133. Ode to Joy

  Blood.

  The bullet passed through Qiu Ran's shoulder. Fortunately, it didn't stay inside, causing a wound.

  Despite this, Qiu Ran's right shoulder was torn open, with bright blood spttering outward, rendering her arm powerless.

  "Ah—"

  The pain was so intehat she couldn't make a sound. Qiu Ran was almost instantly brought down by the pain of the gunshot. This wasn't a m police handgun round but a full-power rifle round with vastly greater destructive force. Qiu Ran colpsed to the ground, uo lift her right arm.

  Get away—get away, get away, get away!

  In a panic, Qiu Ran only reized the shooter as the Frost-Pted youth who had been on guard duty before, named Hodro, she thought. She had no time to wonder why he was attag her. Bitieeth, she used her remaini arm to crawl forward.

  The shooter stepped closer, rag the bolt and loading another round. 'Hodro's' face began to morph, melting like gel, revealing feminiures. Uhe flickering carriage lights, his blond hair turned deep red, pupils diting and trag into light-colored ones. Within seds, even his clothes ged to match Qiu Ran's attire.

  Just a few seds after being shot, another bullet grazed Qiu Ran's spine. She hurriedly crawled out of the hard-seat carriage and hid behind the doaining her posure.

  The carriage she had just escaped from was empty, not a soul inside.

  "What's going on, how is this happening?"

  Perhaps fear had triggered her survival instincts, as Qiu Ran's usually slow mind suddenly became agile. Before the attacker could reload and chase her, she lifted her left hand and pced it on the overturned gasoline barrel.

  Boom—

  A surge of fmes instantly filled the carriage aisle, blog the shooter's vision and path. Grabbing the st gasoline barrel, Qiu Rahis was her lifeline.

  'Don't think about anything, just find Li Aozi and Ms. Celia!'

  Qiu Ran crouched low, the acrid smell of burning gasolihe st of her own blood, and the sweat from excessive tension all mixed together, making her panic even more.

  I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die—no! I 't die, no matter what, I 't die!

  Plop, plop...

  Blood trailed behind her, and the intense pain made Qiu Ran scream out:

  "Help—help me!"

  She was so close to going home, so close to reuniting with her younger siblings. Dying here would mean losing everything.

  The noise of the train was deafening, and outside, the sound of fierce artillery fire suddeed—Qiu Ran realized it might be the new wave of beast tide that Celia mentioned.

  'No, if this tinues, no one will hear my cry for help!'

  She rushed forward anxiously, thinking that the man who silently wiped out the whole carriage must be stopped. She had to alert Li Aozi and the others.

  Only they could deal with such a terrifying monster—

  Bang!

  Another bullet narrowly missed, ricocheting off the wall and nding at Qiu Ran's feet. She nearly stumbled in fear, screaming and dropping the gasoline barrel in panic.

  No time to worry about it now—she couldn't help but look back. The fmes in the aisle tio spread, but the rifle's barrel protruded through the fire. The shooter calmly racked the bolt, still aiming the bck muzzle at her.

  Qiu Ran crouched low, stumbling forward. She hadn't closed the soft sleeper carriage door when she arrived, just a few more steps, and she could hide in the safe carriage.

  Just a bit more, just a bit more.

  She felt as if the shooter's finger ulling the trigger.

  Qiu Ran raised her hand, ready to dive into safety.

  Click!

  The door in front of Qiu Ran suddenly closed, and she smmed into the pstic-steel door.

  "No!"

  Qiu Ran cried out in despair. Before she could recover from the pain of hitting the door, anunsh out behind her.

  Bang!

  Qiu Ran's screams and the pounding on the door were endless. However, to Jane Nelia, who had just ehe artillery roar from the armored train, it was insignifit.

  Leaning against the closed door, Jane locked it, walking silently through the soft sleeper carriage to find Celia, who was trolling the on system against the beast tide. Celia, fag dozens of ss, was frowning as she operated the entire fire trol system of the armored train. Jane's arrival made her gnce slightly:

  "rade from the Rose Army, you shouldn't be here. Go back to your carriage, I'm very busy."

  Jane shook her head, smilily.

  Celia's eyes narrowed slightly, sensing something strange. One hand trolled the fire trol equipment, while the other slowly reached for the gun holster under her ribcage, using the exoskeleton armor as a shield.

  "I said, I'm busy, no time for you."

  Celia almost warned, without turning her head, Jane's refle through the monitor ss.

  "You're always so busy."

  Jane said calmly:

  "Don't you pn to take a break?"

  "It's none of your business. I'll say it again, leave!"

  Celia warernly:

  "Leave here, don't disturb me. Operating the train is very dangerous."

  "Dangerous."

  Jaurned her head slightly:

  "Seems right, I am indeed dangerous."

  Celia's pupils tracted, and she suddenly stood up, quickly drawing her gun and pulling the trigger at Jane Nelia.

  Bang, bang, bang—

  Three secutive shots were fired, and Jane's body twisted instantly. Her upper body melted like soft mud, splitting in half, dodging the bullets. Celia quickly threw off her headset, retreating while firing.

  However, Jane's body turned into a puddle, quickly flowing past Celia's feet and ref into a tall figure behind her in an instant.

  Celia stopped abruptly, twisting her waist to throowerful punch!

  Smack!

  Celia's punch, ed in the meical exoskeleton armor, was firmly caught. In Celia's horrified gaze, the figure in front of her reflected her image like a mirror.

  Another 'Celia.'

  The clothing, features, messy hairstyle, eveernal exoskeleton armor—everything was identical. Yet, for some reason, seeing the other made Celia feel out of pd instinctively horrified.

  "Don't be nervous." 'Celia' said with a chuckle, "You look best when you smile."

  "What kind of monster are you?!"

  Celia was about to raise her gun, but 'Celia' was quicker, pg the pistol under Celia's .

  "Cheer up."

  Holding aical gun, 'Celia' smiled and said:

  "In our society, there should only be pead joy."

  Celia's pupils tracted. She then heard the trigger being pulled.

  Click!

  Celia opened her mouth and, instinctively, her gaze fell on the scar oher's neck, a red cross-shaped scar like a brand burn.

  Bang!

  The gunsh out. Celia's pupils dited as blood and brain matter burst from the back of her head. Just as her body slumped, the fake Celia opes arms.

  Its fastantly lost all features, and its torso cracked open like an abyss, swallowing Celia's body whole.

  After a brief tremor, it raised its head slowly, its eyes clearing. The 'Celia' skillfully pressed the earpiece, eg to the el.

  Zhou Liefeng's voice immediately came through the unication:

  "The artillery fire stopped for a moment. What happened?"

  Celia naturally wiped her sweat, breathing out a sigh of relief, and said:

  "Phew—just a system glitch. The Frost-Pted sold us a pirated operating system, I had to restart it."

  Zhou Liefeng paused, then after a moment of silence, said:

  "Oh, so it was a system sold by the Frost-Pted?"

  "The only ret transa with the ittee was with the Frost-Pted, right?"

  "True." Zhou Liefeng agreed: "Thank you, little Celia. We have at least forty-five minutes until we reach the underground."

  "You're wele."

  Ending the call, Zhou Liefeng remained silent for a moment, then suddenly lowered his head, c his face.

  "Celia..."

  He pounded his chest in agony, lifting his head with eyes red with hatred and anger:

  "Someone has repced Celia."

  That wasn't a system reboot. The artillery attack stopped suddenly, and only he, as the long-time driver of the Youth, could tell. Even Celia wouldn't know this.

  Who did this—was it a Frost-Pted hacker? Or a Frost-Pted spy among the passengers?

  Ohing was certain—someone had infiltrated the armored train, killed, and repced Celia.

  As an experienced member of the Subway Brotherhood and a lone driver of an armored train, Zhou Liefeng's caution far exceeded that of ordinary people. He immediately sensed something was wrong.

  But now, he was alone and uo be everywhere at once.

  The high-speed train couldn't stop immediately—if it did, they would face being torn apart and devoured by the mutated beast tide outside.

  What should he do?

  The train had to be driven by him. The fierce wind and sand would severely obstruct visibility, and a novice driver would iably cause an act.

  The Subway Brotherhood had never used unmanned driving teology to prevent the train from being seized by the four nations. The vehicle didn't even have fire extinguishers or closed-circuit TV, making it almost devoid of eleic equipment.

  He couldn't risk leaving. It would be irresponsible to all passengers and the Brotherhood's collective property.

  Celia might have already met a grim fate. Worse thah was being fio the cockpit this way, helpless.

  At this point, he had very few choices left.

  Zhou Liefeng switched to the first-css broadcast, opened his mouth, and pced all his hope here.

  "Please help us, Mr. Li Aozi."

  AnnouA big thank you to [icdubsp;for joining my Patreon! Your support means a lot to me.

  FAL