Suspicion

Everyone turned to look. The snowfields and forests on either side had vanished, replaced by steep mountain walls and cliffs. The train was now running along a narrow track clinging to the mountainside, with no end in sight ahead or behind and no way out to either side. It was perilous beyond measure.

"Forget about outside." Professor Han stared gravely at the two corpses in the carriage.

Chen Yi lay against the wall, with a bloodied toothbrush whose bristles had been snapped off beneath his feet. Aside from the stab wound in his chest and the blood along his cheek, he had no other injuries.

But the melon-seed face woman was different. Her neck had been twisted broken, her head hanging crookedly to one side. Her bloodshot eyes bulged from their sockets, and her deathly expression was horrifying.

She had three bite wounds across her shoulders and arms. The missing chunks varied in size and shape, and blood had soaked her clothes.

"Why are there still people eating people?" The female student hid behind Professor Han, tears streaming down her face.

Professor Han sighed. He already had the answer. To avoid violating the game's taboos, prospective Players should have kept their movements to a minimum. Yet people had still eaten others. That meant his earlier warnings had not been useless; this had simply been the inevitable result.

"Perhaps the food on the train is useless to Evolvers who have already eaten people. They'll still be hungry at night."

Xu Huo wiped the dried blood from the back of his hand, lit a Cigarette unhurriedly, and swept his gaze over the Square-Faced Man, Li Fei, and the middle-aged woman.

Professor Han was right. Evolvers who had eaten people would develop a Gluttony Urge at night. This matched the train's hidden rules: anyone who had eaten a person, whether before boarding or after, would be classified together.

The train's food could not completely relieve their hunger. By now, all the Cannibal Players on the train should have realized that. That meant they had to kill the Normal Players.

"There must be a Cannibal Player among us." The heavily made-up woman eyed the Square-Faced Man suspiciously.

"I'm injured. Everyone in our carriage has clean hands, and I heard someone run out. It might not have been a Player from our carriage." The Square-Faced Man pointed at the bloody scratches on his arm, left by fingernails. There was some blood on his hands, but it had been left there when he examined the corpse yesterday.

But the moment he finished speaking, Xu Huo flicked his wrist and smashed the cigarette butt into his face!

"What are you doing—" The Square-Faced Man flew into a rage, but when he looked up, the man several meters away had already rushed in front of him. Before he could react, Xu Huo seized him by the throat, slammed him against the wall, and drove a knife straight through his heart!

The people in the carriage went pale in horror and cried out, "What are you doing?!"

The Square-Faced Man stared with his eyes wide open, unable to understand why Xu Huo had suddenly attacked. He opened his mouth to say something, but Xu Huo gave him no chance, kicking him into the corner to keep the melon-seed face woman company.

"Xu Huo, what are you doing?!" Li Fei stepped forward and grabbed Xu Huo by the shoulder. The Square-Faced Man had been his Ally. Was Xu Huo targeting him by killing the man?

"He was a Cannibal Player." Xu Huo brushed his hand aside, walked over, pulled out the knife, and wiped it on the man's shoulder. He looked as calm as if he had not just killed someone.

His actions silenced the carriage for several seconds. Then the heavily made-up woman asked, "What evidence do you have?"

"Players from the Third-Class Carriage can't open the Back Door." Xu Huo said, "Didn't you notice the doorbell outside the Back Door? Unless a Second-Class Seat Player opens it voluntarily, Players from the Third-Class Seat can't enter."

"So that was it." Professor Han was the first to understand. "We can't open the Back Door to the First-Class Seat either."

He had noticed the difference between the doors on both sides when he went to the Restroom yesterday. When the trouble began in the Third-Class Seat, he had only guarded against the people on the other side rushing in and had completely overlooked the doorbell outside.

"You say he was, so he was?" Li Fei snorted. "The people in the Third-Class Seat can't come over to testify anyway!"

"Go try the First-Class Seat yourself." Xu Huo shot him a glance.

Li Fei choked on his words. Who wanted to go outside? What if he got attacked?

"But that still doesn't prove he was a Cannibal Player," the heavily made-up woman said. "There were two others guarding the door. What if he was fooled too?"

"He was the only one who said someone had entered from outside and that he heard footsteps." Xu Huo said. "He was the most suspicious."

An Evolver's hearing far surpassed that of ordinary people. It was unlikely that anyone else in the carriage could approach the door without making a sound. Of the three people guarding the door, the Square-Faced Man had practically confessed by being the first to shout that someone was outside, then unnecessarily adding afterward that he had heard footsteps leaving.

Of course, that was because he had failed to notice the purpose of the doorbell. Otherwise, he would not have died over such an obvious and simple mistake.

Still, the other two were not free of suspicion either.

"He's already dead, so naturally you can say whatever you want!" Li Fei said. "You killed him without even questioning him. You're no good person yourself!"

"The Dimension Rift is ultimately a game, and games always have rewards at the end. You've been going in and out since boarding, so it looks like you know quite a bit. Does killing other Players help clear the stage? Is that why you were so eager to kill?"

As he spoke, he stepped into the middle of the Players and declared passionately, "Listen, everyone! He killed someone without evidence. If the two people who died by his hand weren't Cannibal Players, then weren't we deceived by him? What if he keeps killing tonight? We might all die at his hands! We can't just sit around and wait for death!"

"You have no evidence that they were Normal Players either." Professor Han's expression was somewhat complicated. Xu Huo's reasoning made sense, but killing on mere suspicion was frighteningly cold-blooded, especially coming from a fellow Evolver.

Still, he understood that it was the fastest way to eliminate future trouble.

The female student stepped forward. "I believe Xu Huo. He saved me yesterday. Otherwise, Chen Yi would definitely have killed me too."

"The female benefactor is right. Mr. Xu is a good man." Yan Jiayu, who had remained silent until now, also spoke for Xu Huo. "He was even willing to share food with the weak. He must have a kind heart."

Li Fei was infuriated by such simple logic. "That's because he isn't short of money! He even bought his information by exploiting a loophole! If I had that much money, I wouldn't care either!"

"That woman had three wounds," He Yang said at that moment. "An Evolver only needs a little flesh. There was no need to bite three times. Who took the rest? Chen Yi is dead, but his corpse is completely intact. On the other hand, you... I remember you were at the door when we counted off."

Li Fei's face immediately darkened. "I heard someone had broken in and went to help out of kindness. If you don't believe me, fine, but don't throw dirt on me!"

"Besides, all her wounds were bite marks. There's no blood on me!"

That was the strange part. The melon-seed face woman had only three bite wounds. Although the Square-Faced Man was injured, his mouth was perfectly clean.

There was no evidence that they had attacked each other.

"Maybe the game helped..." the female student said softly. "Maybe the game helped the Cannibal Players target us Normal Players."

Several gazes in the carriage fell on her at once. Even the middle-aged woman, who had been huddled in the corner, looked up, frightening the little girl into ducking behind Professor Han again.

"Say whatever you want." Li Fei was irritated, but he did not intend to completely fall out with the others. "Don't forget, there's still one person guarding the door!"

"Old man, did you hear anything?" Yan Jiayu asked the Old Man sitting against the door.

The Old Man shook his head. "I didn't hear any footsteps, but someone bit me."

He pointed at the tooth marks on his shoulder and pulled open his coat collar. The Xing'er on the epaulet of his uniform had been bitten out of shape, but thanks to that epaulet, he had suffered only a minor injury.

"So you're a soldier." Professor Han regarded him with newfound respect and hurried over to help him up.

The Old Man quickly waved his hands. "I'm just an ordinary old man."

Xu Huo went over to take a look. "Even Xing'er was nearly bitten through. That person's teeth must have shattered, right?"