Chen Renping pointed at the bag on Xun Fang’s body.
Su Cheng immediately retrieved the bag from the pool of blood. The surface of the bag was covered in blood, but it hadn’t seeped through to the inside.
Inside the inner pocket, there were only four talisman papers, a white plastic-sealed bag containing six rusted long nails, and a small rusted iron hammer.
The moment Su Cheng put the items into her pocket, the yin energy clinging to her body instantly dissipated, and Chen Renping and the passenger ghosts all involuntarily stepped back away from her.
If the talismans were soul-summoning talismans, then what they feared must be the iron nails.
Everything made sense now.
Why was it that when Xun Fang was on the train, the ghosts had long since recognized her as Lin Jie beneath layers of disguise, yet didn’t dare lay a hand on her?
Why did the ghosts want to use her hands to eliminate Xun Fang…?
Because the iron nails on Xun Fang possessed the power to harm or deter ghosts!
And with Xun Fang bringing these onto the train, it was hard to say she didn’t already know about the ghosts’ existence and deliberately come here to wipe them out once and for all to eliminate future trouble.
Su Cheng retrieved the last two remaining nutrient solutions from the smart backpack’s storage slots, stuffed them into her outer trench coat pockets, and placed the talismans, nails, and hammer into the freed-up storage slots.
[Soul-Suppressing Nail: Supernatural weapon category. Effect: Driving the 6 soul-nails respectively into the top of a corpse’s head, both palms, both soles of the feet, and the chest can seal that soul within the corpse. Weight: 0.1kg]
[Soul-Suppressing Hammer: Supernatural weapon category. Used in conjunction with items like Soul-Suppressing Nails. Weight: 1kg]
[Soul-Attracting Incantation (4): Supernatural weapon category. Effect: Attracts supernatural entities. Weight: 0.02kg]
Su Cheng felt a secret thrill—truly good items.
She stepped back a few paces, putting distance between herself and Xun Fang’s corpse.
Without Su Cheng blocking the middle, the passenger ghosts fixed their gazes upon Xun Fang’s corpse and swarmed forward in unison to surround it.
Reaching their hands straight into Xun Fang’s corpse, they dragged and ripped Xun Fang’s soul right out.
Looking entirely different from her female physical form and devoid of the smiling mask to conceal it, it was a delicate male face.
He had cast aside his male name, Lin Jie, and assumed the meticulously chosen female name, Xun Fang. By completely remodeling his physical body and identity information into a woman with no blind spots, he had fooled everyone.
Yet the soul would not change along with a name and a body; it remained the male appearance he loathed so much.
It forever carried his sins and filth.
“You! You—!”
Panicking, Lin Jie looked at the faces filled with hatred, only to have his legs grabbed as he tried to back away.
One of his legs was effortlessly ripped off by a ghost and shoved into its mouth to chew.
“Ah! So painful!!!”
Before the crowd of ghost passengers, Lin Jie’s frail soul-body possessed zero ability to resist.
“I didn’t mean to, please spare me, I was just temporarily possessed by a momentary delusion, I know I was wrong…”
“I’m actually very pitiful; obviously I’m a woman, yet I possessed a man’s body. Trapped every day inside that disgusting man’s body, I was in agony! I just got too angry when my parents kicked me out of the house that day, which is why I made a mistake…”
“Please let me go, ahhhh——”
The passengers showed not the slightest shred of pity, continuously tearing at his soul-body to devour it.
The agonizing pain of his soul being ripped apart drove Lin Jie to shriek in heartrending agony…
Realizing he couldn’t evoke the ghost passengers’ pity, he began to curse furiously, “Don’t you know how many hormone pills I took and how many surgeries I went through just to remodel myself like this?! By what right are you treating me this way? This is all God’s fault!”
“So painful! It hurts so much!”
The ghost passengers ate very slowly, intentionally letting Lin Jie experience the agonizing pain of being torn apart piece by piece while fully conscious.
Lin Jie probably never imagined that boarding this train would land him in such a fate.
Someone who once took joy in slaughtering others would ultimately be consumed by their own sins.
Not participating in the feast, Chen Renping looked over at Su Cheng and pointed toward the door behind her. “Let’s go.”
Su Cheng nodded, bent down to pick up the handgun lying in the corner, and turned to step through the faintly glowing door.
[Ding ~ Side quest “Reenactment of an Old Case” completed. Rewarded 800 points; settlement will occur upon leaving the instance.]
Finally completing one side quest brought Su Cheng no sense of joy.
Looking back now, a wave of lingering fear washed over her.
Ghost intrusion into consciousness was completely imperceptible; she didn’t even know when she had fallen under their spell—that was the most terrifying part.
Fortunately… they had made it through safely.
Crossing the threshold, Su Cheng returned to the initial carriage.
The second she stepped through, the door automatically closed and locked, rendering it impossible to open again.
Spotting the blood staining Su Cheng’s trench coat and shoes, the passengers’ expressions turned instantly terrified as they backed away in unison.
Maintaining her composure, Su Cheng drank the two nutrient solutions from her storage slots.
Though there was still a bloody gash on her arm, the bleeding had thankfully stopped.
Looking toward the headphone girl, who was cautiously observing her, Su Cheng asked, “How long was I gone?”
The headphone girl answered in a low voice, “About two minutes…”
Only two minutes.
Was the flow of space different there…?
The elderly white-haired woman hesitated for a moment before probing cautiously, “Where are they?”
She was referring to Xun Fang and Chen Renping, who had entered the door as well.
“They’re both dead.”
The old woman shuddered all over. “Y-Y-You killed…”
Su Cheng furrowed her brows. “No.”
Exchanging glances with the other passengers, the old woman couldn’t be sure whether to believe it or not, but the terror on her face faded slightly.
The couple sitting in the corner muttered in disappointment, “We thought we could leave this place through that door…”
With no intention of continuing to chat with them, Su Cheng locked her gaze onto He Lie, who kept his head lowered.
The black suitcase containing the corpse parts was no longer in the aisle; it had been closed and placed right beside his seat.
The “Reenactment of an Old Case” task was finished, leaving only “The Redundant One.”
Clearly, the protagonists of the remaining side quest were He Lie and the red-mist female ghost murdered by He Lie.
If Xun Fang had items to protect herself and evade ghost attacks, then what did He Lie rely on to make the powerful red-mist female ghost hold off from striking for so long?
Pondering this, Su Cheng had already halted her steps right in front of He Lie.
With his brows lowered, pale thin lips pressed into a line, and a gloomy, melancholic gaze devoid of a shred of his previous explosive rage… he looked entirely like two different people.
Two different people?
A thought flashed through Su Cheng’s mind: Could it literally be two people?
When she taught him a lesson earlier, he was easily subdued by her at first. But after bursting into rage, he was like a different person, regaining strength and even mastering certain combat techniques…
Su Cheng had once heard a report stating that individuals with dissociative identity disorder had every personality within them acting as an independent entity.
Without prior training, a patient could suddenly master a specific skill after switching personalities…
Could He Lie be in this exact situation as well?
Thinking along these lines, she asked precisely that: “You probably aren’t called He Lie, right? Do you have a dual personality?”
The youth’s gaze flickered slightly. “I am He Zhou.”
Indeed, there were two distinct personalities.
Su Cheng: “Which of you killed her?”
“…”
Compared to He Lie, He Zhou was much more gloomy and quiet.
When confronted with topics he found repellent, he wouldn’t fly into a rage like He Lie; instead, he simply chose silence.
Su Cheng simply sat down right in front of him. “I’m guessing it was probably He Lie.”
He Zhou’s body trembled slightly. Closing his eyes, he looked as though he were suppressing something.
“Stop talking, or else he’ll come out.”
Naturally, Su Cheng had no intention of closing her mouth to suit his wishes; if she wanted to unearth more information about the quest, she had to pry it straight out of the parties involved.
Combining her knowledge from various social news reports she had read, she continued with a rational guess:
“Both of you fell in love with her, which led to a dispute. She chose you, and out of jealousy, He Lie killed her.”
“Or, He Lie loved you, you fell in love with her, and out of jealousy, He Lie killed her.”
“Or…”
“Shut up!”
He Zhou’s face distorted, his eyes brimming with deep fury. Unfortunately, having lost his mobility due to leg injuries, he could only attack with his glare.
“Oh, so that’s a personality switch.”
Su Cheng let out a cold laugh. “You get this worked up the moment she’s brought up—looks like you really were the one who killed her.”
Veins bulged on He Lie’s forehead as he roared in a hoarse voice, “It was me! So what if it was me!!”
Given the capability, Su Cheng disliked people speaking to her with such bad manners, so she planted a slap right across his face.
“Can you speak properly? If not, let He Zhou come back out.”
Blood oozed from the corners of He Lie’s lips.
Keeping his gloomy gaze downcast and remaining stubbornly silent, he wore the expression of someone who refused to confess another word.
Su Cheng gave him a thorough, meticulous inspection.
Dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, his upper garment lacked pockets capable of holding items, and his jeans pockets displayed no bulging shapes indicating hidden objects…
Reaching out toward his neck, Su Cheng successfully hooked out a red cord tied with half a piece of a Yin-Yang double-fish jade pendant.
Panicking because his leg injuries prevented him from escaping, He Lie twisted and struggled to grab Su Cheng’s hand, only to receive two backhand slaps from Su Cheng that left him seeing stars.
Su Cheng yanked the jade pendant free with force.
When the pendant landed in her palm, it felt neither warm nor cool.
Its color was agate red, matching the coloration of a carp to perfection.
Exquisitely carved, the upturned tail of the fish looked lifelike, and a precise dot of red at the jade fish’s eye imbued it with dynamic, spiritual charm.
It looked like an antique artifact from ancient times.
Su Cheng attempted to store it in the storage slot holding the Soul-Suppressing Nails, successfully viewing its information.
[Double-Fish Jade Pendant (Damaged): Supernatural weapon category. Effect: Deters and repels supernatural entities. Weight: 0.01kg]
As Su Cheng had anticipated, it indeed possessed ghost-repelling properties.
Gritting his teeth, He Lie snarled, “That’s my stuff!”
Su Cheng remained nonchalant. “You prize this half of the jade so dearly—do you know it’s precisely because of this half that the ghost hasn’t harmed you?”
“Is this jade yours or hers, and where is the other half…”
Glaring at Su Cheng, the anger in He Lie’s eyes slowly dissipated, gradually transforming into a plea.
He had switched back to He Zhou.
“That is a token of our shared love, I hope you can return it to me.”
Shaking her head, Su Cheng felt somewhat sickened by He Zhou’s deeply affectionate demeanor. “If you truly loved her, how could you let He Lie murder her and then brutally dismember her? Don’t tell me the dismemberment was entirely executed by He Lie without you participating in the slightest.”
“What was her name? If you tell me the whole story from start to finish, I can consider returning it to you.”
Using the jade pendant as leverage, He Zhou lowered his head helplessly and muttered, “Qu Yutong. Can you return it to me now!”
Coldly, Su Cheng refused. “No. You haven’t fully confessed the whole story yet.”
Griping his head in agony with reddened eye rims, He Zhou broke down. “I’m already in so much pain, why must you force me to dredge up those memories…”
“If you don’t want to remember, then wait for her to come find you herself.”
Watching the tunnel emerge in her field of view, Su Cheng spoke slowly amidst He Zhou’s terrified gaze:
“Sins committed must always be repaid.”
Standing up briskly, Su Cheng walked over to take a seat beside the passengers.
“We’re entering the tunnel again… don’t choose me…”
“I’m so scared…”
“I want to go home, wuwu…”
“Will you guys stop talking!”
Amidst the passengers’ terror, the train plunged into the tunnel.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
Bzzzt.
The lights went out, and red vines spread outward from the restroom, blanketing the entire carriage in a split second.
The red-mist female ghost, Qu Yutong, manifested abruptly.
Her arrival this time was much faster than before, and the scale of her manifestation far surpassed previous encounters.
She showed no intention of ending it with a quick skirmish.
Su Cheng glanced at the shivering, cowering figures around her.
Though they might lack the ability to see in the dark, they could sense the descent of danger, trembling exceptionally hard.
As the saying goes, every debt has its debtor; now that He Zhou and He Lie lacked their protective talisman, Su Cheng hoped Qu Yutong would dissipate her resentment after completing her revenge.
That would naturally complete her side quest.
With the threat eliminated, she could smoothly reach the terminal station…
Silently, Su Cheng prayed that everything would unfold precisely as she wished so she could safely escape this instance.