Chapter 144: Chapter 140: A Bit
The people in the compartment were still chatting, with several sitting in the middle seats laughing merrily, and the noise of the young people playing cards was loud and boisterous.
And that salesman who Luo Kai speculated to be an armed policeman, his complexion slightly changed as Xu Shuo approached, but he didn't manage to react even as the youth slit the throat of the person opposite him with a fruit knife.
Panic and screams immediately spread throughout the compartment, and the people around hastily ran away, with a woman who was eating sunflower seeds dragging her child along as she frantically ran out.
However, in an instant, the passengers in the middle of the compartment were all squeezed to the sides in the chaos.
The middle-aged man sitting in seat number sixty-nine clutched his throat, only able to make a "hehe" sound, his eyes bulging with terror and disbelief.
"Your expression is not interesting at all," Xu Shuo said with an odd sneer, and then his voice rose in a higher pitch, "But it's quite nice to look at~"
Bright red blood stained the white lab coat, also splashing onto the young man's neck, which he wiped with his hand, lightly grazing the corner of his mouth.
After coming to his senses, the salesman beside him suddenly stood up and pulled out a handgun, pointing it at him: "What are you doing?!"
"Oh? You want to shoot?"
Xu Shuo tilted his head to look at him, then quickly stepped forward until his forehead was under the muzzle, staring at the male salesman with an evil smirk.
"Try it, you'll definitely like this feeling~"
"You..." The hands of the male salesman holding the gun trembled slightly, looking at the twisted smile of the young man in front of him, he felt a chill creep from his spine to the top of his head!
At the moment, on the compartment's luggage rack lay a five or six-year-old girl, her straight short hair framing her plump cheeks, her complexion deathly pale and ashen.
She looked down at the young man below, tilted her head, her gaze full of curiosity.
Pushing his way through the crowd, Luo Kai walked over from behind, glanced at Xu Shuo, then suddenly shifted his gaze to the luggage rack, staring at the girl who seemed like a normal human child. He put a cigarette in his mouth and pulled a card out of his pocket with his right hand.
The little girl immediately looked over, wariness and fear visible in her eyes, as she squeezed further into the interior of the luggage rack.
Sensing the change, Xu Shuo stopped teasing the young policeman, his forehead still against the muzzle, and turned to Luo Kai to ask, "How much is left now?"
"Ninety-nine percent," Luo Kai said, his expression complex as he looked at him.
"Just one left," Xu Shuo said.
"Hey! What are you talking about? Are you together? What is your relationship with that man?!" Suddenly, a voice burst out yelling.
As they talked as if no one else was around, the male salesman, under immense psychological pressure and sweating profusely, aimed the shaking gun back and forth between Xu Shuo and Luo Kai.
He didn't seem like the old, steady detective chasing after criminals at all, and was now even more flustered due to the sudden turn of events. No wonder Luo Kai had only needed a few glances to guess his identity and that he was carrying a gun.
Luo Kai ignored him, taking a deep drag on his cigarette, then flicked the rapidly burning butt onto the ground, his right hand switching the card for a handgun.
Then, he abruptly turned around, his face expressionless as he pulled the trigger at the woman hiding in the back with her child!
"Bang!"
The bullet flew through the crowd, striking the woman's forehead accurately, splattering blood showers.
The screams in the compartment surged again in waves.
But the little girl lying on the luggage rack, her eyes lit up slightly, a subtle smile appeared on her pale face, and then it quickly faded away.
At this time, the space around them began to distort once again.
Whether it was the passengers with expressions of horror, the middle-aged man in seat sixty-nine struggling as he clutched his throat, or the young policeman with trembling hands holding a gun, they were all consumed into the swirling distortion.
...
Boom——
After the tremendous roaring noise, the shaky green-skin train vanished, and the white walls of the smooth-running bullet train appeared before their eyes.
Above the seatback in front of both of them, a neat and cute short-haired little girl sat, swinging her small legs in front of Luo Kai.
They had left the Illusory Realm, but this little girl was still there.
"Cough cough cough...!" Luo Kai suddenly coughed violently, drawing puzzled looks from the passenger next to him.
"I guess your lungs are dirty again," Xu Shuo said lazily, leaning in with a smirk, "You really are sick."
Hearing this, Luo Kai, about to say something, became agitated and covered his mouth, coughing even more fiercely.
But at least, he didn't feel danger this time.
He took a deep breath to suppress the chronic lung disease caused by excessive blood loss and fatigue, then took a sip of water from the thermos he pulled out of his bag.
Luo Kai glanced at the little girl in front of him, then took out a blank card and held it out to her.
The little girl tilted her head and looked at it, then turned to look at Xu Shuo, and after a long while, she dove reluctantly into the card.
The blank card outlined a pattern—within the yellow border was a diagonally-standing book, and on its cover was a green-skin train running on a viaduct, below which was the script's name in cursive, "Green-skin Train."
Luo Kai coughed a few times and, ignoring Xu Shuo's previous teasing remarks, said, "The script is complete."
Xu Shuo extended his hand, "Pay up."
Only then did Luo Kai finally turn to look at the young man sitting beside him.
The sunlight from outside slanted through the window, making the black hair seem to glow slightly, and the young man's face remained soft and clear, showing no trace of aggressiveness and exuding a very approachable and friendly vibe.
However, having just witnessed someone's somewhat neurotic side in the Illusory Realm, Luo Kai vehemently cursed his very unreliable first impression.
Of course, being a player in Script Space, one can't judge a person's character or strength based on their appearance, even if the other is a complete newbie.
Luo Kai stared straight at him and asked, "Before we get to that, I have a question, brother—are you really just a level one player?"
Xu Shuo cocked his head, "A thousand points, and I'll tell you."
Luo Kai: "..."
He took out a blank card from his pocket and decisively wrote off a final payment of six thousand points, then handed it to Xu Shuo.
That was the price they had agreed upon before, plus the additional three thousand points Xu Shuo had extorted while they were in the Illusory Realm.
It also meant Luo Kai couldn't be bothered to pursue that question any longer.
After confirming the amount on it, Xu Shuo put away the card with satisfaction.
He then said, "I am indeed a level one player, I had just joined on the day we met."
Luo Kai's mouth twitched, irrespective of whether he believed the answer or not, as he had a lot of comments to make but still didn't know where to start.
But Xu Shuo didn't seem to be waiting for a response, continuing to ask, "Is the script finished? What's the story about?"
Luo Kai couldn't help but unleash his urge to retort, "Brother, I think you should know more than I do, so there's no need to ask me, right?"
Xu Shuo spread his hands, "Actually, I don't know anything. I just guessed that man might be the murderer, and I also had a hunch that the woman might be an accomplice, but I really don't know the plot."
Listening to this, Luo Kai covered his mouth with the water bottle, and then took a long breath.
He too wanted to know how this guy had just 'guessed' the identity of the murderer.