CHAPTER 31

He Ran felt a wave of dizziness. The Li Haohao on the poster seemed like a different creature, and she felt unfamiliar.

Alluring and agile, lifting her foot, allowing the bl*od-like wine to trickle down her leg. Her eyelashes drooped, accompanied by a hint of smile, but that smile didn't seem genuine. He Ran felt that the smile was hollow.

She closed her eyes and shifted her gaze away from the poster.

The poster was stuck in a long corridor. Looking up, the arched ceiling of the corridor was made of translucent glass mosaic, casting extremely dim spots of light on the floor. The light traveled along the worn-out wall and moldy tiles, pausing at the sign that read "Emergency Exit," where a bl*od-red abstract figure danced in the light spot.

He Ran followed the arrow of the "Emergency Exit" and walked forward.

This was a building in Daomiao City. The distance between the Daomiao Base and the outpost was so far, but in an instant, she was deeply trapped in the soil of the base, and when she opened her eyes, she was here. She thought that this might be a kind of pollution, perhaps Li Haohao's pollution.

Following the arrow, she walked for almost two minutes, about half a minute, and the red figure would flicker once.

In front of the last "Emergency Exit," the corridor reached its end, with a wall, and the poster was still stuck on the wall.

Grand Opening, The Night of Youth.

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy to your heart's content.

Li Haohao was still on it, but she changed her pose. She innocently sat in front of a desk covered with a blue tablecloth, resting her cheek on her hand, playfully closing one eye. She wore only white socks on her feet, and beyond the socks, golden bead string adorned her ankles.

On her back, Xiang Chenxi seemed to be falling. He Ran supported Xiang Chenxi's leg, tore off the poster, and behind it was another poster. Although the torn paper couldn't reveal the entire content, she could still see that the poster beneath was also Li Haohao.

This time, Li Haohao was kneeling on the ground, the photo taken from above. She wore cat ears and dragged a fake tail behind her.

Grand Opening, The Night of Cuteness..., 

He Ran put the torn poster back, smoothed the edges, stared at it, and then took out her military knife. She began tearing off the posters one by one from the wall, but the posters seemed endless. No matter how she tore, there was always a completely different Li Haohao promoting some kind of night.

Returning to the very first poster, He Ran walked forward against the direction of the emergency exit. After walking for about half a minute, she saw a locked iron gate. After easily breaking the lock, she opened the gate, revealing a rusty railway track in front of her.

He Ran tightened the unconscious supply officer on her back and felt her wrist to confirm the heartbeat. She decided to follow the railway track and see where it led.

Suddenly, the sound of wheels came from a distance, and He Ran stopped in her tracks.

A train was approaching...? 

She couldn't remember the last time she had been on a train. This train in front of her seemed to be an old model, covered in rust, with broken windows.

The train stopped in front of He Ran, and the doors opened, revealing an empty interior.

He Ran peered inside. The train had six carriages and two locomotives. Inside the carriages, there were two rows of facing seats, and the hanging handrails swayed as if moved by the wind.

She decided to get on the train and take a look.

As she stepped onto the train, the door opened behind her.

Xiang Chenxi suddenly struggled, and He Ran held onto her, supporting her as she whispered near He Ran's ear with difficulty, "Pollution... Eight... Eighty percent."

"You should go back to sleep and stay alert."

"The wristwatch." Xiang Chenxi said.

The train slowly started moving, and He Ran randomly grabbed a handle, holding on with one hand while supporting Xiang Chenxi with the other.

Xiang Chenxi's left hand was reduced to a palm, and some numbers were jumping on her wristwatch. The supply officer exerted all her strength to show her the wristwatch.

"For me to use?"

"Yes. And also, the earpiece."

Although she might not need them, He Ran still thanked her for her kindness. She took off the earpiece and wristwatch and put them on. After a brief noise in the earpiece, a voice came through, "Visitor logged in. Re-entering data. Warning, pollution level exceeded 80%, extremely dangerous. Please evacuate immediately. Current mental value: -"

At this point, the voice stopped, but He Ran didn't pay much attention to it. Through the broken glass, she looked outside the train. Every now and then, a light would illuminate, and the train was shaking v!olently.

She decided to find a place to sit and rest for a while because she didn't know what would happen next.

But just as she was about to sit down, she suddenly felt someone pushing her waist. She stopped and looked at the empty seat.

She continued standing, and finally, the voice in the earpiece said, "Current mental value: 60."

This wristwatch didn't hold much value as a reference. He Ran thought that her mental value was 60 from the beginning, perhaps 60 was just a "normal" state and didn't represent her true mental value. Her true mental value had already collapsed the moment she became polluted.

But this "pollution level" seemed to be quite informative. Since nothing around her belonged to her, there was no need to be "normal." When she was pushed by an invisible entity, the pollution level fluctuated to 82, but when she stood upright again, it went back to 78.

The train continued moving forward, and He Ran held onto the handrail as she walked through the carriages. There was no one in the locomotive either, and there were splatters of bl*od on the windshield, but no one was driving.

She looked through each carriage, and after some consideration, she decided to do what she was good at. Bending over, she pointed to an empty seat and said to the empty seat next to it, "Is someone sitting here?"

Of course, there was no response. She tried to sit down, but as soon as she bent her legs, the earpiece started broadcasting, and she apologized, saying that her eyesight wasn't good.

She went through each seat like this, and finally, in the sixth carriage, facing a broken glass, she found an "empty seat" and sat down. As she sat down, she felt the "person" next to her move away, so He Ran decided to stand up.

But she couldn't stand up, it felt like someone was sitting on her legs.

The earpiece remained silent, and He Ran tapped around the supply officer, then turned around to reach in front of her.

She touched an arm, then felt a waist. The other person seemed to feel itchy and moved slightly to avoid her touch. She gently moved her hand away and said, "Sorry."

Estimating roughly, the person sitting on her legs was most likely a girl, with slender arms and waist.

After sitting for a while, He Ran felt the train slowing down.

The outside lights flickered, and suddenly, something lightly touched He Ran's legs.

The door opened.

Perhaps they had arrived at their destination.

He Ran looked towards the door, where a person was standing.

Pollution level 88.

He Ran stood up, and the person boarded the train.

This person was wearing a black round-collared uniform and a tall black hat. He looked like a chef, holding a long fruit knife in his hand and wearing a pair of bl*od-stained leather shoes.

He Ran picked up her military knife and approached, but the passenger bypassed her, striding through the carriage and suddenly pulling into the air. The fruit knife stabbed down.

With a pull and a stab, bl*od flowed out of the air, spraying onto the carriage. Then, he released his left hand and pulled another clump of air, stabbing down. The air silently flowed with bl*od, and in an instant, the carriage turned into a river of bl*od.

He Ran continued walking forward in big strides, suddenly feeling someone pulling her. That hand grabbed her waistband, and without turning around, she stood still. Two hands grabbed onto her clothes, like playing a game of catching the chicken, crouching behind her.

The chef with the hat quickly filled the six carriages with bl*od, except for the area where He Ran stood and behind her.

The chef approached He Ran, and only then did she see his face, indifferent and average, the kind you would forget once you closed your eyes.

As the distance closed, he soon entered her attack range.

Before she could make a move, the chef put away his knife and gently clasped his hands together. "Lost guest, please follow me."

He Ran composed herself. "Okay."

The chef looked at her, seemingly inviting her to take a step first, but she was unwilling to expose the unseen entities behind her, so she stayed in place, waiting for the chef.

Finally, the chef showed a displeased expression. "This guest, as you know, there will be consequences for taking ingredients without permission."

He Ran paused for a moment, then used her military knife to pierce through the chef's head. Most of the bl*od splattered onto her body, and some splashed onto the floor as the chef fell down.

In the moment the chef was k!lled, the pollution level did not recover.

He Ran quickly turned her head, wielding her military knife as a shield. With a loud bang, she fired her gun straight ahead. Staring at the burst of bl*od from the air, she was momentarily stunned. She suddenly grasped her chest, took a deep breath, and calmed herself.

The bl*ody carriage was in chaos. He Ran crouched down to inspect the chef's body.

She changed into his uniform, but the shoes were too big, so she kept wearing her boots. From the chef's pocket, she found an access card that read: Cold Storage Room 1303. At the same time, she found an ID card proving that the owner of this uniform was not the chef but the kitchen storage supervisor: 0922.

She put away the military knife and picked up the fruit knife.

He Ran now looked quite peculiar. Wearing a slightly loose uniform, a chef's hat that had been crushed, military boots, a military knife on one side, a gun on the other, and a woman with severed limbs strapped to her back.

But based on what happened with 0922 just now, He Ran concluded that her abilities were effective on herself. As a "normal" pollutant, she could appear "normal" in the eyes of others.

The train stopped at this station and had not moved. She got off the train, and the train doors remained open.

The platform was relatively well-lit, and there was an elevator in front of her. A light bulb hung from the elevator, illuminating the area completely. She turned around to look at the train and suddenly realized something, lifting her head.

A sign was hanging directly above the train: Recycling Station.

She pressed the elevator button, and the doors opened, revealing a chilly cart inside.

There was nothing else around. She entered the elevator, which only had two buttons. One displayed "Recycling Station," and the other had a flashing number "13."

She glanced at the card again, grasped the cart, and pressed the button.

The elevator ascended slowly, and He Ran held the bl*od-stained fruit knife quietly, remaining alert. The elevator smoothly arrived at the thirteenth floor.

Right in front of the elevator was the poster of Li Haohao, balancing a wine glass with her toes.

He Ran pushed the cart out and walked out of the elevator, entering a long corridor.

A man dressed similarly to her was walking towards her. He Ran glanced at the door numbers along the corridor and calmly pushed the cart without looking away.

As they passed each other, the man turned his head and held onto her cart. "Where are the ingredients?"

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