The moment the painting appeared before the three of them, the surrounding air seemed to grow colder.
The train continued to sway as it moved forward.
“Clang—” “Clang—” “…”
The small blackboard was located at the very end of the dining car. Yan Mingguang and the other two were currently squeezed into a spot behind all the tables and seats, silently staring at the painting on the back of the small blackboard.
The tables and seats ahead were empty, the bar small and deserted, yet it was unclear if there was some unseen, cold presence watching them from the shadows.
Xu Miaomiao inexplicably shivered. Although this was clearly a painting symbolizing a hero, the timing and location of its appearance brought a chill to the air.
Yan Mingguang held the painting, turned his head, and glanced at the endless rows of carriages and seats ahead. One row after another, one carriage after another, the view shrinking smaller and smaller, with no end in sight.
Lin Qing’s expression grew even more solemn.
“Bound Prometheus,” Xu Miaomiao whispered, reading its name. “It has many meanings. Foresight, a rebellious hero, a traitor, and… endless suffering.” [1]
The layers upon layers of seats and carriages ahead stretched endlessly, without end.
Yan Wei withdrew his gaze from the endless expanse ahead.
He confirmed that there were no other players around before sitting down in the seat next to Ding Xiao and saying, “Just call me by my name. Hearing formalities gives me goosebumps. We’re just friends, no need for that.”
“A friend who saved my life.”
Yan Wei spread his hands. “I’ve saved a lot of people.” Though most of them ended up dead. In the top-tier instances, only he and Yan Mingguang survived, starting over from scratch.
“That’s because you wanted to save everyone.”
Yan Wei fell silent. It wasn’t that he couldn’t respond, but Ding Xiao was referring to the version of him from the first Ascension. This time, perhaps influenced by the failure of the first attempt, he felt he was no longer selfless, wanting only to save those close to him.
Seeing Ding Xiao in this instance did bring back some memories from the first Ascension.
He had always had a strong temperament, and back then, he had indeed saved quite a few people within his capabilities. Some died in one instance after another, while others made it to the ninetieth floor, even entering the final instance with him. When there are many people, a sense of belief emerges, and with many capable individuals, a sense of responsibility arises.
Besides him, there was Yan Mingguang, who accompanied him no matter what he did. The others, to varying degrees, shared Yan Wei’s goal—to end everything with Pandora’s Box. Ding Xiao was one of them, though at that time, like Lin Qing, she had potential but couldn’t keep up with Yan Wei’s pace of Ascension, so she wasn’t brought along when they reached the top.
It was precisely because of this that Lin Qing and Ding Xiao became among the few old acquaintances still alive.
Ding Xiao maintained a faint smile, her eyes curving slightly, spreading across her fair skin like a tranquil ink painting.
“Seeing you doesn’t surprise me at all. They all say you’ve gone for good, but I think, given your style, you couldn’t have gone without preparation—always leaving a backdoor, that’s what you taught me when you saved me.”
“Did the Ascension… fail?”
“If it had succeeded, we wouldn’t be meeting here. It’s just…” Yan Wei pointed upwards, “My intentions are already clear. The existence maintaining all this isn’t too keen on seeing me succeed in Ascension, so this instance is harder than the usual eighty-ninth floor. I’ve dragged you into this.”
“So this time, you…”
“Same, Ascension.”
Ding Xiao nodded in understanding. She was well aware of the purpose behind Yan Wei speaking to her alone and said, “My skill is still usable, though only once. If we need to forcefully read a Retrospection, leave it to me.”
Yan Wei didn’t refuse. He had indeed come for Ding Xiao’s skill.
He said, “We need to find the Stairway. The origin of the Ghosts is crucial. There are no Retrospective Illusions we can actively enter here, and I doubt the attendants will be of any help. We’ll have to forcefully read the Ghosts’ Retrospection. If we find any clues or can help in any way, we’ll let you know.”
Ding Xiao paused.
Then she chuckled softly, “Yan Wei, you’re still the same as before. Except for Mr. Yan, you’re polite to everyone.”
But on the edge of life and death, such civility, maintained only in peaceful times, isn’t really necessary.
Yan Wei didn’t respond further. He adjusted his coat and was about to stand up when his gaze was suddenly caught by the shadow beneath the seat on the other side.
The seats on the old-fashioned train were very cramped, with no design allowing for movement. The seats were tightly fixed, and the area beneath them was filled with shadows, dark and continuous.
At that moment, on the other side of the aisle, beneath the seat parallel to where Yan Wei and Ding Xiao were sitting, Yan Wei saw a head.
The head rolled out from the shadows, upside down, facing Yan Wei, its eyes hollow, only large, bottomless blood-red holes. Despite this, Yan Wei instantly felt that this thing was watching him.
There are so many dirty things on this train!
Beside him, Ding Xiao also abruptly stood up, clearly having sensed the presence of this thing.
Without hesitation, Yan Wei stood up and said, “Let’s go. Don’t run.”
Their Body Index and Perception were completely suppressed. If they wanted to run, they could only do so like ordinary people, lifting their feet and running. In front of these dirty things, the speed of running and walking isn’t much different for ordinary people. Running not only wouldn’t help but could also trigger something else.
This thing didn’t seem intent on attacking them, likely just a warning. What they needed to do was leave immediately.
Yan Wei walked quickly back through the swaying carriage, Ding Xiao immediately following behind him, moving through the narrow aisle toward the dining car.
After reaching the next carriage, the icy feeling on his back finally dissipated.
Ding Xiao, behind him, said, “It was warning us.”
“If it wanted to attack, it would have done so already. They kill under certain conditions; even if they were to go on a killing spree, it would be in the later stages of the instance. It’s only the second day. It’s probably because we talked about the train head earlier and stayed there for a while. Those things don’t want us to know too much.”
Despite saying this, Yan Wei’s steps didn’t slow.
After passing through several carriages, Yan Wei saw Yan Mingguang and the other two in the dining car.
Yan Mingguang was holding something, Xu Miaomiao and Lin Qing standing beside him, their expressions not particularly good. As Yan Wei approached, he realized they were all looking at a painting, and the frame’s material looked familiar—it was…
“The back of the small blackboard?” Yan Wei glanced at the now-empty metal wall.
Yan Mingguang nodded, slightly stepping aside to give a better view. A painting in an extremely classical style appeared before Yan Wei. The moment he saw it, the name of the painting’s protagonist popped into his mind.
Ding Xiao also glanced at the painting, and without needing to ask, she understood what had just happened to Yan Mingguang and the others. She didn’t dawdle, saying to Xu Miaomiao, “Miaomiao, let’s hand this clue over to Yan Wei and the others for now. We can’t go to the front carriages. Yan Wei and I were just warned by a Ghost. Let’s check if the situation is the same in the back carriages.”
Seeing Ding Xiao’s figure already heading towards the back, Xu Miaomiao glanced at Yan Wei and whispered, “Not bad, little brother. You’ve teamed up with Sister Ding? Did you beg her?”
“…” Yan Wei was both amused and exasperated. “Be careful.”
“Hope you make progress before nightfall.”
“You too.”
Xu Miaomiao followed Ding Xiao towards the back carriages. Yan Wei stared at the painting for a while, about to say something, when he heard the sound of a trolley.
Yan Mingguang’s eyelids lifted, and without a word, he flipped the small blackboard back to its front side, returning it to where it was originally hung, quickly screwing the bolts back in.
Just as he tightened the last one, the attendant arrived with the trolley. He didn’t even glance at Yan Wei and the others, taking out a pile of ingredients from the trolley and busying himself at the bar for a while.
Watching the attendant place the prepared food into lunch boxes, Lin Qing suddenly said, “Today’s meal smells good.”
An attendant cooking so well was, in itself, an unusual thing.
Such mundane chatter was something the attendant always responded to. Without hesitation, he replied, “Because I’ve done it many times, I’m skilled.”
“Many times? Don’t you change the dishes for something fresh?”
“It’s good to keep doing what you’re good at. Why change?”
He placed the lunch boxes on the table next to the bar, waiting for the players to pick them up, then pushed the trolley away.
Lin Qing glanced at Yan Wei.
Yan Wei said, “Let’s take them. If we don’t eat today, we won’t even be able to run if the Ghosts come. If the food really is a problem, there’s no escaping this. We’ll just have to deal with it as it comes.”
Today’s lunch was grilled lamb chops. In stark contrast to the pervasive age and dilapidation of the train, their meals over the past two days had been surprisingly good, as if the attendant had put all his effort into preparing their food.
Yan Wei flipped through the lunch box. Inside was tin foil-wrapped grilled lamb chops, an apple for each person, and even a fruit knife. The metal parts had a matte finish, non-reflective, and didn’t seem problematic.
Although he was a bit hungry, he wasn’t in the mood to eat just yet. He glanced at it and set it aside.
The sliding door made a noise as Lin Qing entered the narrow sleeping compartment, closing the door and sitting across from Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang as before. He said, “I checked. Cao Qun has been lingering around these carriages, acting suspiciously, probably still thinking about the death list. When I passed him, he even grabbed me and asked about our situation, saying he was worried the bed numbers symbolized danger.”
Yan Wei nodded. “Quite the actor.”
He pulled the blanket over his legs—despite having already adapted to the damp cold of the train, he didn’t know why, but returning to their sleeping compartment made him feel even colder.
Was it because the rain outside had intensified?
Yan Wei blew warm air onto his hands, which were immediately enveloped by Yan Mingguang’s large hands.
“How did you find the painting?” he asked.
Lin Qing looked at Yan Mingguang.
Yan Mingguang said, “The screw caps on the four corners of the small blackboard were rusty, but when slightly unscrewed, the inside wasn’t.”
This indicated that the blackboard had been tampered with.
“This painting is Bound Prometheus.”
Lin Qing said, “I don’t recognize this painting. I didn’t go to school, not good at things requiring knowledge. But I’ve heard of Prometheus, the fire thief? Yan Mingguang said this is the missing piece for us.”
Yan Wei blinked, his eyes brightening. “Yes, that’s it. This is indeed the missing piece. We couldn’t connect the dots because we didn’t know the origin of these Ghosts. The fire thief fills this gap.”
Prometheus is a figure from mythology. He and Athena created humans, and to alleviate human suffering, he stole fire and brought it to mankind, thereby angering Zeus, who didn’t want humans to have fire. To punish Prometheus, Zeus bound him with chains to a cliff, where an eagle would feast on his liver every day. [2]
To suffering humans, he was a hero.
To Zeus, he was a traitorous fire thief.
Considering the front of the painting, the small blackboard, which listed the death roster, the painting’s implication was clearly the latter.
Yan Wei took out the Swallow Coin, tossing it in his hand as he pondered the current situation.
“The Ghosts are likely the train workers, possibly including previous passengers. They attack players who trigger death conditions and kill passengers whose bed numbers appear on the blackboard. Behind the death roster is the punished fire thief, symbolizing endless suffering. The most important elements of Prometheus are the traitorous fire thief and unceasing torment, meaning…”
“There’s a group of people—probably the train workers or even former passengers—who did something, betraying the ‘divine authority’ above them, and thus suffer endless pain.”
Yan Wei caught the falling coin, rubbing its edge with his fingertips as he thought aloud. “It’s likely the train’s owner, the conductor, or the creator wanted to do something, but the train workers betrayed him. So, he killed everyone on the train and made these Ghosts continue to kill new passengers, symbolizing endless torment as punishment for the betrayal.”
Lin Qing’s Adam’s apple bobbed a few times, and he said in a low voice, “We…”
Yan Wei looked up, enunciating each word clearly, “We are all Prometheus.”
