Just by locking eyes with the Water Ghost, Ogawa Haruka felt she was dood.
"Splash."
"Splash."
The Water Ghost approached her step by step, Ogawa Haruka clenched her teeth, trembling, her mind blank, she even forgot to flee.
It wasn’t until the Water Ghost walked past her with a stiff and sinister gait that Ogawa Haruka barely regained her senses.
She wasn’t dead, the Water Ghost... the Water Ghost didn’t attack her!
To be precise, it completely ignored her existence.
At this mont, Ogawa Haruka roughly understood the Water Ghost’s thods, this creature was similar to those three ghost passengers before, all needing witnesses to find and kill their victims.
However, their targets are living beings, they can only be tracked when moving; once out of sight or staying still, an attack cannot be initiated.
Ogawa Haruka’s mind worked quickly; she imdiately thought of the connection between the ghost passengers and the Water Ghost.
They might have been killed by the Water Ghost and beca its Chang Ghosts, retaining similar killing thods to the Water Ghost.
As she watched the Water Ghost gradually walk away, Ogawa Haruka leaned against the wall, almost completely exhausted, and at the sa ti a strong sense of pride surged from her heart.
She felt proud of herself; she had survived two hunts through her own efforts.
Moreover, in her view, the Water Ghost was not as terrifying as she imagined; she had already discerned this ghost’s killing pattern.
In hindsight, even if she had encountered the Water Ghost the previous two nights, she would have had a great chance of surviving.
Thinking this way, neither Chu Xi nor Kato Shinjiro seed particularly impressive.
Ogawa Haruka seriously suspected that the thrilling scenes they described had elents of fabrication and embellishnt, which was understandable given that veteran players always went to great lengths to compete for team dominance.
In Nightmare World, nothing is more convincing than escaping an attack from a terrifying ghost.
The more they describe this ghost as unspeakably terrible, the more it highlights their uniqueness, thus asserting their dominance.
These experiences greatly boosted Ogawa Haruka’s confidence, making her realize she had overestimated these veteran players.
She grew increasingly confident, her previous sense of powerlessness from being abandoned at the deserted station vanished; she considered ending this mission on her own.
Finding that lost radio would kill the competition.
A sudden surge of confidence made Ogawa Haruka pause as she noticed the Water Ghost had stopped moving at so unknown point.
Though the Water Ghost was currently facing away and couldn’t "witness" her, and there was so distance between them, Ogawa Haruka remained extrely cautious, choosing not to escape but staying still.
The next mont, the Water Ghost moved, slowly raising its arm, and retrieved a knife in an eerie position impossible for any living person.
Ogawa Haruka slowly widened her eyes; no, that wasn’t a knife but... but an umbrella, its surface old and tattered.
Upon seeing the umbrella, an ominous feeling surged from Ogawa Haruka’s heart; she felt she celebrated too soon.
As the Water Ghost slowly opened the umbrella, drizzle began to fall from the sky, and suddenly a drop landed on Ogawa Haruka’s arm, causing a burning sensation that nearly made her scream.
This isn’t normal rain, but... but so kind of strong acid.
Yet strangely, with a sidelong glance, her arm showed no signs of burns, remaining clean.
This scene made Ogawa Haruka shudder inside, realizing she was in trouble, and this was just the beginning.
As the Water Ghost painstakingly opened the umbrella bit by bit, the rain grew heavier.
Standing against a wall, almost without shelter, Ogawa Haruka soon couldn’t bear it, the intense burning sensation completely shattering her limits.
She scread while clutching her head, fleeing in the opposite direction; no sound of splashing from behind, but Ogawa Haruka couldn’t run anymore.
Her pace slowed, stumbling as if drunk, water continually spilling from her mouth and nose like a drowning person, until she could no longer endure, collapsing to the ground.
Ogawa Haruka kept struggling, and beneath her quickly pooled water, all coming from her mouth and nose, her struggle diminishing.
In her last conscious mont, Ogawa Haruka’s mind flashed images of the three ghost passengers’ twisted and terrifying faces, resembling those who drowned.
...
At 8:00 the next morning, Yang Xiao and Takagi Reina promptly appeared below the office building, joined by Xiao Lin Zhengyan and Yamamoto Chunai.
After sending Yang Xiao and his partner to the train last night, Xiao Lin Zhengyan and Yamamoto Chunai didn’t leave, waiting outside the station until Yang Xiao circled back and found them.
The four went to a cheap hotel and rented a room, barely resting the night.
Xiao Lin Zhengyan volunteered to keep watch overnight, as Yang Xiao and Takagi Reina, nearly exhausted, gratefully accepted his offer.
After a night’s rest, Yang Xiao recovered reasonably well.
Soon, they all returned to the Detective Agency, but of the original 9, only 8 remained; Ogawa Haruka was missing.
"If we hadn’t been more vigilant last night, Chu Xi and I would’ve died," Takagi Reina said with a dry smile.
But Yandeta Chiyoda and Watanabe Gou seed oblivious, showing no reaction and appeared quite calm.
Yang Xiao had no intention of arguing with them; it’s pointless. They had to focus on the mission, and once it’s largely sorted, he’ll deal with these two.
Last night’s events were already overwhelming, too many surprises aboard the train.
"I received the Ghost Train Ticket last night," Yandeta Chiyoda confessed, scanning the room, "Who else was on the train?"
As hands were raised one by one, the sight thoroughly challenged everyone’s perception.
Takagi Reina was also stunned, unable to help but widen her eyes, "Why... why are there so many people?"
Kato Shinjiro, Sakai Misaki, Watanabe Gou, along with Yang Xiao and Takagi Reina, plus Yandeta Chiyoda as the "ghost," made six people.
Of course, Ogawa Haruka, who had left the train, naturally counted, making it 7.
aning, except for Xiao Lin Zhengyan and Yamamoto Chunai, everyone else was on that Ghost Train last night.
The scene also made Yandeta Chiyoda take a sharp breath; she slowly looked at Sakai Misaki, pale and lurking at the edge.
The latter felt her gaze, instinctively stepping back a half.
"Was that you hiding in carriage number 5 last night?" Yandeta Chiyoda asked deeply.
"I... I don’t know which carriage I was in, I suddenly found myself on the train, everyone around was..."
"Don’t waste my ti, who were you playing?" Watanabe Gou’s patience was clearly wearing thin.
"An... an old man, a male," Sakai Misaki stamred, last night’s terrifying experience still vivid, an enduring shadow she can’t rid.
"You had a water bottle, which later fell to the ground," Yandeta Chiyoda said.
"Yes, and suddenly... suddenly I was there, I was scared and... didn’t hold it," Sakai Misaki confessed frankly.
This enlightened Yang Xiao and Takagi Reina to why they heard a sound soon after boarding, now knowing Sakai Misaki was next to them.
Yandeta Chiyoda felt sowhat frustrated; she hadn’t expected the first one she ruled out was indeed human.
But she couldn’t be blad for this; the person’s performance was too poor, too fake, almost like a joke.
Perhaps Sakai Misaki will never realize that her natural, genuine emotions saved her life.
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