Song Zang was a little disappointed. Before boarding, he had been eagerly looking forward to trying airplane food.
He had finally gotten the chance, only to find that even the first-class meal was this sketchy.
Then again, this was hardly a normal airline.
Self-heating hotpots were allowed onboard, temporary identification required nothing more than a finger-prick blood sample, Xiao Li Li’s emergency hammer had passed through security without being confiscated, and the subway attendant had openly beaten people to death with a baton in front of a crowd… Now they were even passing off human blood as caviar.
The mutating fish eggs continued running wild inside him, while Song Zang pursed his lips in disappointment.
The creature finally lost patience. Like a little snake, the pale blue flames shot up his wrist, slipped beneath his thin white shirt in the blink of an eye, and raced along his collarbone and the side of his neck. They pressed themselves against Song Zang’s warm lips and rubbed back and forth.
Song Zang looked alarmed, every inch the helpless victim. To hide his reaction, he raised his glass and took a sip of milk.
His damp lips parted slightly. In the next instant, the blue flame sprang forward like an arrow released from a bow and eagerly rushed into his mouth.
At the same time, the bizarre creatures inside Song Zang’s stomach bared their sharp teeth and tried to tear into his flesh… only to freeze one after another, stiff with confusion.
This seemingly frail human body was simply too tough for them to bite through.
Not only that, it could even digest and devour them in return.
The fish eggs were eaten away by stomach acid, miserably leaking blood-red fluid. Had the hot milk not slowed the process, they would have died before they could mutate.
【You consumed Human-Faced Fish Pearls. Resistance +10.】
【Current Resistance: ?】
Song Zang stared blankly at the dark-blue notification before him, unable to make sense of it.
Digesting these monsters could actually make him stronger?
Did that mean that as long as he survived, eating other strange things could strengthen him too?
Song Zang was eager to experiment, but the angrily blazing blue flame gave him no chance.
The creature took care of the rest.
Anything harmful inside him was burned away without a trace.
His stomach felt warm and comfortable. Song Zang narrowed his eyes contentedly, as though he were soaking in a hot spring.
Forget it. His Resistance was already listed as a question mark, so whether it increased hardly mattered. The creature could do whatever it pleased.
Once he sensed that the creature had nearly finished, Song Zang softly said, “Sister Qiu, Tianhai City probably isn’t near the coast, right? The seafood isn’t fresh at all. It tastes awful. You’d better not eat any of it.”
Qiu Shuang paused. Remembering that Song Zang had said he lived in Hai City and had probably eaten far more seafood than she had, she did not think too deeply about it. “Oh. Then I’ll just have some steak.”
Xie Chun Ye, however, gave Song Zang a meaningful look. He said nothing and turned to feed Ning Si Si with a spoon.
The cabin fell briefly quiet until Xiao Li Li suddenly asked, “By the way, where is our flight actually going?”
“Liuhe,” Qiu Shuang answered without thinking.
“Wait. Where exactly is Liuhe?” Xie Chun Ye paused midway through feeding Ning Si Si.
“I-I don’t know…”
Qiu Shuang suddenly looked confused and turned to Lin Wen Jing for help.
Lin Wen Jing had not eaten much. She finished the red wine she had bought before boarding and promptly opened a second bottle.
She seemed to have an excellent alcohol tolerance. Calmly lowering her eyes, she poured herself another glass and explained the reason for Qiu Shuang’s confusion. “In other words, none of us investigated anything beyond Tianhai City. When we bought the tickets, we completely ignored where our destination was, as though Liuhe City had always existed and was somewhere we could naturally reach.”
In reality, however, it was difficult to say whether such a place existed at all.
“I overlooked that too.” Xie Chun Ye frowned. “My mistake.”
With that, he turned on the screen in front of his seat and skillfully opened the flight map, intending to see where their journey was taking them.
【Loading…】
Two minutes passed, but it still refused to load.
There was nothing wrong with the aircraft’s network. Movies, videos, and every other entertainment service worked normally. Only the flight map would not open.
Qiu Shuang stared at the endlessly spinning loading icon as cold sweat broke out across her body. “Then what do we do next…?”
“Eat, drink, have fun, stay safe, and deal with problems as they come.”
Xiao Li Li answered as though it were obvious.
She took a sip of iced cola, picked up her spoon, and began eating her second sundae of the day, looking entirely at ease as she dug in.
Her calm demeanor helped Qiu Shuang relax, and Qiu Shuang strongly approved of her attitude toward life. “That makes sense. Life is short. I’m going to eat!”
With that, she picked up the menu and enthusiastically began choosing an afternoon-tea set.
Song Zang did not join the discussion or offer any opinion.
Electronic devices aboard an airplane and supposedly common geographical knowledge alike were both beyond him.
Had Lin Wen Jing not pointed out that Liuhe City did not exist in the real world, Song Zang would merely have assumed that he was ignorant.
He secretly watched how Xie Chun Ye operated the screen, then selected a romance film for himself.
Mm. He did not understand much of it.
Song Zang yawned softly and turned toward the bubbling cup of cola on Xiao Li Li’s table beside him.
He suddenly felt an intense urge to do something.
The air-conditioning aboard the plane was running at full blast, leaving his mouth dry. Meanwhile, the lovers tangled together in the film made him feel inexplicably uncomfortable.
Song Zang’s vitality was extraordinarily tenacious. He had once gone months with barely anything to eat and still remained perfectly lively. It was rare for him to experience this kind of discomfort.
His instincts told him that something was wrong. He needed to get rid of the strange sensation as quickly as possible.
Creak—
Clatter—
A flight attendant pushed the service cart back from economy class.
Her steps were slow, and the heavy wheels repeatedly scraped across the floor.
“The air-conditioning is so strong. I’m really thirsty,” Song Zang muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear. Then he raised his hand toward the flight attendant. “Excuse me, I’d like a cola.”
Qiu Shuang lifted her head from the menu she was still studying. “Same here!”
Ning Si Si’s soft voice immediately followed as she copied her. “Same here!”
“…Mm. We’ll take two as well.” Xie Chun Ye smiled helplessly, clearly indulging Ning Si Si.
In the end, everyone ordered iced cola almost without hesitation.
Song Zang propped his chin on one hand and opened his status panel.
【Special Title: Mask (68/100)】
He still had some distance to go before the title advanced, but its effects were already extremely useful.
—The air-conditioning was strong, which made people thirsty. Cola would be perfect for relieving it.
Song Zang had merely made an offhand remark, yet everyone instinctively agreed with him.
Combined with their inexplicably heightened appetites, he no longer needed to encourage them any further to make them drink the same beverage.
Naturally, there was something slightly wrong with the cola on the service cart, though Song Zang could not identify what.
Before today, Song Zang had never drunk cola.
He genuinely did not know whether the cola from the fast-food restaurant or the one aboard the plane was supposed to taste authentic.
At present, anything with a reddish tint stirred a trace of curiosity in him. He suspected red was the true dominant color of this instance.
Narrowing his eyes, he drank the cola and felt the carbonated bubbles dancing across his tongue. It was sweet, yet carried an almost imperceptible bitterness.
The strange discomfort gradually eased, and the answer to his question soon presented itself.
“Something’s wrong. Why does it taste a little bitter…” Lin Wen Jing did not even have time to finish speaking.
After drinking the cola, all six members of their group in first class appeared to lose consciousness at once.
At least, that was how it looked.
Creak—creak—
Amid the deathly silence, the familiar sound of the service cart returned.
At the same time, a much heavier dragging noise followed behind it.
A nauseating smell of blood and dampness filled the air.
High heels stepped across the sticky floor, while the vibration of the aircraft engines seemed to gradually fade away.
Song Zang’s breathing remained steady, and he did not open his eyes.
He silently listened to the others’ breathing. After a while, he realized that Xie Chun Ye had not immediately lost consciousness either. Like Song Zang, he was obediently pretending to be asleep.
Xie Chun Ye was becoming more cautious by the minute.
Perhaps the drug in the cola was too weak to affect him in the first place, but his timing was impeccable. Even Song Zang had to admit he could not have done it better.
Song Zang squeezed his eyes shut more tightly and rested his left hand lightly over his stomach. The pale blue flame invisible to everyone else radiated a faint warmth.
Because they had remained still for too long, a tiny, nearly imperceptible hole was burned into the hem of Song Zang’s shirt.
The dancing blue flame suddenly stiffened. Trembling, they changed shape and transformed into a large sphere of water before pressing themselves against Song Zang again.
Song Zang: …
So its true form was not actually fire?
The warm ball of water wrapped around his waist and abdomen. It was soft and remarkably comfortable.
This was not a good time to investigate, so Song Zang simply pretended to know nothing. He closed his eyes, relaxed, and decided to take advantage of the situation to sleep.
His instincts told him that if he stayed awake, he might end up in even greater danger.
The sudden sense of crisis stabbed at his mind. Song Zang immediately hugged the water ball tightly and forced himself to fall asleep at once.
In any case, even if he lay there sleeping like the dead, an ordinary person still would not be able to kill him.
Even hacking repeatedly at his neck with a knife would be useless.
Besides, Xie Chun Ye had not lost consciousness. If the sky fell, there was still someone taller to hold it up…
He dreamed.
In the dream, Xiao Bai had not died and followed him around, panting happily.
Song Zang knew perfectly well that he was dreaming, but he had no intention of waking too quickly. Silently counting how long the dream lasted, he curved his lips faintly and lifted Xiao Bai—who appeared even larger than him—with one arm.
He and Xiao Bai played fetch across a vast grassland.
Song Zang had learned the game from Uncle Liu. Unfortunately, Xiao Bai had only played it a few times in the real world.
After playing with Xiao Bai three thousand five hundred and twenty-four times, Song Zang was startled awake by a sudden, intensified sensation of weightlessness.
“The plane—the plane is falling!”
Qiu Shuang’s terrified sleep-talking rang out, and her shout jolted everyone awake.
The good news was that the plane was not falling.
The bad news… was that they did not seem to be aboard the plane at all.
The frightened whispers of the surrounding travelers sounded both familiar and strange.
Ding–dong—
“This is Terminal 3.”
The six of them sat side by side aboard the airport subway, staring at one another.
Ning Si Si crawled out of Xie Chun Ye’s arms and slowly yawned, looking completely lost.
Lin Wen Jing had already reacted quickly enough to cover Qiu Shuang’s mouth.
Qiu Shuang struggled briefly in the terror left by her nightmare. Then she caught the familiar scent of body wash and soon calmed down with a few muffled whimpers.
Beside her, Xiao Li Li was not panicked in the slightest. Instead, she wore the unmistakable expression of someone who had just found a new couple to ship and waggled her eyebrows at Lin Wen Jing.
Lin Wen Jing merely smiled calmly without revealing the slightest flaw.
Song Zang, seated at the end of the row, was equally quiet. At exactly the right moment, he curled in on himself and clutched the handrail beside him.
His eyes reddened on command.
Whether anyone was watching or not, he had to keep his pitiful act convincing.
“My… my child…”
Everything aboard the subway was exactly the same as before, including the travelers seated nearby.
—Except for the disheveled middle-aged woman murmuring repeatedly about her “child.”
She stared fixedly at the severed rear of the train, glaring almost hatefully at the surging dark-red tide.
Amid the silence, her teeth ground together so violently that they seemed close to breaking. She desperately suppressed the screams, sobs, and furious roars rising in her throat.
An indescribable sense of horror and absurdity spread through everyone’s hearts.
Fearing that she would shout and drag innocent people into danger, everyone silently backed away, creating an empty circle around her.
Qiu Shuang’s eyes widened. Without drawing attention, she shrank farther into Lin Wen Jing’s arms and whispered, “Jing Jing, I’m not mistaken, am I? She’s the woman we met in the restroom, right?”
“Mm. That’s her.”
“When we ran into this carriage last time, I don’t remember seeing her.” Qiu Shuang was deeply confused.
“Correct. She definitely wasn’t here before. Otherwise, I would have remembered her face.” Xie Chun Ye studied the woman carefully before confirming Qiu Shuang’s impression.
“Then how did her child die?”
“Why have we come back?”
“Could it be… Holy shit, did her blood sacrifice actually succeed? But she never boarded the plane.”
Lin Wen Jing patiently listened to Qiu Shuang before giving her a meaningful look. “There is more than one way to get onto a plane. Perhaps she hid in the cargo hold, just as you once did.”
Qiu Shuang choked and found herself unable to argue.
“To stop this from happening over and over again, we should simply kill her first.” Lin Wen Jing suddenly smiled. “Brother Xie, what do you think?”
“Agreed.”
The two exchanged a glance and immediately arrived at the most efficient solution.
—Provoke her and let the writhing blood clots kill her.
Xie Chun Ye covered Ning Si Si’s ears, then looked at Song Zang. “Song Zang, stop hiding. You’re closest in age to her son. Go mock her a little.”
Song Zang, who had secretly been playing with the water ball, hurriedly sat upright.
“O-Okay…”
His face slightly pale, Song Zang did not dare refuse Xie Chun Ye’s request. He unsteadily approached the middle-aged woman on the verge of collapse.
“What do you want?” The woman whipped her head around, her bloodshot eyes sharp as a hawk’s.
Song Zang trembled in fright. Lowering his eyes, his long lashes quivered as he said in a soft, gentle voice, “You’re so pitiful.”
The woman burned with fury and glared at him viciously. “What do you mean? Do you want to die?”
“If I were him, I wouldn’t want to be your son either.” Song Zang lowered his head and bit his lip, letting out a barely audible laugh. “How embarrassing.”
“The Earth Mother Goddess won’t spare you. The Earth Mother won’t…”
The slender young man trembled all over. His soft black hair fell across his forehead, concealing his frightened, uneasy eyes.
Song Zang clutched the hem of his shirt, his knuckles whitening, and quietly edged backward beneath the woman’s sharp, hateful stare.
Everyone could see how frightened he was. Only the middle-aged woman was so furious that she struggled to breathe, repeatedly chanting the words “Earth Mother.”
“Your son was killed, yet you couldn’t even do something as simple as call the police and have the murderer arrested. All you know how to do is indulge in superstition all day long.” Song Zang raised his gaze slightly, mockery tugging at his lips. “Isn’t that embarrassing enough?”
The effect of his Special Title was remarkably useful. The middle-aged woman froze, then suddenly burst into tears.
“Fine! Fine! I begged the Earth Mother Goddess for your sake, and you still dare call me an embarrassment? Who says I don’t know how to call the police? I’ll call them and have you arrested right now!”
Crying and shouting, she raised her phone and dialed 110 in front of everyone aboard the train.
The moment the call connected, Xie Chun Ye rose and violently yanked Song Zang backward by the collar.
Song Zang lost his balance and nearly fell onto the floor. Then everything changed.
Squish—
The middle-aged woman’s phone shattered into pieces, while she herself did not even have time to release a second scream.
Her body—or rather, her flesh—began dissolving before everyone’s eyes, like lava spreading across snow, accompanied by a strange sizzling sound.
Within moments, nothing remained on the floor except the woman’s clothing, luggage, and layer upon layer of flesh-colored human skin.
The subway seemed to accelerate, quickly leaving the surging sea of blood far behind.
It appeared to be more than an ordinary means of transportation. It was a carnivorous steel monster that had gained additional energy after devouring a woman who violated the rules.
Even her bones had been absorbed without leaving a trace.
“Good performance.”
Xie Chun Ye pressed the trembling Song Zang back into his seat and offered him a rare compliment.
Song Zang did not raise his head. He kept it lowered and silently shed tears, as though his courage had been completely shattered.
“It’s all right, it’s all right. Song Zang, you were seriously amazing just now.” Qiu Shuang gently patted his shoulder and finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness Big Sister Attendant gave us the answer in advance and saved our miserable lives.”
“Thank you.”
Song Zang’s damp eyelashes fluttered twice as he answered with a sob.
【Special Title: Mask (85/100)】
【Optional Mission: Uncover the truth concealed behind Tianhai City. (50%)】
Mm. The subway really was the perfect place to farm experience.
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