Chapter 1 "What were you guys doing?"

A group of people was excitedly chatting with a middle-aged man when Mu Ning turned her head and saw Lu Xiaoyao and the others coming from another carriage.

"Oh, nothing. We were just hungry and checking if there was any food in the other carriages. Turns out one carriage is a restaurant, but they aren't serving yet."

Wang Wenfei sighed as she spoke. Then, she looked at everyone gathered around the team leader NPC (non-player character), who was taking them to school, and asked curiously, "What are you all doing?"

"The teacher brought something important," Mandy Sun blurted out. Hearing his excited and carefree tone, Qi Hai Kui immediately sensed danger and moved away from the insensitive oaf.

For some reason, as soon as Qi Hai Kui heard him say "important thing," he felt a foreboding sense that it wasn't going to be good.

Mu Chen glanced at Qi Hai Kui but said nothing.

"Ah? Important? What is it?" Lu Xiaoyao, always eager for excitement, immediately squeezed into the crowd and asked the team leader, "Teacher, what did you bring?"

"A sealed demon. I happened to finish that mission and received the task of escorting you all back to school, so I combined them."

"Wow (・◇・), sounds awesome!"

Seeing everyone's excitement, the team leader quickly added, "Alright, alright, everyone scatter. Even if you surround me, I won't let you see what a demon looks like."

"Why not?"

"Because, if you see a demon whose seal has been broken, you'll die."

"No way, I don't believe it!"

Doctor Huang: "My believing it is enough."

As soon as the team leader finished speaking, Qi Hai Kui's heart skipped a beat. He quickly asked, "Then, then Teacher, are you sure the demon you brought is sealed properly? Is there any chance it might escape?"

As he spoke, Qi Hai Kui nervously glanced around the cramped carriage, peeked out the window at the sea of clouds, and felt a strong sense of malice from the game's design.

He was playing a novice in the world of the occult, unable to fly or fight, let alone deal with some demon. According to the teacher's statement, if it got out, they were all doomed!

Jumping off the train wasn't an option either.

"Of course not. Don't worry, I've added seven layers of seals. It would take the average person several days to break it. At Ba She's (mythical serpent) current speed, we'll be back at school in three days. Nothing will happen."

Hearing the team leader repeatedly say "don't worry" and "nothing will happen," Qi Hai Kui's internal safety alarm never stopped ringing. If Li Yuan was here, the two, with their strong survival instincts, would definitely understand each other's feelings at this moment!

Was this teacher setting up a death flag for himself?

Right?

Ming Mei watched everything that was happening through the live stream and didn't know what to say.

If she remembered correctly, the story's beginning, according to the synopsis she had read earlier, started with the death of the team leader, right?

She glanced at Qi Hai Kui in the camera, whose face was growing increasingly pale, and couldn't help but sigh that there was finally someone in this game who understood.

Unfortunately, his understanding was useless.

At noon, the teacher returned to his carriage to rest alone, as per the plot setting. Then, everyone discovered the teacher's death, with a coffin the size of an adult forearm, covered in runes, on the table in his room.

"What's going on?"

A group of people, prevented from rushing into the room to investigate by a girl they didn't recognize, were blocked at the door. They looked at the scene inside the room and then turned their puzzled gaze to Ai Qisi, who was stopping them. "Why are you stopping us from going in?"

"The space is too small. We can't all squeeze in at once. Even if we all went in, we might contaminate the scene. Just in case, we need to protect the scene. Even if we go in, it has to be one by one, and under everyone's supervision."

As Ai Qisi spoke, she scanned the faces of the others, as if trying to discern something. Everyone else was filled with surprise and fear.

"The seal seems to have been damaged a bit."

Mu Chen stood at the doorway, looking at everything he could see in the room. The teacher's death was painful. There was a broken glass on the floor, and the liquid inside might be problematic. However, the item that the teacher had mentioned earlier, the one that sealed the demon, seemed to have been partially damaged near the bed.

"Whoa, really!"

After Mu Chen finished speaking, he stepped aside, and the others crowded forward to take a look. Julian then looked at the window gap, which was less than five centimeters wide, and curiously asked, "The Ba She train is flying in the sky. What's the point of having this window open?"

As soon as Julian finished speaking, Lu Xiaoyao chimed in, "Could it be that after killing the teacher, the murderer tried to escape and then realized the window couldn't be opened?"

As soon as Lu Xiaoyao said this, Ai Qisi first looked at Lu Xiaoyao and asked, "Most people, seeing such a small window opening, would only think it's for ventilation. They wouldn't immediately associate it with escaping, right? Does that mean they can fly?"

"Ah..." Lu Xiaoyao didn't know what to say for a moment. Wang Wenfei, who was close to Lu Xiaoyao, was the first to react and said, "Xiaoyao's thoughts are a bit scattered, but what she's thinking about is a possibility. Did the teacher open this window, or... did the person who killed the teacher open it?"

"Of course, the murderer opened it."

Suddenly, when no one was speaking, a clear and loud young voice rang out. Everyone turned to look, and besides Ai Qisi, the expressions on the faces of the others couldn't help but twist slightly.

They would recognize that face even if it was turned to ashes!

Even Ming Mei couldn't help but sit up straight from her recliner when she saw the young face of her Uncle Yan Hui appear.

Her uncle had actually built the appearance of the Ba She's transformation into his younger self. Truly impressive!

"You are..."

"I'm Ba She."

The Ba She youth put his hands in his pockets, his tone filled with some annoyance. "I sensed that my provider died, so I came to take a look."

"Provider? Are you talking about the teacher?"

The crowd was still reeling from how unpleasant this person's face was when the other party explained his intentions. He even ignored Ai Qisi's obstruction and teleported to the deceased's room. After observing for a while, he came out and waved his hand, taking everyone to the front carriage.

"The provider drank water that was poisoned with a deadly toxin and died. All the windows on my train cannot be fully opened, so the murderer is among you.

Based on the extent of the damage to the seal, there is more than one murderer among you. If you can't find the murderer in time, the demon will be rescued in three days at most, and you will all die."

"But, within three days, as long as you fly us back, the seal will be reinforced by people from the school," Wang Wenfei said with a slight frown. She actually remembered what the teacher had said earlier.

In response, Ba She nodded repeatedly, affirming his strength, but he quickly added, "But, the spirit stones that the provider fed me seem to be gone? It seems they were all thrown away? I'm tired. I can't fly anymore."

After saying that, he acted as if he was throwing a tantrum, and the entire train plummeted vertically from the sky, landing motionless between several large mountains.

"How about this? You help me find the spirit stones. Once you find the murderer, I can be a strong external support to help you get rid of the suspects you think are guilty. How about that?"

"How will you get rid of them?" One of the players asked.

"Of course—I'll eat them whole."

After saying that, Ba She raised a smiling face, sat there, and looked at everyone present. His mouth opened and closed, finally announcing the mission for this game...