Death Train: SSS-level talent right from the start!

The next day.

9 PM.

The entire maze began to shake violently at the same moment.

The tremor came without warning, and the cold white light flickered violently as it shook.

Qin Zhaoyang sprang to his feet, the alloy longbow already in his hand. His gaze swept instinctively around him, his voice visibly tense: "Here we go again! Why are you so fierce this time?"

No one answered him.

The passage broke again amidst the shaking, but this time it was different from any other time. The broken passage segment no longer moved laterally, but instead, as if pulled by some enormous force, began to slowly rotate, recombine, and piece together in a unified direction.

The entire maze resembles a giant machine being reassembled, with gears meshing, structures being reorganized, and all the broken passages converging towards the same center.

The tremors lasted for nearly half an hour.

When the ground beneath his feet finally stopped shaking, Chen Ye looked up and ahead.

The passage they were in was like a straight beam of light, stretching from where they stood to the end of their vision, without bends or forks, and the path behind them had been blocked by a stone gate.

Zhao Hai's gaze followed the direction the passage extended: "Is this passage the path to the gatekeeper boss?"

Gu Qinghuan had already closed her eyes. Her mental perception extended along the straight passage to its end, where a stone door blocked her mental perception from entering.

"What did you sense?"

Chen Ye's voice rang out beside Gu Qinghuan.

Gu Qinghuan opened her eyes and shook her head slightly: "At the end of the passage is a stone door, and my spiritual perception cannot detect what is behind the door."

Chen Ye frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, then summoned the system train chat channel and sent a message to Lu Qingchuan.

[Chen Ye: There should be a passage appearing over there too, right? It should lead to the boss guarding the gate. He Yunfeng and I will head over right away. You go too, just one person. The rest of your team should stay put and wait.]

The reply popped up in less than ten seconds after the message was sent.

[Lu Qingchuan: We're currently down by more than 20,000 points, and the boss only has 3000 points. How can we win?]

Chen Ye edited two messages in succession, briefly explaining the situation.

[Chen Ye: I've got four passengers on the opposite train under my control. I can kill them anytime. If we kill them, our score will instantly surpass 2700 points. The boss is worth 3000 points, so we absolutely cannot let them get it.]

[Chen Ye: The opposing team should have three top-tier fighters. Just the three of us—me, you, and He Yunfeng—are enough. More people are useless; they'll just be giving the enemy free points.]

This time, Lu Qingchuan responded even faster after the message was sent.

[Lu Qingchuan: Understood, I'm coming over now.]

Chen Ye closed the system light screen, and the blue interface shrank and disappeared in front of him. He turned his head to look at He Yunfeng, who was leaning against the wall on the other side of the passage: "Let's go, time waits for no one."

As he finished speaking, the Dragon Scale Halberd was already in his hand.

He Yunfeng didn't waste any time. He straightened up from the wall, flipped his hand, and a black longsword appeared out of thin air.

The two hurried along the passage, their footsteps fading into the distance.

Behind them, the others in the passage remained where they were.

Gu Qinghuan's gaze lingered on the two figures walking away ahead until their silhouettes completely disappeared at the intersection of light and shadow at the end of the passage, before she slowly withdrew her gaze.

The passageway was quiet for a moment.

Yang Minghui's gaze was also fixed on the straight passage ahead. After a moment, he turned his attention to the system trial panel in front of him.

The four hypnotized passengers stood like wooden stakes behind him, while the Nightmare Beast on his back remained in a prone position, its purple eyes blinking occasionally.

Liang Jing leaned against the opposite corridor wall, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and slowly scanned the corridor back and forth before finally fixing her gaze on Gu Qinghuan.

Gu Qinghuan noticed the gaze, turned her head, and her eyes briefly met Liang Jing's. Neither of them spoke.

Then Gu Qinghuan withdrew her gaze and leaned back against the wall.

Zhao Hai walked to Gu Qinghuan's side and stood against the wall. He glanced at the direction Chen Ye had disappeared in, then looked away and asked in a low voice, "Are we just going to wait here?"

Gu Qinghuan glanced at him sideways and said in a flat tone, "If you go, you'll just be giving points to the other side. They won't let low-level players participate in the battle to defend the boss."

Zhao Hai's lips moved slightly, but he ultimately said nothing.

He remained silent for a moment, then nodded slightly, looked away, and sat down at the base of the wall.

……

Inside another passage.

Lu Qingchuan stood at the front of the group, with a light blue system screen floating in front of him. The message had been read and the interface was shrinking and dissipating.

He looked up, his gaze falling on the end of the straight passageway that stretched forward.

Shen Nanxing walked up from behind and stopped beside him: "Qingchuan, I'll go with you."

Wang Zekai followed closely behind, abandoning his usual carefree attitude and speaking in a much more serious tone: "Brother Chuan, let's go together."

Gulina followed: "Captain, we're both level 24 now, so we should be able to protect ourselves, right?"

Lu Qingchuan turned around, his gaze sweeping over the three faces in turn, and then he shook his head slightly: "No need. All three of you have high scores. With the current score difference, if any one of you loses points to the other side, even if we have the points of those four prisoners, we won't be able to turn the tide."

Wang Zekai opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but seeing Lu Qingchuan's calm and determined eyes, he swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Shen Nanxing pursed her lips slightly, her gaze lingering on Lu Qingchuan's face for a moment: "Then be careful."

Lu Qingchuan nodded: "Don't worry, I have ways to protect myself, I won't die so easily."

He didn't linger after saying that; he took a step forward with his right leg and sped off along the straight passage.

Shen Nanxing stood there, watching the figure completely disappear from sight before slowly withdrawing his gaze.

Wang Zekai glanced at Shen Nanxing, his tone carrying a certainty that he was trying to reassure both of them: "You know Brother Chuan, he's survived this long not because he was reckless."

Shen Nanxing smiled helplessly: "This guy always says things like 'plants don't compete to be the tallest, and streams don't compete to be the first.' I hope he can keep talking non-stop this time."

Gulina whispered, "The captain said he has a way to save his life, he probably isn't lying to us."

Wang Zekai nodded slightly: "If he says it exists, then it really does."