Chapter 429: Liu Xin

Some things in this world are predestined. No matter how hard you try or how much you risk, you can never change them.

Things like birth, or death.

Every seat on the train corresponded to a single person. I looked into the pitch-black carriage at the dark figures with lowered heads. They sat in absolute silence, blind to the scenery passing on either side.

'Does lowering their heads mean they've accepted their fate?' I had always harbored a suspicion, one tied to the Two-Faced Buddha. It involved fate usurpers, and more importantly, the Underworld Live Show.

'Destined by fate, life and death determined by heaven. One person to one seat, from life until death. If this is destiny, then what is my existence?' I was superfluous on this train. Or perhaps even the so-called heavens had never anticipated my presence here. 'Destiny is hard to defy, but it isn't impossible.'

I had boarded the train for a task from the Underworld Live Show. This meant that, with the Underworld Live Show's help, I had broken out of a certain paradigm during this livestream.

I still wasn't qualified to participate in these matters. If the Underworld Live Show, the Two-Faced Buddha, and the karma of the world were chess players, I was nothing more than a pawn in the Underworld Live Show's hand.

Thinking this, I silently lowered my head and sat quietly. 'The livestream task requires me to get off the train alive. If that's the case, I first need to figure out which stations this train will stop at.'

The atmosphere on the train was truly bizarre. If I had any other choice, I wouldn't stay here for another second.

'Will the train stop in Shuangfo District?' The livestream task merely required me to get off the train alive for it to be considered a success. It didn't stipulate how long I had to stay on the train, nor did it tell me to complete any specific mission while aboard.

'That's what I'll do. The moment the train stops, I'll get off immediately. As long as I can avoid the Blood Fox, tonight's livestream will be a complete success.' The idea was wonderful, but I knew full well how incredibly difficult it would be to pull off. Setting aside the question of whether the train would even stop again, simply enduring the time until the next stop wouldn't be easy. Following my arrival, the nearby passengers had all exhibited varying degrees of reactions. Their previously lowered heads were now showing signs of lifting.

"Mr. Lu, why don't you go look for your own seat?" Feng Minglong hesitated, gently nudging me. His face was terrifyingly pale. "You sitting here gives me a bad feeling."

"You think I want to be here? Let's just squeeze together for a bit. Once we reach a station, I'll get off right away," I replied flatly. I tried to keep a low profile, lowering my head so that from a distance, I looked no different from the surrounding passengers.

"I don't think that's a good idea." At that moment, Feng Minglong gave me the exact same vibe as those model students back in school—the ones who would let you copy their homework but were terrified of getting caught by the teacher, squirming and fidgeting like a bashful girl.

I didn't blame him. This train was far from ordinary. No one could predict the consequences of sharing a seat, and the outcome could be extremely severe.

Seeing that I wouldn't budge to save my life, Feng Minglong looked completely helpless. "It's a promise, then."

"Don't worry. As long as I can leave, I won't stick around for an extra second." I gave him an affirmative look.

Half of his body was currently hanging out into the aisle. The otherwise neat passageway suddenly had a bulge where he sat, making him quite conspicuous. "Why don't you scoot a bit further in? I'm way too exposed out here, and it makes me feel really unsafe."

Feng Minglong wore a bitter expression, panic and fear hidden deep in his eyes. Seeing him like that made me feel a little guilty, so I shifted my body further inside.

It was supposed to be one person per seat. With four people suddenly squeezing into a space meant for three, physical contact was inevitable.

As I moved inward, my body bumped into the woman sitting in the middle. Her black hair hung down, and her thighs were plump. Even through her jeans, I could feel a wave of icy coldness.

"Sorry about that," I apologized with my head down. I originally hadn't wanted to encroach on this woman's seat, but Feng Minglong kept squeezing inward. Left with no choice, I had to follow suit, pressing tightly against the woman in the middle and squeezing her even further in.

Perhaps it was the physical movement, or maybe my conversation with Feng Minglong had disturbed her. The woman suddenly lifted her head, as if jolted awake.

Her black hair brushed past her cheek as she lightly tossed it back. She turned her head to look at me. At that very moment, my body was pressed tightly against hers in a highly awkward posture.

"I'm really sorry for bothering you." After saying that, I thought for a moment and added, "My name is Lu Xing. If I can survive tonight, I'll definitely compensate you in the future."

Even as I said that, my body didn't move an inch, remaining glued to the woman's side. "Please forgive me, special circumstances."

The woman raised her head, murmuring the name Lu Xing. She gathered her hair with her hand. Her deathly pale face lacked even a trace of color. "Your name is Lu Xing? Have I met you somewhere before?"

'It couldn't be this coincidental, right? I casually tossed out Lu Xing's name and ended up running into an acquaintance?' I didn't panic. Staring closely at her, I noticed that, aside from her deathly pale complexion, the woman beside me had a very innocent face. She wore glasses and gave off the impression of someone inexperienced with the world; she was probably still a student.

The more I looked, the more familiar she seemed. Just as my staring began to make her uncomfortable, I suddenly recalled this girl's identity.

She was the daughter of the restaurant owner next door to me—Liu Xin, the college student who was supposed to be studying out of town.

'Why is she here?'

Pondering this inwardly, I didn't dare let it show on my face. I casually brushed it off: "I just have an ordinary face. Everyone thinks I look familiar."

"Really?" Liu Xin was half-skeptical. "Then why are you here?"

"I think it'd be more appropriate for me to ask that question, right?" I stared intently at the woman, taking in every change in her expression. My Adult Shop was right next to her old man's restaurant. We would normally run into each other all the time, but due to the special nature of the products my shop sold, the restaurant owner strictly forbade his daughter from having anything to do with me. Later, he even sent her away to study out of town. All told, Liu Xin and I had only met a handful of times, so it was perfectly normal that she couldn't remember me.

Hearing my question, the woman's eyes reddened slightly. She answered honestly, "I was studying out of town, but my counselor suddenly found me tonight and said something happened to my parents. The police wanted me back in Jiangcheng immediately, so I took a night ride back."

"That's it?" I was a bit surprised. "Took a ride? You mean you took this train?"

The girl had no reason to lie to me, but her words were full of holes.

"I don't remember. I fell asleep halfway." She blinked and looked around. "Why aren't there any lights? Is everyone sleeping? What time is it? I didn't miss my stop, did I?"

"You really don't remember anything?" I looked at her suspiciously. "Did anything unusual happen on your way to Jiangcheng?"

Liu Xin shook her head. Compared to that, she was far more concerned about the time. "Hold on, I need to check the time. I'd better not have missed my stop."

Saying that, she pulled out her phone. The screen was shattered, but it could still barely turn on. I stole a sideways glance at it; the time displayed on her phone was 11:10.

"Time really flies. It's already past eleven at night. We should be arriving soon." She put away her phone, not noticing anything amiss.

'The time frozen on Liu Xin's phone is 11:10. The clock on the subway station wall showed 11:11. Why is there a one-minute difference? Both clocks have stopped ticking, so why are they off by a minute?' I was always someone who paid close attention to details. Spotting the issue, I decided to get to the bottom of it. "Miss, think back carefully. Did anything memorable happen along the way? Like, how did you leave your school? And how exactly did you get on this train?"

"Miss? I have to say, your way of hitting on people is terrible." Liu Xin curled her lip, shifting her body slightly toward the homeless man's seat so she wouldn't be pressed quite so tightly against me. "I left the school and took a taxi to the long-distance bus terminal. I had already booked a ticket online."

"Wait a second. If you were going to the long-distance bus terminal, you should have booked a bus ticket. Why are you sitting on a train right now?"

As soon as I asked this, Liu Xin froze. It was as if she had been under the influence of some strange power, deliberately ignoring all these details until I pointed them out. Only then did she start to think: "You're right... I booked a bus ticket. Why am I on a train?"

Seeing the confusion in her eyes, I struck while the iron was hot and pressed on. "Think carefully. What happened after you left school and got into that taxi?"

"I hailed a taxi right outside the school gates. The driver was very chatty, and the ride was perfectly fine. Oh, right! When we passed an intersection, I saw a taxi rear-end someone, which caused a pileup. The passenger in that taxi wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was thrown straight out of the car."

"How do you know she wasn't wearing a seatbelt?"

"I saw it."

"Then did you see what she looked like?" I continued guiding Liu Xin, urging her to keep talking.

"The person sitting inside was a female college student. She had long black hair and wore glasses. At the time, she was on her phone talking to someone. She looked anxious and kept urging the driver to hurry up..." Liu Xin's expression slowly began to change as something in her mind seemed to grow increasingly clear.

"Keep going, don't stop!"

"She was wearing a beige long-sleeved top and light blue jeans. She had put on a new pair of shoes. When she was thrown out of the car, her head hit the ground, smashing open a gash. Just then, another car happened to drive by and ran right over her chest. Her ribs snapped one by one and pierced her flesh, and then I saw blood—so much blood pouring out! That's right! I saw so, so much blood!" Liu Xin's voice grew louder and louder, bordering on hysterical. Even more terrifying was that as she spoke, large patches of blood welled up from her own body, soaking her clothes. A gash three or four centimeters long split open right above her eyebrow, and blood mixed with bone fragments spread across her hideous, terrifying face.