There's an extra person identical to her?
Gu Mian specifically looked at this anxious girl. She had a high ponytail and wore glasses. He heard people nearby say her name seemed to be Xiao Mei.
Without lingering, Gu Mian continued towards the rear of the carriage. He muted the intercom.
Because the intercom might blare out unreliable things like, "There's an extra person in my carriage, there are really ghosts here!"
So, Gu Mian deliberately muted it when he checked the carriages.
He felt the intercom in his pocket and then headed towards the rear of the carriage.
At that moment, a man's voice suddenly came from behind, "Conductor?"
Gu Mian turned to look.
The voice came from a middle-aged man, wearing glasses, looking gentle and refined.
At first glance, this man seemed to share a similar style with Chu Changge and Han Shan. Considering his age, he leaned more towards Han Shan.
Because Han Shan looked older.
"Can you get me a bottle of soda, orange flavor?" the man asked.
Gu Mian had never been a waiter, but he still remembered the second rule for conductors.
[2. The conductor should try to meet passenger orders and should not refuse orders.]
Thinking about this rule, Gu Mian immediately agreed, "Okay, no problem."
In fact, this passenger, who looked as old as Han Shan, could only have orange-flavored soda, as there were no other flavors in the dining car's warehouse.
Soon, Gu Mian returned to the restaurant counter at the rear of the carriage.
From here, he could see the next carriage, which was likely where Angel Slaughter was located.
Gu Mian glanced over and saw the long-haired girl standing in the aisle of the passenger area, apparently talking to a nearby passenger.
Then, she seemed to notice Gu Mian in the carriage ahead and looked up in his direction.
Gu Mian saw her expression turn somewhat strange.
Her gaze didn't linger. She nodded to a nearby passenger and then also began walking towards the rear of her own carriage.
Gu Mian held his work badge and moved towards the warehouse behind the restaurant counter.
Above the warehouse door was an aluminum-like plaque. Gu Mian looked up and read: "No.4 Car Dining Car Warehouse".
The warehouse door indeed required a card swipe to open. Gu Mian swiped his card on the reader by the door and heard a BEEP.
Simultaneously, an announcement played overhead:
"Attention all passengers, we are approaching the second stop, Qianying City. The train will stop for one minute. Passengers planning to disembark, please prepare in advance."
Gu Mian glanced at the speaker overhead. They were about to reach the next stop.
Qianying City... The name made him furrow his brow.
The name of this second stop is quite eerie.
For some reason, hearing this name made Gu Mian subconsciously recall the Nine-headed Baby IOU he had drawn.
The dining car's warehouse door was now open. Without further thought, Gu Mian stepped inside.
The dining car's warehouse wasn't large, only about a dozen square meters.
It was quite empty and very clean.
Gu Mian saw two rows of freezers, two in each row, lining the walls on either side of the room—a total of four large freezers.
They resembled the chest freezers used for selling popsicles in convenience stores from his childhood. However, upon closer inspection, these were longer and evoked a strange sense of déjà vu.
These freezers... Gu Mian took a couple of steps forward, observing them. They're just like the cold storage units in our hospital morgue.
If they contained bodies, the resemblance would be uncanny.
Lost in thought, Gu Mian approached one of the freezers to his left, intending to lift the lid and see what was inside.
Just then, Fang Xiang's voice came through the intercom, "Guys, have you all counted the people in your carriage?" Newest update provıded by 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝔫𝔢𝔱
Fang Xiang's voice sounded a little weak; after all, he had just been running for his life. Gu Mian figured he would sound weak too, under the circumstances.
Immediately after, Xiao Tiantian's slightly terrified voice came through, "I... I have the same problem! My passenger list says there should only be thirty-five people in this carriage, but I've counted over and over, and there are clearly thirty-six!"
Han Shan's calm voice followed, "Same here. The list shows twenty-five people in my Carriage Three, but I counted twenty-six—one extra. Gui Guzi, what about your carriage?"
"Reporting, Lieutenant!" Guigu's voice startled Gu Mian. "I've got an extra one too!"
"Lieutenant?" Angel Slaughter's voice interjected. "Are you... military personnel?"
Gu Mian retorted sarcastically, "You really never miss a chance to flaunt your unique status as Lieutenant, do you?"
Guigu countered, "Isn't that Fatty who's with you always calling you 'Doctor, Doctor'?"
Gu Mian touched his chin, offering no rebuttal as he couldn't immediately think of one.
He was holding the intercom in one hand, the other poised to lift the freezer lid. "A passenger requested an orange-flavored soda. Besides the orange-flavored soda, I've also discovered something else interesting..."
But at that moment, a mechanical voice rang out again.
The voice blared from the overhead speaker, from both ends of the carriage, and even from the intercom:
"Attention all passengers, we have arrived at the second station, Qianying City. The train will stop here for one minute. Passengers wishing to disembark, please do so promptly."
The overlapping mechanical announcements were so loud they made Gu Mian's ears ache. He adjusted the guitar on his back, sensing the train had come to a halt.
There were no windows in the warehouse, so he stepped out and looked through the windows of the passenger area.
He saw that the second station was an open-air platform. It was still completely dark outside, with a few solitary lampposts barely illuminating the area.
Gu Mian held the bottle of orange-flavored soda he'd taken from the freezer in one hand and the intercom in the other. "Just to confirm," he said, "we've arrived at the second station. Can everyone verify they're still alive?"
A few seconds later, others spoke up, confirming they were still alive.
Two-ninths of the instance had passed, yet it was still so peaceful—truly remarkable. For a moment, Gu Mian even began to doubt if anyone would actually die in this instance. Or perhaps... the real danger is yet to come?
Han Shan's voice came through the intercom, "Doctor, what were you about to say?"
Han Shan knew he couldn't call Gu Mian by his name directly, so he followed suit, also calling him "Doctor."
Gu Mian gestured with the orange-flavored soda in his hand. "I was saying..."
But just then, Angel Slaughter's voice burst through the intercom, "Have you guys seen outside yet!"