Chapter 8: Suspicion
Everyone turned their heads. The snowfields and forests that had been on both sides had vanished, replaced by steep cliffs and precipices. The train was now running entirely on a narrow track clinging to the mountainside, with no sign of what lay ahead or behind, and no path to the left or right—a perilous situation.
"Don't worry about what's outside," Professor Han said, his expression grave as he looked at the two corpses in the carriage.
Chen Yi was propped against the wall, the bloodstained toothbrush with its broken bristles tucked under his foot. Apart from the knife wound on his chest and the blood on his cheek, there were no other injuries on him.
But the woman with the oval face was different. Her neck had been twisted and broken, her head lolling to one side. Her bloodshot eyes bulged out, her death grim and hideous.
There were three bite wounds on her shoulders and arms. The gashes were uneven in size and shape, chunks of flesh missing, and blood had soaked her entire body.
"Why are people still eating people?" The female student hid behind Professor Han, tears streaming down her face.
Professor Han sighed. He already had an answer in his heart. To avoid triggering the game's taboos, prospective players should act as little as possible. Yet someone was still eating people. It showed that what he had said during the day wasn't useless—it was an inevitable outcome.
"The food on the train might not be enough for Evolvers who have already eaten people. They'll still be hungry at night."
Xu Huo wiped the already dried blood off the back of his hand, lit a cigarette with deliberate slowness, and swept his gaze over the square-faced man, Li Fei, and the middle-aged woman.
Professor Han wasn't wrong. Evolvers who had eaten people would experience a gluttonous craving at night. This fit the train's hidden rules. Once someone had eaten human flesh, whether before or after boarding the train, they would be classified as one type.
The train's food couldn't completely relieve their hunger. By now, all the cannibal players on the train should be aware of this. That meant they would have to kill the ordinary players.
"There must be a cannibal player among us," the heavily made-up woman said suspiciously, looking at the square-faced man.
"I'm injured. Everyone in our carriage is clean, and I heard someone run out. It might not be a player from our carriage," the square-faced man said, pointing to the bloody scratches on his arm from fingernails. There was some blood on his hands, left over from checking the corpses yesterday.
But as soon as he finished speaking, Xu Huo, standing a few meters away, flicked his cigarette butt right into his face!
"What are you doing—" The square-faced man was shocked and angry, but when he looked up, the person who had been standing several meters away was already in front of him. Before he could react, his throat was grabbed, he was pinned against the wall, and a blade pierced straight through him!
The people in the carriage were horrified, their faces changing color as they shouted, "What are you doing?!"
The square-faced man's eyes bulged wide. He had no idea why Xu Huo had suddenly attacked. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but Xu Huo didn't give him the chance. He kicked him directly into the corner to join the oval-faced woman.
"Xu Huo, what are you doing?!" Li Fei stepped forward and grabbed Xu Huo's shoulder. This square-faced man was practically his ally. Was Xu Huo killing him to target him?
"He's a cannibal player," Xu Huo said, brushing off Li Fei's hand. He walked over, pulled out the knife, and wiped it clean on the dead man's shoulder. His expression was as calm as if he hadn't just killed someone.
Because of his actions, the carriage fell silent for a few seconds. Then the heavily made-up woman asked, "What proof do you have?"
"Players in third class can't open the rear door," Xu Huo said. "Didn't you notice there's a doorbell outside the rear door? Unless a second-class player opens it voluntarily, third-class players can't get in."
"So that's it," Professor Han was the first to understand. "We also can't open the rear door to first class."
He had noticed the difference between the two doors when he went to the restroom yesterday. When the commotion happened in third class, he was too busy guarding against the people opposite him rushing in to pay attention to the doorbell outside the door.
"You say it, so it must be true?" Li Fei snorted coldly. "The people in third class can't come to testify!"
"Go try it in first class," Xu Huo shot him a glance.
Li Fei choked. Who would want to go out? What if they got attacked?
"But that doesn't prove he's a cannibal player," the heavily made-up woman said. "There were two others guarding the door. What if he was deceived too?"
"He was the only one who said someone came in from outside and that he heard footsteps," Xu Huo said. "He's the most suspicious."
An Evolver's hearing far surpasses that of an ordinary person. It would be nearly impossible for someone else in the carriage to approach the door silently. The three people guarding the door were the most suspicious. The square-faced man, who was the first to shout that someone had come in and then unnecessarily added that he heard footsteps leaving, had practically confessed.
Of course, that was because he hadn't noticed the doorbell's function. Otherwise, he wouldn't have died from such an obvious and simple mistake.
Still, the other two weren't without suspicion either.
"Now that he's dead, you can say whatever you want!" Li Fei said. "You killed him without even asking. You're no saint either!"
"At the end of the day, the Dimensional Rift is a game. There must be rewards at the end. You've been coming and going since you got on the train. Looks like you know a lot of inside information. Is killing other players the way to clear the game? Is that why you're so eager to kill?"
As he spoke, he stepped among the other players and said passionately, "Listen to me, everyone. He killed without evidence. If the two people who died in his hands weren't cannibal players, then we've been tricked by him. What if he kills again tonight? We might all die at his hands! We can't just sit around and wait for death, everyone!"
"You have no proof that they were ordinary players either," Professor Han said, his expression somewhat complicated. Xu Huo's reasoning had some merit, but killing someone based on mere suspicion—as a fellow Evolver, his ruthlessness was frightening.
But he also understood that this was the fastest way to eliminate future trouble.
The female student stepped forward. "I believe Xu Huo. He saved me yesterday. Otherwise, Chen Yi would have killed me too."
"The young lady is right. Mr. Xu is a good person," Yan Jiayu, who had been silent all along, spoke up for Xu Huo as well. "He was even willing to share food with the weak. He must be kind-hearted."
Such simple logic infuriated Li Fei. "That's because he's not short on money! He even bought his information through loopholes! If I had that much money, I wouldn't care either."
"That woman had three wounds," He Yang said at this point. "An Evolver only needs a little bit of flesh. There's no need to bite three times. Who did the rest? Chen Yi is dead, but his body is intact. As for you... I remember you were at the door during the headcount too."
Li Fei's face darkened. "I heard someone had broken in, so I was just trying to help. If you don't believe me, fine. But don't throw dirt on me!"
"Besides, her wounds were all bites. There's no blood on me!"
That was the strange part. The oval-faced woman only had three bite wounds. The square-faced man was injured, but his mouth was clean.
There was no evidence that they had attacked each other.
"Maybe the game helped..." the female student said quietly. "Maybe the game helps cannibal players target us ordinary players."
Several pairs of eyes in the carriage landed on her at once. Even the middle-aged woman, who had been cowering in the corner, looked up, scaring the girl into quickly hiding behind Professor Han again.
"Say whatever you want," Li Fei said, somewhat annoyed but unwilling to completely fall out with the others. "Don't forget, there's still one person guarding the door!"
"Old sir, did you hear anything?" Yan Jiayu asked the elderly man sitting by the door.
The old man shook his head. "I didn't hear any footsteps, but someone bit me."
He pointed to the teeth marks on his shoulder and flipped open his coat collar. The star on the uniform shoulder badge underneath had been bitten out of shape, but thanks to that badge, he had only suffered a minor injury.
"So you're a soldier," Professor Han said, a look of respect on his face as he hurried over to help him.
The old man quickly waved his hand. "I'm just an ordinary old man."
Xu Huo walked over and took a look. "They nearly bit through that star. That person's teeth must be shattered by now."