[System prompt: Player Bai Liu has been struck by the elder Thief. HP -2, Sanity -2. Remaining HP: 1. Warning! Dangerously close to the threshold of death!]
With careless nonchalance, Bai Liu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and lifted his gaze to Mu Sicheng, whose face had gone deathly pale. Unhurried, Bai Liu spoke, "Why are you shouting? I'm not dead. These monsters' attacks aren't judged by location. The elder Thief's damage is only two points. I had three HP—stab me through the brain and I'd still live. Hurry up and help me."
Mu Sicheng, regaining his senses, nearly collapsed at the sight of Bai Liu drenched in blood. It was more harrowing than being impaled himself.
Dodging the younger Thief's assault, Mu Sicheng glanced over and saw that Bai Liu had ensnared the elder Thief's arms—still thrust through his own body—with his whip, trapping the monster behind him, howling in impotent rage.
Bai Liu's eyes met Mu Sicheng's. His voice, weakened by blood loss, remained calm and precise: "The hands. It's in the hands."
Mu Sicheng froze, then snapped to attention. "You think the shards are hidden in the elder Thief's hand bones?!"
"Yes. Quickly—I can't hold him much longer, and we're running out of time." Bai Liu managed a faint smile. "For a thief, the hands are everything. That's why Liu Huai cut yours off—your hands were your greatest weapon."
"So for this elder Thief, the most vital place must also be the hands."
Mu Sicheng stared, then, for the first time, burst into wild laughter, tears streaming down his face. "You're right—I'd forgotten. For a thief, the hands are everything. I've lost mine enough times to know."
"But you're absolutely right." Mu Sicheng's eyes darkened as he lowered his gaze, lips curling into a feral grin. Both hands occupied, he bent low, eyes gleaming red, and opened his beastly maw wide. With savage force, he bit down on the elder Thief's arms—still bound by Bai Liu's whip—and tore them free from Bai Liu's body.
As the hands were ripped away, Bai Liu arched back with a scream, blood splattering across Mu Sicheng's face. Mu Sicheng, blood-streaked and wild, gnawed at the severed hands, mumbling, "A thief's most precious tools are, indeed, his hands."
The withered hands, once torn free, sent the elder Thief into a shrill, desperate wail. He struggled, but Mu Sicheng's cold gaze and a final, brutal snap of his jaws silenced him forever.
[System prompt: Player Mu Sicheng has used the skill (Thief's Monkey Claw) to steal twenty shards from the elder Thief.]
A second after losing his hands, the elder Thief withered, shrinking into a pitiful, stunted form. His bloodshot eyes glared with venomous hatred at the hands now clutched by Mu Sicheng—hands whose blackened fingertips, when wiped clean, gleamed with the light of two shards apiece. Ten fingers, twenty shards.
At last, the younger Thief's ultimate was ready. With a furious roar, he pounded the ground, flames erupting to fill the train car. Though Mu Sicheng and Bai Liu moved swiftly, they could not outrun the inferno. Mu Sicheng flung Bai Liu clear of the flames, twisting to shield him with his own back, grunting as the fire seared his flesh.
Bai Liu tumbled to the ground, rolling to a halt.
Mu Sicheng, bloodied and battered, his back a mass of burns and torn flesh, slumped to the floor. Bai Liu, thrown clear, now lay sprawled on the ground, his gaze unfocused, chest heaving with ragged breaths. His strength was utterly spent; he could not so much as move a finger. Blood stained his lips and shirt, yet, like Mu Sicheng, his lips curled in a blissful smile.
For they were a pair of triumphant thieves.
Even with their lives nearly forfeit, they had survived.
"Wow, the thrill of a successful heist is incomparable," Bai Liu murmured, laboriously wiping the blood from his mouth, a look of deep satisfaction on his face. "Especially when the prize is so valuable."
[System prompt: Player Mu Sicheng suffers fire damage from the younger Thief. HP -20, Sanity -20. Current HP: 16. Critical!]
[System warning: Player Bai Liu's HP is 1, on the verge of depletion. Please take care and avoid strenuous activity!]
Mu Sicheng, too, collapsed to the floor, head thrown back against a seat, gasping for breath. He laughed and cursed, kicking the motionless Bai Liu. "You lunatic, what the hell did you do before this? You're a master thief, a manipulator, and you wield that whip like a pro. Don't tell me you're some criminal mastermind?"
"Just an unemployed worker short on cash," Bai Liu replied lazily.
Mu Sicheng snorted in disbelief. "Unemployed? As if I'd believe that."
At last, the train's broadcast crackled to life:
"The train is about to depart. Passengers, please disembark in an orderly fashion. Do not linger in the carriage—"
The vengeful Thief Brothers, stripped of all their shards, departed the train with the charred corpses of the other passengers. They stood outside the slowly closing doors, eyes burning with malice as they glared at Bai Liu and Mu Sicheng. Bai Liu, sprawled on the floor, chest soaked in blood, still found the strength to turn his head and beam at them, waving cheerfully. "Goodbye."
The Thief Brothers roared in impotent fury.
[System prompt: Player Bai Liu's shard collection progress (360/400)]
["Monster Manual: Last Train to Oblivion" updated—Thief Brothers (2/3)]
[Monster Name: Elder Thief]
[Traits: Exceptional speed (3400 points, enhanced by fire), skilled in theft]
[Weakness: Shards (1/3)]
[Attack methods: Clawing, stealing]
———
Xiang Chunhua and Liu Fu emerged from the game, drenched and reeking of merman. These two ordinary people, facing their first horror game, were so terrified their faces had turned ghostly pale, their limbs trembling as they knelt, coughing, at the exit. If not for the guidance of that young man, and their burning desire to avenge Guoguo, they would never have survived to the end.
By Guoguo's grave, the young man had said, there was much he could not tell them—things they would not remember even if he did. Bai Liu had smiled and said, so once you're inside, you must do exactly as I say.