chapter 39

Bai Liu's figure vanished completely as Mu Sicheng stomped in frustration.

Gnawing at his fingernail, Mu Sicheng paced anxiously around the spot where Bai Liu had disappeared. He crouched, tugged at his own hair, and bit through his lollipop in agitation. At last, unable to contain his curiosity, he gritted his teeth and tapped the "Blazing Last Train" icon, following Bai Liu into the game.

Just before entering, he muttered in exasperation, "Damn it, Bai Liu, you've made me curious too. I've never entered a Tier 2 game without any preparation!"

[Game "Blazing Last Train" now has two players. Five more required to begin.]

Two minutes after Mu Sicheng vanished, four players appeared outside the screen—identical in height, build, and appearance.

Each wore a grotesque puppet's painted mask, their movements stiff and marionette-like, as if crafted by a master artisan—four indistinguishable dolls, impossible to tell apart by the naked eye.

The leader, or rather, the puppet, spoke in a low, hollow tone: "Bai Liu has entered this game?"

As he spoke, his mouth moved in exaggerated arcs, like a puppet's jaw manipulated by strings, while the hoarse, rasping voice issued from the puppeteer behind him.

Another puppet, a butcher's blade strapped to his back, flashed a vengeful gleam in his eyes and answered respectfully, "Yes, Master [Puppeteer]."

"'Blazing Last Train,' is it?" The puppet's painted eyes narrowed, then twisted into a wicked smile. "A Tier 2 game. Even if I don't make a move, Bai Liu is unlikely to survive. Such talent—what a waste if he dies. He'll make a fine puppet for me."

"Let's go!"

The four puppets moved in eerie unison, each pressing the "Blazing Last Train" icon, vanishing together at the login portal.

[Game "Blazing Last Train" now has six players. One more required to begin.]

A new figure appeared by the login screen—a student, clad in a pullover sweater, thick-rimmed glasses magnifying half his face, a hefty tome in hand. His freckled nose peeked out beneath the bottle-bottom lenses, and he hunched timidly into his sweater. At a glance, Bai Liu might have mistaken him for Jerf from "Siren Town," though this boy seemed softer, more ordinary—a normal student, which, in this game, was the strangest thing of all.

"Let's see, which game should I pick…" The player pushed his glasses up, squinting at the screen as if peering through reading glasses, and opened his game manager's panel.

On his personal panel, the following was displayed:

[Player Name: Du Sanying]

[Today's Rising Star Leaderboard: 3rd Place—You are now 170,000 points ahead of 4th place Mu Sicheng. He won't catch up anytime soon. Keep it up and close the gap with those ahead!]

[Achievements: The Idle Victor, The Sole Survivor, The Player Mysteriously Ignored by Monsters, The Fighter Whose Attacks Always Miss]

[Items you previously purchased in the game store are now on sale: reduced from 10,000 points to 1 point. Would you like to buy?]

[Congratulations! You have won the top-tier player gift pack, odds 1 in 100,000! Would you like to claim it now?]

…

Du Sanying seemed numb to such windfalls, ignoring all rewards and gifts as he scrolled to the last page of his panel, nearly pressing his face to the screen in search of a particular stat:

[Luck: 100 (Today, you are the luckiest person in the world, the darling of fortune. Trust your instincts—whichever game you choose will be the luckiest for you!)]

"Still at a hundred today?" Du Sanying hesitated, scanning the screen. "In that case, I'd better go with my gut…"

His gaze swept the icons, finally settling on "Blazing Last Train." As his hand hovered over the icon, a shiver of foreboding crept up his spine—a sense that choosing this game would bring both extraordinary luck and misfortune, a feeling he'd never had before, even at peak luck.

Usually, he felt certain that his choice would bring good fortune, but this time, it seemed the game would bring both hardship and luck…

Shaking his head, Du Sanying hesitated for a long while, then tapped the "Blazing Last Train" icon twice.

[Game "Blazing Last Train" now has all players. Game starting—]

A [FULL] mark appeared on the burning train icon. The next moment, Bai Liu opened his eyes in a bustling subway station.

Simultaneously, seven mini-TVs lit up in the lobby, one showing Bai Liu's calm face amid the crowd.

Wang Shun, searching for Bai Liu in the hall, felt his game manager vibrate incessantly:

[System Notification: Player Bai Liu, whose mini-TV you follow, has entered a game. Tune in to watch!]

[System Notification: Player Mu Sicheng, whom you follow…]

[System Notification: Player Zhang Kui has entered a game…]

[System Notification: Player Du Sanying has entered a game…]

"No way…" Wang Shun stared at his notifications in disbelief. "Bai Liu, the third and fourth on the Rising Star list, and the [Puppeteer]—all in one multiplayer game? This is going to be a clash of titans…"

————————

The moment Bai Liu opened his eyes, the system prompt appeared:

[Welcome to "Blazing Last Train."]

[You are a passenger. Please use the ticket in your pocket to enter the station within ten minutes and wait to board the final train, which is about to explode.]

Bai Liu reached into his suit pocket and drew out a thin, rigid subway ticket: [Line 4: Antique City → Antique City]. He raised an eyebrow in surprise—the departure and destination were the same. Unless there were two stations with identical names…

He glanced around the station, searching for a subway map, and soon found one by the ticket counter.

Line 4 was a conspicuous red loop. Bai Liu immediately spotted it on the map.

"As I thought, Line 4 is a closed circuit," he mused, tracing the red line encircling the city. "The starting and ending stations overlap—both are called Antique City."

Wandering the station, he found nothing unusual except for a few extra advertisements. The only thing that struck him as odd was the escalator design: typically, the exit escalator would go up and the entrance down, but here, it was reversed—a subtle but unnatural detail.

Another oddity caught his eye—the LED clock overhead.

[07:34]

At first glance, it seemed normal, but after a few checks, Bai Liu realized the time was counting down, not up. In a blink, it changed to [07:12].

"It's a countdown, not a clock," Bai Liu observed. "And it seems to be my personal timer—six minutes left to enter."

Despite the dwindling time, Bai Liu remained unhurried. He exited the station, only to find utter darkness—no light, no sound, nothing. Passengers who stepped into the void vanished. Bai Liu did not attempt to leave, and upon returning, saw the countdown had dropped to [03:02].

He leisurely revisited the map, this time noting the station names. The stop before [Antique City] was [Reservoir], and a few stations away, [Mirror Museum] caught his attention.

"Mirror Museum…" Bai Liu's gaze lingered, lost in thought. "Why does that name sound familiar…"

As he tried to recall, a voice interrupted: "Damn it, Bai Liu! Why aren't you inside yet?" Mu Sicheng, glancing back from the platform, spotted the flamboyant figure squinting at the map and strode over, exasperated. "There's barely a minute left—what are you doing, memorizing the map?"

Bai Liu was unsurprised that Mu Sicheng had followed him in. He glanced at the LED countdown, now in its final seconds, and replied calmly, "I'm trying to remember if I've been here before…"

Mu Sicheng paused. "You've played this game before?" Then shook his head. "No, you're definitely a newcomer."

"I haven't been here in the game," Bai Liu admitted.

Mu Sicheng frowned. "Then how could you have been here?"

"Just because I haven't been here in the game doesn't mean I haven't been here in reality. I think I've visited this place in real life." Bai Liu's gaze left the map.

"Reality?!" Mu Sicheng was stunned. "You've been to this subway station in real life? How do you know?"

"If I'm right, this game is based on a real event. Have you heard of the 'Mirror City Explosion'?"

"You mean the news story about two thieves who hid a bomb in an antique mirror, planning to rob the local museum, but the bomb went off on the subway before they got there?"

As they walked, Bai Liu swiped his ticket at the entrance and entered. "I studied the station layout and map. This game is almost certainly modeled after the Mirror City Explosion."

"I've heard of it…" Mu Sicheng followed, ticket in hand. "But so what? That case was huge, and no one ever figured out how the bomb got past security. Most details were never made public."

He shrugged, half-mocking. "Even if we know the inspiration, we're still clueless about what will happen on this doomed train. Knowing the source is useless."

"I might actually know what happens on this train…" Bai Liu rubbed his nose and smiled kindly at Mu Sicheng. "I was on that subway the day of the explosion. I got off at the stop before it happened."

Mu Sicheng: "…"

Bai Liu shrugged innocently, meeting Mu Sicheng's stunned gaze. "Does this count as having crucial information for clearing the game?"

"Of course, Mu Sicheng, I can tell you everything I know—but not for free. If you don't believe me, you can use your lie-detecting item to check."