There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

Hoodie Man pulled down his hood and leaned in to ask, "Hey, bro, are you heading to Pengcheng?"

Upon hearing the voice, Xu Shuo turned his head to give him a glance, nodded, and uttered a faint "Hmm."

"Then we really are fated, I'm going to Pengcheng too!" Hoodie Man said cheerfully.

Xu Shuo: "..." You probably share a fate with everyone on this train.

The young man didn't look very old, but because of the stubble around his chin that he hadn't shaved and his messy, curly hair, he appeared somewhat unkempt, making himself look older than he was.

After a while, Hoodie Man struck up another conversation, "Hey bro, do you know the odds of a high-speed rail accident?"

Xu Shuo: "..."

He looked at the scenery flying by outside. Although the speed was faster than that of a train, the stability of the high-speed rail in motion was very high, and passengers could walk down the aisle without swaying.

Hoodie Man didn't wait for his response and continued, "Actually, the probability of high-speed rail malfunctions is higher than that of airplanes. Although you often hear about plane crashes in the news, that's all survivorship bias."

"Just last month," Hoodie Man said seriously as he held up a finger, "there were one hundred and sixty-eight high-speed rail malfunctions, but only one with airplanes!"

"..." Xu Shuo was momentarily at a loss for words.

Plane crashes often make the news because a single incident can kill all the passengers on board, whereas a high-speed rail malfunction might at most cause temporary suspension of service or emergency braking, and at worst, it wouldn't involve the entire train.

In short, it's not a big deal.

Xu Shuo had already realized that this young man was just bored and wanted to chat with him.

After he finished rambling about "high-speed rail malfunction probabilities," seeing that Xu Shuo was still holding his phone, he asked again, "Are you playing a game?"

"Candy Crush."

"Man, what's so fun about Candy Crush, why don't we team up and play?"

"Someone over there is playing," Xu Shuo gestured toward Pei Sheng's seat, the implication clear.

But after Hoodie Man glanced at Pei Sheng, who was distorted with frustration from the game, he withdrew his gaze and said after a moment, "Never mind, then."

The high-speed train continued on its journey. After passing through the cities of steel and concrete, it gradually reached the outskirts, traveling on an elevated track.

The outside scenery was quite nice. The weather today was very good, with the river's waters glittering between its banks.

After a quiet moment, Hoodie Man couldn't help speaking again, asking with interest, "Bro, do you believe there are ghosts in this world?"

Xu Shuo gave him a strange look.

Hoodie Man: "Back in my hometown, it was said that there were water ghosts in the river, and if passersby walked too slowly, they would be dragged down. Look how wide this river is; we haven't even finished crossing it."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the high-speed train passed over the bridge and into the mountains.

"If a stone suddenly fell from this mountain top..."

After the mountains, the train entered Fields.

"If it suddenly derailed, this rice field would be ruined!"

After passing through the countryside, there was a great lake.

"Wow! This lake is really big; if..."

"I think—" Xu Shuo, polite and amiable, interrupted him with a smile, "we'll definitely arrive at our destination safely."

Hoodie Man stopped talking, looked somewhat listlessly as he smacked his lips, and reached into his pocket out of habit to grab a cigarette, but then he remembered that smoking wasn't allowed on high-speed trains.

It's too awful, not even a smoking area!

But in just the time they had been chatting aimlessly, half an hour had already passed. Hoodie Man looked down at the time on his phone, then perked up again.

This boring time has actually gone by pretty quickly!

He looked at Xu Shuo again, eagerly searching for a conversation starter, "Bro, what are you heading to Pengcheng for, looking for a job?"

Xu Shuo, who was swiping through Candy Crush, responded with a nonchalant hum without lifting his head.

"Hey, stop staring at your phone already, always looking down is bad for your cervical spine—what level have you reached?" he asked, peeking over before pausing in shock: "Holy shit! Over four thousand levels, if your data suddenly crashes, wouldn't that be…"

Xu Shuo's fingers trembled, and he accidentally made the wrong move on his last step, quickly causing the word "Failed" to appear on the screen.

The culprit beside him chuckled twice.

Xu Shuo turned off his phone's screen, turned to look at the Hoodie Man, and his lips curled into a particularly gentle and radiant smile. His clear and bright eyes set off his already handsome and defined face, making him exceptionally dazzling.

If Pei Sheng had looked over at this moment, he would have remembered, this was the smile their boss used to wear every time before he beat him up.

The Hoodie Man was momentarily stunned, still not reacting when suddenly the train let out a whistling sound and plunged into a tunnel, plunging the whole carriage into darkness.

When the carriage sank into darkness, the previously indistinct chatter of other passengers disappeared; suddenly, the world seemed to fall into dead silence.

After quite a while, the carriage's wall lights finally turned on and chased away the darkness once again.

From the neighboring seat, Pei Sheng cursed out of frustration, "Fuck! Why don't I have a signal?!"

Following that, the voices of other people gradually returned.

Xu Shuo dropped the smile from his face and squinted slightly towards the window, but all he could see was dense darkness, with not the slightest glimpse of the tunnel lights.

The train continued speeding along, the rumbling noise after entering the tunnel.

At this moment, the Hoodie Man beside him murmured softly, "I've taken this train so many times, yet I've never gone through a tunnel."

Xu Shuo turned to look at him, and his pupils constricted slightly, but soon, he adjusted his expression and returned to a calm demeanor.

Pei Sheng's voice, full of resentment, continued from the neighboring seat, "I was about to level up and then this shit happens, like it's rigged against me... Stupid phone, I'm changing you as soon as I get off!"

"Would you quiet down a bit? You've been noisy the whole time playing that game," came the irritated voice of a middle-aged man sitting next to Pei Sheng.

"Oh..." Pei Sheng clicked his tongue in discontent.

The carriage faintly buzzed with the voices of the passengers, indistinguishable from before entering the tunnel, but the difference was, Xu Shuo did not see anyone in their seats at this time.

The carriage had become dilapidated and rusty, the floor was covered with stains, smeared with strange dark liquids, and an odd scent seemed to come from somewhere—like the smell of gunpowder or decay.

Xu Shuo kept his composure, even taking out his phone to check the time; Candy Crush still remained on the failed screen.

After some thought, Xu Shuo carefully exited the Candy Crush screen first.

He pretended nothing had happened, opened up Tetris, and began clearing levels calmly, completely ignoring the dark environment and the dilapidated carriage.

Because it seemed that the Hoodie Man sitting beside him had also fallen into this carriage world along with him.

…

…

Normal University Affiliated High School.

In the morning, the senior year students faced their last monthly exam, and a tense and solemn atmosphere spread throughout the classroom.

Xu Xi worked on her paper expressionlessly, her hand holding the pen steady and precise, her elegant small script falling onto the paper; her essay was halfway finished when suddenly, her pen paused.

The black pen lingered on that mark, the ink slightly bleeding out. As the pen tip stayed longer, it gradually pierced through the thin exam paper.

Xu Xi spaced out for quite a while, and when she snapped back to reality, the bell to hand in the papers was already ringing.

She looked at the unfinished exam paper, put down her pen, and let the proctor collect it before leaving the classroom and taking out her phone to text.

[Have you arrived?]

…