Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 1896: Chapter 1077: Personal Resentment

"What kind of monster?" This was obviously an important clue, and everyone immediately became interested.

"Not sure, he couldn’t explain it either, and no one had seen it, the old man’s father had long passed away, so there’s no way to verify it."

Yandeta Chiyoda’s tone was a bit regretful, "But there’s one thing I think needs special attention, the old man’s father’s identity is somewhat special, he was a rail maintenance worker when he was young, but the old man couldn’t specify which line he was responsible for."

"Do other elders have similar rumors?" Watanabe Gou asked.

"No, it’s just this one case, and..." Yandeta Chiyoda raised her hand, pointing to her head, "Through communication, we found that this old man seems to have some mental issues, his speech is incoherent."

"A single case proves nothing, especially when it’s an old man with mental issues, his words are hardly credible." The disappointment on Suzuki Takashi’s face was undeniable, it sounded like an important clue, but it turned out to be the ramblings of a confused old man.

"It’s not like you think, I believe there’s still some credibility to this person, we saw an old photograph on his wall, a man in work clothes holding tools, with railway tracks cushioned by sleepers in the background, the man resembles the old man by about 60-70%." Introduced Hirano Yuuhi, who was in the same group as Yandeta Chiyoda.

If this person is indeed the old man’s father, then no one can assert that the old man’s previous claims about the monster were baseless.

But unfortunately, Yandeta Chiyoda’s group also couldn’t find evidence of the existence of Youjian Mountain Station, nor any train accident with massive casualties, the investigation still had no substantial progress.

"We also rode that train today, the distance between Shirahata Station and Old Valley Town Station is noticeably longer, and the train’s running time far exceeds that of other stations on the same line."

"I am more inclined to believe that there is a third station between these two, which is Youjian Mountain Station."

"As for why it can’t be found, I think it’s because something happened that led to Youjian Mountain Station being permanently closed, even erased from records."

"And now, after decades, almost all the people who knew the details have died, so it became a secret." Yang Xiao gave his insight.

This was a very reasonable explanation, everyone agreed, but the problem now was that too much time had passed, the secrecy level of this matter must have been very high too, where could they find someone who knew the insider information?

"We can all listen to this together." Kato Shinjiro, who had not joined the discussion, opened the tape recorder.

He played a recording from yesterday, the segment where Sasaki Sakura sought help.

At first, it didn’t sound surprising, similar to what they had heard before, the parts where Sasaki Sakura spoke were all covered by static noise.

But as Kato Shinjiro gradually increased the volume, something unexpected happened, an eerie rhythm appeared in the background of the recording.

It sounded like a piece of music, but intermixed with "whack", "whack" sounds, as if someone was clumsily using their hands and feet to tap the beat along with the music.

But the beat and the music were out of sync, giving a very strong sense of dislocation, as if two completely different world lines were forcibly pieced together.

Listening for a long time, the sense of discomfort grew stronger, Sakai Misaki turned pale, cold sweat streaming down her forehead, nearly fainting.

It wasn’t until this moment that Kato Shinjiro turned off the recording, and Yang Xiao realized that his back had unknowingly been drenched in cold sweat.

The sound of heavy breathing filled the room, everyone was adjusting their state, Xiao Lin Zhengyan leaned weakly against the wall, looking terrified, in just that brief minute, he was nearly suffocated.

"What is... what is this ghostly thing?" Suzuki Takashi panted and asked.

"I don’t know, I only discovered it by accident, thanks to Mr. Watanabe." Kato Shinjiro looked at Watanabe Gou, whose face had darkened, and said calmly, "It was when he operated the tape recorder to listen to the recording that I realized."

This statement seemed fine at first, but in reality, it pointed the blame directly at Watanabe Gou, almost saying that all of this was related to Watanabe Gou, and that the person who received the ghost train ticket tonight was him.

Normally, Watanabe Gou’s bad temper wouldn’t tolerate this, but this time, he didn’t dare to refute it, nor did he dare to get angry, because he knew very well that due to a series of his actions before, he had already offended quite a few people, including Yang Xiao and Takagi Reina, just because people hadn’t said it doesn’t mean they don’t know, and they were giving him face, not wanting to make things too ugly.

If he openly turned against Kato Shinjiro again, and during the conflict his secrets were exposed, that would be trouble.

Now, the experienced players probably understood his actions, but the new players might not, meaning that in the eyes of new players, he was still somewhat reliable, which left him enough room for his next moves.

He wouldn’t find an experienced player as a substitute death, but new players were dispensable, foolish newcomers were public resources, first come, first served, this was also an unwritten rule in nightmare tasks.

As long as he could use a new player as a substitute death to obtain the corresponding clues, not only wouldn’t everyone blame him, but they’d even see him in a new light, because he showed his value.

Only people with value deserved to live, this was the unchanging iron rule in nightmares.

If the value he showed was significant enough, then even when facing danger, teammates would do their utmost to help, they’d help share the risk of ghost attacks.

"Mr. Kato is right, I also only realized this segment of music when I operated the tape recorder unintentionally, the same segment of music appeared in the last recording left by Mimura Kaori." Watanabe Gou said with a calm expression.

"Did you hear any strange sounds when Miss Miura was attacked by the ghost last night?" Yandeta Chiyoda asked.

"No... no, at that time I was also scared out of my wits. After Mimura Kaori escaped, I hid under the bed and finally just closed my eyes and covered my ears." Watanabe Gou recalled the situation at that time, speaking half-truthfully.

No one argued with him about the cause of Mimura Kaori’s death; it was meaningless. What everyone needed was the truth, the only concern was how to survive.

"What’s the plan for tonight?" Takagi Reina didn’t want to linger with them any longer as the sun outside was setting, the sky was getting late, so she asked directly.

"If nothing unexpected happens, someone will receive the ghost train ticket tonight and be taken by the ghost train to that Youjian Mountain Station. I propose that we don’t just passively wait. Tonight, we choose two groups of people to take the train late at night to try, replicating the route from the night Sasaki Sakura disappeared." Eventually, it was proposed by the usually reticent old bookstore owner, Kato Shinjiro.

Although this plan sounded risky, it was a risk that had to be taken. The group didn’t discuss much before passing it.

"Who should go then? Are there any volunteers?" Suzuki Takashi glanced around the group; this was the standard procedure.

But the result was predictable. The group remained silent, with newcomers like Sakai Misaki and Xiao Lin Zhengyan instinctively avoiding Suzuki Takashi’s gaze.

They were just newcomers, but that didn’t mean they were stupid. Once they got on the train tonight, there was no telling if they’d return.

Seeing no one answering, the group was about to resort to their usual practice of drawing lots when Takagi Reina’s lazy voice rang out: "We won’t participate. Chu Xi and I will stay at the detective agency tonight. This place... is very special."

Everyone understood that staying at the detective agency was very dangerous. The water ghost could use reflections on the water surface to kill, and the danger level of staying here might not be lower than that of riding the train, so they accepted Takagi Reina’s choice.

But the next second, someone immediately stood up and righteously declared, "No, this isn’t fair. You all must participate. If you’re not drawn, you can continue to stay, but if you are, you have to take the train at night to find Youjian Mountain Station."

Of course, it was Yandeta Chiyoda, who didn’t get along with Takagi Reina and Yang Xiao. If she had a gun, she would definitely force Yang Xiao and Takagi Reina to board the train tonight.

Even the others felt this was excessive, although technically correct, it was not humane. Last night, Yang Xiao and Takagi Reina had already put in their utmost effort to deal with the water ghost attack, and they shouldn’t have to take risks again tonight. They needed rest too.

Besides, today during the day, their team wasn’t idle either. They went to the station to investigate and brought back some fairly important clues, which was enough to prove these two’s value.

No one wanted to offend Yandeta Chiyoda, so they didn’t say anything. However, this collective silence already conveyed their stance.

They all agreed that Yang Xiao and Takagi Reina didn’t have to participate in tonight’s actions. These two were valuable and should not be used as trial candidates. At least, they both shouldn’t get into trouble, as that would be too big a loss.

"What are you thinking? He’s an alien, non-native like us with ulterior motives. They hate us to the core. How could he truly cooperate with us?" Seeing this, Yandeta Chiyoda became very agitated, her emotions overpowering her reason.

"Phew—" Yang Xiao sighed inwardly. He originally thought she was an expert, but seeing her inability to control even basic emotions, it seemed she was just like that.

Overestimated her.

Seeing her hysterical demeanor, Yang Xiao was reassured, and everyone present was hardly influenced by Yandeta Chiyoda’s contrary comments.

Honestly, no one cared about alien races; as long as someone was valuable and could help everyone survive, even if aliens came, they’d all unite. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

A nightmare is just that, a nightmare. Once outside, whatever happened outside, in the face of life and death, the nightmare is the biggest enemy, and all grievances must be put aside.

But after interacting a bit, Yang Xiao was also puzzled. He didn’t understand why Yandeta Chiyoda harbored such strong hostility towards him, and this hostility was very direct and pure, aimed at his background and identity.

From his previous observations of Yandeta Chiyoda, she didn’t seem to be such a low-intelligence person. Even if there was malice, there was no need to express it so directly and openly confront him.

Her demeanor didn’t look like an ordinary person; perhaps she had family backing behind her. Could it be that her hostility towards him didn’t lie with her personally but with the family behind her?

Someone in her family might have gone to his territory to cause trouble and got dealt with harshly by his people.

Similar to what he instantly associated with the time Black Wood Society made their move, with President Hei Mu Zhenyi leading a sneaky raid, resulting in nearly all their elites dying there, leaving only a bunch of old, weak, and disabled clinging on in Japan.

The more Yang Xiao thought about it, the more likely it seemed. He clearly remembered in the introduction session at the start of the mission, Yandeta Chiyoda’s face immediately turned three shades darker upon learning of his nationality. Her eyes were filled with hostility.

Yang Xiao would rather not make enemies during missions, but this time he had to deal with her.

Yang Xiao had no doubt that at a key moment in the future mission, this old woman might try something underhanded against him.

"Since you’re seeking death, I’ll grant you that. It’s a blunder not to have wiped out your family. Leaving a menace behind."

Yang Xiao smiled outwardly, still maintaining that amiable appearance, while inwardly plotting how to handle her.