A surveillance view inside a car, with two people inside.

This video is a bit blurry, so Nancy Clark didn’t recognize it at first. In the video, two people run over from another compartment and pick up a phone left on the seat.

“A phone left behind by a passenger?” Nancy Clark’s voice.

“This model must be at least eighty years old.” Nathan Thompson’s voice.

“Keep reading.”

The actions in the video are exactly the same as Nancy Clark’s. In the video, Nancy Clark picks up the phone and then plays a video stored on it.

“A phone left behind by a passenger?”

The phone in the video then plays another video, and so on, looping endlessly.

It’s as if they’re trapped—who can tell if they are the real people, or just the ones in the video?

Even Nancy Clark felt her scalp tingle for a moment. It was another case of mental contamination, even stronger than before.

The logic of the contaminated area is to pollute you through endless repetition, taking every opportunity to disgust you.

If she kept playing it, she’d be contaminated too.

“What’s wrong?” Nathan Thompson hadn’t seen the video, but could sense that Nancy Clark wasn’t in a good state.

“Don’t look.” Nancy Clark’s mental value was higher than Nathan Thompson’s; if Nathan Thompson took even one look, he might break down.

“It’s very strong mental contamination.” Nancy Clark quickly pressed the pause button, but the video couldn’t be paused. She stuffed the phone in her pocket and was about to leave.

Nathan Thompson: “Where are you going?”

Nancy Clark’s hand was trembling a bit. She admitted she was starting to feel the effects of the mental contamination—her mental value on the panel was dropping.

System: [Deducting 1% mental value.]

Nancy Clark tried to ignore it, quickly walking toward the front of the car, saying as she went, “When you find a lost item, you should hand it over to the train staff. That’s common sense.”

Nathan Thompson: “……”

Why care about common sense at a time like this?

Nancy Clark was holding on—the more abnormal the environment, the more she insisted on doing normal things. A normal person would hand a phone left by a passenger to the driver.

This is a normal subway. This is a normal subway. This is a normal subway…

Nancy Clark kept repeating it to herself, trying to brainwash herself.

You have to do things that look normal to fit the style of this contaminated area.

Nathan Thompson could only follow Nancy Clark. She quickly reached the driver’s compartment, where someone was sitting with their back to them. The driver was focused on driving, looking quite normal.

But there couldn’t possibly be anything normal on this train.

Nancy Clark took a deep breath and knocked on the transparent door of the driver’s compartment. “Hello, I found a phone. I’d like to hand it in.”

The driver kept his back to her.

“Hello,” Nancy Clark knocked again, “I want to hand in a phone.”

The driver finally reacted. He didn’t turn around, but took off his hat. Both hands parted the hair on the back of his head, revealing another back of a head.

His hands parted it again, revealing yet another back of a head.

Clang—clang—

Suppressing her nausea, Nancy Clark watched as the driver, like a nesting doll, slowly parted the back of his head, but never revealed his face.

Clang—clang—

Clang—

Nancy Clark had been hearing this strange noise ever since she arrived. The door to the driver’s compartment wasn’t fully closed, and it kept shaking as the train moved.

Just as Nancy Clark was about to pull the door, she suddenly froze, her whole body stiffening.

“What’s wrong?” Nathan Thompson was puzzled; it was rare to see Nancy Clark with this expression.

Nancy Clark quickly pressed down on Nathan Thompson, not letting him look. Her body was rigid, the hairs on her back standing on end, not daring to move an inch.

On the left window of the driver’s compartment, a fish face was pressed against the glass, smiling. Nancy Clark realized she was wrong—the source of contamination wasn’t necessarily inside the train.

The contaminant had been… clinging to the outside of the train all along.

Chapter 7 Mission Complete

Its entire fish head was pressed against the window, the train still speeding along, the contaminant’s face distorted by the pressure.

Nancy Clark saw the contaminant, and the contaminant saw Nancy Clark.

Nancy Clark made a snap decision, yanked open the door, and, to Nathan Thompson’s utter confusion, suddenly started shooting out the window.

Bang bang bang!

Bullets pierced the window, wild wind rushing in. Nathan Thompson hadn’t even reacted yet, only seeing Nancy Clark suddenly raise her gun and shoot at the roof.

“Shoot in the same direction as me.” Nancy Clark gave a crisp, decisive order.

Nathan Thompson responded instinctively, immediately stopping his recitation of recipes and following Nancy Clark’s actions—wherever Nancy Clark shot, he shot.

Luckily, they were using air bullets. Otherwise, in a sealed metal space, ricocheting bullets could easily cause accidental injuries.

Bullet holes appeared one after another in the roof, some even piercing the metal, letting in more and more wind. Something was clearly crawling on the roof.

That thing was bigger and heavier than a human, leaving deep dents as it ran and dodged the bullets.

The sturdy subway car now seemed as fragile as paper, unable to withstand the barrage. The air gun wasn’t this powerful—the contaminant must have weakened.

The source of contamination was hiding within the contaminated area. Once discovered, the contaminated area could no longer remain as impregnable as before.

In other words, cracks were starting to appear in the contaminated area.