Chapter 1891: Chapter 1074: Station Chief Takahashi
Following Kato Shinjiro’s recorded route map, they transferred to an electric train and soon arrived at Moguchigawa Station.
This is a station on the Renhe Line, with the next stop being Mirror Bridge Station, the place where the missing Sasaki Sakura was supposed to get off.
On the pillar bulletin board in the transfer passage, Yang Xiao saw a familiar face.
It was Sasaki Sakura. Her missing person’s notice was posted on the bulletin board, the same one that the teammates had brought back not long ago.
"Chu Jun, where do we go next?" Xiao Lin Zhengyan asked respectfully.
Shifting his gaze from the missing person’s notice, Yang Xiao looked towards the platform direction: "The ticket was bought to Renyuan Shrine Station. We’ll take this train to Renyuan Shrine Station and retrace the route Sasaki Sakura took on the night she disappeared."
"Understood." Xiao Lin Zhengyan followed orders completely.
From Moguchigawa Station to Renyuan Shrine Station, there was still a relatively long journey, with Mirror Bridge Station, Nishinagahara Station, Shirohata Station, Old Valley Town Station, Nishimatsubara Station, East Matsubara Station, and Fukagawa Shitamachi Station in between, a total of 7 stations.
Moguchigawa Station is a small station, matching Yang Xiao’s stereotypical impression of remote train stations in Japan. The environment here was visibly dilapidated, with water stains accumulated over years of seepage at the corner of the interchange passage.
The platform was narrow, with two wooden benches placed horizontally. The metal parts connecting the benches to the ground were already rusty.
There were very few people waiting for the train on the entire platform; counting Yang Xiao’s group of four, there were only 9 people.
It’s worth noting that it wasn’t late at night; it was already 10 in the morning.
Soon, a train slowly approached. Yang Xiao borrowed Xiao Lin Zhengyan’s phone to check the time; it had been 10 minutes since they started waiting on the platform.
Before coming, they had learned from their teammates that the Renhe Line was an old line, opened decades ago. The train that slowly stopped in front of Yang Xiao had clearly undergone at least one round of refurbishing. The model was old, but its exterior and interior were relatively new.
The four of them boarded the same carriage, with Yang Xiao and Xiao Lin Zhengyan in one group, and Takagi Reina with Yamamoto Chunai in the other. The arrangement allowed them to maximize their field of view without leaving blind spots.
The carriage originally had only two people: a man in his early thirties wearing a slightly wrinkled suit, with a neatly tied tie but unbuttoned at the collar, giving his pale face an even more pronounced look of dark circles.
The woman appeared to be about 25 years old, dressed in a light gray commuter jacket paired with a simple knit top and a knee-length skirt, carrying a practical tote bag on her shoulder. Despite her delicate makeup, fatigue was evident.
Both of them ignored Yang Xiao’s group of four. Just as Yang Xiao instinctively wanted to continue observing, he was quietly interrupted by Takagi Reina sitting across from him, "Don’t stare at people; it’s impolite. Japanese people are quite reserved and don’t like being overly scrutinized, especially by strangers."
Admittedly, Yang Xiao’s knowledge of Japan mostly came from action films.
Unlike most, he didn’t seek excitement but critically analyzed these works.
This train had six carriages, and Yang Xiao and the others were in the fourth.
Yang Xiao looked through the doors connecting the carriages to observe adjacent ones and found there were very few people on the train. He estimated that there were no more than 30 passengers on the entire train at the moment.
Quickly, the train slowed and stopped. The next stop was Jing Bridge Station. Yang Xiao’s group did not get off, but two more people boarded: an old man with a cloth bag and a middle-aged man. They both found seats and sat quietly without making eye contact with Yang Xiao.
Next was Nishinagahara Station, then Shirohata. Upon reaching Shirohata Station, Yang Xiao’s group got off the train, as this was where Sasaki Sakura mistakenly thought she was supposed to disembark.
Compared to Moguchigawa Station, Shirohata Station was noticeably larger. Here, Yang Xiao found more missing persons’ notices, including those of Sasaki Sakura and others.
Elderly people, middle-aged people, office workers, students... Missing persons’ notices piled one on top of another, totaling over 20 from a rough count. This immediately raised Yang Xiao’s vigilance.
At the same time, Takagi Reina, who was examining the notices, noticed that their time span was quite broad, with the oldest two at the bottom exceeding ten years and their edges yellowing and hardening.
"Excuse me, do you need any help?" A male staff member in uniform approached, wearing a hat and white gloves with a professional but slightly distant smile.
"Why are there so many missing persons’ notices here? Did something terrible happen nearby?" Takagi Reina feigned curiosity.
"Not really. These are posted by the families of the missing persons themselves. At Shirohata Station, we have a tradition of retaining such notices to offer a bit of solace to the families," the staff member explained in detail.
"Some of the people in these notices didn’t go missing here, and some have even been found, but the notices haven’t been taken down yet," the male staff added thoroughly.
"May I ask if there’s a tunnel between Shirohata Station and Old Valley Town Station?" Yang Xiao inquired.
"Yes, there is a mountain tunnel, the Youjian Mountain Tunnel," the staff member replied with a smile.
