Page 24

The middle-aged man furrowed his brows. "Your surname is Xun?"

"Yes. Disappointed that it's Xun? What about your name?" Xunfang raised her chin with interest. "Let me guess. Your surname should be Chen."

The man's expression changed abruptly.

Xunfang nodded in satisfaction. "Looks like I remembered correctly."

Xunfang glanced at the bewildered passengers present and continued, "Three years ago, the newspapers reported a murder on a train. One passenger killed fifteen others. This was the carriage where it happened."

"The papers interviewed this carriage's security inspector at the time. He was fired as punishment for failing to detect the blades and firearms on the killer."

"Later, the inspector identified the killer in court to make up for his mistake. You look very much like that inspector, Mr. Chen..."

His sore spot exposed, the man's face gradually turned livid.

Xunfang paused, then looked at the passengers' varied expressions and added:

"This Mr. Chen is the only one among us connected to that murder case. At first, I merely suspected that he might be colluding with the ghosts to atone for his guilt and protect himself."

"But doesn't his refusal to let you put up talismans confirm that possibility?"

Xunfang's words shook the passengers.

The girl wearing headphones asked doubtfully, "If you know so much, why didn't you tell everyone at the start?"

"Oh, I was only guessing at first."

Chen Renping stared fixedly at Xunfang. "I'm not colluding with the ghosts. It's just that the passengers who died here were all innocent. They shouldn't have their souls scattered."

"Innocent? You actually called them innocent!"

The wife, who had remained dazed all this time, roared in disbelief. Unable to control her emotions, she lunged at Chen Renping. "Look at those two bodies on the floor! You pity the ghosts, but who pities me and my child?!"

Chen Renping frowned, restrained her hands, and pushed her back into her seat. "Calm down!"

The wife clutched the boy in her seat, sobbing in anguish. "Give me back my husband!"

"Waaah, I want Daddy! Waaah..."

The wife and boy's outburst left Chen Renping, who sympathized with the ghosts, condemned on all sides.

The passengers who had stood beside Chen Renping silently moved a few steps away.

Xunfang said, "So I suggest everyone keep their distance from this man, especially when we're passing through tunnels."

The plump woman nodded. "Let's all sit in the back and leave him alone up front!"

"I agree."

"So do I..."

Some passengers even proposed tying Chen Renping up with rope to protect themselves.

Others thought that went too far. After all, he hadn't actually done anything to hurt them yet.

Under their openly hostile stares, Chen Renping's face darkened. He shook his head. "I haven't harmed you. You'd better not blindly trust this woman."

But his feeble explanation sounded like a counteraccusation.

His attempt to stop the talismans from suppressing the ghosts had already made his position clear. None of the passengers were willing to trust him anymore.

"Stay away from us!"

"Exactly! Go sit over there!"

"There are so many of us. We're not afraid of you!"

"Traitor!"

"Why wasn't it you who died instead of my husband? My child is still so young... waaah..."

Amid their resentful stares, Chen Renping fell silent, sighed deeply, and walked toward the seats up front.

Xunfang began handing out the talismans again. Some passengers accepted them, while others who still harbored doubts, like the headphone girl, refused.

When she reached Su Cheng, Su Cheng declined.

Xunfang didn't insist. She said, "Come ask me for one if you change your mind," then returned to her seat.

For some reason, Xunfang didn't strike Su Cheng as the generous sort who shared good things with others.

Did those talismans really work?

Su Cheng's thoughts shifted back and forth between Xunfang and Chen Renping as she began sorting through the information.

If Xunfang had told the truth, then the "ghosts" that killed the husband and the bald man were passengers who had died in the massacre three years ago.

Was Chen Renping really colluding with the ghosts?

Not necessarily.

Su Cheng kept sensing a faint malice and mockery in Xunfang's attitude toward Chen Renping.

Ever since Chen Renping revealed that he knew about the train's situation, Xunfang had been subtly questioning him, gradually steering the passengers into disagreements with him and deliberately isolating him.

Why did Chen Renping warrant special treatment from Xunfang?

Surely it wasn't simply because she disliked him. The reason remained unclear for now.

Su Cheng sighed inwardly, her thoughts still a tangled mess.

She had too little information. She could only keep guessing without reaching any definite answers.

After distributing the talismans, Xunfang led a group of passengers to the rear seats, close to the young man.

The sudden arrival of the group made the young man scratch his hair irritably, his lips pressed into a straight line.

Su Cheng was still considering where to sit when she suddenly heard someone whisper:

"What's that awful smell? Does the toilet really stink that badly?"

"I have air freshener in my suitcase. I'll get it out!"

"Hurry up! The stench is killing me!"

"Why don't we sit up front instead?"

"The floor up front is covered in blood, and that traitor is sitting there. I'm not going over."

"Has whoever mentioned air freshener found it yet? Hurry up and spray some..."

The passengers' luggage was piled on the overhead rack at the rear of the carriage.

Suitcases and backpacks of various sizes filled the rack. The larger, heavier suitcases sat at the bottom, five or six of them in total.

Su Cheng keenly noticed that whenever a passenger rummaged through the luggage, the young man's body tensed slightly.

An idea instantly came to Su Cheng.

Pretending to search for her luggage, she deliberately joined the other passengers rummaging through the rack.

Her hand touched every suitcase and backpack in turn.

As she muttered, "Where's my luggage?" she secretly watched the young man's expression.

When she touched a black suitcase, out of the corner of her eye she saw the young

man instinctively

clench his fists.

This is it!

Su Cheng deliberately said, "There seems to be something under this suitcase..."

Seeing that she was about to keep touching the black suitcase, the young man instantly lost his composure!

"Don't touch it!"

"That's mine!"

The young man abruptly stood, raising his voice.

He reached out aggressively to grab Su Cheng, but she quickly dodged.

She said innocently, "I only wanted to see what was underneath it. I wasn't trying to touch your luggage."

The young man didn't accept her explanation. He stared at Su Cheng and issued a final warning. "It's you every single time. Stay away from me and my things!"

Su Cheng shrugged indifferently.

Her attitude enraged the young man, and a vicious look flashed through his eyes.

The more he lost control of his emotions, the more successfully Su Cheng achieved her aim.

Someone like him, who wanted nothing more than to hide himself away in a corner, would only give himself away when he couldn't control his emotions.

"Oh, stop arguing. Hurry back to your seats. The train is about to enter another tunnel."

Xunfang beckoned to Su Cheng and pointed at the empty seat beside her. "Sit here?"

"No, thanks."

Xunfang's smile froze. In particular, when she saw Su Cheng walking toward the front seats, her eyes abruptly darkened for an instant, and her lips curved.

Su Cheng walked over and sat beside Chen Renping.

"You believe me?"

Chen Renping was very surprised.

Instead of answering, Su Cheng took the bracelet out of her pocket.

"Do you know Mu Ling?"

At that name, Chen Renping's pupils constricted.

Through the days and nights haunted by nightmares, he had already learned the dead passengers' names by heart.

"Where did you get that?"

It seemed he knew Mu Ling.

"I found it."

Chen Renping's eyes flickered, his expression heavy and complicated.

After hesitating, he seemed to reach some decision. Just as he was about to speak, however, a sound came from the train...

Rumble-

The train entered another tunnel.

Why did it have to enter a tunnel just as Chen Renping was about to speak...?

Su Cheng clenched her fist helplessly, feeling the same powerless frustration as when a television show was about to reach an exciting moment, only for an advertisement to appear.

Bzzzt.

With a sudden click, the lights went out.

During this thirty-second countdown, whom would the ghost choose this time?

29, 28, 27, 26...

The Soul-Pointing Needle in Su Cheng's hand began to sway, pointing toward the rear.

Was the ghost targeting Xunfang's group?

Su Cheng lowered her eyes in thought when a sudden breeze brushed her face.

Startled, Su Cheng gripped the now-motionless Soul-Pointing Needle tightly. This was inside the carriage. How could there be wind?!

Her eyes suddenly felt cold, as though an invisible "person" had blown a cool breath onto her eyeballs...

Her eyelids drooped uncontrollably as overwhelming drowsiness swept over her.

The ghost hadn't chosen Xunfang, but her?

Her surroundings faded into the gray tones of a recorded memory.

People occupied the previously empty seats. Passengers were talking, their voices mingling with children's laughter.

Su Cheng looked down. The black wristband on her wrist had disappeared, replaced by a familiar bracelet engraved with its owner's name.

Looking at her clothes, she found that her trench coat had become a yellow dress.

Su Cheng quickly realized that she had entered Mu Ling's body.

This was the train three years ago.

A sudden scream shattered the peace.

"Aaah-"

After the scream, red blood flowed across the aisle...

The passengers descended into panic.

"Aaaah!"

"Someone's killing people! Run!"

"Help-"

"Don't, don't kill me..."

A thin man wearing a smiling mask held a sharp blade, mercilessly slashing it across the passengers' throats.