That loud explosion made the train's shaking even more intense. Several windows even cracked due to the vibrations.
And the shaking also woke up all the dozing passengers in the carriage. For a time, the entire carriage was filled with passengers screaming in fear.
The female student behind Aiden was also screaming. Out of fear, she grabbed Aiden's clothes, but Aiden didn't have time to pay her any attention. He yanked her hand away and directly ran back to his seat.
"Aiden, what happened?" Seeing Aiden approach, Jill asked loudly, but because the carriage was too noisy, Aiden didn't hear her clearly until she asked a second time.
Aiden shook his head gravely and said, while catching the AK74U that Roberta tossed over, "Not too sure. Judging by the sound, it should be an explosion, coming from the rear carriage."
"Could it be a terrorist attack?" Choi Ji-Yoon made her guess, then looked toward Irina.
Irina was holding onto the back of a seat. When she noticed the look, she glared back.
"Don't know. Could be an accident. After all, some cargo was just loaded not long ago. Maybe it contained something flammable or explosive. But it could also be targeting Miss Soi. Though I'd prefer it to just be an accident."
Dutch came over, carrying his backpack full of weapons, holding a massive revolver in his hand. Aiden clearly saw the inscription on the gun, M500.
But he didn't like this kind of revolver, too large for one hand to grip, so he looked away after a glance. Once Dutch finished speaking, Aiden replied, "I hope it's just an accident too."
But just as he said this, another explosion rang out, and this time it clearly came from the direction of the front of the train.
Through the light scattering from both side windows, they saw a trail of smoke stretched into a near straight line due to the train's speed.
"Well, looks like it's not an accident. Just not sure if it's a terrorist attack or targeting Miss Soi," Dutch sighed.
If the rear explosion could be blamed on explosive cargo, then an explosion at the front could only mean one of the two possibilities.
Glancing at the smoke outside the window, Aiden pulled back the bolt on his gun and said, "No matter what they're after, a fight is probably inevitable. Jill, Choi Ji-Yoon, Revy, Dutch, you guys protect Soi. If enemies show up, leave them to us."
As he spoke, Roberta and Fabiola beside him also loaded their guns.
Then Choi Ji-Yoon pointed at Irina, "What about her?"
"I'll go with Aiden," Irina immediately said.
Choi Ji-Yoon frowned, clearly wanting to say more, but then Aiden said, "Just leave it at that. Let her come with me."
"Alright then," Choi Ji-Yoon reluctantly agreed.
As the group was pulling out weapons and discussing plans, the surrounding passengers had quieted down, not because they'd recovered from fear, but because they'd been scared stiff by the sight of them, silently watching while trembling.
Also frightened were those fellow tourists, especially the female student, who looked pale and bloodless, too scared to even meet Aiden's eyes.
Aiden and the others didn't bother explaining anything to the terrified people. Once the discussion ended, they split up to search for advantageous positions and prepared for the first wave of possible attacks. After that, they'd try to reach the front to slow the train so they could escape.
But just then, several people suddenly ran over from the opposite carriage. They were gasping for breath as if they'd run through many cars. One of them had blood continuously gushing from his thigh, attracting the attention of many clueless passengers.
Aiden tried to stop them to ask what happened, but the group seemed completely terrified. Even after seeing the gun in Aiden's hand, they ignored him and ran right past.
Fortunately, another woman wearing a train attendant uniform ran over from the same direction. She wasn't just running, she shouted while doing so, "Monsters, there are monsters!"
Although there was a carriage between them, Aiden and the others still heard her voice. Aiden immediately frowned, wondering, 'Could this be a zombie terror attack?
Just as he thought that, the attendant reached their carriage. When she saw the armed group, she was startled, but then quickly said, "Where did you get those guns? Never mind, great timing. There are monsters on the train, since you've got weapons, you can kill them!"
"First, tell us what kind of monsters?" Aiden asked at once.
"I... I don't know. They bite anyone they see, and some even stuff worms into people's mouths," the attendant said, her face filled with terror, gesturing wildly.
"Wah!"
After hearing her words, the carriage erupted in different reactions, mostly disbelief and questioning.
Aiden then noticed that the attendant's arm was bleeding. He was about to take a closer look when her eyes suddenly turned blood red, and she clutched her mouth, making heaving noises.
Before Aiden could react, Roberta behind him suddenly raised her gun and shot the attendant's head.
The corpse, now missing half its skull, fell straight back, blood splattering onto Aiden's pants.
Seeing this, the carriage erupted into another round of screams, with several people vomiting from shock. Now the carriage reeked of blood and the sour stench of vomit.
Aiden frowned in disgust, kicked the attendant's corpse, then turned around, about to yell for the passengers to quiet down, when a sudden pop sounded from behind, something had burst.
"Aiden, look out!" Jill shouted as the shot attendant stood up again, now with her head covered in revolting tentacles.
But as Jill called out, Aiden had already turned. Seeing the disgusting tentacles, he didn't hesitate and kicked the creature flying over seven or eight meters.
Roberta rushed past him and fired again at the monster's head.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
This time, Roberta fired seven or eight rounds in quick succession, blasting the tentacled part to a pulp. Only then did the thing finally stop moving.
Once Roberta stopped firing, the passengers in the carriage fell into eerie silence, perhaps out of fear of her gun, or maybe they were stunned by the monster with tentacles on its head.
Aiden walked over and poked the attendant's corpse with his rifle. After waiting a bit and confirming it wasn't moving, he crouched to examine it.
Jill and the others came over. Looking at the never-before-seen creature on the ground, Jill asked in a low voice, "Aiden, what is this thing? Doesn't look like a viral infection."
At first, she thought, like Aiden, that this was a terror incident. But when the attendant's head exploded and grew nauseating tentacles, she got confused.
Just as Aiden was about to speak, Soi interrupted, "It's a Plaga parasite. An ancient organism."
Aiden was stunned. He immediately asked, "You actually recognize this thing?"
Soi's words surprised him. He remembered Jill mentioning a few days ago that Leon and Chris had gone to a European village to find someone, meaning the story timeline was Resident Evil 4.
Though the system had noted that the timeline was no longer reliable, in his view, the parasite shouldn't have spread this far yet.
Soi nodded and explained, "The research institute I used to work at once purchased samples of this parasite from a remote European village for experiments combining parasites and viruses."
Hearing this, Aiden frowned. Choi Ji-Yoon quickly asked, "Did you succeed?"
"We did. Very successfully. We even created a monster so terrifying even we were afraid of it," Soi nodded again and sighed. "That's also when I left the institute."
She then looked down at the corpse and added, "But this one is just infected with a regular Plaga. Compared to our virus-fused parasite, it's nothing. Shouldn't be much threat to you guys.
"And they can only infect via larvae. The host retains some cognitive ability and might use weapons to attack uninfected people. But because of that, their infection method is quite limited. So long as you're not caught, you basically won't get infected."
"Hearing that is a relief," Dutch let out a breath. He'd seen those fusion-mutants infect people firsthand before and feared exactly that.
"Don't relax too soon, Dutch. Our trouble isn't just parasites," Aiden said while still examining the body. He lifted the arm, revealing the bleeding wound, "Look here."
"A... bite mark?" Jill immediately recognized it, though she wasn't sure.
"Yes, a bite mark. She wasn't only infected by a parasite, she was also bitten by a zombie." Aiden dropped the arm and dusted off his hands. "I remember she said some of the monsters bite people on sight."
"So this train got double-dosed? We've got zombies too?" Jill frowned. "That's worse in terms of spread."
"For now, yes," Aiden nodded. He looked at the other passengers, "We need to isolate them from infected bodies. Otherwise, we'll just keep getting more enemies."
Soi shook her head, "Not likely. There are no fully sealed compartments on this train. Even if you shut the doors, it might stop zombies but not infected hosts who can use tools. Unless..."
Revy, ever impatient, asked, "Unless what?"
Soi glanced around at the passengers and helplessly said, "Unless we kill them all. Unlike zombies or infected, regular people just need one shot to the head. That's the optimal solution." She even tapped her own temple.
Despite her casual tone, the nearby passengers overhearing this were terrified. Someone cried out, "You can't do that!"
Aiden gave that person a glance, which made them shrink back. But he wasn't here to pick a fight. He looked back at Soi, "If we were in Roanapur, I'd agree with you. But we're not, so I can't. And neither can they."
"They" clearly referred to Jill and the others, excluding Roberta and Fabiola. Those two maids would absolutely kill the entire train for Aiden if he gave the word.
"Honestly, it's just a theoretical solution. I don't actually support it," Soi added. She'd left the research lab of the Pioneer Company because she still had a conscience. Her analysis was just scientific instinct.
"So then, to minimize enemies, what we have to do now is go on the offensive, clear the zombies and parasites from the train, and save as many people as possible?" Revy asked.
Aiden nodded, "That's our only option right now."
As soon as he said that, the nearby passengers all breathed a sigh of relief. Their tension eased.
But almost immediately, it returned, because chaos broke out in the next carriage. Bloody zombies from the lower level swarmed up, biting anyone in sight. Terrified passengers rushed into Aiden's carriage.
"Block them! Don't let them in!" someone shouted, but Aiden and the others ignored them.
"You stay here."
Leaving that to Jill and the others, Aiden ran toward the carriage with Roberta and Fabiola.
Once inside, they opened fire at the zombies. But to their shock, several zombies they headshotted grew tentacles from their burst skulls and stood up again, just like the attendant earlier.
"Looks like even Plaga parasites can't stop the T-virus from taking over," Aiden muttered, then kept firing.
Soon, most of the zombies in that carriage were taken down. Roberta even gave every bitten passenger a bullet to the head, without a virus cure, infection was just a future threat.
This horrified several cowardly passengers into fresh screaming. Revy, annoyed, smashed the loudest one with her rifle butt and yelled, "Shut up already!"
Thanks to her violent threat, the carriage finally quieted, only the gunfire remained.
Although Aiden's group cleared that carriage, chaos still raged in the others. More and more zombies and parasites climbed from the first floor to the second in every carriage, including Jill's group's carriage. So they opened fire as well.
Every carriage was now a chaotic mess. Zombies, infected, and survivors were all tangled together, making it hard to tell who was who.
Thankfully, the zombies and parasites weren't allies. They attacked each other as well as humans, which only added to the chaos.
After clearing their carriage, Aiden's group wanted to help the others. But when they heard gunfire behind them, they immediately turned back to support Jill's group.
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