The train's violent shaking made it hard for people in the carriage to stand steady, and Jill, who had been eavesdropping at the door, stumbled and fell inside.
She looked up and saw Aiden and Ada both looking at her. An awkward expression flashed across her face, and she quickly got up, patted the dust off her body, and said as if nothing had happened, "Sorry, I lost my balance. Oh, right, what happened to the train?"
Only then did Ada glance at the screen on the control panel, but there was no malfunction information displayed.
"I don't know either. The train's control system is completely normal," she said with a frown. Then she looked at Jill and asked her with dissatisfaction, "Were you eavesdropping just now?"
Although the shaking was intense, it wasn't to the extent of making someone fall. Jill falling seemed more like her leaning too far while eavesdropping and losing her balance.
Jill quickly waved her hand and was about to explain when a harsh metal-tearing sound was suddenly heard.
Aiden thought, 'This is bad,' grabbed his gun, and rushed out. Then he saw that the last carriage at the end of the train had been torn open with a big hole. The airflow caused by the train moving through the tunnel rushed in from the gap, blowing everyone's hair into a mess.
"What happened?" Ada and Jill also rushed out and saw the huge rip. Jill shouted into Leon's ear.
"I'm not sure either. It suddenly happened," Leon shouted back. "Maybe the manufacturer cut corners. I should fine them."
"That's not your job. Even the FBI is more qualified than you," Aiden chimed in, then cautiously watched the opening, his finger already on the trigger.
At that moment, a monster with only half its body left fell in from the tear, passed through the middle carriage, and landed in front of Aiden.
Aiden stared at the thing, stunned for a moment. Looking closely, he saw that it was actually a Tyrant, and it was still alive. But everything from its chest downward was gone. Judging from the wound's edge, it looked as if it had been melted.
Whoosh!
Just as Aiden was shocked, a tentacle reached in through the tear, wrapped around the upper half of the Tyrant, and dragged it away again.
Aiden's expression changed drastically. He thought of something, but before he could look up to confirm, Sherry screamed behind Claire.
In fact, Claire wasn't in much better condition. She barely held back a scream and shouted, "Oh my god, is this the descent of an evil god? Even Azathoth isn't this disgusting!"
"This isn't a Cthulhu tabletop game. Azathoth can't appear here," Leon shouted irritably, although he was also disgusted by the monster in front of him.
Aiden was also revolted. He saw a mass of indescribable flesh squeezing through the rip into the carriage.
It was G-William.
William in his G5 form.
The lab explosion had indeed not killed it. The G-virus's near-infinite evolutionary capability had made it even stronger.
Moreover, after devouring countless zombie and monster corpses, its body had become incredibly massive, with countless tentacles growing from it. Plus, the undigested and unfused remains of limbs, it was already beyond disgusting, beyond description. No wonder Claire thought it might be the descent of an evil god.
Aiden swallowed hard. Even though he had mentally prepared himself, he still found it hard to accept. He stepped back a few steps, and his gun went off.
Not only him, the others also opened fire. Bullets rained down on G5 William's body, but in this form, G-William was already completely immune to direct hits from small-caliber bullets. They were doing nothing useful.
Fortunately, although G5 William was powerful, this form had no legs. Its movement relied entirely on the grotesque tentacles under its abdomen, and was very slow.
"What do we do?" Leon emptied his magazine and asked while pulling a new one from his waist pouch.
Aiden had no solution. He only furrowed his brows and kept firing in silence.
Leon got anxious and asked again.
Still, Aiden didn't answer. He stared hard at G-William, whose huge body was mostly squeezed in, as if waiting for something.
At that moment, all the lights in the carriage suddenly turned an intense red, and the exact same alarm sound as the underground lab's self-destruct system started to play.
[Warning: Due to detection of bio-viral presence on the train, the system has entered forced purge mode. The train's self-destruct program has been initiated.]
[Warning: Train will self-destruct in one minute.]
[Countdown begins: 59.]
[58.]
[57.]
"Damn it, Aiden, think of something quick!" Jill panicked and shouted at Aiden.
"I'm thinking." Aiden, on the other hand, let out a breath and replied calmly, then glanced out the window and ran to pull the door open.
Seeing his action, Jill thought he was crazy.
"You're not thinking of making us jump, right?" Jill shouted. "If we jump at this speed, we'll die!"
'Idiot.' Aiden really wanted to smack Jill on the head. How could she be so smart normally but suddenly act so dumb?
Giving her an irritated glare, Aiden shouted to Ada, who had already entered the control room, "Ada, slow down the train!"
"I'm doing it," Ada replied. "Give me a little time."
In fact, when Aiden opened the door, Ada had already guessed what he wanted to do. Without needing instructions, she directly entered the control room and activated the braking system.
Since the train had already decelerated once, after Ada started the braking system, it quickly came to a stop.
At this point, the people on the train could already see the light shining from the tunnel's exit.
"Get off, quick!" Aiden fired a few more shots at G-William. After confirming that it was moving pathetically slow, he ignored it and jumped off first, then took Sherry from Claire.
Once everyone got off, the train's warning sounds became more urgent.
[Countdown: ten.]
[Nine.]
[Eight.]
"Run faster!"
Holding Sherry, Aiden shouted while lifting Claire, who had suddenly lost her balance and fallen, and tucking her under his arm, running with all his might toward the tunnel's exit.
[Five.]
[Four.]
[Three.]
[Two.]
[One. Beep beep beep~~~]
"Get down!"
As the countdown ended, the alarm turned into a long wave beep. Aiden held Sherry tightly in his arms, pushed Claire down, and threw himself to the ground.
Boom!
An explosion rang out. The resulting shockwave blew them several meters away. Thick black smoke spread like a giant dragon from the tunnel entrance, stretching over a hundred meters.
"Puh puh puh…" Aiden spat forcefully a few times, trying to get the black smoke he accidentally inhaled out, but then inhaled more gunpowder smoke and started coughing violently.
"Aiden! Claire! Sherry! Are you okay?"
Jill, Ada, and Leon all had empty hands, unlike Aiden who was carrying two girls. They had run faster and made it out of the tunnel, so the shockwave affected them less. They quickly recovered and shouted into the tunnel upon not seeing Aiden and Claire.
"We're fine." Claire sat up, forcefully flipped Aiden over, checked his condition, and after confirming he was fine, carried Sherry.
"Thank you," Claire said gratefully.
Aiden lay on the ground and weakly waved his hand.
After lying for a while, Aiden got up and walked with Claire toward the tunnel exit.
Now wasn't the time to rest. Who knew what would happen next?
But after walking only a few steps, Aiden felt discomfort in his back. Reaching behind, he touched something sticky. He froze, then brought his hand to his nose and smelled a scent of iron and sweetness mixed with a fishy odor.
It was the smell of blood. He was injured.
In fact, to protect Sherry in his arms, he hadn't been able to fully press his body to the ground, which led to a piece of flying metal slicing his back.
Fortunately, he didn't feel a deep wound. It was probably just a surface cut by the metal shard, which is why he hadn't noticed the pain earlier.
"Lucky." Giving himself a small consolation, Aiden didn't care about the wound. It wasn't a big deal.
They continued walking with Claire for dozens of meters. The light from the exit became brighter, and the smoke was much less than in the depths of the tunnel. Aiden and Claire could already see three figures standing at the tunnel's mouth.
However, Claire felt something was off. She thought the body shapes of the three people seemed unfamiliar, and she asked in a low voice, "Aiden, do you know how tall Jill and Ada are?"
"Not exactly, but definitely shorter than me." Aiden turned his head to look at Claire. "Why are you asking this?"
Claire put Sherry down and reached for her gun holster. She said uncertainly, "I think we're in trouble again. They wouldn't suddenly grow that tall. And... they're not speaking."
Hearing that, Aiden also realized something was wrong. But while they were talking, they hadn't stopped walking. In the meantime, they had gotten more than ten meters closer to the exit.
At this distance, the smoke no longer blocked their view. Aiden could clearly see that the three people standing at the tunnel entrance were not Jill and Ada, but three burly men over two meters tall.
"Quick, get behind me."
Aiden's pupils shrank. He immediately crouched near the tunnel wall, drew his handgun, and told Claire to get behind him with Sherry.
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