CHAPTER 533: CHAPTER 499 XIAO QI’S CONFESSION

"Fine, you say it."

Jiang Xiao didn’t care what her last request was.

Because if it was going to be troublesome, he could simply choose to break his promise after agreeing to it.

"I will choose to leave, but could you do me a favor and make it quick for my parents later?"

Jiang Xiao: ...

What kind of filial talk is this?

"Go on, I’m listening."

"You’re right, I am the source of all this..."

Xiao Qi’s voice was somewhat low and carried a hint of relief.

"The beginning of it all has to start from the day my mother and I boarded the train."

As it turned out, everything was almost as Jiang Xiao had predicted.

Xiao Qi and Yu Fen indeed boarded the T180 train.

And Xiao Qi was indeed the biological daughter of Fang Tianyu and Yu Fen.

Well~

Jiang Xiao actually had a vague suspicion that the Xiao Qi in front of him might not be Fang Tianyu’s daughter, but something transformed by eeriness.

But for now, it seemed, it wasn’t the worst possible conclusion.

"That day, I remember it was dreary. Although Dad outwardly scolded Mom for being naive, I could tell he was actually very happy..."

"Dad even treated us to a luxurious meal on the train, but it tasted of plastic, nothing compared to the delicious meals Mom made at home..."

"Hold on," Jiang Xiao interrupted Xiao Qi’s nostalgic recollections, "Get to the main point."

"The main point, the main point is..."

It was on Xiao Qi’s second evening on the train.

Though it was supposed to be dusk, the setting sun was not yellow nor red.

Instead, it displayed a color akin to somewhat darkened fresh blood.

"Fang Tianyu the ’scholar,’ had seen such a phenomenon in an ancient book, and he stayed in the cab without coming out for dinner."

"And then?"

"And then..."

A faint glimmer flickered in Xiao Qi’s eyes.

"And then Dad found out that the train would never reach the next station."

Jiang Xiao nodded, he could relate to that.

Because, although the train passed through a tunnel every now and then, it indeed had not stopped at a station once.

"And then the eeriness invaded?"

"No." Xiao Qi answered quickly.

"Initially, we just couldn’t reach any station, and the train couldn’t be stopped, but besides that, nightfall ceased to exist here."

Hmm?

Jiang Xiao looked out the window.

It seemed that ever since he came in, the weather outside had maintained this murky state.

"No wonder, I was thinking why a day here seemed so long?"

"But that’s not right, you just said that the eeriness chose you to threaten your parents, didn’t you?"

Jiang Xiao recalled what Xiao Qi had just mentioned.

"Uh, actually, what I said was right, but the real situation is a bit different from what I described."

At first, other than the train experiencing a "ghost wall," everything was normal.

But under such a mood, the passengers could keep rational at the beginning, but no one could take it after a long time.

Especially the security guards.

They were already hot-tempered, and they tried several times to seek out Fang Tianyu for an explanation.

But could Fang Tianyu be honest?

Of course not!

The train had been traveling for quite a while without reaching a station, and this had already caused panic amongst everyone.

If they were to be told that all this was related to bizarre and supernatural events, it would only cause everyone’s rationality to dissipate faster and more completely.

But eventually, you can’t wrap fire in paper.

Although T180 was a long-distance train and it was normal for it to travel for three to five nights,

the fact that the day never turned to night was still difficult to explain.

However, with the reassurances of the assistant driver, everyone managed to avoid causing too much commotion.

Anyone who has taken such long-distance trains knows.

You sleep when you’re tired, eat when you’re hungry, and then sleep again after eating.

The concept of time becomes very vague, especially with the sky always being gray.

So even though some people wondered why they hadn’t seen stars for such a long time, they didn’t think too deeply about it, assuming they had simply slept through the night.

"But eventually everyone started to realize that something was wrong, there was one thing we couldn’t hide..."

"What?"

"Food."

"Food?"

"Yes, food. Even though it’s winter and food lasts longer than in summer, the total amount is still not that much. Usually, if food ran low, we could resupply at any station, but after this situation occurred..."

Without food, there would always be passengers who couldn’t withstand it.

Despite the fact that food was quite expensive on the train, most passengers had brought plenty of their own food to eat along the way.

Moreover, many passengers were able to deduce that the journey had been delayed based on the rate at which their "food" was being consumed.

On this, Fang Tianyu could only offer comfort, saying that the route had been changed due to a snowstorm ahead.

And to help everyone get through this difficult time,

the food on the train was also put on a discount, and for some of the elderly, infirm, women, and children, Fang Tianyu didn’t charge them, ensuring no one would starve before the food ran out.

At this point, Xiao Qi’s eyes reddened again.

Jiang Xiao realized that this little trickster might not be any Oscar-winning actor but instead was just prone to tears.

"What about after all the food was gone?"

"After all the food was gone, some, some passengers they wanted to eat people..."

Eat people?

Although somewhat shocked, it seemed within the realms of possibility.

In ancient times, in the face of natural disasters and poor harvests, cannibalism occurred even among neighbors.

When pushed to extreme hunger, humans are capable of doing anything.

"What about your father? As a train driver, surely he wouldn’t become a target to be eaten, right?"

"Yes, yes, the driver is an important role, and he definitely wouldn’t be eaten. Dad also wanted the security personnel to stop the passengers’ behavior outside."

"Security personnel? Reliable? Didn’t you say they had a volatile temper?"

"Yes, unreliable, it was them who took the lead in planning to eat people because they were strong, had equipment, had weapons..."

Fang Tianyu wouldn’t have become a train driver if he was just an ordinary man who only knew how to operate a train.

Can an ordinary person discern the meaning behind a bloody sunset?

Fang Tianyu, who had always stayed inside the train’s head, hadn’t come out.

Although the locomotive was a separate car, its sound insulation was not so good.

He was able to make judgments based on occasional communications with Yu Fen, who was disguised as a passenger.

As soon as he learned about the security’s restlessness, he had made preparations...

Xiao Qi didn’t know exactly what he did, including the assistant driver, who was also clueless.

They only knew that one second, the security personnel were oppressing the passengers, ready to feast on human flesh,

and the next second, they turned over a new leaf, completely changing their behavior and started to earnestly maintain order in the carriages.

If someone tried to bully the weak, they would tackle the trouble without hesitation.

So that’s how it is...

This seems to correspond with the rules?

"Alright, I think I’ve got a clear understanding of the situation with the security personnel, but what about you and your parents..."

Sniffling, the frequency of the black light twinkling in Xiao Qi’s eyes grew higher and higher.