253: Chapter 253 Inquiry into the Past, Tragedy Repeated!

"What happened to the train you were on?"

As Lin Xiao asked, his gaze focused slightly.

This woman's information panel quickly appeared in his field of vision.

[Train Number: MCU158]

[Passenger: Ruan Li]

[Rating: High-Rank]

[ID: 03-02C]

Car 03, her seat number was right next to Hao Ke's.

As expected, the two of them knew each other.

Lin Xiao withdrew his gaze and waited for an answer.

But Ruan Li did not speak.

She looked at Lin Xiao warily, her brow slightly furrowed and her thin lips pressed into a tight line.

She had seen everything—the extremely violent way this man before her had wielded that giant axe while fighting Xiao Ke.

And he had laughed so chillingly.

He didn't look like a good person at all!

Seeing this, Lin Xiao wasn't in a hurry. Instead, he slowly crouched down to meet her gaze at eye level.

"You consumed too much life force earlier. I specifically gave you a Healing Capsule, which is why you're able to glare at me so full of life right now."

"Otherwise, you would have died before long; I wouldn't have even needed to lift a finger."

His tone was flat, almost devoid of emotion, making one's back go cold.

"Miss Ruan Li, I saved your life, so naturally, I can take it back as well."

Hearing these words, Ruan Li's eyes flickered slightly.

She naturally knew what a Healing Capsule meant.

She instinctively looked up at Hao Ke, who was above the Coating.

The red giant was crouching there, head in his hands, his eyes full of helplessness.

Ruan Li withdrew her gaze and closed her eyes.

A few seconds later, she slowly uttered two words.

"I'll talk."

Ruan Li began to describe what had happened on their train.

After the passengers of MCU158 finished the fifth round of Calamity Creatures, they entered the settlement period on the sixth day.

Because they had encountered a large number of troublesome elite monsters during the round, nearly a hundred passengers were killed, and almost everyone remaining was injured.

Taking advantage of the time the Public Shop appeared, everyone crowded around its entrance, scrambling to buy supplies and rushing to rest and reorganize.

Just as things were in a state of chaos, a Silver-White Train appeared on the horizon.

At first, everyone thought it was newcomers about to join the train.

After all, when the second stage began, there were similar spectacular ways for newcomers to join.

Then, that train pulled alongside them.

Before anyone could react, the doors of every carriage were violently torn off.

A group of fully armed soldiers swarmed into the carriages, forcing everyone to hand over their resources.

Anyone who tried to resist was beheaded on the spot.

"Later, we had no choice but to hand over our supplies, but even so, they still destroyed the train and slaughtered everyone!"

As she spoke, Ruan Li stopped.

Her breathing quickened slightly, and her fingers unconsciously clenched.

Destroying the train again...

Lin Xiao stood up and paced back and forth on the roof of the carriage.

Plundering resources, eliminating combatants.

He had seen these two things far too often in his past life; they weren't particularly unusual.

However, he was very confused about the single point of destroying the train.

Based on previous experience, even an eleventh-level Lord-class Calamity like the [Frost Vein Ancient Conch] could not cause effective damage to the train's body.

The protection at the level of rules was absolute.

If not for the need to travel underwater, his Astral Express AE1001 wouldn't even need a Coating.

In other words, the train was a safe zone for survivors.

It shouldn't be easily destroyed.

Unless...

The people from the Silver-White Train possessed some kind of special method.

Either a high-level star emblem ability or some kind of rule-based item.

This is truly troublesome!

Lin Xiao pondered to himself, then turned to look at Ruan Li, who was still sitting on the floor, and changed the subject, asking:

"Do you have healing skills?"

Such a direct question made Ruan Li freeze for a moment.

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"A special ability, or a common skill learned through a Parchment Scroll?" Lin Xiao pressed.

"A common skill," she answered quickly, almost without thinking.

Lin Xiao smiled slightly.

For every previous question, she had to hesitate before speaking.

Only for this question did she answer without hesitation, as if she had prepared a standard answer long ago.

The more this was the case, the more it showed she had a guilty conscience.

Clearly, this woman also possessed a star emblem.

Lin Xiao did not expose her little trick on the spot.

There was no need for that for now.

He turned and asked, "Are you two the only survivors of MCU158?"

Ruan Li was silent for a few seconds before she spoke, her voice somewhat dry. "A few passengers joined those cold-blooded demons. As for the rest..."

She took a deep breath.

"Only Xiao Ke and I are left."

Ruan Li continued to talk about what happened on the train:

When the soldiers from the Silver-White Train rushed into the carriages, it wasn't that no one on MCU158 resisted.

As a combatant in the top ten of the points leaderboard, Hao Ke transformed immediately to meet them, getting into a brawl with those soldiers.

But the strength of those people was very strange.

Even Hao Ke, who possessed formidable strength after transforming, quickly fell into a disadvantage and was heavily injured by them.

The other passengers were even more powerless to resist and were killed one after another by them.

"Why did the train end up twisted like this?" Lin Xiao asked. "Was that also done by the people from the Silver-White Train?"

Ruan Li pointed toward the sky.

"The travel area for MCU158 was originally in the Sky Island."

"After the train was destroyed, it lost its ability to float and fell uncontrollably from the clouds. It tumbled who knows how many times before crashing onto the ground and rolling into the pink sea, finally twisting into that shape."

"Even though Xiao Ke was in his transformed state, he was crushed back and forth by a carriage. No matter how tough a body is, it couldn't withstand that. When I found him, he was already at his last breath."

"Fortunately, I know healing skills..."

After listening to Ruan Li's description, Lin Xiao nodded slowly.

"Then... what about you?"

Lin Xiao did not give her any breathing room.

He leaned in a bit closer, his gaze falling on her slightly panicked face.

"In the entire story, you've been narrating as a bystander. What were you doing at the time? Did those soldiers not make things difficult for you?"

Ruan Li's shoulders instinctively shrank back, pressing against the railing of the roof.

There was nowhere left to retreat.

"In the moment of crisis..." She bit her lip. "I hid."

Lin Xiao stared at her without saying a word.

Those eyes, which had just calmed down from the Blood Rage state, held no extra emotion; they just watched her quietly.

This kind of evasive talk did not satisfy Lin Xiao.

Ruan Li felt beads of sweat rolling down from her forehead.

She really couldn't stand this kind of gaze.

In utter helplessness, she could only raise her hand.

A white radiance blossomed from her palm.

Under everyone's astonished gazes, a pair of translucent wings suddenly unfurled from her back.

The edges of the feathers shimmered with a faint light, appearing as a very pale gold under the sunlight.

The wings flapped gently.

Her entire body slowly floated off the anti-slip steel plate of the roof.

Suspended in mid-air, the hem of her clothes fluttered gently in the sea breeze.

The captains standing nearby, especially Fan Sinian, couldn't help but widen their eyes:

"Holy crap, what kind of move is this? She can grow wings and fly?"