation before deciding if I should get off."
[The strange group of children with their teacher was standing directly outside the train, but none of them stepped into the train—because they couldn't enter? Does this mean that this train carriage has the ability to protect me? If that were the case, it would explain why someone would leave a note advising others not to alight...] Lin Sanjiu's body felt limp. She lowered her head exhaustedly and let out a sigh. She could see the bottom of her previous seat from where she was right now.
Lin Sanjiu looked over and she froze.
Under the seat, she saw an emotioless face staring at her, and who knows how long it had been lying there!
Finally, Lin Sanjiu couldn't control herself, letting out a cry and jumping up. She quickly took out her Vibroblade and held it tight. Yet, two seconds after she leaped up, Lin Sanjiu suddenly felt that something was wrong. Her brows knitted ever so slightly. She took two quick steps forward and bent down to look under the seat.
It wasn't an illusion—she did see a face just now, but it was a face printed on a newspaper.
"Huh. Why did I find this just now?" The newspaper seemed to have slipped from the crevice between the seat. Dangling from the crevice, it revealed a large headshot of a person on its front page. Due to the lighting under the seat, Lin Sanjiu mistook that photo for a person staring at her and that really scared her.
Lin Sanjiu stretched her arm under the seat and grabbed the newspaper. There was a missing part on the top-right corner of the front page. Lin Sanjiu swiftly unfolded the piece of crumpled note and tried to fit it in the missing spot. It fitted, both its texture and the shape of its torn edge.
[The person who wrote the note must have torn a corner of the newspaper and scribbled that warning before squishing it into the crevice. But... if the person planned to warn the future passengers of the train, why didn't she write a bigger warning and place the newspaper out in the open? Wouldn't that be more eye-catching?]
Lin Sanjiu thought about these perplexing questions for some time but couldn't make sense of it. She flipped the newspaper, hoping to find clues about this weird world. When she reached the next section of the newspaper, her body froze.
Someone had obviously written a few words with very large characters.
"NO, I WAS WRONG. GET DOWN"
The 'n' was dragged to the edge of the paper before it was abruptly chopped off.
Chapter 183 - Bamboo Grove Mountains
Get down... what?
Lin Sanjiu stared vacantly at the newspaper in her hands, unable to recover from her shock even after some time.
"Please tell me it's not what I suspect." She felt drained. She plopped down on the seat and uttered quietly to herself, "Didn't this train protect me from those group of children and that teacher?"
But, she wasn't sure. After all, this world was really too strange. Lin Sanjiu wasn't even sure what sort of apocalyptic world it was. "I think I heard the name of this world somewhere..." Lin Sanjiu frowned, but she couldn't recall where she heard that name before even after thinking about it for a long time. At wit's end, she mumbled, "Should I use my Consciousness Mimicry?"
"Maybe, Nuwa could understand this world in a split second."
With this thought, she realized that that ability was indeed quite an incredible cheat.
"No, no." Mrs. Manas' voice suddenly sounded in her head without any warning. Lin Sanjiu was already high-strung, so when she suddenly heard that voice the silent train carriage, she leaped up in fright. "Lin Sanjiu, you don't have sufficient higher consciousness now to imitate Nuwa's thought process."
Lin Sanjiu didn't know she could feel this fortunate just being able to speak to someone...
Even if Mrs. Manas wasn't a real person or a normal one, Lin Sanjiu felt comforted. Cherishing every word Mrs. Manas said, Lin Sanjiu asked needily, "Why is it ins
ufficient? I managed to activate it previously. Can my higher consciousness get lesser and lesser? And, what happened in the classroom that time?"
Mrs. Manas hemmed and hawed for some time and avoided answering her questions, "Well, even though your situation is very strange, there are matters I have to settle using your higher consciousness... Anyway, if you activate your ability and imitate Nuwa, you would enter a comatose state after using it for a few seconds."
Lin Sanjiu instantly gave up on that idea. There was no way she could allow herself to lose consciousness in this strange place. She wanted to talk more to Mrs. Manas. She wanted that teacher to explain everything to her properly. Sadly, she found that her mindscape was now empty. No one answered her.
Once again, she found herself enveloped by loneliness. After she evolved, and after that experience with Nuwa and those 'Neuhumes', she rarely felt this emotional.
Before she met up with B.Rabbit and his gang, there were days when she felt so calm and rational that even she thought that it was abnormal.
Yet, this was one of those rare occasions where she felt very jittery. The extraordinary calmness that she once displayed had disappeared without a trace during her time here, but Lin Sanjiu missed it. If she could just calm herself down, if she wasn't so high-strung, she would have thought up of a strategy to deal with this a long time ago.
The tear on the green cover of the seat made it uncomfortable for her to sit. The train carriage was very quiet and empty—but this felt like an illusion, as if someone had purposely held his or her breath to create this false sense of "peace".
Unfortunately, there was no one around, except Lin Sanjiu.
She was a little scared and anxious. On top of that, she was also troubled by the large warning written on the newspaper. She decided to flip through the newspaper so that she could make some noise to create a slightly livelier atmosphere in the train. The picture which scared her belonged to a ' Tenebraelogist 1 '— this was obviously a word only used in this world.