Divine Punishment

"Mm. The true liar in the group was 'Green Grass by the River.'"

"The first Charlatan clue I received was that someone among the six players had lied about their class."

"That person's Godpath ID was 'Green Grass by the River,' but there was no one by that name in the group."

The next moment, Qin Shang spoke again with a grim face and a cold voice:

"At first, I suspected the sheriff and Elder Priest. But Elder Priest had used his class skill, and he had openly used an item in front of me. He was definitely a player."

"If the sheriff had been the liar, Elder Priest would probably already have been killed. The liar would certainly have been his accomplice, but there was no reason for an accomplice not to kill a player."

The fact that those two were innocent players was proof enough.

"After eliminating the cross-dresser, Elder Priest, and the sheriff from suspicion, I thought of the thug."

"Elder Priest and the sheriff had remained peaceful with each other all along. That meant the liar didn't want to kill the players but couldn't..."

"Because he was already a corpse."

Little Loli narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly when she heard this.

"As expected of a Charlatan. It really is a class naturally suited for clearing dungeons!"

Qin Shang did not accept the compliment.

In truth, if he had not been lucky, and if he had not later forcibly broken up the group and gone his separate way from the sheriff and the others, he would probably have been a corpse too.

Two of the seven people had died at the beginning. After Qin Shang had pretended to split up the group and separated from the main force, 'Grandpa Niu' could no longer kill him.

If Qin Shang died, everyone would definitely be able to identify 'Grandpa Niu' as the priority suspect in the second round.

"You must have suspected my class back then too, which was why you wanted to follow me, right?"

Little Loli nodded when she heard this.

"Yes. Most of the clues in this round were concentrated in the player with the Teacher class. So the Teacher absolutely couldn't be allowed to survive the first round. But you insisted on staying behind to investigate."

"I suspected then that there might be a second player with the Teacher class in the group."

"But then I thought about the special nature of the Charlatan class. With the ability to inherit skills, a Charlatan could completely inherit the clues possessed by a Teacher player and be the one who voluntarily stayed behind to continue exploring the dungeon."

"Besides the Teacher, the only other possibility was the Charlatan. Either one was a threat."

"I couldn't attack you, but I could keep an eye on you and prevent you from regrouping with them and sharing clues."

"There was a rule restriction in Train Three during the second round: no one could speak. As long as you hadn't communicated with them in the first round, I would have been sure to win in the second."

The reason 'Green Grass by the River,' or rather the thug's corpse, had disappeared was already obvious.

It was the Hypnotist's skill.

Qin Shang might have fallen under an illusion when he returned to Carriage Two after entering Carriage One.

That was why he had discovered upon turning around that the two corpses had vanished.

Qin Shang frowned slightly when he heard this.

"Then why didn't you attack me after spending so much time with me in the second round?"

This was Qin Shang's second greatest question.

They could neither speak nor move, and had spent such a long time together in the bedroom.

She had not killed him in the first round because he had to survive until the second round to clear himself of suspicion.

But once the second round began, she could have killed him instantly and blamed everything on El's monster.

After all, everyone who had explored the Death Train knew that the true danger in the first round was merely the God Slayer hidden among the players.

The second round was the real crisis. As long as he survived into the second round, he could clear her of suspicion.

When the other players saw his corpse, they would also wonder... Qin Shang hadn't been killed by Little Loli.

"Because you saved me... twice!"

Little Loli was no longer as cold as before. Her expression was indescribably complicated.

"Although the NPCs in this dungeon don't attack one another, even if I had spoken, I wouldn't have attracted the monster."

"But after you figured out the rules, the first thing you did wasn't to protect yourself. You rushed over and covered my mouth..."

"That moved me to pity... I was once a player too. I was human. I remembered my older brother."

At this point, the girl's expression became strange. Tears suddenly welled in her eyes, and she pressed her lips together as she spoke.

"When my brother used to play games with me, he would instinctively protect me too. Whenever other classmates bullied me in real life, my brother would protect me by pressing my head against his chest and letting those people beat him. He would hold me tight the whole time."

"Even if a storm was raging outside, I felt safe as long as I was in my brother's arms. I..."

"I couldn't do it!"

At these words, the sheriff and Elder Priest beside them both wore expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

This guy was incredible. He had carried an NPC around everywhere and actually survived to the end!

The sheriff's expression was especially bizarre.

This was the first time he had seen such a move since becoming a Godpath player.

And he had actually relied on this guy, who had carried the God Slayer boss NPC everywhere, to survive and clear the dungeon.

Was this even reasonable?

He carried an NPC everywhere, and the NPC ended up showing kindness to a player?

Qin Shang's gaze deepened.

For a moment, he did not know whether he ought to thank the girl for sparing his life...

He could only marvel inwardly at how good his luck had been.

But in truth, Qin Shang had also suspected her during the second round.

He had suspected that 'Grandpa Niu' was the God Slayer!

But when he saw the little girl speak, that instinctive feeling of pity had still driven him to step forward.

"You don't need to thank me either. Whew! Consider it repayment for saving me. You won't be so lucky next time, meeting an NPC as kind as me."

"Thanks to you, I've also figured out the parts of the main quest I hadn't fully explored at the time..."

The parts of the main quest she hadn't fully explored?

Qin Shang froze.

So... even the NPCs didn't know the main quest?

She only knew that the Teacher, who possessed deciphering abilities, could gather the most clues in the first round, which was why the Teacher had to be killed in the first round?

The next moment, Qin Shang felt slightly relieved.

It made sense. The NPCs' quests and the players' quests were different.

The NPCs' goal was to kill the players and obstruct their investigation. There was no need for the Godpath game to tell the NPCs the contents of the main quest.

Moreover, the God Slayers were a special group.

They had been transformed from former players and retained their human consciousness.

Who knew whether one of them might take pity on the players and simply tell them everything about the main quest? That would be ridiculous.

An exploration-type S-rank dungeon, cleared by the players without a single loss.

That would indirectly destroy Godpath's balancing mechanism...

Qin Shang had only entered a dungeon once, but he could already clearly sense that Godpath was constantly enforcing a certain rule.

Balance.

Just then, Qin Shang suddenly noticed that Little Loli's expression had grown sad. She tilted her head back and gazed forty-five degrees upward at the moon outside.

"The moon is beautiful."

"When the game ends, you'll remain in this space until the countdown is over. My mission has failed. I can finally go see my brother."

Qin Shang stiffened at her words.

"What... what do you mean?"

Why did Little Loli's muttering sound so much like relief and final words?

"'Divine Punishment.' If a God Slayer's mission fails, then once the Charlatan clears the game, Godpath will erase them!"

Little Loli looked calmly at Qin Shang before breaking into a brilliant smile.

"Could I ask you for one thing?"

"Divine Punishment!"

This was the first time Qin Shang had encountered the term.

If a God Slayer's mission failed, Godpath would actually erase them?

The next moment, Qin Shang's heart rose into his throat. His mind once again recalled the mechanism he had deduced after receiving his first inheritance upon entering the game.

Balance!

Godpath had always adhered to this rule with extreme strictness.

As long as the actions of players and NPCs conformed to the rules, they would be guided into unconsciously maintaining the game's balance.

But an NPC with its own consciousness was not controlled by Godpath in everything it did.

So if players entered again in the future, Little Loli, who knew all the main-quest and side-quest content, could simply tell the next group everything about the mystery.

Wouldn't that let them clear the dungeon effortlessly without any losses?

Godpath was worried that this would disrupt the balance, which was why it purged God Slayers whose missions had failed?

God Slayers were NPCs who appeared only in Charlatan dungeons.

And a God Slayer's failed mission meant that the Charlatan had cleared the game.

The girl did not seem inclined to explain further. Her beautiful eyes looked at Qin Shang with a deeper light in them.

Qin Shang suddenly felt his mind tremble. A faint, mosquito-like female voice drifted into his ear:

"'Fiercely Licking Cockroach Jade Feet,' be careful of those two."

"You're the Charlatan. As long as the other classes eliminate the Charlatan inside the dungeon, they'll receive an astronomical reward of points."

"That's why the Charlatan is the public enemy of all players. The Charlatan represents walking, irresistible profit."

"If you can get out alive, I hope you'll go to Xiangya Linshu in Yanjing to meet someone..."

"His Godpath ID is 'Red-robed Cult Master.' Ask her to pass a message to my brother."

"Tell him that I committed some heinous crimes and fled overseas."

"Tell him not to look for me anymore and to live his own life. If my brother is too sad, ask 'Red-robed Cult Master' to erase his memories and make him forget that he ever had a younger sister..."

The next moment, before Little Loli could say anything more, a powerful rainbow light suddenly descended from the sky.

That was right—from the sky.

The rainbow light pierced through the side of the train. Under Qin Shang's horrified gaze, it directly pierced through Little Loli's crown.

Then, visibly, the spark of intelligence and clarity in the pink-dressed girl's eyes gradually faded.

Her body rapidly turned to charcoal, as if it had been ignited from within.

"Brother, we can finally meet..."

Her final murmur faded.

Then she collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Her pink skirt swayed, while her pretty face lay deathly still.

All life had vanished from her body!

Ding! Congratulations, you have completed the side quest: Find the sole Team Leader among the six players and follow the Team Leader. As the assistant, you must help the leader clear this round of the game and preserve as many passengers' lives as possible. You must protect the Team Leader; otherwise, the quest will be deemed failed. (This quest came from the Teacher. During this game, you will obtain that player's class skill.)

Ding! Congratulations, you have completed the side quest: Find the accomplice in the group. If the accomplice has died, find the accomplice in the group anyway. (This quest came from the Doctor. During this game, you will obtain that player's class skill.)

Ding! Congratulations, you have completed the hidden Charlatan class quest: Find the God Slayer in the group.

Ding! Congratulations, you have completed the main quest: Investigate the mystery of the Death Train passengers' disappearance.

You have completed all the quests in this dungeon.

There is no reward...

Qin Shang did not care about this, because his mind was filled with Little Loli's final warning and request before her death.

At the same time, ripples spread before his eyes. Blinding white light enveloped his body, and the surrounding scene gradually changed. After an unknown amount of time, the watery sheen faded away.

He had not been teleported back to the bedroom. Looking around, he still saw a cramped, dark, damp space.

The stench of rot filled the air...

Qin Shang steadied himself. He was still in the train carriage, but the light was far stronger than it had been in Carriage Three.

It seemed that Godpath had teleported him back to Carriage One, where he had started.

The next moment, Qin Shang's gaze immediately fell on the sheriff and Elder Priest nearby, the two men he had carried to an easy victory.

They had also returned to Carriage One. It seemed that the exploration quest had ended, and all they needed to do now was wait in Carriage One.

The two of them had not heard Little Loli's final words.

Perhaps, at the moment of her death, the girl had used one of the Hypnotist's exclusive skills to block them from hearing.

However, there was no trace of relaxed joy in Qin Shang's eyes after clearing the dungeon. Instead, they held an extra measure of wariness.

He had not even had time to grieve the passing of a life...

Because at that moment, he noticed that the way those two looked at him was not quite right.

Qin Shang had an exceptionally sharp sixth sense and was extremely good at reading people's expressions.

At that moment, he could clearly sense that 'Eagle of Justice' and 'Buddha Saves the Predestined' were looking at him with the relief of people who had narrowly escaped death.

And also...

The same greed a hunter felt upon spotting prey in a primeval forest.