Chapter Sixty-Five: So Irresistible ∑(°Д°；≡；°д°)

“Welcome to Metro Line 4.”
“The train is about to arrive.”
“Passengers who wish to board, please prepare in advance and wait behind the yellow line.”

Swiping his card to enter the station, Yin Jian immediately heard the sound of the train pulling in. The sound itself was unremarkable, but what struck him as odd was that, in such a vast underground station, there were only seven lights illuminating the space.

The lighting was dim and gloomy.

Dark silhouettes flitted through the shadows, resembling specters wandering in the darkness.

“Do they have to make it so eerie...?” Yin Jian’s lips curled in a wry smile, though he quietly reminded himself to always maintain the game’s atmosphere and immerse himself fully.

Withdrawing his gaze, he walked over to the sign displaying the metro routes.

“Elise School… Here it is.”

“Three stops from here, a fifteen-minute ride.”

Having located his destination, Yin Jian saw that the train had just come to a halt, the side doors sliding open. Without hesitation, he followed the crowd into the carriage.

Inside, it wasn’t as packed as he’d expected. Though there were no seats left, there was ample standing room—enough that he could see into the other cars at a glance. Yet, just like outside, the lighting here was poor.

Upon closer inspection, Yin Jian realized there were no light sources inside the carriage at all. The only illumination came from outside through the windows—those garish advertising boards.

A doctor with bloodstained hands.

A heavily made-up actress, her face washed in glaring light.

A white-collar worker waving handfuls of cash with abandon.

...

The expressions of the protagonists in these ads were grotesquely exaggerated: the doctor’s callousness, the actress’s arrogance, the office worker’s greed… each emotion played out to its extreme.

“This train terminates at Wanzhong Road. The next stop is Baitou.”

“Passengers who wish to disembark, please prepare in advance and exit in order from the left door.”

As Yin Jian pondered the meaning behind these advertisements, the train began to move. The advertising boards outside raced backward and soon vanished from sight.

As they faded, so too did the carriage’s only light source.

Gradually, darkness enveloped everything.

[The evil in human nature always reveals itself where no one can see.]

[Do not try to illuminate it.]

[That will only drag you into an endless abyss.]

A voiceover, sudden and sonorous, echoed by his ear.

Frowning at these cryptic words, Yin Jian turned his attention back inside the carriage.

It was eerily silent. Only the grinding of the train against the rails could be heard from outside. With the lights gone, his vision was badly impaired, but he could still make out the rough outlines of people.

The silhouettes seated in two rows remained utterly motionless.

They looked like lifeless mannequins.

“Something’s not right…”

Yin Jian sensed these figures’ outlines seemed subtly different from before, as if they’d been stretched.

He didn’t step forward to investigate, not out of fear, but because in a situation like this, the best move was to stay still.

“Baitou Street, now arriving. Passengers who wish…”

As he’d anticipated, he safely made it through one stop.

Light returned to the carriage.

Soft murmurs of conversation began.

Yin Jian looked at the seated passengers—no change. But the ones standing…

He quickly counted in his mind, and his heart gave an inexplicable jolt—there were half as many as before.

As the doors opened and some people stood to leave, those remaining inside began to scramble for seats.

Yin Jian could no longer remain standing. Though he didn’t know how those people vanished right under his nose, it couldn’t have been anything good.

Better to play it safe.

Spotting someone rising beside him—a portly middle-aged man about to claim the seat—Yin Jian deftly slipped in ahead and sat down.

The man stared at him in disbelief, took a moment to process what had happened, then shot Yin Jian a venomous glare before turning away to hunt for another seat.

Whether the man found a spot or not, Yin Jian didn’t care. His attention was caught by a girl who had just boarded.

She wore the same school uniform as he did—clearly a fellow student from Elise School.

But what truly drew Yin Jian’s notice wasn’t her uniform or even her pretty face—he wasn’t the type to be swayed by looks.

It was the aura about her, so different from everyone else. Not lifeless at all, but vibrant, brimming with curiosity about her surroundings, as if she were seeing an old-fashioned subway for the first time.

“An important NPC?” Yin Jian wondered, but he didn’t approach. The situation on this train was too strange. Any unnecessary action might trigger something unpredictable.

Better to wait until they arrived and see what happened.

With that thought, he closed his eyes and waited in silence.

Soon, the train started again.

The world plunged swiftly back into darkness.

This time, because he was seated, he immediately sensed the change.

Cold.

The seat beneath him was icy as a slab of frozen stone, sending a chill that pierced his bones and made him want to leap up at once.

But as soon as he adjusted the game’s sensitivity in his mind, the urge faded.

It wasn’t just the seat that had changed; the people seated beside him had as well.

Watching carefully, Yin Jian noticed their faces had become grotesquely distorted, just like the people in those advertisements. And as time passed, the distortion only grew worse.

He touched his own face—unchanged—then began to ponder the connection. Was the author trying to express something, or was this a clue to his in-game objective?

“Ah!!!”

Before he could arrive at any conclusion, the carriage was suddenly flooded with light—and with it came a girl’s scream.

On instinct, Yin Jian turned toward the sound.

There, he saw a mass of twisted bodies.

Distorted hands.

Tongues stretched to impossible lengths.

Bulging eyes.

These grotesque, horrifying body parts intertwined, binding the girl in the Elise School uniform in the very center of the light, holding her fast.

Terror consumed her face, all traces of previous spirit gone, leaving only the pallor of utter despair.

Bit by bit, she was torn apart.

Gulping, Yin Jian swallowed hard as the light vanished.

The visual shock…

“Maybe I should pick a different game to study?”

The thought flashed through his mind, but he dismissed it immediately.

He couldn’t let his money go to waste!

...

For the remainder of the ride, Yin Jian sat on pins and needles. Knowing he was sharing a carriage with a bunch of monsters made it impossible not to be anxious.

“Elise School, now arriving. Passengers who wish…”

The moment he heard the announcement, Yin Jian dashed off the train, moving so fast that he was soon out of the station.

“Whew—”

He exhaled shakily, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder—only for his expression to freeze.

The curious girl, the spark of life in her eyes undimmed, was following right behind him.

ps: Writing suspense is so hard… Everyone, try to guess the ending! Guess correctly and you’ll win a major supporting role!