Puppet Zhang snorted proudly. "An idiot is an idiot. One of the three is Bai Liu. This guy has very poor panel attributes, and his movement speed isn't as fast as any of you under my control. He can't search the carriages faster than you."
"Mu Sicheng moves fast, but his intelligence isn't as high as Bai Liu's. When it comes to finding things, he can't compare to me—with my intelligence—and to you puppet players. Unless those two unite, I must be the fastest player when searching the carriages."
"However, those two definitely won't cooperate." Puppet Zhang's smile turned malicious as he casually kicked one of the puppets in front of him. The puppet fell from the kick, bowing his head and kneeling before Puppet Zhang.
Puppet Zhang stepped carelessly on the kneeling puppet's back, lowering his head as he leaned closer with a smile. "Right, Mu Sicheng's former good friend, Lin Huai?"
The puppet player called Lin Huai said nothing, his limbs trembling slightly.
"I specifically brought you with me because I knew this game would include Mu Sicheng." Puppet Zhang smiled. "Mu Sicheng wouldn't expect that you've become my puppet player, right?"
"He almost became my puppet because of your betrayal. But in the end, Mu Sicheng's mental value dropped to 18, and he violently attacked me. He killed four of my puppets and escaped. So many of my puppet players died that I had to take you as one."
"Still, it's good to be my puppet. You must be happy too. When you see Mu Sicheng, remember to give a good performance and disturb his mind, understand? If you let him run away, the fate waiting for you won't be as pleasant as being my puppet."
Puppet Zhang spoke while patting Lin Huai's face. Lin Huai's puppet face was slick with sweat, and he didn't dare say a word.
Puppet Zhang seemed bored and quickly withdrew his hand. "Mu Sicheng will never cooperate with anyone, let alone Bai Liu, who obviously has his own schemes. Even if Bai Liu intends to cooperate, Mu Sicheng will definitely refuse. Whether alone or together, those two can't search the carriages faster than me. We should be the fastest players in the game, yet we still can't find anything. There are only two possibilities—"
He raised two fingers. "The first possibility is that the broken lenses we need to collect aren't on the train at all."
"The second—" Puppet Zhang's eyes narrowed meaningfully. "There are seven players in the game. Mu Sicheng, Bai Liu, the three of you, and I make six. There is one spot left. If the player who entered later has the ability to find all the broken lenses before us, then that's another possibility."
Li Gou might have been scared, but he still raised his head and asked in confusion, "Master, we've searched half the train at full speed and haven't seen any lenses. It's impossible that all the lenses are in the other half and just happened to be collected by the last player who entered, right?"
"Why is it impossible?" Puppet Zhang gritted his teeth slightly as he spoke the name. "If the last person who entered is Du Sanying, then it's entirely possible for all the broken lenses to pile up in front of him, waiting to be picked up!"
Bai Liu glanced at Du Sanying behind him. Du Sanying was searching the seats one by one with a distressed expression. He hadn't found any broken lenses but had already followed Bai Liu and the others through two carriages.
"No…" Du Sanying murmured to himself. He felt something was very strange. "How come I haven't found a single broken lens?"
He had done this type of collection task before. This was the first time he had searched for so long and remained empty-handed.
Du Sanying pushed up his glasses and opened his game panel to check that his luck value was still 100%. He became deeply confused. How could this be? His 100% luck had always helped him find things easily…
Du Sanying had a strong hunch that he could successfully clear the level with Bai Liu. It was accompanied by an uncomfortable, creepy feeling, but Du Sanying never doubted his intuition. His instincts told him that he would clear the level with Bai Liu. That was certain.
Bai Liu saw Du Sanying checking his luck value and confidently turned to Mu Sicheng. "There are no broken lenses on the train."
Mu Sicheng had already given up trying to understand Bai Liu's thought process and simply asked, "Why?"
"If there were broken lenses on the train, it would be impossible for Du Sanying—with 100% luck—not to have found even one."
Mu Sicheng raised an eyebrow. "Did you forget about the puppet master? Du Sanying might be good at finding things, but there are four people on the puppet master's side, and the puppet players move very quickly under his control. It's very likely they found the broken lenses before we did."
"It's unlikely." Bai Liu shook his head. "First, you mentioned that Du Sanying's luck gives him an advantage in this game. Second, if the puppet master had found the broken lenses and figured out the key to the game, he would probably attack us. We've walked through so many carriages without encountering them. I think they're deliberately avoiding us to prevent conflict. That doesn't look like the behavior of someone who has already found them."
Mu Sicheng crossed his arms and gave a faintly sarcastic laugh. "You smart people really understand each other. You all love playing these kinds of games."
"I don't like his style." Bai Liu understood the ridicule and clarified calmly. "If I need someone to cooperate with me, I'll make sure they do so willingly."
"Like I'm cooperating with you?" Mu Sicheng said with a fake smile. "Bai Liu, this kind of verbal agreement between us isn't very solid."
"It's a money transaction," Bai Liu emphasized with a slight smile. "You gave me one point, Mu Sicheng."
Mu Sicheng smiled mockingly and didn't care much about it. "So if the broken lenses aren't on the train, as you said, where are they? Outside the train? At the subway station? Do we have to wait until we get off and search there?"
Bai Liu touched his chin thoughtfully. "Actually, I think the possibility of the broken lenses being at the subway station is very small."
"They're not on the train or outside it. The map is huge." Mu Sicheng spread his hands. "Then where do you think they are?"
Bai Liu didn't answer because the train arrived, and the female voice over the intercom interrupted him just as his lips parted.
"The train has arrived at Mirror City Museum. Passengers getting off at this station, please exit in an orderly manner. Passengers boarding at this station, please enter in an orderly manner…"
The train doors slowly opened.
Mu Sicheng and Du Sanying looked outside—and their expressions changed instantly. Bai Liu maintained his indifferent expression, as if he had expected this.
On the platform stood numerous scorched corpses. Some had burned-out eyeballs; others had shriveled limbs and exposed teeth.
Strangely, the corpses maintained ordinary human postures. One was looking down at his wristwatch—even though the watch had long since burned away without a trace.
These burned passengers were densely scattered throughout the subway station. As the doors opened, they raised their heads, their blackened eyes staring at Bai Liu's group inside the train.
Du Sanying swallowed hard and backed up until he hit the train window.
The subway station was in ruins. Blackened scorch marks covered every surface, and the stench of charred flesh was so strong it made the throat itch.
Du Sanying weakly hid behind Bai Liu and whispered, "B-Bai Liu… do you think this is another cutscene? Will they attack us?"
"I wouldn't design two similar cutscenes," Bai Liu replied calmly. "It's too boring and a waste of time."
Du Sanying felt weaker and weaker. The hair on his arms stood on end, and a strong sense of danger urged him to flee.
But once he left Bai Liu, the misfortune of almost certain death seemed to loom over him like a shadow. He felt he couldn't leave—nor did he dare to—so he could only ask tearfully, "Bai Liu… how would you design it?"
"If it were me…" Bai Liu quickly searched through his system interface while speaking. He found the tool he needed and continued, "I'd probably design a very dangerous train chase to add excitement at the start of the game."
Mu Sicheng immediately understood. He stared at the burned corpses outside with a dark expression.
This was going to be a chase.