Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 328: Crossing the Storm Zone

Chapter 328: Chapter 328: Crossing the Storm Zone

Xu Huo serenely ordered his meal, paying no mind to the gazes of others in the restaurant, and ate slowly once the food was served.

The people in uniform were clearly vigilant around him. Three of them subtly sized him up before returning to the rear carriage at the signal of a middle-aged man.

Between the first carriage and the restaurant was a solid door without windows. The moment they opened the door, Xu Huo caught a glimpse of numerous black suitcases on the floor of the carriage and some metallic parts he had never seen before, scattered on the tables and ground.

After his meal, he inquired whether access to the lounge was permissible, but the staff informed him that the lounge fees were steep, and much like the dining area, it would be closed to guests after lights out. Even if he paid, he would have to return to his carriage before lights out.

Since the kitchen was off-limits, Xu Huo followed the staff member back to the third carriage via a restricted passageway. On the way, he tried to obtain access to the staff-only routes, but his request was deftly sidestepped.

However, the staff did offer him another piece of advice. "The D009C Dimensional Rift lies within a high-frequency Storm Zone. Sir, you might want to purchase a set of earphones specially designed for train personnel to protect your hearing."

"A high-frequency Storm Zone?" Xu Huo didn’t hesitate before paying and asked, "Will it affect the train?"

"Please be assured, the train is equipped with state-of-the-art lightning protection systems and won’t be struck by lightning. Sir, you only need to protect yourself when the storm hits," the staff member said with a smile.

Upon returning to his carriage, Xu Huo soon received a neatly packaged square box. When he opened it, it was full of components. The over-ear headphones lacked an external head shell and consisted only of the ear-covering parts. They were held in place by a special magnetism that clung around the ears. Aside from a soft padding, the external metal shell seemed somewhat bulky, and with many parts, some very intricate, assembly was required.

"What’s this?" Skinny Monkey, who had been playing cards, approached first, reaching for the components in the box. Xu Huo grabbed his wrist, twisted it, and pulled a small part from his hand. "That player up front is still looking for trouble with you. This is the first time. If it happens again, I’ll throw you out."

Skinny Monkey grimaced and nodded repeatedly, then pouted after being released. "It’s just a pair of earphones. What’s so special about that?"

"I’m done playing." The female player at the card table dropped her cards, sat next to Xu Huo, and looked at him with curved eyes. "Young man, you’re really handsome."

"I know." Xu Huo didn’t stop what he was doing.

"...And very manly too," the female player continued.

"I know that too." Xu Huo compared the parts with the instruction manual.

"So aren’t you going to look at me and tell me if I’m pretty?" She curled a lock of hair around her finger.

Only then did Xu Huo give her a glance. "Average."

The female player looked angry but quickly suppressed it, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Young man, where did you get that thing? Is it a special item?"

Everyone inside the carriage perked up their ears.

"It’s not a special item, just an ordinary pair of earphones." Xu Huo had finished assembling them, picked them up, placed them next to his ears, and the earphones automatically adhered, instantly isolating him from all sounds of the outside world.

The female player was still talking, but he simply pointed to his ear, signifying that he couldn’t hear anymore, and then he started to close his eyes to rest.

The female player walked away angrily.

The light outside the train window quickly dimmed, and the clear sky suddenly surged with dark clouds, forming udder-shaped peaks that hung low in the sky, seemingly within reach.

"What’s going on? Is it getting dark? Isn’t it not time yet?" the baby-faced man asked with a furrowed brow.

"It’s probably a space with severe weather," the experienced female player said calmly, "As long as we stay inside the train, there won’t be a problem. The train can pass through Dimensional Rifts, and a storm is nothing to it."

She sounded so certain that the other players relaxed a bit. At that moment, Skinny Monkey took out a pair of earphones just like Xu Huo’s, preparing to put them on. The blond man next to him immediately pressed down on his shoulder, "Young man, do you have another pair of earphones to sell to me?"

Skinny Monkey shook his head with a smile, "It was hard enough to get this one pair. The earphones are for sound isolation; I’m just afraid of the lightning. She’s right, the train will definitely be fine, it’s just that the sound of thunder is a bit too explosive."

He was referring to the female player.

But seeing that both Skinny Monkey and Xu Huo had prepared earphones in advance, the female player started to hesitate. She was about to reach for the call button when the train’s announcement suddenly sounded:

"Ding dong! Thank you for riding the Dimensional Rift Express. Next, the train will pass through the Storm Zone. According to current weather predictions, this Storm Zone will experience lightning at a rate of two hundred times per second for the next two hours. Please take precautions to protect your vision and hearing."

"During the passage through the Storm Zone, staff services will not be available. If you have any special needs, please take care of them on your own. Thank you for your understanding, and we wish you a pleasant journey."

After the announcement repeated once and ended, just as the players in the car were about to say something, the sky outside suddenly burst into white light. The overcast sky instantly became blindingly bright, followed by a rumble of thunder that roared in their ears as if it hadn’t been filtered by the train at all, but was instead directly thundering inside the players’ ears.

By then, it was impossible to hear anything else. The players in the same carriage all pressed against the glass windows and the doors at both ends rather quickly. The two cautious players even held the doors closed.

The lightning striking two hundred times per second was definitely not all concentrated above the train. In the brief intervals of bright light, Xu Huo barely caught a glimpse of the female player closing the front door, and at the rear was an inconspicuous male player, with almost all of the other players sticking close to the sides of the car, leaving no gap behind them.

He was also quick to stand by the window. His earphones completely blocked out the sound, which was far more comfortable than what the other players, enduring the continual thunder, were experiencing. Of course, there was another person who was also at ease.

Skinny Monkey had put on a pair of sealed sunglasses and, under the cover of the thunder, knocked the player at the back door unconscious. Then he quietly opened the door and stepped out. He wasn’t gone long before he returned, carrying a leather suitcase in his hand.

That suitcase was identical to a black leather suitcase that one of the players in the previous carriage had brought, but when he returned, Xu Huo confirmed that both the player and the suitcase were still inside the carriage.

Skinny Monkey walked through the car towards the front door, but the female player guarding it had her eyes slightly open. He hurriedly stepped aside and pretended to trip over his feet on a seat, colliding with the bulky man in front.

The bulky man threw him aside with ease and raised his hand to teach him a lesson, but a player behind him silently pointed a knife at his neck!

The bulky man’s reaction was quick, and he narrowly dodged a fatal blow, but his neck was still sliced open, and the smell of blood permeated the carriage.