8:38 p.m.
Ding dong~
"Dear passengers, the train is about to leave the station…"
The metallic doors closed with a heavy hiss, sealing the passengers inside. Outside, on the shadowed platform of Dog Town Station, the last of the vampires halted mid-step as the carriage began to pull away. The wheels screeched softly, grinding against the rails, and the darkened platform slowly vanished from sight.
A faint zzz-t of static electricity buzzed overhead. The crystal chandelier flickered once—then returned to its warm golden glow, spreading comfort through the blood-stained compartments. The frost that had coated the windows began to melt, dripping down the glass in thin, trembling rivulets.
Inside a half-empty water glass, the ice cubes dissolved completely. The warmth of life seemed to return to the train known as Snowpiercer, whose cold hull had moments ago been drenched in the chaos of battle.
Now, the train accelerated, fully leaving the cursed Dog Town platform behind.
The number of vampires ceased to increase.
Yet the ones who had boarded were more than enough to test the nerves of every survivor.
After a brutal and desperate fight, the players found themselves surrounded by the aftermath—corpses scattered across the aisles, blood pooling under seats, and shattered luggage lying open on the floor. Those who survived collapsed against the walls, gasping, their weapons trembling in their hands.
They had won—but only barely.
Many of them huddled in corners, trying to recover their strength, still trembling from the adrenaline that refused to fade. And then—
Ding!
A system notification echoed in every player's ears at the same time.
> [System Prompt: Player Lucas protected the safety of the carriage and completed the side mission.]
[Reward: Permit to Stay at Dog Town Platform]
[Item Name: Stay Permit for 650 Units at Dog Town Station]
[Type: Plot-Related]
[Quality: Excellent]
[Attack Power: None]
[Attribute: None]
[Remarks: Please see the item name for usage. I wish you a pleasant journey.]
For a moment, the cabin was filled with stunned silence.
The rewards were invisible to other players, but the announcement—"Player Lucas completed the side mission"—was broadcast to everyone. It hit them like a thunderclap.
"Someone actually finished it??"
"Wasn't that mission impossible?"
"Isn't Lucas the new dark horse? What the hell did he do?"
"Maybe he's got some secret artifact to counter vampires?"
Speculations filled the air. Confusion, awe, and fear mixed together.
Among them, Blue Kill, who had just finished patching her wounds, froze as soon as she saw the message. Her first thought wasn't admiration—but dread.
She recalled the bizarre behavior of the vampires who boarded earlier.
"The ones that came through the door between cars 10 and 11…" she whispered. "They all avoided the direction of Car 9. Don't tell me—"
Without hesitation, Blue Kill darted through the narrow corridor, pushing past frightened passengers. She passed through cars 12 and 11, and finally reached Car 10—
—and there, she stopped dead in her tracks.
The sight before her was beyond horrifying.
Dozens of vampire corpses were sprawled across the floor. Not a single one was intact. Some had their heads cleaved in half; others had their jaws split open into grotesque, flower-like shapes, as though a sharp weapon had burst through from the inside.
The stench of blood was suffocating.
Each corpse's posture suggested desperate flight—frozen mid-motion as if they'd been fleeing from something far more terrifying than death itself.
Blue Kill's eyes widened. She slowly lifted her gaze toward the door that connected Cars 10 and 9.
There—dangling from the top frame—were dozens of mouthparts. Long, fleshy, blood-streaked vampire tongues hung from the doorway, dripping with dark mucus, swaying like a curtain in the wind.
A curtain made of vampire mouths.
Blue Kill took an involuntary step backward, her breath caught in her throat.
At last, she understood why all the vampires had chosen to charge in the opposite direction—none dared to enter Car 9.
Because anyone who did…
would end up as part of this ghastly decoration.
"Only Lucas could've done this," she muttered hoarsely. A chill crept down her spine.
And then—
Someone lifted the mouth-curtain from the other side.
A figure peeked through.
Blue Kill froze completely. Every cell in her body screamed danger. A cold wave of terror rose up her back as she met the eyes of the man on the other side.
> [System Prompt: When Player Blue Kill sees Player Lucas, Mental Value –1, Mental Value –1, Mental Value –1…]
Her mental gauge visibly dropped, flickering red.
...
[Modeling in Progress]
[Generating Risk Assessment Based on Host's Current Strength…]
[Player Blue Kill: Approaching Intermediate Danger Level]
Lucas blinked as the notification appeared.
He lifted the curtain, smiling awkwardly. "Long time no see… but wait—why are you weaker than before?"
He scratched his head, genuinely puzzled. During the last exam copy, the system had rated Blue Kill as a High-Danger Player.
Now? She barely registered above moderate.
Blue Kill's face twitched. Her expression shifted from fear to disbelief to pure horror, and finally into the strained stiffness of someone on the verge of losing it. Without a word, she turned around and walked away stiffly and fast—almost like a wind-up doll fleeing a ghost.
Lucas stood there for a few seconds before realization dawned.
"Oh… right." He chuckled, snapping his fingers. "The risk assessment scales with my own strength. It's not that she got weaker… it's that I got stronger."
His grin widened. The thrill of power was intoxicating.
---
Back in his private box, Lucas rummaged through his luggage until he found a fresh shirt. The last one was soaked in vampire blood. After changing, he sat down, pulling out his new prize—the Permit to Stay at Dog Town Platform.
"Do you really need a permit just to stay on the platform?" he murmured, turning the parchment between his fingers. "And what happens if you don't have one?"
He glanced at the "Instructions for Travelers" pasted on the door. The text glowed faintly under the chandelier light.
> "You absolutely cannot violate the three forbidden days."
Those three crossed-out days… they weren't random. They meant something.
Outside the window, the night stretched endlessly. The stars above were dim, swallowed by the mist. The rhythmic rumble of the train wheels filled the silence.
Woo-oo~
The whistle blew—a haunting note that echoed through the dark.
Lucas frowned.
"Wait. If the train's already left Dog Town Station… why reward me with a platform permit?" he wondered aloud. "Does that mean we'll… go back?"
The idea made his skin crawl.
The Snowpiercer continued to speed along the rails, its momentum steady. The staff, pale and exhausted, worked quietly to clean up the remains of the earlier massacre. Shovels scraped. Wet mops dragged across metal.
In Car 9, the surviving passengers sat in stunned silence, staring blankly at the tidy carnage around them. They had no idea what had truly saved them.
To them, it was as if fate—or perhaps some dark god—had spared their lives.
---
Knock, knock, knock—
Lucas turned his head at the sound.
"Come in."
The door slid open.
A conductor stood there, dressed immaculately in a black uniform with silver buttons. A pristine white tablecloth hung over his arm, and a polite smile rested on his lips.
"Good evening, sir," he said smoothly. "Please accept my apologies for the delayed dinner service. Due to certain… special circumstances, the meal schedule was disrupted. To make up for the inconvenience, we're delivering complimentary set dinners to all private cabins. May I ask if you have any specific dietary preferences?"
Lucas smiled back, waving dismissively. "No preferences. Thank you for your hard work."
The conductor's smile deepened, his tone now warmer, almost human.
"I appreciate your understanding, sir. One more thing—" He hesitated. "Since the number of private compartments is limited, one of the newly boarded passengers has been assigned to share this cabin with you."
Lucas blinked. "Share?"
"Yes," the conductor continued politely. "The other private rooms haven't been cleared yet, and since your suite still has a vacant bed, we've arranged for this passenger to stay here temporarily. I hope this won't be too much of an inconvenience."
Lucas thought for a moment, then shrugged. "As long as they don't snore."
The conductor chuckled softly. "Understood, sir." He tipped his cap and left, closing the door quietly behind him.
Silence returned to the box—thick and heavy.
Lucas leaned back, his gaze drifting toward the second bed in the room. The sheets were neatly folded, untouched. A faint sense of déjà vu prickled at the back of his neck.
He sighed, half amused, half uneasy.
"Do I really need a roommate right now?" he muttered. "After all that?"
As if in response, the system chimed again.
> [Ding! There is still a vacant bed in your compartment. Would you like to let the little author sit here?]
Lucas froze. Then slowly, he smirked.
"Figures," he whispered. "Even the system wants to play matchmaker on this cursed train."
Outside, the Snowpiercer howled through the darkness. Somewhere ahead, a new platform awaited—perhaps another Dog Town, another nightmare. And once again, Lucas would be ready.
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