Chapter 13: Shadow of the Buffer Zone

  Pierre Chan's body lay cold on the ground, then began slowly disappearing. The mood of the others also dropped to freezing point.

  "Impossible... completely no signal... how is this possible..." Anya Sharma repeatedly checked her datapad, for the first time showing near-collapse confusion and frustration. Her scientific understanding suffered a violent impact at this moment.

  Leon Schmidt slammed his fist against the door frame, knuckles white: "I told you! Their privileges are abnormally high! They can bypass conventional monitoring! They might even... be using some underlying protocol of the system itself!" His gaze sharply swept over the data stream racing past outside the windows, finally settling on those occasionally flashing, unnatural distortions and color blocks. "These disturbances... no, that's not right, they're not disturbances—they're manifestations of 'buffer zone' boundary instability!"

  The term "buffer zone" was mentioned again, carrying heart-palpitating weight. This also meant that Leon's claim about the train heading toward a "buffer zone" had been ruthlessly confirmed.

  "Eliminated... like deleting files..." Lily Tang murmured to herself. She looked at where Pierre Chan had fallen, her body beginning to shake violently beyond control, tears silently sliding down. "We're all going to die... all going to die here... just like them..." Her emotions finally collapsed, days of accumulated fear and pressure bursting like a breaking dam.

  "No! I don't want to!" She suddenly screamed, violently pushing away Charles who tried to comfort her, and like a frightened rabbit ran frantically toward the rear of the car!

  "Lily!" Charles cried out in alarm, immediately chasing after her. Samuel and Kenneth also reacted, following closely.

  Lily's target seemed to be the rear of the train. Perhaps she thought it was safer there, or perhaps it was just blind flight born of despair. She stumbled through the connecting door, ran past the empty corridor.

  "Lily! Stop! It's dangerous!" Charles shouted, alarm bells ringing in his heart. Being isolated was the biggest target!

  But Lily had been completely consumed by fear, unable to hear any words. She ran to the rear car's connection point, where there was a door marked "Equipment Room/No Entry." She frantically pounded on the door panel, crying out: "Open up! Let me out! Please! I don't want to stay here!"

  Charles was the first to catch up, trying to grab her shoulder: "Lily! Calm down!"

  Just as his hand was about to touch Lily—

  "CRACKLE—!"

  A violent, visible blue arc suddenly erupted from the door panel Lily was pounding, instantly striking her body!

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  "AAAAH—!" Lily let out an extremely shrill scream, her entire body flung away, crashing heavily to the ground several meters away. Her body convulsed violently, hair standing on end, a strange burning smell emanating from her body.

  [Warning: Unauthorized access attempt detected. Defense mechanism activated.] The system's cold voice sounded.

  "No!" Charles cried out loudly, rushing over.

  Samuel and Kenneth also arrived, seeing Lily's tragic state, their faces turning extremely grim.

  Lily's convulsions gradually stopped, her eyes wide open, pupils reflecting the car ceiling's cold lights, filled with endless pain and terror. Her breathing weakened, finally stopping completely.

  [Ding. Abnormal consciousness activity termination detected. Attempting to reconnect... Connection failed. Unit marked. Journey continues. Wishing all passengers a pleasant journey.]

  The fourth death announcement.

  This time, not death from mysterious consciousness attacks, but from the system's own defense mechanism. Because of extreme fear and reckless actions.

  Charles knelt by Lily's gradually cooling "corpse," fists clenched tight, nails nearly embedding in his palms, his heart swept by enormous helplessness and anger. He hadn't been able to save her. His pursuit might even have indirectly intensified her panic, accelerated her death.

  Samuel Jones's face was iron-gray, looking at that still-closed equipment room door flashing with residual arcs, then at the dead Lily. The system's cruelty and the killers' cold-bloodedness displayed the same outcome through different means—death.

  Kenneth Ryder silently examined the door lock and residual arcs, shaking his head: "High-intensity non-lethal defense current... but for her... too strong." His tone carried a trace of barely perceptible sorrow.

  Anya, Irina, Carmen, and Leon also successively arrived. Seeing Lily's corpse, everyone's faces grew even heavier.

  Another one. In this unexpected manner.

  "Buffer zone..." Leon Schmidt looked at that equipment room door, eyes flickering. "Equipment room... perhaps not an equipment room. Perhaps it's some interface to the system core... or, an entrance to the 'buffer zone'?"

  His speculation sent chills through everyone. Behind this door might hide clues to escape, or something even more terrifying.

  But Lily's death also served as cold water, awakening the remaining people.

  Panic and each fighting alone would only lead to faster extinction.

  Samuel Jones slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping over each surviving person: Charles, Kenneth, Irina, Anya, Carmen, Leon, and... Sophia Rossi standing at a distance with a complex expression.

  Only eight people left.

  "Enough." Samuel's voice was hoarse but carried an undeniable determination. "Regardless of who we are, where we come from, what our purposes are. From now on, suspicion and infighting must stop."

  He looked at Leon Schmidt: "Mr. Schmidt, we need your information and monitoring capabilities."

  He looked at Anya Sharma: "Doctor, we need your technical analysis."

  He looked at Kenneth, Irina, Carmen: "We need everyone's experience and vigilance."

  Finally, he looked at Charles and Sophia: "We need every person's strength."

  "The killers are among us, at least two. They want to break us down one by one, exhaust our spirit and will. We cannot let them succeed." Samuel's gaze became incomparably sharp. "To survive, we must act as one person. Share all information, formulate common strategies, cover each other, find them!"

  This time, no one immediately objected.

  Lily's death, Pierre's death, and Leon's warning about the "buffer zone" had pushed the remaining survivors to the brink. Survival instinct temporarily overrode suspicion.

  A fragile, forced alliance finally began to take preliminary shape in this bloody lesson.

  But would the killers just watch them unite?

  And what exactly was hidden behind that door that had electrocuted Lily?

  The train still raced onward, toward that endpoint called the "buffer zone," point of no return.