Kristoffer Pauly
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MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -134
🕑 Added 2024-10-24 15:36:34 +0000 UTC-Previous chapter-
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Chapter -134
I arrived in the middle of the carriage again. It was hard to tell if I was actually progressing or not, though the counter in the announcement had said so.
“Take a step to the right,” Panda told me.
I followed his advice and a second later Steve arrived, with Chris immediately entering after him, somehow landing atop the Birthday Brat’s shoulders. They tumbled to the floor, both sputtering expletives, though Steve’s self-imposed profanity-filter was back-on after his earlier slip-up.
“I had a good look at the previous one and since that wasn’t anomalous, it’ll be easy to spot anything that stands out,” Steve bragged confidently, after untangling himself from Chris.
I watched as he scoured the interior, with Chris taking a cautious look around as well, though he clearly seemed unsure about himself.
After watching Steve for a few moments, he quickly declared, “It’s not anomalous!” and ran to the front exit. He disappeared through the veil immediately.
“Should we follow him?” Chris asked me.
“No,” I said.
“If he’s wrong, I wonder if he’ll just come back here,” Panda muttered.
“That’d make it too easy to progress,” I replied. “If he’s wrong he’s probably sent all the way back to the start.”
“You’re right, that does make more sense from a Game Balance perspective,” Panda agreed. “Probably the anomalies are switched around for him as well, so it isn’t easy to catch back up to where he failed.”
“That’d make sense,” I said.
“What?” Chris asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” I told him. “Just look around and see if anything stands out.”
I finally got to work myself, going through the checklist in my head as I counted the ghost passengers, the posters, wrappers, and the screens.
“Uh, is this normal?” Chris asked, pointing to the monitors above the right door in the back.
I went over to him and saw that it was just the animation of the doors opening and eyes staring back, along with the warning text about putting your hands outside.
“Those eyes are meant to be there.”
“The screen on the left showed a face twisted into a smile as well,” he added.
“That’s definitely not normal,” I replied.
No sooner had I said that, than a huge face appeared just on the other side of the doors. It was like it belonged to a giant clown, not too unlike Bungo in appearance, with smeared white-and-red make-up, purple skin, open sores, needle teeth, and pinprick pupils set in rheumy eyes.
“Anomaly!” I exclaimed and immediately ran towards the back exit. Chris was right behind me, just as a sound came from the doors, which all began to open.
I pulled aside the door and made sure he went through, before leaping in as well.
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Correct!
Anomaly Found!
Entering Carriage 3/9…
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With a loud groan, I landed atop Chris within another carriage. As expected, Steve was nowhere in sight. He’d clearly lost a life and gone back to the beginning.
After crawling off of him, the Backstabber asked, “Do you think it would have attacked us if we stayed?”
“Probably,” I said.
“It might’ve just taken one of your lives and sent you back to the beginning,” Panda suggested.
“Status,” Chris said, before frowning.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“That encounter increased my Insanity Gauge by 3%...”
“That’s nothing,” I replied.
“I’m almost at 40%.”
“I’m at 190%.”
“Huh?? How’s that possible?”
“It’s thanks to my whistle.”
“That thing you showed me when first we met?” he asked, worried. “You’ve used it 19 times!?”
“No-no, only 9 times. I started at 100% insanity.”
“Is that why you’re still human?”
“Define human,” Panda mocked.
“He can’t hear you,” I said to the plushie, flicking him in the forehead.
“This thing you’re talking to—”
“Panda,” I answered.
“Is he actually real?”
I shrugged. “Probably not.”
“Hey!” he protested.
“Alright, time is running out,” I said, looking at the monitor above a nearby door. It was down to 14 minutes until arrival.
We split up again and combed through the carriage. I went back over my mental checklist, until I noticed that something had changed.
The upholstery of the benches was now stitched together waxy skin, most likely belonging to the people that’d been devoured by the Metro Train.
“Anomaly,” I announced.
We hurried through the back exit before any creature could pop out.
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Correct!
Anomaly Found!
Entering Carriage 4/9…
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“You’re good at this,” Chris said, as I landed inches from him. He’d been quick to get out of the way this time around.
“I’m actually kind of amazed as well,” Panda muttered.
“I need to rescue Bee,” I said seriously. “I don’t have time to screw around here.”
After about two minutes of looking around, counting all the different things and carefully inspecting any potential spot that might be different, I decided that the 4th carriage was not anomalous.
There was a sense of dread in me as I pulled open the door and went through first. After all, it was easy to know when you’d found an anomaly, but hard to tell when there were none.
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Incorrect!
Anomaly Not Found!
You have lost a life!
Lives remaining 2/3!
Returning to Carriage 4/9…
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“Shit!” I exclaimed as we arrived back in the 4th carriage.
Steve let out a gasp from nearby.
“You’re back!”
I groaned. Then I realized that Chris hadn’t gone with me.
“I wonder if he saw something just as you left?” Panda suggested.
“Whatever, let’s go through this one. We’re running out of time,” I said, annoyed.
“There’s no anomaly!” the Birthday Brat insisted.
“Shut up, Steve.”
I went through the 4th carriage again, feeling the pressure to go quick, while also needing to make sure I checked everywhere.
Eventually, I had to, unfortunately, agree with Steve.
As I walked up to the front exit, I gritted my teeth in anticipation.
“If this fails, I’m using Dungeon-Break,” I said.
I went through the black veil.
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Correct!
No Anomaly Found!
Entering Carriage 5/9…
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“Thank fuck,” I muttered.
Taking a wide step to the side, I narrowly avoided Steve’s arrival.
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Warning!
You are now halfway to your destination!
It might be time to hurry up, unless you want to be devoured!
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I sighed, trying not to let the words stress me out. I still had 2 lives left and 10 minutes on the clock. Then I saw how all 13 ghosts on their various benches were looking at us where we stood in the middle.
One began to rise from its seat.
“Fuck! Anomaly! Anomaly!” I yelled, running towards the back exit, as the rest of the apparitions began to stand.
I crouched down and shot off the floor using SPRING_HEEL, just in time to narrowly avoid one of the ghosts in the back grabbing onto me.
As I landed by the exit, I pulled the door aside and looked back, just in time to see a ghost grasping Steve in a hug and making him teleport away.
I immediately went through, knowing I couldn’t do anything for him.
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Correct!
Anomaly Found!
Entering Carriage 6/9…
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As I arrived in the 6th carriage, Chris squealed like a girl.
“Fuck, that really made me jump,” he then said. “But glad that you’re caught up. I’m kind of stumped here, truth be told, so I’ve just been waiting.”
I looked around, scanning my eyes along the apparitions and the candy wrappers, but everything was normal. Then I went over the screens above the doors, the upholstery, the area outside the windows, and the posters.
My eyes stopped on the ‘World’s End Vacations’ poster. Instead of the sandy beach it’d been showcasing originally, there was instead the apocalyptic ruins of a city. Castleburg, to be precise.
“Anomaly,” I said and ran to the back exit.
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Correct!
Anomaly Found!
Entering Carriage 7/9…
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