Han Shan gripped his radio. "The numbers...have decreased?"

He, too, felt the train slowing down. It was just like the last time they passed through a tunnel, with the train inexplicably slowing down.

He held his radio, listening carefully to the sounds outside.

As expected, the same noise as before could be heard, as if another train was speeding past them.

Not long after that train sped by, they could see light again. The lamps overhead lit up, illuminating the scenery outside, though there wasn't much to see.

The train had left the tunnel, and the power supply was restored.

But Xiao Tiantian's voice was still absent; his end of the line was completely silent. It seemed he was no longer capable of speaking. Those present could guess what had happened to him.

Gu Mian could hear the sound of teeth chattering from the radio; someone was unable to suppress their fear.

Han Shan glanced at the passenger area of his carriage, then furrowed his brows. "Guigu, you're in carriage No. 1, right? Could you see Xiao Tiantian in carriage No. 2 while he was speaking?"

Guigu's voice came through, "I could. I was just about to look that way when the power cut out. When the lights in the carriage came back on... he seemed to have vanished into thin air. I can't see him anywhere."

Han Shan was in carriage No. 3, adjacent to carriage No. 2. However, just moments before, he had been standing at the rear of his carriage; though he was very close to Gu Mian, he couldn't see into the front of carriage No. 2 from there.

Therefore, no one could precisely determine what Xiao Tiantian had seen; they could only speculate based on the words he spoke before his presumed death.

Han Shan pondered Xiao Tiantian's words again: "Has the number decreased?"

Speaking of numbers... from the very beginning, they had noticed something was off about a certain count. Could it be the number of passengers?

As Han Shan thought to himself, he quickly scanned the passenger area of his own carriage, then lowered his voice and spoke into his radio, "Everyone should check if the number of passengers in their carriage has changed."

Right after he finished speaking, people in other carriages began nervously counting their passengers.

At this moment, Gu Mian had also made his way through the passenger area, coming to the front of carriage No. 4. He counted the passengers in his carriage: thirty-one, exactly the number on the passenger list.

Including the woman hiding in the restroom, that made thirty-two—the same number he had counted when he boarded.

Now Han Shan was standing not far ahead of Gu Mian in carriage No. 3. He seemed to have finished counting the passengers in his carriage; from his expression, it appeared there were no extra passengers, nor were any missing.

However, Gu Mian saw a pale-faced passenger walking toward Han Shan's counter—most likely the one who had ordered raw meat earlier.

He saw Han Shan frown and utter a few words. The pale-faced passenger immediately backed up several steps, his face becoming even more pallid.

Then, this pale-faced person turned and ducked into the restroom behind him.

Gu Mian adjusted the guitar on his back. "These ghosts really seem to love hiding in restrooms..."

Han Shan had evidently also seen Gu Mian standing nearby, watching the commotion.

He walked out from behind the counter, apparently wanting to say something, but before he could speak, Guigu's voice simultaneously came through both of their radios, "This is bad! My carriage is really short one passenger! I counted 32 when I boarded, and now there are only 31!"

Suo Qingqiu's voice trembled as she added, "My carriage... is missing three!"

Three were missing?

Gu Mian furrowed his brow in imitation of Han Shan. "One missing in one carriage, three in another. The numbers don't match."

Who knows how many are missing from Xiao Tiantian's carriage.

Meanwhile, Angel Slaughter and Fang Xiang both reported that no one was missing from their carriages; the passenger count was unchanged.

Angel Slaughter's voice came through, sounding a little perplexed, "It's very strange. Xiao Tiantian, Suo Qingqiu, Guigu—the attendants in the carriages where passengers went missing had all placed orders with that vendor... And Guigu, what did you order?"

Guigu replied, "Because I thought that vendor was suspicious, I didn't order much—just a few drinks and two pounds of meat."

Two pounds of meat?

Upon hearing this, Gu Mian asked, "Suo Qingqiu, how many pounds did you order?"

Suo Qingqiu swallowed. "Twenty pounds."

It seemed the number of missing passengers in a carriage was proportional to the amount of raw meat ordered. Moreover, once passengers started disappearing, the attendant of that carriage was in grave danger.

Xiao Tiantian had fallen silent right after discovering passengers were missing.

Why would the number of passengers decrease after placing orders with the vendor?

Gu Mian stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Just then, Angel Slaughter spoke again, "When I looked back just now, I thought I saw something flat and square in the vendor's pocket."

Han Shan queried urgently, "What did it look like?"

Angel Slaughter pondered for a moment. "It looked like...the corner of a photograph?"

The corner of a photograph?

At this moment, a mechanical announcement rang out overhead— "The fourth station, Sweet Manor, has been reached. The train will stop at the platform for one minute. Passengers wishing to alight, please do so promptly."

The train pulled into the station and stopped.

At the same moment, Suo Qingqiu saw the restroom door diagonally opposite the counter open, and a somewhat pale face appeared in her line of sight. It was the extra one...

The passenger who had ordered raw meat wiped his mouth, then looked towards the counter, seemingly wanting something more.

Startled, Suo Qingqiu immediately backed up several steps and bolted towards the carriage door. She ran quickly, reaching the platform in seconds.

A breeze from the distance helped calm her slightly. Suo Qingqiu looked back at the carriage, sighed in relief, and then turned her gaze to the middle of the platform.

Sure enough, this station also had a vendor, but this time it was a middle-aged woman.

She was currently smiling and waving at Suo Qingqiu.

Suo Qingqiu glanced around fearfully and suddenly noticed that, besides herself, only two other people had disembarked this time: Han Shan from carriage No. 3 and the doctor from carriage No. 4.

They seemed to have gotten off to investigate something.

The doctor, still carrying his guitar, dusted off his clothes and muttered to Han Shan, "You'd better watch the time. I suspect the train won't give a warning at the half-minute mark this time; it'll just leave directly after one minute."

Gu Mian knew his luck was consistently bad. It wouldn't be surprising if the train's announcement system malfunctioned this time, and it silently sped off after exactly one minute, leaving him and Han Shan stranded on the platform.

Han Shan nodded with a solemn expression, clearly not optimistic about Gu Mian's luck.

Then, Suo Qingqiu saw the two of them walk towards the vendor in the middle of the platform...

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