31: The dead train conductor

Opposite the Train door was the world barrier, and anyone disembarking from the purple Train would have to cross their Train.

Luo Chen decided to bide his time, waiting for the other party to disembark, observe the situation clearly, and then make plans.

If the other party went to collect supplies, they would not interfere with each other; if they wanted to damage the Train, he would secretly kill him.

After waiting for about ten minutes, no one came down from the opposite Train, and Luo Chen, unable to hold back, walked off his Train.

"You all stay on the Train first; I'll go over and take a look." Luo Chen instructed the women, then exited through the back door of the second carriage, preparing to flank her.

He held an engineer's shovel in one hand and a pistol in the other, slowly approaching the second carriage of the purple Train.

The Train window was over three meters from the ground, completely out of reach, so he could only head towards the Train door.

There was a gentle slope connecting the Train door to the ground, and climbing up the slope allowed him to see inside through the glass on the Train door.

The clean ground was scattered with shattered glass shards.

There was no one, nor any supplies, but many windows on the other side were broken.

Luo Chen continued forward, looking through the rear window of the first carriage, and saw that it was still full of glass shards on the floor; as for further ahead, he couldn't see.

Again, he arrived at the front Train door, and fearing discovery, he crouched low, stealthily pressing himself against the Train window, craning his head to peer inside the carriage.

On the carriage floor, two naked women were curled up, tightly embracing each other, their delicate skin pale and tinged with bluish-grey.

Clothes were scattered haphazardly around, and nearby was a pile of burnt ashes. On the buttocks of one of them, a stack of coins and two cores were also scattered.

Lace?

Luo Chen knocked on the Train window, but there was no response.

"Could they be suffering from hypothermia?" He frowned, then swung his engineer's shovel and smashed it violently against the glass.

With a 'crack' sound.

The glass shattered in response.

Clearing away the remaining glass shards from the frame, he bent down and crawled inside.

Just in case, the pistol in his hand remained aimed at the two women.

Approaching them, he tried to nudge one of their shoulders with the pistol, but there was no reaction.

He then tried with his hand; as his fingertips touched, a chill struck him.

So cold, so stiff.

"Dead?" Luo Chen's heart tightened.

"Luo Chen, what are you doing?" Luo Wan Ning curiously poked her head through the doorway.

"Eek! Isn't that Liu Ruoli and Su Jinxuan? How did they end up here?" She widened her eyes, incredulous.

"You know them?" Luo Chen didn't lift his head.

"Of course! They're popular actresses, and their dramas are super hot. You really don't know them?"

"I don't know them." Luo Chen shook his head.

He might know some Japanese female celebrities. As for domestic ones, he hadn't watched TV dramas in a long time and no longer paid attention.

"Don't move. They're already dead."

"Ah!" Luo Wan Ning exclaimed, covering her mouth and backing away several steps: "How... how did they die?"

"Looking at the situation, it's likely they froze to death after the Train window shattered and the Train lost heat." Luo Chen's tone was calm, yet tinged with a hint of coldness.

Xue Shang slowly walked forward, a playful curve on her lips: "Look at these figures, these big butts, these big headlights, don't you have any thoughts?"

"They're frozen solid like ice blocks, what's the difference from dry ice?" Luo Chen rolled his eyes and said irritably.

He knew Xue Shang was still angry about what he did yesterday, so there was no need to argue with her.

"How about... we find a place to bury them?" Luo Wan Ning said with some reluctance.

"No need for such trouble. These kinds of corpses will shatter with a little force." Xue Shang squatted down, pressed lightly on the two bodies, and the two bodies instantly turned into two piles of white powder.

"Clean up this place, and this Train, you can merge it." With that, Xue Shang stood up and left the carriage without looking back.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling gust of wind swept through the carriage, blowing the two piles of ashes on the ground into oblivion.

"This... this this..." Luo Wan Ning looked at this scene with some surprise.

"Perfect. Saves me from having to run back for a broom." Luo Chen smiled slightly, picking up the coins and cores from the ground.

Walking towards the control panel, he tapped the screen, and an avatar and a piece of text appeared at the top of the screen.

The avatar looked exactly like the taller of the two women.

"Train Conductor Su Jinxuan of Train ECB05555, logged in."

"Train Conductor: Su Jinxuan"

"Level: 2"

He tried clicking the avatar, but there was no response.

Luo Chen sighed. It seemed that even if the Train Conductor was dead, he couldn't control the Train without being the person herself.

Suddenly, the Train began to shake violently.

"What's happening? Why is the Train moving?" Luo Chen and Luo Wan Ning were startled.

At this moment, the Train was slowly flying into the air, rapidly approaching their Train.

An invisible force pushed Luo Chen out of the driving area.

"Is this Train merging? Who's controlling it?" Luo Chen's pupils constricted, and a chill ran from his spine to the top of his head.

All possible scenarios flashed through his mind.

Luo Wan Ning and Xue Shang were both outside the Train at the moment, so it was impossible for them to be in the cockpit merging the Train.

Dongfang Yuyao never went to the cockpit, so it was also unlikely.

Then who else?

At this moment, his mind was filled with confusion.

This situation only lasted a few seconds before a wall appeared in front of the cockpit, separating the cockpit from the carriage.

The sudden, unknown change made him somewhat frightened. He mustered his courage, cautiously opened the cockpit door, and peered inside.

"No one?"

Two side-by-side driver's seats appeared before his eyes, and beyond that, two downward staircases appeared.

Walking down the stairs, three driver's seats appeared before him.

At this moment, he had already confirmed that this mysterious Train had actually merged with his Train.

Looking at this strange scene, he had not yet sorted out his thoughts. Just then, Chen Yujun, with her head bowed and eyes red, came before him:

"Luo Chen, I'm sorry. I really... really don't know what happened? The Trains suddenly merged together."

"You did this?" Luo Chen was astonished.

"Yes!" Her voice trembled, and tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes: "I don't know what happened, a memory suddenly appeared in my mind. It said that you came back and asked me to use a white core to merge the Train outside."

"But I haven't come back, have I?" Luo Chen frowned tightly.

"I know. I just asked Yu Yao and the others, and they... they also said you hadn't come back. But I really have a memory of you coming back in my head."

As Chen Yujun spoke, she knelt before Luo Chen, crying:

"Train Conductor, please give that attendant core to someone else. I... I don't need it anymore. Please don't kick our mother and daughter out."

Luo Chen frowned, thought for a moment, but couldn't understand what was going on. Seeing Chen Yujun crying, he sighed helplessly.

He grabbed her hands, trying to help her up: "Get up! This isn't your fault. Since it's already merged, punishing you won't do any good."

"It might be some mysterious force at work, don't blame yourself. Now, take them to see if there are any strange people or things on the Train."

Unable to figure out a reason for a while, Luo Chen could only instruct her.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Chen Yujun nodded in affirmation, quickly turning to inspect the Train.

About ten minutes later, Chen Yujun led the others to inspect the entire Train, but found nothing.

"Let's go! Don't worry so much. Since nothing's wrong, there won't be any danger for now. Collecting supplies is more important right now."

Luo Chen checked the time; over 40 minutes had passed, and he decisively gave the order.

Outside the Train was a desolate park, not very large, with scattered flowerbeds containing about ten osmanthus trees, three to four meters tall.

The nearest few trees had already been chopped down to just stumps; judging by the marks, they were likely cut by the previous Train Conductor with a knife.

At this moment, Xue Shang was punching the tree trunk with 'thud thud' sounds, wood chips flying, and the trunk already had a large hole smashed into it.

Seeing Luo Chen come out, she snorted coldly and punched even harder, smashing a large hole in the trunk in just a few hits.

Losing its support, the osmanthus tree snapped with a 'crack' sound at the large hole.

Looking at the fallen trunk, Xue Shang glanced at Luo Chen triumphantly.

Luo Chen shook his head somewhat helplessly. Xue Shang was sometimes fine, but once things didn't go her way, she tended to act childish.

"Did you offend her?" Luo Wan Ning asked curiously.

Luo Chen coughed awkwardly twice, saying, "Let's go. Let's first see what supplies can be collected in this place."

The group went deeper into the park, and a little further, a river cut off by the world barrier flowed with putrid black water, its pungent smell nauseating.

Luo Chen took one look and abandoned the idea of collecting water.

With that smell and color, even with the purification water tank filtering it, he wouldn't dare to drink it; it was too repulsive.

"Let's go! Back to chop trees." With that, he decisively turned around: "This water is too smelly, we can't use it."

Returning to the carriage, he took out the previously acquired chainsaw and, in less than half an hour, sawed down all ten-odd trees.

He also dug out over 4 cubic meters of soil, successfully covering one-fifth of the planting carriage.