Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 23 The Surprise Attack from the Rear

Chaos erupted immediately in the carriage. Ryan grabbed Matt and pulled him to the ground, rolling him towards the middle of the carriage. JD had already raised his gun, but James stopped him. With that shout, the claw blade that had pierced through the carriage vanished.

They must have gone back to the roof of the car...

Kaplan, still in the driver's seat, turned around upon hearing the noise and shouted, "What happened behind us?"

Upon hearing his voice, Mu Xiang was struck dumb and immediately pulled James over: "Quick, get to the driver's seat and protect him!"

A screeching sound swept overhead, and Mu Xiang yelled at Kaplan, "Get away from the door and get your guns out!" With that, the two of them lunged toward the driver's seat, which was a few steps away.

As Kaplan rushed into the driver's seat and left the control panel, several claw blades pierced through the car door.

"What the hell is this?!" Kaplan exclaimed in shock, pulling out his gun as he did so.

Mu Xiang stared intently at the driver's side door, gritting his teeth as he said, "Didn't I tell you? Biological weapon!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the car door was suddenly ripped off and flung into the tunnel by a giant claw. A hideous face with half of its brain exposed suddenly appeared in front of the three of them!

An extremely long, blood-red tongue burst forth from its mouth, but was deflected by bullets mid-air. It was James who opened fire; the mercenary captain took the lead, standing in front of the two men, and a burst of bullets struck the licker's face through the tongue.

The Licker let out a strange cry, its head bobbing outwards, and then, as if enraged, it stretched most of its body inside. Its tongue seemed to have been badly injured, and it didn't stick it out for a moment, instead clawing at the three people. The driver's cab was much more cramped than the rear compartments; with it inside, even leaning against the other side would result in being grabbed.

James leaned back to dodge the claw, while Mu Xiang and Kaplan quickly crouched down, and the three of them opened fire on the monster.

To be honest, Mu Xiang had almost emptied his magazine, probably missing half of it; but James and Kaplan's marksmanship was more reliable. With James's rifle as the main attacker, the Licker was forced back to the roof after only being exposed for a few seconds.

[This Licker doesn't seem as large or defensively strong as it was at the end of the movie... Oh right, the Licker at the end of the movie absorbed Spencer's DNA, resulting in a new mutation and making it much larger. The Licker we're encountering now is actually quite weaker than the one in the movie, which is fortunate.]

But is there only one?

Another screeching sound came from the roof of the car, which quickly drove away from the driver's seat.

James's expression was very serious: "I'm sure I hit its brain, but it seems its movements weren't greatly affected. This thing is indeed troublesome."

"Damn... is this all we can do to force them back temporarily?" Mu Xiang frowned, then suddenly remembered something: "Quick, get back to the carriage! It's trying to break through from another empty carriage and then smash down the door between the carriages!"

Kaplan checked the time to confirm how much longer until they arrived. Mu Xiang remembered that in the movie, Kaplan had actually pushed the return speed to its safe limit, returning to the ground in less than ten minutes, even faster than the journey there. He quickly bolted the driver's cab door shut, and the three hurried back to the passenger compartment.

The cramped conditions of the driver's cab have their advantages. Even though the Licker is hanging upside down outside a speeding train, it still has to abide by the laws of physics… so it can only be cornered at the door and beaten. In the movie, the enhanced Licker instantly killed Kaplan because Kaplan was injured and caught off guard. With the support of Mu Xiang and James, it's not surprising that they were able to repel the Licker.

But things are different in the open carriages. With the Lickers' high-speed capabilities unleashed, they'll only become more difficult to deal with. They must go back and warn the others… or face casualties!
"Everyone back off!" Mu Xiang shouted. No sooner had he spoken than the doors separating the two carriages lurched open, clearly indicating something was ramming against them.

James was much calmer than the other mercenaries present. He stopped JD when he yelled and ordered his men to take aim.

It was only a matter of seconds before the door was breached... Mu Xiang stood behind, staring intently at the door, when suddenly he removed the magazine and put in the spare magazine that James had given him.

[Sorry for having a reloading addiction.] Thinking this, he handed the pistol and the last magazine to Zheng Zha: "You know the Licker's weakness, right? A magazine has fifteen bullets. Shoot it from a safe firing position!"

Zheng Zha paused for a moment, but still smiled and said thank you, then took the gun. He didn't ask why he was giving up the gun; perhaps he thought Mu Xiang had also received the same neural response enhancement in the laser channel... Of course, if he thought about it more carefully, he would find a contradiction, but that was beyond the comprehension of a certain gorilla.

"Don't forget this bundle of steel pipes. If necessary, just use it like that; they've already demonstrated it in the movies," Mu Xiang whispered. The newlyweds all gathered around, since this was the back row and they had guns. Hearing this, they all nodded.

Zhang Jie stood on the flank, seemingly in the front row, but cleverly used the mercenaries as human shields. The scarred young man gripped his Desert Eagle with unlimited ammo, staring intently at the car door, looking extremely tense.

[A veteran actor...]

The car door was slammed down and crashed into the carriage. Everyone roared and poured their energy into the doorway, but Zheng Zha suddenly shouted, "Wait! It wasn't in the doorway at all!"

Upon closer inspection, everyone stopped the fire, and indeed there was nothing behind the door.

"Watch out!" Zheng Zha shouted again. After being enhanced, his dynamic vision was second only to Zhang Jie's. He could barely see that a fleshy red shadow flashed to the side the moment the door was knocked down.

But his shout that he wasn't inside the door didn't mean everyone should stop firing!

For the Licker, such a gap in firepower was enough for it to launch a surprise attack. Before JD, who was standing in front, could react, a tongue shot into the carriage and wrapped around his calf. The force was so great that he immediately fell to the ground and was dragged to another carriage without even being able to hold his gun.

Just as Zhang Jie aimed in that direction, Ryan pulled his gun down: "Don't shoot!"

[They really have a lot of feelings for each other.]

But now is not the time to fight!
James knew, of course, that shooting would hurt JD, but he gritted his teeth and charged towards the other side. Without any orders, the carriage descended into chaos, and JD was dragged over, only to be met with a scream from the darkness.

Mu Xiang picked up the rifle JD had dropped and yelled at James's retreating figure, "Flashbang! Flashbang!"

This was something he'd just come up with in a moment of inspiration, since Lickers in the game are weak to flashbangs... well, maybe the flashbangs in Resident Evil 2 Remake were just too overpowered, and anyone hit by one would be stunned for several seconds. At this point, it was just a last resort.

Before James could react, something flew past his head. It was Ryan rushing up and throwing a flashbang: "Close your eyes!"

"Damn it!" Mu Xiang stopped in his tracks, rolled over and hid to the side, turning his back to the door, closing his eyes and covering his ears, wishing he could bury his head in his pants.

James and Ryan retreated as well, followed by a deafening bang and a blinding white light bursting from the door, illuminating the entire carriage. Those caught off guard screamed in terror, unable to even catch a glimpse of the light. The brightness was dozens of times that of sunlight; even from a carriage away, it was impossible to look directly at it.

Mu Xiang's chosen position was alright, so his eyes weren't too irritated, but the 170-decibel noise of the flashbang pointing upwards made his ears ring... If he hadn't retreated just now, not to mention the Licker, he probably would have lost his fighting ability in this horror movie.

Volume 1 will conclude tomorrow. Thank you all for your support, and thank you for your collections and recommendations... This book is currently under contract review, and I hope that the completion of Volume 1 will help it pass the review.

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(End of this chapter)