Card Room (Rebirth)
chapter-71

The two girls in the eighth row were whispering when Xiao Lou returned to the 4th carriage.

Mo Jiaran said, “The broadcast was looking for a medical worker. I don’t know what happened. Do you want to go over to see?”

Yue Xiaoquan smiled. “Don’t go, we are just junior students. If we can’t help or the child has an accident, perhaps the family will put the blame on our heads.”

Mo Jiaran frowned gently. She carefully considered it and felt that these words were reasonable, so she didn’t insist.

Yue Xiaoquan had a complete ‘it doesn’t matter if it has nothing to do with me’ attitude.

Xiao Lou didn’t expect that Mo Jiaran might have a temper but she was quite caring. She heard the broadcast and wanted to help. Instead, it was Yue Xiaoquan who stayed out of the matter and put on an indifferent expression.

Due to being scolded by his girlfriend in front of many people, Zhao Zheng was in a bad mood. He held his arms and closed his eyes.

Jing Weiguang was back from rescuing the person and was flustered when he saw the boy with his eyes closed. He stayed in the aisle for a few seconds and found that the other side didn’t show signs of waking up. He had to scratch his head and awkwardly say, “Trouble you to let me…”

The sleeping Zhao Zheng immediately opened his eyes, his eyes almost rolling to the back of his head. “Why do you have so many things? Always going in and out!”

He reluctantly moved sideways to let the other person in.

Jing Weiguang smiled awkwardly. “I’m sorry…”

After a while, the young couple from the 6th carriage suddenly rushed to the 4th carriage to thank him.

The woman carried a large bag of fruit while the man was holding his three year old son. The couple’s appearance quickly attracted the attention of the passengers of the 4th carriage. The husband and wife stopped at the 8th row and the woman gratefully said, “Doctor thank you so much for saving my son. I don’t know how to say it so we brought you some fruit.”

The man handed him a business card. “If you need anything in the future, don’t hesitate to open your mouth and ask. We will certainly help you!”

They bowed deeply towards him and the woman touched the child’s hair, speaking softly, “Baby, thank Uncle.”

The child’s soft voice said, “Thank you, Uncle!”

Jing Weiguang was watched by everyone on the carriage and his ears turned red. He hurriedly waved his hands, “There is no need to thanks. The two of you are too polite. I just helped you and it’s enough that the child is fine. Please take back the fruit. I have eaten…”

“You take it. If it wasn’t for you, our baby might’ve…” The woman’s eyes turned red and the man hurriedly agreed. “Yes, we are going to a relative’s house and didn’t bring any valuable gifts. We can only buy you some food to express our gratitude, so don’t refuse.”

Jing Weiguang had to helplessly say, “Okay.”

The two people thanked him for a while before taking their child away.

In the 4th carriage, the little girl Yu Xinxin sitting in the front row clapped and exclaimed, “Uncle saved a person, so good!”

The little girl took the lead in clapping and a round of applause filled the carriage. The Zhao Zheng and Mo Jiaran couple had extremely embarrassed expressions. They had just dismissed and embarrassed Jing Weiguang. They didn’t think that this messy-looking man was actually a doctor who saved a life and all the people in the carriage were applauding him.

The applause was like a slap in the face.

Mo Jiaran had a bad expression and some regret on her face. She stood up and declared, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

Zhao Zheng shrank back with embarrassment. Many people around him were looking at him and he had to close his eyes to sleep. Yue Xiaoquan still had her head up high. She directly put on headphones and continued to read her novel.

Xiao Lou’s eyes swept over the LCD screen at the front of the carriage. The time had reached 19:00.

The passengers had eaten dinner and were resting. The carriages were quiet.

Outside the window was no longer a thick white fog, it was just dark. It was unknown where the train was going but through the window, they could feel the starry night sky. Xiao Lou stood at the window, pretending to look at the scenery outside but he was actually listening to movements in the carriage.

At 20:00, Yu Xinxin suddenly wanted to eat ice cream. Her mother said there was no ice cream on the train and she would buy it at the station. The child was coaxed with a few words and fell asleep in her mother’s arms.

At 20:30, the group of five females suddenly started to run to the toilet one by one. Their faces were slightly white. The delicate and pretty Liu Xiaoyan sitting at 15A came back with a slightly pale and suffering face. She said, “I just had diarrhea. How about you?”

Zhang Xiaozhu sitting at 15B replied, “My stomach hurt. Is it because the food we ate this afternoon wasn’t fresh?”

Next to her, Wu Xiaofei directly let out coarse words. II thought there was a problem with that bowl of noodles! Xiaoyu said it was a characteristic of the slurry water. Characteristic my ass! Those noodles were bad.”

However, their faces gradually improved after they went to the toilet.

Finally, Cheng Xiaoli came back and took out medicine to treat diarrhea from her bag. She gave one piece of each person and said, “It is lucky I brought medicine for diarrhea. Hurriedly take it.”

Xiao Lou looked closely. She had poured five pills from the same bottle and spread them out on her palms to take. If she was going to poison a designated target then it would be undesirable because she didn’t know which person would take which pill.

The possibility of poisoning through medicine wasn’t great. This person should simply be giving everyone diarrhea medicine.

Xiao Lou had been observing the group of girls in the 15th row. After this episode, the five girls were very tired and went to sleep after taking the medicine. No one spoke.

At 21:00, Xiao Lou stood at the connection between carriages with some numbness in his legs.

Just then, a sudden broadcast entered his ears. “Passengers, the train will arrive at the next stop, Ice Island. Passengers who need to get off, please prepare in advance. Carry your baggage towards the right door to get off. The train will stop for 15 minutes at Ice Island Station. Passengers need to pay close attention to the time to avoid the doors closing.

Xiao Lou was slightly shocked. There was actually a stop?!

At first, the broadcast said this was the train going from the City of the Sun to the City of the Moon. Xiao Lou didn’t know the Card World but he thought this was an ultra-long distance line connecting the joker cities of the Card World.

He didn’t expect the train to stop in between.

No wonder why he felt something was wrong when he checked the tickets. Everyone’s tickets had City of the Sun written as the departure station but it didn’t write the arrival station. The ticket only showed a ‘full’ ticket and a ‘half’ ticket. There were no specific prices.

This was clearly a deliberate attempt to confuse the intruders.

The duration of this speed train was three days. The murderer definitely wouldn’t get off along the way or they would fail the instance. Then once he knew the station locations in advance, he and Yu Hanjiang could quickly exclude a large number of passengers.

The broadcast ended and the 4th carriage had more than a dozen passengers stand up and grab their luggage, ready to get off.

There was a roar and the moving train stopped firmly at Ice Island.

The train attendant’s headset gave a prompt. “All attendants, please get off the train and do a good job with the safety checks.”

Xiao Lou got off and stood at the door of the 4th carriage. He glanced sideways and saw Yu Hanjiang standing at the door of the 6th carriage. The two people exchanged a look and started paying attention to the passengers.

It was too much of a pit for the train to have multiple stops.

If the killer got on in the middle, wouldn’t they have to start their reasoning again?

Two people got off the 6th carriage and one person boarded.

The person who boarded was around 1.75 metres and heavily covered. They wore a black hat, a black mask and large sunglasses that covered the face. It was hard to tell if it was a female or male.

Yu Hanjiang immediately frowned and stopped the other person. “Who are you? Take off your mask.”

A low voice was heard. “What is the reason for taking off the mask?”

“In order to ensure the safety of the passengers, it is necessary to check your identity.”

The other side reluctantly took off the mask, revealing a delicate face. It was a boy but he was more neutral looking. He lowered his voice and said, “I am hiding since I ran out on my agent. I am going to the City of the Moon to see my goddess’ concert. Please don’t say anything. Thank you!”

…It was a little star.

Yu Hanjiang sighed with relief and let him get on the train. The boy put the mask back on and sneaked like a thief into the 6th carriage.

On the side of the 4th carriage, there were 12 passengers who got off and four boarded. The four people’s tickets were all far away from each other. They were individual passengers.

Once the passengers boarded, Xiao Lou walked over to Yu Hanjiang. “Some people got off, decreasing our target range. After all, the range of 107 passengers is too big. In this way, we can completely exclude anybody who isn’t heading to the terminal.”

Yu Hanjiang nodded. “Yes, once we get on the train, we will ask again from the beginning.”

During the 15 minutes break, some people got off the train to get fresh air, including the couple who had been fighting.

Zhao Zheng followed behind Mo Jiaran and spoke with a smile of flattery. “I saw someone got off the sleeper carriage. I will immediately make up the difference to buy you a ticket. Don’t be angry, okay?”

Mo Jiaran’s expression improved. “Okay.”

Zhao Zheng found Xiao Lou and asked, “Hello, I want to make up the difference to let my girlfriend sleep in the sleeper carriage. Is it possible?”

Xiao Lou asked the conductor through the headset and the other side said, “The 4th carriage has one empty bed and the difference is 5,000 gold.”

He told Zhao Zheng the result and the boy’s eyes lit up. “Great, I will give you the money! Ranran, you can sleep well tonight. This time, I wrong you. I promise, next time I will buy tickets one month in advance! It is probably because too many people are going to the concert that the tickets sold out so quickly.”

Mo Jiaran waved her hand. “Forget it. Go out and buy the tickets directly.”

The ice between the two people was released. They took one turn around the station before returning to the train. Mo Jiaran took her luggage to change to the 6th carriage and Xiao Lou told Yu Hanjiang, “She changed positions. I have to trouble Group Leader Yu to pay more attention to this girl.”

Yu Hanjiang replied, “I know.”

Meanwhile, the group of five females also got off the carriage and breathed in fresh air while complaining. “The smell of instant noodles in the carriage really makes me want to vomit.” “If it wasn’t for the goddess’ concert, I wouldn’t go through this. I will die sitting in a hard seat for 72 hours!”

Xiao Lou’s heart was slightly surprised. It was a concert.

He turned and walked to the female group, asking them with a smile. “Are you taking a trip together to see a concert?”

The lively Wu Xiaofei smiled. “Yes, we are going to the City of the Moon for a week and will see the goddess’ concert. The goddess only holds a concert every three years and tickets are difficult to buy. I sent several days to grab five tickets.”

The ‘goddess’ naturally wasn’t on the train. She should be the Card World’s most influential singer and there were clearly many people on this train rushing to see her concert. This included the small star who just boarded the 6th carriage, the two couples in the 4th carriage and the group of five female friends. So many people were going to the same concert together. Was it a coincidence or deliberately arranged?

The 15 minute stop time would soon be over. The alarm bell rang and the female group hurriedly got on the train.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang also got on the train and the two people agreed to meet in the restaurant in half an hour.

Xiao Lou grabbed a piece of paper and pen from the staff office at the end and walked to the front row, speaking warm words. “Hello everyone, I will now get your arrival information, lest you miss the station.”

Everyone was very cooperative.

Xiao Lou quickly went in a circle. Out of the 75 passengers in the 4th carriage, only 12 were staying to the terminal. This included Zhao Quan, Zhao Zheng, Yue Xiaoquan, Mo Jiaran and Jing Weiguang of the 8th row, the group of five girlfriends in the last row and two individuals going to the concert.

Yu Xinxin’s family was actually getting off the train tomorrow night. Apparently, the family wasn’t directly related to the case.

However, the little girl Yu Xinxin didn’t seem like a passerby. Previously, Jing Weiguang accidentally poured instant noodles on Zhao Zheng’s clothes and Zhao Zheng falsely reported the price of the T-shirt as several hundred thousand gold coins. Yu Xinxin inadvertently punctured his image. This was definitely useful to the plot and was perhaps giving a hint. The child wouldn’t lie.

Yu Xinxin was likely to see what happened next or inadvertently give an important clue.

Xiao Lou looked at the little girl sleeping in her mother’s arms while thinking that he should talk to her before she got off the train tomorrow.

He arrived at the restaurant. Group Leader Yu had also checked and he whispered, “In the 6th carriage, only the elderly tour group and the third-rate star who just boarded are going to the terminal. The others are getting off tomorrow night.”

Xiao Lou also told him the situation of the 4h carriage. “By excluding those who are getting off mid-way, our focus will be reduced a lot.”

Initially, they needed to pay attention to 107 passengers. Now most of them were excluded, leaving fewer than 25 people involved in the case.

Yu Hanjiang added, “In addition, I looked for the train timetable from the attendant of the carriage next door.”

He unfolded a form in front of Xiao Lou.

Xiao Lou carefully looked. There were only two stops before the terminal. The arrival time on the first night was at 21:30 and the next night was a 21:30. The last stop on the fourth day at the City of the Moon was in the afternoon at 18:00.

The first day they departed at 18:00 and the fourth day they arrived at 18:00. This journey was exactly three days, 72 hours.

They had to pay attention to any new passengers at the two major stops. However, at present, the three groups of the elderly tour group, the couple and the five girlfriends were still the focus.

The time was 22:00 and the broadcast was heard again. “It is 22:00 in the evening. Passengers, the lights of the carriage will soon go out. Please rest as soon as possible. We wish you all a good night and pleasant dreams.”

Then the lights at the top of the carriage were completely extinguished, leaving only the two footlights leading to the junctions of the carriages.

Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang also received instructions from their headsets. “All attendants, please return to the 9th carriage as soon as possible. Thank you.”

The two people glanced at each other before returning to the 9th carriage.

Xiao Lou whispered in Yu Hanjiang’s ear. “I don’t know if the invisibility cloak can be used? In the middle of the night, do we want to go back to the carriage to take a look? Perhaps something will happen tonight.”

He just finished speaking when the door of the 9th carriage was directly locked and a warning rang in their ears. “The passengers are sleeping. Please don’t walk around and affect the passengers’ rest.”

Yu Hanjiang frowned. “Our actions are restricted and we can’t go out.”

The inside of the carriage was dimly lit and even Yu Hanjiang’s face couldn’t be seen clearly. Yu Hanjiang’s voice was gentle in the darkness as he said, “Don’t worry, it will happen when it happens. Sleep well tonight. You have been tired these days.”

Xiao Lou smiled helplessly. “It seems we can only do this.” He paused before asking, “Group Leader Yu, do you like to slow on the top bunk or lower bunk?”

“I don’t care.”

Xiao Lou told him, “Then can I sleep in the bottom bunk? My sleeping habits aren’t very good and I fell off the top bunk in university.”

Yu Hanjiang, “…”

Student Xiao Lou who fell from the top bunk sounded a bit miserable.

Yu Hanjiang cared for him. “Did you break anything.”

Xiao Lou awkwardly touched his nose. “No, but I scared my roommates awake.”

Yu Hanjiang smiled softly. “Okay, then you sleep in the bottom bunk.”

The two people opened the door to their room. There were no lights in the room and they could only rely on groping around. Yu Hanjiang was tall and he grabbed the raids of the top bed with both hands, climbing up directly. He didn’t even step on the ladder next to it.

Xiao Lou secretly praised, ‘Group Leader Yu is good.’

The two people took off their coats and fell asleep. The carriage was very quiet and since he really was very tired, Xiao Lou soon fell asleep.

***

4 of Hearts secret room, 7:00 the next day.

The alarm ringing from the headset woke everyone up at the same time.

The train attendants lined up at the vanity in the 9th carriage to wash up. Breakfast was sent to their rooms, which consisted of eggs, milk and bread. After breakfast, it was 7:30 and the door to the 9th carriage opened.

The two people quickly rushed back to their carriages.

Xiao Lou glanced at the 4th carriage. Everyone was still present. Some were sleeping while some had woken up early to wash their faces and go to the toilet without any abnormalities.

However, Yu Hanjiang had just walked to the door of Room 2 in the 6th carriage when he heard a sudden exclamation. “Old Li, Old Li, what happened to you? Why is your body like ice…” “Oh my god, he doesn’t seem to be breathing!”

Yu Hanjiang calmly opened the door.

In 2A, the lower bunk, the old man who showed off his son yesterday was lying down with closed eyes.

His face was serene and there was a smile on his face.

It was just that the pale face and cold body temperature told the people around him—he was already dead.

Li Zhemin died in the most beautiful dream without any struggles.