The street was in chaos, filled with both tourists and locals who had fled from the comrcial district, the hotels in Moonlight Bay on the west side, and the city center. Once one person started looting, it quickly spiraled out of control, leading to countless others following suit. Argunts turned into fights, and desperation turned into violence.
So people struck others in their panic, then ran away in fear. Others were shoved to the ground, losing their hard-earned supplies as they were snatched away by soone else.
Most of the vehicles on Paradise Island were open-sided electric sightseeing carts, which offered no protection at all. Not only were they easy targets for the Blood People, but even a regular person running fast enough could jump aboard.
In contrast, fully enclosed vehicles—like the electric car the three of them were driving—beca the safest option.
People ran alongside their car, pounding on the windows and doors, shouting that they had a boat and begging to be taken to the port. So even promised they could take them along if they helped them escape.
The group ignored them. Fortunately, this road was wide enough to maneuver. Though it was clogged with people and cars, Ya Tong skillfully weaved through the ss, accelerating in an S-shaped pattern to get out of the area.
As they continued, the crowd thinned out, and there were fewer shops around. But they could still see people running south—so sobbing, so bleeding, looking like they had just survived a brutal struggle.
Unlike the masses fleeing south, almost no one was heading north like them.
When they reached the city center, they imdiately understood why. The Blood People were everywhere.
So clung to the sides of buildings, repeatedly smashing windows while the trapped residents inside scrambled backward. The glass cracked under the relentless pounding, and the grotesque creatures squeezed their heads through the openings. With nowhere else to go, the people inside were forced to flee into the streets.
Others leaped onto moving sightseeing carts. A Blood Person wrapped its elongated, blood-covered arms around a passenger’s neck, yanking them off the vehicle while their companions desperately held on, trying to save them.
Along the sidewalks, Blood People prowled in and out of storefronts, grinning grotesquely at the sheer terror they caused. The mont anyone dared to fight back, the creatures instantly beca ferocious, lunging at their attacker without hesitation.
“This isn’t right,” Ya Tong muttered, eyes narrowing as she took in the chaos. “There are too many of them. If only a few hundred or a thousand escaped from Tide Island, there’s no way this district alone would have this many.”
“So their numbers far exceed just a few thousand,” Yu Xi said in a firm tone.
Paradise Island was huge. These creatures were born from sacrificial rituals, fueled by malice and negative energy, attacking any living human they encountered. If there were only a few thousand, they wouldn’t be spread so densely throughout just one section of the island.
Lin Wu, deep in thought, suddenly voiced a chilling realization. “If there are this many, then just how many people have died on this island over the years?”
At that mont, their phones buzzed simultaneously.
A new notification appeared on the screen:
Notice: The current station “Paradise Island” has been upgraded from Level A to Level S.
**
Every passenger still stranded on the island received the sa notification.
Newer passengers who had only experienced one or two stations didn’t fully understand what this ant. While they knew station difficulties could change, they had never seen it happen before.
Veterans, on the other hand, reacted with imdiate anger.
“Shit! Who the hell blew up Tide Island last night?! You idiot! Do you even realize what you’ve done?! You just jumped us from an A to an S! If I find out who did it, I swear I’ll kill you myself!”
Their car suddenly jerked as sothing landed heavily on the hood.
A Blood Person.
It pressed its thin, mbranous fingers against the windshield, tilting its grotesque head at Yu Xi, as if studying her.
Without hesitation, she raised her weapon and fired through the glass. The bullet struck the Blood Person’s forehead, jerking its head backward. But instead of killing it, the attack only enraged it.
The creature lunged toward Yu Xi’s side of the car, claws reaching for her.
Yu Xi swiftly switched to her [Air Hair Dryer] and blasted it at full power.
Boom!
The Blood Person’s head exploded in a spray of thick, viscous blood. Its body tumbled off the hood, lifeless.
Thankfully, the windshield had blocked the blood splatter from getting inside the car.
Ya Tong flicked on the wipers, but the blood sared instead of clearing, the substance thick and glue-like. Unlike regular blood, this was more akin to congealed sludge—disgusting and unnatural.
“One bullet isn’t enough. The head has to be completely destroyed,” Yu Xi observed, watching the creature’s unmoving corpse in the rearview mirror. “Next ti, let’s test whether decapitation works.”
With that, they continued through the chaotic city, occasionally encountering other passengers.
For now, everyone was too busy dealing with the Blood People to attack each other.
However, Yu Xi noticed a cocky-looking passenger trying to take advantage of the chaos by looting supplies. He was imdiately sward by veteran passengers, who made quick work of him.
Even though those veterans weren’t part of the sa team, they instinctively cooperated to eliminate the looter before dispersing just as quickly.
Outside a hospital entrance, they spotted a familiar figure—Ron.
But this ti, he looked completely different. His uniform was in shambles, his entire body splattered with blood, and he was barely holding his ground.
With a few of his remaining officers, he had created a makeshift barricade of cars and hospital stretchers, trying to hold back seven or eight Blood People.
But normal bullets barely slowed the creatures. The barricade was monts from collapsing.
His subordinates were screaming at him to retreat.
“Go! Get the patients out of here!” Ron roared, taking another officer’s gun and opening fire wildly at the creatures.
Yu Xi sighed.
Ya Tong, without a word, handed her a compact rocket launcher.
Yu Xi took it, rolled down the window, and aid.
A second later—
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted.
The Blood People were obliterated instantly, reduced to nothing but shredded remains.
Ron turned toward their car, eyes wide in shock.
“You—!” He sprinted toward them. “Wait! Please don’t go! I need answers! Who the hell are you? Where did you get that kind of weapon? Customs would never let you bring sothing like that in! And the explosion last night—was that you?!”
Yu Xi ignored him.
Before he could reach the vehicle, she calmly rolled up the window and handed the empty rocket launcher back to Ya Tong.
Ron’s voice faded into the distance as the car sped away.
“Put it in your inventory—you’re still short on heavy weapons.” As she spoke, Yu Xi pulled out a sealed case containing another rocket launcher. “Take this one, too.”
“You’ve got two empty slots now. I’ll move two barrels of sealed fuel over to you later.”
“Sounds good.”
In the rearview mirror, Ron chased after their car for a few steps but soon slowed to a stop.
He stood there in a daze, watching the vehicle disappear into the distance. His gaze shifted to the shattered buildings and blood-streaked streets around him. This place, once a clean and vibrant island paradise, was now a nightmare of broken glass, crumbled walls, and lifeless bodies sprawled across the pavent.
Was this really the Paradise Island he rembered?
Sothing didn’t feel right.
Sothing was off…
**
It took them nearly two hours to leave the chaotic city behind. Once the car entered the hilly terrain, the number of people thinned out considerably.
The mountain roads were isolated, surrounded by wilderness with no shops, shelters, or buildings in sight. Tourists and locals alike avoided this area—it offered no resources, no supplies, and certainly no safety.
Of course, a handful of vehicles were still heading in the sa direction. These were the few who realized the southern parts of the island would soon beco just as dangerous as the north. Their goal wasn’t to stay here but to bypass the hills and reach the airport or port in the northeast, hoping to find a way off the island.
Then there were the others—calm, alert individuals scattered throughout the landscape. Most of them were travelers like Yu Xi and her team. So had already located the hidden station and had co here to camp and wait. Others had simply stumbled upon the area while searching for a quiet place to hide.
Ya Tong parked the car near the sa cliffside they’d used the last ti. From there, they followed the sa steep path down into the valley. The direct descent saved ti and reduced the risk of getting lost.
By now, the exterior of their electric car was completely caked in sticky, coagulated blood. It looked disgusting, and since electric cars required specific charging stations, Yu Xi didn’t bother storing it in her inventory.
They shouldered their backpacks, left the keys on the dashboard, and abandoned the car at the cliff’s edge. Then they descended into the valley and retraced their path toward the deep water pool.
Throughout the day, more travelers trickled into the area. Most had already confird the hidden station and, like Yu Xi’s group, were camping nearby to wait out the remaining ti.
So travelers reached their departure ti that very day, disappearing through the cave’s entrance one by one.
The travelers who stayed behind set up tents in small clusters. None of them were alone; every group had at least three people, and many teams had five to seven mbers. So even had the full twelve-person limit.
Compared to these larger teams, Yu Xi’s group of three seed small—and vulnerable.
A few opportunistic travelers eyed them with greedy intent, sizing them up as easy prey. But before any trouble could start, an experienced traveler from one of the larger teams barked a warning:
“Don’t be stupid! This station’s hit S-level. Stay in line and don’t cause trouble!”
One man sneered. “So what if it’s S-level? It’s not like the difficulty has anything to do with them. You veterans have been through dozens of stations. You’ve got more skills, more tickets. I’ve only survived a few rounds—I’m broke!”
“Quit whining. If you want to stir up trouble, get out of the team. Don’t drag us down!”
Yu Xi listened to the conversation with quiet curiosity. She exchanged a glance with Ya Tong and Lin Wu.
What were they so afraid of?
The answer ca the following afternoon.
At nearly the sa ti, every traveler’s phone emitted a sharp, unfamiliar beeping sound.
The Infinite Train phones only ever vibrated; they never made noise. Not for warnings, not for ssages, not for anything.
This was the first ti Yu Xi had heard it ring.
The device’s screen flashed with a pulsing red light that wouldn’t stop until she unlocked it.
Once she did, a bold ssage appeared:
Ergency Alert! Warning! Station “Paradise Island” has exceeded its threshold and surpassed S-level! Station closure imminent! All travelers must board the train imdiately!
Ti remaining until departure: 1 hour, 29 minutes, 3 seconds.
The three of them stared at their screens, then held out their phones to compare.
The countdown matched perfectly.
Yu Xi looked at her teammates. “The station can… close?”
While they reeled from the revelation, an older traveler nearby cursed loudly.
“Goddammit! Who the hell blew up Tide Island?! We just hit S-level yesterday, and now the whole place is shutting down?!” His face was red with fury. “Lucky for , I already got my ticket and confird the station. Otherwise, I’d be screwed! If I ever find the idiot responsible for this, I’ll kill them myself!”
Yu Xi’s brain clicked into gear. She lowered her voice and said, “So… this is like overloading a ga server. The system can’t handle the strain, so we all have to leave.”
Lin Wu nodded. “Exactly. Lower-tier stations—A, B, or C—don’t reach their limit as easily. Imagine stepping into a high-level station and having it overload right after you arrive. If you haven’t confird the hidden station yet, you’re dead—ticket or no ticket.”
Ya Tong’s expression turned grim. She could accept dying if it was her own mistake. But getting dragged into soone else’s ss? If she ever found the person who caused this, she’d tear them apart.
**
Across Paradise Island, every traveler received the sa warning.
So had only just arrived a few hours ago. Usually, S-level stations were the domain of hardened veterans. But not even they could handle a station’s threshold being breached this quickly.
The mont these new arrivals stepped onto the platform, the Blood People attacked. They didn’t know the island’s layout, let alone the location of the hidden station.
And since they hadn’t confird the station yet, their phones didn’t display the directional arrow that would guide them there.
Now, with the tir ticking down, they faced a grim reality: find the station or die trying.
Veteran travelers cursed their luck.
Newer ones panicked, realizing they’d been thrown into a deadly ga without knowing the rules.
Those who hadn’t secured train tickets yet?
They had no choice but to start killing.
Yu Xi and her team imdiately grasped the situation—traveler free-for-all incoming! The sooner they boarded the train, the safer they’d be.
Without hesitation, Yu Xi waved her hand. In an instant, every piece of their gear—backpacks, tents, camping chairs, pots, pans—vanished into her spatial inventory.
Ya Tong pulled out her MP5. Lin Wu drew his black iron staff. Yu Xi gripped the Air Hair Dryer in her left hand and the High-Temperature Perfu bottle in her right. The three of them sprinted toward the cave entrance.
Around the deep water pool, most other travelers were also on the move. So raced for the train with single-minded urgency; others couldn’t resist the temptation to ambush their peers.
Yu Xi’s group maintained a triangular formation as they ran. Just as they rounded the water’s edge, a strange whirring noise ca from Ya Tong’s side.
“Watch out!” Yu Xi shouted.
Lin Wu reacted instantly, activating a translucent energy shield.
A tallic object slamd into the shield, emitting a harsh screech as it was deflected. The object clattered to the ground, revealing itself as a pair of spinning, bladed rotors—each with three or four razor-sharp steel blades. They looked like miniature helicopter propellers, fused directly to their wielder’s wrists.
“Well, well, well!” The attacker sneered. His eyes glinted as he studied them. “You’ve got so fancy gear! Looks like I’ll be walking away with so nice upgrades today!”
Ya Tong’s eyes narrowed. She raised her MP5 and opened fire.
At this distance, an ordinary person would’ve been riddled with bullets. But the man simply raised his arms, letting the rotating blades intercept every round.
As the bullets ricocheted away, his entire body turned tallic.
Steel skin. Bulletproof.
Infinite ammo or not, Ya Tong’s gun was practically useless.
The man smirked and advanced. His blades whirred nacingly as he tried to close the gap.
But Lin Wu’s shield held firm, and his attacks failed to break through. Unfortunately, the standoff slowed them down.
Ya Tong cursed under her breath when she saw others rushing past them into the cave. She hesitated, considering whether to pull out a rocket launcher—but Yu Xi shoved a pink crystal bottle into her hand.
“It’s set to level five,” Yu Xi said. “See if it punches through his spatial inventory.”
Ya Tong’s lips curled into a grin. She stowed the heavier weapon and aid the pink bottle at the tal-skinned man.
The attacker faltered. “What the…?”
Before he could react, a jet of blue-green flas burst from the bottle’s nozzle. The high-temperature flas engulfed his steel-coated body.
His tal armor didn’t lt.
It disintegrated.
In seconds, his entire form crumbled into black ash.
Nearby travelers recoiled. A few stumbled backward to get out of their path.
In the distance, a voice from a larger group called out, “Boss Lu! Steelhead just died! Should we—”
“Shut it!” barked a veteran traveler. He glared at his subordinate. “I’ve told you a hundred tis—don’t act like an idiot! We’re already dealing with an S-level station. God knows how many high-level travelers showed up today! That guy was always a cocky moron. He thought three people ant easy pickings… without considering why they dared to camp here in the first place. Idiot.”
“But, Boss, Steelhead was—”
“He was a liability. Good riddance. Now get your gear. We’re heading into the station.”
**
Yu Xi’s group ignored the commotion and sprinted into the cave.
Five steps in, the rocky walls blurred.
When the blur faded, they stood in the train’s departure hall.
This hall was unlike any station they’d seen before.
Cracks split the ceiling, sending chunks of concrete tumbling down. The walls were riddled with fissures. Half the light fixtures were shattered, leaving the hall in dim, flickering disrepair. The floor trembled as though an earthquake had just passed through.
For once, they encountered no further ambushes. Monts later, they boarded the train safely.
**
Departure Ti: 15:38
Previous Station: Paradise Island (Closing Imminently)
Next Station: Not Yet Selected
Detected Teammates: Please Choose Next Stop.
System Notice:Due to abnormal station closure, the next stop cannot be generated. Please remain onboard until the system refreshes.
Available accommodation: Sleeper cabins in cars 10–12.
Yu Xi stared at the unfamiliar ssage. She showed her phone to her teammates.
“No next stop?” Ya Tong’s eyes widened. “And… sleeper cabins?”
Lin Wu glanced at the nearby doors. “Looks like they’re at the back. Co on—let’s check it out.”
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