The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

The face, heavily made up for theatrical performances, was facing him.

It wasn't facing the cable car, nor was it facing any other cable car. It was facing him. Facing only this one cable car.

Su Mu can confirm it.

Because of its gaze... if those heavily lined eyes really had "gaze"... it pierced through the thick fog, pierced through the darkness, and landed precisely on him.

Its lips curled up slightly, the curve even wider than before. It wasn't a smile, but a more complex, chilling expression... as if it had discovered something interesting.

Su Mu cursed under his breath.

Perhaps the fog lights were too bright. Perhaps the noise he made while firing his gun was too loud. Or perhaps his Level 3 cable car was too conspicuous among the dusty Level 1 and Level 2 cable cars. Whatever the reason, he was noticed.

It was noticed by a strange creature whose level he couldn't even see.

Su Mu tapped his finger lightly on the trigger guard of the M500, staring at the costumed monster without looking away.

He dared not act rashly.

Turn off the lights? Turning off the lights now would only make it more obvious... and attract more attention. Keep firing? That would be telling all the monsters, "I'm here."

Su Mu chose to remain inactive.

He stopped firing, letting the quiver automatically handle the approaching beetles. His gaze remained fixed on the costumed monster, observing its every move.

Fortunately, those strange creatures did not rush over.

They glanced at it a few times, then looked away and continued their attack on the city. The costumed monster also turned its head and looked back towards Ash City, its three threads swaying gently as if nothing had happened.

But Su Mu knew that it had noticed him.

He kept this in mind and continued to keep an eye on the situation outside the window.

The cable car moved slowly forward. The cable ahead curved, extending towards Ash City. At the bend, a cable car was already approaching the city wall. Su Mu glanced at the channel... the number of players had dropped to just over five hundred.

"We're almost in town! I can see the city walls!"

"We've finally arrived! Does that mean we're safe once we're in the city?"

"Not necessarily! Who knows what's inside the city?"

"Anything is better than being ganged up on by these bastards outside!"

The discussion was mixed with relief and worry, but most people breathed a sigh of relief... at least they saw hope.

Su Mu stared at the cable car that was about to reach the city wall, his heart beating slightly faster.

He didn't know what would happen to the cable car once it entered the city wall area. Would it be bounced back? Destroyed? Or would it be able to enter safely?

However, just as he was thinking...

All the strange creatures stopped.

Not just one or two, but all of them. On the ground, in the air, far away, and nearby. The overwhelming army of strange creatures, at the same instant, all stopped moving.

Then they turned their heads.

Thousands upon thousands of eyes... some had eyes, some didn't, but Su Mu could feel the chill of being stared at... all turned towards the cable car where he was.

The goatee of the Su Mu stood on end.

In the distance, the colossal creature, hundreds of meters tall, also moved.

It turned around at the edge of the city wall, got off on all fours, and charged toward the cable car at a speed completely disproportionate to its size. With each step, the ground trembled, and the air was filled with a deep, deafening roar.

The surrounding small, eerie creatures also stirred. The piercing beetles, the poisonous fireflies, the stinking corpses, and the alien evil spirits, as if receiving some kind of command, surged madly toward the cable car.

It's no longer the relaxed attitude of "just bumping into someone while passing by," but a real, targeted, and frantic charge.

Su Mu's pupils suddenly contracted.

He glanced in the direction of the city wall... The first cable car had just entered the city wall and disappeared.

They're in. The cable car passed through the barrier safely.

Su Mu's brain made the decision in a fraction of a second.

These monsters couldn't breach the barrier of Ash City. But they saw that the cable car could pass through the barrier and enter the city directly. They wanted to use the cable car... no, to use the path the cable car took to find a breach in the barrier.

His cable car was the most conspicuous one on the entire cable line.

The third-class cable car, four times the size of the first-class cable car, was painted in red and white, and had a fog light on its roof. Among those drab first-class cable cars, his car was like a person wearing fluorescent clothes standing among a group of people wearing gray clothes; it was hard not to notice it.

Those strange creatures weren't attacking randomly. They were searching. Searching for the target most likely to breach the barrier.

Then they found his cable car.

"Hold."

Su Mu acted almost without hesitation.

He rushed to the control panel and turned on the fuel system. There was still some fuel left from the previous fill-up, enough for him to use for a while. He opened the fuel valve to the maximum and pushed the accelerator lever...

The cable car suddenly lurched forward.

The speed increased from five kilometers per hour to twenty kilometers per hour in an instant. The cable car sped along the cable, the wind whistling outside the windows. Other cable cars ahead were moving slowly, but his car was far faster than them, and a collision seemed imminent...

Su Mu gritted his teeth and did not slow down.

Just as it was about to collide with the cable car in front, its cable car seemed to be guided by some force, sliding past it. Not around it... there was only one cable, so there was no "side"... but rather it seemed to have entered some special track, passing directly through the position of the cable car in front.

As the two cable cars passed each other, Su Mu could even see the terrified face of the person in the opposite cable car.

He didn't have time to think about how he did it.

He stared intently ahead, maneuvering the control system—which only activated during acceleration—as he sped along the cable car. One slow-moving cable car after another was left behind, and the walls of Ash City drew ever closer into view.

Behind them, the colossal creature, hundreds of meters tall, had caught up.

It was much faster than the cable car. Even when Su Mu pushed his speed to the limit, the distance it covered continued to decrease. Five hundred meters, four hundred meters, three hundred meters...

Su Mu could feel the ground trembling. With each step that thing took, the air vibrated, and the cable car shook violently.

Two hundred meters.

One hundred meters.

Su Mu could already see the transparent barrier in front of him.

The cable pierced through the barrier and extended into the interior of Ash City. Once inside the barrier, he would be safe.

But the giant was faster than him.

It suddenly raised its front paws, blotting out the sky.

That claw was hundreds of times larger than Su Mu's cable car, and each of its five toes was like a huge scimitar, gleaming with a cold light under the moonlight.

Then, it took a picture.