Jason pulled a folded station map from beneath the console and spread it across the desk.
"The distribution room is through here."
He traced a service passage leading away from the control room.
"There are two fire doors along the way. Camera Twelve covers the entrance passage. Camera Thirteen is mounted just beyond the second door."
The monitor flickered again. For a moment, the concrete passage disappeared behind a wall of glistening black rock.
Jason stared at it.
"There shouldn’t be stone there."
Lin Yan studied the screen.
At least six goblins were still moving around the train. He knew where they were, but that did not make them the safer target.
The carriage aisles were narrow and packed with seats. Fighting one goblin there might be manageable. Fighting several at once would leave him nowhere to retreat, and one creature slipping around his side would be enough to end him.
The equipment area carried a different kind of risk.
He did not know what was waiting beyond the fire doors. It could be one goblin or ten. It might not even be goblins.
But the maintenance passages and distribution room offered far more room to move than a train carriage. If he encountered only one or two creatures, he would at least have space to keep them in front of him.
Lin Yan’s gaze moved across the room, then stopped.
A bloodstained spear was leaning beside the console.
It was the same one he had hurled through the fleeing goblin. Someone had pulled it free and carried it into the control room.
Good. That made the choice easier.
The spear would have been awkward inside the train, but in the maintenance passages, its reach could keep an enemy from getting close enough to strike him.
He picked up the spear and tested its weight, then walked over to the first-aid kit.
"Give me two rolls of bandage."
One of the passengers handed them over. Lin Yan tucked them inside his jacket, took a bottle of water from beneath the console and secured the iron club through his belt.
He also picked up one of the emergency flashlights and tested the switch. A strong white beam cut across the control room.
Still working.
He slipped it beneath his belt beside the club.
By the time he finished, the student was waiting beside him.
"Do you really have to go?" he asked. "We have food, water and two locked doors. The government must have noticed something is wrong by now. They could already be outside trying to reach us."
Lin Yan knew better.
No one was getting inside—or out—until every goblin was dead.
Explaining that would only invite more questions he had no intention of answering.
He was about to brush the student off when he noticed several passengers listening to them.
Right.
He was still supposed to be the brave female hero who had stood up to protect the weak.
He had already built the character. He might as well play it properly.
Lin Yan adjusted the spear against his shoulder and gazed toward the flickering surveillance screen.
"My uncle once told me something."
The student waited.
"With great power comes great responsibility."
The system remained silent, though Lin Yan could almost feel it judging him.
"There may still be people trapped somewhere in the station," Lin Yan continued. "Every minute I spend hiding in here could be a minute they don’t have."
He turned toward the equipment-area door.
"I have the ability to fight those creatures. I can’t stop here simply because this room happens to be safe."
The student stared at his back.
His lips moved, but no words came out. After a few seconds, he lowered his head and stepped aside.
Jason opened a drawer beneath the console and removed a handheld radio.
"Internal channel three. It uses the station repeaters. It should keep working as long as the backup power holds."
Lin Yan clipped it to his belt.
Jason folded the map and passed it to him.
"Take this too."
Lin Yan slipped it inside his jacket, then pressed the radio’s transmission button.
"You hear me?"
"Clear," Jason replied through the speaker.
Lin Yan walked to the equipment-area door.
"Keep the entrance barricaded. Once I’m through, lock this door behind me. Don’t open it unless you hear my voice over the radio."
He placed one hand on the manual lock.
"Wait!"
Lin Yan glanced back.
The student was standing several meters away with the chipped axe in his hands. Whatever hesitation had been on his face before was gone.
"Take me with you."
Lin Yan frowned.
Had that speech been a little too effective?
"If you’re willing to go out there and risk your life for everyone," the student said, "then as a man, I can’t stay here hiding."
Lin Yan’s fingers tightened around the spear.
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Did this kid actually believe Lin Yan had meant any of that? At least the influencer had played along for views. This idiot had simply believed every word.
Were there really people this gullible?
"Get lost. You’ll only be a burden."
Before Lin Yan could turn away, the student hurriedly continued.
"I can run."
Lin Yan stopped.
"Fast," the student added. "If there are too many goblins, I can lure one away from you."
Lin Yan looked him over.
During the chase through the station, Lin Yan had started more than thirty meters ahead. The kid had still caught him before they reached the staff corridor.
"You’re an athlete?"
"I run the hundred meters," the student said. "I compete at the national level."
So that was it.
He might not know how to use an axe, but speed like that was not useless. He could carry a warning back to the control room, draw away a pursuer or create an opening when Lin Yan needed one.
Lin Yan shifted the spear into his left hand and extended his right.
The student blinked, then tucked the axe beneath one arm and shook it.
"Name?"
"Marcus."
"Do I still need to introduce myself?"
Marcus shook his head.
"Lin Yan. I heard you tell Jason."
"Good."
Lin Yan released his hand.
"You stay behind me and follow every order. If I tell you to stop, you stop. If I tell you to run, you run. No questions."
Marcus nodded.
"Understood."
Lin Yan pulled the flashlight from his belt and tossed it to him.
Marcus caught it against his chest.
"You carry that."
"What about you?"
"I can see well enough."
Marcus switched it on and aimed the beam toward the floor.
Lin Yan disengaged the manual lock and pulled the heavy door open.
Cold, damp air rolled into the control room, carrying the smell of wet soil.
Marcus moved toward the doorway with the axe in one hand and the flashlight in the other.
Lin Yan looked back at him.
"You can still change your mind."
Marcus swallowed, but did not move away.
"I’m coming."
Lin Yan stepped into the passage with the spear raised.
Marcus followed, the flashlight beam stretching past him into the darkness.
The heavy door closed behind them, and a moment later, the lock turned from the control-room side.
Emergency lights illuminated the first stretch of concrete ahead.
Somewhere farther in, water dripped steadily in the darkness.
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