novelraw Chapter 308
Chapter 308
Yu Xi pushed open the glass sliding door and stepped onto the apartment’s terrace.
This apartment was located on the 102nd floor, a fully open-concept studio with an area of around fifty square meters. The interior was simple, exuding a minimalistic, high-tech feel, with the only real highlight being the south-facing terrace.
The terrace wasn’t fully enclosed. Standing there, she could feel the roaring wind, creating an illusion of living above the clouds.
It had been fifteen days since they returned to the real post-apocalyptic world of the Endless Train. The fragmented memories of the city were slowly piecing together, completing the picture.
This was a highly advanced technological world, suffering from overpopulation, where buildings grew taller and taller, turning cities into endless forests of skyscrapers.
Suspended highways wove between the towering structures, layers of three-dimensional virtual billboards flickered in dazzling colors, and most people lived in cramped spaces.
The planet was heavily polluted, with agriculture and livestock industries in severe decline. Food was scarce and monotonous. Long before the Endless Train appeared, the planet had already plunged into a food crisis.
Fresh vegetables, fish, meat, and clean water were luxuries only the wealthy could afford. Ordinary citizens survived on synthetic protein-based food and filtered water.
Yu Xi tightened her coat around herself and gazed downward at the massive shadow stretching across the entire city. Slowly, she lifted her head.
What appeared in the sky was something she hadn’t seen in her fragmented memories, but by the time she received those missing pieces, she had already guessed it. It was an enormous train, impossibly suspended in the sky, defying gravity and logic. It stretched from afar, growing closer, only to vanish again into the distance.
Several months ago, phantom images of these trains had suddenly appeared over hundreds of cities across the planet.
At first, people thought they were mirages or reflections from an unknown extraterrestrial civilization.
But twenty-four hours later, the phantoms solidified. Governments worldwide sent aircraft to investigate, but without exception, every single craft was destroyed upon colliding with an invisible barrier surrounding the train.
Then, a strange signal overtook networks across the planet. After an ear-piercing static buzz, a message appeared, calling itself the “Endless Train Game.” It announced that invitations to board the train would be randomly sent to residents and wished them an enjoyable experience.
The signal lasted only a brief moment, displaying a screen of flickering snow and text. Most people assumed it was a hoax—a cyber attack orchestrated by some nation or a skilled hacker, using the mysterious floating train to spread global panic.
Governments swiftly took action, tracking the signal and devising strategies to continue investigating the train in the sky. Some pushed for military action, believing the destruction of their aircraft was an act of war.
Others advocated for cautious research, arguing that if they could decipher the nature of the train’s protective barrier, they might find a way to break through it.
All of these plans, however, were shattered at midnight that very day.
At exactly midnight, people across the world started collapsing into sudden unconsciousness.
Drivers in the middle of the road, pilots operating aircraft, workers staying up late for overtime—all fell to the ground without warning. Major cities experienced massive traffic disasters, causing countless casualties, and hospitals overflowed with unconscious patients. Public services ground to a halt in the dead of night.
When people finally figured out what was happening, they were almost grateful that the first mass coma event occurred at midnight when most people were already at home.
Had it happened during the daytime, the number of vehicle crashes and mass deaths would have been unimaginable.
From that point on, every three days at midnight, random individuals across the planet would fall into unconsciousness.
It affected everyone—adults, the elderly, children, the healthy, the sick. No one was immune.
The first group had not yet awakened before the second wave fell unconscious. Then the third, the fourth…
All the comatose individuals showed normal physiological signs—they were alive but completely unresponsive, as if they had become vegetative.
Machines kept them stable, but soon, some began to deteriorate. Within minutes, some experienced total brain failure and died.
The unconsciousness and deaths further crippled society. A planet already on the brink due to food shortages now faced a deeper crisis.
Panic spread across the world. Looting and riots erupted in many cities. New religious cults formed, pushing their own explanations for what was happening. The entire planet descended into chaos.
In response, the government released critical findings from their investigations.
The most important discovery was this: before falling unconscious, every single affected person had mysteriously found a new phone near them.
A simple phone, seemingly outdated by decades.
As long as they did not touch the phone, they would not lose consciousness.
The government advised the public: if anyone found an unfamiliar phone near them at midnight, they should immediately step away and call for emergency assistance. A specialized team would arrive to handle the device.
With this knowledge, the mass comas finally came to a halt.
But soon after, everything changed again.
The first comatose individuals began to wake up.
Only one percent of them returned to consciousness.
Those who did wake up exhibited various strange symptoms—speech loss, emotional instability, disorientation, extreme aggression, and incoherent language.
To them, they had only been unconscious in reality for a month, yet they claimed to have spent years inside the world of the Endless Train.
At first, no one believed them.
Even though this planet’s technology had advanced to the point where gaming headsets could fully immerse a person’s senses into a simulated world, players still had to wear a device to enter the experience.
The idea that people could suddenly collapse and wake up inside another world was too far-fetched to be credible.
Until the returnees began producing physical goods—out of thin air.
Fresh vegetables, grains, fish, meat, pure water—all the resources that were in critically short supply on the planet.
For the first time, people realized the world of the Endless Train wasn’t just a virtual simulation.
Because if it were fake, how could they bring real, tangible goods back with them?
This revelation shook the entire planet.
Governments rushed to study the experiences of those who had returned, offering them luxurious residences, the latest model of flying vehicles, and lifelong national benefits.
Moreover, the supplies they brought back wouldn’t be taken for free—the government would purchase them at high prices.
From that moment on, the public’s perception shifted dramatically.
Instead of fearing the train’s selection, people began hoping for it.
They prayed they would be chosen by the Endless Train.
It was said that in those worlds, resources were abundant, and currency was merely a number. Even the poorest, most destitute individuals—if they survived the Endless Train world—could achieve instant success upon returning.
Governments began training military personnel, who would then touch the collected, unbound phones to enter the Endless Train world after completing their training. On the black market, Endless Train phones were being sold at exorbitant prices, sometimes reaching astronomical sums.
Everyone was blinded by the promise of endless resources, completely ignoring the fact that for every one person who returned alive, ninety-nine others either died or remained in an eternal coma. Yet, each person believed they would be the one to make it back.
The government assumed that trained soldiers with combat experience would have a higher survival rate. But the reality was quite different.
Everyone who entered the Endless Train world had parts of their memories erased—specifically, the most crucial ones. This included all information about the train, known station details, survival strategies, and key dangers to watch out for.
The Endless Train randomly selected people worldwide, but it also granted them the choice of whether to bind the phone and enter.
Moreover, to ensure fairness, regardless of whether someone was a military elite or an ordinary office worker, regardless of age, everyone started with the same conditions. The train provided a selection of resources, weapons, and skills to choose from.
For mission travelers, this meant that all previously acquired spatial inventory items were locked. They could only enter the game with the ten items and one skill they selected—either from the train’s offerings or what they personally owned.
Additionally, all travelers could freely change their appearance and name within the game. This served as a form of disguise, preventing them from being hunted down by enemies from the Endless Train world once they returned to reality.
It also prevented those who had committed unethical acts on the train from being publicly condemned after leaving.
Some were lucky—activating Easter Egg fragments early, gradually piecing their memories back together. They hazily remembered their goal of returning to reality and fought for it, eventually making it back.
But far more never triggered the Easter Egg fragments. Having lost all knowledge of the train, they wandered from station to station, killing countless people, until they ultimately lost themselves—forever trapped.
In this post-apocalyptic world, Yu Xi’s identity was that of an outstanding graduate from the military academy. She had never been randomly selected by the Endless Train, so to complete one of the world’s main missions, she voluntarily enlisted in the government’s training program.
She underwent extensive neural simulation training and survival drills through a connected gaming headset. Once she was fully prepared, she actively touched one of the unbound phones, entering the Endless Train world.
Her mission, like most military personnel, was to bring back as much food and water as possible.
She spent over half a year in the Endless Train world, yet in reality, her body had only been unconscious for one week. Even among all the people who had entered the train, this was an exceptionally fast return.
Knowing that the planet was in dire need of food, she emptied her inventory, providing massive quantities of staple grains, vegetables, fish, meat, fruits, and pure water.
As for the special supplies she had collected from unique stations—such as gourmet foods from “Fairy Tale Park,” purified water and canned ready-to-eat meals from “Devourer’s Domain,” a full-body soft alloy exoskeleton, waterproof and heat-insulating clothing, hemostatic agents, drones, tens of thousands of liters of fuel, weapons, and more—she intended to take those back to her original world.
To her, the Endless Train world wasn’t a virtual simulation but a lower-dimensional world. And just like any real world, its resources could be carried back.
Even so, the sheer amount of supplies she retrieved from her inventory left the military personnel stunned.
She had completed her mission flawlessly and was promoted, moving from a cramped lower-level residence into this high-rise apartment.
She now possessed two spatial inventories—her original Star House Warehouse, which contained everything she had brought into this world, and a 450-cubic-meter storage space she had acquired from the Endless Train world, where all the supplies she obtained on the train, including those in her inventory slots, were stored.
After waking up, her body recovered completely in just half a day. Since she had only been unconscious for a week, it felt more like she had simply slept for a long time rather than suffered any physical deterioration.
However, ever since regaining consciousness, she had been unable to contact her teammates—except for Xing Min.
As soon as they returned to the real post-apocalyptic world, the regional communication restriction in their minds was lifted, and she remembered everything about Xing Min from before entering the Endless Train.
The native he had possessed this time was a severely ill patient with a weak body. Not long after Xing Min arrived, that native was selected by the Endless Train. He barely had time to say a few words to her before disappearing into the train.
Unfortunately, after entering the train, all memories related to it were erased—including their knowledge of each other’s presence. Like the rest of their team, they could only remember what had happened before entering this world.
Most native inhabitants who entered the Endless Train world retained knowledge of their identity, homeland, and family because they had actually lived in this world.
But Yu Xi was different. She was merely an outsider.
She eventually found Xing Min in a rundown hospital in the slums. He told her that due to the weak condition of his host body, he couldn’t stay here any longer. Fortunately, Yu Xi had already completed the most difficult main world mission. The only remaining task was to survive for three years. Since she had already spent several months in this world before entering the train, she now had two and a half years left.
Given her wealth of supplies and her restored ice plant abilities, survival posed no challenge.
Thus, Xing Min abandoned the native’s body and returned to the spaceship system of their original world, once again maintaining communication with her through that connection.
**
After finishing breakfast, Yu Xi changed clothes and left her apartment.
Her personal aircraft was parked in the hangar on the twentieth floor, so she needed to take the elevator down first.
This high-rise housed twenty to thirty residences per floor, mostly occupied by wealthy individuals or those with military connections.
Her neighbors across the hall were a young married couple—the husband worked, and the wife stayed at home.
As usual, when she stepped out, she saw them at the door saying goodbye.
The husband said to his wife, “I might have to work late today. If I come home late, don’t wait up for me—get some rest early.”
The wife shook her head. “How could I sleep if you’re not home? I’ll prepare a late-night meal for you. What do you feel like eating?”
“Anything you make, I love to eat.” The husband kissed his wife on the cheek before saying goodbye.
Yu Xi: …
First thing in the morning, and she was already witnessing another overly affectionate scene.
This couple had probably not been married for long and were still in the honeymoon phase, so this scene played out almost every day.
After watching her husband leave, the wife noticed Yu Xi and, as usual, nodded at her with a slightly flushed face before returning to their apartment.
Yu Xi took the elevator down to the 20th floor.
The flight vehicles in this world operated similarly to the low-altitude hover cars in the Sevenfold Hell world, but they were much smaller, with only four seats inside. They flew using magnetic levitation propulsion and could only be operated on designated hover routes.
It only took ten minutes to get from her apartment to her workplace—a privilege granted by the military, which assigned her a residence close to her job. Her work was also relatively easy now: training personnel who wanted to enter the Endless Train world.
Even though all memories related to the train would disappear upon entry, the body’s reflexes, combat instincts, and survival skills would remain imprinted in their consciousness.
Live instruction was still crucial, as some might eventually trigger Easter Egg fragments and regain partial memories. If that happened, even remembering a fraction of the training could make a huge difference.
Yu Xi had done the same—preparing in advance by stockpiling her inventory in Devourer’s Domain, ensuring she could retrieve as many supplies as possible after returning.
At 5 PM, Yu Xi finished work and, as usual, stopped by the supermarket across from the training center. In this world, aside from the scarcity of food and clean water, other supplies were relatively abundant since most goods were made from synthetic materials.
For example, clothing—real cashmere sweaters and synthetic fabric ones felt almost identical when worn, unlike food, where the difference was instantly noticeable.
Since the supermarket was close to the training center, it was common to see military personnel in uniform shopping there.
As Yu Xi passed by a shelf, her gaze briefly swept across the store, inadvertently landing on a tall, broad-shouldered figure. At first, she didn’t pay much attention, but after taking a few steps forward, she suddenly realized—the silhouette looked strangely familiar.
She turned back toward the shelf she had just passed, but the person was already gone.
It was such a small, insignificant moment, and yet something about it had caught her attention. That fleeting sense of familiarity lingered, though she quickly brushed it aside.
At 7 PM, Yu Xi piloted her aircraft back to the garage on the 20th floor.
On her way to the elevator, she turned a corner and was immediately greeted by a black-and-white stray cat meowing at her.
She smiled, as always, taking out a can of synthetic meat and placing it in front of the cat.
Even synthetic meat was a luxury in this world, priced far higher than most could afford. It was infamous for its awful taste—but the cat didn’t seem to mind, devouring it enthusiastically every time.
Crouching down, she watched it eat for a while before heading to the elevator.
She pressed her floor button, and just as the doors were about to close, a hurried voice called out, “Please hold the elevator!”
As if expecting it, Yu Xi’s hand remained on the button, pressing the open door key without hesitation.
A young woman rushed inside, panting slightly. As always, she thanked Yu Xi sincerely before pressing the button for the 35th floor.
They had run into each other several times before. It always happened like this—she would return at almost the same time, barely making it to the elevator before the doors closed.
At 7:30 PM, Yu Xi returned to her apartment, selected a favorite meal from her inventory, and had dinner.
After eating, she packed up her trash, refilled the water tank in the shower, heated the water, and enjoyed a long, relaxing bath.
Later, she curled up in bed, turning on the holographic screen to listen to the news while playing a favorite movie on her tablet from the Star House Warehouse.
At 11 PM, she did a final security check of her apartment, ensuring all doors and windows were locked. She even set up a simple alarm system using metal cups before turning off the lights and going to sleep.
That night, she slept without dreams.
Her work started at 9 AM. Including morning preparations, she usually left her apartment around 8:30. If she wanted to have breakfast outside or handle errands, she would leave earlier.
Leaving early meant she wouldn’t see the couple across the hall.
Today, with no extra plans, she stepped out at her usual time—just in time to witness the same affectionate morning ritual.
This time, she didn’t pause, simply shaking her head with a small smile as she headed for the elevator.
Behind her, the husband’s familiar voice rang out once again.
“Don’t wait up for me. Get some rest early.”
“If you’re not home, how could I possibly sleep? I’ll prepare you a late-night snack. What do you feel like eating?”
“Anything you make, I love to eat.”
…
It was the same lines every time.
Yu Xi muttered under her breath, feeling like she could recite them by heart at this point.