Key Clue

Since the Elder Priest could use items, his identity as a player could be confirmed.

In other words, could the Team Leader be the Elder Priest?

Damn!

If that was the case, he was in danger.

If I could analyze the Elder Priest as a player through his use of an item, then couldn't the sheriff, as the God Slayer, do the same!?

But the next moment, Qin Shang heard faint footsteps coming from nearby.

Then two figures entered the compartment.

"Come out. We'll speak quietly. He actually can't hear us."

They were both alive?

What was going on?

How could this be?

Little Loli, Grandpa Niu cosplay maid seducing Zhuangzhuang's mom was a passenger, the priest was the Team Leader, so without a doubt, the sheriff was the God Slayer.

Didn't the God Slayer need to attack the players during the second round?

If the Eagle of Justice was the God Slayer, hadn't just now been the perfect opportunity to kill the Elder Priest?

Why hadn't he acted?

"And that Red Skirt Phantom. Something about that thing was off, too. Did it come to the front carriages during the first round as well?"

"Then why didn't it attack the players directly? When I traveled through Carriages One and Two, the commotion was clearly huge!"

"Was something preventing it from attacking?"

"But that thing still secretly came to Carriage Two and ate the corpses of So Handsome They'll Chop Me and Don't Touch Me, I'll Turn Green!"

Qin Shang felt as if his head was about to explode.

Still, he subconsciously pulled Grandpa Niu out from under the bed.

The "thud, thud, thud" of footsteps outside suddenly grew louder again. It seemed that once night came, that ghost would frantically patrol and wander around Carriage Three, with knocking on the doors occasionally accompanying the footsteps.

Qin Shang frowned, stopped the sheriff's expression of hesitation, and made a shushing gesture.

Just then, the Elder Priest raised a hand, signaling everyone to look at him.

Then the Elder Priest took out a small oil-based pen and began writing and drawing on the floor.

A line of tiny fluorescent words immediately leaped into everyone's view.

A Fluorescent Pen?

Qin Shang widened his eyes. He hadn't expected the Elder Priest to have something like this!

A line of large words on the floor...

"We'll use this pen to communicate in writing!"

The few of them looked at one another, and Qin Shang gave a slight nod.

The sheriff immediately took the Elder Priest's oil-based pen and wrote a line on the floor.

"Why would a God Slayer help us?"

After he finished writing, the sheriff stared straight at Qin Shang with a wary gaze filled with suspicion and threat.

The sight made Qin Shang lose confidence in himself.

???

I'm the God Slayer?

I thought you had discovered my Charlatan class.

I never expected you to be a real-life version of Kogoro Mouri. You have a brain but don't use it, and just make ridiculous deductions, huh?

If I were the God Slayer, after traveling with Grandpa Niu for so long, I would've already knifed Little Loli.

Qin Shang rolled his eyes in exasperation and took the oil-based pen from the Elder Priest.

The instant his palm touched the pen, a new message popped up on the fluorescent-blue status panel before Qin Shang's eyes.

Item Name; Fluorescent Pen

Function; Writing

Attributes; None

Quality; None

Description; A writing pen with a fluorescent function, an interesting little item obtained by a priest player while exploring another instance

"I am not the God Slayer. I am a passenger."

He rapidly wrote a line on the floor, his pen moving like a dragon and snake.

At that moment, Qin Shang finally understood one thing.

The veteran player in the group was clearly not only the sheriff. The Elder Priest was a veteran player as well.

Otherwise, Qin Shang still hadn't figured out how to use his inventory. How could this old man have so many strange little items?

First it was a cross, and then it was a Fluorescent Pen.

Actually, a closer look was enough to determine that he wasn't a newbie player.

When the Elder Priest first entered the Death Train instance, he hadn't shown the unease displayed by the beautiful woman Don't Touch Me, I'll Turn Green or the thug So Handsome They'll Chop Me.

Although in this sort of environment, remaining calm was the only rule for survival.

The Elder Priest had adapted far too quickly.

Furthermore, after the sheriff initially declared that everyone should report their classes, he had been the first to explain his class skills.

In other words, the Elder Priest knew how to use the Character Card without needing the sheriff to remind him.

At the same time, Little Loli, "Grandpa Niu cosplay maid seducing Zhuangzhuang's mom," stared blankly at the others as they communicated on the floor with the Fluorescent Pen.

When the sheriff saw what Qin Shang had written, his vigilance only increased.

According to the information he had obtained, only one player had ever cleared the Death Train.

Mr. Yin's information, that the person's name was Fiercely Licking Cockroach Jade Feet, definitely couldn't be wrong.

That was why he suspected Qin Shang was the God Slayer, an NPC who had died inside the instance...

But on closer thought, the logic didn't hold together.

Mr. Yin had said Fiercely Licking Cockroach Jade Feet was the only person to clear the Death Train instance. Then he definitely couldn't have died inside this instance.

That raised the question...

Who exactly was this guy in front of him?

According to Mr. Yin, Fiercely Licking Cockroach Jade Feet had already died on the Divine Path. Then who was this young man before him, claiming to be Fiercely Licking Cockroach Jade Feet?

The next moment, the sheriff wrote another sentence with a grim expression.

"Then how did you know that you couldn't speak inside the carriages?"

Qin Shang let out a cold laugh.

So you really treated exploring the instance like window-shopping, huh?

He took the Fluorescent Pen,

"The HelloKitty in Carriage Two is a clue. That thing doesn't fit the era of the Background Story."

"It should be a new clue provided by the Divine Path after the instance was corrupted, specifically to remind players not to make a sound in Carriage Three."

"Of course, it was only a guess at first. I just felt that there couldn't be useless clues in the game. Since there was a Kitty cat in that carriage, Kitty must have represented something."

"And sure enough, after entering Carriage Three, I tried it out briefly. As long as I didn't make a sound, I wouldn't attract that thing's attention."

"It only hunted players when they moved or spoke."

"This was what I found from the sticker on the window of Carriage Two, as well as the clues I found in the diary entries about Miss Mary and Train Conductor Jack..."

Seeing these lines, the corners of the sheriff's and the Elder Priest's mouths twitched violently.

The sheriff couldn't help sighing inwardly. How exactly is this kid's brain wired?

When he had stayed behind and gone his separate way, the two of them had thought the young man had been scared witless by the bizarre instance. Who could have known that staying in Carriages One and Two would let him uncover so many crucial clues?

If we'd discovered this sooner, perhaps Heart-to-Heart Sister wouldn't have died...

Seeing their expressions, Qin Shang understood that the sheriff and the Elder Priest's exploration had been quite basic.

That made sense. Without a Teacher class's deciphering skill, no one could understand the diary entries on the walls.

At that thought, Qin Shang suddenly froze.

Hiss!

I think I understand why the God Slayer had to kill the teacher during the first round!

"Did you also enter Carriage Three at the end of the previous round? Did you discover anything?"

"These bedrooms showed no signs of ever being occupied, as if this section of the carriage had been abandoned immediately after the train was built."

"However, the door to the room at the very front was tightly shut. Before that ghost came, we briefly explored Carriage Three and saw a rotten corpse in the foremost bedroom."

"The corpse was highly decomposed, and even the sheriff couldn't tell its gender. The other passengers are still nowhere to be found. We also found this thing..."

The Elder Priest took out a notebook and tossed it to Qin Shang.

A notebook—another diary?

Qin Shang was genuinely at a loss for words, but considering that it was the nineteenth century, when real-time communication wasn't well developed, it made sense that people of that era had a habit of keeping diaries.

After all, more than two hundred years ago, people themselves hadn't had many forms of entertainment.

When he had first confirmed his relationship with Jiang Qiqi, his wife had even said she envied couples from eras when communication had been underdeveloped.

She had said that in the old days, carriages moved slowly, a person could love only one person for life, and when something broke, people thought about repairing it instead of replacing it outright.

Exploration Progress; 75%

The instant his palm touched the notebook, another electronic notification sounded beside Qin Shang's ear.

He was slightly taken aback.

Could this diary increase his exploration progress?

In other words, was this thing also a crucial clue?