Chapter 441: Seeing Death

"Why ask so many questions? What good will it do you to know?" The conductor's tone carried a hint of mockery. "A few little bugs have sneaked onto this train, but it doesn't matter. I'll clear them out one by one."

My heart pounded wildly. It wasn't just me; the conductor had probably noticed Old Mrs. Wen and Wang Shi too.

'How did she find out?' I was certain I had been perfectly discreet. 'She might just be bluffing. I can't lose my nerve before the very last moment. Steady.'

I quickly regained my composure and smiled. "We'll go wherever you say. I was just asking casually."

Seeing how calm I was, the conductor stared at me with her crooked eyes for a good while. "Lu Xing, you're quite interesting. I'll remember your name."

She led me out of the October 29th Carriage. Just as we reached the connection between the two cars, the train suddenly jolted violently, and its speed gradually began to drop.

"We're almost at the station?" The conductor pulled out her Yellow Leather Notebook and glanced at it. "Consider yourself lucky. Go back to your seat for now. I'll come find you later."

It was a moment of willow trees dark and flowers bright. I breathed a sigh of relief, immediately turning around to sit back down in my seat.

The few seated passengers reacted differently to my return. Chang Feifei gestured to me in sign language, asking about her husband and child, and the Double-Faced Woman sitting furthest inside shot me a surprised look. What surprised me most, though, was Old Lady Wen Shuang. She opened her milky-white eyes, swept her gaze toward me, coughed twice, and said quietly, "After this stop, the next station is the Land God Temple."

Her words set my thoughts racing. 'I just need to survive one more stop to get off the train, but I don't know if the conductor will give me the chance.'

I looked down the aisle. Almost as if on purpose, the conductor was standing right between the two carriages, flipping through her Yellow Leather Notebook with her back to me, as though she wasn't the least bit afraid I might run.

'Lu Wenchang lost his mind completely after leaving with the conductor. Everything Wang Shi said must be true. This train is too bizarre—I can't just leave myself at her mercy.' Thinking that didn't mean I actually had the power to fight back. Right now, the strongest talisman I had on me was the Great Divine Mantra of the Big Dipper. Unfortunately, the train was running through a tunnel; with no starlight around and the Big Dipper completely out of sight, the talisman's power was severely limited. As for using the Yin-Yang Ghost Art or letting out the three wild ghosts inside my Ghost Ring, I didn't even consider it. If my guess was right and everyone on this train was dead, she had to have ways of dealing specifically with ghosts and the dead. If I let the Desire Ghost and the others out, they would probably be suppressed the moment they appeared.

'What else do I have on me that could threaten the conductor? Talismans? Buddhist scriptures?' I considered a few options, only to rule them out one by one. 'Wang Shi mentioned that he knew one of the conductor's weaknesses, something that could stall her for a while. It looks like I'll have to work with him if I want to get off this train smoothly.'

Given Wang Shi's personality, he probably wouldn't lie to me about something this crucial. Besides, he had been on this train far longer than I had and knew much more than I did. 'That guy is full of dirty tricks. He's definitely still hiding things from me, but our goals align. Cooperating is a win-win.'

Just as I made up my mind, the scenery outside the train changed drastically. The view opened up, and I could faintly make out black mountain ranges in the distance.

'What's going on? Hasn't this train been underground the whole time? How did it come out of the tunnel?' The view outside had changed, but my seat was far from the window, so I couldn't see clearly. 'Am I underground right now, or above ground?'

Jiangcheng and Xinhu both bordered the rolling peaks of Henshan, which looked somewhat similar to the colossal black silhouettes before me.

'I've never heard of a railway running into Henshan. But if we're still underground, isn't this a bit too unbelievable?' Unable to contain my curiosity, I stood up and walked over to the Double-Faced Woman. "Mind if I squeeze in to take a look outside?"

The woman didn't speak. She just nodded and drew her legs together to one side, making room for me.

"Thanks." I leaned close to the window and used my Judging Eye to peer outside. Mountain peaks towered one after another in the darkness, but beyond that, there was nothing else to see.

Unwilling to give up, I looked up at the sky. It was just as pitch-black, as if painted with ink, with neither moon nor stars in sight. 'Those can't be dark clouds. Clouds roll with the wind, but the sky here looks like a solid slab of inkstone.'

'Could I really be underground? When I look up, am I looking at a high rock wall instead of the sky?'

I quickly dismissed the thought—not because I found any proof to the contrary, but simply because it was too bizarre. Even I didn't dare believe it.

'I never thought there'd come a day when I couldn't tell whether I was above or below ground. Still, I really do need to explore what lies beneath Jiangcheng at some point.' A thousand-year feng shui grand formation, countless urban legends of the strange, a flood dragon suppressed beneath the city—all of it pointed to an enormous secret hidden under Jiangcheng.

"Are you done looking?" It was the woman sitting furthest inside who spoke. She seemed to despise having strangers get close to her.

"Sorry for the intrusion." To my surprise, the woman had a lovely voice, as clear as spring water. It was just a pity that the scarred half of her face was so frightening to look at.

I retreated to my seat. By this time, the train had come to a complete halt. New passengers boarded, and the empty seats in the October 29th Carriage dwindled.

I grew increasingly restless. Once the train started moving again, the conductor would probably come take me away. I had less and less time left.

'Now is when things are most chaotic. Maybe I can blend in with the passengers and slip away.' I glanced toward the junction between the carriages. Passengers were boarding in an orderly fashion, and the conductor stood dutifully by the door with her Yellow Leather Notebook, her attention fixed entirely on them.

'This is my chance!' I lowered my head and thought it through carefully. 'The train carriages are numbered by date. The conductor is blocking the way between the October 28th Carriage and the October 29th Carriage—I'll definitely be spotted if I try to go through there.'

I turned to look toward the rear of the October 29th Carriage. 'I wonder if this train has an October 30th Carriage?'

If the carriages were divided by date of death, the October 30th Carriage shouldn't exist; after all, that day hadn't arrived yet. But I had no other choice right now. All I could do was try.

While the conductor wasn't looking, I stood up and hurried lightly toward the rear of the October 29th Carriage.

Most of the seats on either side were empty, and the one or two figures I did see looked especially eerie.

'I'm here!' Running at full speed, I quickly reached the back row of the October 29th Carriage. There were no passengers here. Compared to the earlier carriages, the only difference was that the door at the junction between cars was tightly shut.

I pushed against it a few times. The lock was loose and hadn't been fully secured. I grabbed the handle, pressed down hard, and then threw my whole weight against the iron door.

Bang! The iron door burst open, shaking loose a shower of rust from its hinges. With no time to care about anything else or take a closer look, I slipped into the connecting passage between the two carriages.

'No one's here?' I kicked frantically at the train's outer door, even striking it with Crushing Fist, but to no avail.

After a dozen seconds, I finally gave up. 'It's no use. They wouldn't leave such an obvious loophole.'

Dejected, my face ashen, I leaned against the carriage wall as my gaze fell on the October 30th Carriage.

'October 30th hasn't arrived yet. What will happen if I go inside this carriage?' The moment this thought arose, it grew wildly like weeds.

I thought about it carefully. 'When I rammed the door open just now, a lot of rust fell off the hinges. That means the door connecting the October 29th Carriage to the October 30th Carriage is rarely opened. If I hide inside the October 30th Carriage, I might just be able to avoid the conductor's search.'

It was a crazy idea. I stood up straight, grabbed the door handle of the October 30th Carriage, and jiggled it a few times.

'It's locked, but not bolted shut. I can try opening it another way.' As I searched my pockets for something to pick the lock with, I looked up through the small window set into the middle of the iron door and peered into the October 30th Carriage.

'October 30th hasn't come yet. There shouldn't be any passengers inside.' I looked in through the window. Rows of empty seats lined the deserted October 30th Carriage, yet in the entire car, a lone passenger sat all alone in one of the seats!

'Why do they look a little familiar?'

As I stared, my scalp suddenly went numb, and an unprecedented chill swept through my body. That solitary passenger sitting in the October 30th Carriage of the Death Train... was me!