Players, Please Board the Train

”Then is he really dead?” Xiao Ling pressed.

”I wouldn’t know about that,” Teacher Pan said.

”Do you think he’s dead?” Xiao Ling turned to ask Xu Huo.

How could he possibly be dead.

A serial killer capable of torturing and slaughtering so many innocent people was definitely not a depression patient, nor would they be forced to death by death threats, and the idea that they couldn’t fully evade death threats wasn’t even valid.

Killing so many people without a shred of empathy, and leaving behind no traces, proved they had stable emotions, a cold personality, meticulous thinking, and superior intelligence. They weren’t just taking revenge—they were also toying with these people. Daring to release videos on their own social media account was telling everyone: the killer was them, but no one could do anything about it.

Would someone like that commit suicide? The other party had likely already started thinking of themselves as a god who could manipulate the lives of ants.

”Even as a player, I find such a person terrifying,” Yu Guangnan said. ”Committing so many crimes and not leaving a single clue to be caught? That’s absolutely mind-boggling!”

For an ordinary person, it would definitely be mind-boggling. After all, no matter how formidable a human is, they’re still human and can’t surpass that category. But it’s a different story if a player was involved.

If he was a player, or a prospective player, then his so-called proof of innocence would be useless.”Yeah,” Teacher Pan said. ”This person is even more formidable than a player.”

”But isn’t it understandable that he took revenge for his family?” Xiao Ling said. ”Don’t those people deserve to suffer? Even if the dead were innocent, they enjoyed the privileged conditions provided by the criminals, so of course they have to bear the consequences of their crimes. They can’t blame anyone for the retaliation.”

”Has your intelligence not evolved yet?” Sun Bo mocked upon hearing this. ”Collective punishment is a punishment method used by ancient people.”

Xiao Ling scoffed. ”If you’re not convinced, try putting yourself in the Shang descendant’s shoes. Your clansmen died so miserably, not a single one met a good end. Could you sleep peacefully?”

Sun Bo couldn’t refute that and stopped responding.

”Were the bodies of those victims ever found?” Xu Huo asked.

”Only a very small portion were found,” Teacher Pan said. ”After the Shang descendant died, the case became a cold case.”

Xu Huo nodded slightly. After hearing this story, he could basically fill in the last Progress.

The people who went missing in various venues of Museum City mentioned in the game background were the descendants and relatives of the perpetrators, all killed in the Shang descendant’s revenge.

The six progress points were Wax Figure Hall, Insane Prison, Doll Clothing Store, Corpse Hotel, River Styx Ferry, and the final one summarizing the subsequent disappearances.

In truth, just by understanding the story background of Museum City, one could easily guess half of them—Insane Prison, Doll Clothing Store, Wax Figure Hall. As for the bones at River Styx Ferry, since the police hadn’t found any human bones when investigating earlier, the ones now discarded in the waterways definitely weren’t Shang clan members. Most likely, the Shang descendant had faked his death, returned, and dumped the bodies here. Perhaps there were also some idiots who came looking for thrills after Museum City shut down.

The memorial tablets for the victims, the corpses exposed in the water, and the fierce beasts raised underwater—all perfectly matched the mentality of a vengeful avenger.

As for the Corpse Hotel Progress... once you came here, there was no need to guess at all.

Xu Huo glanced at Xiao Ling and Yu Guangnan and said, ”It seems that death by revenge is the most important part of the disappearance mystery.”

[Congratulations to player Passerby for successfully clearing the dungeon ”Sphinx’s Mystery.” Since you successfully obtained story information in the dungeon and also solved the dungeon’s spatial mystery, you have earned an S-rank Superb Evaluation. In addition to this dungeon’s rewards of one Major Characteristic upgrade, one Extended Characteristic upgrade, two C-grade items, twenty potions, and 100,000 White Bills, you will also receive an additional Special Item.]

Setting aside the potion and White Bill rewards, Xu Huo first looked at the upgraded characteristics.

The upgraded Major Characteristic was ”The Power of Writing.”

The primary effect of the characteristic ”The Power of Writing” was that within five seconds of the player making a writing motion with a pen in hand, everyone around them would involuntarily stop what they were doing and fix their gaze on the player. This was a characteristic completely opposite to Passerby’s blurred presence. While its range wasn’t too large and the effect depended on individual circumstances, it had unexpected uses in one-versus-many situations.

However, this trick had very little influence on people with strong self-control, so Xu Huo rarely used it. The upgraded characteristic was renamed:

[The Strength of Writing: Doesn’t a dedicated Passerby deserve a moment in the spotlight? Even a Passerby can do it if they set their mind to it! Pick up a pen, and these five seconds belong to you. Everyone within a hundred-meter range will pay attention to you from any angle, and during these five seconds, you will become the only existence in their field of vision!]

[Please note, prolonged staring doesn’t necessarily generate goodwill; it can also generate hatred—especially when accompanied by the risk of neck fractures.]

This characteristic had changed from ”involuntarily” to a forced effect. For five seconds, no one could look away. This was far more powerful than before the upgrade. Without item avoidance, even high-level players couldn’t evade it.

Of course, one also had to consider the not-insignificant risk of being under the gaze of high-level players.

[Extended Characteristic Upgrade: Stampeding Buffalo → Non-Existent Ferocious Beast]

[Note: A beast’s attack power has its limits. After long-term training, Passerby’s leg techniques have undergone a qualitative leap. Not only can they deliver three times their original limit in kicking force, they have also gained unprecedented jumping power, enough to break any record relying solely on physical fitness for long jump and high jump. Perhaps switching careers to an athlete wouldn’t be a bad choice.]

Xu Huo was very satisfied with this physical characteristic upgrade. In the absence of items, personal physical fitness was the survival ability that guaranteed a fallback.

Next were three items:

[Complete Time: The world is so vast—how do you know how many different ways different places calculate time? Every time you go to a new world and are troubled by time conversion, you’ll know the value of this item. Additionally: It comes with a stellar starting time calibrated to Wormhole Point A1!]

[Targeting Scope: An ordinary targeting scope, but it can target some very strange things.]

[Only-Mind Door: A delusional philosopher Artificer firmly believed that ”I think, therefore I am” was a very practical philosophical principle. But since he was a half-baked philosopher, his understanding of philosophy was also full of confusion. Therefore, he felt that the human heart contained countless worlds—opening the door of the heart, one could go to any world—and thus this door came into being. This Artificer once said that the person who could possess this door must be a soul friend highly aligned with his spirit, so he sincerely invites the item holder to visit C20-001.]

[Note: It can only go to one world per day.]

Xu Huo couldn’t judge whether he was a good philosopher, but the item was certainly a good one—this Special Item was a Spatial Item.