The Vanished Sinner

"Uh, the car hasn't started moving yet..."

As the lights inside the train came on again in the early morning, my friend in the lower bunk disappeared.

Feng Xue activated the self-cleaning function of the Kamen Rider System, drew back the curtains, and glanced at the train station outside the window.

Around 3 a. m., the train arrived at the station called Kishiwuna, where the turning carriages were handed over, the locomotive was changed, and a new Train Police was waiting.

The boarding of the Bell Country Train Police meant that certain unspoken rules within the carriage would change from being undetected to being enforced as official rules. The truly critical issue was that Feng Xue had absolutely no idea what these rules were.

He took out his phone and brought up the camera pop-up. Under the cover of his Hermit Authority (similar to how Old Li turned his villa into a shipping container, which wouldn't revert to its original state even if he left, as long as it wasn't canceled), these devices were not found by the vehicle inspection personnel.

As the station lights came on along with the train, figures appeared in the dark on the tracks, hawking their goods to each room. At the same time, the train attendant's voice rang out again in the carriages:

"Attention passengers, this train arrived at Kishiwuna station last night. This area is now within the territory of the Bell Country. Please abide by the laws and regulations of the Bell Country..."

"As expected, but at least give me a copy of the Bell Country's legal code!" Feng Xue sighed inwardly, casually tossing the salt onto the bedside table, and continued to observe the situation in front of the car through the camera.

Although it looked like an old route, the train and its equipment were not outdated. The anti-slip sand and the tracks with obvious snow removal marks proved this. But it was precisely because of this that Feng Xue felt uneasy.

After all, when the train started moving, he could still clearly sense the atmosphere of an old-fashioned train station, but why did the train become more and more advanced as it went further?

If it were simply that the Bell Country was relatively more advanced, that would be one thing, but what makes the Kent Country on the grasslands possess such changes? Could it be that the Kent Country not only has the Seven Warlords, but also actual territorial waters?

Looking at the female vendors coming and going outside the car, Feng Xue felt a little strange. Although they still carried that sense of danger, surprisingly no one knocked on the window today, which was in stark contrast to the previous times. Just as Feng Xue was wondering about this, the Room Door suddenly turned. This completely unexpected situation made him tense up immediately.

"It's freezing! I thought there would be some new sights in Bell Country, but this place is no different from back home!"

The woman sitting on the edge of the bed muttered to herself, looking dissatisfied. Feng Xue casually pulled out a packet of M&Ms and said:

"Want some snacks to replenish our energy?"

"Thank you, I was just thinking of having something sweet." Lin Jiaxin, who reappeared, reached out and took the chocolate, acting as if they were already quite familiar. This made Feng Xue suddenly feel a little insecure. It wasn't until Lin Jiaxin actually stuffed the Ghost-fighting M&Ms into her mouth that Feng Xue was completely convinced that this ridiculous Weird Tale had fixed another bug!

However, he was not discouraged. Instead, he reached out and wiped the table, as if it had always been there, and produced a business card, saying:

"I just found it under the table; your name is on it."

"Oh? I Think!" Upon hearing this, Lin Jiaxin immediately reached out and took the business card, then frowned and said:

"That's strange, this isn't mine!"

After saying that, she crumpled the business card into a ball and threw it into the red trash can under the table.

"Interesting."

Feng Xue gently flicked the Bell of Absolution at her waist, and the sound, which could only be heard by Libra members and sinners, spread out. But to Feng Xue's surprise, a faint Absolution Mark appeared on Lin Jiaxin's body.

Of course, that's secondary. The main thing is that, almost at that instant, gazes were cast from outside the window at almost the same time.

Somewhat stiffly turning her head, Feng Xue was astonished to see that the outside of the window was densely covered with patches of red to black Absolution Mark.

"Hey! How exactly are these things identified as independent entities?"

Feng Xue had always thought that the people selling goods outside the vehicle, like the birds and other creatures, belonged to the "third system," which was part of the "emergency situation" system. In the elements of the story, they played the role of "events." But at this moment, the markings above these people's heads clearly meant that either they were individual beings who could be identified as "criminals," or they possessed the concept of "individual."

It may not sound like a big deal, but upon closer examination, the seriousness of the problem becomes apparent.

Individuals and groups are fundamentally different. Even among derivatives, group derivatives differ from individual derivatives. Using Feng Xue's own abilities to explain, group derivatives are similar to things like Gu Poison Body, Bamboo Armor, and Kamen Rider cards. They are mass-produced items that can be easily recycled and recreated without any difference.

However, individual derivatives already possess the concept of "uniqueness," and once they disappear, it is impossible to recreate an exactly identical individual.

Even Feng Xue herself only possessed this trait in the Gambling Ghost she created in the Cyberpunk World. But if you really want to talk about it, it's more like a branch of a group's derivative that, under the intervention of human cognition, has become Weird Tale.

But this is unrealistic for this train, because so many vendors lack distinctiveness, and even if a large group of people knew the story, it would be impossible to accurately identify each vendor.

Feng Xue thought she had figured out most of the car's secrets, but now it seemed she had been too hasty.

With the Visage of Oath, Feng Xue tried to sense these teleportation coordinates, attempting to determine whether the Absolution Mark were illusions created by fixing a bug in the train or genuine items that could be used for teleportation.

But as their gazes met one by one, Feng Xue's expression stiffened.

"It's all real... Wait, why are there fewer coordinates?!"

Before Feng Xue could even process the identities of the vendors outside, she re-sensed the coordinates stored in this world and immediately felt a chill run down her spine.

I don't know when it started, but two-thirds of the "living people" he marked on this car have disappeared!

Of these two-thirds, a very small portion is located within the station itself, while the rest is completely imperceptible.

The Absolution Mark on the Bell of Absolution is essentially a manifestation of sin; theoretically, there are only two ways to eliminate sin.

They either receive Gift of Release from Feng Xue's clutches, or they face legal punishment and are subject to double jeopardy.

Furthermore, even death will not erase the mark, for sin does not end with the death of the sinner.

"So, in that short time at the station, the Bell Country Train Police arrested those people?"

Just as Feng Xue was pondering the question of the missing passengers, she suddenly heard a voice in her ear—

No, it was an eerie sound composed of countless voices converging together, almost completely overlapping:

"Sir, what do you need?"