The system notification echoed through the subway carriage. In other words, everyone on the train had heard that Bai Liu had triggered the main quest.
Du Sanying and Mu Sicheng were both stunned. Just moments earlier, they had seen Bai Liu leaning lazily against his seat, idly flipping a coin in his hand.
While Mu Sicheng and Du Sanying had been actively searching the carriage for clues, Bai Liu had remained seated, claiming he needed time to organize the information in his mind. He hadn't moved at all, which had left Mu Sicheng speechless.
Bai Liu had already told Mu Sicheng everything he knew about the bombing. However, Mu Sicheng hadn't thought too deeply about it. In his experience, the priority in a collection-type horror game was to find the first collectible item in the carriage to trigger the main quest.
Exploding Last Train was precisely that—a collection-oriented horror game. Based on Mu Sicheng's experience, the main task could only be triggered after physically discovering the first collectible. What he didn't realize was that if someone deduced the key collectible directly from the game's background story, that could also activate the main quest.
This wasn't entirely Mu Sicheng's fault—it was a matter of fixed thinking. Generally, players entered a game with limited information. The only reliable method was to explore the map and find items firsthand.
But Bai Liu was an anomaly. He was both a newcomer and a game designer. He didn't share that ingrained mindset. Instead, he instinctively analyzed how the game had been constructed from its narrative foundation. Combined with his prior knowledge of the real bombing incident, he simply worked backward to identify the core collectible. He hit the answer immediately.
When the announcement sounded, Mu Sicheng and Du Sanying simultaneously turned toward Bai Liu, who was still resting in his seat.
Du Sanying wasn't close enough to question him directly, but his gaze was filled with curiosity. How had this person triggered the main quest without even moving?
Mu Sicheng, however, had no such reservations. He strode forward and demanded, "How did you trigger the main quest? You didn't even move!"
The audience shared his confusion. When the notification appeared, countless viewers were dumbfounded. In a horror game featuring the third- and fourth-ranked Rising Stars and even Puppet Master, the first person to trigger the main quest was a newcomer? It defied all logic.
"Damn! How did he trigger it? I swear he hasn't moved once!"
"…Did he accidentally sit on a broken shard and trigger it? Ouch, my butt hurts just thinking about it."
"Isn't this kind of luck supposed to belong to Xiao Ying? How did it happen to this rookie?"
Mu Sicheng abruptly grabbed Bai Liu and lifted him off his seat, scrutinizing the cushion beneath him. "Did you sit on a broken shard and trigger it?"
Bai Liu clenched his fists expressionlessly. "Mu Sicheng. Put me down."
At 1.76 meters tall, Bai Liu absolutely hated being lifted like this. As a child, he had once fantasized about chopping off the ankles of anyone taller than him with a machete. If someone truly dared to carry him around, he would gladly teach them what a crime it was to grow tall.
If not for the fact that he still needed Mu Sicheng—
Bai Liu forcibly suppressed his tyrannical thoughts. Meanwhile, Mu Sicheng felt an inexplicable chill crawl down his spine. He hesitated, then set Bai Liu back on the ground.
"How did you trigger it without the shard?" Mu Sicheng asked, frowning. "You didn't move at all."
"How did I not move?" Bai Liu brushed off the spots Mu Sicheng had touched, ensuring there wasn't a speck of dust. Then he looked up at him pleasantly. "My mind was moving, Mu Sicheng."
Mu Sicheng: "..."
The way Bai Liu stared at him made him feel personally insulted.
After straightening his clothes, Bai Liu continued calmly, "Didn't I already tell you the key information? Can't you figure it out yourself? What's your intelligence stat? You can't deduce anything?"
Mu Sicheng: "..."
You told me about a mirror worth 100 million yuan and how you'd murder guards to steal museum collections. What kind of key information is that?! And stop looking at me like I'm some primitive organism!
Bai Liu clapped his hands lightly and began explaining as he walked forward. Du Sanying cautiously followed behind them. Bai Liu made no effort to lower his voice, and Du Sanying was stunned as he listened. Could it actually be reasoned out like this?
The audience was equally shocked.
"What's this rookie's name? His thinking is interesting—I want to watch his stream."
"…This is the first time I've seen someone trigger the main quest before Du Sanying in a collection game. This newcomer is incredible. He beat 100% luck."
"The main quest is to collect broken mirror shards, but we don't even know how many are required," Mu Sicheng muttered, sucking on his lollipop. He glanced at Du Sanying, who was pretending to search nearby. Mu Sicheng licked the sugar from his lips irritably. "You just told him the information directly? What if he collects all the shards later?"
"He's lucky—and good at finding things. Even the shards we discover could somehow end up in Du Sanying's hands. Aren't you going to guard against him?"
Bai Liu gave Mu Sicheng a strange look. "Why would I?"
Mu Sicheng's expression darkened. "Didn't I say? The shards we're looking for might…"
"Who told you we're looking for them?" Bai Liu interrupted, meeting Mu Sicheng's eyes before briefly glancing at Du Sanying behind him. "We're not searching. Let Du Sanying search. Isn't he good at it? Let him collect them all."
Mu Sicheng froze. "You're planning to… wait until he gathers everything and then rob him?"
"Mm."
Mu Sicheng ground his teeth. "I'd love to go along with your plan, but it won't work. Bai Liu, do you even understand what 100% luck means?"
He seemed to recall something deeply unpleasant and bared his teeth in frustration. "The moment you try to steal from Du Sanying, your luck value plummets. You'll encounter every possible mishap. Even if you could access his system warehouse, monsters would interrupt you. In short, you can't take it."
"Oh." Bai Liu remained indifferent. "That applies to you. I might be fine."
Mu Sicheng was exasperated. "I told you—Du Sanying is 100% lucky. No one can steal from him. Not even Spades."
It was exactly as the system described. Du Sanying was the darling of the god of luck.
"You said Du Sanying draws luck from the surrounding environment, right?" Bai Liu sighed faintly, as if dealing with someone slow-witted. "But I can't be affected. My luck value is already 0. It can't drop any lower. His luck can't make me more unlucky."
Mu Sicheng paused.
Bai Liu's gaze was calm, the corners of his lips curling slightly. "In fact, my misfortune might make him even more unlucky. What do you think, Mu Sicheng?"
Behind them, Du Sanying inexplicably felt goosebumps rise along his neck. He stared at Bai Liu's back in confusion.
That strange sensation—both lucky and unlucky at once—had returned.
Mu Sicheng's interest was finally piqued. "Then what are you planning to do in a collection game if you're not collecting shards? Sit around again?"
"Of course not." Bai Liu smiled, scanning the empty carriage as though he were gazing at piles of gold and silver. "You said robbery is allowed in this game. Do you think Puppet Master is wealthy?"
Mu Sicheng sneered. "Big words. You might be the one who dies."
"Possibly." Bai Liu shrugged. "But if I were him, I'd be determined to keep myself alive. I'm more valuable alive. He should've realized that when he tried to turn me into a puppet."
Bai Liu smiled faintly. "It depends on who becomes the puppet."
Elsewhere in the carriage, Puppet Zhang's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the area. Transparent silk threads extended from his ten fingers, piercing into the backs of the other three players' necks.
His index finger twitched, and one of the players searching the ground jerked upright like a marionette. Puppet Zhang spoke in a low, unpleasant tone, "Li Gou. Have you found any broken mirror shards?"
"No."
Puppet Zhang sighed impatiently. His painted puppet face exaggerated the expression—brows arched sharply downward, lips turned into a displeased frown.
"We've searched half the carriages and still found nothing."
The three puppets stood trembling with lowered heads. Animated beads of light-blue sweat rolled down their foreheads. Li Gou stepped forward nervously and repeated in a small voice, "Master, we truly haven't found any shards."
"Stop searching." Puppet Zhang flicked his fingers, and the three puppets snapped into a neat row like soldiers in formation.
Li Gou hesitated. "Master… if we don't search, how will we clear the game? Don't we need to collect the shards?"
"Idiot." Puppet Zhang cast him a contemptuous glance. "Don't question decisions made by someone with 93 intelligence, understood?"
"The main quest wasn't triggered by us. Yet we should've been the first to find a shard—we have the numbers advantage and searched half the train. And still, we found nothing. Don't you understand what that means?"
Cold sweat dripped down Li Gou's forehead. He stammered, "U-Understand what?"