25: Chapter 25 The bell rings at midnight, the dead are lit.

The warm current brought by the level increase was like magma, instantly piercing through Chen Fan's nearly collapsing limbs and bones.

Advancing from Bronze Tier 5 to Tier 6, though seemingly just a one-tier difference, felt like a potent stimulant, forcefully pulling his near-zero Health back above the 15% safety line.

The searing pain of shattered bones was soothed by a burning energy. Although still fragile, he had at least regained the ability to move!

"Bastard!"

Iron Spine's roar made the entire carriage vibrate.

He looked down at his knee, which was pierced by a rusted iron rod. The face hidden beneath his heavy armor was twisted to the extreme.

As the captain of the Elite Annihilation Squad directly under the System, being severely wounded by a 'Contamination Source' that had just survived the novice period was an unprecedented and humiliating disgrace in his career!

He violently yanked out the iron rod, bringing with it a spray of dark red blood mixed with garbled data fragments.

The armor at the wound emitted a sizzling electric arc, attempting self-repair, but the iron rod seemed coated with some kind of 'toxin' that the System's rules could not easily erase. The repair process was slow as a crawling turtle.

"I will... I will crush you and that little brat into the most basic particles!" Iron Spine roared, abandoning the repair. He raised his massive hammer with one hand, the head glowing intensely, clearly charging up to unleash some kind of area-of-effect attack.

However, he was fast, but the carriage's changes were faster!

The moment White Mask whispered, "The rules are beginning to collapse," this Ghost Subway Train seemed to completely break free from its final shackles.

The residual images reflecting Chen Fan's death in the previously shattered mirrors had not vanished. Instead, they transformed into distorted black shadows that seeped out from the mirror frames, wriggling like ink spilled on the ground, converging into humanoid outlines without facial features.

The 'living corpses' crawling out from under the carriage floor were no longer stiff. The red tendrils on their heads suddenly elongated, whipping indiscriminately toward everything alive in the carriage like madly dancing venomous snakes!

"Pfft!"

A nearby member of the Annihilation Squad failed to dodge in time and was instantly pierced through the chest by three red tendrils.

His heavy armor was as fragile as paper before the red tendrils. The man was lifted high, his vitality being sucked away at a speed visible to the naked eye, finally collapsing into a shriveled husk that dropped heavily to the floor.

And the tips of those three red tendrils, after absorbing life force, blossomed into bizarre, blood-red flower buds.

Chaos. Absolute chaos!

The Annihilation Squad was no longer the hunter; they had also become the prey!

Iron Spine's charged attack was forced to stop. He had no choice but to swing his warhammer, smashing away the red tendrils wrapping around him.

Now was the time!

Chen Fan's mind was clearer than ever before.

He knew this was his only chance. Fighting Iron Spine head-on was suicide, and staying here meant being drowned by endless monsters.

His goal had never changed: survive, survive with Little Bean, and then find Su Shuang, obtain the other half of the 'class token,' and completely end this damned 'Soul Binding Ritual'!

"Little Bean, hold on tight to me!" he roared, lifting the girl on his back higher.

Little Bean's pupils were still the unsettling grayish-white, but her consciousness seemed much clearer.

Her small hands gripped Chen Fan's collar tightly. Her voice, though tearful, was exceptionally clear: "Brother... Run quickly... 'It' is eating... 'It' is eating the entire station... We will all be digested!"

Eating the station!

Chen Fan's heart clenched violently. He looked out through the shaking window.

He saw that the corpses on the platform were no longer just looking up. They were being dragged and stretched by an invisible force in a manner that defied the laws of physics, ultimately merging into the body of the subway train.

The previously rusted exterior of the carriage became deeper in color after devouring these corpses, as if it had gained life.

This train was a living, feeding behemoth!

"Follow me closely! Provide suppressing fire on those monsters and give me three seconds!" Chen Fan yelled at the Annihilation Squad members behind him.

The instinct for survival overwhelmed the opposition between factions.

One of the Annihilation Squad members instinctively raised his shoulder-mounted machine gun and sprayed wildly at the swarming living corpses and shadows ahead.

The storm of bullets temporarily cleared a path.

Chen Fan's leg muscles tensed suddenly, unleashing the full power of Bronze Tier 6 without reservation.

Like a cannonball fired from its muzzle, carrying Little Bean, he sprinted desperately toward the front of the train along the shaking carriage floor.

"Trying to run?!" Iron Spine's roar exploded behind him.

He smashed an attacking black shadow into scattered light particles with one hammer strike, then dragged his injured leg and chased after Chen Fan with astonishing speed.

The attributes of an Elite Player were far beyond what Chen Fan could match.

One carriage, two carriages...

Chen Fan's lungs felt like they were about to burst; every breath carried a taste of blood.

He could feel the deadly pressure behind him getting closer and closer.

He could even hear the whistling sound of the massive hammer breaking through the air!

Just then, Little Bean shrieked urgently in his ear: "Over there! The wall... the wall is fake!"

Chen Fan subconsciously followed her direction.

In the brief interval of the train's violent shaking, he saw that on the carriage wall to his left, an area of metal seemed to subtly undulate, like the surface of water.

That was the tunnel wall!

Because the rules governing the train's operation had been broken, a brief overlap and misalignment had occurred between the train body and the tunnel wall!

This was a deadly trap, but it might also be the only path to survival!

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Fan gritted his teeth, gathered all his strength into his right shoulder, and violently slammed into that 'false' wall!

"Boom!"

His entire body felt like it passed through a layer of cold, viscous gel, and his vision was instantly swallowed by endless darkness.

Intense friction radiated from his whole body, and his Health bar on the System panel flashed and dropped wildly.

"Come back here!"

Iron Spine's massive hammer finally fell, but it only smashed the afterimage Chen Fan had left in the carriage.

The furious force pulverized the entire carriage wall, along with several living corpses, exposing the tunnel interior wall outside, covered in pipes and cables, receding rapidly.

Iron Spine leaned out to look, only to see Chen Fan, still carrying the little girl on his back, struggling forward like a gecko in the narrow gap between the tunnel wall and the train body.

Sparks flew, and gravel scattered.

"Chase! Encircle him from the roof and the bottom! He can't run far!" Iron Spine commanded, then leaped up himself, his metal claws digging firmly into the roof, racing toward Chen Fan like a steel leopard.

Below, several Annihilation Squad members also smashed through the carriage floor, dropping onto the tracks and pursuing beneath the high-speed train.

A three-dimensional pursuit network instantly formed!

Chen Fan endured immense pressure. Protruding steel bars and pipes on the side of the speeding train swept past him. Each time, he had to narrowly avoid them by a margin of milliseconds.

Little Bean, on his back, used all her strength to guide him past obstacles ahead.

"Up ahead... there's light ahead... It's an opening to a maintenance passage!" Little Bean's voice was weak due to oxygen deprivation.

Chen Fan looked up and indeed saw a square opening emitting a faint gray light in the darkness less than fifty meters ahead.

That was the exit to the abandoned secret passages of the subway system!

Hope was within sight!

But the sound of footsteps overhead was getting closer; Iron Spine had already caught up directly above him!

"Die!"

Accompanied by an enraged shout, the massive warhammer descended violently from the roof with the momentum to destroy everything!

This strike locked down all of Chen Fan's options for evasion!

At the critical moment, Chen Fan made a desperate decision.

He violently pushed off the tunnel wall with both feet—not forward, but backward!

He actively met the giant hammer!

In the instant before the giant hammer was about to touch his body, he used his last ounce of strength to throw Little Bean on his back fiercely toward the opening ahead!

"Little Bean, survive!"

After completing this action, he had no strength left to dodge. The shadow of death descended upon him for the third time.

However, just then, the lingering bell at his waist rang out without warning, with a sound far more shrill and piercing than any previous time!

WHOOM—!

An invisible sonic wave violently spread out with Chen Fan as the center.

Iron Spine directly above suddenly froze. His brain felt as if it had been pierced by a steel needle, causing a zero-point-one-second stiffening in his movements.

Simultaneously, the entire out-of-control subway train seemed utterly enraged by this bell toll and let out a deafening metallic roar.

The train body suddenly slanted, and a massive load-bearing pillar supporting the tunnel was violently snapped by the rampaging train!

RUMBLE—!

The sky and earth cracked!

Innumerable pieces of rubble, concrete blocks, and twisted rebar poured down like a waterfall, instantly engulfing Iron Spine, the pursuers behind him, and that section of the carriage.

The aftershock of the impact violently shoved Chen Fan, who had just landed, into that gray opening.

Behind him was the earth-shattering roar and the collapse that destroyed everything.

Before him was a deep, silent, gray alleyway leading to an unknown abyss.

The vibration and rumbling were quickly muffled by the thick walls; the world seemed to have instantly pressed the mute button.

Endless darkness pressed in from ahead, carrying a scent of decay that was even older and colder than the subway tunnel's.