As Zhao Yi entered the pitch-black mist, his vision momentarily blurred before becoming bright once again.
Inside carriage number five, two players caught his attention: Wang Xu, a greasy middle-aged man, and Li Miaomiao, a pale and frail-looking woman. They huddled together by a dim blue fire, trembling and exchanging whispers.
The sudden appearance of an additional person in the carriage naturally drew their attention. Both Wang Xu and Li Miaomiao stared at Zhao Yi, brimming with excitement and hope.
"Great! Zhao Yi, you're here!" Wang Xu shouted, waving his hand, his face covered in sweat. His trembling hands betrayed a mix of excitement and fear.
Without immediately responding, Zhao Yi approached the three ghosts standing nearby. Their faces were pale, devoid of any color, and their gaze was icy cold.
"Outsiders are forbidden from participating in the game!" one of the ghosts declared. "Unless you're willing to wager your life!"
Upon hearing those words, both Wang Xu and Li Miaomiao's expressions changed drastically.
Noticing Zhao Yi's hesitation, Li Miaomiao frowned and said, "Zhao Yi, what are you waiting for? We're all comrades on this ship. It would be selfish of you to ignore our plea for help."
The middle-aged man quickly interjected, waving his hands. "This game isn't difficult. With your abilities, you should be able to complete it easily."
Zhao Yi glanced at Li Miaomiao and raised an eyebrow. "We're playing a game, huh? Alright, what game is it?"
Upon receiving Zhao Yi's agreement, Wang Xu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't stand Li Miaomiao's haughty attitude, always looking down on others and giving condescending advice.
While he was lost in his own thoughts, Zhao Yi had already joined the game. The ghosts explained the rules once again.
"The game is called Guess, Guess, Guess," one of the ghosts began. "Within ten minutes, you must figure out the cause of our deaths."
"You can ask three questions in total. We won't lie when answering, but you cannot directly inquire about the cause of our deaths."
"If you fail the mission, we will take away one arm from each of them," the ghost continued, pointing at Wang Xu and Li Miaomiao. "And you... will die!"
After the wicked ghost finished speaking, Zhao Yi glanced indifferently at the two players. Li Miaomiao maintained her aloof and arrogant demeanor, crossing her arms. In her eyes, it seemed only natural for Zhao Yi to risk his life to save her arm.
The middle-aged man wore a similar expression, devoid of any shame, and forced a flattering smile.
"Additionally, they have asked their two questions already, so only one question remains," the ghost concluded. "Think carefully before asking."
The three evil spirits revealed a greedy smile, their eerie green eyes staring at Zhao's flesh. It was like heaven had dropped a piece of succulent meat that they couldn't resist.
Zhao pondered for a moment, then said, "Well... since I have to ask a question... Do you desire freedom?"
His question caught everyone, human and ghost alike, off guard.
Damn it! Who allowed you to ask such a useless philosophical question at a time like this?
Li Miaomiao couldn't contain her frustration any longer, her eyes burning with anger.
"Fine, the only good opportunity we had, wasted," she said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Wang Xu wasted two questions earlier, and now you've wasted one. Huh, with your useless appearance, I really don't know how you made it to the top!"
"Men truly are useless breeding tools. If it were a matriarchal society, you wouldn't even be qualified to handle our waste."
Zhao completely ignored her and looked seriously at the three evil spirits, repeating his question.
"Do you desire freedom?"
"Answer me."
The three evil spirits fell into silence. They had promised to answer any question truthfully, but the word "freedom" seemed like a distant past, something they could no longer hope for.
"We desire it."
"Desire it intensely."
"But freedom is no longer within reach."
One of the evil spirits sighed for a moment, but quickly regained its cold composure.
"Enough!"
"You have asked your questions!"
"Now, it's time to guess our causes of death."
"When you guess correctly, you'll be temporarily safe. When you guess wrong, you'll face the consequences according to the rules."
As the words of the ghost fell, Wang Xu's slick Mediterranean hairstyle became even more glistening, and cold sweat dripped down his forehead as he swallowed nervously. He was terrified.
Li Miaomiao's face turned pale too. In this moment of fear, she forgot to insult her teammate and trembled like a sieve under the gaze of the three evil spirits.
Their hearts pounded loudly. They had no idea what else they could do besides stalling for time.
At a critical moment, Zhao, who had secretly glanced at the data of the three evil spirits, suddenly spoke up.
He pointed at the fattest ghost on the left, with visible marks of strangulation on its neck and pieces of flesh hanging from its body.
"You were murdered. Someone strangled you, with the intention of eating your flesh."
Then, he turned to the hunched figure in the middle, a skinny ghost.
"You died of asthma. There was no medicine on the train, and you suffocated to death."
Finally, he looked at the closest ghost to him, the one with the most contorted body, the most ferocious expression, and the greatest resentment.
"You died by suicide."
A strange silence followed. The three evil spirits scrutinized Zhao for a while before slowly saying,
"You have completed the game."
"For now, you are safe."
Zhao reached out his hand to shake each ghost's hand, a smile appearing in his eyes.
"I, like you, desire freedom."
"And... I am willing to sacrifice everything for it!"
The three ghosts looked at each other, their eyes shimmering.
In the corner, Wang Xu and Li Miaomiao enjoyed the joy of surviving the ordeal. They hadn't fully recovered from the shock yet. Wang Xu continued to babble in agreement.
"Yes! Yes!"
"I also love freedom!"
"We're all the same!"
"There's no need to fight each other!"
But no one paid any attention to him.
Zhao looked at the path leading to the fourth carriage, seemingly realizing something. He tentatively asked the three ghosts who had returned to their seats:
"What happened on this train?"
The three evil spirits had subtle expressions but didn't say a word.
Zhao had already guessed the result.
He just wanted to confirm his suspicion.
After a brief silence, the ghost that died by suicide suddenly spoke up:
"The answers you seek are not on this train."
"You have to go outside and find them."
"But the outside world is dangerous. You need to find the Ghost Candle to survive out there..."
...