Cannot Make a Sound

"What! Twelve hours just passed like that?"

Time always flies when you're playing on your phone.

Scrolling through short videos, sending messages, time just slips away.

Especially on the Path of the Gods Player Official Forum, Qin Shang browsed a lot of free content.

This also took up a considerable amount of time.

Just browsing the casual entertainment section, Qin Shang spent two to three hours understanding what pollution sources were, what contaminated instances were, and silently digesting this information in his mind.

However, facing the second round of the Death Train, Qin Shang was still filled with dread.

To be honest, he hadn't gotten any particularly useful clues in these few hours.

Even if he had obtained [El's Letter], he still wasn't sure what was inside Train Car Number Three that caused all the passengers to disappear.

"Sigh, what's coming will eventually come!"

Qin Shang pursed his lips, his expression gloomy.

Immediately after, he felt his vision blur, his consciousness like a roller coaster ride.

The milky white walls of the bedroom around him turned into rippling water.

After a while, the bright bedroom disappeared, replaced by a dark metal train car, and the constant 'clack-clack' sound of the train moving over the tracks.

The moment his five senses returned, Qin Shang smelled the rotten mold again.

He squinted his eyes; this was his second time entering a Path of the Gods instance...

After adapting, he re-examined his surroundings, his expression serious.

He was lying flat on a berth. Outside was a small sliding door, then a narrow corridor that only one person could pass through.

The lighting was still dim, but the windows of this car were not covered with newspapers. Outside, thick fog filled the air, dark and eerie. The moonlight was so sparse that the shape of the moon couldn't be seen at all.

For some reason, a chill wind blew through the berths in the car from somewhere, the cold air stealing Qin Shang's body heat.

In such an environment, changes in temperature easily and directly affected a person's mood.

Fear crept back into his heart.

Knock, knock, knock—

Just then, steady but slow footsteps sounded from the corridor outside.

Qin Shang's pupils constricted sharply.

"Who is it?"

'Eagle of Justice', 'Heart-to-Heart Sister', 'Buddha Saves the Predestined', or 'Grandpa Niu Cosplays Maid to Seduce Zhuang Zhuang's Mom'?

No, it couldn't be those four!

Thump—Thump—Thump

These footsteps didn't sound human at all.

Heavy, dense, and uniform, like lead-filled sandbags hitting a metal plate.

Thump—Thump—Thump

Each step felt like it was striking Qin Shang's heart, deepening his inner fear.

The next moment, Qin Shang clearly felt the owner of the heavy footsteps stop.

He felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest. Hiding on the bed, Qin Shang could even hear his own heartbeat.

Judging by the sound, the owner of the footsteps had stopped at the berth next to him.

What was he going to do!?

Was this the thing mentioned in Mary's letter?

Qin Shang suppressed his breathing, afraid that his breath would be detected by the thing next door.

Then...

Knock, knock, knock!

The knocking sound followed.

Qin Shang's eyes widened, his heart hanging in his throat. A chill shot up from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

Knocking!?

Wasn't this something he had read in his diary?

Was it... Conductor Jack, who patrolled at night?

Contaminated instances would have many uncontrollable factors!

This was the conclusion Qin Shang had drawn from the posts he had browsed in the casual entertainment section all afternoon.

The next moment, Qin Shang's heart sank. The sound of that thing knocking next door grew louder and more forceful.

Then Qin Shang heard a gunshot, 'Bang!'

The sound of wood chips being pierced echoed, and the heavy footsteps sounded again. It seemed they had entered the adjacent room.

Qin Shang quickly scrambled off the bed. In this environment, remembering the few dungeon tips was crucial for survival.

The Path of the Gods would never let players die for nothing. The dungeon tips must contain clues to clear it.

Calm down!

Must calm down!

Even if some uncontrollable and bizarre factors appeared in exploration-type quests.

The fundamental nature of the dungeon, the Death Train, was still an exploration-type quest.

Hiding here offered no hope of breaking through. The key to clearing it was definitely hidden in carriage number three.

Just as he was about to get up, a weak, trembling voice of a little girl suddenly sounded beside him.

"Brother..."

Before the second word could be spoken, Qin Shang's eyes widened. He thought, How did this little thing end up in this carriage too?

He reacted quickly, not bothering to consider when the little loli had appeared on the bunk beside him. He abruptly raised his hand and clamped it over her mouth.

Experiencing it again, Qin Shang finally understood why a large number of HelloKitty dolls were placed in carriage number two during the first round.

This was actually a clue...

HelloKitty has no mouth!

In the background story, after the passengers in carriage number two entered the tunnel, some were killed because Jack's personality awakened, and he would slaughter passengers without rules.

However, Jack was neither a Priest nor a Path of the Gods player.

The characters in this background story couldn't possess the ability of [Night Vision].

In other words, he killed people in the tunnel using sound!

Therefore, carriage number two being filled with HelloKitty was itself a form of dungeon tip.

After returning to reality, Qin Shang had searched for information related to HelloKitty on his phone.

Kitty was born in 1974, and the nineteenth century's seventies corresponded to around 1870.

This meant that HelloKitty was a cartoon character that would only appear a hundred years later in the dungeon's world view.

Logically, it was an item that shouldn't have appeared in the dungeon.

This didn't align with the background story...

"Pollution sources can contaminate dungeons, and the Path of the Gods can also adjust clues within dungeons."

"By using some clues to convey new information and counter potential crises."

"That's why those Kitty dolls that emitted a rotten smell appeared."

"Those Kitty dolls were hints from the Path of the Gods to the players!"

Cartoon cats without mouths had almost become standard.

This indirectly hinted to the players that in that round in carriage number two.

The method used by the God Devourers to kill in the tunnel was to emulate the background story and locate players through sound.

Counting aloud was clearly a mistake!

In the tunnel, Jack's method of killing was to locate players through sound.

This was nightfall, the time when Jack's personality awakened.

No wonder there were no newspapers!

At the same time, trapped in a desperate situation, Qin Shang's mind raced.

No wonder, no wonder the previous carriages had half their newspapers pasted up.

Based on the two diaries of the split personality, it was easy to deduce that the personality active during the day was Mary, and the one at night was Jack.

As long as it was daytime and natural light shone in, it was Mary's personality...

So, in the background story of carriage number two, even after exiting the tunnel, Mary's personality awakened and proposed the method of holding hands and counting aloud.

She still couldn't lead everyone to clear it.

Because the person who proposed this method was the murderer himself.

Without further thought, he directly pulled the little loli off the bed, turned, and pushed the little girl out.

"This damned perverted cross-dresser!"

He couldn't help but curse inwardly.

As they just walked out of the compartment into the corridor, the little loli turned to look at Qin Shang, blinked her big eyes, and made a zipping motion on her hand, indicating that she understood his meaning and that he didn't need to keep covering her mouth.

Seeing this, Qin Shang slowly let go.

He had just covered her mouth and made frantic gestures to hint at her.

As long as this little girl wasn't an idiot, she should have understood!

Phew!

Qin Shang let out a sigh of relief and was about to continue