Life Game In Other World
Chapter 408: The Second Victim (Long - Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 408: Chapter 408: The Second Victim (Long Chapter Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

After listening to He Ao’s narration, Jin Ya was stunned for a moment, seemingly lost in a kind of freezing thought process.

After a while, she spoke softly,

"I don’t know if what he said is correct, whether he is sincere, or if he is framing someone. I can’t prove you’re a good person, nor can I prove you’re a bad person. Personally, I would like to believe you."

Her words meant that in the absence of evidence from either side, she would tend to support He Ao.

A somewhat neutral statement.

Of course, He Ao hadn’t expected Jin Ya to support him unconditionally; it was quite obvious that Jin Ya had her own thoughts. Although she seemed a bit spaced out, she was not foolish.

He Ao discussed the clues with Jin Ya a little more, but there was no progress. Their conversation came to a halt when Jin Ya pointed at the steamed buns on the table and asked He Ao, "Can I try this?"

The car maintained a constant temperature, and not much time had passed during their conversation, but the steam coming off the small steamed buns had dissipated quite a bit already.

He Ao reached out and felt the temperature of the steamed buns, "How about we get another basket? This one has gotten a bit cool."

"No need, I just want to try it; I can’t eat that much if it’s too many."

Jin Ya looked at the steamed buns, pondered for a moment, then walked to the serving window.

A little while later, she came back with two forks.

She handed one fork to He Ao.

"Thank you,"

He Ao casually forked a steamed bun and put it into his mouth. The bun hadn’t completely cooled yet and was still somewhat warm, with its texture not much diminished.

As the tender juice burst in his mouth, He Ao gazed out the train window at the dazzling coastline, lost in thought.

Why didn’t the murderer kill this time?

Why was Luo Luo so certain in her trust of him?

Why did Ruoti have to come out so aggressively?

Was Ruoti the murderer?

No, that was too conspicuous; it would draw everyone’s attention. If he really was the murderer, it would be easy for him to be exposed.

But it’s not out of the question that he was doing the opposite.

He Ao frowned slightly.

Why did Ruoti accuse him of being the murderer under the guise of using a prop?

No. He hadn’t outright said who the murderer was. He just said that he knew who had killed Passenger Number Five.

It was just that when he said it, he had hinted by glancing at He Ao.

He Ao walked to the end of the carriage and looked through the observation window at the vast moon outside.

In the context of that moment, normal thinking would lead one to assume that Ruoti accused He Ao of being the murderer.

But what if that statement wasn’t for everyone but was meant for someone specific present there?

That guy seemed impulsive, but he wasn’t stupid.

Still, his actions lacked a reasonable explanation; by doing so, he was effectively revealing himself to the murderer.

Just like He Ao standing out like a sore thumb.

But if his prop could see who the murderer was, then how could he ensure his safety?

Something was still missing.

Something had been overlooked.

He Ao rubbed his temples.

Quiet footsteps sounded from behind.

Luo Luo, returning to the dining car, looked up at He Ao, who was standing at the end of the car deep in thought, and slowly walked to a window, apparently also sinking into contemplation.

By this time, Jin Ya had slowly finished the steamed buns, chewing them carefully. She went to the serving window, ordered a cup of milk, and then walked slowly back to her seat.

During the process, she happened to pass by Luo Luo.

Luo Luo turned to look behind her.

Then she didn’t see Jin Ya’s cheeks; her gaze moved from below upward, only to be blocked midway.

...

She looked down at her own toes.

After hesitating for a moment, she followed Jin Ya and sat down beside her.

"Hmm?"

Jin Ya looked at her with confusion.

"You that..." Luo Luo began in a low voice, then she shifted her gaze from Jin Ya’s chest and shook her head, "I forgot you don’t understand Central Earth language."

"Sigh..."

She sighed, propped her face with her hand, and began to think.

Jin Ya watched her, seemingly not catching on.

Bang—

After a while, Luo Luo noticed a cup of milk had been placed in front of her. She looked up to find Jin Ya smiling at her.

Jin Ya raised her hand, pointed at the milk, made a gesture of holding and drinking from a cup, and then pointed at her own chest, flashing a smile.

...

Jin Ya had guessed what she had been about to say!

Luo Luo’s face turned red, but she still carefully grasped the cup of milk.

"Does it really work..."

She didn’t like drinking milk.

But she still picked up the cup and downed it in one go.

Time passed by, and at last, Jin Ya and Luo Luo both returned to their compartment.

The entire giant dining car was left with only He Ao.

He turned his head to look at the empty milk cup.

Perhaps, someone had already died.

The jarring alarm sound suddenly rang out, He Ao composed himself and slowly walked towards the compartment car.

...

Bang bang—

An extremely soft knock sounded.

Ruoti slowly slid open the compartment door, only to find that there was no one outside. His eyes moved downward, where a carefully folded white object lay quietly in front of his door.

He bent down, picked up the item, and unfolded it layer by layer; inside was a slender piece of paper with bright red printed text on it.

...

He Ao crossed the connecting door and walked back to the compartment car; when he returned, he happened to see Ruoti slowly closing the compartment door.

The two exchanged glances, Ruoti flashed him a provocative smile, then closed the compartment door.

But He Ao’s gaze stayed fixed on Ruoti’s hand—in the hand that wasn’t holding the compartment door, he seemed to be clutching something tightly. It was only slightly visible, resembling part of some white fabric.

Soon, the door to Compartment No. 1 was shut tight, leaving He Ao with nothing but the empty corridor.

He Ao opened the door to his own compartment and went inside.

As he slowly closed the compartment door behind him, darkness once again engulfed everything.

Click—click—

The countdown clock’s second hand ticked away.

——

Far away in Western Lands, the real He Ao sat up in bed, looking out at the bright moonlight.

He picked up his phone and opened the Research Institute’s app; Yang De had just sent him a message,

[The Velora’s next stop is within the territory of Western Lands. Just received information that the World Tree has dispatched two C-level agents to intercept that train; they might succeed. Are you free now?]

The World Tree is a Transcendent organization formed by several strong countries of Western Lands, along with some smaller nations.

He Ao glanced at the time, 5 a.m.

If it weren’t for his clone on the Velora, he would definitely be asleep right now.

Doesn’t Yang De, this workaholic, take into account the domestic time difference?

After a moment of thought, he sent a message back,

[Is the plan confirmed?]

[You’re up this early? The plan is pretty much set; can you be in Westlanka by twelve noon? You can take the Research Institute’s channels to buy a ticket. There seems to be a flight from Western Lands to Westlanka at eight, three and a half hours.]

There was an almost instant reply on the other side.

Westlanka...

He Ao picked up his phone and did a search, which brought up that this was the capital of Wes Republic, a western neighbor of Central Earth.

The country was not wealthy and Westlank was not known for any significant historical events or attractions, it was one of those places with a very low profile.

Xidu indeed had a flight to Westlank, one flight a day, at eight o’clock in the morning.

Fortunately, the Wes Republic had a visa waiver agreement with Central Earth, which allowed people to fly there directly with just a passport.

The drive from He Ao’s place to the airport via the airport expressway took about twenty minutes.

He Ao first replied to Yang De, then contacted the staff at the Research Institute to help him buy a ticket to Westlank.

Although he could afford to buy it himself, that was absolutely not an option, business trips like this had to go through the reimbursement process, as fronting the money was absolutely not allowed.

The plane ticket from Xidu to Westlank was almost six thousand yuan.

Some of the cheaper C-level fugitives weren’t even worth six thousand; that was enough to buy a one-way ticket.

In any case, it was best to get some sleep before heading to work.

——

Click——

Seconds turned into minutes, and as the countdown reached its final hour, a soft sound echoed at the end of the hallway.

The door of stall number one slowly opened, and a gaunt man with a pale face walked out.

He wore a surprisingly joyful expression, as if he had not expected to actually be able to open the compartment door.

His eyes gazed at the hallway devoid of a single gleam of light.

The pitch-black hallway writhed slowly, like a gigantic worm wriggling in the vacuum.

Ruoti took a deep breath, stepped gingerly out of the stall, and set foot onto the hallway.

The hallway was pitch black, and he picked up his nearly out-of-battery phone, turned on the flashlight, and proceeded forward with the dim light it provided.

He clutched tightly the object he had picked up in front of the door.

The moment he set foot on the hallway, taking his first step, the entire passage vibrated silently yet violently.

Immediately after, a blob-like black spherical object fell from the ceiling; it seemed to be a head suspended there.

This black head circled around Ruoti as if sniffing the scent on him.

Ruoti’s already pale cheeks grew even paler as he trembled, taking a sharp breath as if making a significant decision, and continued forward.

The dark head circled him once, and at that moment, Ruoti faintly heard laughter after laughter in his ears.

The laughter was so loud, so intense, but his body reminded him that it was silent around him, with nothing at all.

He walked forward carefully, and gradually, the ceiling’s twisted writhing stopped, and the piercing laughter also faded away.

The horrifying strangeness didn’t attack him, even the writhing hallway became quiet; everything that had just happened seemed like the hallucinations of the walker in the corridor.

He moved past compartment after compartment, crossed the junction between two compartments, and entered the spacious dining car.

What was usually the best-lit dining car was now enveloped in pitch darkness.

In this quiet darkness, it seemed as though shadows were exchanging words, discussing, and whispering among themselves in the dining car.

The entire dining car bustled as if it were a vegetable market in the early morning.

The moment Ruoti stepped into the dining car, all the noise fell silent.

The shadows fell into silence as well.

Ruoti lifted the phone in his hand, the light of the flashlight shining ahead.

Wherever the light shone, there was only emptiness, with silent, unoccupied dining tables that seemed to tell Ruoti, ’There’s nothing here.’

But when Ruoti lowered the flashlight, the silent darkness would be illuminated by ’gazes’ lighting up.

Ruoti could feel those shadows were always watching him, and moreover, they ’were laughing’.

He mustered his courage and took a step forward.

Nothing happened.

The shadows did not attack him.

He hesitated for a moment, joy appeared on his face and he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

He had guessed correctly, that person hadn’t lied to him.

He opened his hand, revealing the tightly gripped white fabric, within which was clutched a blood-red note. Written on the note in Central Earth characters were the words,

[I know your identity. The third hour, hold onto this and go to the dining car.]

The note had been penned in ink as red as fresh blood.

With this object, he could naturally move about the train when darkness descended.

He shone his flashlight, searching carefully in the dining car.

There should be a clue left for him by the other party here.

Ruoti moved past table after table, and finally, next to the discarded steamer basket from his meal, he found another folded white item.

He walked over, set his cellphone flashlight facing upwards on the table, picked up the item, and slowly unfolded it, revealing just a slip of paper with bright red writing on it.

[Look behind you]

As he unfolded the paper, the color of the writing quickly faded as if a magician had cast a spell on it.

Ruoti didn’t notice that the writing on another piece of paper in his hand was also fading quickly.

He spread out the fabric in his hand and slowly turned his head.

Behind him, not far away, stood a vague dark figure, inching closer step by step.

He couldn’t make out the person’s features and turned his head to pick up the cellphone on the table.

But in that brief moment, the black shadow had already closed in behind him.

He picked up the cellphone, turned around, and the light from the cellphone’s flashlight illuminated the face of the person behind him, "Why is it you?"

"So it was you."

A sharp knife pierced the shocked man’s chest.

His mouth was tightly covered, silencing him as endless darkness rushed in, claiming his life.

All expressions froze in that final instant.

His body was gently laid down and the glowing cellphone was crushed under a foot.

Darkness once again enveloped the space.

In the endless dark, a pair of hands slowly picked up the fabric that had fallen on the ground.

The blank piece of paper fluttered with the fabric and fell into the pool of blood.

——

The final countdown hit zero, and brilliant sunlight streamed through the train window into the cramped compartment.

"Ah... yawn... He Ao, leaning against the wall, yawned and slowly sat up from the bed.

This time, as they passed through the tunnel, the murderer hadn’t come for him.

He put his hand on the doorknob, slowly twisting it, and the thin compartment door slowly slid open.

Outside the window was an old city filled with the style of Xidu, as if the train were traveling on a mountain seldom visited by people, offering a view over the entire ancient city cluster.

It seemed like some tourist location.

It was a pity that He Ao had never had the money to travel abroad and never learned about these things.

But he knew the name of this place, Veronica, located in Xidu’s Aroa Republic.

According to the information given by Yang De, the train was supposed to appear here at this time.

"Wow, it’s Princess City."

An exclamation came from beside him, as Lin Chichi excitedly rushed out of the compartment, looking at the ancient city outside the window, "I’ve only seen this city on TV before."

He Ao glanced at the city outside, well-built, very retro, and visually appealing, but it was obvious that many places were too new and too clean.

Conclusion: A modern man-made tourist attraction.

He looked to his left, Lin Chichi had come out, Luo Luo had also come out, and then glanced to his right, Jin Ya had emerged, currently attracted by the city outside the window.

Ruoti hadn’t come out.

...

Unexpected, yet makes sense.

In this moment, He Ao felt that some of the clogs in his head were beginning to clear.

Although new doubts had arisen, he had already vaguely touched upon a clue.

He went over and knocked on the door of compartment one, but there was no response.

At this time, everyone’s attention was drawn to him.

There was nothing behind compartment one.

There was just one place left.

He headed towards the dining car.