The man had just shut the bathroom door and was about to wash his hands when the broadcast reached his ears, sending a chill down his spine.
"A special zone? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Suddenly, the train lurched violently. He barely managed to steady himself, a wave of unease welling up within him.
He hurriedly rinsed his hands and turned to head back toward the carriage.
Zzzzz—Bang!
Without warning, the lights flickered out, and darkness swept over the space like a crashing tide.
"The lights… why did they suddenly go out?"
His heart skipped a beat. Before he could even react, a cold, slimy tendril coiled itself around his ankle.
"H-Help—"
He thrashed wildly, a desperate cry tearing from his throat—only to be muffled as something clamped over his mouth, reducing his scream to a helpless, garbled hum.
The tendril dragged him mercilessly into the unknown void. His body slammed against unseen surfaces as he flailed, hands clawing for anything to hold onto—only to leave behind a trail of futile, bloody streaks.
Then, he was hoisted into the air. In the faint glimmer of moonlight, he caught a glimpse of it—a gaping maw lined with jagged fangs.
"Ah—"
The scream barely escaped his lips before he was swallowed whole.
Crunch… crack…
In the suffocating silence, only the monster's ghastly chewing could be heard—a grotesque symphony of splintering bone and torn flesh. The man's agonized cries were swiftly drowned out, swallowed by the relentless, wet gnashing, until only silence remained.
The train roared forward along the rails, as if nothing had happened. Only the faint remnants of a struggle near the lavatory hinted at the horror that had just unfolded.
Moments later, the creature finished its grisly meal and began to shift, grotesquely morphing until it bore an exact likeness of the man it had consumed.
Wearing a stiff, uncanny smile pieced together from scattered memories, "he" took a step toward the carriage—his gait slightly off, disturbingly unnatural…
Elsewhere, similar horrors were quietly unfolding.
Thirty minutes earlier.
Inside the carriage—
Zzzzz—Bang!
The instant the lights went out, the entire car plunged into pitch-black darkness, and startled gasps rose in waves.
"Ahhh—"
"What's going on?! Why are the lights out again?"
The bespectacled man squinted, struggling to adapt to the dark as his eyes slowly adjusted to the vague outlines around him.
"At least it's only the lights…"
He turned to look outside the window, only to be greeted by an endless, suffocating black.
"Let's hope nothing else goes wrong."
"Mama, I'm scared… sniff sniff…"
The young couple huddled tightly together, the girl trembling, her voice shaking:
"Babe, I'm really scared… What is going on? Why does this train keep malfunctioning?"
Before the boy could answer, the uncle who spoke in dialect chimed in with loud reassurance.
"Don't be scared, don't be scared," he said, raising his voice—half to comfort himself, half to soothe the others.
"It's probably nothing, just a power outage, that's all."
The young mother clutched her child tightly, whispering soothing words:
"Don't be afraid, Jiajia… Mama's here…"
She gently patted the child's back, though her eyes betrayed deep unease.
In the darkness, a heavy tension spread throughout the carriage. Anxious energy filled the space as everyone silently hoped for the lights to return—uncertain what other eerie incidents might be lurking ahead.
The old man squinted into the dark, trying to discern shapes around him.
"Everyone, don't move," he urged, his voice trembling slightly but striving for calm.
"Let's just wait for the lights to come back on."
Zzzzz—
Suddenly, the broadcast crackled to life.
"Dear passengers, due to a circuit malfunction, the train is experiencing a temporary power outage. Please remain calm and patient—we are working to restore electricity as quickly as possible."