Crazy Man

Mr. Jack had disappeared too!?

No, something was wrong...

Qin Shang quickly went over her diary again in her mind. Her instincts told her that this person's mental illness was not simple.

At first, she thought it might have something to do with the knocking and the disappearances.

But the more Qin Shang thought about it, the more wrong it seemed. So many people had come to harm, yet the person writing the diary had remained safe and sound the entire time.

And in the end, even Mr. Jack had disappeared!

The conductor of a steam train like this needed to add coal, stoke the firewood, fill out the crew logs and express reports, and coordinate with all the other staff.

According to what this diary writer said, all the other staff had fucking died. How could two people possibly keep things in order?

Besides, there was no mention of a second conductor. Steam trains traveled very slowly, and even relatively short round trips generally took at least a week.

There was no way there could be only one conductor.

"Conductor Jack is absent. I must fulfill my duties. I gathered the passengers together, hoping we can make it through the final day..."

Qin Shang's heart felt as though it were shrouded in fog, and her expression was so grim it seemed capable of dripping water.

The person who wrote this diary was obviously not right in the head, so she could not take everything in it at face value.

But strangely, the game's Background Story had never mentioned Mr. Jack.

Moreover, the diary did not match the part of the Background Story about the passengers being brutally murdered.

No, the diary and the Background Story seemed to have one thing reversed.

In the Background Story, the person who led the passengers in resisting the massacre was Miss Mary. Yet the diary did not mention anyone like her at all. The Background Story contained no Mr. Jack, while the diary was filled with him.

Among the clues they had obtained so far, the only two people with names were Mr. Jack and El.

There was actually a picture below, but Qin Shang could not quite understand it.

It was a photograph taken with a very old camera. It had been pasted beside the diary, and showed a figure in a dress standing at the very front of a carriage, raising a hand as if she wanted to gather everyone and tell them something.

Everyone on the train was looking up at her, as though she were saying something important.

Though the person in the photograph's expression was difficult to make out because of the poor resolution, everyone seemed to have a rather solemn look on their face.

At least, Qin Shang did not see a single person grinning with all their teeth showing.

That was also why they had failed to understand the diary at first. They had thought all of this was a newspaper.

Oh, right. There really was a newspaper...

In the previous carriage.

Just then, a clear voice suddenly rang out beside her.

"Big Brother, are we really not going to continue exploring the mission?"

Only then did Qin Shang slightly recover her senses. She glanced at the little girl.

"You want to keep scheming against those people? And then die inexplicably in the game?"

The little girl's face turned deathly pale, and she shook her little head like a rattle drum.

Qin Shang shrugged meaningfully.

"So, splitting up isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially when our identities in each other's instances aren't clear."

"Splitting up might actually ensure that more people survive."

The little girl was not stupid. While Qin Shang had been studying the things on the window just now, she had also been thinking about the underlying logic.

Perhaps she had figured something out now.

"Would you like to accompany me to the first carriage?"

The next moment, Qin Shang invited the little girl.

She wanted to see what was on the windows of the first carriage.

She had not deciphered it just now, so she had not examined the newspaper's contents closely.

"Grandpa Niu cosplaying as a maid and seducing Zhuangzhuang's mother" immediately nodded with a pale face.

Staying here alone was far too gloomy and terrifying. The little girl would go crazy...

At least she would have company if she followed Qin Shang!

When they reached the first carriage, Qin Shang's gaze fell on the window.

At first glance, Qin Shang noticed something different. The diary's contents were not the same!

"Miss Mary's condition is very serious. Ever since she boarded the train, I have clearly felt that she has been frowning every day. I think the oppressive environment in the carriage caused her psychological disorder to flare up again."

"She has been reporting to me these past two days, suspecting that a passenger has disappeared. But I counted the passengers and found no one missing. It seems that her condition has worsened."

"However, there was one amusing incident. During a casual conversation, I suddenly learned that the two of us have the same psychiatrist. What a coincidence. My doctor suggested that I use the opportunity of driving the train to interact with the passengers more. More contact with people would help my war-trauma-related psychological disorder recover."

Miss Mary!

This diary mentioned Miss Mary.

Wait...

Since the diary over there mentioned Mr. Jack without saying a word about Miss Mary...

Then was that diary Miss Mary's diary—the Miss Mary from the Background Story?

But it was obvious from Miss Mary's diary...

This woman's mental state was seriously abnormal!

She could not even express herself in a normal word order!

Qin Shang frowned. Perhaps Jack's diary contained the key clues?

Her gaze fell on the window.

"Someone has disappeared!"

The next line was an explosive sentence.

So... someone really had disappeared!?

Qin Shang froze. She had initially thought that the owner of the neighboring diary had simply been imagining things.

There were too many suspicious points. Someone had disappeared, yet she had remained safe and sound the entire time.

Even Mr. Jack had not escaped in her diary. So who was driving the train?

This woman was not right in the head. The truth was not necessarily what the diary described.

Yet it turned out that Mr. Jack's diary also said someone had disappeared!

Then was it real?

Qin Shang felt a chill run down her spine.

"Last night, while making my rounds, I knocked on Mary's door. She did not respond. The missing person is Mary."

"As an elite soldier on the battlefield, my identity as a serviceman absolutely does not permit a fellow soldier to disappear right under my nose. The same applies even if they are only a passenger. This is my battlefield, so an evildoer must have infiltrated the passengers."

"I must root out the evildoer among them."

"Recently, I saw on the news that some people with experiences similar to mine had left the battlefield but could not leave the killing behind. They were used to using stones as pillows, living in caves, and carrying rifles while lying in ambush. Under extreme stress, they could not adapt to modern society and had begun slaughtering people."

"I suspect that someone like that has also infiltrated the train."

"A madman like Jack the Ripper. I absolutely will not allow it. I must stop him!"

Hmm?

This sentence...

Below this diary entry, Qin Shang saw a clipped newspaper photograph that had been pasted there. It was a report about Jack the Ripper.

In London at the end of the nineteenth century, reports about this lunatic really had appeared frequently. The name Jack the Ripper was famous throughout the world.

He had been a household-name devil in the late nineteenth century. No wonder she had seen this line when she first boarded the train.

"I have brought the Hunting Rifle with me tonight. I will continue making my rounds."

"No abnormalities. Someone has disappeared."

Qin Shang: ?

Was this fucking a diary written by a sane person?

How could "no abnormalities" and "someone has disappeared" connect with each other?

Someone had fucking disappeared, yet he actually said there were no abnormalities?

"No abnormalities, but someone has still disappeared."

"No abnormalities. Someone has disappeared again."

"No abnormalities, but my colleagues have disappeared, even though they did not particularly like me."

"No abnormalities. Several passengers made fun of my clothes during the day, and then they disappeared. I suspect someone is trying to frame me."

Wait...

Why did that last sentence look so familiar!?

"I will hold a trial—a trial for the devils among these people. I gathered them together."

A sudden flash of insight surged through Qin Shang's mind. Her brain raced as she frantically extracted the useful information.

Although Mary's diary was somewhat deranged, it still seemed that this woman had participated in the entire incident.

She had repeatedly emphasized that passengers and colleagues were disappearing.

Yet in Mr. Jack's diary, Mary had been the person who disappeared at the very beginning.

Their diaries did not match up...

"Mary appeared in my dream. She said the devil would knock on the door in the middle of the night. I believe she could not be wrong. I must continue making my rounds and slowly plan the trial."

"Too many people have disappeared. Every day, I knock on the doors of the employees and passengers to make sure they are still alive."

Appeared... in his dream!?

Did foreigners say that too?

The corner of Qin Shang's mouth twitched. She suddenly felt that Mr. Jack was not so reliable either!

Buddy, you look pretty sick too!