24: Chapter 24 In the subway station, the dead can run away.

The instant the jammer activated, a ring of ghostly blue ripples spread out centered on Chen Fan, then vanished without a sound the next second.

It was like a stone tossed into stagnant water, stirring only a ripple before being swallowed by endless darkness.

There was no time to hesitate. Chen Fan tightened his grip on Little Bean’s frail body and plunged into the black-hole-like subway tunnel ahead.

"Drip... drip..."

Cold, damp air rushed toward him, carrying a heavy smell of rust and mildew.

Dark red liquid continuously seeped from the tunnel walls, dripping stickily onto the rails. The sound echoed in the empty tunnel, like the heartbeat of a dying person, or fresh blood flowing in the darkness.

The light here was dimmer than outside, almost pitch black.

Chen Fan could only rely on his enhanced vision to vaguely make out the gravel and sleepers beneath his feet.

Little Bean on his back suddenly struggled violently, her small body shaking like a leaf in the wind. Her voice, laced with a sob, was sharp and terrified: "Uncle, don't go! Don't go any further in! That place... that place is full of dead people..."

Chen Fan paused, softly comforting her: "Don't be afraid, Uncle is here."

"No!" Little Bean's voice held a despair beyond her years. "They are all dead... but... but they are still running! They are running continuously!"

Still running?

Chen Fan's heart clenched violently, and a chill shot straight up his spine to the crown of his head.

How can dead people run?

What exactly did this child see?

He suppressed the horror in his heart, but his steps did not falter.

With pursuers behind and an unknown path ahead, stopping meant death.

After walking for an unknown time, a faint light suddenly appeared deep within the tunnel.

The light was pale and utterly devoid of warmth, like a will-o'-the-wisp luring moths.

As the distance closed, the silhouette of a dilapidated subway platform gradually became clear.

Above the platform, a damaged station nameplate flickered with an ominous faint glow. A few large characters were faintly visible in the dim light:

"Yongning Station — Soul Binding In Progress."

Chen Fan's pupils contracted sharply. Soul Binding? What did that mean?

The moment he stepped onto the platform, his entire body froze.

The platform was packed densely with corpses.

Hundreds of corpses, all players wearing the same New Player uniform as him.

They were not lying down, but kneeling in an unnervingly uniform posture, all facing the same direction, as if performing some evil pilgrimage ritual.

The most terrifying part was that from above every corpse's head extended a thin thread glowing with an eerie red light. Thousands of red threads converged upward, finally disappearing into the dark vault.

The entire platform resembled a massive data cocoon woven from human souls, and these New Players were the 'silkworms' supplying the data.

Chen Fan's heartbeat nearly stopped. He cautiously approached the nearest corpse.

It was a young girl, a look of joy from completing a mission still lingering on her face, but her eyes were vacant and lifeless; she had long since passed away.

Just as Chen Fan's finger was about to touch the corpse's shoulder, an irresistible, massive suction force violently dragged his consciousness inside!

The scene shifted before his eyes; he seemed to have become that girl.

["Mission complete, rewards settling... "]

["Soul data uploading... Upload failed, activating backup protocol."]

A cold system prompt sounded in his mind.

The next second, a blinding red light descended from above, enveloping 'her' entire body.

An indescribable, intense pain surged through him, as if his entire soul was being forcefully ripped, torn, and compressed out of his body!

'Her' consciousness rapidly dissipated amidst extreme agony, but Chen Fan clearly 'saw' that the extracted soul was not 'uploaded' as the system claimed, but was forcibly compressed by an invisible force in the air into a semi-transparent crystal chip the size of a fingernail, shimmering faintly.

The chip formed, fell from the air, and embedded itself precisely into a floor tile on the platform, merging with the ground.

The illusion abruptly ended.

Chen Fan violently pulled back his hand, gasping for breath, cold sweat already soaking his back.

He looked down in horror at his feet.

"Crack."

With a light sound, a floor tile beside his foot slowly cracked open, and a chip slowly emerged from the fissure. In its faint glow, a face contorted in terror and despair flashed by.

That face was none other than Old Horse Head!

Chen Fan's mind buzzed, as if struck by a heavy hammer.

So this was the truth behind the System!

The so-called data upload, the so-called soul binding, was nothing but a complete scam!

The System was harvesting!

It was harvesting the souls of all players like harvesting crops, turning them into these 'Human Soul Chips'!

Just then, the cold system prompt sounded frantically in his mind!

["Warning! High-purity soul data source detected!"]

["Critical Hit judgment activated... Judgment successful!"]

The chip belonging to Old Horse Head seemed to be drawn by some force, suddenly exploding and turning into a golden data stream a hundred times richer than before, madly surging into Chen Fan's body!

["Experience gain rate × 5! Effect lasts for 8 minutes!"]

["Level up! Bronze Tier 3 → Bronze Tier 4!"]

A surging sense of power instantly washed over his limbs and bones, dispelling the fear and coldness from moments before.

But Chen Fan felt no joy, only towering rage and a chill deep in his bones.

"Ugh..."

Little Bean on his back suddenly let out a painful moan, her body beginning to convulse violently.

Her eyes rolled back, and she unconsciously spat out a string of ancient and obscure syllables:

"Third watch lamp, rings the bone bell... The bell holder, defies fate's path..."

Chen Fan's heart shook violently! These few sentences were identical, word for word, to the inscription on his broken bronze bell!

As soon as the words fell, Little Bean completely fainted.

Chen Fan stared in horror to find that the strange red pattern on the back of her neck was now moving like a living thing, rapidly spreading upward, already encircling half of her neck!

A terrifying thought arose in Chen Fan's mind.

These chips were residual soul fragments harvested by the System.

And his critical hit system could actually devour these data fragments processed by the System in reverse!

He instinctively looked down at his own palm.

After absorbing Old Horse Head's chip, he could clearly feel that the invisible crack deep within his soul seemed to have deepened slightly.

This was trading life for power! Using his own soul to devour the soul fragments of others!

"Boom—rumble—"

Heavy footsteps sounded from the tunnel entrance. The clashing sound of heavy armor plates echoed through the tunnel, shaking loose gravel to fall.

A strong flashlight beam illuminated the tunnel, and Iron Spine's figure, towering like an iron tower, blocked the only escape route. Behind him were over a dozen fully armed System Executors.

"Chen Fan!" Iron Spine's voice was like grinding metal, cold and cruel. "Hand over the child on your back, and the chip you just obtained! The System can grant you a peaceful death!"

Chen Fan slowly turned around, his face devoid of fear, only wearing a cold smile bordering on madness.

He bent down, ignoring Iron Spine's warning, and plunged both hands directly into the gaps between the floor tiles, prying them up forcefully!

"Crash!"

A large section of floor tiles was lifted away, revealing hundreds of shimmering Human Soul Chips embedded densely underneath!

Every chip imprisoned a desperate soul.

"You treat human lives as data, is that it?" Chen Fan's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly carried across the entire platform. "Fine then, today I'll use your rules to smash your damn System!"

Before his words faded, he violently grabbed ten chips and clenched them tightly in his palm!

"No!" Iron Spine let out a roar of shock and anger.

A sharp glint flashed in Chen Fan's eyes. The muscles in his arm bulged, and he squeezed hard!

"Bang bang bang bang bang!"

Ten chips shattered in succession in his palm!

["Critical Hit judgment successful!"] ["Critical Hit judgment successful!"] ...

A string of system prompts almost burst his brain!

An unprecedented torrent of massive experience transformed into a golden storm, instantly sweeping over his entire body!

["Level up! Bronze Tier 4 → Bronze Tier 5!"]

["Warning!"

Warning!

Massive soul data backflow detected!

System rules under unknown attack!

Activating emergency clean-up procedure!"]

A sharp, ear-piercing alarm blared throughout the underground space!

Above the vault, the thousands of red threads connected to the corpses instantly 'came alive'. They vibrated violently, emitting a 'hissing' sound, and then transformed into countless ferocious scarlet tentacles, pouncing toward Chen Fan like a deluge!

"Go!"

Chen Fan picked up the unconscious Little Bean, moving against the tide, and sprinted toward the wreckage of the train at the other end of the platform!

Just then, the broken bronze bell at his waist seemed to sense the threat and spontaneously rang out with a 'ding-ling' sound!

An invisible sound wave spread out. The first three scarlet tentacles rushing forward suddenly paused mid-air, then snapped inch by inch!

It works!

Chen Fan rejoiced, increasing his speed.

At the deepest part of the tunnel, in a forgotten, rusty train car, a faint dark light suddenly lit up on the window.

A blurry human face appeared on the window, its lips moving silently, as if shouting at him:

"...Hurry... It's waking up..."

"It?"

Chen Fan looked back, his pupils contracting sharply.

He saw that Iron Spine, who had been so arrogant moments ago, was already tightly entangled by dozens of scarlet tentacles.

His heavy armor was dissolving into specks of red light under the erosion of the red threads, just like deleted code.

His distorted face was filled with extreme terror and confusion.

With no time left to think, Chen Fan roared with all his might, violently kicking open the door of that rusted carriage, leaping inside with the child.

Behind him, the entire vault of Yongning Station collapsed with a roar. Countless scarlet tentacles and rolling boulders instantly submerged the tunnel.

Inside the carriage, it was deathly silent.

Chen Fan gasped heavily. The relief of surviving the disaster had barely surfaced when the scene before him plunged him back into a daze.

In the corner of the carriage, slumped against the wall, was a long-dried corpse.

The corpse wore a white uniform with a special insignia that he had never seen before. The words "System Administrator" could still be vaguely discerned on it.

And clutched tightly in the dried corpse's withered hand was half of a torn photograph.

On the photo was a girl with a radiant smile—a face Chen Fan would never forget until death—

It was Su Shuang!

Just as his heart was violently shaken, the body in his arms, Little Bean, suddenly trembled. Her body temperature, which had risen due to absorbing experience, was now plummeting at an astonishing speed, becoming bone-chillingly cold.