Volume One, Chapter Five: You Can Trust Me

At that moment, the beautiful woman known as Green-Cuckolded-By-Anyone-Who-Touches-Me spoke up.

"Justice Eagle, are you hiding something from us?"

"In truth, you're the Godslayer hidden among the group, which is why you deliberately kept the key information from us, including the fact that each of us has a solo mission."

"And I just asked you quietly how many times you've entered the Divine Road."

"You said only twice..."

"If it's only twice, then even an old player would probably be utterly lost in a place like this, wouldn't they?"

"Things like class, class skills, and character information aren't details you can pick up from just two games. And yet you were able to explain so much to us so clearly."

"You're not a player at all. You're the Godslayer hiding in the group, aren't you?"

Clearly, this atmosphere of mutual distrust was excruciating.

The first player to crack appeared.

The beautiful woman who had stayed tightly behind him all along now quietly put some distance between them.

Though she was still following Justice Eagle closely, she was plainly no longer as warm toward him as she had been at first.

That meant she, too, had begun to distrust the police officer.

Qin Shang was slightly taken aback when he heard this.

He thought to himself that he had perhaps underestimated this woman.

So while moving forward and passing through a carriage, she had also been actively gathering clues!

Qin Shang had actually considered a similar idea: to chat briefly with every player in an attempt to identify the Godslayer among them.

But after thinking it over, he gave it up.

First, his identity was sensitive; talk too much, and it would be easy to expose the fact that he was not a priest.

Second, in this unfamiliar environment, he did not want to stand out before he understood what was what.

If he were too conspicuous and took the initiative to strike up too many conversations with the others, he might provoke resistance and be suspected of being the Godslayer.

"If you don't trust me, you can leave the group and explore on your own."

The police officer slowly turned his head then, his face utterly cold.

"Besides, are you all really so innocent? Do you have nothing to hide?"

"I never mentioned side missions, but did any of you bring them up?"

"Aside from that little girl who introduced herself and spoke of her side mission, each of you should have your own."

"But have any of you mentioned them?"

Qin Shang frowned. The smell in this carriage was even stronger than in the last.

A foul stench, he did not know from where, filled his nostrils completely.

After breathing in a little more, he felt as if he were about to vomit, gastric fluid churning violently in his stomach.

Though this was supposed to be a virtual reality game, the nausea caused by the scent seeming to clamp down on his stomach was real. For the moment, he tried not to breathe unless he had to, taking a breath and then holding it for a while.

Only when he could no longer hold it did he breathe again.

In truth, he was the one who most wanted to leave this carriage...

Because from the background-panel prompt just now, it seemed that each carriage carried a new story in its backdrop.

And perhaps the clues to clearing the stage were hidden in those background panels. Arguing here was utterly meaningless!

All around them were Kitty cats, those button-like black eyes catching the scant light from the tabletops in the carriage and reflecting it with a strange sheen in the dimness.

It was enough to make one restless and inexplicably fearful.

Qin Shang even had the illusion that these little pink dolls might leap at him and bite him at any moment.

Even as a grown man, he did not dare meet Hello Kitty's gaze in this gloomy place.

Then, at that moment, a steady voice sounded from the very front of the group.

"Stop arguing. We're about to enter the tunnel. You all heard the prompt from the background panel. We can set aside our individual side missions and the hidden hints tied to them for now and get through this stage first."

"This is not the time for us to tear each other apart. There is only one Godslayer, and throwing ourselves into confusion is exactly what the Godslayer would welcome."

"Since that hint appeared in the background panel, it means it gave us a strategy for getting through the tunnel."

"Once we enter the tunnel, there will be no light. The Godslayer will definitely seize the chance to strike. That background-panel prompt just now may be the key to getting through this round."

"We'll hold hands now and count off in turn. In the background panel, Miss Mary got through this part exactly this way. If anyone lets go of the person beside them, then that person is the Godslayer!"

The one speaking was the elderly priest, Reverend Believer.

He was the second most respected person in the group after Justice Eagle. After all, with his age, his composed demeanor, and his priest class card, he was easy to trust.

Hearing this, none of the others in the group objected.

The punk, Handsome Enough to Be Cut Down, was the first to extend a hand toward the two women.

"Beauty, there shouldn't be any need to worry about appearances in a situation like this..."

The beautiful woman Green-Cuckolded-By-Anyone-Who-Touches-Me frowned at him.

Her gaze flitted between Justice Eagle and the punk.

If this had been before, she would have chosen without hesitation to join hands with Justice Eagle.

But now, after a brief hesitation, she chose to place her hand in the punk's, in Handsome Enough to Be Cut Down's hand.

Qin Shang walked at the very end of the group, with the little girl in front of him.

The girl did not hesitate at all. With one hand she held the punk, and with the other she reached back toward Qin Shang.

In Qin Shang's view, at a time like this, the police officer leading the group and he himself were in fact the two safest people.

Because if either of them were stabbed, it could only mean that the one holding their hand was the killer.

In Qin Shang's case, the little girl was in front of him, and no one was behind him.

The same went for the police officer; beside him stood the elderly priest!

And at a time like this, there were still so many people in the group.

If Qin Shang or the police officer died, then once the light returned in the next round, the identity of the Godslayer would be exposed in an instant, practically in the blink of an eye!

Anyone with even a shred of intelligence among the Godslayers would never stand together with the two people at the very edge of the group!

Still, Qin Shang could not help but feel his heart pound violently.

After all, everything just now had only been a guess. Heaven knew what was going through the mind of the Godslayer, an NPC once embodied by a player.

What if this fool were simply brainless and stubbornly insisted on cutting him down, or the police officer?

Then he would already be at the banquet table, with nowhere to reason with anyone...

By now, after two or three rounds of testing, it was clear that the Godslayer possessed independent thought.

They might even be some other kind of life-form altogether!

They were absolutely not the sort of traditional-game NPCs who were merely a string of simple code, able only to carry out basic dialogue and guide the player...

"Brother, we'll survive this round, won't we?"

The next moment, the little girl to Qin Shang's right suddenly looked at him nervously, her eyes turning red.

Her hand trembled... was she afraid?

For some reason, seeing this, Qin Shang unconsciously thought of his wife.

His wife had a lively, impulsive nature, and sometimes liked to wear very girlish clothes.

And the ID "Mighty Licker of Cockroach Feet" had been chosen by his wife.

It was rather similar in spirit to that girl's "Grandpa Cow Cosplaying as a Maid to Seduce Auntie Zhuangzhuang's Mom."

"I am not the Godslayer. I am a priest."

"You can trust me!"

"The only thing I can think of right now to comfort you is this..."

"If you make it through the tunnel and then get stabbed, I can be certain the one who attacked you was Handsome Enough to Be Cut Down."

"I think if he were the Godslayer, he wouldn't be that stupid!"

Even Qin Shang did not know why he insisted on showing off at a time like this.

Actually, he could have said this at other times too.

But only after eliminating a few players first.

Yes, after eliminating a few players first.

Even with the professional advantage of a con artist, Qin Shang did not believe the clues he currently held were enough to infer the Godslayer's identity.

So if he saved this line for later, it would still be useful even after the Godslayer had eliminated several players.

In some later round, such a statement might become a trump card for saving his life, making the Godslayer in the group hesitate to act rashly.

Qin Shang was no saint. He did not think he had any obligation to save these strangers he had only just met.

It was just that the little girl's harmless, innocent little eyes had struck straight into the depths of his soul.

At that moment, Qin Shang thought of his wife again. Jiang Qiqi also liked pink, and she liked wearing dresses.

She would often run up to him, spin around sweetly in front of him, then ask her husband in an unreasonable tone:

Which looks better on me, this one or the other one...

Of course, that was a trap with no answer.

It was much like the kind of nonsense girls say before dating: "I only know how to feel sorry for my dear brother."

If you said this one, she'd say she liked the other one too, otherwise why would she have bought it? If you said the other one looked good, the same logic applied.

And if you said, "Anything looks good if it's you wearing it," then she'd accuse you of saying the same thing to your ex-girlfriend, and a new problem would be born.

"What? You think both of these look good on me? Then you mean your ex-girlfriend wasn't suited to pink? What color was she suited to, then?"

"What? She looks ugly in every color?"

"So that means I look good in everything, and your ex-girlfriend looked ugly in everything?"

You think women would be satisfied by that point?

Nonono!

"Then why did you fall for your ex-girlfriend in the first place? If you thought she was ugly, how could you still have liked her? Being blind once is one thing, but being blind countless times—does that mean one day you'll think I'm ugly too? That you only liked me because you were blind?"

Every time that happened, Qin Shang truly felt like he had two heads, and he wanted nothing more than to kick his wife out the door.

Yet after his wife had been gone for three months, he had suddenly begun to miss that woman who sometimes threw small tantrums and occasionally acted a little proud and coquettish.

It was precisely because he missed his wife that Qin Shang, faced with the little girl's anxious and frightened gaze, had so readily blurted out such a thing.

If the role card he had drawn had been his wife's...

Then had Qiqi herself once come to the Death Train?

Had she, like the others, also fought and schemed against her companions as they were doing now?

Grandpa Cow Cosplaying as a Maid to Seduce Auntie Zhuangzhuang's Mom had just spoken words that surely caused a tremendous uproar.

By bringing up side missions and hidden clues, she had shattered the group's scant cohesion.

So if Qin Shang were the Godslayer, he would certainly have taken her out first!

After all, who knew whether, in the next carriage, that woman would still have any desire to share information?

The less united the players were, the easier it was for the Godslayer to make a move!

Perhaps the core of the team mission was that only by sharing resources and information with one another could they work together to clear the stage?

Sure enough, Handsome Enough to Be Cut Down's face darkened beside him, and he roared in anger.

"I am not the Godslayer. Stop slandering me here! I could just as well say that if she dies, it means you killed her!"

Qin Shang merely lifted his chin, neither confirming nor denying it.

After this brief interruption, the others quickly joined hands.

Everyone felt equally uneasy. As Qin Shang held the little girl's hand, he could feel a faint tremor.

She was afraid!

Clang—clang—

At that moment, the light before their eyes vanished completely.

The echo of the train rolling over the tracks came from all directions.

In the next instant, darkness engulfed the carriage entirely.

Everyone's hearts tightened.

They had entered the tunnel.