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

The side door of the third carriage was only opened 20 centimeters.

A face squeezed out from inside. So thin his cheekbones bulged, his eyes sunken, his lips chapped. He pressed himself against the crack in the door, his voice hoarse, each word sounding like it was being ground with sandpaper.

"Don't drive forward."

Wang Hu squatted outside the door, holding a crowbar in his hand. He moved closer and could smell the stale, musty odor emanating from the other person, mixed with the cloying sweetness of the nutrient solution.

"The fourth section." The man swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing on his skinny neck. "It's already hanging behind you."

The voice just fell.

A muffled thud came from the stern of the Devourer. It wasn't an impact, but the precise engagement of some kind of mechanical structure—the coupling closed, the locking tongue snapping into its slot. The entire steel cable connecting to No. 013 suddenly taut without any external force, its curve instantly straightening into a straight line.

Carriage 013 swayed slightly.

Inside the carriage, the wounded soldiers, who had just had their harnesses tightened again, were jolted back against their seats by the sudden force. Muffled groans filled the air. An old soldier with broken ribs coughed, his face paling with each cough.

Tang Lan's hand was still on the brake lever. She didn't release it; instead, she pressed it down two more notches. The tracks locked, and a creaking sound came from the chassis as the metal strained to its limit.

"Who's pulling?" Her voice came through the communicator, steady but faster than usual.

No one can answer that.

Su Yuan sat in the driver's seat of the Devourer, his eyes not looking back. His attention was entirely on the old terminal screen. Three sets of data were jumping in separate columns—tail-mounted acoustic signature, chassis stress curve of No. 013, and rail surface fascia creep frequency.

The small fire's claws moved rapidly across the control panel. "Tail-mounted coupling signal matching accuracy is 97%. Mechanical structure, old-style mining reverse hook system."

"The stress on tail beam #013 exceeds the safety threshold by 42 percent." Its tail tip twitched. "It's still rising."

Su Yuan kept his right hand on the steering wheel and didn't move.

"Wang Hu".

"Here." Wang Hu had already poked his upper body out from the side door. He turned on the knob of a low-power angled light, reducing the beam angle to below fifteen degrees, and swept it backward along the track.

The light was only enough to illuminate a three-meter radius around the tail of No. 013.

There was indeed an extra piece of something there.

The front of the vehicle was rusted black, with no windows or lights. The body was covered in a layer of dried mud and rust, with dents from old collisions at the corners. Two mechanical hooks extended from under the front, gripping the No. 013 rear beam tightly. The hydraulic arms of the hooks were exposed, and there were fresh oil leaks at the oil pipe joints.

Wang Hu shrank back, closing the side door halfway. "I see it. It's rusted like it crawled out of a grave, but the hook is new, just oiled."

"The winch is turning." Xiao Huo switched on the thermal imaging. Inside the nose of the fourth car, there was a blurry, high-temperature heat source, pulsating at a fixed rhythm. "It tightens every six seconds, with a one-second interval in between."

Su Yuan finally looked away from the screen. He looked towards the car door. The thin, third survivor was still stuck in the door crack, his eyes fixed on the cockpit of the Devourer.

"Who are you?" Su Yuan asked.

The man took a couple of breaths. "Li Wei. 702nd Transfer Detachment of the Blue Star Expeditionary Force...guard. Responsible for watching the third section."

How many people are still inside?

Li Wei's lips trembled. "Two rows. Twelve. None of them are dead, but they're all asleep, or...unconscious. Don't touch them, don't shake them. Especially the six at the front of the car—there's something under the floorboards beneath them; a collision will trigger it."

Su Yuan nodded. He didn't ask any more questions.

Communication 013 rang again. Tang Lan's voice was very low. "The tail boom deformation exceeds three millimeters. Su Yuan, if you delay for another twenty seconds, the beam will break."

On the old terminal, the red text still reads: "It is recommended that the temporary lead car be safely uncoupled. Keep the lead car and the third car, and abandon the tow truck carrying the injured."

At the same time, the fascia on the track surface ahead began to twitch again. Dark red tissue seeped from the gaps in the sleepers, slowly but steadily pushing the front wheel of the Devourer. The thrust was not great, about half a meter per second, and it was directed straight towards the third carriage.

A fourth trailer is pulling from behind. A live rail is pushing from the front. Number 013 is sandwiched in the middle, its tail beam bearing the brunt of the tearing force from both sides.

Lu Mingyuan's voice came through the control room channel. In the background were the sounds of keyboard clicks and instrument hums. "Su Yuan, the stress model is done. With a hard drag, the No. 013 tail beam won't last an average of eighteen seconds. With a decoupling, I can save you and the third train."

He paused for a moment. "Choose."

No one spoke in the carriage. Wang Hu squatted by the side door, his hand resting on the valve of the cold spring water pipe. Xiao Huo's ears were flattened. Li Wei's forehead was pressed against the edge of the door crack, his eyes closed, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the door panel.

Knock. Knock knock. Knock knock knock.

Su Yuan stared at the rusty black nose of the car for five seconds.

"I won't take it off," he said.

The keyboard clicks on Lu Mingyuan's end stopped. "Su Yuan, math doesn't lie."

"You calculated the static forces." Su Yuan's right hand finally left the steering wheel. He pressed the communication button and switched to all channels. "Tang Lan, maintain a semi-locked position. Wang Hu, connect the cold spring pipe and wait for my command. Xiao Huo, start the six-second countdown."

Wang Hu turned on the valve, and a few drops of cold water dripped from the water pipe connection.

The little fire claw pressed on the timer.

Su Yuan's gaze returned to the old terminal. The stress curve of No. 013 was slowly climbing, with the red area gradually spreading upwards. In the tail thermal imaging, the heat source of the fourth section's winch lit up again.

tension.

Six seconds to arrive. One second interval.

In that very second, the winch's heat source dimmed by thirty percent. The drive shaft's speed decreased.

Su Yuan stared at the changing value.

"The first time," he said.

His right foot pressed the accelerator. Very lightly, the engine speed only increased by half a gear. The steel cable tightened.

At the same time, press the winch reel button with your left hand. The winch motor starts turning, but instead of pulling forward, it applies a lateral force diagonally to the side.

A muffled thud came from the rear of carriage 013. The steel cable caused a very slight lateral sway in the rear beam of the carriage, with an amplitude not exceeding two centimeters.

At the very moment the swing occurred, Wang Hu leaned out of the vehicle and sprayed cold spring water from the hose onto the hydraulic arm of the fourth connecting hook.

Cold water was poured onto the scalding hot metal. White steam burst forth. The hydraulic oil chamber suddenly contracted, and the meshing surfaces made a soft "click" sound.

Wang Hu retreated back into the car. The whole thing took less than three seconds.

On the old terminal, a gap appeared in the stress curve of tail beam No. 013. The red area dropped by half a grid.

"It works," Little Fire shouted.

Lu Mingyuan leaned forward in the control room. He stared at the gap and tapped his fingers twice on the edge of the console.

Section 2. The six-second countdown begins.

Su Yuan repeated the operation. Throttle, winch pulled horizontally, Wang Hu sprayed water. The three people completed their actions within six seconds, with an error of no more than 0.3 seconds.

This time, the engagement sound of the fourth-section hook was more pronounced. The metal contracted and then was subjected to force, producing a creaking sound similar to that of an old door hinge turning.

The stress curve of tail beam 013 has dropped again, retreating from the red edge back to the orange area.

Someone in the carriage gasped. It was very soft, but clear enough to be heard in the quiet carriage.

Li Wei, peering through the crack in the third door, opened his eyes and stared at the dripping water pipe in Wang Hu's hand. His lips moved, but he didn't utter a sound.

Deep inside the third carriage, among the motionless Earthlings lying there, one of their fingers twitched slightly.

Third quarter. Four seconds remaining.

Su Yuan didn't wait the full six seconds. He started two seconds early.

This time, the accelerator was pressed a little harder, and the engine speed exceeded half gear, entering the critical point of second gear. The winch pulled at a greater angle, with the steel cable forming an angle of nearly thirty degrees with the vehicle body.

Wang Hu's water pipe followed even more precisely. Cold water was poured directly onto the base of the locking tongue of the fourth interlocking hook—the part of the entire bite structure most vulnerable to sudden cooling.

Click.

A crisp sound. It wasn't the sound of metal contracting, but the sound of some structural component loosening.

On the old terminal, the compatibility of the fourth section's connection plummeted from 97% to 81%. Xiao Huo's ears perked up.

"The latch is loose!"

The stress curve of tail beam 013 plummeted back to the yellow safety zone. Tang Lan let out a long breath in the carriage and loosened her hand half an inch from the brake lever.

Lu Mingyuan suddenly stood up from his chair. He leaned close to the screen, his face almost touching it, staring at the changing curve, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

The engineer next to him leaned over. "He's...!"

"He's using its own transmission rhythm to unload the force," Lu Mingyuan's voice was a little hoarse. "The winch tightens in six seconds and retracts the rope in one second. The hydraulic arm pressure is at its lowest at the moment of retraction. He deliberately chose that one second to pour cold water on it, causing the locking tongue to repeatedly expand and contract due to heat, leading to fatigue and breakage."

The engineer opened his mouth, but no words came out.

The other technicians in the control room all gathered around. Some held onto the edge of the table, others stood on tiptoe to look at the screen. No one made a sound.

A short electronic buzzer suddenly sounded in the driver's cab of the fourth carriage.

The winch's heat source stopped pulsating. It remained lit, its speed suddenly increased, and the drive shaft emitted a sharp friction sound.

It abandoned the periodic return rope.

The little fire shrieked. "It's switched to full-load towing! Right-line switch—the switch is cutting!"

On the old terminal, the signal for the branch line, representing the "living power source" of the right track, suddenly intensified. The switch switch motor started, slowly turning from left to right. If the switch were to be moved, the entire trainset would be pulled into that branch line.

Su Yuan pressed the clutch with his left foot.

"Tang Lan".

"exist."

"Release the brakes for half a second. Let it tow."

Tang Lan didn't ask why. The brake lever was raised a quarter of the way up, and the tracks went from being fully locked to half-slipping.

The No. 013 was pulled forward a bit by the fully loaded drag force of the fourth section. The tail boom tightened again, but this time the direction of the force changed - no longer directly behind, but to the right.

Because Su Yuan's Devourer didn't move. The front wheel was firmly pressed against the rail surface, and the main winch cable was diagonally pulling the third side beam, forming an angle: Devourer in front, the third section in the middle, and No. 013 behind. The three points were not on a straight line.

The fourth section, fully loaded, was pulled, and the force was transmitted through No. 013 to the side beam of the third section, and then guided to the right by the inclined steel cable.

The switch point rail was cut just halfway.

The rear of car 013 was thrown sideways by the drag force, pulling the front of the fourth car to the right. The chassis of the two cars scraped the edge of the sleepers, splashing up a cloud of dark red fascia debris.

Su Yuan pressed the accelerator with his right foot. This time he pressed it firmly, and the engine speed immediately jumped to the step just before the redline.

The Devourer charged forward.

It didn't rush forward. Instead, it swayed in a small-radius arc, taking the third carriage with it, around the side beam fixed by the inclined steel cable.

Three points of reflection.

The full load of the fourth section's tractive force was applied to the tail section of vehicle 013, but this force was decomposed and deflected by the angle of the three vehicles. Instead of tearing 013 apart, it threw itself out.

The rusty black chassis crashed heavily into the switch rail that was being switched.

The old steel rails had been in use for decades. The surface was worn and cracked, but the base was still solid. The winch base at the bottom of the fourth car rested directly on the switch rail.

The edge of the switch rail is like a blunt knife.

Under the combined effect of its own inertia and the turnout's shift, the winch base was forcibly cleaved in two. Scalding hot oil, broken steel cables, and shattered gears sprayed out from the crack, splashing onto the rail walls on both sides.

The front hook of the fourth section is still biting the No. 013 tail beam.

However, the hydraulic arm of the hook had been bent out of shape by the impact. With a tug on the steel cable, the hook broke off at the base. Half of the hook remained on the tail section of car 013, while the other half, connected to a section of oil pipe, dangled in front of the fourth car's nose.

The entire trailer lost its balance and overturned to the right.

The wheels detached from the rails, and the chassis struck the edge of an old drainage ditch next to the switch. The car body was stuck there, blocking the entrance to the right track's "living power supply heart".

A sound erupted from inside the carriage.

It wasn't shouting. It was many people simultaneously exhaling breaths they had been holding for a long time, the sounds of inhalation and exhalation mixed together, heavy and broken.

Inside cell 013, a young survivor with a broken leg buried his face in his knees, his shoulders trembling violently. Tang Lan released the brake lever, placed her right hand flat on her knee, her fingers numb.

Li Wei, peering through the crack in the door in the third section, pressed his forehead against the door panel, his eyes closed. His lips were trembling.

Lu Mingyuan sat back down in his chair. He stared at the stress curve on the screen, which had stabilized again—the stress on all three carriages had returned to the green safety zone. The illegal towing signal disappeared, replaced by a green message: "Temporary formation complete, outer ring access valid."

He raised his hand and wiped his face. His palm was wet.

The old terminal broadcast sounded. This time it was the standard prompt tone from the Great Wall Authentication Channel, steady and without any noise.

"Abnormal towing has been resolved. Original three-section train status: stable. Outer ring access permissions: remain valid."

"Please have the lead vehicle continue with its scheduled mission."

Su Yuan released the accelerator. The engine speed dropped back to idle. He leaned back in his seat, his right hand resting on the steering wheel cover, without moving.

Wang Hu retreated back into the carriage through the side door. He threw the cold spring water pipe back into the side cabinet, plopped down on the floor, and panted heavily.

"Damn." He spat. "I almost thought I was really going to embarrass myself."

Little Fire's tail slowly relaxed. It lay on the control panel, staring at the screen. "Section 4 is completely stuck. The right-line entrance is blocked, and the living power supply heart is not outputting any new energy for the time being."

Su Yuan nodded. He didn't say anything.

His gaze passed through the windshield and landed on the third door in front of him, which was only twenty centimeters open.

Li Wei was still pressed against the crack in the door. He opened his eyes and looked towards the cockpit of the Devourer. His lips moved again.

He didn't make a sound this time. But he tapped on the door a few times with his fingers.

Knock knock. Knock knock knock.

Wang Hu's shoulders, which had just relaxed, tensed up again. "What's this now?"

The little fire claw swept across the voiceprint comparison screen. Two lines of text appeared on the screen.

"Thanks."

"Open the door. The people inside... won't last much longer."

Su Yuan stood up from his seat. He walked to the side door of the carriage and unlatched it.

"Wang Hu. Bring a crowbar."

Wang Hu jumped off the vehicle, grabbed a crowbar, and followed. The old mechanic also jumped off vehicle 013, carrying a roll of clean old bandages and a small bottle of iodine.

The three walked to the door of the third carriage.

Li Wei took a half step back. He moved aside, but his hand was still on the door frame, his knuckles white.

Wang Hu wedged the crowbar into the door crack. The first latch popped open. The second. The third.

The door opened.

Nothing lunged out. There was no sound.

The light shone in. Two rows of fixed reclining chairs, three sets on each side, with the chairs facing forward. One person was lying in each chair.

They were all very thin. Their clothes had old Blue Star linings, faded from washing, and the cuffs were worn out. Their breathing was shallow; the rise and fall of their chests was barely perceptible. But they were definitely alive.

Twelve people. All asleep. Or unable to wake up.

The old mechanic walked to the nearest chair, squatted down, and placed his fingers on the side of the man's neck. After a few seconds, the man looked up.

"Weak but steady pulse. No fever. Like being deeply sedated."

Li Wei leaned against the door, his voice hoarse: "We can't touch them. Especially..."

He pointed to the six chairs closest to the front of the car.

"Under them, in the interlayer of the floor, there were old-fashioned pressure-sensitive mines. They weren't for blowing people up, they were for preventing dismantling. If the vibration exceeded the threshold, or the pressure distribution was incorrect, they would be triggered. After triggering, it wouldn't explode... it would release nerve gas. No one in the entire carriage would survive."

Wang Hu gripped the crowbar tightly.

Su Yuan didn't enter the carriage. He stood at the door, his gaze sweeping over the six chairs and over the edges of the baseboards—there were indeed the corners of old-fashioned pressure-sensitive radars, half-embedded in the metal interlayer, their surfaces covered in dust.

"How did you know?" Su Yuan asked.

Li Wei's lips twitched slightly. "Because I was in charge of watching these mines. Before the squad disbanded, the officer told me to guard the third quarter, saying to wait for someone to come and pick me up."

He glanced at Su Yuan.

"I've waited fourteen years. The first living person to arrive is you."

The carriage was quiet for a few seconds.

Su Yuan turned to Wang Hu and said, "Go find Tang Lan and get a medical kit. Give these people outside a basic check-up first. Don't touch the six inside."

He then looked at Li Wei. "Get down. Tell me everything you know about this carriage, about the fourth carriage, and about the live train section, one thing at a time."

Li Wei nodded. He held onto the doorframe and slowly moved out. His left leg was slightly lame, and he frowned with each step.

The veteran mechanic stepped forward to help him up and handed him iodine and bandages.

Tang Lan jumped down from compartment 013, carrying a first-aid kit. She glanced at the scene in the third carriage, asked no questions, and directly directed the young survivors in compartment 013 to come and help.

Wang Hu leaned closer to Su Yuan and whispered, "Is there really a mine under the floorboards?"

"Yes," Su Yuan said, looking at the sleeping personnel from the old Blue Star. "But they're not for tampering."

Wang Hu was taken aback.

Su Yuan didn't explain. He turned and walked back to the cockpit of the Devourer, and sat down.

The old terminal screen is still lit. The grouping status is stable, and access to the outer ring is valid.

Little Fire came closer and gently touched Su Yuan's elbow with the tip of its tail.

"You just said the radar isn't tamper-proof, then what is it?"

Su Yuan stared at the green status notifications on the screen.

"It's a sensor," he said.

"Sensors that monitor their vital signs. Who's alive, who's dead, who's dying. The data is transmitted somewhere via wires underneath the base plate."

Little Fire's ears perked up. "Where is it going?"

Su Yuan didn't answer. His gaze fell on the corner of the screen, on the right-hand signal line that hadn't changed.

"Living heart that supplies energy"

Although the signal strength was mostly blocked by the debris from the fourth section, it was still fluctuating. One beat after another.

Like a heartbeat.

Like waiting.

Outside the carriage, Li Wei sat on the edge of a sleeper, receiving basic treatment from an experienced mechanic. He watched the wounded being carried out, watched Tang Lan directing people to set up makeshift stretchers, and watched Wang Hu inspecting the deformed tail beam at the rear of carriage 013.

He suddenly spoke.

"Underneath the third floorboards... there's more than just thunder."

Su Yuan, sitting in the driver's seat, heard these words. His fingers remained on the steering wheel, unmoved.

Li Wei's voice was somewhat scattered by the wind, but every word was clear.

"There are tracks underneath. A short, separate old track. The carriages are parked on that track. That track... connects to the right track."

Wang Hu had just straightened up when his movements froze.

Tang Lan's hand froze in mid-air.

Little Fire's tail suddenly straightened.

On the old terminal screen, the signal for "Living Power Supply Heart" on the right suddenly increased. The intensity curve spiked sharply and then slowly dropped back down.

It was as if something below had been startled awake.

Su Yuan loosened the steering wheel and leaned back in his seat.

He looked at the open door of the third carriage ahead, at the sleeping old Blue Star personnel inside, and at Li Wei limping back, his face showing a mixture of relief and fear.

Then he looked down at the bottom of the old terminal screen.

A new notification just popped up. It's not a system broadcast; it's a low-level hardware log.

A very short record.

"Third section base plate pressure sensor: A threshold alarm was triggered seventeen minutes ago. Trigger source: Non-personnel movement. Non-mechanical vibration."

"Trigger source type: biological signal".

"Signal source location: directly below. Depth: three meters."

Signal strength: weak. Duration: 0.4 seconds. Gone.

Su Yuan stared at the line of text.

Wang Hu leaned closer and saw it too. His Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't make a sound.

Outside the carriage, Li Wei's voice came in again, this time carrying a deep weariness.

"They all said one thing to me before they fell asleep."

Su Yuan looked up.

Li Wei looked at the sleeping people who had been placed on stretchers.

"They said there's something listening under the floorboards. Every day at 3:07 AM, it makes a sound right on time. It's very faint, like a heartbeat. But it doesn't come from inside the carriages."

He paused.

"It comes up from underground."

In carriage 013, a wounded soldier suddenly started coughing violently. He coughed for a long time until his face turned purple before he stopped.

Tang Lan squatted down beside him and patted his back.

She looked up in Su Yuan's direction. Even though they were two carriages apart, her gaze was steady, but there was something heavy within it.

Su Yuan withdrew his gaze.

He closed the prompt window on the old terminal and pulled down the joystick.

The engine speed gradually increased.

"Everyone." His voice carried through the entire channel, not loud, but very clear.

"Check the vehicle's condition. Continue downhill in ten minutes."

Inside the carriage, Wang Hu began inspecting the main winch. Xiao Huo pulled up the track diagram. Tang Lan directed the crew of 013 to secure the wounded. Li Wei sat in a corner, wrapped in an old blanket given to him by an old mechanic, staring at the ground.

Nobody asked why.

No one brought up the issue of decoupling anymore.

The front wheels of the Devourer pressed back onto the rails, the dark red fascia gleaming wetly under the headlights. The train moved slowly forward.

The third carriage was still hanging, with its door open.

Inside, twelve former Earthlings lay peacefully asleep.

Beneath the base, in the darkness three meters deep, the faint biological signal recorded by the sensor never reappeared.

But in the logs at the bottom layer of the old terminal, there was an extra line.

Timestamp: Current time plus seventeen minutes.

"Section 3 Base Plate Pressure Sensor: Expected to trigger threshold alarm. Trigger source: Non-personnel movement. Non-mechanical vibration."

"Trigger source type: biological signal".

"Signal source location: directly below. Depth: three meters."

Note: Repeat trigger probability: 100%.

Su Yuan stared at the pre-generated log for three seconds.

Then he looked away, gazing at the bottomless descending track ahead. Red pulse lights flickered in the darkness, their illumination stretching endlessly.

He stepped on the gas.

The speed has increased by one level.