Free Web NovelThe system notification echoed through the subway intercom, loud enough for everyone in the carriage to hear that Bai Liu had triggered the main quest.
Du Sanying and Mu Shicheng both froze.
At the same time, they turned toward Bai Liu, who was still lounging against the subway seat with an absent look in his eyes, idly rolling the coin between his fingers.
The entire time, Bai Liu had done nothing but sit there spacing out.
Meanwhile, Mu Shicheng and Du Sanying had been combing through the carriage for clues. When Mu Shicheng asked what he was doing, Bai Liu had merely replied, expression faint, “I’m organizing the information in my head,” before going completely motionless again.
Mu Shicheng had nearly been rendered speechless.
Earlier, Bai Liu had already told him everything he knew about the bombing cases, but Mu Shicheng hadn’t paid much attention to it. At the time, their priority had been searching the carriage for clues that would trigger the main quest.
The Last Train to Blast Off was a collection-type horror game. From Mu Shicheng’s experience, the main quest in games like this usually only activated after players discovered the first collectible item.
What he hadn’t realized, however, was that if someone managed to infer the key collectible directly from the game’s background setting, they could trigger the quest that way as well.
To be fair, Mu Shicheng’s oversight wasn’t entirely his fault. It was a matter of mindset.
Most players entered a new game with limited information, so naturally they relied on searching the map for collectibles to trigger quests.
But Bai Liu was an anomaly.
He might be a newcomer player, but he was also a game designer. He didn’t think like ordinary players did. Instead of exploring blindly, he instinctively worked backward from the game’s background information, deducing how the level itself had been designed.
And because Bai Liu already possessed enough information about the bombings and the mirrors, he had simply reverse-engineered the answer.
And somehow, he’d gotten it exactly right.
The moment the system announcement rang out, Mu Shicheng and Du Sanying instinctively looked toward Bai Liu again.
Du Sanying didn’t know Bai Liu well enough to question him directly, but curiosity was practically written all over his face. He desperately wanted to know how someone could trigger the main quest without even getting out of his seat.
Mu Shicheng, on the other hand, had no such reservations.
“How the hell did you trigger the quest?” he demanded, striding over immediately. “You didn’t even move!”
The audience shared the same disbelief.
The instant the system prompt appeared, countless viewers were stunned.
No one had expected that in a multiplayer horror game featuring the third- and fourth-ranked Rising Stars alongside the infamous [Puppet Master], the first player to trigger the main quest would be a rookie who hadn’t even left his seat.
It was downright absurd.
“Holy shit, how did he do that?! He literally hasn’t moved this entire time!”
“Did he accidentally sit on a mirror fragment or something? Damn, my ass suddenly hurts just thinking about it.”
“Isn’t this kind of ridiculous luck supposed to belong to Xiao Sanying? How did the newbie get it instead?”
Mu Shicheng marched over, hooked his hands under Bai Liu’s arms, and lifted him straight off the seat while inspecting underneath suspiciously.
“Did you sit on a shard or something? Is that how you triggered it?”
Bai Liu’s expression immediately went flat.
“Mu Shicheng,” he said coldly, “put me down.”
Standing at 176 centimeters, Bai Liu absolutely despised being picked up like this.
Back when he was younger, he’d once harbored the sincere dream of taking a cleaver and chopping off the ankles of every person taller than him.
Anyone who dared lift him into the air would quickly learn that being tall was a sin.
If not for the fact that Mu Shicheng was still useful—
Bai Liu forcibly cut off the rest of that violent train of thought.
Mu Shicheng abruptly felt a chill crawl down his spine. After a brief hesitation, he hurriedly set Bai Liu back down.
“There’s nothing under there,” he muttered, confused. “So how did you trigger the quest? You seriously didn’t move at all.”
“How did I not move?” Bai Liu brushed nonexistent dust from the places Mu Shicheng had touched before looking up at him with exaggerated patience. “My brain was moving, Mu Shicheng.” ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
Mu Shicheng: “...”
For some reason, Bai Liu always managed to look at him like he was intellectually deficient.
After straightening his clothes, Bai Liu lazily lifted his eyes.
“Besides, didn’t I already tell you the important information?” he asked calmly. “You still couldn’t figure it out? What exactly is your intelligence stat?”
Mu Shicheng: “...”
You literally only told me the mirrors were worth a hundred million and that you’d murder the curator and steal the collection if it were you!
How the hell was that supposed to count as a clue?!
And stop looking at me like I’m some lower life form, you psychopath!
Bai Liu clapped his hands lightly and began explaining his reasoning as they walked forward.
Du Sanying trailed several steps behind them, cautious but close enough to listen. Bai Liu made no attempt to lower his voice, and as Du Sanying listened, surprise slowly appeared on his face.
So it could actually be deduced that way.
The audience was equally shocked.
“What’s this rookie player’s name? His logic is insane. I kinda want to check out his stream now.”
“This is literally the first time I’ve seen someone trigger the main quest before Du Sanying in a collection game... And he did it faster than a player with 100% luck. That’s crazy.”
...
“So the main quest is collecting mirror fragments, and the total number is unknown...” Mu Shicheng sucked on his lollipop while glancing sideways at Du Sanying, who was pretending to search the nearby seats behind them. Irritation flickered across his face as he clicked his tongue against the candy. “You’re seriously just saying all this out loud where he can hear? /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ With his luck, he’s definitely going to find a ton of fragments later.”
“That guy’s luck is ridiculous. He was practically born to find things. Even if we discover fragments ourselves, there’s a good chance they’ll somehow end up in Du Sanying’s hands anyway.” Mu Shicheng frowned. “Shouldn’t you at least be a little wary of him?”
Bai Liu looked at him strangely.
“Why would I be wary of him?”
Mu Shicheng’s expression darkened. “Didn’t I just explain it? Even if we find fragments ourselves, they could still—”
“Who said we were going to look for fragments?” Bai Liu interrupted casually.
His gaze briefly swept over Du Sanying behind them before shifting away as though nothing had happened.
“We’re not searching for them. We’ll let Du Sanying do it instead. Isn’t he good at finding things? Then he can slowly collect all the fragments for us.”
Mu Shicheng blinked in disbelief.
“Wait...” His eyes widened. “You’re planning to let him gather everything first and then rob him?”
“Mm.”
Mu Shicheng ground his back teeth irritably.
“As tempting as that sounds, it won’t work. You seriously don’t understand what Du Sanying’s 100% luck actually means.”
As he spoke, Mu Shicheng seemed to recall some deeply unpleasant memory. His expression twisted, jaw tightening hard enough to creak audibly.
“As long as you try to rob Du Sanying, your luck starts dropping. Constantly. You’ll run into every possible disaster imaginable. Even if your hand is already inside his system warehouse, some random monster will suddenly interrupt you.” Mu Shicheng sneered darkly. “In short, stealing from him is impossible.”
“Oh.” Bai Liu still sounded unconcerned. “That’s only because you weren’t capable enough. Maybe I can do it.”
Mu Shicheng was genuinely starting to get irritated by Bai Liu’s stubborn confidence.
“I’m telling you, Du Sanying has 100% luck. No player can successfully rob him. Not even Spades.”
Just as the system description stated—
[Du Sanying is the darling of the Goddess of Luck.]
“You said earlier that Du Sanying’s luck works by influencing the probability of the things around him, right?” Bai Liu finally turned to look at Mu Shicheng properly, once again wearing that infuriating expression that seemed to say you idiot. “But his ability can’t affect me.”
“My luck stat is zero. It can’t possibly get any lower.”
Mu Shicheng froze.
“So his luck can’t make me any more unfortunate.” Bai Liu’s voice remained calm and steady. “But perhaps my bad luck can drag him down instead.”
He turned his head slightly, the corners of his lips curling upward into a faint smile.
“What do you think, Mu Shicheng?”
Behind them, Du Sanying suddenly felt a cold shiver crawl up the back of his neck.
Goosebumps prickled across his skin.
He stared uncertainly at Bai Liu’s back.
That strange sensation again—
The same bizarre premonition that always made him feel both incredibly lucky and catastrophically unlucky at the same time.
Mu Shicheng finally became interested in Bai Liu’s theory.
“If you’re not planning to search for fragments,” he asked, narrowing his eyes, “then what exactly are you going to do in this collection game? Sit around spacing out again?” freewebnøvel.coɱ
“Of course not.” Bai Liu smiled.
He looked ahead into the empty train carriage with bright eyes, as though staring at mountains of gold waiting to be claimed.
“You said earlier that robbery is allowed in this game, right?” Bai Liu asked lightly. “Do you think the Puppet Master is rich?”
Mu Shicheng scoffed.
“You talk big. At this rate, the one who’ll die might be you.”
“That’s possible.” Bai Liu sounded completely unconcerned. “But if I were him, I’d definitely choose to keep me alive.”
“After all, my survival value is extremely high.” Bai Liu smiled faintly. “He probably realized that already, which is why he wants to turn me into a puppet.”
Bai Liu gave a soft laugh.
“We’ll just have to see whose puppet ends up becoming whose.”
——————
Zhang Kui narrowed his eyes as he slowly surveyed the train carriage.
Transparent threads stretched from all ten of his fingers, extending outward to pierce into the backs of three different players’ necks.
His index finger twitched slightly.
One of the threads trembled in response, and the player crouched nearby searching the floor abruptly stood upright like a marionette being yanked by invisible strings.
“Li Gou,” Zhang Kui asked impatiently, “did you find any mirror fragments?”
“No, Master.”
Zhang Kui clicked his tongue in annoyance.
His face, painted in exaggerated puppet makeup, displayed a grotesque expression: drooping brows and a deeply downturned mouth that made his irritation painfully obvious.
“We’ve searched nearly half the train already and still haven’t found a single one.”
The three puppets stood together trembling, heads lowered.
Large beads of pale blue sweat rolled stiffly down their faces frame by frame, like poorly rendered animation effects.
Li Gou stepped forward nervously.
“Master...” he said in a shaky voice. “We really haven’t found any fragments.”
“Stop searching.”
Zhang Kui’s fingers danced lightly through the air, and the three puppets immediately lined up in front of him with military precision.
Li Gou cautiously asked, “Master... are we not looking anymore? Don’t we need to collect mirror fragments to clear the game? If we stop searching, then how are we supposed to pass...?”
“Idiot.” Zhang Kui glanced sideways at Li Gou, equal parts smug and disdainful. “Do you really think someone with an intelligence stat of 93 would make the wrong decision?”
“The main quest wasn’t triggered by us, but we should’ve been the first group searching the train.” Zhang Kui sneered. “We have more people than anyone else, and we’ve already searched nearly half the carriages without finding a single fragment.”
He tilted his head slightly toward Li Gou.
“And you still haven’t figured out what that means?”
Cold sweat poured down Li Gou’s face.
“Means... means what?”
