Since Lin Sanjiu boarded the train from Kisaragi Station, this was the first time she had encountered such a situation. There was a stale silence around them. Lin Sanjiu could even hear the soft breathing sounds from the siblings very clearly. Occasionally, they would hear a pop from the fluorescent lights above them. In such silence, that sound rang out like a thunderclap. They could see it was very dark outside from the train windows. They could also see a few indistinct white silhouettes. There wasn't a train station outside, and there wasn't even any scenery. There wasn't even a glimmer of light outside. It was so dark that the darkness swallowed the light shining from the train's interior. The train had suddenly stopped while it was traveling through a tunnel.
The three people looked at each other, feeling slightly at a loss.
"This... We haven't reached the next station, right?" Rena mumbled as she stood up and looked at the train route map, feeling puzzled.
Even though the train route map changed constantly, one thing was fixed. The very next station that the train would stop would never change. Logically speaking, the train should stop at Beluga Ocean Park Station.
Lin Sanjiu wrote: HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING BEFORE? As her body was now the color of raw flesh and organs, the words that she formed in the air were red and bloody. It was quite a terrifying sight.
"No," Reno answered hesitantly. "There isn't much information about Kisaragi Station. Collating the experiences of others who had been to this world, we created our strategy to survive here. No one ever mentioned that the train would stop suddenly."
'Collating the experiences of others who had been to this world?' An image of the siblings surrounded by people immediately appeared in Lin Sanjiu's mind. A sudden thought flashed through her mind, 'If they can mobilize resources, the Progressor Alliance must be very powerful.'
However, she told herself that it was not the time to think about that. Chasing away her wild thoughts, Lin Sanjiu stood up and looked around. Even though Rena was usually very afraid of Lin Sanjiu because of her appearance, when push came to shove, Rena would still follow her obediently. Rena reached out to a window and knocked on it. Seeing no reaction from anything outside the train, she asked, "Since we said we wanted to alight and the train stopped, maybe we should get down now?"
Even though Rena said those words to comfort herself, considering the situation, they didn't seem to have any other choice.
"It is alright. We can see all the duoluozhongs in Kisaragi Station, so it won't be dangerous," Reno said to his sister encouragingly. However, nobody knew who he was trying to comfort.
When Lin Sanjiu heard their conversation, she couldn't help sighing. Even though the siblings' had recovered and were now wearing their backup clothes (the crumpled clothes they were now wearing had been squished in Reno's backpack all along), there was one thing they all knew in their hearts. The dark matter had already badly corrupted the siblings when they were in the residential building.
Lin Sanjiu was killed when a duoluozhong ambushed her after she had been almost fully consumed by dark matter. With her around to watch out for them and the kids being able to see the spirits around, it was unlikely that they would be ambushed. However, she did not know what would happen if the kids risked walking around with their almost fully corrupted bodies. Neither of them knew what to watch out for.
From the information that the siblings had gathered, no one mentioned this point. It wasn't anything strange. If anything were to happen to a person who had been corrupted by dark matter, they would most likely die. Naturally, they won't be able to return to Red Nautilus to provide this information.
As the siblings headed toward the door, Lin Sanjiu wrote hurriedly: BOTH OF YOU MUST BE VERY CAREFUL
The bloodied words, which should be full of concern, floated in midair. When Rena saw them, she couldn't help turning her head away.
"Got it," Reno said uncaringly. "If anyone dares to provoke me... Ha!"
Reno had just recovered from his wounds and still had scabs all over his body, but he had already started displaying his youthful overconfidence.
'How nice to be young,' Lin Sanjiu thought as she stood aside while the siblings worked together to pry open the train door so they could go out in a single file. The light from the train was sufficient for them to see the train tracks and tunnel walls. Wanting to pull her weight, Lin Sanjiu went outside first. She cautiously circled the surroundings of the train twice. Noticing nothing unusual, she returned to the train to signal for the siblings.
The tunnel was very quiet and dark. They could see the light gradually fading into deep darkness as they looked toward the front of the train. Without the dim light from the windows of the train, they wouldn't even be able to see the train's first carriage. They could see that the front lights of the train were not switched on; it was as if the train was now an empty shell.
"Which direction should we take?" Rena looked around anxiously. From the looks of it, it didn't matter which direction they chose. Using rock-paper scissors, the siblings decided to head toward the train's last carriage.
"The train stopped not long after we entered this tunnel. Considering that, we should be able to get out of this tunnel after we walk for a short distance!" Reno justified.
Since they came to this world, this was the first time things had gone as expected. After they walked on the tracks for over ten minutes, the tunnel gradually became brighter. "What did I say?!" Reno, who had been leading the team, exclaimed. When he saw the light at the end of the tunnel, he turned and shouted, "After we get out of here, we can go wherever we want!"
Rena was most annoyed by her brother's cockiness. She answered him half-heartedly and picked up her pace. "Come on! Move faster! It's so dark here," Rena called out to Lin Sanjiu, who was at the back of their team.
However, Lin Sanjiu suddenly stopped. Lin Sanjiu could control the scanning range of her Higher Consciousness. At max, her scanning range was a few kilometers wide, and she could shrink it down to about a radius of ten meters. Naturally, Lin Sanjiu could see the areas the siblings couldn't see in her mind. Lin Sanjiu watched the image in her mind again. When she confirmed that she hadn't made a mistake, she grabbed a rock and threw it at the train track.
A bright, loud sound resonated through the tunnel. The siblings immediately stopped as they turned behind cautiously. When they saw Lin Sanjiu holding another rock, they were relieved but couldn't help feeling somewhat confused.
"Why are you stopping?" Rena asked.
With half her body made of muscles and half organs, Lin Sanjiu pointed her red arm straight ahead and wrote: THERE IS SOMEONE THERE.