Because of Liu Hong’s interference and the middle-aged executive’s confession, everyone heading up to the main hall was extremely cautious. The moment they spotted the zombies, they backed up and fled.
Even Leo, who had been tackled by a zombie and rescued just in time by a homeless man, didn't lag too far behind. The instant they stepped off the stairs, people waiting by the train urged them to board quickly, telling them to mind their safety and not to open any train cars occupied by zombies.
Several panicked individuals who had been blindly rushing to open a door heard the warning, saw a zombie right on the other side, and shuddered with fright.
They quickly dodged away and boarded a different car.
Liu Hong watched the people running down. Everyone was merely startled, and the zombies behind had not yet caught up.
Seeing several students running down in a panting breath while holding Leo's daughter, he hurriedly took the children and rushed toward the front of the train.
He had to go back and keep an eye on that middle-aged executive; otherwise, the man would anxiously urge the conductor to drive off.
He had to get on board first.
Since Leo's daughter was with him, Leo would probably be arriving soon.
Looking back for one last glance just before boarding, he indeed saw Leo running down with the beggar.
He hurriedly waved for them to keep up.
Upon getting on the train, sure enough, he saw the middle-aged executive urging a crew member to contact the conductor and tell him to get the train moving.
The crew member, already somewhat wavering, saw Liu Hong board, immediately pressed the walkie-talkie, and told the conductor to start the train.
The conductor asked in return whether all the passengers had boarded. The crew member looked at the child in Liu Hong's arms, gritted his teeth, and said yes.
He knew this child had a father, but since the man still hadn't arrived, he was probably already dead. With a whole trainload of his own people and zombies approaching from behind, he certainly wasn't going to let anyone else doom them.
Liu Hong bent over, caught his breath, and finally raised his head. That run had really taken it out of him.
He was exhausted to death.
He didn't know if it was because his own physical fitness was poor due to sitting at an office desk and lacking exercise for too long,
or if the physical condition of this body was simply terrible.
He had only sprinted one or two hundred meters carrying a kid, and now he was completely out of breath.
If every single time-travel trip involved a disaster, this kind of physical stamina simply wouldn't cut it!
He hoped it was just his own personal fitness problem.
If it were truly the physical condition of the body he happened to possess upon crossing over,
what would happen if he ever traveled into the body of an elderly person or a child in the future?
Hearing the crew member tell the conductor to start the train, Liu Hong hurriedly raised his head and stood up.
He turned to look behind him. The train had already started moving slowly, but Leo and the beggar had yet to board.
They were still running toward this side.
Countless zombies were tailing right behind them.
Fortunately, the train had just started and its speed was still relatively slow, allowing Leo and the others to gradually close the gap.
Liu Hong's biggest fear right now was that Leo might die, causing this world to collapse.
He had never tested what happens if the protagonist dies.
Better safe than sorry.
Seeing Leo slowly catching up, Liu Hong hurriedly reached out a hand.
The zombies were already right on their heels; they needed to pull them up quickly and shut the door.
Otherwise, it was far too dangerous.
Leo grabbed hold of Liu Hong's hand. Liu Hong imagined himself pulling Leo onto the train just like in the movies, but alas, his physical condition truly failed him—he lacked arm strength and couldn't pull the man up at all.
It turned out that those scenes in movies and television where a single woman could hoist a grown person up were just for show.
Right now, he couldn't even bend his arms properly, let alone haul someone up.
At that moment, a muscular arm reached out from beside him.
It grabbed Leo by the collar and hauled him aboard in a single instant.
The speed of it left even Liu Hong somewhat stunned.
Then he saw that same arm reach out again and grab the beggar trailing behind, hoisting him straight onto the train with another single heave!
Liu Hong looked at the sturdy fellow standing right beside him closing the door.
Absolute beast! Truly deserving of being the last man in South Korea!
After shutting the door, the man even turned around, patted Liu Hong on the arm, and said,
"Brother, your arm strength won't do! You need to work out!"
With that, he returned to his wife's side. His wife had clearly witnessed his actions, glared at him, and gave his arm a hard smack.
Liu Hong stumbled from the blow and smiled awkwardly.
"I will! Once we get to Busan, I'll work out!"
The words came out through gritted teeth.
Finally, the train picked up speed, leaving the zombies far behind in the dust.
Emerging from Daejeon Station, everyone finally witnessed the state of Daejeon.
The entire city was riddled with flames and black smoke.
Faint screams seemed to echo from the distance, though whether they were actually hearing them or just hallucinating amid the tragic devastation of Daejeon was anyone's guess.
Everyone could only look on in silence, uttering not a single word.
The rest of the journey was completely peaceful—there was no tension or thrills of the protagonist's group fighting their way up from the rear cars, no bittersweet scene of the older sister getting bitten by zombies while her younger sister unlocked the door to unleash them,
and certainly no fierce heroism of the burly man holding off the zombies to buy more escape time for everyone else.
This time, everyone survived, and no one perished.
Everyone found a place to sit down and soothe their fatigued bodies.
Sitting in his seat, Liu Hong felt as though things were about to wrap up right here.
He knew that wasn't the case; although he couldn't remember the plot clearly, he still remembered the grand spectacle of the final zombie clinging to the train.
Still, a rest was genuinely needed right now.
With a sudden, jarring brake, everyone snapped their eyes open.
The conductor's announcement came over the intercom above.
"Attention passengers, due to obstacles ahead, this train can only stop at Daejeon Station.
Therefore, you may choose whether to wait here for rescue or board another train heading for Busan.
Immediately after this broadcast concludes, I will go find an operable train and move it to the leftmost track! Move it to the leftmost track!
May all survivors move to safety. Good luck."
Hearing this, the carriage suddenly erupted into chaos, and Liu Hong also began to wrestle with his options.
Should he head outside or stay put inside the carriage?
This should already be the final major set piece of the film, and it wouldn't be long before the movie ended.
If he followed the others outside, his little life would probably be easily snuffed out during this climactic chaos.
If he simply waited out the ending inside the train, could he return straight home?
Liu Hong didn't know yet, and he wanted to find out.
He wanted to see what kind of ending awaited him if he just stayed on the train until the finish.
It was just a movie anyway—it didn't matter, he could return even if he died!!
Yet, recalling the scene of his own death in the first movie, Liu Hong couldn't help but shiver.
The agony of death truly carved itself into the soul.
It would be fantastic if he didn't have to die at all!!
Just thinking about the sensation of death filled him with lingering terror.
While some people were still hesitating, the muscular man had already taken the lead in shielding the pregnant woman as they headed out.
Seeing this and remembering the zombies roaming the train, the others realized that waiting here for rescue was nothing more than empty talk.
Hesitating no longer, they followed.
Liu Hong watched them depart from inside the train.
They didn't share deep bonds of affection; unlike in the movie, they hadn't been through enough together, lacking that mutual trust forged by fighting side by side with their backs to one another.
Therefore, when the burly man and Leo saw Liu Hong remaining on the train instead of getting off, they didn't offer any extra persuasion.
Everyone was an adult and had their own choices to make.
Seeing that everyone had left, Liu Hong shut the carriage door and waited inside.
He waited for Leo and the others to leave Daejeon Station, waiting for the film to reach its conclusion.
It was only around three o'clock in the afternoon now, and Liu Hong remembered that by the time the movie ended, the sun was sinking westward.
It would probably be getting quite late by then.
He wondered what else he could do with these next few hours.
The weather was far too hot, so Liu Hong stripped off all the protective layers he had been wearing.
Now that everyone had left and the zombies didn't know how to open doors, wrapping himself up this thickly in such scorching weather was practically enough to bake him alive.
He then thought of the clothes and money he had previously brought out from The Day After Tomorrow, and wondered what useful items he could take back from here.
He glanced around. What was there worth salvaging from a passenger train?
No, wait! There were definitely things!
Liu Hong looked up at the overhead luggage racks.
Because they hadn't faced any immediate danger up here, nobody had ever bothered touching the luggage overhead. They had only grabbed some clothes from various cars earlier to wear as defensive padding.
This carriage had been switched out at Daejeon Station, and these bags hadn't been searched yet! Now they were his for the taking!
Liu Hong pulled down the luggage from above and checked what was inside the bags.
In truth, most people kept their valuables on their persons; apart from bulky items, nobody left other precious belongings in their luggage.
Just as Liu Hong pulled down the first piece of luggage and slowly opened it, he suddenly felt a violent shudder.
The entire body of the train listed backward.
Sensing something was wrong, Liu Hong quickly grabbed the luggage in his hands.
With a massive, echoing screech, the train tipped over onto its side, and Liu Hong tumbled down onto the window glass, smashing against it with a loud "Bang!"
The impact left Liu Hong dizzy and disoriented, completely unsure of what had just happened.
He pulled himself up by leaning on a seatback, pressed against a seat, and shook his head to clear it.
Only then did he raise his head to see what on earth was going on.
The entire train had capsized and tilted sideways, and there were no other trains around—how could it have flipped?
Liu Hong got to his feet, stepped onto the glass pane, and looked toward the rear compartment door. Since the train was now lying on its side, the car behind them was full of zombies!
Even though the glass over there had been obscured by the dry powder of a fire extinguisher so the zombies couldn't see anyone inside,
a derailment like this might change everything!!
Liu Hong looked up, and that single glance nearly scared his soul right out of his body.
The momentum of the train's sideways flip had shaken open the lock on the rear compartment door; now, only the makeshift ropes made of cloth strips were holding that door together.
The door was continuing to slide open, and the ropes made of cloth strips were hanging by a thread.
Liu Hong could already envision the scene: the moment the ropes snapped, the door would slide open with a tremendous crash, and all the zombies would look over, spot him as a fresh human being,
and rush forward to tear him apart and devour him.
Just imagining this picture sent a shiver straight down Liu Hong's spine.
He had to pull the door shut!!
Liu Hong struggled to crawl toward that direction.
With the train lying on its side, the glass was now beneath his feet, while the rows of seats stood vertically to his side.
The combination of the seatbacks and the overhead luggage racks made the passable path agonizingly narrow.
Not to mention the luggage from the opposite rack that had spilled down and littered the floor.
It made the path ahead an endless series of jumping, climbing, and detouring obstacles.
Moreover, Liu Hong didn't dare make a sound, terrified that the zombies in the rear compartment would hear the commotion and charge over to devour him.
Finally, after navigating what felt like an eternity for such a short section of the carriage, he reached it five or six minutes later.
He stepped up onto a box and reached out to pull the rear door shut, but by this time, the door had already cracked open into a massive gap.
The cloth strips were on the verge of snapping.
Liu Hong grabbed the rear door and pulled it slowly upward, closing it bit by bit.
Just as the door was about to be latched, a deafening screech of twisted metal rang out right above his head, startling him out of his wits.
He looked up to see what was happening.
Through the window glass, he spotted a zombie leap right onto the glass above his head.
The zombie overhead seemed to notice Liu Hong staring at it, and began hammering frantically and viciously against the glass above him.
Hearing the commotion, the zombies in the rear compartment immediately surged toward this side as well; Liu Hong could even hear the sickening *thud-thud-thud* of their running feet.
He frantically tried to latch the door, but for some reason, the lock simply wouldn't catch.
At last, the zombies from the rear compartment came swarming up.