Zhang Kui let out a smug, muffled laugh.
“A fool really is a fool. Out of those three, one of them is Bai Liu. His panel stats are garbage—there’s no way his movement speed can match the puppet players under my control. He physically can’t search the train faster than you lot.”
“As for Mu Shicheng, sure, he’s fast. But his intelligence isn’t on Bai Liu’s level. When it comes to searching for things, he can’t compete with someone like me, someone who has both intelligence and manpower.” Zhang Kui sneered. “Unless those two decide to cooperate, I’ll definitely be the fastest player searching the train.”
“But they’ll never cooperate.”
The smile painted across Zhang Kui’s puppet-like face gradually turned vicious.
He casually kicked one of the puppets kneeling before him. The player immediately collapsed to the floor with a loud thud before scrambling back into a kneeling position, head lowered submissively.
Zhang Kui lazily stepped onto the puppet’s back and bent down slightly, smiling near his ear.
“Don’t you agree, Liu Huai? Mu Shicheng’s old friend?”
The player named Liu «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» Huai remained silent.
His body trembled faintly like carved wood rattling in the wind.
“When I heard Mu Shicheng entered this game, I specifically brought you along.” Zhang Kui chuckled darkly. “He probably never imagined you’d end up as one of my puppet players.”
“Back then, he almost became my puppet because of your betrayal. But Mu Shicheng was tougher than I expected. Even after his mental value dropped to 18, he still managed to stay conscious. He forced himself into a Berserk state, killed four of my puppets, and escaped.”
At this point, Zhang Kui’s expression darkened slightly.
“I lost so many puppet players that I had no choice but to turn you into a replacement.”
He patted Liu Huai’s face lightly.
“But being my puppet isn’t such a bad job, right? I’m sure you’re very happy here.”
Cold sweat streamed continuously down Liu Huai’s stiff face, but he didn’t dare utter a single word.
“If we run into Mu Shicheng later, perform well for me,” Zhang Kui continued lazily. “Disturb his emotions a little. Understand?”
“If you let him escape again...” Zhang Kui smiled. “What’s waiting for you afterward won’t be a ‘good job’ like this one.”
Liu Huai’s trembling became even more obvious.
Zhang Kui quickly lost interest in tormenting him and straightened back up.
“Mu Shicheng is the type who refuses to cooperate with anyone. Especially not someone like Bai Liu, who obviously has ulterior motives.” Zhang Kui crossed his arms. “Even if Bai Liu wanted to cooperate sincerely, Mu Shicheng would never trust him completely.”
“So whether they split up or work together, neither option is faster than me.”
Zhang Kui raised a finger.
“And yet we’ve already searched nearly half the train without finding a single mirror fragment.”
He slowly raised a second finger.
“There are only two possible explanations.”
“First—the shattered mirror pieces this broken game wants us to collect aren’t actually on the train.”
“And second...” Zhang Kui narrowed his eyes meaningfully. “There are seven players in this game.”
“Mu Shicheng and Bai Liu make two. Me plus the three puppets makes six.”
“That leaves one final player slot.”
“If the last player who entered the game happens to possess an ability that lets them locate every mirror fragment before we can...” Zhang Kui’s smile deepened. “Then that’s also possible.”
Li Gou cautiously raised his head despite his fear.
“But Master...” he asked hesitantly, “we already searched half the train at full speed. Even if the fragments are in the remaining carriages, it shouldn’t be possible for one player to gather all of them that quickly, right?”
“How is that impossible?”
The moment Zhang Kui mentioned that person, his jaw tightened slightly.
“If the last player is Du Sanying,” he said darkly, “then even if all the fragments magically appeared right in front of him, I wouldn’t find that strange at all.”
——————
Bai Liu glanced back at Du Sanying from the corner of his eye.
Du Sanying was painstakingly checking each row of seats with a conflicted expression on his face. Despite following Bai Liu and Mu Shicheng through two entire carriages already, he still hadn’t found a single mirror fragment.
“That shouldn’t be possible...” Du Sanying muttered under his breath.
He genuinely couldn’t understand it.
Collection-type games were usually where he performed best. Yet this time, after searching for so long, he still hadn’t found anything at all.
Du Sanying adjusted his glasses and opened his game panel again to double-check his luck stat.
100%.
Seeing the number still there only deepened his confusion.
...How could this happen?
A 100% luck stat should’ve made finding items absurdly easy.
And more importantly, Du Sanying had an extremely strong intuition that following Bai Liu would absolutely lead to a successful clear.
Although staying near Bai Liu also filled him with a strange sense of danger that made his skin crawl, Du Sanying trusted his instincts completely.
If his intuition told him that following Bai Liu would let him clear the game safely, then it had to be true.
After noticing Du Sanying checking his panel again, Bai Liu calmly withdrew his gaze and turned toward Mu Shicheng.
“There are no shattered mirror pieces inside the train,” he said decisively.
Mu Shicheng had already given up trying to follow Bai Liu’s thought process on his own.
“Why?” he asked directly.
“If the fragments were inside the train,” Bai Liu replied calmly, “then Du Sanying would’ve found them already.”
Mu Shicheng raised an eyebrow.
“You’re forgetting there’s also the Puppet Master,” he pointed out. “Du Sanying might have insane luck, but Zhang Kui has four people working under him. Those puppet players move fast. It’s entirely possible they already found the fragments before we got here.”
“Unlikely.” Bai Liu shook his head.
“First, there’s the advantage you already mentioned—Du Sanying’s luck is overwhelmingly effective in collection games like this.”
“Second...” Bai Liu continued evenly, “if the Puppet Master had already confirmed the game’s clearing condition, he would most likely be hunting us down by now.”
“We’ve passed through this many carriages without encountering them once. That means they’re deliberately avoiding conflict.”
Bai Liu looked ahead calmly.
“That doesn’t resemble the behavior of someone who’s already secured the objective.”
Mu Shicheng crossed his arms and let out a mocking laugh.
“You smart bastards really do think alike.”
“I don’t approve of his methods,” Bai Liu corrected calmly. “If I need someone’s cooperation, I’ll make them cooperate willingly.”
“Like our current partnership?” Mu Shicheng laughed dryly. “Bai Liu, verbal agreements without guarantees aren’t exactly reliable.”
“This is a financial transaction,” Bai Liu corrected again with a faint smile. “You still owe me one point, Mu Shicheng.”
Mu Shicheng scoffed twice but didn’t continue arguing.
“Fine. Then if the fragments aren’t inside the train, where are they?” he asked impatiently. “Outside? In the subway stations?”
“Are we supposed to wait until the train stops and search the stations instead?”
Bai Liu rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Actually, I don’t think the fragments are in the subway stations either.”
Mu Shicheng threw up his hands.
“They’re not on the train, and they’re not in the stations? The map only has this much space. So where the hell do you think they are?”
Before Bai Liu could answer, the train suddenly slowed to a halt.
A mechanical female voice echoed through the carriage.
“Arriving at [Mirror Museum Station]. Passengers disembarking at this station, please exit in an orderly manner. Passengers boarding at this station, please board in an orderly manner...”
The train doors slowly slid open.
The moment Mu Shicheng and Du Sanying saw what lay outside, their expressions changed instantly.
Only Bai Liu remained calm, as though he’d expected this from the start.
The subway platform beyond the doors was packed with charred corpses.
Some had melted eye sockets burned hollow by the fire. Others were scorched beyond recognition, their limbs shriveled black while exposed teeth protruded grotesquely from ruined flesh.
And yet—
Every corpse still maintained the posture it had held in life.
One body remained frozen in the act of checking a wristwatch, even though the watch itself had long since melted into a lump of blackened metal.
The burned passengers densely filled the station platform.
The instant the doors opened, every corpse raised its head simultaneously.
Empty black eye sockets locked onto Bai Liu’s group inside the train.
Du Sanying immediately sucked in a sharp breath and backed against the train window.
The station itself was equally horrific. Thick black burn marks covered every surface, and the stench of roasted human flesh hung so heavily in the air it made breathing difficult.
Du Sanying weakly tugged at Bai Liu’s sleeve from behind him.
“B-Bai Liu...” he whispered shakily. “Is this another opening animation? They’re not actually going to attack us... right?”
“I probably wouldn’t design two identical opening sequences in the same game.” Bai Liu sounded perfectly calm. “That would be boring.”
Du Sanying’s face turned even paler.
The overwhelming sense of danger made every instinct in his body scream at him to run.
But the moment he considered leaving Bai Liu’s side, another terrifying intuition surfaced immediately—
If he walked away now, he would most likely die.
Caught between those two instincts, Du Sanying felt trapped.
Almost tearfully, he asked:
“Then... if it were you, how would you design this part?”
“If it were me...” Bai Liu answered casually while opening his system inventory and searching for something. Only after locating the item he wanted did he continue speaking.
“I’d probably design a high-risk train chase sequence.”
He smiled faintly.
“Adds excitement to the opening section.”
Mu Shicheng immediately understood what Bai Liu meant.
He looked toward the charred corpses outside the train and cursed under his breath.
A chase was about to begin.
