There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

Luo Kai glanced at the system panel hanging in midair; after making a round through the carriages, the progress bar had reached two-tenths.

This meant that his previous conjectures were likely correct. As a "director," if he couldn't even understand the script he'd produced, he might as well be playing a ghost!

The train was still on the move, with some time left on this journey.

The view outside the window was a forest landscape with blue sky and white clouds, and the sunshine was splendid.

The passengers in the carriage talked and laughed loudly, creating a lively atmosphere, completely unaware that before long, they might all become part of a news report.

"For now, let's proceed based on my speculation," Luo Kai said, the corner of his mouth holding a cigarette, speaking with a slightly deep and husky voice.

He paused slightly as he spoke.

Scripts involving a change in form are comparatively complex, as the ghastly killings are profoundly supernatural, not to mention they encompass all manners of supernatural phenomena.

Sometimes they merely contain elements of form alteration, but the killings aren't executed through such methods, making deductions quite headache-inducing.

Xu Shuo glanced at the carriage and said, "The method of the crime is normal, and pretty ordinary."

"I want to rule out that woman first. She got on the train with two kids, and one of them is a bit special. From all angles, it wouldn't be convenient for her to bring a corpse on board," Luo Kai continued.

"The thing containing the corpse would need to be tightly sealed and isolate the smell. A raffia bag is too flimsy and breathable; we can rule that out first. It's likely in a backpack or suitcase," Xu Shuo said blandly.

"There are many suitcases on the luggage racks, and that middle-aged couple has a large black bag under their seats, and the woman has a small suitcase," Luo Kai observed.

"I saw the couple open that black bag—there was no problem with it," Xu Shuo commented.

"The four young people in the seats on the left appear lightly packed; the suitcases on the racks might not be theirs."

"That girl isn't the murderer," Luo Kai noted.

The two of them spoke softly, back and forth, until Xu Shuo's last remark made Luo Kai tilt his head and look over, then again at the carriage.

The carriage was filled with joy and laughter, inconceivable to anyone that among these people was a serial killer, with a corpse hidden among them.

The cigarette Luo Kai had held in his mouth had burned down to the filter, and he exhaled the butt, then crushed it with his foot.

"That man isn't really a salesman either," Luo Kai mused.

For some reason, Luo Kai suddenly felt a surge of competitiveness and continued, "Although they seem to be just chatting casually, that man keeps steering the conversation towards newspaper news, and he pays a lot of attention to the people around him. Plus, he's carrying a gun; he might have set his sights on that murderer a long time ago!"

Actually, the last sentence was probably the key point.

Xu Shuo leaned lazily against the carriage wall, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, "Since it's all so clear now, why don't you hurry up and observe the script up close to speed up the progress, Director~"

He drew out the last two words slowly, his voice brimming with mockery.

Luo Kai's expression stiffened, and he chuckled awkwardly: "Inside… it stinks a bit."

While saying this, he took another cigarette from his pocket and lit it. When his thoughts became irritably tangled, he couldn't help but smoke furiously—nicotine helped to calm his mind.

It wasn't just the smell that was rotten in the carriage; it was also dangerous.

Each time he entered, Luo Kai felt his skin crawl with goosebumps as an eerie chill became distinctly palpable, yet he could never pinpoint the source of the problem.

This also made him more reluctant to make any casual contact with the little girl.

After all, he knew that this was only an Illusory Realm, and the Script Space had taken them back to revisit the past, but in reality, the Elf Train still hadn't been extracted in the outside world.

So that thing was always there.

Who knows, in the real world, that ghostly entity might already be hovering near their faces, or even licking them at close range.

He imagined that scene, and Luo Kai shuddered.

...

The train continued to travel, passing mountains and plains, and then outside was a broad river.

The few passengers in the carriage, each with their own secretive agendas, remained motionless, while time slowly passed, and the rumbling sound of the tracks outside never stopped.

Staring into the void, Luo Kai suddenly became restless. It was clear that he was smoking faster, and Xu Shuo, standing beside him, felt like he was going to be marinated in the smoke.

"You're really not going to get lung cancer?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I did have it before..." Luo Kai was silent for a moment, then said with a world-weary voice after exhaling smoke, "Later, the game cured me. I was actually thinking about quitting, but after it healed me, I didn't want to quit anymore."

Xu Shuo was at a loss for words for a moment.

He looked at his phone, and even though it was being used in the Illusory Realm, the battery was running low.

And this also meant that a lot of time had passed.

Luo Kai glanced at his watch, then stared somberly at the carriage, "The time and place I investigated before were around eleven o'clock in the morning when the train derailed on the bridge."

Xu Shuo, reluctant to get involved, yawned, "But there's absolutely no progress over there now; do we have to join in too?"

"No, according to the original rules, I just need to experience all of this to understand the event. Of course, I can also become a director and enter the plot, directing them to speed up the process," Luo Kai said, somewhat irritated.

"But the derailment will happen soon, so how is this script going to continue?" Xu Shuo pondered, "A bunch of ghosts performing?"

...

Luo Kai vigorously scratched his disheveled hair and stamped out his cigarette butt, saying, "But what I'm more worried about now is that we're also in the carriage."

Xu Shuo, "So you're going to accelerate the process?"

He remained silent again.

More than a dozen cigarette butts were crushed on the ground, the scenery of the river outside the window hadn't ended yet, it seemed there was still a long time to go, but it might be in the next moment.

Luo Kai looked up.

The little girl in the carriage leaned against the seat, no longer running around, but as he looked over, she also happened to stealthily glance his way.

Maybe she was just sneakily watching Xu Shuo, but she unexpectedly locked eyes with Luo Kai.

The little girl appeared innocent and confused, with a bit of caution toward strangers, then she tilted her head and looked away.

Suddenly, a voice came from beside them, "Hey, the viaduct is coming."

Luo Kai suddenly snapped back to reality, his eyes widening as he looked outside, but the rumbling sound seemed to be just for a moment, and the steel viaduct quickly flashed by; the scenery outside once again became that of a cliff.

The train had passed the viaduct!

They had left the river behind them!

Luo Kai was stunned for two seconds, then filled with question marks, his prepared action to use a prop ceased, and he looked at Xu Shuo with disbelief in his eyes.

Xu Shuo paused, "What does this have to do with me?"

Luo Kai shook his head in astonishment, "No, don't you find it eerie?"

"It is pretty strange," Xu Shuo nodded thoughtfully.

"Then, brother, can your expression change a little? Otherwise, I look like an idiot."

...