IWBL: Chapter 44

Tian Ji looked over Sherlock’s shoulder towards the bed in the room. There were no signs of a ghost and he looked at Xiao Li again. “You really don’t know what happened?”

Xiao Li didn’t bother to speak. He could feel his sleepiness slipping away and even if he returned to bed now, he wouldn’t be able to sleep. He leaned against the door frame and sent an inquiring look to Tian Ji.

Tian Ji asked, “You didn’t encounter a ghost scratching at the bed?”

“I met it.”

“…Then what?”

Why didn’t he scream and run out?

Xiao Li’s anger from waking up scattered and his tone wasn’t as cold as before. He looked at Tian Ji with a complaining expression, “I scared it away and went back to sleep. Then you woke me up.”

Tian Ji met Xiao Li’s eyes and inexplicably felt a sense of guilt. “…I’m sorry?”

The reincarnator beside Tian Ji roared in his heart, ‘Tian Ji apologized! What did he have to apologize for? No, this isn’t the point. The focus is, the ghost was scared away? How terrible is this person who can scare away the ghost and then sleep peacefully?’

Xiao Li now wasn’t sleepy at all and stood upright, speaking with a bit of sorrow. “It’s fine. Why are you all at my door?”

Tian Ji didn’t know how to open his mouth and Jiang Yishe had to reply, “We all encountered the same situation.”

“Then you gathered together to search? Well, there really is no time to waste. The next stop can come at any time.” Xiao Li thought about it and immediately realized Jiang Yishe’s intention. “The passengers or the attendant?”

“The attendant.”

Xiao Li nodded. “You go first. I’ll change clothes and then find you.”

Jiang Yishe, “…”

“—Wait a minute, Mr Xia.” The reincarnator who ran out in only his underwear stopped Xiao Li. He quivered as he made a small request. “Can you lend me something. I…I dare not go back.”

He covered his bare upper body as he stood in the carriage in an ashamed manner.

Xiao Li made a sound of agreement and walked back into his room. He soon found a new, unopened bathroom that the carriage provided free of charge and threw it at the man. The reincarnator gratefully unwrapped it and put onthe bathrobe. He rushed to say thank you to Xiao Li and then left to chase Jiang Yishe and the others.

Their destination was the staff compartment where the attendants were. Along the way, the entire train was scarily quiet, without any biological movements. There was only the shaking of the train. No one knew when the next wave of danger would come, prompting them to step up their search.

The staff carriage was just as quiet. It seemed that the ghost didn’t let go of the train’s crew. They finally stopped in front of the door that said ‘Deng Kang.’ Jiang Yishe placed his ear against the door and listened a moment. He shook his head at the others, indicating he didn’t hear any movements. He knocked hard on the door and there was still no response.

He asked, “Who can unlock it?”

Wu Tianyi took out a bronze key from her pocket. She hesitated before saying, “This is an item that I drew. It is the Master Key and can only be used twice in one instance world. There are so many passenger compartments here that I didn’t take it out before.” She came over and inserted the key in her hand into the keyhole, opening the door.

The scene inside made Wu Tianyi close her eyes.

Deng Kang’s room was smaller than the passenger rooms, with only a single bed and a small table. At this moment, the walls, ground, table and even the bed were covered with blood. Deng Kang was lying there silently.

Jiang Yishe’s eyes swept over Deng Kang’s room and then he read the paper on the small table. It was the destination list of the Dream Train, which originally read:

April 23, 16:30 to 16:35, Fuling University Station.

April 24, 9:20 to 9:25, Fuzhou Mountain Station.

April 26, 19:40 to 19:45, Wang Jun Huahai Station.

…

Now that the list was covered with a layer of blood, this blood seemed to have its own consciousness, like a red pen tampering with the above locations. It became:

April 23, 16:30 to 16:35, Initial Station.

April 24, 9:30 to 9:25, Wilderness Graveyard.

…

At present, the modified location only reached Wilderness Graveyard. The following stations were covered in blood and the words couldn’t be seen. The moment the reincarnators boarded the train, the Dream Train was no longer for humans but a spiritual train travelling through the world of terror.

Tian Ji, who had been reluctant to move with Jiang Yishe due to their previous contradiction, came over and muttered about the second stop that was about to arrive. “Wilderness Graveyard, listening to the name, it is a place of murder.”

At a human platform, there would be people who got off and got on. Then at a platform belonging to ghosts, would there be ghosts who got off and on? Did this mean there would be more ghost passengers? If so, task one of reaching the last terminal was almost impossible. Perhaps there was only task two of protecting one passenger…

Wu Tianyi muttered, “Graveyard, graves, this… can we infer it by looking at the road?”

Jiang Yishe moved the paper but found it couldn’t be held. It was fixed to the table, meaning he could only reach for the spare keys hanging on the wall. “We will first see how many passengers survived.”

They had just to the door when they encountered Xiao Li who changed his clothes. Xiao Li looked like he was in a good mood as he held a small cookie in his left hand and a little girl holding onto his right hand. He asked Tian Ji and the others, “Have you found it?”

Tian Ji looked at the food in his hand and then the sweet-looking girl He vaguely remembered seeing her at a door to a room. This was a passenger! Tian Ji was overjoyed in his heart. There was still one passenger left and it was enough to complete task two!

Then he had a thought. Wasn’t Sherlock going to change his clothes? Why did he pick up a girl and food? Tian Ji stepped forward. “You, this is…?”

“I went to find a late-night snack along the way and encountered her. She said she was looking for an attendant so I brought her along.” Xiao Li noticed Tian Ji’s gaze and pointed to the little girl. “She is called Chu Chu.”

Tian Ji wondered, “…Along the way?”

The pen fairy previously said that the snacks were in the fourth carriage and Xiao Li was in the luxury carriage located near the back of the train. How was this along the way? Chu Chu wore a floral skirt and had a small and cute face. She half-hid behind Xiao Li, seemingly afraid of Tian Ji and the others. She only called out to Xiao Li. “Brother Sherlock.”

Xiao Li pulled her towards the others. “Chu Chu, this is Tian Ji. He might be a bit silly but overall, he is still reliable. You can find him if something happens.”

Chu Chu extended a hand to Tian Ji and shook hands with him. “I… My name is Chu Chu. Did you also encounter a ghost?”

Wu Tianyi stepped forward and patted Chu Chu’s back to comfort her. “We also encountered it. It is nothing, it has passed.”

Jiang Yishe had been watching silently and he suddenly asked, “Chu Chu, how did you escape?”

“I don’t know.” Chu Chu rubbed her red nose, voice shaky. “I heard movements coming from under the bed and fell down. Then I ran out and it seemed like a hand was reaching to me from behind but I didn’t look…”

Xiao Li heard up to here and walked past them into the attendant’s room. He looked around and by the time he came out again, the box of biscuits was gone.

Tian Ji had finished his inquiry of Chu Chu while Wu Tianyi was constantly calming her down. Once Xiao Li came out, the group took the spare keys and went to search the rooms for any survivors. Tian Ji looked at the girl walking in front with Wu Tianyi and slowed down his pace, coming to Xiao Li’s side. “What do you think?”

Xiao Li glanced over. Due to rushing out of his room, Tian Ji wasn’t wearing his trademark gold-rimmed glasses and his hair was a bit messy. Xiao Li commented, “You look wilder than before.”

Tian Ji, “???”

Tian Ji took a deep breath. “I wasn’t asking you this. What do you think of that destination list?”

“The specifics won’t be known until the next stop.” Xiao Li thought for a moment. “However, there are now five hours until the next stop. This is a long time and enough for the ghost to launch another round of offensive. At the next stop, it should be better at first but the ghost attacks will accumulate more and more.”

“Then we better resolve the pen fairy before arriving at the next stop or the ghosts on the train can kill us using quantity.” Tian Ji stated.

Xiao Li didn’t answer. The colour of his eyes was very deep as he looked down at the doll in his pocket. The doll wasn’t in a daze at this time. Instead, her hands were touching the edge of the pocket as she stared at a back in front of her. Xiao Li retracted his gaze and watched the group opening the rooms with the corresponding key before walking out with disappointment. They knew there was little chance of the passengers surviving but they still had to try.

Chu Chu looked at several rooms and became frightened again and again. Her eyes were red and tears were welling up in them. Wu Tianyi took the child into her arms and patted the child’s back. Then she never let Chu Chu follow the group into the room.

Xiao Li and Tian Ji were at the very end. After passing through half a carriage, Tian Ji actively asked, “…Sherlock, last time you called it, you seem to know the pen fairy very well. Then do you know how to send it back?’

In various legends, those who played the pen fairy game wouldn’t have an accident as long as they sent the pen fairy back. The problem was that the first person who played the game didn’t send it away. Now everything was out of the pen fairy’s free will and it couldn’t be forced to leave.

“I don’t know.” Xiao Li replied. “However, there is a person who should know very well. Do you want me to ask?”

Tian Ji thought that Xiao Li knew someone on the leaderboard and could communicate with them using special items. His eyes immediately lit up. “Good!”

Xiao Li told him, “Help me find a mirror. The bigger, the better.”

This requirement was rare but Tian Ji didn’t find it strange. After all, the instances were really big and there were many special items. He had once seen a leader on the rankings use a shoe to communicate with the outside world. Every time the great god sought off-site assistance, he had to put the shoe to his ear. The scene was very funny.

Therefore, Tian Ji replied without thinking, “Okay.”