Chapter 440: Hanging by a Thread

Lu Ming finished his story quickly, and I finally understood why so many disabled passengers had boarded the train on October 29th.

This was all arranged by Two-Faced Buddha in advance. The so-called Buddha Assembly was nothing more than a premeditated massacre.

From our conversation, I deduced that the natural-born, two-faced buddha child was Lu Xing. Two-Faced Buddha likely orchestrated all this to target the Soul Train. He wanted to deliver Lu Xing safely on board, and the Fate Manipulator Token alone wouldn't have been enough.

'Disabled people have a deficiency in their fate. Was he using these incomplete souls to carve out a spot for a living person? Forcing Lu Xing onto the train?' I had good reason to suspect this. Although Lu Xing and I both had Fate Manipulator Tokens and could board the train, there was one fundamental difference between us.

Lu Xing's name had appeared in the conductor's ledger, but mine had not.

Back at the Shuangfo District stop, I had kicked Lu Xing off the train. He felt like an absolute, undeniable living human being. That meant he wasn't dead, yet his name had appeared on the passenger list of the Death Train. Other than Two-Faced Buddha, I couldn't think of anyone else capable of such a feat of usurping fate.

Defying the natural order inevitably came at a massive cost. These tragically murdered, innocent disabled passengers must have been the sacrifices.

The poor souls thought they had found a faith to shelter them, completely unaware that the very faith they held in their hearts was exactly what wanted them dead.

I looked at Lu Ming as he gradually quieted down, unsure how to comfort him. In the opposite seat, Chang Feifei tried to reach out, but Lu Ming continuously shrank back. It was a heart-wrenching sight.

At that thought, a flash of inspiration struck me. 'A vehicle? Right. I might not know this train's true destination, but that doesn't mean Two-Faced Buddha doesn't either. If this train really reaches the Underworld, then it's the only vehicle I've ever seen capable of traversing between the Yang Realm and the Underworld!'

Following that train of thought, it all clicked. 'Two-Faced Buddha sent Lu Xing onto the train, sacrificing the lives of all these disabled passengers, because he's after something incredibly important. Something that doesn't exist in the Yang Realm—something that can only be found in the Underworld!'

It was only a theory, but the more I thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

'What a massive gamble! Only a Fate Usurper could pull off something this insane.' Even as I marveled at Two-Faced Buddha's audacity, I felt a deep wariness toward the Underworld Live Show. If they had managed to uncover a scheme this secretive, their depths were truly unfathomable.

'Two-Faced Buddha wanted to send Lu Xing to retrieve something crucial, and the Underworld Live Show stepped in to ruin his plan. That means my mission as the Live Show's pawn is already complete. All I have to do now is safely get off this train.' Frankly, I didn't care about Two-Faced Buddha's schemes. He could retrieve whatever he wanted; my only goal was to keep myself alive while these monstrous factions clashed.

'Two-Faced Buddha won't just let this go now that the Underworld Live Show has derailed his setup. Once this livestream is over, I have to be incredibly careful of retaliation coming from Xinhu. Leng Qingxuan from Maoshan has sent me a few gestures of goodwill—maybe I can use that to my advantage.' Taking one step while calculating the next ten, only acting after the board was set—that was one of the reasons I had survived this long.

'I've figured out the gist of it. Now comes the most critical part of the night—escaping this train.' I threw a glance at Old Mrs. Wen. She sat with her eyes closed in rest, entirely disinterested in everything happening around her.

Across the two rows of seats, Lu Ming was still paralyzed by fear. Chang Feifei was consumed with worry, frantically signing with her hands every so often, but no one present paid her any mind.

Aside from me, the only person acting completely calm was the woman sitting in the innermost seat.

I had noticed this woman a few times right from the start. She was far too similar to Lu Xing; half her face was scarred with scabs while the other half was beautiful. Her eyes were bright and lively, forming a stark contrast with the dull passengers around her.

'She also boarded from Shuangfo District on October 29th. Could she be another pawn planted by Two-Faced Buddha?' I kept my guard up around her, though I didn't call her out. After ten livestreams, I was no longer that clueless, third-rate detective. I had dabbled in Buddhism, Daoism, and the Ghost Dao, and I was armed with a myriad of talismans. I could hold my own even against Lu Xing at his absolute peak. Even if she had an ulterior motive, I wasn't afraid.

Taking a step back, even if this woman was Two-Faced Buddha's backup plan, her completing his mission wouldn't harm me directly. The Underworld Live Show was the one that should be nursing a headache over it.

As far as I was concerned, neither the Underworld Live Show nor Two-Faced Buddha were the good guys. Both hid in the shadows of the city, brewing unspeakable schemes. If they could keep each other in check, I was more than happy to see it.

'Scheme all you want; I just want to survive this livestream.' Compared to the assessment trials, the difficulty of the official livestreams had drastically increased, and the scope was no longer confined to Jiangcheng. What worried me most was that while the danger level had spiked, the downtime between livestreams hadn't changed. I still only had three days to recover.

While I was deep in thought, something changed on the train again. A wave of bone-deep chill drifted in from the distance. I shuddered and looked up.

At the connection between the two carriages, the conductor walked back in, supporting Lu Wenchang.

I say 'supporting,' but in reality, more than half of Lu Wenchang's dead weight was slung over the conductor. He looked like a mindless wooden puppet, his legs merely stepping forward in a mechanical stupor.

I slowly narrowed my eyes, masking the sharp glint in my gaze. Lu Wenchang's current state perfectly matched what Wang Shi had described. His consciousness had likely been completely hollowed out.

Seeing her husband reduced to this state, Chang Feifei began whimpering incoherently, her hands waving frantically in the air.

"Sit back down. We're not running a charity shelter here. All of you have to pay the fare to ride," the conductor said, tossing Lu Wenchang into his seat. She didn't leave immediately. Instead, she turned and stood right beside my seat. She didn't say another word, just stood there in eerie silence.

Even with my strong mental fortitude, I felt an immense, suffocating pressure bearing down on me. My thoughts raced.

"Lu Xing, you've been quite active, haven't you?" The conductor's chilling voice felt like it could freeze the blood in my veins. "Get up. Come take a stroll through the other carriages with me."

That last sentence sounded like an absolute death warrant. If I left with her, I might end up exactly like Lu Wenchang. Without a consciousness of my own, what was the difference between living and dying?

"I'm fine staying right here. No need to go to the trouble," I said, forcing a faint smile. I knew the conductor must have dragged some information out of Lu Wenchang. Slipping my right hand deep into my pocket, my fingertips brushed against a talisman I had prepared in advance.

"I think leaving you here is the biggest trouble of all. Get up!" The conductor reached out and clamped her hand onto my shoulder. The last time she grabbed me like this in the October 28th Carriage, I hadn't truly felt her strength. This time, I actively tried to resist, but my body—strengthened by cultivating the Profound Truth Mental Method—was completely powerless against her.

'What a monster.' The conductor wasn't even as tall as me, yet an unbelievable, terrifying physical strength was hidden within her slender frame.

The conductor yanked me out of my seat. The surrounding passengers turned a blind eye, keeping their heads bowed, their faces entirely devoid of expression.

"This carriage doesn't suit you. Come with me," she snarled. Her voice was macabre and terrifying, as if squeezed through clenched teeth.

With the conductor still gripping my shoulder, it was the first time I had been this close to her. I swept my gaze up and down her figure. Beneath the blue uniform, her body was grotesquely deformed and disproportioned. But her face was even more horrifying. Her facial features shifted autonomously, as if each part had a life of its own. Staring into that ghastly, pale face in the pitch-black carriage was deeply unsettling.

'It doesn't feel like this conductor is just one person. It's more like she's a grotesque amalgamation of several people violently mashed together.'

The situation was looking incredibly grim. I clenched the talisman in my pocket, but ultimately decided not to drop all pretenses with her just yet. "Fine. I'll go with you. Which carriage are we heading to this time?"