Alien Hotel

The subway station where you go to work is always so crowded that it makes people question their life. The crowded conditions in the carriages even give people the illusion that not all the people in the city are crowding the subway - if possible, Song Cheng really doesn't want to Take the subway at this time.

But there is no way. Under normal circumstances, the "train" will only appear stably on the second train during peak hours. Although there are sighting reports at other times, they are uncontrollable.

The sturdy Song Cheng was squeezed into the crowded carriage, feeling the slowly accelerating shaking of the subway after it left the station. He saw in his eyes all the office workers rushing to the company during the morning rush hour. The gaps are filled with the mixed taste, and the cage made of steel is filled with squeezed and stacked Meat, in the dark underground, goes into a pipe supported by concrete and is transported rumble from one place to another. Artificial lights can dispel the darkness in the "pipe", but in the soil outside the pipe, Darkness and unknown are the true appearance of the underground world.

Song Cheng closed his eyes slightly and kept repeating this association in his mind. He imagined this row of "meat-carrying cages" made of steel drilling through the dark soil, like a weird and blind worm. He imagined looking at the soil. The breath rushed to my face, and there was a smell of rot in the cold air.

He closed his eyes and slowly walked through the crowds in the carriage one by one - the carriage was still crowded, but everyone unconsciously moved out of the way. The tall Song Chengcheng walked to the end of the carriage unhurriedly,

Then he opened his eyes and took a look.

It is marked on the door that this is the end of Car No. 2, and beyond that is Car No. 3.

In the carriage behind me, the originally noisy sound gradually subsided. Occasionally, the sound of people talking could be heard, and it was as distant as if they were separated by a thick wall.

Song Cheng did not look back, but casually took out a piece of parchment from his pocket. The note had been soaked in ointment in advance. He put the note into his mouth, chewed it slowly, and felt the strong and stimulating coldness. Go to the head,

Then he stepped forward.

Passing through the door of Car No. 2, he arrived at a new, empty car.

The previous carriage was crowded with passengers rushing to catch the morning rush hour, but here there was no one.

There are some old newspapers placed on the slightly worn seats, and the date on the newspaper reads tomorrow.

Song Cheng turned around and saw the words Car No. 16 displayed on the automatic door behind him.

The pungent taste in his mouth was gradually spreading. He turned around and continued to walk forward, passing through the door of Car No. 16, and arriving at the next section of the train. The car was stained with rust, and the windows on both sides were covered with dirt. , there is an occasional faint flash of light outside the window, but it is not like the lighting in a subway tunnel, but more like a pair of strangely passing eyes, watching this train of steel worms whizzing by in the dark soil.

This is Car No. 12. Song Cheng continued to walk forward, confirming the number of the car as he walked. As he continued to move forward, each car became more and more weird-one by one, there were many cars in the car. They were filled with plastic mannequins, some carriages were covered with mushrooms, and some carriages even had no ceilings or walls at all, only a bare floor, flying through the undulating and crawling earth pipes.

The numbers of all the carriages are randomly distributed between 1 and 21, and are not arranged in order at all.

A warm candlelight suddenly came into his eyes. The structure of the subway car could no longer be seen in the next car that Song Cheng entered. He stepped into a large wooden carriage. Several beautiful women were dressed in extremely gorgeous and coquettish clothes. The ladies were sitting on both sides of the carriage, chatting enthusiastically, and letting out sweet and clear laughter from time to time. There was a light mist floating outside the carriage window, and occasionally street lights flashed by, illuminating the streets of a strange city.

A charming lady noticed Song Cheng who suddenly broke into the carriage. She stood up in surprise and stepped forward to ask Song Cheng's purpose.

But Song Cheng ignored it at all and just looked back at the number on the door: Car No. 23.

He turned and walked back.

A "normal car" with the same structure as a normal subway caught his eye. The car was spacious and empty, with bright lights and neat and clean seats.

There was only one passenger sitting in the middle of the carriage, near the window. He was holding a newspaper in his hand and his face was hidden behind the newspaper.

Song Cheng turned around to confirm, and after seeing the number 22 written on the door, he exhaled and walked towards the only passenger.

The other party was wearing a dark coat, with a suitcase that was also black at his feet, and a black umbrella hanging on the railing next to the seat.

Everything from the coat to the box to the umbrella has an eerie, rubbery quality to it.

Song Cheng sat down next to the passenger and gently tapped the newspaper in his hand.

The passenger finally put down the newspaper and looked up at Song Cheng.

It was a smooth and slightly reflective face - like rubber. It looked like a thin middle-aged man, and he was wearing an old-fashioned black top hat that seemed incompatible with modern times.

"Hello," the strange-looking passenger nodded to Song Cheng, his voice trembling and out of tune, but his attitude was quite polite, "What do you want to talk about today?"

The entity, Passenger No. 22, will be generated in the foreign land-train, and will usually stay in Car No. 22,

Reasonable, able to communicate, and even occasionally help outsiders escape from foreign lands -

- But under certain conditions, they can also show aggression.

Now, he's friendly.

"Have you heard of the address No. 66 Wutong Road?" Song Cheng asked as if he was chatting with an ordinary person, "There is a person named 'Yu Sheng' who lives here."

The rubber-like "passenger" shook his head: "The train does not have this stop."

Song Cheng's expression suddenly became serious.

Passenger No. 22 knows a lot of information about "places". Except for some extremely strange or secret "places", as long as the direction is clear when asking, he can almost answer the basic situation of any foreign land, even if it is millions of light years away. At worst, he will point out whether the foreign land mentioned in the question exists and whether it is located in the border area.

But now he said that the train does not have this stop.

In fact, this train does not go anywhere, but what Passenger No. 22 said "the train does not have this stop" means that he does not know the information of a certain place.

Since the intelligence of Passenger No. 22 was included in the files of the Secret Service, there are no more than one hand of such answers.

After a moment of silence, Song Cheng asked again: "What about the person 'Yu Sheng'? Have you heard of this name during your travels?"

"If it's information about people, you can ask the 'storyteller'. He knows a lot about people. He is in the park, telling stories to children there---"-Do you need directions? I can tell you when the 'park' is."

"Thank you, but no, I know where the park is," Song Cheng shook his head. He felt that the ointment in his mouth was gradually weakening, so he quickly asked the next question, "Is there any news about Night Valley recently?"

"Night Valley---Ah, a passenger left there, but I don't know the details," Passenger No. 22 said slowly, "If you still want to know what happened after that, I'm afraid I can't help."

"Why?"

"Because this stop has been cancelled."

Passenger No. 22 put the newspaper on his legs and said calmly with his rubbery face.

Song Cheng opened his eyes wide and sat in a daze.

This answer has never appeared before!

"The train does not have this stop" is at least a reply mentioned in the file, but "this stop has been cancelled". He is sure that this is the first time!

"Why is it cancelled?!" He asked subconsciously, his eyes anxious.

"Who knows?" Passenger No. 22 shrugged very humanely, "I only know what happened along the train line, but those that happened outside the line - I don't know."

Song Cheng blinked, feeling that the effect of the ointment was further weakened, and he began to hear faint human voices in his ears. He still had some questions to ask, but at this moment, he suddenly noticed the newspaper on Passenger No. 22's legs.

That was the only thing on the entity's "body" that was not rubbery. It was really just a newspaper.

The front page of the newspaper was printed with a large black-and-white illustration. In this era when even the cheapest roadside tabloids are printed in color, the black-and-white illustration looks particularly retro, and the picture itself is also blurry, abstract and distorted. It does not look like a real photo taken on the spot, but more like a crude graffiti painted on the canvas by a clumsy painter based on hearsay.

A desolate valley, a huge eye is floating above the valley, slowly moving away.

Below the illustration, is the headline of the news:

"After the Feast".

"We are about to arrive at the station." The voice of passenger No. 22 suddenly came from the side, awakening Song Cheng from his distraction.

Song Cheng suddenly raised his head and saw that passenger No. 22 was staring at him. This rational entity had reached out and picked up the umbrella hanging on the handrail. As he stood up, he asked casually, "What's the weather now?"

Song Cheng immediately gathered his thoughts in his mind and observed the entity in front of him very carefully.

Passenger No. 22 brought an umbrella today, but the umbrella was dry.

"It's cloudy today———" Song Cheng said.

But at this moment, he suddenly noticed a trace of water on the suitcase of passenger No. 22, as if invisible rain had just fallen on the suitcase.

"But the rain has started to fall," Song Cheng immediately added, "It's the right decision to bring an umbrella when going out."

"Indeed," passenger No. 22 smiled, and his rubber face made a slight tearing and rubbing sound. "Have a nice trip, and be careful when getting off the train."

"Have a nice trip." Song Cheng exhaled, smiled and nodded.

Noisy sounds came from all around, and the heat of human bodies filled the crowded carriage.

The sturdy Song Cheng squeezed in the crowded carriage, feeling the slow deceleration of the subway as it entered the station.