Exposure

"Clack, clack, clack."

The train started moving.

At last, air flowed through the vents, and the smell became much more bearable.

The carriage was covered in heavy armor, and the train was not moving quickly. Ji Xun estimated its speed at only fifty or sixty kilometers per hour.

Jumping off probably would not kill him.

At this moment, Carriage 15.

The place was bustling with noise.

For treasure hunters who made money with their lives on the line, there was no better entertainment than gambling and women.

"Come on, come on! One more face card and I'll have twenty points!"

"Bust the dealer! Bust the dealer! Bust the dealer!"

"..."

A table had been cleared, and dozens of hunters crowded around it, playing cards with great enthusiasm.

They were playing with paper cards, somewhat like blackjack from his previous life.

Amid the gamblers, Ji Xun, wearing a half-face Gas Mask, was placing bets as well.

When he lost money, he cursed wildly. When he won, he got so excited that his face flushed red.

Whether they knew one another or not, as long as money was being wagered, gamblers quickly became familiar.

He had not been interested in this sort of low-level gambling to begin with.

The reason he was participating so wholeheartedly, aside from wanting to blend into the crowd, was mainly to conceal the fact that he had no seat and no companions, lest anyone notice him.

As Ji Xun gambled, he watched his surroundings and quietly arranged a few precautionary measures.

The carriage was extremely noisy.

Besides dirty jokes, the hunters' conversations contained plenty of useful information.

Ji Xun listened with great interest.

"Old Chen, I heard you found an abandoned warehouse in the eastern outskirts of Demon Cross a few days ago and made a fortune."

"Oh, I wouldn't call it a fortune. But after I get back, I'll have enough money to buy my boy a better Breathing Technique."

"..."

"Uncle Dong, have you found the materials for advancing your Enforcer sequence?"

"I found one item. It's not bad. Once I get back, I can advance."

"Then congratulations in advance on becoming a Spell Card Master, Uncle Dong. Don't forget to look after your little brother in the future."

"It's still too early. Only if I merge with it without losing control will I count as having truly advanced to Spell Card Master."

"..."

"Scarface, I heard your Iron Axe Gang got a rare Black Iron Quality Demon Mark in that Alternate Dimension in the eastern district yesterday?"

"Tsk, tsk, you're well informed. Ace of Hearts—Knight of Light. The mark has an excellent additional trait: an extra 15% Flesh Growth."

"Oh, it even has an additional trait? That's incredible."

"It's not that incredible. As soon as we got back to camp, a Hessen Merchant Guild manager bought it for nearly a million."

"Holy shit!"

"Hahahaha!"

"..."

The hunters talked about their expeditions through Demon Cross's caves, revealing a great deal of information in the process.

Ji Xun listened quietly, gradually gaining a better understanding of this world.

"How the fuck am I supposed to find them?"

Old Dog had been moving from Carriage 1 toward the rear, searching as he went while cursing inwardly.

His Demon Mark was Spade 4—Beastwalker. His contract was directed toward the Greater Demon Ose, and his Professional Sequence abilities were also focused on beastification.

Though his dog-headed beast form was not especially imposing, it gave him a sense of smell far superior to that of humans.

Because of that ability, although his combat power was not strong, he had still secured a salaried position in the Blackwater Mercenary Group.

He usually handled reconnaissance and tracking work, which was not particularly dangerous.

Old Dog had originally been satisfied with that.

But this mission was giving him a terrible headache.

He had to find one man and one woman among several thousand people on a train?

Find my ass!

The sharper his sense of smell, the more he suffered on this train.

After searching only eight carriages, he felt as though the stench was about to knock him unconscious.

Ordinary people could only smell the general stink, but after transforming, he could clearly distinguish over a hundred different foul odors within it. The smell of rotting meat scraps lodged between teeth, body odor from not bathing for days, shit trampled onto shoes, the putrid stench of viral infection...

And the smell was only one part of the problem.

There were other troubles too!

Who in Sinless City did not have a few secrets?

There were far too many dangerous characters.

The Blackwater Mercenary Group might have some standing, but if they provoked those people, they would still get beaten.

Fortunately, the only fairly reliable piece of intelligence was that their target was a Card Master Apprentice.

That narrowed the range considerably.

Old Dog felt as if the smell was going to kill him.

These eight carriages had already taken two hours. Along the way, he had encountered many suspicious people, but none of them turned out to be the target after investigation.

There were still eight carriages left!

But his other teammates had also combed through the carriages several times without finding anything, while the captain was growing increasingly urgent.

After cursing under his breath, he did not dare complain and continued searching ahead.

At last, he reached Carriage 15.

Ji Xun was still buried in the crowd, gambling with great enthusiasm.

Naturally, he had noticed that over the past few hours, several groups of people passing through seemed to be secretly searching for someone.

But without exception, all of them overlooked Ji Xun amid the crowd.

There were probably four or five thousand people on the entire train, and quite a few traveled alone. How could they so easily find someone who had already become one with the gamblers?

The fact that he had not yet been found meant that the other side truly had very little information.

It sounded like this train ride would take ten hours in total. Once he got off in a few more hours, he would be much safer.

Ji Xun quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

He had chosen Carriage 15 because it was close to the rear of the train.

He had already observed that if he could get the key from the train attendant, he could open the rear door of Carriage 16 and possibly jump off the train.

The steam train's armor was thick, but its locks were not as complicated as the doors in Dimension 407.

Ji Xun had not stolen the key. He had merely glanced at it a few times, and the photographic memory granted by the Trickster had easily memorized its exact structure. During a break from gambling to use the restroom, he had already replicated a temporary key.

With several preparations in place, he had room to respond even if he was discovered.

Ji Xun did not let down his guard and continued observing his surroundings.

The carriage remained noisy, but as he listened, he suddenly heard a story that gave him a flash of inspiration.

"Hey, did you hear? Something happened at the camp in the Alternate Dimension of The Ancient Silver Moon Altar a couple of days ago."

"How could I not have? They said someone from the Old Smoker Gang discovered an altar and found some Ancient Relics. Someone tried to keep them for himself, then slaughtered all thirty-some people in the camp. The Hunter's Guild even put up a reward of one hundred thousand for clues about the murderer."

"I heard a different version. Supposedly, that person came into contact with the Ancient Relics, lost control, and mutated into a monster before going on a killing spree. They say the dozens of corpses in the camp had all been gnawed to pieces. If he hadn't mutated, who the hell would kill people and then chew on their corpses?"

"So the Silver Moon Altar really produced an Ancient Relic?"

"Seems like it."

"Damn, even a random Grade I relic is worth hundreds of thousands. If we ever came across a high-grade one, we'd never have to worry for the rest of our lives. Why don't we ever have that kind of luck?"

"..."

During these hours on the train, Ji Xun had already heard several similar stories of adventure companions stealing equipment in the wild, or murdering people for their goods.

Such stories played out almost every day. The hunters did not find murder and robbery particularly unusual.

The law of the jungle was the foundation of Sinless City.

Compared with how many people had died, they were even more curious about how much the relic was worth.

Ji Xun gradually understood why even the Cao Family of the Governor's Mansion could not stop a train, why their authority was so weak.

It was not that this world's power structure was flawed.

It was that the people of Sinless City were flawed.

Others who heard that story only lamented the relic.

But Ji Xun suddenly caught a keyword in his mind: loss of control?

After merging with JOKER, he had gained a special ability: he could sense the out-of-control curse power within living beings.

A normal person's curse power was like body temperature—constant.

Usually, nothing could be seen with the naked eye.

Even when someone deliberately revealed it, it appeared as uniform flames.

But when he had boarded the train earlier, he had seen an anomaly.

Later, while observing the nearby carriages, he had found someone in the rear Carriage 16 whose overflowing curse power was extremely irregular, like "octopus tentacles."

After seeing him, Ji Xun had paid extra attention.

Only then did he confirm that every so often, the man's curse power would leak out irregularly like that.

Ji Xun suspected that this was what they called "curse power losing control."

Normally, losing control of one's curse power meant mutating into a monster.

But strangely, that man had not.

That made Ji Xun even more curious, so he watched him more closely.

Before, he had assumed his own understanding was insufficient and that he had misunderstood loss of control.

But after hearing that story of murder and robbery, he found the man increasingly suspicious.

Yes.

Suspicious!

Once he formed that hypothesis and fit the clues into it, he immediately discovered even more problems.

The man had chosen the rear Carriage 16 and initially appeared to be an unremarkable ordinary passenger.

But now, Ji Xun felt that the man might share his own intention—to make jumping from the train easier.

And because few people walked through the rear of the carriage, anyone deliberately approaching could be easily spotted.

Yet the man had chosen a corner directly facing the front of the carriage.

Unremarkable, but with an extremely broad view that let him see everyone coming and going.

When so many coincidences came together, they were no longer coincidences.

All the signs showed that this man had strong counter-surveillance awareness.

And there was the story he had just heard.

Although the entire train held several thousand people, only one person had curse power that was losing control.

Ji Xun suddenly matched the clues: Could this guy be the one who murdered and robbed those people?

The possibility seemed quite high.

To leave the Demon Cross camp, one had to take the train, and it only ran once every two days. It would not be strange for them to meet.

At the same time, if both of them were fugitives, it would not be strange for them to encounter each other at the rear of the train.

As Ji Xun thought this, his mind instinctively began considering some other possibilities.

But before he could think further, an unexpected development arose.

A tall, thin figure with a hood concealing his face suddenly entered his sight.

The man was not walking quickly, and his hood trembled slightly, as if his facial muscles were moving rhythmically.

The moment Ji Xun saw him, he became alert.

Smelling scents?

A supernatural with enhanced senses of smell?

But he did not reveal anything and continued gambling amid the crowd.

Even if the man truly was looking for someone, he might not necessarily discover him.

The hooded man seemed not to notice anything and walked straight past.

Not long after, Carriage 13.

Three members of the Blackwater Mercenary Group's four-man reconnaissance squad had gathered together, all wearing miserable expressions.

They had been searching for hours. They had found several possible targets, but after checking them, none were the people their group sought.

"Boss, could they not be on the train?"

"Whether they're on the train or not, we have to search. The captain just sent a strict order. If we fail to find them this time, we'll be in serious trouble!"

"How serious?"

"We'll have to bring our heads to see him."

"Hiss... What the hell is going on?"

"I think I understand it now. It probably isn't the captain who's anxious, but someone else."

"Oh?"

"Who do you think is paying Blackwater's salaries right now?"

"You mean the Cao Family in the Upper City?"

"..."

The more they talked, the worse they felt.

Just then, the man with the red nose suddenly returned.

The burly man hurriedly asked, "How was it, Old Dog? Did you find anything?"

Old Dog pulled back his hood, revealing a dog face that had gradually become more humanoid, and reported, "Boss, I found something! In Carriage 15!"

The three of them immediately turned to look in that direction.

Old Dog continued, "When I went over, I caught a special scent among the crowd. It was demonic residue that could only be left by the corpse of a B-Class Calamity or above. The smell was faint. They must have used Odor-Removing Potion recently. But the scent was still irritating, so they obviously picked it up not long ago. Most likely, they had only recently come out of an Alternate Dimension. But there were too many people in Carriage 15, and the smells were too mixed up. I couldn't tell exactly which one it was. I only felt that it should be someone among that group playing cards. I was afraid of being noticed and causing an accident, so I came back first."

"Good job."

The burly man and the other two looked delighted at those words.

Their instincts told them they might have found an important lead.

If it had been an ordinary hunter, even one who had just come out of an Alternate Dimension, there would have been no need to use Odor-Removing Potion.

Besides, B-Class Calamities were rare in the wild, yet there just happened to be one in that 407 space!

The timing matched too!

Someone in Carriage 15 was highly suspicious!

Not wasting another second, the burly man directly ordered, "Rose, go take a look. See if you can use your sixth sense to identify the person."

The woman in leather nodded. "I'll try. Now that we've narrowed it down to one carriage, the target area is much smaller. If they're only a Card Master Apprentice, it shouldn't be a problem."

The burly man said, "Good. Once you confirm it, don't alert them. Wait for me, then we'll move together. Since that guy managed to slip away from the captain and the others, he must have some tricks. Don't underestimate him. And try not to make too much noise. Use hypnosis and end it quickly. Otherwise, if things get out of hand in the carriage, the Hunter's Guild will get involved too."

The woman in leather nodded. "Mm."

As soon as he finished speaking, the burly man ordered the gaunt man playing with a dagger, "Xiao Wu, go to Carriage 16 first. Watch out in case that guy jumps off the train from the rear. If you really can't control him, cut his hamstrings. They only want him alive over there."

The gaunt man frowned. "But Boss, is it really okay to spill blood on the train?"

The burly man was somewhat helpless too. "We can't worry about that now. Catch him first."

Then he added, "Old Dog, bring up the rear. Don't show yourself yet, so that person doesn't notice you."

Old Dog replied, "Yes."

Once they had compared notes, they immediately sprang into action.

Meanwhile, Ji Xun watched one of the Cloaked Figures wander around for a while before leaving, and at first he didn't think much of it.

He assumed it was like the previous groups—having found nothing unusual, they had simply left.

However, it was not long after that.

Ji Xun suddenly saw a gaunt man wearing a half-face Gas Mask walk past.

Although the man seemed to be merely passing through, without stopping unusually anywhere in Carriage 15, and went straight into Carriage 16.

Ji Xun immediately sensed that something was wrong.

He now possessed a photographic memory. Although the man had disguised himself, Ji Xun recognized him at once from the black leather sheath at his waist: this guy had come by once before!

Earlier, the man had been stopping and looking around everywhere, clearly searching for someone. He was most likely from the Blackwater Mercenary Group.

Now he had returned in disguise, yet he walked with such purpose. He clearly had some objective.

Have I still been discovered?

Ji Xun's gaze turned cold as he immediately reached a conclusion.

He did not cling to any hope of luck.

The worst-case scenario had still happened.