Chapter 439: Killing My Faith

Wang Shi's words had successfully piqued my interest. "Things? How could a person turn into a thing?"

"The difference between a human and an animal lies in our capacity for complex emotion, and the difference between a human and an object lies in free will. If both are completely erased, what does a person become?" Wang Shi stared straight at me, then pointed to the adjacent bed. "Lift the white cloth and see for yourself. That guy boarded the train with me, but his luck wasn't so good."

Still suspicious, I lifted the white cloth on the bed. Beneath it lay a half-dead man.

I say that because his eyes were still moving. His face maintained a fixed expression, but his gaze held absolutely no emotion. It was as if he had lost his soul, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell.

"If you have a knife on you, why don't you try stabbing him a couple of times?" Wang Shi suggested maliciously.

"Stab him? Why? Have they lost their sense of pain? Have you tried it?" I stared suspiciously at Wang Shi, unsure what he was trying to prove.

"I don't have a knife on me, but I have teeth. To test it, I bit his arm. I nearly tore off a chunk of flesh, yet he didn't react at all."

"Like he's in a vegetative state?" I looked at Wang Shi. This lunatic had actually bitten another passenger just to verify his theory. He really was crazy.

"It's different from a vegetative state. Vegetative patients can't cry or laugh, and they've lost all their senses. But look at him. His eyes are wide open, and they can still move, yet there isn't the slightest trace of human emotion in his gaze. This condition is unique. He's like a 'monster' who can only manage to breathe, swallow, and digest food. Put another way, he's just a human-shaped shell missing its most crucial component: a soul." Wang Shi appeared remarkably calm, leaning back against a bed as his gaze shifted from bunk to bunk. "Every human behavior has a purpose. Even if a psychopathic killer murders at random, it fulfills a psychological need. Judging from this, the master of this train must be harvesting the souls of the living."

After speaking, he shook his head. "It's only a guess. After all, the idea of souls is ridiculous. I used to be a staunch atheist."

Wang Shi had just revealed another crucial point: the conductor on this train was randomly taking passengers away, erasing their wills, and turning them into blank, empty shells.

"No, I need to get back to my seat immediately. Delaying any longer is asking for trouble. If the conductor discovers me, she'll likely target me." Last time, a homeless man had stepped in to shield me from disaster, but I probably wouldn't be so lucky a second time.

Steeling my resolve, I dragged Lu Ming out from under the bed, covered his mouth, scooped him into my arms, and stood up.

"Wait. I gave you a wealth of information, and you're just going to leave?" Wang Shi blocked my path. Our interests merely happened to align, forming a fragile, temporary alliance.

"What else do you want?"

"At the very least, you should share what you know so I can be somewhat prepared." Wang Shi's meaning was clear: we were supposedly cooperating, so how could only one side contribute?

"You absolutely must not leave your carriage. It's best not to even leave your seat, otherwise you'll be targeted by the conductor." I spoke rapidly. "Also, some stations on this train allow passengers to get off. Remember this: the first station where you can disembark is called Land God Temple, so be ready. If the situation changes, I'll come let you know."

I tried to leave, but Wang Shi was relentless. "Number Twelve, let's not pretend there's any trust between us. I don't believe for a second that you'd risk your life to come warn me. How about this: we use this child as a bargaining chip. Let him stay with me. When the time comes, you fetch me, and we all get off together. As compensation, I'll give you one more crucial clue."

"What clue?" That old fox Wang Shi had actually held something back. I hadn't expected that.

"The conductor has a weakness. If exploited properly, it can delay her for at least ten seconds."

The conductor's weakness was certainly tempting, but I wanted information about the Two-Faced Buddha even more.

Despite all the interruptions, the root of the matter still lay with Lu Ming. The memory of his final seconds before death was immensely valuable to me.

"Wang Shi, I might already know what you know. If you thought you could use that to bargain with me, you miscalculated. I'm taking the boy." I checked both directions. Not spotting the conductor, I adjusted my grip on Lu Ming and quickly walked away.

Lu Ming was also emitting that foul stench, but as we drew closer to the October 29th Carriage, the smell grew fainter and fainter.

I sprinted the rest of the way. Upon entering the October 29th Carriage, the corpse stench on Lu Ming completely dissipated.

"What is the deal with this smell? If a passenger died in the October 29th Carriage, why would they emit the stench of a corpse when they enter other carriages? The farther they get from their own carriage, the stronger the smell becomes. Why?" I placed Lu Ming on the seat, taking a few deep breaths to calm myself.

Opposite us, Chang Feifei was frantically gesturing in sign language. I could guess what she meant—she was asking why Lu Wenchang hadn't returned. But how was I supposed to explain that to her right now?

Left with no better option, I casually deflected, "Lu Wenchang was taken away by the conductor. Don't worry, he should be back soon."

Chang Feifei looked skeptical. She wanted to go out and search for him, but she also felt it wasn't safe to leave Lu Ming here alone, so she had no choice but to drop the matter.

The situation stabilized for the moment. I looked down at Lu Ming sitting beside me. The fear in the little guy's eyes had yet to dissipate. I hadn't wanted to traumatize him any further, but since this involved the secret of the Two-Faced Buddha, I couldn't afford to be soft-hearted.

Turning my head, I lowered my voice, trying to keep it to a volume that only Lu Ming and I could hear.

"Little guy, tell me what you saw at the very end. As long as you don't lie, I'll take you away from here."

Lu Ming turned a deaf ear, just sitting silently on the seat. His pitiful appearance made Chang Feifei's heart ache.

"Ignoring me? Was the offer not tempting enough?" I frowned. For a child, parents were always their greatest source of security. Earlier, Lu Ming had screamed that the Lu Wenchang and Chang Feifei in front of him weren't his parents. Where were his real parents, then?

At that thought, I changed my strategy. "Kid, tell me what happened in the final moments of your memory, and I'll take you to find your real parents."

That got a reaction. Lu Ming jolted his head up, staring at me with wide eyes. "Really?"

I nodded, and only then did Lu Ming start to babble incoherently: "They broke apart, Mom and Dad broke apart! People were pushing and shoving like crazy. Mom held me, and we got trampled by so many people. It was all blood in front of my eyes, just a massive patch of red..."

"Don't panic. Tell me slowly, from beginning to end, so I can help you." I patted Lu Ming's shoulder to reassure him.

A minute or two later, Lu Ming finally calmed down enough to speak with some basic logic. "At nine-thirty at night, my dad took our whole family to attend the Buddha Assembly. I fell asleep in the middle of it. When I woke up, I didn't know what time it was, but I saw that everyone around me was disabled, just like me. Everyone was moving in the same direction. Leading the group at the very front was a weirdo in a baseball cap."

"A weirdo?"

"Yeah. He had two faces. The left half was covered in scars like crocodile skin, and the right half was perfectly smooth, like a freshly peeled lychee."

Hearing Lu Ming's description, a name immediately flashed through my mind: 'Lu Xing!'

"My dad said that person was the buddha child. Everyone followed him to watch the buddha light manifest. Later, he led us into the basement of some high-rise building, and we just kept walking downward." The fear in Lu Ming's eyes resurfaced. "Then we heard the people who had gone down first screaming about ghosts and things, and they came scrambling back up. The people above wanted to go down, and the people below wanted to come up. The crowd crushed together, and people kept tripping and falling."

"Were there really ghosts down there?"

"I don't know. I didn't know anything. I just saw Mom fall while holding me, and people kept stepping on our bodies to climb up. Their faces were completely terrified—they looked even scarier than ghosts."