We are all reborn

 

“Rebirth?” Yan Hebi subconsciously echoed.

Yan Hebi often read online novels, so of course he understood what rebirth meant. However, the currently popular kind of rebirth usually involved waking up in a hospital bed or at home, most often being reborn at some crucial point in time. Being reborn on a high-speed train—what kind of third-rate web-novel cliché was that?

Xing Ye noticed something at this moment: after Zeng Wanshi mentioned “rebirth,” several passengers in Car No. 1 suddenly dropped their previously indifferent attitude and, in various ways, pretended to pay attention to Zeng Wanshi.

Zeng Wanshi continued, “I got off at the sixth stop. I don’t remember exactly why I got off—clearly I bought a ticket to the terminal station, yet I got off early. But I later saw the news: ten minutes before this train reached its final station, a mountainside collapsed, and the entire train was buried underneath it. No one survived.

“I was originally travelling on business. When I saw that news, I was so scared that I immediately took a return train home. But when I got home, I found my boyfriend in bed with another woman. I was so angry that I was directly reborn. I planned to put a green hat on him too (NT: cheat on him). I thought Yan Hebi looked quite pleasing to the eye, so I made a move. Saying I’d kill everyone on the train was just to scare him. I actually planned to tell him everything afterward and have him get off with me at the sixth stop.”

Xing Ye asked, “Then before your rebirth, when you were on this high-speed train, did you notice anything worth paying attention to?”

Zeng Wanshi said, “Something noteworthy… a little girl eating a lollipop was killed, and one attendant went missing. Does that count?”

Xing Ye frowned and asked, “Then do you remember anything especially noteworthy after the fifth stop, when the train passed through the tunnel?”

Zeng Wanshi shook her head. “No. I think I was sleeping most of the later part. After reaching the sixth stop, I heard the announcement and hurriedly picked up my luggage to get off. Oh right—Yan Hebi brought me to see you so you could help me solve my problem. What do you think I should do?”

Xing Ye said, “Two options. First, break up. Second, secretly enter the room, use your phone to film the two of them, then throw all their clothes outside and let them watch their own video. As for what happens next, let them compensate you themselves. Once you feel you’ve tormented them enough, then break up. Rushing in and beating people up is the stupidest choice—it only makes you look like a discarded lunatic. And whether you win or lose the fight, in the end, you’re the one who loses. Understand?”

Zeng Wanshi’s eyes lit up. She gave Xing Ye a thumbs-up and said, “This idea is amazing. I’ll listen to you!”

She then patted Yan Hebi on the shoulder and said, “You were right—he really can help me. If you ever need help in the future, come find me. As long as I’m still on this train, I’ll help you.”

After saying that, Zeng Wanshi happily left the carriage. Watching her back, Yan Hebi asked, “Why does this feel like the kind of task other players complete? The only difference is that she didn’t point out who might be the Thirty-million player.”

Xing Ye replied, “Probably because before, the ones doing the tasks were the hunters, and now the one helping the passengers solve their problems is me.”

After speaking, he stood up and walked to the passengers in Car No. 1, asking them a few simple questions. Because he had just provided Zeng Wanshi with an effective solution, the passengers in Car No. 1 became very enthusiastic and all spoke about their own troubles. After Xing Ye helped them come up with solutions, just as he had expected, everyone in Car No. 1 stated that they had been reborn. All of them got off at the sixth stop, and all of them had seen news about the train disaster at the sixth stop.

After the inquiries, Yan Hebi and Xing Ye stayed in a corner of Car No. 1 to summarize the passengers’ answers.

Xing Ye lowered his voice and said, “Based on these people’s answers, I think it’s not that you were lucky to encounter a reborn Zeng Wanshi, but that on this train, it’s possible that all the NPCs are reborn.”

“What?” Yan Hebi almost cried out. He suppressed his voice and asked, “Why would it be like this?”

Xing Ye said, “Not only that—when I just questioned the people in Car No. 1, they all said that before their rebirth, they also experienced the train lights going out when passing through a tunnel. The timing matches exactly with the blackout during our battle earlier.”

Yan Hebi said, “Could it be that before their rebirth, these people already encountered us and saw us fighting?”

Xing Ye glanced at him, saw Yan Hebi rubbing his arms nervously at his own imagination, and calmly said, “Impossible. Our battles change in an instant. If the system knew our fighting methods, it would’ve found a way to screw me over long ago.

“The key point isn’t that the passengers as a group were reborn, but the information about getting off at the sixth stop and the landslide before the final station. All passengers said they were sleeping in their previous lives and don’t remember what happened afterward. It’s impossible for everyone to coincidentally fall asleep. So there’s only one answer: the information in their brains is being updated in real time.

“For example, why didn’t the passengers panic when they suddenly fell into darkness during the battle earlier? Because in their minds, they believe they’ve already experienced it once, so they can remain calm. And earlier, when a passenger or player died, the passengers immediately returned to calmness and appeared extremely indifferent—that’s also because they believe they’ve already experienced it once.”

Yan Hebi asked in confusion, “If the focus is the sixth stop and the train disaster, why bother designing the element of rebirth for the passengers at all? And even make all of them reborn—this seems meaningless.”

Xing Ye said, “It’s meaningful. If one person says they got off at the sixth stop, you’d think it was just that she was lucky in her previous life. If two people say the same thing, you’d think it was a coincidence. But if three, four, or even an entire carriage or two carriages all say in unison that they got off at the sixth stop, wouldn’t you think that everyone on this train was controlled by the system to get off at the sixth stop? Then you’d think that asking a few people is enough, and there’s no need to question the rest.”

“That’s true…” Yan Hebi nodded. “I already believe that everyone on this train got off at the sixth stop.”

“No,” Xing Ye shook his head. “This approach is meant to blind us and prevent us from continuing to ask. And this concealment precisely proves that someone in the carriage really experienced the train disaster and was reborn. That person knows the course of the disaster, and we can obtain crucial clues from them. But the system doesn’t know this, so it arranged the whole ‘everyone was reborn’ act to hide the truly reborn person.”

“So that’s how it is,” Yan Hebi said, enlightened. “Then what should we do next? Look for the truly reborn person?”

“No,” Xing Ye slowly shook his head. “There are still three… no, four hidden dangers left in the game.”

He picked up his phone. The hunting app showed that there were currently five hunters remaining. One was Yan Hebi; the remaining four were Shao Lin’s two companions and one Fate-following item.

Xing Ye said, “If we deal with these hidden dangers first, then we can safely look for the truth behind the train disaster. Time is tight—let’s act now.”

After saying that, he slung his bag over his back and swaggered out of the carriage. Yan Hebi exclaimed in surprise, “Boss, you’re just going out like this? Didn’t Shao Lin see you earlier? I saw them all monitoring the trendy guy in Car No. 12.”

“Monitoring means the trap I set earlier has taken effect,” Xing Ye smiled faintly. “You don’t need to come with me to deal with them. Just focus on questioning the passengers on the train and help me find the truly reborn person.”

Yan Hebi said, “Don’t worry. I’ll start asking from Car No. 2 and narrow the range as much as possible.”

Xing Ye said, “I’ll leave it to you.”

With that, he put on the little mirror, carried his bag, and left Car No. 1. At the same time, the trendy guy in Car No. 12 stood up and walked straight toward Car No. 1.

At first, Shao Lin and the others paid some attention to the trendy guy. But just then, the phone refreshed the thirty-million location information, showing that the thirty-million player was still in Car No. 1, and that No. 12 clearly wasn’t it.

Watching the person from Car No. 12 go around asking others which carriage the conductor was in, Shao Lin relaxed slightly and continued discussing plans with his three companions.

Less than five minutes later, the trendy guy returned. Shao Lin secretly observed him and saw that he was holding a ticket bought on the train—it seemed he had gone to make up the fare.

Shao Lin felt a bit more at ease, but he still didn’t lower his guard. Only after the next location refresh would he be able to rule out the possibility that Xing Ye had once again disguised himself as the trendy guy.

 

Translator : DarNan