The "Survival on the Train" game has bugs, it's really laggy!

The speed of the Devourer dropped to eight kilometers per hour.

The sound of the wheels rolling over the dark red fascia was muffled and damp, and every three or four seconds a low-frequency vibration would come from the rail surface, running from the chassis straight to the seat back.

Su Yuan lightly touched the accelerator with his right foot, gripped the steering wheel at the eleven o'clock position with his left hand, and glanced at the section of track outside the windshield that was sticky from the red light.

"Small fire."

"exist."

"The three sets of data were recorded separately. One set of data was for track surface vibration, another for knocking sounds, and the airflow in the ventilation duct was recorded separately with a timeline."

The little fire claws swept across the control panel, its tail taut. "Frequency division recording in progress."

Su Yuan glanced at the rearview mirror. Number 013 was following seven meters away, the steel cable had a normal curvature, and the wheel flange light was flashing yellow.

"Tang Lan".

"exist."

"Is the wounded person properly strapped in?"

"All tied up. The ammunition box is on the front half, shifting the center of gravity forward."

What is the condition of the rear track tensioner?

There was a pause on Tang Lan's end, and someone crouched down to check. The voice came back, "The wear and tear is still there, but it hasn't worsened. Slow dragging can hold for now."

Su Yuan didn't say anything more.

Wang Hu crawled out from under the front of the car, his hands covered in black oil mixed with a layer of red glue. He wiped his hands on his trouser leg, glanced at the dark red residue on his palms, and frowned.

"The pin temperature has dropped. The two bushings that were welded together are still meshing well." He squatted down next to the driver's seat. "It's just that the red stuff under the front beam is getting thicker and thicker, sticking to the anti-rust surface."

Su Yuan nodded.

The Devourer continued its descent at a speed of eight kilometers per hour.

The track gradient gradually increased from ten degrees to twelve degrees. The fascia layer on both sides of the wall increased from a few millimeters to nearly a finger's thickness, and in some places, dark vesicles bulged out, containing liquid that swayed with the vibration of the train.

The air grew thicker. The pungent smell of fermenting organic matter mixed with the metallic odor filled his nostrils. Wang Hu grabbed a dry cloth and covered his mouth and nose.

The knocking came again.

Knock. Knock knock. Knock knock knock. Knock.

It was clearer than last time. It wasn't an electronic signal transmitted through a communication channel; it was pure physical vibration—metal striking metal, the vibration spreading upwards along the rails and being picked up by the chassis of the Devourer.

The little fire claws quickly compared the results.

The words were spelled out one by one on the screen.

"Don't continue with the third section. There's a living person inside. Lian Gua will awaken."

This time, there's one more word: "Lian Gua Hui Xing".

The woman stood up from the maintenance chair. She walked to the control panel, staring at the translation results on the screen, her nails digging into her palms.

"This is the distress code for the old expeditionary force vehicle door."

Her voice was still hoarse, but she pronounced each word clearly.

"It wasn't generated by the system. It was produced by a person, using their hands or tools, directly striking the metal walls of the carriage."

Wang Hu turned to look at her. "Are you sure this isn't a system fabrication?"

"The rhythm is irregular." The woman pointed to the gaps between several peaks on the voiceprint graph. "There's an extra 0.2 seconds between the third and fourth beats. Machine-generated voiceprints don't have this kind of delay. It's either hand tremor or insufficient strength."

The carriage was silent for two seconds.

Another low-frequency vibration came from the track. Dull, heavy, rising up from the soles of my feet.

Xiao Huo reports the number: "Four hundred and twenty meters to the fork in the road."

Su Yuan did not speed up.

On the old terminal screen, the red notification for the Great Wall authentication channel was still displayed: "Original trainset missing, cannot enter the outer ring. Please immediately engage the third car in the temporary lead car."

Two messages are displayed side by side on the screen.

One message urged him to answer. The other pleaded with him not to answer.

Su Yuan's mechanical left eye gear spun once. Neither fast nor slow.

Three hundred meters from the fork in the road.

The fascia on the walls on both sides of the track began to show changes in texture. It was no longer a uniform dark red surface, but had become directional—all the textures pointed in the same direction: forward.

Xiao Huo's voice suddenly rose a half-tone. "The coefficient of friction on the rail surface has plummeted!"

At the same second.

The old radio station exploded.

It wasn't the old, synthesized voice from before; it was a rough, independent system sound from the live grouping area, with relay noise louder than human voices.

"The original grouping must be complete."

"Track switching in progress."

"The lead vehicle should continue moving forward."

The words had barely left his mouth when a heavy thud of metal turning came from the tracks ahead. Su Yuan could see the switch tongue shift fifty meters away under the red light. The left track became the only passage.

The right line disappeared—not physically, but was completely covered and swallowed up by the surging fascia within three seconds.

Immediately afterwards, two loud bangs came from the rear of the carriage.

Bang. Bang.

Two anti-reverse gates fell from the ceiling behind, and the sound of them hitting the tracks made carriage 013 shake.

Tang Lan's voice came over. "The back road is blocked. Two gates, at full height, with no manual release mechanism."

There's no way out.

Wang Hu cursed and looked out the window.

The fascia on the track surface started to move.

It wasn't passively clinging to the sleepers waiting to be run over. It was actively contracting. Its grain moved in a consistent direction, dragging the wheels of the Devourer forward.

Su Yuan pressed the brake pedal with his right foot, pressing it all the way down.

Useless.

The front wheels slipped on the fascia. The brake pads made a sharp screeching sound, but the vehicle was still moving forward. The speed wasn't fast, about three kilometers per hour. But it was accelerating.

Number 013 was also dragged away. The steel cable was taut for a while.

Tang Lan pressed the brake lever all the way down. The force of the tracks gripping the ground was largely offset by the viscosity of the fascia.

"I can't control it," she said.

A muffled groan came from cell 013 as the wounded soldier hit his brace. Someone cursed, while someone else shouted for him to hold on tight.

In the control room above the base, Lu Mingyuan stared at the readings of the track traction force.

The numbers are jumping. Not a minor adjustment, but a three percent increase per second.

His face turned pale.

The engineer next to him came over to take a look. "This is..."

"The live rail is feeding the train," Lu Mingyuan said, his voice dry. "It's pushing the train towards the third car."

The engineer turned his head and glanced at the two cars slowly moving forward in the red light on the monitor screen.

"Then what is he going to do...?"

Lu Mingyuan did not reply.

In the corridor, the survivors who had just handed over the tools huddled behind the observation window, whispering among themselves.

"The car in front has its brakes fully depressed, but it's still sliding."

"The system is forcing me to hang up. If I don't answer, it will keep pushing until I run into a stumbling block."

"Either answer, or..."

"What do you want? The back is blocked off, there's only one road in front."

Someone shook their head. They didn't say anything.

The cockpit of the Devourer.

The car body was being pushed forward at a speed of half a meter per second. A slight deflection force was transmitted to the steering wheel, which Su Yuan held down with one hand to keep the front of the car aligned with the center line of the track.

The small fire unit reports the distance: "Signal source in the third carriage, 170 meters ahead."

Su Yuan wasn't in a hurry.

He released the brakes.

Wang Hu was taken aback. "You—"

"It's no use stomping on it. It's a waste of brake pads," Su Yuan said.

He lifted his right hand off the steering wheel and pressed it against the old terminal keypad.

"Turn the spotlight to its lowest setting. Only use a slanted beam. Keep the angle below 15 degrees and sweep the undercarriage."

Little Fire didn't ask why, and its claws slashed down. The headlight on the front of the train went out, replaced by a small work light on the side. The light spread forward along the rails, not reaching high places, only revealing the outline of the rails and the chassis of the carriage ahead.

Su Yuan's gaze was fixed on the area illuminated by that beam of light.

Seventy meters.

Sixty meters.

The red pulse light ahead illuminated a silhouette.

An old-style personnel transfer car. Half-embedded in the left-side fascia wall, its exterior paint is mottled, but the original blue of the Blue Star Expeditionary Force is still visible. The coupling port at the rear is visible—automatically extended, with two hydraulic clamps open, waiting to engage.

The car door was shaking.

Knock. Knock knock knock. Knock.

He was tapping from the inside out. The rhythm was unstable, and the force varied.

The announcement came on again. The system voice repeated the same message: "Please use a temporary lead vehicle to collide with the vehicle at low speed." "Please use a temporary lead vehicle to collide with the vehicle at low speed."

The second message follows: "Warning: The Great Wall authentication certificate is valid for 9 minutes and 43 seconds. It will expire permanently after this time."

Countdown.

Nine minutes and forty-three seconds.

Wang Hu glanced at Su Yuan.

Su Yuan didn't look at him. His attention was entirely on the image of the chassis illuminated by the slanted light.

The front wheel continued to be pushed along by the fascia. Fifty meters. Forty-five meters.

The angle of the slanted light was just right to make the details of the third section of the chassis clear.

Wheelset. Old standard wide gauge. Severely rusted but intact.

Brake beam. Its low position indicates that the carriage itself is quite heavy.

Connector. Automatic, close-fitting connector with standard hydraulic clamp arm opening angle.

Su Yuan's gaze lingered on the base of the joint.

It's too clean there.

All surrounding surfaces were covered with fascia, rust, and oxide layers. The hydraulic clamp arm at the coupling was bare. The metal surface was smooth, with a fresh oil film.

Su Yuan's gaze shifted upwards.

Car door. Window frame.

It's covered in old scratches. Some are so deep you can see the primer, others are wear and tear accumulated over the years. There's even a bend in the door hinges.

The coupling looks brand new. The car body looks like it's been lying underground for over a decade.

Both states should not occur simultaneously on one vehicle.

Su Yuan's gear eye turned half a circle, locking the row of oil pipe joints below the coupling port.

Eight connectors. Standard connection only requires four. The extra four have smaller pipe diameters and different interface designs.

It's not a power line. It's not a brake line.

It is a communication trigger tube.

Purely mechanical transmission. At the moment of impact, the impact force of the front coupling will be transmitted through these four pipes to a certain mechanism inside the vehicle.

The light in Su Yuan's eyes changed.

He got it.

"The linkage will wake up"—not the train car itself. It means that a mechanism inside the train car, triggered by the impact, will activate. Those four pipes are the transmission channels. The impact force during a head-on collision is transmitted into the train car through them, releasing some kind of lock.

Regardless of what was locked, the person knocking inside desperately told him not to bump into it.

Thirty meters.

The fascia is still being pushed.

Su Yuan raised his hand and patted the steering wheel.

"Wang Hu".

"exist."

"Is there enough main winch cable to reach the third side beam?"

Wang Hu leaned over the windshield and estimated the distance. "It's enough. But we need to get closer. It'll be safer within twenty meters."

"Don't hit it," Su Yuan said.

Wang Hu was taken aback.

"Don't connect it head-on. Use a winch to pull the side beam diagonally, and then pull it out horizontally from the wall."

Wang Hu opened his mouth slightly, then closed it again. "You're going to bypass the connecting passage?"

"There's a trigger pipe at the coupling. If it hits, something inside the car will be activated," Su Yuan said quickly. "Change to side-stretcher. First, loosen it from the fascia."

The announcement kept urging them: "Eight minutes and nine seconds remain until the verification expires."

Without saying another word, Wang Hu turned around and started pulling the steel cable of the main winch.

Su Yuan pressed the communication button. "Tang Lan."

"exist."

"Number 013, reverse braking preparation. You hold it down while I pull it."

"Understood. Angle?"

"Thirty degrees to the left. I pull diagonally, you press straight down."

Tang Lan didn't ask any further questions.

The Devourer continued to be pushed along by the fascia. Twenty-five meters. Twenty-two meters. Twenty meters.

Wang Hu, carrying the end of a steel cable, peeked out from the side door. A gust of wind blew in, carrying a fishy smell that hit his face. He squinted as he looked ahead.

The side of the third carriage was visible under the low-powered lights. Several inspection holes were visible beneath the old blue paint, and the bolts were still there.

"The third hole on the side beam," Su Yuan's voice came from the driver's cab. "That hole is the largest; the grappling hook can grip it."

Wang Hu raised the winch hook and glanced at the distance. Eighteen meters. The angle was a little off.

"Two meters closer."

The Devourer was pushed and slid another two meters. Sixteen meters.

Wang Hu swung the grappling hook outwards.

The steel cable drew an arc in the air, and the tip of the hook struck the side of the third carriage. It didn't catch on the first try and bounced away.

"Again."

Wang Hu pulled the steel cable back and adjusted his grip. He then swung it out a second time.

when.

The hook got stuck in the third hole for a moment, but didn't lock in completely.

Wang Hu gave it another push. The hook grappled inward half a turn, locking onto the flange on the inner wall of the hole.

"Hang up."

Su Yuan pressed the winch cable reel button with his right hand.

The steel cable began to tighten. The direction was not straight ahead—because the Devourer was facing the rear of the third section, and the winch cable emerged from the side door, forming a side pull angle of approximately thirty-five degrees.

The moment the steel cable taut, the third carriage emitted a metallic groan.

It was tugged.

It's not forward. It's to the side.

The car body, embedded in the fascia wall, was pulled half an inch by the lateral force. The fascia made a tearing, wet sound.

The knocking from inside the car door suddenly became more urgent.

Knock knock knock knock knock knock—

It wasn't Morse code anymore. It was pure, rapid tapping. It was as if the person inside had noticed the change.

Xiao Huo stared at the voiceprint. "The tapping rhythm has quickened. It's no longer coding."

Su Yuan didn't stop. "Continue reeling in the cable."

The winch motor continued to run. The steel cable tightened inch by inch. The third carriage was pulled out another three centimeters from within the fascia wall. Five centimeters.

The sound of fascia tearing grew louder. Dark red, thread-like material was pulled out from the break, like a severed tendon.

The broadcast tone changed. A sharp electrical noise was mixed into the system tone. "Warning! Non-standard connection operation! Please restore front-facing connection!"

"Certification validity period: 6 minutes and 51 seconds remaining."

Su Yuan ignored him.

But the fascia wasn't idle either.

A large patch of new dark red tissue suddenly emerged from beneath the rails. It didn't grow slowly—it shot out directly from the gaps in the sleepers at an extremely fast speed.

Within three seconds, the front wheels of the Devourer were completely wrapped by newly formed fascia.

The same thing happened on track 013. The fascia at the bottom of the track bulged and got tangled around the three sets of road wheels.

Tang Lan's voice came through. "The chassis is entangled."

Worse still, the fascia was climbing up the winch cable. The dark red threads clung to the cable from the rail surface, advancing several centimeters per second, heading straight for the hook claws.

Once the connection point between the hook and the third side beam is covered, the lateral tension is rendered useless.

The system is still beeping. "Please resume frontal connection." "Authentication validity period: 6 minutes and 20 seconds."

Wang Hu, peering through the side doorway at the red threads climbing the steel cables, paled. "Something's growing on the cables!"

Su Yuan did not pull hard.

He did something no one expected—he released the winch cable reel button and simultaneously pressed the communication button.

"Tang Lan. Release the brake. Half a second."

Tang Lan didn't hesitate. She let go.

The weight of No. 013 generated a short forward impulse on the ramp. This force was transmitted to the Devourer via steel cable, and then from the Devourer to the third side beam via winch cable.

But at the same moment Su Yuan released the brake, he shifted into reverse and stepped on the accelerator.

The drive wheels of the Devourer reversed.

The forward momentum and the driving force of reversing create a counterforce.

Instead of loosening, the steel cable produced a high-frequency lateral oscillation within a very short time window.

The frequency of that oscillation was just right—

The fascia is torn.

It wasn't just one or two strands. It was the entire dark red tissue clinging to the bottom of the winch cable that was shattered during the lateral vibration, like a wet towel being shaken dry.

At the same second, the force of the forward pressure from car 013 was transmitted to the side beam of the third car via the winch system. The lateral tension suddenly increased due to inertia.

The third carriage was pulled out of the fascia wall by a full half meter.

The tearing sound echoed throughout the track.

A muffled thud came from inside the car door.

There was no knocking. Someone had fallen onto the door with a loud thud.

Wang Hu peered out through the side door. "Did someone inside fall?"

Su Yuan didn't stop.

"Turn the fire down to the third section of the coupling port, and check the temperature of the hot-trigger pin on that row of oil pipes."

The thermal imaging of the undercarriage was activated by turning on the small flame. The image of the third coupling appeared on the right side of the screen. Each of the four extra thin pipe joints had a cylindrical pin.

"Surface temperature is 47 degrees Celsius, which is 20 degrees Celsius higher than the ambient temperature. It has an internal heat source."

Thermal trigger pin. It maintains its locked state by temperature. Once the impact force of a head-on collision is combined with the temperature, the pin will spring open.

Su Yuan reached out his hand.

"Cold spring water pipe."

Wang Hu understood. He pulled the cold spring pipe out of the side cabinet and pointed the pipe opening forward.

"Pour water onto the four pins at the top of the couplet."

Wang Hu leaned out halfway, lowered the angle of the pipe opening, and aimed it at the coupling at the rear of the third car section, fourteen meters away.

The cold spring water gushed out. The water column dispersed into a mist in the air and landed on the metal surface of the coupling.

The temperature dropped sharply.

The small fire indicator reads: "The temperature of the thermal trigger pin is dropping—forty-three, thirty-nine, thirty-five—it has fallen below the trigger threshold."

The pin has shrunk. The metal undergoes slight deformation at low temperatures, causing the latch to lock even more firmly.

Even if you were to crash into it head-on now, the momentum wouldn't be enough to make the pin spring back after it has cooled and contracted.

The in-vehicle mechanisms will not be triggered.

Su Yuan pressed the winch cable reel button with his right hand, while simultaneously typing a series of Morse code on the old terminal with his left hand.

Da. Da da. Da da da.

The third section of the temporary lead car is coupled together.

Method: External fixed grouping.

The missing carriages could not be properly joined due to mechanical failure.

Change to physical locking grouping.

After finishing typing, he looked up at Wang Hu.

"Insulating clamps. Lock the mechanical latch of the coupling port. Just make the system reading show 'coupled'."

Wang Hu's mind raced. "You're going to fake a connection?"

"Physical contact, no impact. The system only recognizes the position of the latch."

Wang Hu grabbed the insulated pliers and jumped off the bus through the side door.

His boots pounded on the fascia-covered tracks, each step a sticky resistance. Fourteen meters. Walk faster.

Cold spring water was still dripping from the pipes on the vehicle, and a film of water covered the surface of the coupling.

Wang Hu ran to the rear of the third car and looked up at the open coupling. The hydraulic clamp arm had retracted slightly by two millimeters due to the cold shrinkage, and the locking tongue was half-extended.

He wedged the jaws of the insulated pliers at the base of the latch and pushed them in forcefully.

The latch was pushed in for the last centimeter.

Click.

An old indicator light on the connector panel changed from red to green.

Wang Hu then turned the pliers sideways, firmly locking the bolt to prevent it from springing back.

"It's stuck."

At the same second, the old terminal screen of the Devourer flashed.

The underlying verification code took two seconds to process.

The red background color of the Great Wall authentication channel has changed.

Turning green.

It was an glaringly green.

"Original grouping - complete."

"Access to the outer ring of the Great Wall - Confirmed."

"Temporary lead vehicle permission - valid".

The three lines of text popped up one after another, with less than a second between each line.

The broadcast was interrupted. The rough system tone repeated half a syllable—"Please temporarily call me—"—and then it cut off.

There was no further sound.

The fascia beneath the rail surface stopped moving. It didn't stop gradually; it suddenly lost its driving force and went limp.

The dark red material wrapped around the front wheel loosened. There was no more thrust.

The carriage was silent for a full second.

Lu Mingyuan stood up from the chair in the control room, his hand tugging at his chest wound, causing him to bend over slightly. He stared at the three lines of green text on the screen, his lips moving slightly, but he didn't utter a sound.

The engineer next to him took half a step forward, and froze after seeing the screen clearly.

"It kept forcing us to crash..." the engineer's voice trembled. "Was it trying to trick the lead car into triggering the internal lock?"

Lu Mingyuan didn't reply. His hand was pressed on the edge of the control panel, and his knuckles turned white.

In the upper corridor of Base 04, the survivor, who was lying behind the observation window, did not react at first.

Then someone saw the grouping status being refreshed on the big screen.

"Is it connected?"

"Green light? Certification approved?"

"Wait a minute—it didn't crash. How did it get connected?"

No one can answer that.

The red light on the casualty ward door went out and turned a stable green. The guide lights on both sides of the escape track turned green. The cooling branch line valves emitted the sound of water starting up.

All system states stabilized at the same time.

Inside room 013, Tang Lan stared at the newly popped-up grouping indicator on the panel.

"The accompanying wounded carriage has been incorporated into the temporary lead car group."

The same text as before. But this time, there's an extra line below.

"The third passenger transfer car has been incorporated into the temporary lead car group."

She lifted the brake lever from the bottom, her fingers stiffening for a moment as she released it.

"All personnel in Unit 013, prepare to receive the wounded." Her voice returned to its usual rhythm. "Medical kits ready. We don't know the situation inside."

Wang Hu was still standing next to the rear of the third car, his insulated pliers still gripping the locking bolt. He turned and shouted towards the direction of the Devouring Wasteland.

"Can you let go now?"

Su Yuan glanced at the terminal from the driver's seat. The formation was stable, with no signs of rebound.

"Relax. Be careful not to let the latch pop out."

Wang Hu slowly withdrew the pliers from the latch. The latch didn't budge. The shrunk metal gripped tightly.

He put away the pliers and turned to walk towards the third side door.

The veteran mechanic had already jumped down from unit 013, clutching a crowbar, and followed behind.

The third side door is the same type as when the middle spare car was opened last time. It has a rotary mechanical lock with three latches.

But the edge of the door has scratches. Some are deep, some are shallow, and some are scratched from the inside out.

The old mechanic squatted down and peeked through the crack in the door.

Something is seeping out.

There was a thin trail of liquid at the bottom of the door crack. Wang Hu reached out and wiped it. A layer of transparent, pale yellow liquid clung to his fingertip.

It's not blood.

He leaned closer and took a sniff.

"It smells like antifreeze."

The veteran mechanic smelled it too. He frowned. "There's something else. Nutrient solution. The base smell of old-fashioned intravenous nutrient solution. I smelled it before when I was inspecting the medical bay at the station."

The two exchanged a glance.

Wang Hu took the crowbar and wedged it into the first latch along the door's edge. One kick. It snapped. The second. The third.

The door didn't open immediately. It was blocked from the inside by something.

Wang Hu braced his shoulder against the door and pushed it inward.

The door opened a crack. About twenty centimeters.

There was nothing that jumped out.

Light leaked through the crack, illuminating a small section of the interior space.

A row of seats. Not ordinary seats—they are fixed reclining chairs from the old Earth personnel transfer pods, equipped with folding guardrails and restraint straps.

Six groups in a row, three on each side.

On the set of reclining chairs closest to the door, restraint straps were fastened. The guardrails were upright. A person lay on the chair.

Thin. The kind of thin that's almost unrecognizable. Prominent cheekbones, sunken eyes. Wearing an old, faded blue star lining, the cuffs worn and frayed.

His eyes were open.

Wang Hu met his gaze.

Those eyes were focused. They weren't the eyes of a dead person.

The man's lips moved. A sound emerged from his throat. Hoarse. Difficult. But every word was clear.

"Don't drive forward."

He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing slowly.

"The fourth quarter... is already hanging behind you."

Wang Hu's pupils contracted.

At the same second.

The tail of the Devourer.

The steel cable connecting No. 013 was taut without wind.

In carriage 013, the young survivor sitting in the last row bumped his back against the seat back. It wasn't the inertia from the train stopping—something had pulled him from behind.

Tang Lan's hand had just left the brake lever when she suddenly pressed it back down.

"Who's pulling?"

From the darkness behind number 013, a metallic clanging sound came.

Dull. Precise.

The sound of the coupling closing.