Feng Yi was hit by a wave of self-reproach.
He had been focused on the idea that if danger arose, Mu Li could instantly teleport right to his side, completely forgetting that his abilities had limitations.
It was sheer luck that no one was injured this time, but he had to keep a tight eye on him from now on. Feng Yi felt as though he had made up his mind about something.
“By the way, did we get any clues from the reporter?” Mu Li asked.
“The reporter said the pregnant woman died from multiple stab wounds, but the victim is missing,” Feng Yi stated concisely.
Mu Li recalled the scene where they had been attacked earlier: “The wounds on those ghost passengers really were stab wounds, but there wasn’t a pregnant woman among them.”
Before he could puzzle it out, the train stopped at the station once more.
The gigantic monster had vanished, and the train had returned to its original appearance, yet no one believed it would just disappear for good.
Mu Li stepped forward toward the NPCs: “We cannot leave them here.”
If these NPCs died, who knew if a chunk of the quest rewards would go missing?
The five individuals watched the youth slowly approach, their faces plastered with sheer terror. Looking for all the world like they had just encountered a vicious ghost, they frantically tried to back away.
“Stop borrowing trouble. Their arms are just broken; it is not like their legs are crippled.” Feng Yi pulled Mu Li back.
They had caused him to break his arm, yet his very first thought was to bring them along. Exactly how was this kid’s brain wired?
The fitness trainer possessed an extremely strong desire to survive and was the first to crawl up: “Right, we can walk on our own.”
Hearing this, the others quickly stood up as well. Each of them winced and grimaced in pain, not daring to utter a single sound.
Before boarding the train, Mu Li tossed a question to Feng Yi: “Do you have any certainty you can kill that monster?”
“I can only craft a complete doll once I see its full appearance,” Feng Yi said, revealing the weakness of his ability to the youth.
Understanding dawned on Mu Li, and he nodded.
Before getting on the train, nobody knew which carriage they would end up in.
However, the moment the rat-faced man saw the headcount on his side, he collapsed straight onto the floor.
Only he and the spectacled young man were in this carriage, while the other six people, including the youth, were on the other train.
We are finished!
The spectacled young man suddenly pressed himself against the glass and began wailing miserably: “You cannot abandon me! I do not want to die yet.”
“Didn’t I say so? Their buttons are fakes; what are you afraid of?” The conductor’s voice rang out once more.
“Does that mean?” The rat-faced man’s eyes flashed with hope. Was it what he thought it was?
“Correct. This time, the choice is in your hands,” the conductor let out a malicious laugh. “Press the door-opening button, and you will survive.”
Based on previous observations, the rat-faced man was extremely selfish and completely disregarded human life. He had already pressed it once, so what did a second time matter?
Yet he waited for a moment, and the man still made no move whatsoever.
The moment the rat-faced man caught sight of the youth on the opposite train, his entire body shook like a sieve.
The youth maintained that same elusive, ambiguous smile while his sunglasses blocked his eyes, causing the rat-faced man to abruptly lower his head.
“Why aren’t you pressing it?” Growing impatient from waiting, the conductor spoke up.
Yet he only heard the man repeatedly muttering to himself: “Can’t press it. Can’t press it.” Terror was plastered across his lowered face.
The conductor felt as though something had slipped out of his control. They had only been apart for such a short time, so why did this guy look like he had been scared out of his wits?
He shifted his gaze toward the spectacled young man.
Yet while this guy had the energy to howl to the heavens, he refused to so much as glance at the button.
“Useless trash!”
Cursing, the conductor switched to the other train: “Now, the choice is in your hands.”
“We won’t press it. What exactly is your goal?” Feng Yi asked coldly.
The conductor let out a cold sneer, attempting to instigate the others: “Subdue that redhead, just like you did before.”
Upon hearing this, everyone lowered their heads in silence, refusing to speak a word. As soon as they boarded, they shrank back as far away from the youth as possible, trying their best to erase their own presence.
“Have you all grown tired of living?” The conductor was driven to fury.
Yet this time, everyone stayed completely quiet, not daring to make a single move.
He couldn’t understand it. They had merely boarded and alighted from the train; what on earth had happened to these people?
Why had such a massive change occurred?
The hand inside Feng Yi’s pocket was already clutching the doll, ready to stop these people from pressing the button.
Yet they were behaving far too obediently.
“What is wrong with them?” Feng Yi asked softly.
“Oh, after getting a lesson from a mysterious person, they realized their errors and have turned over a new leaf,” Mu Li replied casually as he walked toward the driver’s cabin, observing something closely.
Feng Yi looked at these people suspiciously: “Really?” A beating from a mysterious person came with perks like this?
He watched as those people nodded hurriedly.
Yet why did Feng Yi find it so hard to believe?
The only explanation was that with their broken arms, they knew they couldn’t stir up any trouble and wanted to rely on his doll’s ability to survive.
Feeling like he had figured it out, Feng Yi let out a cold snort and looked away.
By now, the conductor was beside himself with rage: “Since neither of you will press the buttons, both train doors are going to open!”
“Is that so?” At that moment, Mu Li popped open an umbrella. “I don’t believe it!”
He instantly teleported right beside the spectacled young man.
The moment the spectacled young man saw Mu Li, he hugged his thigh, sniffled with tear-filled eyes, and put on the most aggrieved little expression imaginable: “I thought you weren’t going to save me.”
Mu Li patted his shoulder and said with utter sincerity: “How could I ever abandon you?”
While secretly applying strength with his hands, trying to shove him away.
Big brother, big brother, did you severely overestimate your own strength? I am about to fall over. Let go already!
Before Feng Yi could keep a proper eye on him, Mu Li had slipped away. Panicking, he pressed himself against the glass: “What are you doing? Be careful!”
Meanwhile, the moment the rat-faced man caught sight of the tips of the youth’s shoes, his heart skipped a beat with terror as he shook his head frantically: “I didn’t press it. I didn’t press it.”
Ignoring him entirely, Mu Li marched straight toward the door of the driver’s cabin and kicked it.
“Mr. Conductor, don’t just sit inside all day. Come out and play with us! There are so many of us here, and none of us have met you yet!”
Seeing the youth’s actions, the conductor sneered: “Utterly foolish.”
“Mu Li, perhaps this train simply cannot be broken open using human strength.” Feng Yi thought of how he had previously tried to smash the glass to no avail.
“How will we know if we don’t try?” The player rubbed his hands together.
Thinking about it, Feng Yi realized he had a point, as he hadn’t tried smashing this particular cabin door yet. “Alright, let’s break it open together. No matter which train he is on, he won’t get away.”
With that, he started smashing against the door of his own train.
Driven completely mad, the conductor roared: “Kill them!”
This redhead was different from that youth; he possessed formidable abilities and might actually break the door open. He couldn’t let him continue.
However, the conductor’s worries were misplaced. Feng Yi’s experience smashing the door mirrored his earlier attempt with the glass, meaning no matter how much force he exerted, it wouldn’t budge.
Yet he refused to resign himself to this. They had been led around by the nose by the conductor all this time, and continuing down this path would only lead to a dead end.
At that moment, the lights flickered, and the gigantic monster arrived right on schedule, crouching atop the train roof.
Mu Li twisted his neck. He had already wrecked the lock mechanism quite thoroughly.
After all, the player’s strength attribute was maxed out; it only took one more kick to smash it open.
Who would have expected that when the monster slammed into the train, Mu Li lost his balance, and to steady him, the spectacled young man collided against the door right alongside him.
The precarious door instantly gave way.
Both of them tumbled headfirst into the driver’s cabin.
Looking up, an extremely startled man came into view.
“So, you really were hiding in here.”
Inside the cabin was an emaciated man reduced to skin and bones, his hair so sparse he was practically bald. He held a microphone in one hand, staring at them with a look of utter horror.
What caught the eye most of all were the red and white buttons sitting on his control console.
This was the train conductor.
“Impossible!” The conductor clawed at the wrinkled, sagging skin on his face. “How could you possibly break the door?”
Feng Yi regained his footing, looked over at the commotion, and saw that the doors of the opposite train had indeed opened.
Even he couldn’t break it open, yet Mu Li managed it? No wait, Mu Li’s scrawny frame was practically the epitome of frailty, so how could he possibly have that kind of brute strength?
He shifted his gaze toward the spectacled young man, a glimmer of suspicion rising in his eyes.
That final blow had been a joint collision by him and Mu Li. It was this unassuming-looking impact that had shattered a door this sturdy.
That guy definitely had problems!
Just as the conductor moved to press the red button.
Mu Li rushed into the cabin, drew his pen knife, and leveled it right across the man’s throat: “Try moving even an inch!”
This conductor wasn’t even wearing a uniform; instead, he was donning a blue-and-white striped psychiatric patient uniform. Since when did mental patients start driving trains?
Seeing the youth charge right in, Feng Yi was consumed by worry: “Mu Li, get out of there if there’s any danger!”
At that moment, the cabin door of the train on this side also cracked open a sliver.
Hesitating for a moment, Feng Yi pried it open and stepped inside. Though he couldn’t see the opposite cabin directly, his voice could carry across: “I have two buttons over here.”
Mu Li pressed the pen knife closer: “What are these two buttons for?”
The conductor bared his yellowish-black teeth: “Why don’t you press them and find out?”
“Let me guess. This is the real control switch for the train doors, isn’t it?” Mu Li glanced down. The little mob had lost a single HP point; oh, right, this thing could take damage.
“What did you say?!” The others had also made it into the cabin, and their complexions drained of color upon hearing this.
“Didn’t you know?” Mu Li tilted his head. “Those two buttons outside were both fakes.”
Both fakes?
That meant…
“None of us pressing them ever mattered!” The rat-faced man felt his entire worldview collapse.
That was right. The train doors hadn’t opened the moment a button was pressed; they always opened whenever the conductor wanted them to.
“The choice was in the conductor’s hands all along.” Then what had they been working so hard for just now?
“He just wanted to watch us butcher each other!” Feng Yi gritted his teeth.
The conductor smiled malevolently: “So what if you know? That monster is starving. If we don’t feed it, the entire train will be shredded into pieces, and none of you will escape!”
Mu Li yanked the conductor up by his collar: “Then what about you?”
The conductor had just tried to press the red button, which controlled the doors of the opposite train, meaning he was afraid of the monster getting in too.
“That’s why we’re all in the same boat! Only when the people on the opposite train die can we survive!”
Mu Li proposed a brilliant idea:
“You said that monster is starving. Why can’t its meal be you?”
The smile vanished from the conductor’s face: “Are you joking? The moment those doors open, we’ll all die.”
Mu Li slammed his hand down on the white button:
“Let’s find out!”
He tossed the conductor right out the door and slammed the cabin shut.
Seeing an unfamiliar man thrown out of the driver’s cabin, the crowd glared at him with murderous intent.
“Is that the conductor?”
“He’s the reason we ended up like this. He deserves to die!”
The monster atop the roof of the train stirred!
A hand wreathed in dense black mist reached through the door, clutching a colossal blade that gleamed with a bone-chilling, razor-sharp edge.
Screaming in terror, the conductor scrambled to his feet to evade it. Yet to the monster, a single carriage was no different from a playpen, and he had nowhere to run.
The conductor was slashed multiple times, collapsing to the floor motionless as he wheezed heavily, though not a single drop of blood spilled out.
Seeming satisfied, the monster withdrew its hand and crouched back down atop the train, motionless.
Peering through the one-way glass, the rat-faced man witnessed everything outside. As he watched the conductor get hacked up by the monster, he had summoned himself, alongside the relief came a sudden realization.
If he had listened to the conductor earlier and pressed that button, would he have been the one pushed outside to feed the monster by the youth?
The rat-faced man’s teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.
The people on the opposite train also witnessed this scene, and a chill surging from the soles of their feet straight to their skulls sent them collapsing to the floor. Their fear of the youth reached an absolute peak.
They were no conductors; if a blade that massive caught them, they wouldn’t even be left with enough pieces to piece back together!
Seeing that it was over, Mu Li pressed the white button again, and with a sharp click, the train doors slammed shut.
Opening the cabin door, he crept closer to the conductor and squatted down curiously:
“You said the monster was starving, so why didn’t it eat you instead of using a blade?”