What malicious intent could NPCs possibly have? C38.1

Hey, first of all, thanks for reading my lousy Machine Translation. To be honest, I’d really like it if you guys corrected the mistakes I made. But please speak nicely and politely. My heart is not strong enough to read your too-harsh comments. Have a nice day. 🙂

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

Chp38. part1

As the countdown began, everyone in the carriage fell silent.

After a full minute, someone finally spoke.

It was a bald man, his white shirt stained with blood. The few strands of hair he had left were long and should have been styled to cover his scalp, but now they hung limply beside his ears.

He said, “How about we draw lots? Whether we live or die, it’s all up to fate. If it’s your turn to get off, you can’t blame anyone.”

Drawing lots was a relatively mild suggestion.

The main reason was that the remaining people were no pushovers, and after the fight, everyone was exhausted and didn’t have the strength for another round.

A burly man sat beside him, his light-colored jacket stained with bloodstains.

He said, “What’s with the drawing? Overload just means overweight, right? Let’s throw these dead bodies out first.”

Several people who had fallen during the brawl still lay on the floor, motionless, whether from being beaten or trampled. The ticket inspector ignored them.

The bald man stood up and said to the man covered in blood, “Give me a hand?”

Together, they tossed a person who appeared dead out the door.

With them leading the way, several others stood up and joined in, throwing the bodies out of the carriage one by one.

When they had cleared most of them, the bald man approached a girl huddled motionlessly in a corner.

The man covered in blood followed, and just as he grabbed her arm, he suddenly said, “Wait, this one seems to be alive.”

He set the girl down and checked her nose. “She’s still breathing.”

The bald man refused to let go of her feet. “She’s in this state. Even if she lives, it won’t be for long. Let’s just dump her.”

Ning Ge couldn’t help but speak up as they prepared to discard a living person. “We don’t need to throw her out yet. If ‘overload’ really means being overweight, let’s get rid of everything else first.”

The bald man glanced around with disdain. “What stuff? What else is there to throw?”

The subway carriage was minimalist and modern, with virtually nothing to discard.

When players are pulled into a dungeon, the System filters their belongings, confiscating all bags.

There was nothing left to throw.

The high school student huddled in the corner suddenly stood up.

Beside him, on the metal railing that served as a partition, was a piece of plexiglass used as a divider.

The high school student kicked it, then kicked it again.

The plexiglass finally shattered and fell from the railing.

He picked it up and threw it out of the car.

The bald man was exasperated. “It’s just a small piece of plastic! How much weight could that possibly save?”

The high school student seemed to ignore them, diligently kicking off the remaining plastic pieces around the seat and throwing them out.

When he was done, he started kicking the seat itself.

There weren’t many seats in the carriage—just one row on each side. The hard plastic chairs were fixed tightly against the steel frame, their backs flush with the carriage walls.

The student kicked the seat with a resounding ‘clang’, but it didn’t budge an inch.

The subway seats were installed incredibly sturdily. Ning Ge, just watching, thought it was impossible to kick them off.

“Forget it,” someone said. “We’re wasting time. We’ll never get them off.”

Everyone looked up at the countdown timer on the display, ticking down second by second.

“Let’s draw lots instead,” the bald man suggested.

“Draw lots? With what?” someone scoffed. “And who’s making the lots? What if the person making them cheats?”

“Whoever wants to draw can draw,” a tall, burly man suddenly declared. “I’m not going down.”

The man covered in blood snorted. “So what’s your plan? Do we all die together?”

The strong man replied, “What else can we do? Everyone fights for themselves. The door’s open. If you’re strong enough, push someone else out.”

The bald man shrieked, “How can you be so unreasonable? Who are you trying to take down?”

The strong man glanced at him. “You insisted on drawing lots. If you couldn’t beat us fair and square, you’re trying to play dirty? You’re the one yapping the loudest, so if I’m going to take someone down, it’ll be you first.”

‘Clang!’ The high school student kicked the seat again, startling everyone.

Pei Han walked over.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

He crouched down, carefully examining the seat’s structure. Then he stepped back, found the right angle, and kicked the side of the seat.

Ning Ge thought she saw the seat shift slightly.

Pei Han crouched down again to inspect it, then stood up and kicked it again.

Owen came over to help.

The two of them kicked and kicked, back and forth, until the row of seats, bolted to the steel frame, finally buckled. One end came loose from the frame.

That made it easier. Pei Han delivered a few more violent kicks, dislodging the entire row. He grabbed them and threw them out the car door.

The bald man looked at the pile and muttered, “These chairs can barely hold one person’s weight, at most.”

Because Pei Han was dismantling the seats so violently, the high school student didn’t dare speak loudly.

The high school student retorted seriously, “At least it’s better than throwing someone out.”

It was indeed better than throwing someone out. Seeing this, others seemed to think it was a viable plan and began violently dismantling the seats themselves.

The clanging and crashing continued relentlessly.

With everyone busy working and no longer contemplating throwing people out, Ning Ge approached and meticulously inspected the entire carriage from end to end.

The carriage was normal, with no signs of anything unusual.

Only in a corner, beneath a seat, was there a dark space where something seemed to be stuffed. It was visible if you lay down on the floor.

Ning Ge reached in and pulled out a black shoulder bag.

The bag was full of miscellaneous items, various tools and supplies, much like a mechanic’s tool kit, complete with wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers, and more.

The contents could be used as weapons, but they had a better purpose.

One of the people dismantling seats noticed and shouted, “A bag? What good stuff did you find?”

Ning Ge ignored them, took the shoulder bag, and handed it to Pei Han.

Pei Han glanced at the tools and smiled.

With these tools, they could not only easily remove the seats but also take down the steel frames beneath them.

The set of tools was provided by the dungeon. The screwdrivers and wrenches were custom-made for this particular set of seats, their specifications fitting perfectly.

Pei Han selected a few people he deemed reliable, distributed the tools, and they all set to work. The disassembly process immediately sped up.

The steel frames were much heavier than the seats.

One by one, the steel frames and smashed-up seats were tossed down.

Everyone saw hope. The bickering stopped, and they busied themselves with the task, working with renewed vigor. Just as they were halfway through, the broadcast suddenly crackled to life.

This time, it wasn’t the sweet, melodic voice announcing the next station, but a burst of static. After a moment, a man’s voice emerged.

“Attention all carriages,” he said.

Ning Ge’s head snapped up.

It was her brother.

Or rather, it was Lu Juan’s voice. The tone was identical, even the intonation.

In Ning Ge’s memory, her brother had always been infinitely gentle and patient. Even when she caused the biggest messes, he wouldn’t bat an eye. He would calmly point out her mistakes and then punish her by taking away her internet access for a week, leaving her too stunned to even cry.

Lu Juan’s voice was equally deep and gentle, but the tenderness was laced with obvious mockery.

“This is the rear carriage’s broadcast,” he said. “Each corner of every carriage hides a tool kit. You can use it to bash someone’s head in, or to dismantle the seats. Throwing away the seats will reduce the number of people you have to throw out. I recommend dismantling the seats—they don’t fight back, which is much more convenient than throwing people.”

Pei Han murmured, “Lu Juan.”

Lu Juan was also in this instance. Not only was he here, but he had somehow found the location of the rear carriage’s broadcast and sent a warning to everyone on the subway.

Owen laughed. “Lu Juan? He’s an Alpha. He could have seen you enter this dungeon but still followed you—what’s that about? And since when has he been so kind? Sneaking to the broadcast room to warn everyone? Has the sun risen in the west?”

Pei Han glanced at Ning Ge but said nothing.

When the seats and steel frames were mostly dismantled, someone pointed at the display screen and shouted, “Look! Look!”

The countdown timer vanished, replaced by a line of text:

[This car’s overload condition has been cleared.]

They had passed.

The subway remained stationary, likely because the problems in the other carriages hadn’t been resolved yet.

Everyone in their carriage sat down to rest, falling silent as they collectively looked toward the glass doors of the carriages ahead and behind.

From the front carriage came a series of metallic clanging sounds, which quickly faded away, suggesting they had also completed the work of dismantling the seats and steel frames. The fewer people left in that carriage meant fewer seats to remove.

The rear carriage, however, was filled with chaos.

As their carriage grew quiet, they could hear increasingly loud arguments and curses erupting from the rear. Shadows flickered through the glass, as if a brawl were underway.

Pei Han walked to the connecting door between their carriage and the rear one and twisted the handle. The door was locked and wouldn’t budge.

Ning Ge noticed Pei Han glancing down at his bracelet. She looked at hers as well, mentally calculating that the thirty-minute countdown for each carriage was about to end.

The group in the rear carriage was fighting instead of dismantling seats, and they had already missed their chance.

‘It’s too late.’

Pei Han didn’t look back toward the rear carriage. He retreated and returned to Ning Ge’s side. He casually tossed the wrench in his hand into his open bag with a metallic clang.

The others still clutched the screwdrivers and wrenches they’d used to make tools, hiding them like treasures and showing no intention of returning them to their bags. Pei Han said nothing.

Ning Ge knew he didn’t need such things. Even bare-handed, he could easily handle this group of sedentary, novice players.

Finally, a series of ding-dong chimes sounded over the intercom, followed by a soft female voice:

“All passengers in still-overloaded carriages, please disembark and transfer to another train. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Ning Ge saw another group of Masked Men board the adjacent carriage. Through the small glass window in the door, he couldn’t tell how many there were, but they were all tall and burly, dragging people away on sight.

Screams erupted from that carriage, but they quickly subsided into silence.

The carriage was completely emptied.

The subway remained stopped for a while longer, likely waiting for the Masked Men to deal with the remaining overloaded carriages.

After several minutes, the doors slowly closed, and the subwaylurched forward again, continuing its journey into the darkness.

Another chime sounded, and the female voice announced: “This train’s final stop is Loop Line Station. Next stop: Xingwangli station.”

Ning Ge longed to hear Lu Juan’s voice again, but he didn’t know where he’d gone, and he didn’t speak over the intercom again.

The subway continued its journey, its destination unknown.

After only a short while, the door between the carriages suddenly slid open on its own.

The carriage ahead was still half-full, people sitting on the floor, their faces pale with fear as they stared at the open doorway.

The carriage behind was now completely empty, not a soul in sight.

They hadn’t dismantled the seats after all.

The seats were all intact, but the black shoulder bag had been found, tossed aside. Its mouth was open, and several wrenches and screwdrivers lay scattered on the floor, stained with blood.

The carriage, full of people when the subwaydeparted, was now completely empty. Just as Lu Juan had announced over the intercom, they had taken the tools for other purposes.

“The door’s open over there—it’s empty. Should we go?” someone whispered.

“That carriage didn’t have its seats dismantled. If we go over there, won’t we overload it and get cleared out?”

The reasoning was sound, and everyone hesitated to move.

While they were watching, Pei Han, Ning Ge, and Owen had already headed toward the empty carriage at the back.

Since the door was open, and they had no idea what would happen next anyway, they might as well explore.

Moreover, like Pei Han, Ning Ge felt they should head toward the rear of the train, toward the tail.

She had a strange intuition that Lu Juan’s broadcast wasn’t meant for everyone, but specifically for her.

The feeling came without reason, utterly inexplicable.

He had deliberately emphasized “This is the tail-end broadcast,” and Ning Ge took it as a hint, a suggestion to move toward the rear.

It was her brother speaking, and Ning Ge couldn’t resist the gentle tone of his voice.

The entire carriage stared at the group, except for the high school student. He stood up from his seat and silently followed behind them.

Pei Han didn’t object, allowing the student to trail along as they entered the next carriage.

The automatic door between the carriages slid open for only a few seconds before closing again.

As soon as they entered the new carriage, Pei Han picked up a wrench lying on the floor and struck the glass panel of the door between the carriages.

With a loud clang, the glass remained completely still.

Hai guys, it will be nice if you support our website~ so we can extend the term of web hosting + domain next year. 🙂