Non-Human Seeking Re-employment

"Oh, that\'s true."

Shen Dongqing also discovered this issue.

The Train Attendant had gone completely cold. Despite being a fully matured adult, she was forcibly shoved under the chair by folding up her four limbs, and her broken bones were protruding out her skin, thus forming a bizarre posture. It seems like they would gain no answers out of her.

Shen Dong gave up on the idea of catching a person to ask them for directions regretfully.

Seeing that the pair were going to continue forward, Chequered Skirt asked cautiously: "What should we do about this?"

"About what?" Shen Dongqing turned his head back to look at her.

Coincidentally, the Train Attendant\'s corpse was reanimated.

Her body jumped out with a loud snap, her contorted arms stretching out directly to grip onto Chequered Skirt\'s calf.

"AH—"

Chequered Skirt screamed, frantically stomping on the Train Attendant as she was seized with panic. When she finally came back to her senses, she had stomped on the Train Attendant\'s face with her high heel until it was beyond recognition.

Shen Dongqing sympathised. "How pitiful."

Chequered Skirt was tearing up. "I was scared."

And then her foot went down again, hitting her forehead precisely. Fortunately, the Train Attendant was already dead, or else she would have died again.

The other players went silent as they pulled away from Chequered Skirt.

The Train Attendant released her in despair.

Shen Dongqing: "Actually, I was talking about her." He pointed at the Train Attendant whose countenance was ruined once more. "Maybe she was only trying to greet you."

Chequered Skirt took two steps back.

Shen Dongqing stepped forward, holding onto the Train Attendant\'s hand before he shook it.

Kacha—

The Train Attendant\'s arm broke off directly.

Shen Dongqing threw away the arm instantaneously, pretending that it was none of his business. As he was turning his head back, he mumbled under his breath: "I was clearly being very careful, she\'s the one who\'s too weak."

Zhou Wenyan made a show of being serious as he nodded his head.

Train Attendant: "……"

She felt that her ghost life was full of doubts and she never wanted to scare another person ever again. She only wanted to go back under her safe and warm chair and have some quiet time alone.

Unfortunately for her, even her small and insignificant request would not be granted.

Shen Dongqing stepped on the Train Attendant\'s back without any hesitation to stop her from moving, and she could draw a bloody streak on the ground, despairing.

"Hello." He bent his waist, revealing a friendly smile, "May I ask where the control room is?"

The Train Attendant jerked, issuing a string of unfathomable noises.

It was like she was saying, if you want to maim and slaughter, do it quickly, could you please stop torturing me!

Shen Dongqing raised his head. "She\'s not cooperating."

If something much more stimulating happened later, it was not his fault oh!

Zhou Wenyan stated, "There are keys on her body."

When Chequered Skirt was stomping on her furiously just now, something had jingled on the Train Attendant\'s body, which should be the sound the keys made when they collided with each other.

Lowering his head, Shen Dongqing studied her for a moment before he extended his hand towards the Train Attendant\'s waist pocket and fished out a string of keys. There were a dozen in total, each with different labels on them, and one of them had the words,"Control Room".

Since he had obtained the thing he wanted, Shen Dongqing lifted his foot, and the Train Attendant, having regained her freedom, swiftly crawled under the chair.

Shen Dongqing originally intended to ask her if she could lead the way, but when he lowered his head, he realised that she had shrunk into a ball, trembling.

Train Attendant: I\'m a chair, I\'m a chair……

Shen Dongqing spun the keys once as he shook his head: "It seems like the ghost in this carriage doesn\'t have the best mental fortitude, she\'s too fragile."

Then he had a fantastic idea: "Maybe I should give her a psychological lecture."

The Train Attendant\'s eyes rolled back as her body lurched, and she looked like she was going to faint soon.

Shen Dongqing slanted his head, saying, "Is she overjoyed or something?"

Train Attendant: I\'m not, I didn\'t, don\'t spout nonsense.

Fortunately, Zhou Wenyan pulled Shen Dongqing back from his active ideas, thus saving a ghost life in a timely and vivid manner.

"Let\'s look for the main control room first."

Shen Dongqing: "Fine." He leaned closer and bid farewell to the Train Attendant. "See you next time!"

The frightened and unconscious Train Attendant expressed that she really did not want to meet him again.

A ghost\'s life was truly difficult.

Now armed with keys, the group moved towards another train compartment.

Each train carriage was partitioned off with a thin and translucent frosted glass door.

Shen Dongqing fiddled with the keys before he knocked on the frosted glass door gently. "This doesn\'t need a key." It was highly likely that he did not need to exert much strength before the frosted glass door would fall.

Being a man of action, Shen Dongqing reached out to pull open the door. After a short pause, the frosted glass door was forcibly pulled open by him without needing a key.

Previously, the train carriage that the players were in was No.1, the Train Attendant\'s carriage was No.2, and they were currently inside the third train carriage.

Upon survey, the train carriage was utterly empty, and there was not a single person in the rows of seats.

Shen Dongqing was disappointed. "There\'s nothing here."

Zhou Wenyan leaned to the side, the corners of his lips hooking up. "Come here, I\'ll perform a magic trick for you."

Shen Dongqing blinked his eyes, brimming with expectation.

Zhou Wenyan closed the door while conveniently extracting the keys from his hand. He spun the string of keys around his finger once before he stopped at the one with the number 3. He inserted the key and rotated it.

Kacha—

Like he had triggered some kind of switch, human figures could be seen behind the frosted glass.

Zhou Wenyan opened the door again.

The scene inside the train carriage had changed.

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It was a train carriage filled with the breath of life, which was a sharp contrast to the dead silence that had previously greeted them.

Shen Dongqing and Zhou Wenyan walked in, while the little tails behind them hesitated a little.

Panel Cap said: "All of these people that inexplicably appeared, it\'s highly likely that they\'re ghosts!"

If the people in the train carriage suddenly turned into ghosts simultaneously, who could withstand them?

The timid male student standing at the side mumbled, "But both of them look quite strong…"

Panel Cap rolled his eyes. "You can go if you want."

The players revolving around B-level game copies were either new players or incompetent, and Panel Cap, with a few games under his belt, would usually take the leadership position, but he did not expect that the pair who had appeared from thin air would suppress him directly.

Needless to say, Panel Cap was displeased. But no matter how displeased he was, there was nothing he could do about it.

Chequered Skirt did not have as many qualms, so she followed them immediately.

On the other hand, there were a portion of timid players who chose to remain in the second carriage to observe the situation first, and if there were really no danger, only then would they enter the third train carriage.

The travellers in the third carriage were minding their own business, and they were completely unaware of the fact that there were more people in their midst.

Shen Dongqing looked for the person closest to him and asked: "Do you know…"

The elderly flipped his newspaper expressionlessly, not even bothering to raise his eyes.

"Hello?" Shen Dongqing waved his hand in front of the elderly\'s face.

The elder was still unresponsive.

The other travellers were the same. It was like they were following their given settings: the elderly never stopped reading his newspaper, the older woman was eternally asleep, the child continued to run through the aisle like he did not know the definition of fatigue.

It was like they were programmed with insufficient mental development.

Zhou Wenyan posited a word softly, "Time."

This copy\'s name was "Time Train". Similarly, it was possible that each train compartment existed at different points in time, and the players needed to find the right time to get off the train.

However, this did not concern them. After all, they were not here to solve the riddle, but to eliminate the system malfunction.

Zhou Wenyan: "Go to the next train carriage."

The pair cut across the aisle and arrived in front of another door.

Before Zhou Wenyan could use the key to open the door, the frosted glass door opened on its own. A train attendant was standing behind the door and she was about to walk in with a dining cart.

The train attendant\'s movements ceased briefly, staring at the people standing on the aisle. Underneath the white incandescent lights, it was evident that her lips were particularly dark and red, like it had been stained with blood.

"Which carriage did you come from?" Her lips moved, "Show me your train ticket."

Shen Dongqing turned his head back, looking at the Chequered Skirt.

They were not players from this copy, they did not have a train ticket on their persons.

Chequered Skirt\'s complexion went white. "I don\'t have a train ticket either."

Once they entered, the players had checked themselves once-over, they did not have a train ticket at all.

As the Train Attendant repeated her words, she punctuated it with pauses in between. "No, Train, Ticket?"

That group of artificial and mentally-deficient people stopped being mindless as well. Their gazes gathered on the extraneous people in succession as they started to whisper.

"They don\'t have train tickets."

"All of us paid money, on what basis do they stay for free?"

"Hurry up and chase them off!"

The Chequered Skirt was slightly panicked. "What do we do? We can\'t take out train tickets."

Shen Dongqing: "I don\'t know."

The Train Attendant pressed on with each step. The octave of her voice became higher and it was extremely ear-piercing. "All of you don\'t have train tickets, how did you manage to get on this train? People who don\'t have train tickets have to die—"

Realising that turn of events was anything but assuring, Chequered Skirt made preparations to run, but Zhou Wenyan suddenly said: "Buy a late ticket."

Train Attendant: ?

Zhou Wenyan draped his arm on Shen Dongqing\'s shoulders. "Aren\'t we allowed to buy a late ticket?"

Shen Dongqing made a show of earnestness by nodding his head. "Yeah, we\'re boarding the train first and then buying the ticket."

The Train Attendant\'s gaze conveyed that she was slightly lost. "Ah?"

Even if she hadn\'t received a thousand travellers, it would be eight hundred at least, but she had never heard someone saying the four words "buying a late ticket".

Shen Dongqing: "It\'s not allowed?"

The Train Attendant had been through proper training before. Naturally, late tickets could be bought in trains, but they were not in a normal train and there were no rules and regulations. Prior to this, no one had asked, but now that someone had brought it up, she was placed in a predicament.

In the end, the Train Attendant could only compromise. "You can\'t buy late tickets, but you will be given three hours to find a train ticket, or else…"

Her eyes rolled, pupils shifting upwards until only red-veined sclera was left, and she issued a shrill voice from her mouth. "Death awaits—"

Shen Dongqing: "Amazing."

Train Attendant: ?

Shen Dongqing nudged Zhou Wenyan with his elbow. "She can actually roll her eyes upwards, that\'s amazing, I can\'t do that." He even tried to roll his pupils upwards, but he could not accomplish it no matter how hard he tried.

Zhou Wenyan issued a muffled chuckle, stretching his hand out to cover Shen Dongqing\'s eyes. The eyelashes under his hand trembled, brushing across his palm lightly. With how ticklish it was, it made him want to kiss those curled and dense eyelashes.

Coughing lightly, Zhou Wenyan retracted his hand: "Don\'t learn indiscriminately."

Shen Dongqing: "Do you know how to?"

Zhou Wenyan paused because of his question, "… I don\'t."

The Train Attendant was stunned.

I\'m trying to scare you, alright? Why are you still here, standing in a serious space, and discussing whether you can roll your eyes?

They were going too far!

Trying to find her sense of existence, the Train Attendant pushed her dining cart into the third train carriage as she stared at the players inside the second carriage ominously.

"Train ticket!"

The players in the second carriage had already witnessed the terror of the Train Attendant, so they learned from Shen Dongqing\'s and Zhou Wenyan\'s example as they hastily said: "Late ticket, we want to buy a late ticket too!"

A cold smile appeared at the edge of the Train Attendant\'s lips. "That won\'t do, our train doesn\'t allow for the purchase of late tickets."

Panicked, the Panel Cap stuttered, "W-We can look for our train tickets, we lost our train tickets."

The Train Attendant narrowed her eyes, "For losing your train tickets, you deserve to die—"

As she pushed her dining cart, she walked over in an aggressive manner.

Panel Cap quickly shut the door between the two train carriages, thus blocking the train carriage off from the inside.

Perhaps the door had really seen its use because the Train Attendant\'s figure stopped and she did not have any intention of going over.

Panel Cap heaved a sigh of relief. "Go and find the train ticket quickly, it\'s definitely in the first train carriage—"

His words cut off abruptly.

The lights in the second train carriage flickered once. An ashen-pale hand stretched out from under the chair. Following closely, a woman drenched with fresh blood wriggled and crawled out.

Panel Cap swallowed his saliva.

The players at the side proceeded to scream.

"What are you being afraid of!" Panel Cap forced himself to say, "That ghost is very weak. Any one of us can defeat it, stop screaming!"

Recalling how the Chequered Skirt had stomped on the Train Attendant numerous times, Panel Cap\'s audacity ballooned, and he went up to deliver a kick.

Hold on—

Why did this feel wrong?

The lights brightened again.

There was nothing underneath the chair. There was only a pool of blood.

Panel Cap seemed to sense something as he twisted his neck rigidly. A face that was mutilated beyond recognition was lying on his shoulder, and she was reiterating two words with her mouth.

"Train ticket…"

"AH—"

A human figure collapsed to the ground. Panel Cap crumbled down, rolling across the floor and going under the chair.

The remaining players were pale in complexion and their sweat was dripping like rain.

Fortunately for them, the Train Attendant did not actively attack them. She dragged Panel Cap\'s leg and slowly dragged him under the chair.

Kacha—

With two matured adults forcibly stuffed under the chair, the rigid bones in their bodies were folded into pieces, and it issued teeth-grating noises in the process.

"What should we do?"

"There\'s a train attendant at the front too, we can\'t run away."

"We\'re going to die either way, maybe we should rush out and look for those two Big Bosses."

The other players calmed their trembling legs and rushed towards the third train carriage in one breath.

The Train Attendant in the third train carriage did not move either; she only fixed her eyes on those panicked and running players as she said inaudibly, "The countdown begins…."

When all was said and done, this was a B-level game copy, it was impossible for them to massacre all the players in one shot. If that were the case, it would not be interesting.

Therefore, there was a condition in place, which was that the players without train tickets would become the ghosts\' killing targets, but they could not kill them all at once. Instead, they had to slowly torment them one by one.

There was a compartment between the fourth and third train carriage. This was where the toilet and hand-washing counter were located, and there was also a clock hanging on the wall. The hour and minute hand had stopped, and it was stuck at 18:30.

The players rushed over, wailing like ghosts and howling like wolves.

"Dead, he\'s dead."

"He was stuffed under the chair, it was absolutely miserable."

"We don\'t have train tickets, will we be the next to die?"

Chequered Skirt consoled them. "We just need to find a train ticket."

While her words were true, Chequered Skirt did not know why she should begin looking for the train ticket. Hence, she shot Shen Dongqing a pleading look.

"Uh," Shen Dongqing said, "I don\'t know."

He did not like solving riddles at all.

Zhou Wenyan: "We don\'t need train tickets."

This death condition was established for the players inside the game. Since neither of them belonged to this game premise, it was impossible for their train ticket to exist.

Chequered Skirt: "But—"

Dong—

A knock on the door interrupted Chequered Skirt\'s words.

The players shifted their gaze towards the source.

The knocking was coming from the toilet cubicle.

Apart from Panel Cap who had died suddenly, not a single player was missing at the scene, which meant that it could only be a ghost inside.

The players took a step back simultaneously, putting some distance between them and the toilet cubicle.

Dong—

It was that sound again.

The door to the toilet cubicle was pushed open and a lady wearing a white skirt fell out. Her dark hair and white skirt sprawled out as she landed on the ground, and to the visible eye, her white skirt started to turn scarlet red.

The lady looked like she was at her last gasp because her legs twitched for a moment before she stopped breathing completely.

Chequered Skirt cried out in alarm, "Isn\'t that—"

She twisted her head, looking towards the third train carriage.

A white-skirted young lady was sitting in the third train carriage with her head lowered and red-rimmed eyes as she wept. The small portion of her face that she was revealing was exactly the same as the individual lying on the ground.

Which was real and which one was fake?

Zhou Wenyan glanced past the hanging clock on the wall. "Different timelines."

This was a game copy with a time disorder.

Each train carriage represented a time interval. The Train Attendant that was shoved under a chair in the second train carriage had appeared in the middle of the third train carriage, and the white-skirted lady in the third carriage died in the partitioned-off area of the toilet cubicle.

The players had to look for their train ticket in the messy timeline, and leave the train at the time stated on their train tickets.

"Train ticket!" A player with keen sight noticed a train ticket within the white-skirted traveller\'s grasp. Sharp-eyed and deft-handed, he pulled it out and observed his surroundings vigilantly. "I found this, it\'s mine."

Chequered Skirt: "Let me see the train ticket."

That player held onto the train ticket tightly, "Who knows if I can get it back once I give it to you? Either way, it\'s mine, go and find your own train ticket!"

Chequered Skirt wanted to ask the two Big Bosses for help.

However, she did not expect that Zhou Wenyan and Shen Dongqing would look like they did not want to intervene at all.

Shen Dongqing yawned lazily. "Let\'s find the main control room as soon as possible, I want to sleep."

Zhou Wenyan: "The crux might not be in the main control, eh… but it\'s better to go over and check it first."

Minding their own business, the pair walked towards the next train carriage.

The player who had grabbed the ticket glanced at Chequered Skirt gleefully before he trailed after them.

The fourth train carriage did not look dissimilar from the third train carriage.

That group of artificial and mentally-deficient travellers were still perpetuating their usual actions: the mother was coaxing the child, the elderly was reading his newspaper, the older woman was sleeping with closed eyes, the white-skirted lady was weeping with a lowered head, the gentleman was looking outside the window.

The only difference was that the fourth train carriage was too quiet.

That bear child who was previously running up and down the aisle was gone.

Shen Dongqing felt something going past his head, which made him raise his head.

The upper portion of the train was a luggage compartment for the travellers to store their luggage.

However, a small boy was now squashed between two luggage cases. He was curled up in here quietly, his thin and frail arms hanging down, swaying above the players\' heads slowly.

Chequered Shirt covered her mouth, choking back the sound bubbling up her throat.

The ruckus-causing bear child had been silenced for eternity.

This was one of the rare instances where Shen Dongqing used his brain, and he pointed at the white-skirted lady as he stated: "This child died before the white skirt." After saying that, he looked towards Zhou Wenyan, asking for a reward.

Zhou Wenyan took out a piece of candy and placed it in Shen Dongqing\'s palm. "Your guess is correct, here\'s a reward."

Peeling back the candy\'s wrapping, Shen Dongqing popped it in his mouth. It was sweet.

"Where did it come from?"

Zhou Wenyan said in a slow and methodological manner: "It was specifically prepared to coax a little child."

There was a little child in his family, wouldn\'t it be remiss of him if he didn\'t regularly prepare snacks?

The bear child lying on top: ……

Could you be more professional? You\'re here to clear the game, not enjoy your honeymoon!

The players following behind them became quiet as well: ……

How did they manage to show off their love in front of ghosts as well? This operation was a little too upsetting, no?

Perhaps because the game could no longer watch on, it opened the door with a loud thud.

The Train Attendant strode over aggressively, hand outstretched: "It\'s time to check your train tickets!"

Chequered Skirt said cautiously, "Weren\'t you supposed to give us three hours?"

The Train Attendant could feel her teeth souring whenever she looked at Zhou Wenyan and Shen Dongqing, so she flitted past them quickly and changed her target. She stared at the group of players behind: "Take out your train tickets!"

The player who took the white-skirted lady\'s train ticket was itching to get on with it as he pulled his train ticket. "I have a train ticket! Look for someone else, they don\'t have a train ticket."

The players shot him with annoyed glares in succession.

Even though that player was selling out his teammates, he did not feel any embarrassment at all. After all, the lives of others were not as important as his own.

Train Attendant: "Bring it over and let me check it."

That player handed over the train ticket.

Without even looking at it, the Train Attendant tore the train ticket. "You copied another traveller\'s ticket, you deserve to die!"

That player\'s face went white as he tried to quibble: "No, that\'s not it, you saw wrongly, I took my own train ticket!"

The Train Attendant did not listen to his words. Instead, she repeated coldly: "You deserve to die—"

The travellers spoke in unison: "You deserve to die—"

That player wanted to ask the other players for help, but with his previous behaviour, no one wanted to save him.

Gritting his teeth, he turned around and ran.

The Train Attendant continued to stand there, watching him with a cold smile.

That player broke open the door to the fourth train carriage, but when he reached the buffer zone in the middle, someone was already waiting for him there.

The white-skirted lady that was lying on the ground raised her head slowly.

Peng—

The train door closed, and blood splashed onto the glass.

Through the glass door, they could see that player slumping to the ground powerlessly.

Another player just died.

In ten short minutes, two players had died suddenly.

The other surviving players felt their scalps turn numb. "Train ticket, where are the train tickets?!!"

They started to rummage through the luggage in the upper luggage compartment, making an utter mess of the items on top.

The bear child was still curled up on top, constantly observing the players without a single expression on his face.

However, the players did not obtain anything.

The Train Attendant did not stop their behaviour. She pushed her dining cart and left, but she was stopped by someone halfway through.

The Train Attendant felt her teeth aching again and she said reflexively: "I don\'t know anything!"

Although these two people were brought inside the game to eliminate the malfunction, the system did not ask the NPCs to help them, and it went as far as insinuating that the NPCs should redouble their efforts and ensure that they did not throw the game.

Shen Dongqing looked at the Train Attendant strangely. "I haven\'t said anything yet."

Train Attendant: "… In any case, I don\'t know anything."

Shen Dongqing picked up the bottle of Wahaha[1] on the dining cart, asking, "How much is this?"

Without waiting or caring for the Train Attendant\'s reply, he said: "Okay, I know you don\'t know anything."

Subsequently, Shen Dongqing openly took away a row of Wahaha, and he did not pay a single cent.

Train Attendant: …… How infuriating ah!

[1] 娃哈哈 (pinyin: wa ha ha) – It is the name of the largest beverage producer in China and they produce a large range of products, but I am assuming that they are referring to a sweetened probiotic milk like Yakult.