Chapter 2: On the train
Wait a minute! What's happening?
How can the computer type on its own?!
Hoang Tuan bent down to check his computer and keyboard, trying to recall if he accidentally touched anything, but after careful inspection, he didn't see anything.
He stared intently at his computer once again.
But as Hoang Tuan looked up, his pupils contracted slightly.
The words were still the same, nothing strange appeared.
The content was still that story, about the mysterious events on the train.
However, on these ordinary words.
Hoang Tuan noticed.
The words on the computer seemed to.
Seem to be moving?
Like wriggling worms...
To the extent that they were growing, seemingly wanting to jump out of the screen!
"No, it can't be."
Hoang Tuan couldn't comprehend his current situation, and it made him feel extremely unsafe!
He could only stare at those words as if they wanted to jump onto his face.
Train, strange, scary, death...
Gradually, the words in the story chapters seemed to swell.
Growing bigger,
Bigger...
To the point where those words started flying off the computer screen, hanging in mid-air!
The black font gradually stained red!
Until the entire paragraph was filled with blood!!
The blood-colored font hung in front of him, and the scenery in front of him began to shatter, distort, melt...
Along with the destruction, even the scenery in front of him.
The computer, the wooden desk, the room...
The surroundings also shattered at that moment, and Hoang Tuan's mind was filled with dense lines of text!
The world before Hoang Tuan's eyes suddenly fell silent, sinking into darkness.
The last thing remaining in his mind was two lines of text added at the end...
"Spirit,"
"Save me."
...
...
When Hoang Tuan regained consciousness again.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he found that the ceiling was almost sticking to his face.
"Creak! Creak!"
His ears heard the rhythmic sound of wheels, along with continuous muffled noises.
The rest was an indescribable chaotic noise.
Some young people sat around playing cards, laughing with strange incomprehensible sounds; a group of middle-aged people stood in the corridor smoking, discussing unclear big deals; not far away, a woman was patting a crying child in her arms, unable to properly position the milk bottle...
Some older people held a bowl of instant noodles, the steam from the noodles wafting, sitting quietly by themselves and eating the noodles in peace.
There were also salespeople pushing carts, selling food and drinks on the train, with prices higher than below the station.
"This is..."
"On a train?"
Hoang Tuan slightly dazedly lifted his head, looking at the scene before him.
At this moment, he was lying on the upper bunk of the sleeper bed, and the ceiling almost sticking to his face was the train roof.
"Why am I here?"
"Isn't I supposed to be..."
"Huh!"
"Urrg"
Each time he remembered the previous written content, Hoang Tuan's head ached.
It felt like ants were living in his head, using their jaws to gnaw on his brain.
But under this pain, a paragraph of text was deeply engraved in his mind, appearing before his eyes.
The thick, blood-red words appeared within his vision.
The text was the same as on the computer, two chapters about the eerie story on the train.
The others seemed unaffected by these words, continuing with their own tasks, seemingly unaware of the blood-red text hanging in mid-air.
The headache in Hoang Tuan's head subsided, he recovered from the previous agony and looked at the words in front of him.
"The dining car on the train is filled with customers and cheerful noises. Everyone is filled with joy returning home for Tet."
"A sense of comfort and harmony fills the space. But as usual, one can easily lose themselves amidst the joyous atmosphere."
"Haha, under this cheerful atmosphere, who would think that there are three dead bodies in a train compartment like this?"
"Oh no, my mistake, it's actually seven dead bodies."
"Oh no no, it's actually fourteen dead bodies..."
"Huh? Did I miscount? Why do I feel like the number of dead bodies keeps increasing?"
...
Wait a minute...
It's a novel about the situation on the train.
"I am currently... on the train..."
Hoang Tuan began to connect the dots, finding it hard to believe the floating words in front of him.
"Could it be that I have time-traveled into the novel?"
His heart raced.
He had a feeling that he didn't need to verify his own deduction.
The things in front of him seemed to be telling him the answer.
Because, alongside the two floating novel chapters, there appeared additional paragraphs of new content, and his name was clearly mentioned within.
[Name: Hoang Tuan]
[Character: Passerby]
[Description: A lost lamb waiting to be slaughtered]
What are these?
These were the things that should have been in the draft on his computer, faithfully recreated to match the surroundings!
Hoang Tuan tried to remain calm first, carefully analyzing the current situation.
"First, stay calm, then observe."
Hoang Tuan pinched himself, wondering if he was dreaming, then looked back at the two unedited novel chapters.
The pain was real, and it seemed like this wasn't a dream.
"If I am truly inside the novel, will the story unfold exactly as written in the novel?"
"If that's the case, then..."
Hoang Tuan carefully read every word, not missing a single letter.
Whether what was happening now was real or not, he had to handle it with caution.
In reality, he hoped that this was all just a dream, and what he was seeing was merely a dream after falling asleep.
Ultimately, if he entered the novel, according to Hoang Tuan's memory, it was a horror story.
Hoang Tuan tried to piece together information based on what he knew, searching for useful clues.
He had a feeling that he had truly time-traveled into the world of the novel...
Whether it was character information or the surrounding scenery, everything felt too real.
"Underneath my name is 'Passerby.' If I am truly inside the novel..."
"Then I must be a character existing within this novel, with my own story... Even though it wasn't mentioned in detail, it can prove that I'm not an outsider in the original story."
"So, I must have my own storyline..."
When he thought of that, Hoang Tuan paused for a moment.
"But... if I get off the train at the next station without going through the train journey, will I still be involved in the events happening on the train?"
At this point, he had reached the ending of the novel, which seemed a bit confusing.
Under the blood-red words, beyond the story content, there was a final line at the bottom.
And that line was written in black, creating a stark contrast with the other blood-red words.
Below, in the bottom right corner, were two more black lines, still framed.
[Not yet auto-edited]
[Remaining editable word count: 3]
What could these lines mean?
Hoang Tuan stared at those small lines and pondered.
Suddenly, a horrifying scream from the adjacent bed interrupted his thoughts.
"What is this! Why am I on the train?"
It was the voice of a young man who had just woken up from the bed opposite him.