'Heart-to-Heart Sister's' Hint

Crazy!

Fucking crazy!

Run!?

There wasn't time. How the fuck could he possibly outrun a gun?

At that moment, he remembered something from Jack's diary.

Jack would hunt down passengers who ran after seeing him. After going insane, he believed that anyone who ran when they saw him patrolling was the murderer who had killed Mary.

So...

They couldn't run!

Qin Shang's Adam's apple bobbed violently. He grabbed the little girl to stop her from fleeing and held her down with all his strength.

If they didn't run, there might still be a sliver of hope. But if they ran, they would definitely be doomed.

The next moment, Qin Shang pressed his lips together and met that pale face's gaze. The phantom's hand, which held the gun, still hadn't lowered...

Qin Shang's heart sank.

Had he guessed wrong?

The little girl in front of him was nearly scared out of her mind. Her body trembled nonstop, clearly terrified out of her wits.

However, the little girl didn't scream or make a fuss. Only her trembling revealed the fear in her heart.

Qin Shang was actually panicking too. By now, his palm barely had enough strength left to cover the little girl's mouth.

"Monsters and ghosts, go away. Monsters and ghosts, go away..."

Fine beads of cold sweat surfaced on Qin Shang's forehead, and his lips trembled.

He repeated one sentence frantically in his heart.

At that moment, although the phantom didn't lower its hunting rifle, it truly didn't attack the two of them.

Instead, it stared at Qin Shang for a long time with those pale eyeballs.

In the end, it suddenly turned its head and slowly walked past the two of them.

Qin Shang could even hear the little girl's heavy breathing beside him.

Thump-thump-thump—

The next moment, the phantom arrived in front of another bedroom door and repeated the same mechanical act of knocking.

Qin Shang's back was completely drenched in sweat, and he nearly fell flat on his butt.

Meanwhile, the "Grandpa Niu cosplaying as a maid to seduce Zhuangzhuang's mother" in front of him continued trembling violently. Even though that terrifying thing seemed to have left, it still couldn't take away the fear in the girl's heart.

Qin Shang grabbed the little girl and mouthed to her,

"Go!"

Seeing this, the little girl stared at the young man stiffly, her lips purple as she shook her head and mouthed,

"Big brother, I can't move..."

Qin Shang hesitated for a moment, and an apologetic look appeared on his face.

Freeze Response was a common human stress reaction.

It usually occurred when people faced danger, threats, or extreme pressure. It was an unnatural evolutionary behavior characterized by a lack of normal voluntary motor control.

The brain would study how to neutralize the threat, making it unable to control the limbs through the nervous system.

This was extremely common in daily life. For example, even when someone saw a speeding car or a basketball flying straight at them, their hands and feet would seem to stop obeying them, leaving them unable to move.

This originated from the animal instincts embedded in human genes.

People often asked why women didn't run when facing sexual assault. The reason was precisely this.

Many times, because danger arrived too suddenly, a person's adrenaline would spike, causing them to enter a freeze response in an instant.

They would lack the ability for conscious thought, and their brains would lose the ability to communicate with their nerves, leaving them only able to let themselves be manipulated with rigid limbs.

The Little Loli had probably been frightened. On top of that, he had suddenly covered her mouth and held her down, preventing her from moving.

She had subconsciously believed that she was doomed, which had caused this stress reaction.

"Ah!"

Just then, a sharp scream rang out from the room next door.

A figure quickly rushed out of the room. The voice was shrill and fine, extremely similar to a woman's.

However, Qin Shang could be certain that among the female players who had participated in Death Train during the previous round, everyone except the Little Loli had already died!

Mm, it seems the guy with the most feminine ID is the one who fits the conditions best...

Since he wasn't a priest, Qin Shang couldn't see the other party's appearance clearly.

Sure enough.

The next moment, "Heart-to-Heart Sister" ran out of the sleeper compartment next door with a deathly pale face, panic covering his features. In the blink of an eye, he arrived in front of Qin Shang and the Little Loli, seeing the two of them standing motionless in the corridor.

Clearly, the doctor was also extremely astonished.

"You two..."

He was probably wondering why the two people were in the carriage yet hadn't been chased by that thing.

By rights, the two of them should have encountered the phantom before he did.

Why had the phantom attacked only him and left the two of them alone?

Ignoring Qin Shang's frantic winking and shushing gestures, he shouted in a panic,

"Could it be that thing chooses which players to attack? Or are you two actually the God Slayer and his accomplice?"

"No wonder, no wonder it didn't attack you. You're in league with it. You two bastards, may you die horrible deaths..."

Bang!

At the instant the gun fired, "Heart-to-Heart Sister" suddenly collapsed.

Blood sprayed everywhere, splashing all over Qin Shang.

The trace of vitality in "Heart-to-Heart Sister's" eyes dimmed.

He was dead!

He had died right in front of Qin Shang.

The smell of gunpowder drifted over from the hunting rifle of the Red Skirt Phantom in the distance, mixing with the scent of blood as it gradually filled the carriage. The Little Loli, "Grandpa Niu cosplaying as a maid to seduce Zhuangzhuang's mother," nearly screamed.

Qin Shang hurriedly covered the little girl's red lips.

If only she were mute!

Qin Shang wasn't a saint or a savior. He had no obligation to save everyone.

In an environment filled with supernatural phenomena like the Divine Path, the law was just a sheet of paper.

It's already good enough that I didn't kill you and clear the round by myself.

What was more, who knew whether "Heart-to-Heart Sister" had been a passenger or an assistant on Death Train?

Or perhaps he was the incognito traitor, "Green Grass by the River"?

After a player had died during the first round, "Heart-to-Heart Sister" had been the first to jump out and loudly demand to disrupt the balance within the team.

Qin Shang had analyzed it before.

For the God Slayer, the more the players suspected one another, the better. The more chaotic things became, the better.

Only by taking advantage of the chaos could he strike.

As the saying went, "Take your life while you're sick..."

"Heart-to-Heart Sister" had been on Qin Shang's list of suspects.

He had spent the entire afternoon browsing the forums and had roughly summarized a few points.

The situation inside a polluted instance was uncontrollable. Even NPCs couldn't necessarily provide constructive help. This referred to normal NPCs.

Of course, the God Slayer was also a type of NPC.

In other words, it was entirely possible that even the God Slayer himself might bite the dust at the hands of the ancestor of cross-dressing enthusiasts from over two hundred years ago, after this instance had been polluted.

After all, once an instance was polluted, even the NPCs couldn't know all the rules.

"Heart-to-Heart Sister's" death had clearly caused a certain degree of panic in both of them.

This was the first time Qin Shang had personally witnessed someone die right in front of him.

The passing of life, the unwilling expression in his final moments, and that faint trace of resentment were all extremely jarring.

Resentment!?

That resentment in his final moments... It was probably directed at the two of us, wasn't it?

"Heart-to-Heart Sister" hadn't figured out the rules behind Conductor Jack's killings, so he had suspected that the two of them were in league with this thing?

Having a brain is a wonderful thing. If you don't use it, you can donate it!

Qin Shang sighed silently.

Brother, go in peace. I'll take your mission and exclusive hint.

After experiencing "So Handsome They'll Chop Me's" corpse mysteriously disappearing, Qin Shang had become smarter.

The clues from the previous round hadn't been enough to support him in solving the mystery of the passengers' disappearance.

So he had planned to inherit "So Handsome They'll Chop Me's" mission, only to discover—to his shock—that the corpse was gone.

This time, he looked toward "Heart-to-Heart Sister" immediately, afraid that the corpse might disappear unexpectedly.

At the same time, his palm inconspicuously touched the Character Card in his pocket.

Inherit!

Ding! Obtained hidden side quest: Please identify the accomplice within the team. If the accomplice is already dead, please identify the accomplice within the team as well. (This quest came from the doctor. During this round, you will gain that player's class skill.)

Hint: NPCs cannot lie.

Your identity in this round: Passenger

Qin Shang's breathing hitched, and his brows immediately furrowed.

His breathing had hitched because of the hint from "Heart-to-Heart Sister."

No wonder this guy had dared to provoke everyone without the slightest fear after the God Slayer had first killed someone, throwing them into internal chaos.

If NPCs couldn't lie, didn't that mean he only had to ask them, "Are you the God Slayer?"

With this most useful piece of information, it was no wonder that guy had been so calm earlier.

His hint had made him believe he had the situation completely under control!