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

There is no broadcast at the cold storage verification station.

A row of cool white fluorescent tubes lit up against the rails, the light not diffused, illuminating the rails like a thin layer of ice. Unopened refrigerated containers, copper pipe reels, and cryogenic pump boxes were piled up on both sides of the platform, the materials neatly stacked with labels facing outwards. The sound of condensation dripping could be heard in the air, soft but rhythmic.

Wang Hu crouched on the edge of the 012 protective case, sweeping his flashlight beam across it. The beam hit the metal exterior of the refrigerator, and the reflected light was bluish.

"All the materials are here," Xiao Huo reported.

Su Yuan stood beside the driver's seat, his mechanical left eye fixed on the screen. He didn't shut down the engine. The sound of the offline cardiac pump running came from behind, its frequency stable and its green light constantly bright. A thin layer of frost had formed on the outer wall of the cooling compartment, evenly thick, with no abnormal thawing. All the wristbands in the casualty compartment had been removed and locked in the shielding box. Tang Lan instructed the casualties to tuck their hands under the blankets and forbade anyone from touching the side door.

A tower stands in the center of the platform.

The tower is square, its outer shell made of standard cold-rolled steel plates from the old Blue Star factory, painted white. The paint has scratches, but the structure is intact. There are three rows of indicator lights at the top, all green. The base of the tower is embedded below the rail surface, surrounded by a ring of copper condenser tubes, their walls covered with fine water droplets.

There is an iron plaque on the front of the tower, with white background and black lettering.

Car assembly verification station. Verification content: The number of passengers in the live cars is consistent with the number in the refrigerated cars.

There is another line of engraving below the iron plate, and there is an oxide layer on the edge of the engraving.

The number of people is incorrect; the platform will be supplemented.

Su Yuan stared at the inscription. The gear in the mechanical left eye turned halfway.

"Turn the heat down to low and start scanning."

The scan results are displayed on the main screen. The cold chain counting tower has no load-bearing sensors or infrared scanning bars; it only contains four layers of coiled copper pipes, a condensate collection tank, a pulse amplifier, and a set of old-fashioned mechanical relays. At the bottom of the tower are three main condensate pipes, buried towards the left track, the right track, and the material warehouse behind the platform, respectively.

"It's not about checking people," Xiao Huo's analytical voice boomed across all channels. "It's about checking the water. Copper pipes collect condensate, and water droplets fall into the collection tank. A pulse amplifier converts the rhythm of the water droplets into an electrical signal, which is then counted by a relay. The left track reads the frequency of the condensate droplets falling from the cooling car. The right track reads the pulse of the heart pump in the live car. The two sets of data are compared, and if they don't match, a completion mechanism is triggered."

Wang Hu tumbled down from the edge of the 012 protective casing. His boots stepped on the rails, crushing a thin layer of frost. He tore open the bag of lime powder, grabbed a handful, and tossed it onto the left track.

The dust fell in front of the refrigeration track and was blown up by a gust of cold wind.

It doesn't drift away; it takes shape.

The powder and gray were stretched into two columns of numbers in mid-air. Left column: 0. Right column: 1.

"One passenger in the live car, zero passengers in the refrigerated car." The small torch retrieved the readings from the counting tower. "It identified the 017 offline core pump as the 019 live mother car and the 014 refrigerated car pending verification. The condensate readings didn't match up."

Control room of Base 04. The technician retrieved the old files from Station 41. "The old Blue Star Expeditionary Force's rules. Before the military train departs, the number of people in the live and refrigerated carriages must be verified. The live carriages are for escorts, medics, and technical teams. The refrigerated carriages are for frostbite casualties, organ transport, and biological samples. The number of people in both carriages must be consistent; if one is missing, the rest must be replaced."

The veteran engineer stared at the screen. "What does 'complete' mean?"

The technician flipped through two pages. "If there's a shortage of staff, just fill in the gaps on the registration form. Where will the replacements come from—"

He didn't finish speaking.

All the cool white lights at station number 41 turned red. An announcement came on.

It wasn't a recording from the old Blue Star factory; it was synthesized audio from the platform itself. It was smooth, at a constant speed, with equal spacing between each word.

"019 carries one live passenger. Refrigerated compartment has zero passengers. The number of passengers is inconsistent. Initiate automatic data replenishment."

Four refrigeration rails rise from below the rail surface. The inside of the rails has teeth covered with rubber, but the clamping force is strong enough to clamp through thin steel plates.

The first rail is locked to the offline cardiac pump base of the 017 isolation life capsule.

The second transverse movement aligns with the interface flange of the 014 cooling compartment.

The third rail flips out from the side rail and gets stuck on the sliding rail of the side door of the 013 casualty compartment.

The fourth one glided along the rail surface and stopped directly below the anti-push frame on the outside of the 005 protective compartment.

The right-side rails flip open, revealing a row of robotic arms. The arms are an older model; instead of grippers, they end in twelve registration pins. The pin tips are barbed, and the ends are connected to a numbering printer. Behind the registration pins is the outer shell of an old carriage—a crew-filling compartment. The door is open; inside, there are no seats, only a row of empty registration racks.

The announcement came on again: "013 Can replenish refrigerated car occupants. 005 Can replenish refrigerated live abnormal sources. 014 If freezing the cooling interface is refused, verification failure will be automatically recorded."

Carriage 013.

The lightly wounded soldier pulled his hand out from under the blanket. The frostbite on his arm had scabbed over, and his finger joints could still move. He stared at the manpower shortage compartment outside the side window, his lips moving slightly.

"After it's all in order—" he said, "it says it will grant access to refrigerated medicines."

Tang Lan fired her gun.

She didn't hit anyone; she hit the red numbered light outside the side window. The light cover shattered, and red fragments splattered onto the side deck, leaving a shallow scratch. She lowered her gun, the muzzle resting between the detachment cover and the registration box, not pointing it at anyone.

"Whoever touches the list of wounded, I'll slap their hand."

There was a moment of silence in the carriage. The lightly wounded soldier pulled his hands back under the blanket.

Control room of Base 04. The technician's voice was low. "The broadcast rule signature is complete. Old Blue Star Expeditionary Force number, and the verification process is standard—this isn't a trap, this is the old rule. The old rule is to fill in people."

Someone in the Bonebreaker channel gasped.

"This isn't a carjacking," the fire control officer said. "It's a manjacking."

A low murmur rippled through the channel. Some were cursing, some were asking what to do, and some were digging up old files to check the details of the rules. On the AM channel, the support crew at the rear began discussing whether they could bypass the old procedures at station 41.

The review station is advancing the first round of mandatory reviews.

The first clamping rail closed, gripping the 017 offline heart pump base. The rubber pads on the inside of the clamping rail were pressed tight, and the metal frame was inserted into the edge of the base. The indicator light on the offline heart pump jumped once, flashed yellow for half a second, and then jumped back to green.

The second clamping rail grips the 014 cooling interface flange. The frost layer on the outer wall of the flange is broken up, and fine ice fragments splash onto the rail surface.

The third clamping rail engages with the sliding rail of side door 013. The clamping teeth bite into the sliding rail groove, forcing the side door to move inward by half a centimeter.

The fourth rail pushes the anti-thrust frame of the 005 hull inward. The pressure plate of the anti-thrust frame lifts up a section from the rail surface, and the steel cable of the silencing weight is taut.

The system broadcast is triggered simultaneously. "019 Live occupant confirmed. Number of passengers in the refrigerated compartment is still zero. First attempt to complete the process: 014 Not frozen, 013 Not registered, 005 Not submitted. After three failed attempts, the process will be forcibly completed."

The registration needle for the missing personnel compartment was pushed forward by one row. The needle tip stopped half a meter above the rail surface, aligned with the 013 side door, the 014 cooling interface, and the outside of the 005 protective compartment.

Su Yuan spoke.

"Wang Hu, knock on the rails."

Wang Hu put his flashlight into his side pocket and took out a short hammer from his toolbox. He crouched down and struck the bottom beam of the left track with the hammer. Clang, clang. The echo was very low; there was a cavity under the track.

"Empty cavity," he said.

Su Yuan didn't respond. He switched to the main screen, and the interface for the pre-orbit material scanning radar popped up. The radar scanned the base of the counting tower, and the echo data was layered onto the screen.

"There are three main condenser pipes under the base of the counting tower." He dragged the data into the public channel. "The left condenser pipe reads 014 condensate dripping frequency. The right condenser pipe reads 017 offline heart pump thermal pulse. The middle one is buried in the direction of the material warehouse and connected to the registration needle busbar of the manpower shortage replenishment cabin."

He paused for a moment.

"It's not checking people. It's reading water droplets. Every time the 017 heart pump beats, the heat pulse spreads through the copper pipe wall to the outer wall of 014, and an extra drop of condensate will drip. It compares the heart pump heat pulse with the condensate dripping rhythm. If the rhythm doesn't match, it judges that the number of people is inconsistent."

Control room of Base 04. The veteran engineer slammed his hand on the table. "Count the people by the water droplets!" He turned to the Bonebreaker channel. "Not checking wristbands, not scanning ECGs, but counting water droplets! First, it directs the condensate to the outer wall of 014, then uses the heat pulse from 017 to defrost it, counting it drop by drop."

Those who were still wavering in the Bonebreaker channel all crowded in front of the screen. The fire control officer zoomed in on the structural diagram of the nuclear testing station, and the copper pipe wiring paths were marked in red, running from the base of the counting tower all the way to the 014 cooling interface, the outer wall of the 013 side door, and the bottom of the 005 naval compartment.

"Every drop of condensation is a count," the correspondent's voice couldn't be suppressed. "It doesn't recognize heartbeats, it recognizes water droplets."

The review station did not give time.

After the first round of forced verification failed, all the indicator lights on the cold chain counting tower turned red. A low humming sound emanated from inside the tower, and all three main condenser pipes were pressurized simultaneously. The water droplets in the copper pipes dripped faster, and a new line of text appeared on the metal plate on the front of the counting tower.

"The review is protected. Refusal to provide the missing information will result in mandatory registration."

All four sets of clamps tightened simultaneously. The 017 offline core pump base was pushed half an inch to the left; the core pump indicator light flashed three times rapidly, alternating between green, yellow, and green, before stabilizing and returning to green. The 014 cooling interface flange was clamped with shallow marks, slowing the re-condensation of frost. The 013 side door sliding rail was bitten, producing a metallic friction sound; the side door retreated another half centimeter. The 005 anti-push frame rail plate of the emplacement completely detached from the rail surface, and the silencer cable emitted a pulling sound.

All twelve registration needles in the missing personnel replenishment compartment were deployed. The needle tips were barbed, with fine grooves inside the barbs filled with old-fashioned serial number ink. The printer at the needle's end began to preheat, and the print head pressed against a roll of white paper.

Su Yuan pressed the communication button. "014 Reverse cooling. 017 Cardiac pump slows down by half a beat."

Tang Lan operated simultaneously in 013. On the control panel of the cooling compartment in 014, the temperature setting was manually adjusted from -15 degrees Celsius to -25 degrees Celsius. The cooling pump speed increased, the refrigerant flow increased, and the frost layer on the outer wall thickened by half a millimeter within three seconds.

Wang Hu opened the maintenance panel of the 017 offline cardiac pump. He turned the manual speed control valve half a turn, and the pump's beat rate dropped from the standard 72 beats to 36 beats. The pump's output pressure stabilized, and the green light on the liquid level sensor did not flash.

The rhythm of the condensate dripping has become disordered.

The copper tube collection tank inside the counting tower originally collected one drop of water every 0.8 seconds. Now, the interval between drops jumps to 1.7 seconds, then to 4 seconds, interspersed with two consecutive drops at a rapid pace. The water depth in the collection tank fluctuates, and the output signal of the pulse amplifier begins to jump.

The numbers on the metal sign jumped.

Live passenger capacity: 1; Refrigerated compartment passenger capacity: 1.

Another shot.

Live passenger capacity: 0; Refrigerated compartment passenger capacity: 1.

The broadcast stuttered. Synthetic syllables were cut off and then rejoined, repeating half of "Number of people—number of people—". The counting tower's relay clicked and clicked open three times in succession, and the gears of the mechanical counter made a whirring sound.

"Zero to one." The little torch magnified the reading on the main screen. "It can't recognize the 017 heart rate."

Taking advantage of the sluggishness of the rail clamping mechanism, Wang Hu flipped himself from the 012 protective shell side to the left rail. He then engaged the gripper of the automatic quick-assembly robotic arm into the bolt holes of the refrigerated rail side plate, applied hydraulic pressure, and the side plate was lifted open.

Beneath the tracks wasn't a gravel roadbed, but rather rows of cryogenic pumps, condenser copper pipes, and counterfeit relays with serial numbers. The copper pipes were coiled into a net, each with a numbered label on its wall. The numbers on the labels weren't from the Devourer's crew—they were the standard serial numbers of the old Blue Star Expeditionary Force. The relay bases were engraved with production dates; the date stamps were blurry, but the year was discernible: fourteen years ago.

"It's all fake." Wang Hu's flashlight swept across the relay array. "The serial numbers are old, and the condenser tube isn't connected to a real sensor; it's a preset beat generator. It records the water droplet beat into the relay and uses old data to pass off as real-time counting."

The veteran engineer's voice came from the control room. "So even if 014 isn't cooling and 017 stops pumping, it can still keep counting according to the old rhythm. This isn't counting; it's revisiting old issues."

The investigation did not stop after the verification station was exposed.

The cold chain counting tower was forcibly opened. The copper plates on the lower half of the tower flipped up, revealing three rows of cryogenic nozzles. The nozzles were aimed at the 013 side door, the 017 core pump, and the 005 emplacement compartment. Cold mist poured out of the nozzles, and the temperature plummeted to minus forty degrees Celsius. At the same time, the registration needle of the missing personnel replenishment compartment pushed forward, its barbed tip flashing blue in the cold mist.

The broadcast no longer announces the number of personnel. The synthesized voice immediately switches to forced mode. "Registration chain established. 013 Casualty compartment added to the refrigerated crew list. 005 Medical compartment added to the refrigerated live abnormality source list. 017 Offline cardiac pump added to the live mother car. No one may leave the station before registration is complete."

The nozzles opened fully. Cool mist surged towards the entire train formation.

Su Yuan stepped on the gas.

The Devourer sprang from idle to 1200 RPM. The output of the Mountain-Suppressing Core was pushed up to 80, the dark gold patterns on the energy conduction tubes lit up, and the dark gold exhaust gas from the exhaust pipe swept over the underside of the vehicle, burning the thin frost on the rails into a black, wet streak. The segmented braking array simultaneously locked the entire formation, with the braking pressure of each wheelset—section 3, 013, 005, 014, and 012—pressing onto the rails.

"Eight cables." Su Yuan switched to the control interface. "Hang the upper half of the counting tower."

Wang Hu opened the manual interface for the eight cables on the control panel. The quick-release couplings of the eight steel cables detached from the ground anchor holes and swung into the air. The cables stretched into arcs in the cold mist. He locked them one by one—left of the tower top crossbeam, right of the tower top crossbeam, left of the tower body waist flange, and right of the tower body waist flange. The four main cables and four auxiliary cables were all fastened into the upper half of the counting tower's structural steel frame.

"receive."

The steel cables tightened simultaneously. A metallic squeaking sound emanated from the counting tower's casing, and the three rows of indicator lights on top went out at the same time. The tower was forcibly pulled five degrees off its rail base, causing the base bolts to break off from under the rail and bend into an arc. The copper pipe broke, and condensation sprayed out, freezing into ice particles in the cold mist.

The 20th calibration round slid into the magazine from the external magazine. The small torch frequency was adjusted to the control rhythm of the mechanical relay of the counting tower, and it was fired in reverse phase. The relay's engagement rhythm was completely disordered, the counterfeit relays were continuously tripping, and old and new data were mixed together.

The registration needles in the missing personnel replenishment bay started firing erratically. The printers were spitting out numbers uncontrollably, and the numbers were all gibberish. Some needles stuck in empty registration racks, their barbs tearing the cardboard. Some needles stopped in mid-air, their tips clogged with condensed ink.

The mobile refining furnace roared. Four dark gold conduits emerged from the side of the furnace, sliding along the tracks. The conduits bypassed the 013 side door, avoiding the medicine cabinet, the 017 life support tank, and the 005 right second cargo compartment. They only pierced the main condenser pipe interface of the counting tower base, the liquid supply pipe of the cryogenic nozzle, the busbar of the registration needle, and the power assembly of the manned replenishment compartment.

The refining furnace began to devour.

The upper half of the counting tower was uprooted by eight cables. The tower's steel frame, copper tubing coils, pulse amplifier, and mechanical relays were all dragged into the furnace opening. The cryogenic nozzle's supply pipe was cut off by a dark gold conduit, and the cold mist pump unit, nozzle valve body, and storage tank were all put into the furnace together. The registration needle busbar was pulled out, and the needle tail printer, numbering ink tube, and registration rack casing slid into the furnace along with it.

The announcement was still playing. "Review protected—review—"

The synthesized sound is stuck in the middle. The last syllable is drawn out and then stops.

All red lights at the station went out simultaneously.

The cool white lights are gone too.

Only the dark golden flames from the exhaust pipes of the Devourer illuminated the empty rails.

Lu Mingyuan stood up from the chair in the control room of Base 04. He placed one hand on the table and pressed the intercom button with the other.

「41号覆核流程作废。019乘员数据只归017离线生命舱，不进入长城登记网。任何站点不得以人数覆核为理由调动013伤员舱、005护舱和014冷却车厢。」

He paused for a moment.

"All broadcasts from stations 19 to 41 have been confirmed as misleading, robbery, mortgage, parasitic, or human trafficking traps. Route 009 has a 100% accuracy rate."

The Bonebreaker channel is overwhelmed.

"It's been dismantled. The entire tower, including the nozzles, has been dismantled." The communications officer's voice was barely audible. "He wouldn't hand over the personnel, wouldn't report the numbers, and he just dismantled the entire counting tower into its components."

The fire control officer added, "The system wanted to check people. It ate the machine that could do that."

The rear support crew marked Station 41's new rule on the AM channel: the refrigerated verification station would only dismantle materials, not report personnel. The news spread outward from Base 04, chaining along the AM channel. Veterans of the old Blue Star Expeditionary Force, the Bonebreaker technical team, and surviving crews along the way all began to recheck the condensate pump rhythm and copper pipe routing in their own wagons.

The refining furnace has started producing parts.

First component: 014 dual-stage cooling expansion rack. Recast using cryogenic pump units, condenser copper pipes, and the inner cold plate of the counting tower. The rack is attached to the side of the 014, increasing cooling redundancy by 50%. The dual-stage cooling circuit is independently adjustable, with one stage stabilizing the medicine cabinet and the other stabilizing the core energy-conducting pipe rapid cooling jacket.

The second item: 017 offline cardiac pump shielding cover. It was recast using a counterfeit relay made from a tower steel frame, pulse amplifier housing, and serial number. The cover is attached to the outside of the cardiac pump, with an inner layer of lead-boron and condensate insulation. No external copper pipes, scanning bars, or pulse reading devices can detect the cardiac pump's pulse.

The third item: 013 cryogenic medicine expansion cabinet. The registration rack, cryogenic nozzle storage tank, and refrigerated rail side panels from the personnel shortage compartment were recast. The cabinet is connected to the medical expansion base of the 013 casualty compartment, increasing the medicine cabinet's storage capacity by another 30%. The cooling circuit is independent and does not accept Great Wall certification.

Fourth component: 005 camouflage condensation partition. Recast using registration pin busbar, copper pipe fragments, and rail rubber pads. The partition is installed on the outside of the camouflage, and any condensate, cold mist, or cryogenic jets will be guided into the waste liquid recovery box by the partition, without touching the outer shell of the camouflage.

Fifth item: Full crew registration rejection device. Recast using a counting tower mechanical relay, registration pin printer, and control bus. Installed below the main screen of the Devourer, it will automatically reject any "crew registration," "crew count," or "carriage verification" signals sent by any external station.

The sixth component: Cold chain counting reverse lookup module. This module is recast using a counting tower pulse amplifier, condensate collection tank, and serial number reader/writer. Connected to the pre-rail material scanning radar, it can scan ahead of time the counting towers, cold chain towers, and personnel counting gates at the next station, and then reverse-read their counting rules and counterfeit serial numbers.

Wang Hu took bolts from his toolbox. He nailed the 014 dual-stage cooling expansion bracket to the side of the cooling compartment and connected it to the incoming cooling loop. The coolant distribution parameters were updated on the main screen; the primary loop was stable in the standard refrigeration range, and the secondary loop was connected to the energy transfer tube's rapid cooling jacket. Tang Lan led the maintenance team to install the 013 cryogenic chemical expansion cabinet. The three cooling chemical tanks were moved into the new cabinet, and the temperature stabilization auxiliary circuit's indicator needle rose from the middle of the green zone to the high of the green zone.

The 005 condensation partition was pushed into place by the young survivor. He fastened the partition into the fixing slot on the outside of the cabin and tightened the bolts. The indicator light on the waste liquid recovery box inside the partition lit up, and the green light remained on.

The 017 offline cardiac pump shield was finally installed. Wang Hu fastened the shield to the outside of the cardiac pump, the lead-boron interlayer pressed down on the copper pipe interface, and the condensate insulation layer sealed the edge of the base. The beating of the cardiac pump was muffled inside the shield; no sound could be heard from the outside.

Independence. Shielding. Denying.

The material warehouse at Station 41 was quickly emptied by the crane arm and grabber. Unopened refrigerated cabinets, copper tube reels, cryogenic pump boxes, spare condensers, and a whole rack of registration needle accessories were dragged into the refining furnace side channel and sorted and stored in the heavy-duty warehouse and external material racks.

While cleaning the dust, Wang Hu pried a piece of paper from the side of the registration needle accessory rack. It wasn't a strip of paper, but an old-fashioned registration form. The paper was yellowed, and the heading bore the red seal of the old Blue Star Expeditionary Force. The form listed nineteen carriage numbers, each followed by the passenger's name, wristband number, and registration date.

The first eighteen items were all crossed out in red pen. Each cross was made with great force, tearing the paper in several places. The nineteenth item was blank, with only the carriage number column printed with three digits—019. Next to it was a line of handwritten words, the ink faint but the strokes clear.

No replacements will be made for 019. The person is not listed on the table.

There was another line of writing on the back of the paper, in someone else's handwriting.

The No. 42 military train reorganization and acceptance yard has received notification of the failure of review for the No. 41 train. The new formation list has been generated; please check.

Wang Hu handed the registration form to Su Yuan.

Su Yuan flipped the paper over to look at the back. The writing on the back was different from the front; it was newer and the ink was blacker. The writing was neat, with each character pressed against the paper fibers.

噬荒号，001。编组——012前探滑车。013伤员舱。014冷却车厢。017隔离生命舱。005尾锚压舱。009纪念挂架。

Every single item is accurate. Every single item was installed by the Devourer itself.

But the list isn't finished.

The last line has particularly heavy ink.

020 Temporary Escort.

At the same moment, the 017 offline heart pump stopped for a beat.

It wasn't a malfunction. Something interrupted the heartbeat rhythm. The heart pump paused for half a second, the yellow light on the liquid level sensor inside the shield flashed once, and then returned to green. The heartbeat resumed, the frequency and rhythm unchanged.

But a line of cold text popped up on the main screen.

020 has boarded the bus.

Wang Hu placed his hand on the outer wall of the 017 shield, his palm pressed against the metal shell. Inside, the heart pump was beating steadily. He looked at Su Yuan.

Su Yuan stared at the line of text on the main screen. The gear in the mechanical left eye turned once, without making a sound. He pressed the communication button and switched to the internal channel of the entire group.

"Light fire. Scan the entire train. Scan every car, every joint, every coupling. Scan where O020 is."

小火的全车扫描铺上主屏。热成像、金属反射面、重量分布、电磁场——所有数据一层层刷新。012:无异常。013:无异常。014:无异常。005:无异常。009纪念挂架:无异常。噬荒号驾驶室:无异常。

The 017 offline heart pump has a tiny hot spot inside. Its temperature is 0.2 degrees Celsius higher than the surrounding area. Its shape is not that of a mechanical part, a pipe, or a water tank. It resembles the silhouette of a curled-up human body.

The trending topic has shifted.

It is synchronized with the heart pump.

Su Yuan didn't switch the communication button. He looked at the outline of the hotspot, his fingers moving off the steering wheel cover and hovering over the console keyboard.

The cold chain counting and reverse lookup module automatically output an old list. The list header was printed with the green official seal of the No. 42 Military Train Reorganization and Acceptance Yard, and the edges of the paper were still slightly warm from just coming out of the printer.

Page 1. Grouping List Confirmation Letter.

Page 2. Acceptance Items List: Body Structure. Wheelset Wear. Couplings. Refrigerated Carriage. Live Carriage.

The last line of the third page.

Security guard qualification verification – one temporary security guard. Carriage number 020. Verification method: on-site inspection.

The list was turned to the third page in Su Yuan's hand. His hand paused.

Wang Hu removed his hand from the 017 shield and swept the beam of his flashlight toward the tracks behind the Devourer. Deep within the dark tracks, a row of green inspection lights lit up in the direction of Station 42, the lights spreading out section by section toward the Devourer.