Hide and Go Die(12)

"Feeding Little Red my blood meant that it recognized you as its owner. Therefore when my tentacles decided to fetch its owner, it also brought you along."

It did make some sense and Chu Yi could accept that explanation somewhat, although it didn't explain why it wasn't his blood that allowed for ownership, he wouldn't be able to get the answer at this moment.

"Now then , let's talk about your punishment."

Chu Yi did a double take-

Yes.

The conductor was entitled to punish him, in any which form he wanted. Which did not spell anything good for him.

With dark eyes glinting menacingly, the conductor stepped slowly towards him.

There were different types of NPC in every game, you had the system NPC that would only rigidly repeat the same instructions, the target NPC that held key information and was important to every plot. Then you had the sentient NPC, someone outside the control of the system, with it's own thoughts and feelings.

The conductor was a sentient NPC, which meant that he could decide any punishment he wanted for his dear rule breaker.

And Chu Yi would definitely not be sticking around for that.

With a twist of his feet, he went bolting out of the door, Little cherub still being held onto his chest.

With a ambiguous chuckle coming from behind, the conductor watched him go.

It seemed the chase was on.

While the two lovebirds were playing a game of Hide and Go Fuck, the other passengers on board were still frantically trying to save their lives.

Bai Chuan had hurriedly flashed the light onto the shadow. But to his dismay, although it let out terrifying screams, it still refused to stop sucking Zhan Xi's life force.

His heart hurt terribly hearing Zhan Xi's scream, not knowing whether to cry as he tried to still his shaking hands.

They had been together since the last instance. She was a newcomer and he had already experienced his second instance, so there had been vast differences in their mentalities. They had been transferred into a deadly water instance where they had been trapped underneath a sealed glass tank and was given only a few days to figure out how to escape, else the oxygen tank would run out and they would cruelly suffocate to death. On his last ropes, Zhan Xi chose to share her oxygen tank with him and with it they finally managed to escape together. Even if it was only done in a split moment of kindness, even if it was because she hadn't been tainted by the horrors of the shuttle, she still saved his life. Using his coins, he had purchased the right to enter the same instance with her, but now, instead of serving together, he had to watch her die right before his eyes.

He felt a blood rising into his throat, the world around him stifling slowly, but right before she breathed her last, the shadow finally gave in. Letting out a shrill unwilling scream, it exploded into a mess of flesh and blood. With red eyes, Bai Chuan carefully gathered Zhan Xi, who was barely breathing into his arms. Heart pounding from the relief of escaping the claws of death.

Chun Li stared at the shadows remains fearfully, it had definitely grown stronger. It seems that with the trains time reversing each day, the creatures of the night were being strengthened infinitely.

With a deep sigh, he looked around exhausted and only then did he find that they were missing someone.

He didn't know when Chu Yi had left, whether he was dead or alive.

It was only the second day of the instance but one person was dead, one missing and another on the verge of death.

They still hadn't figured out who was the imposter and even though everything pointed to Chu Yi, intuition prevented him from pointing a finger hastily.

They stood exhausted for another hour, just feeling the wind blowing around them and listening to the rumbling of the tracks beneath the train. Then with a loud clap, Chun Li spoke up,

"We can't stay like this anymore. For every day, we stay on this train, the stronger the monsters we encounter are, we can only think of a solution before the 5th day or else some of us will have to be sacrificed on this train."

The words were very cruel, but it was the truth. Bai Chuan, himself was especially aware of this, he could tell that Zhan Xi had been taken as a target by the shadow, and unless she died, it would only rise again and again everyday until she died.

It was a deadly race against time.

They sat there thinking about everything that they had found, trying to find a clue that would break the stalemate that they were in.

Boom-

It was the sound of a chair falling. All heads immediately swiveled into the direction of Zong Feng who had stood up excitedly, overturning the chair he had been sitting on.

"The suicide note!!. There was a repetition of the number 12."

Yes, the number 12 had been written twice on the note. First, there were twelve passengers left on the train and when she said, 'Its already midnight'. Although those words seems to have just been casually put together . If you combined it with the conductors warning of not opening your eyes after 12, then there was definitely a problem there.

But, they fell into a brief lull, that meant that they had to break the rules. It was definitely dangerous and they weren't sure of the consequences of trying it.

Zhong Feng stood still behind Bai Chuan and Zhan Xi. His lowered head hiding the evil glint shining in his beady eyes, his hand clenched tightly behind his back.

"Its the only clue we have, unless you prefer to stay here like fish on a chopping board and wait for death. Well have to take the risk." The person who spoke up was Bai Chuan. He was definitely the most desperate and grasped tightly onto what seemed like there only hope of breaking the mystery around the train.

With a nod, Chun Li agreed. Cowering would only lead to them dying. It was better to take matters into their own hands and give themselves a fighting chance.

With another sigh, Chun Li stared despondent at the blood and guts scattered around him.

Yes it was the only thing they could do. Hopefully the conductor would be merciful.

****

The life-threatening conductor in question was happily chasing around a little demon, eyes glistening like an old pervert, just minutes away from drooling at thoughts running through his head.

Chu Yi ran haphazardly around the train, cursing lowly in his head.

From the initial cold and desperate aura at the beginning, a deathly and pallid look in his eyes. Chu Yi seemed to have come alive, a rosy blush staining his beautiful face.

But Chu Yi had no time to be pondering over this aspect. Thinking about the words of the conductor on the first day, he could feel his heart racing in either excitement or fright, he couldn't tell.

He just knew that if he didn't run, he would probably be unable to explore the train tomorrow.