Volume 1, Chapter 22: Do Not Make a Sound

"What! Twelve hours have already passed?"

Time always seems to fly when you're on your phone. Scrolling through short videos and sending messages—that’s how the time simply slipped away. Qin Shang had spent quite a bit of that time browsing the official player forum for the "God’s Path," absorbing a wealth of free content.

He had dedicated two or three hours just to the leisure and entertainment section, trying to understand what "pollution sources" and "polluted instances" were, and silently digesting that information. Yet, facing the second round of the Death Train, Qin Shang was still filled with dread. Truth be told, those few hours hadn't yielded any particularly useful leads. Even with "Ail’s Letter" in his possession, he still had no idea what exactly had happened on Train No. 3 to cause every passenger to vanish.

"Sigh, what must come will come!"

Qin Shang pursed his lips, his expression grim. Then, his vision blurred, and his consciousness felt as if it were riding a roller coaster. The cream-colored walls of his bedroom began to ripple like water. A moment later, the bright bedroom vanished, replaced by a world of dark, iron train cars and the rhythmic *clack-clack* of wheels rolling over tracks.

The moment his senses returned, the smell of rot and mildew hit his nostrils again. He squinted—it was his second time entering a God’s Path instance. After adjusting, he scanned his surroundings and his expression tightened. He was lying flat on a sleeper berth; outside was a small sliding door, followed by a narrow corridor barely wide enough for one person.

The lighting was dim, but there were no newspapers covering the windows of this carriage. Outside, a thick, eerie fog hung in the air, pitch-black and chilling, with the moonlight too sparse to even reveal the shape of the moon. For some reason, icy drafts drifted from somewhere within the sleeper cabin, sapping the warmth from his body. In such an environment, shifting temperatures easily influenced a person’s emotions. Fear began to creep back into his heart.

*Thud. Thud. Thud.*

Just then, steady but slow footsteps echoed from the corridor outside. Qin Shang’s pupils constricted.

"Who is it?"

Was it "Eagle of Justice," "Kind Sister," "Buddha Favors the Fated," or "Grandpa Cow Cosplaying as a Maid to Seduce Strongman’s Mom"? No, it couldn't be any of the four of them!

*Thud—thud—thud.*

These didn't sound like human footsteps at all. They were heavy, dense, and rhythmic, like sandbags filled with lead slamming against an iron plate.

*Thud—thud—thud.*

Each step felt like a hammer blow to his heart, deepening his terror. The next moment, Qin Shang could clearly sense that the owner of those heavy footsteps had stopped. His heart felt as though it were about to burst from his chest; hiding on the berth, he could almost hear his own heartbeat. Judging by the sound, the person had stopped at the neighboring berth.

What was it going to do!? Was this the "thing" mentioned in Mary’s letter? Qin Shang held his breath, terrified that the sound of his breathing would be detected by whatever was next door. And then...

*Thud, thud, thud!*

The sound of knocking followed immediately. Qin Shang’s eyes widened, his heart lodged in his throat, a chill piercing from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

Knocking!? Wasn't this exactly what he had read in the diary? Was it... Captain Jack, patrolling at night?

"Polluted instances contain many uncontrollable variables!" That was the conclusion he had reached after spending the whole afternoon reading posts in the entertainment section.

The next moment, Qin Shang’s heart sank. The knocking from the room next door grew louder and more violent. Then, he heard a gunshot: *Bang!*

The sound of wood splintering echoed, and the heavy footsteps resumed, seemingly entering the room next door. Qin Shang scrambled off the bed. In such an environment, remembering the few hints provided by the instance was the key to survival. The God’s Path would never let players enter just to die in vain; the hints must contain the clues to clearing the instance.

*Calm down! I must stay calm!*

Even if an exploration mission involved uncontrollable, eerie factors, the essence of the [Death Train] instance remained an exploration task. Hiding here offered no hope of a breakthrough; the key to clearing it had to be hidden in Carriage No. 3.

Just as he was about to move, a weak, trembling voice of a little girl sounded nearby.

"Brother..."

Before she could finish, Qin Shang’s eyes widened. *How did this little thing get into this carriage?* he thought. He moved with lightning speed, not caring how she had appeared on the berth next to him, and slammed his hand over her mouth.

Back in the experience, Qin Shang finally understood why Carriage No. 2 had been filled with Hello Kitties during the first round. That, too, was a clue...

Hello Kitty has no mouth!

In the background story, after the passengers entered the tunnel in Carriage No. 2, some were murdered because Jack’s persona had awakened, leading to the indiscriminate slaughter of passengers. However, Jack was neither a priest nor a God’s Path player. The characters in this background story couldn't possibly possess "Night Vision." In other words, he killed in the tunnel by relying on sound!

That was why Carriage No. 2 was filled with Hello Kitties; the dolls themselves were a hint. After returning to reality, Qin Shang had used his phone to search for information about Hello Kitty. Kitty Cat was born in 1974, and the 1870s were over a century prior. Logically, it was an item that shouldn't exist in the instance’s world. It didn't match the background story...

"Pollution sources can pollute instances, and the God’s Path can adjust clues within them. They use these clues to convey new information to counter potential crises. That’s why those foul-smelling Kitty dolls were there. Those Kitty cats were the God’s Path’s hint to the players!"

Cartoon cats without mouths had almost become a standard feature. This indirectly signaled to the players that during the Carriage No. 2 round, the way the "God-Slayer" killed in the tunnel was by imitating the background story: using sound to judge the players' locations.

Calling out numbers was clearly a fatal mistake!

In the tunnel, Jack’s method of killing was to judge the players' locations by sound. Here, it was nightfall—the time when the Jack persona awakened. No wonder there were no newspapers!

Meanwhile, in the midst of this desperate situation, Qin Shang’s brain raced frantically. No wonder the previous carriages had been half-covered in newspapers. Based on the two diaries of the split-personality patient, it wasn't hard to deduce that the persona active during the day was Mary, and the one at night was Jack. As long as it was daytime and natural light could shine in, it was Mary’s persona...

That was why, in the background story of Carriage No. 2, even after exiting the tunnel, the Mary persona had suggested holding hands and calling out numbers. It still couldn't lead everyone to safety because the person who suggested it was the murderer himself.

Without another thought, he hauled the little girl off the bed and shoved her toward the exit. "That damn perverted cross-dresser!" he couldn't help but curse under his breath.

As soon as they stepped out into the corridor, the little girl looked back at Qin Shang, blinked her large eyes, and made a zipping motion over her mouth, signaling that she understood he didn't need to cover her mouth anymore. Qin Shang slowly let go. He had been frantically making faces and signaling her just a moment ago; as long as the little girl wasn't a fool, she should have understood!

*Whew!*

Qin Shang breathed a sigh of relief, about to continue forward, when he noticed the little girl in his arms suddenly stiffen. Her pupils dilated, as if she had seen something horrific. Qin Shang frowned and shook his head, pointing toward