Chapter 158: Lost Forest |
The dim lounge felt like a prison cell to the conductor. No, to be exact, it was a prison cell.
"Sigh..." Sitting on his chair, the conductor sighed helplessly.
How could he be so unlucky?
He was full of regret now, deep regret.
Whether he regretted letting his greed get the better of him, or regretted making his move on a train where a famous detective was present, only the conductor himself knew.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...
Bean-sized raindrops pelted against the window, the constant noise grating on his nerves. Once they reached the next station, he would definitely be handed over to the police, tried, and executed...
At that thought, the conductor suddenly stood up. No, he couldn't just die like this. He wanted to live!
Mulling over his options, the conductor walked over to the window and tried to push it open. He had made his decision: he could sneak off the train right now and slip away while no one was paying attention. Maybe he would be caught again in the future, maybe not. But at least this way, there was a chance! Anything was better than staying here and waiting for death!
With that in mind, the conductor began trying to force the window open. Unfortunately, the windows in this lounge were fixed and extremely narrow. No matter how much strength he exerted, he couldn't move it even a fraction of an inch.
If it really didn't work, he would smash it open!
At this point, the conductor no longer cared whether the noise would attract anyone. He looked around, grabbed the chair he had been sitting on, and raised it high above his head toward the window—!
Click, click, click.
Suddenly, the lights in the entire room flickered violently. Along with the flickering illumination, a dark shadow emerged right behind the conductor.
"Who's there?"
The conductor turned his head and looked behind him, but there was nothing there except a firmly locked door. Could it be his imagination?
The conductor turned back around, raised the chair again, and smashed it hard against the window.
Thud!
The chair slammed heavily into the window, leaving a visible crack in the glass. It had to be said that the craftsmanship of this glass was unexpectedly excellent.
"Again!"
The conductor lifted the chair once more and swung it toward the glass a second time.
Thud!
The glass shuddered violently, and a hole finally broke open. Seeing this, the conductor grew even more excited. He raised the chair a third time, then suddenly spun around and brought it down with all his might!
Crash!
The chair slammed heavily into the dark shadow standing directly behind him. If it had been an ordinary person, this strike would have been enough to knock them to the ground. But the figure remained standing there perfectly straight, completely motionless. Instead, the chair in the conductor's hands shattered with a loud crack, leaving only a single chair leg still clutched in his grip.
"Wh-who are you?"
Looking at the dark shadow, the conductor questioned in a trembling voice. Then, the flickering lights brightened once more, and he finally saw the person standing before him clearly. The man wore somewhat stained and messy clothes, had disheveled hair, and stared at the conductor with lifeless eyes. The conductor knew who he was, because it was precisely because of this fellow that he was in this predicament right now.
But... he was supposed to be dead!
"Y-you should be dead! Don't come over here!"
The conductor's eyes widened in sheer terror as he stared at the man who should have been a corpse. No, strictly speaking, he really was dead. There wasn't a single shred of vitality in the eyes staring back at the conductor; they looked like two cloudy glass marbles. The man opened his mouth and let out an indistinct, muffled cry. Then, the conductor watched as something began to extend from inside the man's open mouth...
"Nooooo, aaahhhhh!"
A wretched, piercing shriek echoed through the entire carriage, causing Levi and Ovelia, who were in the middle of a conversation, to freeze simultaneously.
"What happened?"
"Whatever it is, it can't be good!" As Levi spoke, he turned and ran toward the source of the sound.
Ovelia followed closely behind him, clutching Little Black tightly in her arms. The tiny puppy curled up in Ovelia's embrace, glaring fiercely down the corridor ahead while letting out a low, menacing growl.
Just then, the train conductor also came running over.
"What happened, Mr. Levi?"
"I don't know either! Let's go check it out first!"
It was already late at night, so both the Salon Car and the dining car were completely empty. Levi led Ovelia and the train conductor through two deserted carriages before arriving at the Ordinary Luggage Car.
Click.
The train conductor used his Master Key to unlock the door to the Ordinary Luggage Car. The group peered inside and were instantly shocked.
The Ordinary Luggage Car, as the name implied, was used to store the luggage of ordinary passengers. Under normal circumstances, there shouldn't be anything here aside from suitcases and trunks.
But reality proved otherwise. Inside the Ordinary Luggage Car, thick vines resembling giant serpents were spreading out in all directions. They were pouring out from the adjacent, originally locked Conductor's Restroom, multiplying at a visible and almost unimaginable speed.
"Holy Lord above, what on earth is that?" Looking at the bizarre and eerie scene before him, the train conductor cried out in alarm.
As if hearing his scream, the vines that had been spreading outward suddenly shifted direction. They locked onto the three people standing at the doorway and lunged straight toward them!
"Woof, woof!"
In that split second, just as the vines launched their attack, the tiny puppy that had been nesting in Ovelia's arms leaped forward. It extended its paws and slashed through the air. Levi heard a sharp slicing sound, and several deep, clean claw marks instantly ripped across the floor of the carriage. The encroaching vines were chopped into several segments as if struck by invisible blades, falling to the ground and rapidly turning into withered, dried-up twigs.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
After destroying the vines that attacked them, Little Black turned toward the side and began barking furiously. Levi followed the direction of Little Black's gaze and realized it was staring at the Conductor's Restroom, which had previously been tightly shut but was now burst open by the mass of vines. He hastily drew the Persuader, stepped up to the restroom, and peered inside. The sight that presented itself inside caused even Levi to take a sharp breath in surprise.
Within the room, the conductor and the man he had murdered were locked in a tight embrace. Countless vines and branches were erupting from their mouths, eyes, ears, nostrils, and any other opening available. Furthermore, the skin of both men had transformed into something resembling the bark of a century-old tree, making them look like two human-shaped wooden statues. Damn, what kind of monstrosity is this?
Staring at the horrific thing before him, Levi gasped. At that moment, the vines slithering out of the two corpses like giant serpents accelerated once more, shooting straight toward him!
Confound it! Levi cursed inwardly.
He hastily rolled to the side, activated the Eye of the Reaper, aimed at the two corpses, and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
An incendiary round detonated instantly. The scorching white phosphorus flames engulfed the vines and the two corpses in the blink of an eye. For a moment, the entire Conductor's Restroom was ablaze with roaring fire, and the vines, as if soaked in oil, were rapidly consumed and incinerated by the flames. At the exact same time...
"Roar—!"
A deafening roar, sounding almost like a clap of thunder, echoed from the outside. It seemed to come from all directions, as if the entire forest itself was howling in rage. Immediately after, Levi felt the train begin to shudder slightly, like a precursor to an impending earthquake. However, he knew this wasn't an earthquake, because a mission notification had already appeared in front of his eyes.
[Mission Activated: Escape to Safety]
[Mission Objective: Lead as many people as possible to escape this forest!]
Is it really that dangerous? Looking at the mission objective, Levi's expression remained unchanged, but his heart sank in surprise. Up until now, the missions given by the system had always required him to eliminate or find something. This was the first time it had explicitly told him to run away...
In other words, the entity residing in this forest was something he couldn't afford to provoke right now? Even if the system had ordered him to fight, Levi wouldn't have done it. Currently, the enemy was in the dark while he was in the light, and he didn't even know what kind of existence was in this forest. He had been so busy solving the murder case earlier that he forgot to ask Anthony about the legends surrounding this forest. Even if he knew, there was no way he could fight under these conditions.
It would be better to just run away first, and then ask MI7 for reinforcements later. It would be best if they could secure an airship and bomb this entire forest to smithereens from above! Of course, that would have to wait until he made it out alive!
Fortunately, although the system's request was rather extreme, Levi wasn't completely out of options.
"Train conductor!" Levi withdrew his gaze and looked at the pale-faced conductor beside him. "I need you to start the train immediately. Right now!"
"R-right now?"
"Exactly! Or do you want all of us to stay here and die for no apparent reason?"
"No, of course not, but the mudslide..."
"That's not an issue. Go, now! It's better than staying here and waiting to die!"
"Al-alright!"
The train conductor didn't know exactly what was happening, but he had seen those python-like vines moving on their own and knew that staying here would bring nothing but disaster. Very quickly, the conductor led Levi and Ovelia back toward the front carriages. Levi instructed Ovelia to wake up everyone else and gather them, while he followed the conductor to the locomotive.
"Start the train immediately?!"
"Right now?"
Facing the conductor's command, the driver responsible for operating the train was completely taken aback.
"Yes, right now, immediately!"
"But the conditions outside are terrible!" The driver pointed outside the train and shouted at the conductor. "The floodwaters are overflowing and have even submerged the tracks. Advancing under these conditions is extremely dangerous!"
"What?"
The train conductor leaned his head out to check outside. Sure enough, under the reflection of the lights, the tracks beneath the train were almost entirely flooded, and even a portion of the wheels was submerged in water.
"We must leave, unless you want to die here." However, Levi's decision remained firm.
"......But......"
Before the train conductor could say anything else, several thick vines suddenly burst from the darkness ahead, wrapping toward the locomotive like massive tentacles! Levi fired almost at the exact same moment.
"Bang! Bang!"
The flames erupted once more. Accompanied by bizarre, agonizing shrieks, the vines retracted into the dark again.
"Wh-what on earth is that?!" The driver had also witnessed this scene, and he stood frozen in utter shock, even wondering if he was trapped in a nightmare.
"Move! If we don't leave now, it'll be too late!"
This time, the driver did not hesitate any further in the face of Levi's command. Although he didn't know what was happening, he could be certain it was nothing good. Fortunately, to maintain the internal power demands of the train, the locomotive had remained running. The driver quickly engaged the controls, and with a long, echoing whistle, the train began to gradually move forward.
"Train conductor, you and Ovelia go check on the situation in the other carriages."
"Understood. What about you, Mr. Levi?"
"I need to prepare a few things. I'll be right behind you."
"Yes, sir."
The train conductor and Ovelia quickly turned and left. Once they were gone, Levi looked around to ensure no one was watching him, then extended his hand. Along with his movement, a pitch-black skull appeared within his palm. Indeed, Levi hadn't made his decision blindly. The reason he was confident they could escape this forest was precisely because of the object in his hand—the Ghost Ship Core!
Levi opened his palm and slammed it hard against the wall of the carriage!
Immediately after, a system prompt appeared.
[Do you wish to attach the Ghost Ship Core?]
"Attach it!"
There was no law stating that a ghost ship could only be a seafaring vessel, after all.