Chapter 5: Undercurrents Surging
Samuel Jones's question and Charles's follow-up were like a stone thrown into stagnant water, stirring up ripples while also churning up the muddy sediment from the bottom.
After a brief silence, Kenneth Ryder was the first to speak, his tone maintaining detective-like composure: "I was in the rear position of the observation car at the time, trying to observe those abnormal data streams outside the window. When the lights flickered, I was looking toward the connecting door area and seemed to see a blurry shadow flash by very quickly, but I can't be certain what it was—it could have just been a trick of light and shadow." His description sounded objective, yet cleverly implied that the killer might have left through the connecting door.
"I... I was talking with Mr. Charles just now," Lily Tang's voice still carried a tremor. She instinctively moved closer to Charles, as if seeking protection. "The lights suddenly went out and I was terrified, so I just stood there not daring to move... Then when the lights came back on, I heard sounds from over here..." Her words confirmed that Charles and she had indeed been together earlier, but also bound herself and Charles on the same line.
Pierre Chan adjusted his glasses, his tone carrying bureaucratic rigidity: "I was attempting to connect to the wall interface and failed. When the lights anomaly occurred, I immediately crouched down and took a protective posture—that's safety protocol. I didn't see anything." He emphasized his compliant actions but provided no valuable information.
Irina Petrova snorted coldly with a trace of disdain: "I was at my seat, assessing the risk. The darkness lasted 3.2 seconds. Enough time to complete a precise assassination." Her words were cold and direct, even carrying a kind of professional brutality, her gaze sweeping without hesitation over characters like Leon Schmidt and Sophia Rossi who looked threatening.
Leon Schmidt, facing Irina's gaze, merely looked back expressionlessly and simply uttered two words: "Restroom." He refused to provide any details.
Sophia Rossi chuckled lightly, playing with a strand of red hair: "Oh my, I was just feeling bored, watching that handsome detective gentleman." She gave a flirtatious wink in Kenneth Ryder's direction. "When the lights went out? Probably got startled, who remembers clearly." Her attitude was frivolous and dismissive, infuriating yet difficult to reproach.
David Kim appeared even more anxious: "I was studying the car's structure! There's definitely something wrong with the underlying code of this train! When the signal interference occurred, I was trying to parse the access control protocol and didn't see anything! We must find the system's vulnerabilities!" His attention was entirely on technical matters.
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Anya Sharma waved her datapad: "I recorded an intense energy pulse from an unknown source, occurring simultaneously with the light flickering. The pulse source... cannot be precisely located, it seems to permeate the entire car." She provided technical evidence, but the directionality was vague.
Carmen Ortiz spoke last, her voice steady and professional: "I was familiarizing myself with the environment. When the lighting changed, I happened to be observing another passenger." Her gaze drifted imperceptibly past Pierre Chan but didn't specifically identify anyone. "My vision was affected, I didn't clearly see any anomalies." Her words left room for interpretation, suggesting she might have noticed something but chose not to disclose it publicly.
Samuel Jones listened carefully to everyone's statements, his brow deeply furrowed. These words were a mix of truth and lies, contradicting each other while each holding back, impossible to piece together a clear picture. He felt a headache—real-world investigative experience was useless here.
"In other words," Samuel summarized, "almost no one saw the exact situation. The killer most likely struck during that brief darkness." He paused, his gaze becoming stern. "Mr. Lee is the first... but definitely won't be the last. Before we escape this predicament, I hope everyone will try to stay together and not be isolated."
The suggestion was reasonable, but extremely difficult to execute. The chain of suspicion had already formed.
Charles silently observed everyone. Kenneth's overly calm description, Lily's seemingly reasonable fear, Pierre's rigid evasion, Irina's direct accusation, Leon's extreme silence, Sophia's deliberate dismissiveness, David's detachment from reality, Anya's vague technical evidence, Carmen's meaningful reservation...
Everyone had suspicious points. Black Cat said the killers carried illegal hacking tools, and Jacob Lee's manner of death (instant terror) also suggested it might not be a physical attack but some kind of intrusion or strike at the consciousness level.
Who was most likely capable of this? The extremely anxious tech geek David? The calm neuroscientist Anya? Even that seemingly frivolous red-haired woman Sophia? Or that silent-as-ice Leon?
And Jacob's death—was it because his identity as a former railway security consultant might have discovered something? Or simply because he had been close to Charles earlier, as a kind of warning?
The train continued to race silently through the data galaxy, brilliant light flowing outside the windows while bone-chilling cold reigned within. The recent round of questioning yielded no results, only deepening the mutual estrangement and fear.
This reminded Charles of a game from the previous generation called "Werewolf"—the scene just now felt like passing through a Werewolf night and day:
The first "day" passed in oppression and unease. No one was "voted out," but anxiety and suspicion had begun to spread.
"Nightfall" (in a metaphorical sense) seemed to quietly descend again. Everyone understood that when the next moment of darkness arrived, death might swing its scythe once more. And this time, whose turn would it be?
