[The Train is about to arrive. This Station type—Doomsday, Difficulty Level 3]
[Stoppage time: 2 hours]
When the announcement sounded, Mu Bai was already fully dressed, and her watch was on her wrist.
Ye Yuan sat on the edge of the bed, using a leather cord cut from her quiver to try and tie the Special Dagger to her thigh, fixing it so she could draw the dagger from its sheath at a moment’s notice.
Once fixed, Ye Yuan stood up and smoothed the pleated skirt of her school uniform.
The hem perfectly concealed the existence of the Special Dagger.
This was a little trick of Ye Yuan’s.
The Compound Crossbow couldn’t be hidden.
If they encountered players with ill intentions, the crossbow’s long-range attack was effectively out in the open.
In case the threat of the crossbow was neutralized by a sneak attack or something similar, the hidden Special Dagger could serve as a killing blow.
And since Ye Yuan had the dagger, the axe remained permanently in Mu Bai’s hands, providing Mu Bai with a bit of self-defense capability.
Learning that this was a Level 3 Doomsday Station, both looked solemn, prepared for a hard battle.
What finally appeared outside The Train was a pitch-black Shopping Mall.
Seeing this scene, Mu Bai simply froze.
Visibility was too poor, and it was a Doomsday Station.
What if she was accidentally bitten by a Zombie hiding in the dark?
Seeing this, Ye Yuan also hesitated about whether or not to go out.
The Train doors opened, and something completely unexpected happened.
Even though the Light Screen expanded in an instant, a bone-chilling wind still poured directly into the car, making both Mu Bai and Ye Yuan shudder.
So cold!
Fortunately, the fully expanded Light Screen sealed the doorway, blocking the subsequent cold wind.
Outside the door, the howling of the wind outside the building could be heard faintly.
This is damn well Level 3?
Mu Bai went numb.
At this temperature, given her constitution, she wouldn’t last a few minutes outside; her life would probably end right then and there.
Not only was there low temperature, but the building’s layout was complex, the map was almost completely black without visibility, and there might be Zombies jumping out from time to time?
How were they supposed to play this!
Ye Yuan, seeing this, also began to hesitate about whether to explore the Station.
However, she noticed that although it was dark outside, it wasn’t completely devoid of light.
To see further, she needed to get away from the influence of the lights.
Under Mu Bai’s questioning gaze, Ye Yuan turned off the electric lights inside the car.
Their vision briefly fell into darkness.
Mu Bai understood Ye Yuan’s intention.
After adapting for a short while, she approached the door and could faintly see the scenery outside.
In the distance was the Shopping Mall entrance, indicating they were on the first floor.
Across two layers of glass doors, wind and snow raged outside.
Near the entrance, judging by the counter structures, there should be digital products, jewelry shops, and similar stores.
And near The Train… were all stalls selling discounted clothing.
Thanks to some light coming through the glass skylights in the ceiling, although the first floor of the Shopping Mall wasn’t completely visible, the basic situation was in sight.
The counters and clothes racks were very neat, and the floor even had a faint reflection.
Not a single person was in sight, not even the shadow of a humanoid creature.
From a simple observation, it didn’t look like things were in chaos.
Ordinarily, would a Shopping Mall in a Zombie Apocalypse be this tidy?
Even if the outbreak phase had long passed and there were perhaps no people or Zombies left in the mall, it should be a mess, perhaps even littered with remains.
Mu Bai keenly felt something was wrong.
Perhaps she had made an error of empiricism; maybe this wasn’t a Zombie Apocalypse?
Who said a Doomsday Station could only be a Zombie Apocalypse?
“Yeyuan, turn the lights back on for a moment. I have an idea I want to verify.”
Mu Bai pondered.
Ye Yuan didn’t say a word; the next second, the lights in the car flickered on again.
With the help of the light shining out from the car, Mu Bai could faintly see the banners and billboards displayed on the surrounding stalls.
“Off-season promotion…”
Mu Bai felt something was off.
Most of the clothes hanging on the racks were thick outer garments, including down jackets, wool coats, and so on.
These should be worn in winter.
Wasn’t it snowing heavily outside?
Ye Yuan waited quietly for Mu Bai to think.
Since the last Doomsday Station, she felt that Mu Bai’s brain was very useful, almost inconsistent with her appearance and temperament.
Since returning to The Train from that Level 2 Doomsday Station, Ye Yuan had looked through the Chat Room records and found that someone had indeed been infected by drinking water from the Doomsday Station.
After starving for several days, Ye Yuan’s own brain had difficulty functioning, yet the other girl could still notice the risks in the details.
This showed that, excluding stats and innate talents, Mu Bai was more likely to survive in the Survival Game than she was.
Therefore, Ye Yuan trusted Mu Bai’s judgment in her heart.
“Do you think it’s possible that this Station isn’t a Zombie Apocalypse…”
Mu Bai voiced her suspicion.
All signs pointed to the fact that the people in this Shopping Mall had left in an orderly fashion.
At least, the first-floor hall hadn’t experienced any chaos.
So, was there a scenario that both fit the Doomsday Station type and could lock down people’s movements, making it impossible for the Shopping Mall to operate normally?
Extreme Cold Apocalypse!
This also happened to correspond with all the other clues.
“You stay on The Train first. I’ll go out and find some clothes… You shouldn’t be able to withstand the temperature outside.”
Ye Yuan directly accepted Mu Bai’s inference and took the first step out of The Train.
The moment she left the protection of the Light Screen, Ye Yuan felt an uncontrollable urge to shiver.
In the low temperature, every movement stirred a wind that felt like a knife cutting into her body.
This temperature… must be at least thirty degrees below zero.
And this was indoors!
With the blizzard outside, it was hard to imagine how low the temperature had dropped.
Although they were only exploring inside the Shopping Mall, at over thirty degrees below zero, one could easily suffer frostbite without adequate warmth.
Ye Yuan didn’t know which clothes were the warmest, so she headed straight for the down jacket area, intending to go and return as quickly as possible.
***
The fifth floor of the Shopping Mall—the top floor.
A Buzz-cut Man wearing a fur coat stepped out of a car, gritting his teeth.
Before being selected for the Survival Game, he was a scoundrel.
On The Train, he was also a coward, never once leaving his car.
He could have lived off his teammates, but for some reason, just the day before, a teammate had suddenly developed murderous intent toward him.
Coincidentally, last night’s Station was a Level 3 Weird Station.
His teammate had forcibly dragged him out of The Train, wanting to push him into the Hotel Building.
During his struggle, the teammate actually ended up entering the hotel first.
A horrific scene occurred.
His teammate somehow violated some taboo and was skinned alive by a Hotel Waiter, dying in agonizing pain in front of the hotel.
He had managed to run back to The Train while his teammate was being tortured and actually survived.
After this ordeal, he was even more terrified of the dangers within the Stations, but there was no food on The Train.
He had been hungry for a whole day.
He couldn’t take it anymore.
The Buzz-cut Man slowly wandered near The Train and came to the edge of the glass railing on the fifth floor, looking down.
Suddenly, a light flickered somewhere on the first floor.
It was a train, though for some reason, it was larger and longer than his own.
Inside the car, there seemed to be… two little girls?
Would you like me to describe the Buzz-cut Man’s next move or switch back to Ye Yuan’s search for clothing?
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