"Oh, sir, do you want to live forever? Join the Eternal Life Church, and you will discover the narrowness of science."

"Hey, I'm telling you the truth, immortality is not impossible."

"Sir, can you listen to me for a moment?"

"Sir?"

"Get lost! Are you crazy? Don't disturb me!"

The man in the gray suit was pushed several meters away by the irritable man and sat down in embarrassment. The passengers looked on indifferently, no one went up to speak kindly.

Although this man was dressed appropriately, his mental state seemed abnormal. As soon as he boarded the train, he began to preach frantically to the people around him.

The passengers just wanted to rest well, who had the energy to pay attention to a lunatic.

...

"Xu Fang, does this kind of thing always happen on trains?"

"Not at all... So you took the high-speed train just to encounter this?"

"No, I'm just curious, hehe..."

Xu Fang glanced at Luo Xiaoming, "You've never been on a train before."

"How did you know?"

"I didn't know before, but you just told me."

Luo Xiaoming was about to say something, but noticed someone walking towards them.

"Excuse me, young man, are you interested in learning about the Eternal Life Church?"

It was the same man in the gray suit, he saw that no one else paid attention to him, so he came to Xu Fang's side, with a pleasing smile, resembling a salesman.

"Not interested."

Seeing Xu Fang's straightforward refusal, or perhaps having experienced too much indifference, the man in the gray suit didn't linger and moved on to the next person.

"Do you think humans can live forever?" Xiao Ming whispered to Xu Fang.

"Of course not, why do you ask?"

"I remembered what Gussy used to tell me. It said that every time you create a duplicate, it uses its own lifespan as fuel, so I've been worried about how long you can live."

"Gussy? The magical life form I created in the form of a demon?"

"Don't use that indifferent tone. "

"Sorry, I don't have memories of that, so I can only speculate with my limited understanding. The lifespan Gussy mentioned should refer to the 'soul.' I think it's better to focus on preventing cancer rather than worrying about lifespan."

While Xu Fang was communicating with Luo Xiaoming, the man in the gray suit and a young student-looking boy started arguing loudly.

"Hehe, immortality? How naive! Have you read too many novels? No living creature in the world can defy its own aging. It's determined by the law of entropy increase," the boy sneered.

"A reader made a good point. The law of entropy increase only states that the entropy in a closed system will continuously increase. But if there is energy input from outside the system, it's different. For some systems with energy input, entropy reduction is actually quite common. In fact, living organisms are such systems. All living organisms can obtain energy from the outside world to reduce their own entropy. Just imagine, even though a living organism ages, its genes are passed on to the next generation. If the next generation is also you, doesn't it mean that your life has been extended? Humans continue from generation to generation like this—yes, your genes are immortal. For genes, the entire meaning of your existence is just to work for them. Why not be your true master for once? Genes are so selfish, why can't we be selfish once?" the man in the gray suit said.

The boy thought the man was talking nonsense but couldn't come up with a rebuttal. He stubbornly said, "If what you said is true, there would have been many immortal people on Earth long ago. It's impossible that no one knows about it now."

"Just because no one knows doesn't mean it doesn't exist, young man. Join the Eternal Life Church, and as long as you want, you can have the same lifespan as human civilization."

"What about the police? Someone is illegally preaching here!"

Seeing the boy about to call the police, the man in the gray suit hurriedly left with a smile on his face.

...

The train quieted down for a while, and Xu Fang took out his phone and browsed various online forums.

Since doubting this world, Xu Fang has been extremely cautious in his actions. He usually covers his face with a mask and dresses inconspicuously in public places. When going online, he tries not to use the IP of his fixed residence. If he needs to make online comments, he uses someone else's device so that even if he is traced, it won't lead back to Xu Fang.

The train was perfect for this, as it was far from the city and difficult to locate, and there was a large flow of people, making it difficult to track. The only problem was the intermittent signal.

At this moment, Xu Fang was holding a stranger's phone. Well, it was actually Luo Xiaoming who was holding it.

Meanwhile, Xu Fang was paying extra attention to the surveillance on the train, making sure that the phone screen was out of the monitoring range.

To avoid leaving fingerprints, Xu Fang had been wearing gloves all along.

There was still a risk in doing this, so it was better to be cautious.

He posted dozens of threads on several popular domestic and international communication websites, such as "Looking for author to collaborate on solving bizarre event," "Have you been awakened?" "Is anyone the author of that website?" "Guide to dealing with bizarre event," "What week are we on now?" and so on.

In the eyes of ordinary people, most of them were incomprehensible posts. But to the author, they were shining signals.

Soon, Xu Fang received various kinds of responses.

After taking a look, he felt somewhat disappointed.

A small portion of the replies expressed confusion and playful teasing, while most of them were unrelated advertisements and meaningless copy-pasting.

Just a little longer.

Xu Fang cleared all traces of his internet activity and had Luo Xiaoming return the phone to its owner. Then he looked out the window, contemplating his next move.

"Why do I feel like I've become a tool, always being sent to do bad things!" Luo Xiaoming complained upon returning.

"Make the most of what you have."

"..."

At this moment, the crowd suddenly became restless as a young boy stood on a chair, hands spread open, and shouted with fanaticism on his face.

"The Eternal Life Sect is real! You must join the Eternal Life Sect, and I have achieved eternal life!"

"Everyone, don't you want to slow down your aging process? Don't you want your loved ones to stay with you? Join the Eternal Life Sect and you can rid yourself of these troubles!"

"Human beings can truly live forever!!"

Xu Fang narrowed his eyes, recognizing that this was the same boy who had argued with the man in the gray suit earlier.

At that time, the boy had shown no agreement with the Eternal Life Sect, but in just two hours, his attitude had completely changed.

What had happened during that time?

In an instant, Xu Fang imagined many possibilities.

Was the boy mentally unstable? Was he being threatened? Were there criminals on the train? Was the train rigged with explosives? Was the Eternal Life Sect actually a terrorist organization?

Two railway police officers rushed over, one on each side, and held the boy's arms, escorting him out of the carriage.

The boy was dragged away by the railway police with an unwilling expression, muttering words like "eternal life" and "believe me," making it hard for people not to doubt his mental state.

The surrounding passengers whispered and discussed the recent events.

Xu Fang furrowed his brows, feeling an inexplicable sense of danger, and his intuition told him to leave quickly.

"We'll get off at the next stop," Xu Fang quietly said to Luo Xiaoming.

"So soon? There are still several stops left."

"There's something strange about what just happened. It's not safe to stay here."

"Okay..."

Although Luo Xiaoming didn't understand why Xu Fang wanted to get off early because of what had just happened, she had complete trust in him and believed that there must be a reason for doing so.

The plan was good, but unexpected events kept happening.

The train's broadcast came on, and a deep voice echoed in the carriage.

"Hello, passengers. I want to convey a sincere thought to all of you."

"Have you ever thought about the meaning of life? Sociologists say that the meaning of life is to create value. Authors say that the meaning of life is to write stories. Biologists say that the meaning of life is to pass on genes. Determinists say that the meaning of life was predetermined at the beginning of the universe. But are these ideas really correct?"

"Most people have experienced the joys and sorrows of life, witnessing the departure of loved ones. Time, the killer, slowly takes away everything from us. I believe there is only one meaning to life, and that is the pursuit of eternal life. Thousands of years ago, eternal life was just a dream, but now, the dream is no longer distant. We have found the path to eternal life, and thus, the Eternal Life Sect was born. We need more humans to join us. Don't think it's absurd, eternal life is not far from you."

The passengers around had different expressions - confusion, bewilderment, contemplation.

"What's wrong with the announcer? Are they openly promoting a cult in broad daylight?"

What kind of large-scale evangelism was this? Did they get on the wrong train?

"It is possible that this train has been taken over by an organization called 'Eternal Life Sect'..." Xu Fang's words were interrupted as a tall man stood up excitedly and said, "Did everyone hear that? The person on the broadcast was telling the truth. I am now a follower of the Eternal Life Sect. Join us quickly! Long live eternal life!"

This man was the same strong man who had knocked down the man in the gray suit earlier, but his attitude was completely different now.

The admiration and reverence on his face were genuine.

Even more strangely, about half of the passengers also stood up and responded, shouting "Long live eternal life!"

"Is it still eternal life if you have to shout 'long live eternal life'?" Xu Fang sarcastically thought to himself.

"Xu Fang, these people have become so strange. What should we do?" Luo Xiaoming felt bewildered. Everything that had happened today was too surreal.

Xu Fang looked at the time on his phone. "The train is almost at the station. Let's go wait by the door. Don't join them and don't believe their nonsense."

Taking advantage of the chaos, the two of them stood up and maneuvered through the crowd towards the exit of the carriage.

Because they wouldn't be observed or deliberately obstructed, Luo Xiaoming quickly reached the door. Xu Fang, on the other hand, was stuck between a fat man and a woman.

The woman looked terrified and asked, "Brother, what's happening to the people here? They've all become so abnormal! Tell me what's going on!"

The fat man smiled and said, "Brother, where are you going? How about learning about the Eternal Life Sect?"

Xu Fang calmly clenched his fist and said, "Long live the Eternal Life Sect!"

The fat man smiled gently and said, "Hehe, may eternal life be with you and me... Miss, I would like to have a detailed conversation with you about eternal life..."

Taking the opportunity of the fat man talking to the woman, Xu Fang successfully broke free from the crowd and joined Luo Xiaoming by the door. The train was slowing down at this moment.

Unintentionally, Xu Fang turned around and met the woman's gaze.

He didn't know what the fat man had said to her, but the woman, who had been frightened just now, gradually calmed down and a strange smile appeared on her face.

Xu Fang smiled back, nodded in acknowledgement, and seamlessly blended into the crowd of madness.

"Xu Fang... Are you okay? Don't believe what they're saying!" Luo Xiaoming was terrified, thinking that Xu Fang had been brainwashed.

"I'm fine. I'm just pretending so they won't harm me." Xu Fang quickly whispered.

"Oh, you scared me..."

Finally, the train came to a stop. There were fewer people getting off at this station, and Xu Fang and Luo Xiaoming quickly escaped the scene.

The train stayed for three minutes before continuing on its way into the distance.

They silently watched the direction the train was heading.

The chill in their hearts was like the cold wind outside.

"Has something like this happened in the previous two cycles?"

"No, this is the first time."

"Maybe it has happened before, but we just haven't seen it." Xu Fang took a deep breath. He didn't know what he was facing.

How many supernatural beings were crammed into this bizarre event?

...

After the frenzy, the carriage fell into silence.

Everyone sat silently in their seats, seemingly unchanged except for occasional distortions on their faces.

A figure dressed as a transit police officer walked down the aisle and finally stopped next to an empty seat.

[What about this person?]

The surrounding passengers answered.

[Getting off.]

[Assimilation? Or denial?]

[Don't understand.]

They whispered to each other and eventually looked at the transit police officer.

[Continue and spread eternal life.]

[Understood.]