Qin Shang raised an eyebrow.
He took in the three men's sympathetic expressions. Had I guessed wrong?
Was the game's balance merely my subjective assumption?
Were these three actually two accomplices and the God Slayer?
So, after deducing that Little Loli and I were the assistant and the Team Leader, had they seen us give up without the slightest intention of playing the game and revealed victorious smiles?
They were happy because Little Loli and I weren't exploring the game?
That couldn't be!
Qin Shang quickly dismissed the thought.
If those three were all werewolves, while only Little Loli and I were villagers, then they had an overwhelming advantage in numbers.
Why not just charge over and kill the two of us?
Qin Shang glanced at the pink-skirted loli beside him.
Any one of those three could probably drown the little girl beside him with a single piss, while the young priestess beside him could be said to have not an ounce of combat ability.
If all three were werewolves, they would probably have already pounced on him and Little Loli.
"Then where did their strange smiles come from?"
Just as Qin Shang furrowed his brow,
Little Loli—"Grandpa Niu cosplaying as a maid to seduce Zhuangzhuang's mom"—had already arrived beside him.
The little girl was lively and seemed to have the air of someone who had survived a disaster. She wrapped both arms around his.
"Big brother, they finally left. We're safe now. There are only the two of us left..."
Qin Shang's mouth twitched.
Little loli from that island country, show some restraint.
You must have read plenty of study materials, huh?
You delivered that line so smoothly. Isn't the next line supposed to be, "Now that there are only the two of us left, we can do something exciting. Big sister won't find out..."
Qin Shang complained inwardly.
Of course, as a married man, he still had a strong moral bottom line.
He was a man nearing thirty, and he had no particular interest in an ordinary, flat-chested little girl.
Qin Shang silently pulled his arm free, then looked at Little Loli.
"Little sister, you trust me that much? Aren't you afraid that I'm actually the werewolf in the team?"
"Impossible!"
The hem of Little Loli's "Grandpa Niu cosplaying as a maid to seduce Zhuangzhuang's mom" dress rippled as she stamped her feet and answered coquettishly:
"Then why did you help me just now?!"
Hearing this, Qin Shang revealed a sinister smile.
Should I try bluffing her?
With that thought, his expression suddenly became devilish. He slowly drew out his words.
"Perhaps it was precisely because I realized you were the Team Leader. Winning your favor was also part of my plan, and I stayed behind so I could take you out later?"
"After all, as an NPC, it would be easy for me to know all the players' missions in the instance. When you revealed your identity and mentioned your side quest, I, the God Slayer, confirmed that you were the Team Leader."
Little Loli froze, and her body began to tremble.
Judging by the look of things, if he scared her a little more, her legs would probably go weak and she wouldn't be able to walk.
Qin Shang watched her reaction. Seeing that it didn't seem fake, he said in disappointment:
"No, I'm actually the assistant. My mission prompt and hidden clues have already been made public. I was only scaring you. After all, testing whether you were the God Slayer or an accomplice was a perfectly normal move!"
"Big brother, that was too mean!"
Little Loli was stunned when she heard this. A glimmer of tears flashed in her eyes, accompanied by a look of relief.
If Fiercely Licking Cockroach Jade Feet really had been the God Slayer hiding within the team,
then her rashly following him would have been no different from seeking death.
Qin Shang smiled and ignored her. He merely watched as the three men walked farther away, their figures disappearing at the connection between carriages two and three.
Only then did Qin Shang calmly look at the newspapers around them and the pink-and-white cat plushies.
HelloKitty's button-black eyes seemed to be mocking him. Through the sliver of light outside the carriage window, it seemed to be saying, You will soon become a wandering soul and join us. It was rather eerie.
Damn it, once I get out, I'll throw away every stuffed toy in the house!
He cursed inwardly, and then two questions rose in his mind.
According to the Background Story hint, because of Miss Mary's plan, some of the passengers in carriage two had left carriage three hand in hand.
The other unfortunate passengers had died inside carriage two.
For the moment, setting aside the possibility that there were also traitors among those who had held hands—there definitely were some—could just a few traitors really have killed all the passengers in the carriage?
Did that make sense?
If it had been done by people, Qin Shang felt the possibility was low.
He looked at the newspapers pasted over the windows. They were thick, and one could imagine how tightly the people who had put them up had sealed everything. After all these years, the newspapers had only just begun to peel away.
Yet they still completely blocked every window in the entire second carriage. Was that meant to keep something out?
Could there be something outside the windows?
Could I have been wrong? Has the God Slayer never been one of the people in the team?
Qin Shang was startled, but he quickly overturned the speculation.
No, the God Slayer was definitely in the team.
The game prompt had said that the God Slayer had infiltrated the team. There were only six players in total.
There were seven people present, so it was obvious that the God Slayer had disguised himself as one of the players.
The idea that something outside the window had harmed these passengers was pure nonsense.
Don't scare yourself!
Although many games nowadays contained horror and supernatural elements, this round probably didn't...
Wait!
Just as Qin Shang thought this, he suddenly froze.
"'The Background Story says this is London, England, in the 1870s. Although the first thing I thought of when that era was mentioned was Sherlock Holmes, isn't it also strange for HelloKitty to appear here?"
"I can't remember exactly when HelloKitty was created, but this thing definitely wasn't made that long ago."
The next moment, Qin Shang looked at Little Loli. Girls knew much more about these little things than grown men did.
"Grandpa Niu..."
The young girl's pretty face darkened.
"I told you, that was just an ID I came up with in a moment of desperation!"
Tsk. The girl's skin is really thin.
"I want to ask you something. What era is HelloKitty's toy from?"
At this, the girl pursed her lips.
"It's still very popular nowadays. People who like HelloKitty often buy merchandise to decorate their rooms. I think there probably isn't a girl who doesn't recognize this thing, right?"
"No, you misunderstood me. I mean the cartoon character herself. Around what era was she created?"
"I don't study animation design specifically, so I don't know. It should... be from the last century!"
Hearing this, Qin Shang narrowed his eyes.
The last century meant the twentieth century... This is the nineteenth century!
The Background Story was certainly fictional, but in a game with an established story setting, placing something that didn't fit the era of the Background Story—
Wasn't that somewhat illogical?
For now, Qin Shang had more or less grasped a little of the Divine Path game's characteristics.
The game's balance and logic were nearly seamless, with hardly any major problems.
Everything was linked together. Without completing the main quest, there was no way to complete the side quest. Without continuing to explore, one couldn't obtain new Background Story hints.
Without new Background Story hints, it was impossible to determine why the passengers had disappeared based on the few clues they currently had.
That meant HelloKitty's appearance here was a bug!
The organizers couldn't be stupid enough to include such an obvious bug that could be seen with the naked eye.
"So, these plushies might be hinting at something!"
"What does Kitty represent?"
Qin Shang was hit by a wave of pain.
Damn it, I'm really not an otaku!
And even if he had truly been an anime-loving girl, she probably wouldn't have known, right?
Who would go out of their way to research the origins of a familiar mascot?
It was like how everyone had heard of Sun Wukong, but hardly anyone knew that, according to the setting in Journey to the West, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven's species was the Spiritual Wisdom Stone Monkey, one of the Four Divine Monkeys.
Who would pay attention to something that deeply?
Who would spend time learning every detail about the origins of Kitty, a mascot?
Before you continue