Pankto's Resolve

Upon hearing Pan Yuqiang's explanation, Lin Yu instantly understood why there would be an organization like a "gang" on the Despair Train, a train that encouraged trapped passengers to kill each other, and why such an organization could even grow to a size of more than ten people.

Because of a greater external threat!

This mechanism made Lin Yu somewhat admire the higher-ups at "Truth Company".

Regardless of who designed the Despair Train's internal mechanisms, there is a system that will continuously generate negative emotions in the "passengers" inside.

Even the best solution—on the one hand, encouraging infighting and inciting hatred and anger among each other.

On the other hand, the "Great Purge" every three days forces them to stick together and maintain a certain organizational structure, keeping them in a state of suspicion and fear, and even the possibility of "betrayal" events that can generate huge amounts of negative emotions.

It's incredibly inhumane, but also undeniably "efficient" at harvesting negative emotions for the "Despair Train."

The passengers on this bus were living a more miserable life than the Player the "Death game".

Moreover, if Lin Yu's guess is correct...

"Every time you bring in new members, it's after a 'Great Purge,' right?"

Lin Yu spoke Leng Jing, Pan Yuqiang nodded.

"Yes, the City That Never Sleeps has no shortage of 'human resources.' Every three days, Truth Company can gather a dozen or so unlucky souls to throw onto the truck."

"Only six of us got on the bus this time... which makes the situation rather unusual."

Pan Yuqiang spoke, Li Nian touched her chin.

"Hmm, but besides this relatively weak 'Airport Gang' that you just wiped out, what other forces are on this train?"

"Most factions are quite fragile. Those that can survive for more than a month without being wiped out or banned are considered to have a long history... Currently, besides the Airport Gang, which was just completely wiped out, there are also emerging groups that have survived five Great Purge, such as the 'Lion Gang' which occupies dining car number 6; and two old groups, the 'Blue Blood Team' and the 'Iron Thorn Gang,' which jointly occupy dining car number 9."

"I didn't ask about the details of these groups... but they all have a big shot behind them called 'The Baron'— the Airport Gang's Communicator likely came from the Baron."

That's all I know.

Pan Yuqiang revealed the last piece of information she knew.

Chen Zhuo immediately exclaimed, "A small train with only about a hundred people, all of whom were forced onto it to serve as human batteries... yet it's become so factional and complicated."

"And the mastermind is even called 'Baron,' which makes it feel a bit like an epic."

Hearing Chen Zhuo's remark, Li Nian shook her finger. "Wherever there are people, there is a world of intrigue. Fatty, you're still too green."

"You're a student too. Don't you think there are any small cliques or factions in your class of about twenty people?"

Chen Zhuo paused for a moment. "There are indeed various cliques in our class, but there are more than fifty people in a class..."

Then Li Nian realized, "Oh right, you went to a public school."

Lin Yu looked at Li Nian, sighed, and said half-jokingly, "You're not some jealous rat who can't stand seeing others happy. I'll fight you, you Miss goes to a Noble high school, to the death."

She tapped her head, stuck out her tongue, and made a face like Fujiya to get away with it.

"That's basically the gist of it..."

Wang Yuyang, however, was thinking about other things.

"Hmm, are there three other similar gangs? If we wipe them all out, could we scrape together enough for a 'ticket'?"

He casually mentioned a very extreme solution.

Lin Yu, Li Nian, and Chen Zhuo immediately stopped joking and, along with Pankto, all looked at Wang Yuyang.

"I don't think that will work, Yu Yang."

Before anyone else could carefully consider their words of persuasion, Pan Yuqiang spoke first.

Wang Yuyang listened to advice and accepted the fact that his proposal had been rejected by his girlfriend without even asking why.

"OK."

He nodded in response.

To prevent Wang Yuyang from proposing any even more impractical solutions, Lin Yu coughed lightly.

"In short, most of these gangs have occupied the food trucks... presumably for reasons of 'convenient transportation' and 'easy communication'—which shows that there is a certain degree of superficial peace between the gangs."

"The gangs occupying the other food trucks haven't come to the 'Airport Gang's' territory, so they may not be aware of what's happening here yet."

"Perhaps we can impersonate them, posing as new members of the 'Airport Gang,' to negotiate with other gang members and extract information about the 'Baron.'"

"Regarding the 'tickets,' the 'Baron' probably knows more."

As Lin Yu spoke seriously, Li Nian immediately raised her hand.

I second that.

The others had no objections.

The group then prepared to set off for dining car number 9 to inquire about the gangs that were based there.

However, before setting off... Chen Zhuo seemed to realize something and suddenly spoke.

"But speaking of which, the three of us boarded in carriage number 13... and why is dining car number 12 completely empty?"

Chen Zhuo raised a question.

Upon hearing Chen Zhuo's question, Lin Yu and Li Nian both sighed.

The two of them had already realized this, but since neither Wang Yuyang nor Pan Yuqiang asked, they simply let it slide.

After all... both Lin Yu and Li Nian had already guessed the possibility that the situation in dining car number 12 near them was unusual.

Sure enough, after Chen Zhuo's reminder, Pan Yuqiang spoke up somewhat strangely.

"Huh? I thought you already knew what was going on."

According to those people from the Airport Gang, you can basically ignore the new recruits coming up from the 13th and 14th, and try not to go near the 12th dining car.

"Because there's a super-powerful madman entrenched in dining car number 12, practically a one-man army, and he indiscriminately hunts everyone—didn't you take care of him?"

Wang Yuyang realized what was happening and looked at Pankto von Valetti.

"I thought this guy was a newcomer like you guys, someone you rescued on a whim!"

Lin Yu sighed, "Yes, he is that madman, but please don't worry, he's not having an episode and is quite safe."

Wang Yuyang looked at Li Nian, and the little girl immediately raised her hand.

"Brother Wang, I had absolutely no intention of hiding anything. I just felt... it's better to avoid trouble."

"Knowing your personality, I'm afraid you'll absolutely have to do something to him once you find out."

Wang Yuyang nodded.

"You're right—I'm not really comfortable having such a Time Bomb in the team."

"Although he knows some of the inner workings of Truth Company, I still believe... the risks of this move far outweigh the benefits."

Pankto sensed Wang Yuyang's hostility and became alert.

"I really can't guarantee that I can stay sober all the time, but it's okay if you don't believe me."

"But... if you insist on not wanting to act with me, I cannot accept that."

Pankto spoke, he looked at Lin Yu with a determined gaze.

"This woman has something I want, and she was the one who invited me to join her."

"I won't leave this group unless she asks to."