Chapter 21: “Divine Oracle”

Chapter 21: “Divine Oracle”

At night, cold wind howled across the platform, making the hanging gas lamps sway unsteadily.

In such a scene, the dim yellow light stretched longer and shorter by turns, causing the steam train that stood silently on the tracks to intermittently break free from darkness and intermittently sink back into shadow. It gave off an increasingly indescribable sense of eerie, deathly silence.

At that moment, a squad of police officers in black-and-white checkered uniforms entered the platform. Led by the duty manager of the railway company, they walked toward the slightly old, massive train.

“I don’t know why, but after all the passengers left, every train attendant, including the conductor, returned to the carriages and never came out again. I sent someone—I sent someone to find them, to tell them to come out quickly and rest early. In the end, in the end, the person I sent ran out of the carriage very quickly, like he had caught some illness. He could only shout hysterically, ‘They’re all dead! They’re all dead!’” Wearing a blue coat and carrying a lantern, the railway company’s duty manager introduced the situation as he walked.

From his somewhat stammering words and slightly trembling body, it was not difficult for the police officers to see that tremendous fear was hidden inside him. It seemed that as long as someone suddenly patted his shoulder, he would jump up, abandon everything, and run toward the platform exit.

This emotion also infected the police. Every one of them placed a hand at the waist, pressing down on their gun holsters.

Tap, tap, tap. The sound of leather boots stepping on the hard ground echoed in waves. The police followed the duty manager and cautiously entered the front of one carriage.

Inside this carriage, two people sat in each row, divided between the left and right sides. All of them were far from the windows, leaning back against the seats, completely motionless.

By the light of the gas lamps outside the windows and the lantern in his hand, the lead inspector quickly saw the scene before him clearly.

Everyone here was a member of the steam train staff. They wore blue uniforms whose styles differed by gender, sitting quietly in different seats. Their faces were bluish-white and their eyes were open. Although there was no longer the sound of breathing, the corners of their mouths were obviously raised, revealing eight teeth.

As those almost identical smiles entered their eyes one after another, everyone present felt their hair stand on end at the same time. They subconsciously held their breath.

To them, this scene was far too bizarre and terrifying. They only wanted to immediately turn around, leave this place, and wait until dawn to come back and investigate!

The lead inspector secretly took two deep breaths, then instructed the officer beside him:

“Go confirm whether they are, whether they are all already dead…”

At this point, he looked again at the railway company’s duty manager.

“You go with them. See whether anyone is missing, or whether there are any extra people.”

“O-okay, officer,” the duty manager said, trembling.

As he and several police officers moved deeper into the carriage, the rest all drew their revolvers and heightened their vigilance.

In the unbearable quiet, time slowly passed. Finally, the officers stopped at the end of the carriage, turned around, and shouted:

“Confirmed. All are dead!”

The railway company duty manager followed up, shivering as he said,

“Two people are missing. One conductor, one driver…”

Seeing that nothing unexpected had happened after so long, the lead inspector calmed down considerably. After thinking for a moment, he said to all the officers,

“Preserve the bodies in their original state and wait for the cause-of-death examination.

“At the same time, split into two groups. One group will search the other carriages for the conductor and driver. The other will investigate traces at the scene and collect the…