The dimly lit carriage grew even darker.
Light seemed unable to pierce through the overwhelming darkness, as though it, too, was being swallowed along with Lin Xian’s rising fear.
Cold sweat covered his forehead. He was on the verge of panic, yet he clung desperately to the last shreds of rationality.
Something isn’t right.
Where? Where is the problem?
Footsteps echoed from deep within the darkness.
Lin Xian tightened his grip on the steel blade in his hand, sweat dripping like rain.
The corridor ahead grew darker and darker—he could no longer see what lay before him.
Yet Lin Xian could feel it—someone was standing in the darkness right in front of him.
A chilling presence crept closer.
His heartbeat pounded wildly in his chest.
He rubbed his eyes, straining to see—but nothing came into focus.
“Why can’t I see? What’s stopping me from seeing?”
A pale hand suddenly emerged from the darkness, reaching toward him.
Lin Xian’s expression shifted drastically. His grip on the steel blade tightened, his body tensed—
He was about to strike—
He saw frostbite scars on the back of that hand.
Would a ghost suffer from frostbite?
Lin Xian had to admire himself—on the verge of losing his mind, he still managed to ask such an absurd question.
Yet that very question yanked him back from the brink of insanity, snapping him into focus.
He finally understood what was wrong.
Without hesitation, he grabbed his severed finger, gritted his teeth—
And ripped it off completely.
The searing pain nearly knocked him unconscious.
Gasping for breath, he raised his left hand again. But this time, he ignored the ghostly shadows lurking in the darkness.
He pointed his bleeding wound directly at the radio on the couch.
A powerful shockwave exploded forth.
The black radio was blasted off the couch—but it didn’t shatter.
Instead, it crackled strangely, its frequency display flickering wildly.
With a crisp metallic sound—
A silver object flew out from within.
The entire train flared with blinding light.
Every corridor and passageway was suddenly illuminated.
The black shadow in front of him was fully revealed.
Lin Xian’s breath caught in his throat.
The other Lin Xian stood there, wearing an eerie, twisted smile, staring at him unblinkingly.
A chill crawled up Lin Xian’s spine.
With the sudden burst of light, the other Lin Xian rapidly retreated into the shadows—
And disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Lin Xian instinctively stumbled back, his mind racing.
His breath came in sharp gasps.
Looking down at his left hand—his fingers were intact.
Glancing back—there was no girl, no blood.
His heart pounded furiously.
“If I had attacked earlier… would I have ended up killing myself?”
And that wasn’t the only strange thing.
The glass marble in the dark.
The red-dressed ghost in the carriage.
The bone-crushing pain in his severed finger.
All of these were childhood fears of his. They terrified him but never truly harmed him.
But when he believed he had killed Luo Shasha, his mind unraveled.
That was when the shadow version of himself appeared.
Had he given in to his instincts and attacked without thinking—
He would’ve killed himself.
Two more details stood out.
First—the frostbite scars on both the shadow’s hand and his own hand.
Second—the radio on the couch.
The entire train was under Lin Xian’s Mechanical Heart control. Even if fear clouded his mind, it couldn’t interfere with his system’s readings.
The power switch was off—but the frequency display was glowing.
If he wasn’t controlling it—
Then something else was.
Something inside this twisted reality was amplifying his fears.
The silver object landed on the floor, producing a sharp metallic sound.
Lin Xian’s gaze locked onto it—
It was a silver antenna.
And strangely enough—
It rolled swiftly across the floor, heading toward Carriage No. 3.
Lin Xian’s expression darkened. He stepped forward and chased after it.
Now that he understood—his greatest fears had been turned into reality.
The glass marble, the red-dressed ghost, the severed finger—
That cursed radio station possessed some kind of supernatural power—
It was broadcasting fear.
It was unleashing terror.
It was trying to make him kill himself.
The silver antenna rolled deeper into the darkness.
It collided with a toolbox and stopped.
Lin Xian narrowed his eyes and strode forward.
Just as he took a step—
The red-dressed ghost lunged at him from thin air!
His heartbeat skipped. His expression twisted in fear. He staggered back.
He forced himself to remain calm.
Clenching his teeth—he reached for the ghost’s chest.
The red-dressed ghost’s face twisted in horror—
And she vanished instantly.
Same trick, different method!
This wasn’t supernatural.
This was psychological terror.
A spinning blade flew at his neck—
And his head was sliced off.
Yet Lin Xian simply picked up his severed head, held it in his hands—
“So this is what my back looks like.”
Then, he reattached his head—and kept walking forward.
Ahead, the carriage glowed red—
A bloody tide surged forward, carrying countless severed heads in its wake.
Lin Xian conjured an Ice Shield, pushing forward through the blood and dismembered heads.
He even grabbed a severed head, weighing it in his hand.
“Nice. This melon’s ripe.”
The silver antenna continued releasing his fears—
But Lin Xian had already seen through the trick.
The train lights flickered erratically.
The carriage doors creaked open.
Steel groaned under invisible pressure.
“Really pulling out all the stops now, huh?”
Lin Xian stood before the toolbox, eyes fixed coldly on the silver antenna.
“This is MY train, you damn ghost.”
He snapped his fingers.
His Mechanical Heart roared to life.
The shutters slammed shut.
The doors froze in place.
The lights stabilized.
The locomotive engine hummed steadily.
If not for his Mechanical Heart, he would’ve drowned in fear, unable to tell illusion from reality.
“Let’s see what you really are.”
Lin Xian knelt, reaching for the silver antenna.
A horde of ghosts and corpses surged toward him.
But he ignored them all—
And grabbed the antenna.
The nightmares vanished.
“Knew it! This thing was behind it all.”
As soon as he held the antenna—
The train plunged into total darkness.
A white-furred beast, blood dripping from its mouth—
Holding KIKI in its arms.