American Horror Story, Starting from Falls Town

Chapter 378 Welcome back
The walls, ceiling, and doors of the carriage are all made of metal; the only non-metallic parts are the plastic anti-slip mats on the floor and the plastic seats.

Nidi had realized that the game had officially begun, and she calmly analyzed the current situation.

Actually, if Nidi were to transform into an angel, she could basically resolve the current situation, but being so engrossed in the game, she didn't want to use any cheats and decided to complete the game on her own.

"Ashley, we need to open the driver's side door first!"

"But now the entire carriage is electrified, and this door handle is metal!"

Ashley's words made sense; using the doorknob to open the door was tantamount to suicide.

Nidi quickly continued rummaging through the bag and found a piece of leather inside.

"Leather is insulating, so we'll be fine as long as we hold the doorknob through it!"

"Let me do it!"

Baldy was an impatient guy; he snatched the leather and metal doorknob from Nidi's hand and was about to open the door.

Meanwhile, the others weren't idle either. After all, they were all second-time players, and those who survived were obviously quite skilled.

The black woman found a cut-out square area on the plastic anti-slip mat on the ground. After lifting it up, she could see a square metal fence exit separated by bulletproof glass.

"Look! There's an exit here!"

The drunkard glanced at the metal fence and came to a conclusion.

"It seems our task is to find a way to open this exit and escape!"

At this moment, the bald man had already opened the door to the driver's cab. What came into view was a device similar to a subway coin slot, with a digital display screen showing the number 9.

"Nine? Do you mean we have to put in nine coins? Does anyone have any coins on them?"

During this period, many subway stations had coin slots, so many people carried some coins with them.

Nidi stopped the bald guy.

"Wait a minute! This puzzle can't be that simple! These coins must be specially made. Let's check around for any other clues!"

The bald man standing at the door carefully observed the environment inside the driver's cab and saw a sign that read, "All false advertising must be pulled."

"Remove all the faulty billboards? Does that mean the coin is hidden inside one of them?"

The bald man turned around and looked at the others.

Needy frowned slightly.

"Actually, I just happened to glance at an advertisement board in the carriage and noticed that an English letter was missing. At the time, I thought it was just a mistake, but now it seems that it was designed that way on purpose."

Where is the billboard you mentioned?

Nidi led the others to a tourist billboard and pointed to a word on it.

"Look! The 'yourslf' here is missing the letter E!"

When everyone saw it, it turned out to be true.

Then everyone went their separate ways to look for other problematic billboards, and they found several more.

But a new problem arose: the frames of these billboards were made of metal and could not be touched directly by hand, and they did not have the tools to dismantle them.

"Perhaps our thinking is flawed; it's not about taking down these billboards!"

Nidi closed her eyes and began to ponder the clue she had just seen. The word "pulled" in the phrase "All false advertising must be pulled" can be interpreted in several ways, including as removing, pulling, or dragging.

Thinking of this, Nidi opened her eyes and looked around the carriage for anything she could pull on, and then she noticed the hanging handrails.

The purpose of these handrails is to help people who are standing and have no seats to maintain their balance during peak subway hours.

"1, 2, 3... 25, 26, there are 26 pull rings in total!"

What pull tab?

Baldy looked at Nidi strangely, not understanding why she suddenly started counting.

"I meant these handrail pulls. There are exactly 26 of them, which should correspond to the 26 letters of the alphabet!"

Now that things have come to this point, someone has finally caught up with Nidi's train of thought.

The drunkard clapped his hands.

"I get it! These faulty billboards all have missing letters. If we find the pull tab that represents the missing letter and pull it, we can get a coin, right?"

Needy nodded.

"That's what I meant!"

Round-faced Sister and Bald Guy immediately got to work. Their puzzle-solving skills were average, but their execution was truly impressive.

If these players are lucky, they can also pass the level.

Baldy made a discovery very quickly.

"I found the pull ring that represents E! But these handrails are also metal, how do we pull them down?"

The Black woman thought for a moment and then answered the Bald man.

"Does anyone have the key? I can cut that piece of leather in half and make it into a handguard!"

Who would leave the house without their keys?

The bald man quickly took out the key and tried to throw it to the black woman, but the metal key was affected by the high voltage current when it passed the metal rod and was bounced away by the electric arc. The key also showed signs of melting.

This scene startled everyone and also served as a wake-up call for them.

The current flowing through this carriage is now extremely dangerous; it could electrocute someone in an instant, so everyone must be very careful.

The black woman's hands were very skillful; she must have worked as a tailor before. In just a few minutes, she made a leather handguard that could barely protect someone else's hands.

"Alright, now we can pull these handrails!"

Baldy went to pull the ring again. He knew his puzzle-solving skills were average, and if he didn't show courage, he would easily become a burden to the team.

Pulling the ring, a coin with an "E" on it fell out, confirming Nidy's guess and much to everyone's delight.

Then, the bald guy put the coin into the coin slot, and the number became 8.

"Great, now we need 8 more coins!"

Soon, Round Face and Ashley also found the two correct letter pull tabs, successfully obtained two more coins, and inserted them into the coin slot.

There are now 6 coins left to unlock the escape route.

But at that moment, Nidi sensed something was wrong.

After pulling down three rings in succession, Nidi could clearly feel the voltage increasing.

Angels primarily fight by manipulating energy, so Nidi is quite sensitive to changes in energy. Therefore, she stopped the drunkard who was about to pull the fourth ring.

"Wait a minute! It seems like every time we pull the handrail, the voltage in the carriage is increasing!"

The black woman looked at Niddy in surprise.

"How did you know?" Nidi had a hard time explaining, since voltage is something that can't be tested without the right tools.

"Intuition! Think about it, do you think a game designed on the dark web would be so easy for us to crack and pass smoothly?"

The four players, who were on their second playthrough, exchanged glances and immediately recalled the painful memories of their previous playthrough.

Then the round-faced woman spoke up.

"Indeed, even if you successfully solve the puzzles in the dark web games, you still face the danger of death!"

Nidi continued speaking.

"So my idea is that everyone first finds the remaining 6 letters, then one person stays near the driver's seat, and together we pull the ring, and that person inserts the coin to escape!"

The person guarding the driver's seat was undoubtedly at the greatest risk, as they might not have time to escape, so everyone hesitated.

Just as Nidi was about to say that she could take on this responsibility, the round-faced woman spoke up.

"Let me do it! I was supposed to die on the battlefield. I'm only alive now thanks to God. Let God decide my fate!"

The round-faced woman is actually a retired soldier; no wonder she has such a tough demeanor.

Since the round-faced woman said so, everyone took the opportunity to start looking for the remaining six letters. Soon, the fourth, fifth, and sixth letters were found.

Now only the last three letters remain.

But at this point, the six people got stuck. They had looked at all the billboards but couldn't find the last three letters.

"Damn it! I knew the puzzle master wouldn't let us get through this so easily."

At this moment, the voltage connecting the subway car was still increasing. Even if Nidi and the others didn't pull the handrail, the voltage would still increase, just at a slower rate.

In some places, electric arcs can already be seen from time to time.

At that moment, the bald man noticed a map on the wall. Everyone was so focused on the billboards that no one noticed the map.

"Guys, I've discovered..."

Just then, an arc of electricity flashed across the map, startling the bald man, who fell and landed on the iron handrail. Everyone immediately smelled a burning odor.

"not good!"

Ashley reacted the fastest, rushing towards the bald man and kicking him to the ground.

The whole process takes very little time, only three seconds, but three seconds of direct contact with high voltage is enough to sentence a person to death.

There was indeed a legendary figure in Americana history, known as the "Electric King," who survived being electrocuted for several minutes during his execution, but the bald guy is clearly not one of them.

When Ashley checked on the bald man's condition, she noticed that his heartbeat and breathing had become very weak, clearly indicating that his internal organs were beginning to fail due to the recent exposure to high voltage.

"Nidi, come quick, look at him! He looks like he's dying!"

"let me see!"

Nidi pushed past the others and rushed to Baldy's side. She made eye contact with Ashley, who immediately understood and helped her shield the camera, which also blocked the camera.

Then, Nidi placed her hand on Baldy's chest and began to heal him with the power of holy light.

Under the healing light, Baldy's breathing returned to normal. Although there were still some burn marks on his body, at least his life was saved, but he had not yet regained consciousness.

"Phew, at least they managed to save him."

The Black woman in the distance was very surprised.

"Young lady, are you a medical student?"

Nidice and Ashley had such a strong student vibe, they didn't have that office worker feel, so the others could easily tell they were students.

"No, I'm a computer science major, and she's a performing arts major, but I've studied some first aid and nursing knowledge!"

Nidi's hastily made-up reason was quite reasonable: because labor costs are particularly high in America, if a family member is sick or injured, they will have someone specially learn some medical and nursing knowledge to save on caregiver costs.

"Everyone, now is not the time to discuss this. Let's quickly think about what the remaining three letters are!"

The speaker was a drunkard. The voltage in the carriage was getting higher and higher, making him afraid to stand up, fearing that something like what happened to Baldy Brother would happen again.

However, the map that Baldy had just been looking at had been charred by the electric arc, and he himself had not yet woken up, so it seemed that he would not wake up anytime soon.

Niddy carefully observed her surroundings, trying to find other clues.

At this moment, Nidi noticed a line of letters on the scrolling screen at the rear of the carriage. All six letters they had found earlier appeared on the scrolling screen: _E_C E___AC_.

Combining the three letters L, M, and K that we guessed earlier, these words seem to be able to form a phrase.

Nidi had a flash of inspiration and came up with the answer.

"Welcome Back! The answer is WBO!"

"What? The World Boxing Organization (WBO)?"

No one else noticed the scrolling screen, and they were all wondering how Nidy had guessed it.

"There's no time to explain, just believe me!"

Given Nidi's previous excellent performance, everyone chose to believe her.

The round-faced girl first dragged the bald guy to the exit, and then the remaining five people took their positions.

Because several pull rings are located close together, one person can pull two rings, so the impact of losing one person is not significant.

"3, 2, 1, pull together!"

Six rings were pulled down at the same time, and six coins fell out. At the same time, the entire carriage shook, and the power suddenly increased by six levels, with the voltage going up to full. Arcs of electricity shot everywhere, scaring everyone so much that they dared not stand and could only lie on the ground.

The remaining five people tacitly passed the coins hand to hand to the round-faced woman. She gritted her teeth, ignored the sparks and arcs of electricity flying overhead, and threw all the coins into the coin slot.

The digital display above the coin slot returned to zero, and then the emergency exit in the floor that the Black woman had discovered opened.

"The door's open! Get out of here!"

The drunkard, being the closest, crawled in first. After confirming it was safe below, the drunkard then pulled the unconscious bald man down with him.

Next, the Black woman, Neely, and Ashley also crawled into the escape hatch, leaving only the round-faced woman who was furthest from it.

Although Round-Faced Sister was prepared to die, she certainly wouldn't want to die like this if she could live.

However, at this point, the carriage could no longer withstand the damage from the high-voltage electricity, and all the electrical appliances inside the carriage were exploding, making it very difficult for the round-faced woman to crawl.

At the crucial moment, Ashley leaned out and reached out to pull the round-faced woman back.

Almost immediately, the entire subway car exploded.

Hearing the noise above them, the five people who had escaped unscathed all looked shaken.

The space beneath the carriage appeared to be an elevator, and once everyone had arrived, the elevator began to descend rapidly.

With trembling hands, the drunkard pulled a metal flask from inside his clothes and took a sip; only alcohol could ease his stress.

"Survived!"

寡姐
(End of this chapter)