Doomsday Train, I went crazy by hoarding billions of items.

Chapter 58 Forcibly Increasing the Elimination Rate? (Bonus Chapter for Passing PK1)

Looking at the swarm of insects in the photo, Jiang Ran felt a sense of unease: What was going on? These things never appeared in her previous life!

Was it a butterfly effect caused by my own rebirth?

Or because...

Has the player death rate decreased in this instance?

Jiang Ran didn't know why she had such a strange idea, but after thinking about it carefully, she realized that in her previous life, because there was no "Black Silk Miss", there were no players selling cold-weather supplies or even food.

Similarly, there were no incidents caused by the Anti-Young Lady Alliance or the Holy Land Guild.

Leaving aside those players who slept through the winter nights due to lack of cold-weather gear and food, at the same time, the battles between car teams were already in full swing.

Beneath the thick layer of snow lay the corpses of the snow shovelers, who were used as cannon fodder and "consumables."

In her previous life, Jiang Ran was simply fortunate to have landed at the initial location. When she was caught up in the storm, the various forces had already gradually taken shape, and the struggles were not as fierce as they were at the beginning.

But the player attrition rate was definitely much higher back then than it is now.

Looking at the swarm of insects in the photo, and recalling the ranking rules from her previous life, a shadow of gloom crossed Jiang Ran's mind: Could it be like the fire ants in the last dungeon, with the ultimate goal of forcibly increasing the players' mortality rate?!

Is it possible that only by eliminating enough players can the Heavenly Ranking be officially launched through the first train merger?
If her guess is correct, then this game is determined to make players fight to the death like poisonous insects in order to determine the true king of poison.

Consequently, Jiang Ran also developed a somewhat unpleasant impression of the "Paro Island" mentioned by Jin Yi.

Immediately changing Xiaobai's coordinates back to his own to prevent him from being entangled by these insects, Jiang Ran opened the chat lobby to see if anyone else had encountered a similar situation.

The first message that caught my eye was a shocking video.

The person lying in the snow was completely covered by swarms of insects.

However, unlike fire ants that directly devour flesh and blood, these nematode-like creatures actually manage to burrow into human flesh with their seemingly soft bodies!
From a distance, it looks like a person suddenly covered in self-aware "hair," which is enough to make your scalp tingle!
The video isn't long, but towards the end you can see that the person—if they can still be called human—is covered in dense, yellowish-brown holes, the marks left by insects that burrowed inside.

However, no blood seeped out of the hole, and even the flesh lost its color, turning bluish-white.

There was also a bunch of insects that hadn't completely squeezed in, their bodies half-standing in the air, constantly wriggling.

But the most terrifying thing is not these things, but that even though the player's body has been completely taken over by the insects, the player still retains their own consciousness.

His eyes were wide open in terror, and if you looked closely, you could even see thin, slender objects moving through his pupils.

But he had no way to stop what was happening to him.

"Help me... I don't want to die... Can you, can you get these things away! Get them away!!"

"My head is so itchy, why is it so itchy... Help me, insecticide, yes, is there insecticide? No, my head is so itchy, so itchy—"

At the end of the video, the man, who had completely gone mad, seemed to be driven insane by the unbearable itching and began pulling at his hair recklessly.

At the root of each hair that can be plucked, several tiny worms will be pulled out, which is chilling to look at.

The same thought flashed through everyone's mind: Is his head so itchy because his brain is being crushed and devoured by these insects?
Even Jiang Ran, who had experienced a lot, felt a strange itch when she unexpectedly saw the video. The chat room erupted in chaos because of the video's content.

Sixteen Happy Meatballs: "Aaaaaah! This trypophobia sufferer collapses to the ground! What the hell is all this stuff?!"

Dao Butong: "Where did it come from? We didn't see it outside!"

Mahou Shoujo: "Could it be like the Fire Ants, a level set up in the dungeon? We haven't found any here yet."

Muscular Meatball: "No way, that's disgusting... I'd rather die in the mouth of fire ants than have these bugs crawl into my head! Although I haven't seen any of these things around here, I have a bad feeling..."

……

As everyone discussed the situation, they kept tagging the person who first posted the video, hoping he could explain what was going on.

But the man never appeared, leading people to wonder if he had also been swallowed up by the strange nematodes.

Xiao Bai, who was "teleported" back by Jiang Ran, was holding a semi-transparent experimental box.

Seeing that Jiang Ran was finally looking at him, Xiao Bai's expression was more serious than ever before: "Master, these insects are not right. They don't die at all when cut in half, and they are not afraid of fire. I brought some back to test what their weaknesses are."

A small number of insects looked much harmless; a few thin ones twisted into various shapes inside the box.

But upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that although the insect is already quite small, it has many extremely fine, thorn-like cilia on its body. With these cilia, it can move faster and attach to and burrow into the skin more effectively.

As for what they do inside the skin, it's nothing more than reproduction or using the human body as a warm home.

But what Jiang Ran didn't understand was how that person was captured by the insect, given how conspicuous it was on the pure white snow and how slow it wasn't.

Hearing Jiang Ran's question, Xiao Bai shook his head: "They are lighter than you think, and they can indeed easily approach the players with the wind. But as long as you can spot them in time, running away shouldn't be a problem."

"Even if one of them gets close, while it's certainly difficult to kill them all, they shouldn't be completely defenseless. Unless..."

Unless this person was directly surrounded by the insectoid swarm from the very beginning.

But if that's the case, how did the person who filmed him get away unscathed?

Jiang Ran subconsciously scrolled up the chat history, which had already been viewed 99+ times, and found the person who sent the video.

The moment she saw the ID, she was completely stunned.

"Century Egg Solo Congee".

She subconsciously read the ID aloud, her face filled with disbelief.

How could this ID possibly be in the same instance as her at this time?

If it wasn't him, why are there two identical IDs in the game?!
However, the "Century Egg Solo Congee" was only merged after this dungeon ended!
Jiang Ran witnessed him appear before her only after the trains had merged!
As I write, I feel a strange itch on my head. Am I starting to grow a brain...? O_o
*
Thank you Huanxi for the monthly ticket! (っз)

(End of this chapter)