The shrill screams from Car 15 echoed through Car 16.
Executive Kim had already collapsed on the floor, his pants soaked with urine that reeked terribly. His face was ashen, lips trembling, tears and snot smeared across his face.
"Don't… don't kill me… I—I was wrong… I'm really sorry…" His voice was hoarse and broken by sobs as he wriggled like a worm, trying to crawl away from Ian.
"I—I have money… lots of money… I'll give it all to you… everything… just spare me…"
He rambled incoherently—one moment pleading about his family, the next claiming he'd contributed to society, even boasting about all the charities he'd supposedly funded.
Ian stood silently, expression unreadable.
"Please… please… I…"
"You can go," Ian finally said softly. The words sent a violent shiver through Kim's body.
He jerked his head up, hope flaring in his eyes. Thinking Ian had relented, he scrambled to his feet and bolted toward the rear cars. All he wanted was to get away—then, someday, take revenge. He had memorized everyone's faces; even if he couldn't touch Ian, he'd make the others pay.
"Huh? You're really leaving?" Ian chuckled, grabbing the back of Kim's collar and flinging him hard against the obsidian wall.
With a wave of his hand, another obsidian wall rose from the floor, sealing Kim off from the rest of Car 16.
"No! Don't!" Kim screamed in terror, pounding uselessly at the wall.
Then Ian dismissed the first wall. Every zombie that heard the noise turned their heads at once.
Kim froze in horror. He stumbled, trying to flee, but a zombie pounced and dragged him down.
"Ahhh! Help! Somebody help me!" His desperate screams soon drowned beneath the roars and the wet sound of tearing flesh.
Of course, Ian had already used a soft breeze to muffle Su-an's hearing, so the girl only looked around blankly while everyone else turned pale.
At that moment, Seok-woo's phone rang.
He answered quickly. A frantic voice came from the other end. "Senior! Are you alright? Busan is safe now! The army's taken control!"
Seok-woo froze, stunned that the situation had actually turned around.
"Busan… is safe?" he murmured, disbelief filling his eyes.
Everyone else lit up at once.
"Busan's safe? Really?"
"That's great! We're saved!"
Hope surged through the car like fire.
But that hope didn't last long.
Screeeech—
A piercing brake screech jolted everyone.
The train sharply decelerated, and the huge inertia made the people in the car stagger and nearly fall.
"What's happening?"
"What's going on?"
Then the conductor's voice echoed through the speakers: "Dear passengers, I apologize, but the tracks ahead are blocked by a overturned train. We cannot proceed."
"Please… please disembark and transfer to another train heading to Busan…"
The car fell into stunned silence.
"What? You want us to get off?"
"Are you kidding? It's full of zombies out there!"
Everyone turned instinctively toward Ian. "S-Sir…"
"I can clear the obstacles," Ian said to Yoon Sang-hwa and Seok-woo. "But… I don't know how to drive a train, and I don't know the route to Busan. You'd better go with the conductor."
"This…" Yoon Sang-hwa and Seok-woo exchanged hesitant looks.
"It's the only option," Ian shrugged. "We can't just sit here forever."
He stepped off the train first, with the others following close behind.
Once outside, they realized things were even worse than expected.
Several derailed cars lay across the tracks, blocking the way completely.
Worse still, zombies were already gathering, staggering toward them.
"What do we do? Where do we go?" Chloe stammered, pale with fear.
"Forward. We can only go forward," Yoon Sang-hwa said through gritted teeth. "Everyone, stay close!"
He led the group, shielding his wife Seong-kyeong at the front.
Seok-woo followed, keeping Su-an behind him.
Ian stayed at the rear, cutting down any zombie that drew near.
They crept along the tracks cautiously.
Then the ground began to tremble.
Screech—!
A derailed train was barreling straight toward them.
"Run! Get out of the way!" Seok-woo shouted in horror as the runaway train thundered closer.
"Move!" Yoon Sang-hwa yelled, dragging Seong-kyeong into a sprint.
The others panicked and ran too—but how could humans outrun a train?
Watching the train about to hit them, despair filled every face. Although they had seen Ian slaughter zombies like chopping vegetables, this was a high-speed train!
Yet while they ran, Ian kept walking forward—calmly.
They thought he hadn't noticed the train, and were about to call out to him—
—but then a helmet materialized over his head from the bottom up, and the instant it locked into place, Ian vanished.
A thunderous BOOM! erupted. Ian's body slammed into the oncoming engine head-on.
Crack… crunch…
Metal shrieked and twisted under the impact.
The train's front rapidly deformed, and then it was split in half by Ian's impact right down the middle.
The cars behind it scattered wildly from the force.
Everyone was stunned by the scene before them; they simply couldn't believe their eyes.
"Daddy… is that man Superman?"
"He must be."
Before anyone could breathe, another series of crack crack crack echoed out.
They turned and saw that the derailed train Ian had stopped had smashed into others nearby—fractures spreading through multiple car windows.
"Watch out!" Yoon Sang-hwa's face changed, and he shouted loudly.
Sure enough, in the next second, the window glass shattered with a roar, and countless zombies poured out of the carriages.
"Hide quickly!" Yoon Sang-hwa roared, pulling Seong-kyeong into a corner behind Ian.
The others followed instantly—by now they'd realized the safest place in a zombie apocalypse was right behind this overpowered guy.
"Big Brother, our lives are in your hands! I don't know how to thank you— guess I'll just sell myself to you!!" Chloe yelled dramatically.
Ian's mouth twitched. 'Good grief! This girl really had no shame—she was already scheming mid-crisis.'
Luckily, he'd already located the conductor's direction and told everyone to follow him soon.
He then casually tore off a section of a broken carriage and tossed it into the tide of zombies.
He lightly pressed his foot down, and before that carriage section could come to a stop, he had already appeared behind it. He gave it a kick, and the carriage slid forward again.
A large number of zombies in front were crushed, and only blood and zombie fragments were left where the carriage passed.
A real, literal blood path.
"Hey, head that way! The new train's just ahead! Go—I'll cover you!" Ian shouted.
Yoon Sang-hwa and the others gave him a complicated look, then ran toward the train. Only Chloe hesitated, sensing Ian didn't plan to leave.
"Sir… you're not going with them to Busan, are you? Can I… can I stay with you?" she asked nervously.
Of course Ian didn't want to abandon all that cross-world energy walking around on two legs. To him, these zombies were walking multiversal energy sources—how could he pass that up?
"Sure, but for your safety, you should stay underground for a while," Ian grinned, flashing a smile that made Chloe uneasy.
"Underground?" Before Chloe could react, she felt the ground disappear beneath her feet.
"Whoa!"
She screamed as a deep pit appeared, torches glowing warmly along its walls. It looked freshly dug—because it was.
Before she could protest, a breeze lifted her gently and set her down at the bottom.
"Wait here. I'll dig you out later," Ian said. Before she could respond, he waved his hand, sealing the pit with a stone wall—leaving only a few vent holes with trapdoors for air and light.
Chloe: "…"
Once she was secured, Ian raised his right hand. A massive dark-red blade shimmered into existence, its surface flowing with crimson light.
Now then—it was harvesting time.
Fighting! Awesome!
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