I'll also work hard to conquer the dungeon today.

Chapter 143 1.9 7 [Golden Dragon] Infinite Train: Part 1 (Act 1 Black Cat)

Her fair fingertips were stained with bright red blood as she gently twirled a silver badge, her cool silver eyes slightly dark and unfathomable.

Mia gripped her skirt tightly with both hands, her fingertips turning white. She was numb with pain, yet she still kept her back straight. Slippery blood flowed into her collar, soaking a patch and clinging uncomfortably to her skin.

After a while, Mu Yegui finally felt a pang of conscience and looked at Mia, his expression calm and his tone as emotionless as ever, "Does it hurt?"

"It hurts—it hurts so much!" Mia said timidly, tears welling in her eyes.

The cold, silver eyes stared intently at Mia's mangled neck, which was rapidly healing at a visible pace, likely returning to normal within minutes.

Mu Yegui did not speak again, his eyes quietly looking at the blood-stained silver badge, which was exquisite and small. If you looked closely, you could see a string of letters on it: [GYRWN THRNZ].

The text is still encrypted, which means it is actually one of the clues.

However, it seems it's already too late.

Or perhaps this was part of a pre-designed process.

Mu Yegui shook off the blood-stained nameplate and then put it into the pocket at his waist.

She sat back down in her chair, slowly closed her eyes, and whispered, "Goodnight."

"Huh? No, aren't we looking for the cat's name tag?" Mia asked, puzzled, but fearing that Mu Yegui might misunderstand her as questioning her, she quickly waved her hand and asked curiously.

"It's too late, the cat is already dead." Mu Yegui slightly opened his eyes and glanced at the vibrant red spider lily fields outside the car window, then slowly said, "I'm giving up on this round. I'll wake up again after the sixth stop." He had been tricked, but now there was no other way but to give up.

"Why do you think that?" Mia asked softly, slightly taken aback.

Nothing had happened, so what exactly was that thing taken out of the back of her neck?
Mu Yegui pointed to the small loudspeaker above his head and asked, "An hour has long passed. Did you hear the second instruction coming from the loudspeaker?"

The red spider lily (Lycoris radiata) has the flower language of "a letter from heaven," symbolizing death. Therefore, a black cat playing in a field of red spider lilies means that the black cat has died.

Since the crucial guide, the black cat, is dead, finding its nameplate is pointless. The rules clearly state that only the black cat can find its master.

If the guide dies, the quest cannot continue and must be refreshed after six stops.

She finally understood what an infinite loop meant. If any part of the quest went wrong, she had to wait for a refresh and start over. However, the items she had already found were very likely not to be reset.

Actually, what was mentioned in the previous announcement foreshadowed the black cat's death, but she didn't think so at the time. After all, no one could have imagined that the player was just bait, and that the real cause of the black cat's death was an unknown creature from the darkness.

Carriage number four is the death carriage. Apart from the players who were originally in carriage four and were sitting in their seats, everyone else was on the death list when the incident occurred.

The journey to the next station takes one day, so six stations would take six days. Although I don't know if the flow of time is the same, it will definitely take a lot of time.

"How could this be?" Mia's expression changed drastically, and she murmured in disbelief. Then she sat stiffly in her seat, as if she had been shocked.

Mugen Train...

An endless loop... the tasks repeat endlessly.

Even the imposters must abide by the rules. After replacing the person originally responsible for relaying instructions, the mission won't change much. The reason for the change lies in the events. If the black cat isn't in the fourth carriage, the mission might be to find the black cat. But if the black cat is in the fourth carriage, the mission becomes to find the nameplate, and the black cat's death will be foreshadowed.

She hadn't been to the other train carriages yet, and she felt they would be very different from the fourth carriage.

"Did Xiao Ye Gui notice so quickly?" Fei Xiu looked at Mu Ye Gui with a smile in her eyes and asked softly.

"The hints are obvious; this dungeon has many traps and pits everywhere, making it difficult to miss them." It's more like the dungeon's unique twisted humor, watching players start over again and again, eventually giving up and choosing death.

This instance has no end unless it is completed within six stations.

For Mu Yegui, what puzzles her most now is why the nameplate is in the back of Mia's neck.

If Mia hadn't entered the fourth carriage with her, she would have definitely suspected that Mia was an NPC arranged by the instance.

Hmm? Maybe.

After all, the imposter only appeared after she entered the train, and it's very likely that he was hiding in the fourth carriage monitoring her.

After the darkness, only Mia survived, making her the prime suspect.

Not to mention her own healing abilities and the nameplate hidden behind her neck.

However, Mu Yegui believes that Mia is not the plagiarist, even though she is the most suspicious.

Compared to the imposters, Mia is more like a pre-arranged NPC, occasionally appearing in the fourth carriage, carrying the crucial item 'Cat's Nameplate'.

"Is this train always repeating the same thing?" Mu Yegui looked up at Fei Xiu and asked.

"What aspect is Xiao Ye referring to?" Fei Xiu raised an eyebrow slightly, neither confirming nor denying, but asking her with interest.

"Time reversal," she said slowly, her soft, sweet voice tinged with seriousness.

“Before the train window shattered, I accidentally spilled blood on it. Even after it was repaired, the bloodstains were still there.” Mu Yegui paused. “This indicates that the train does indeed possess the power to rewind time, but the extent of this power varies. If that’s the case, why can’t events related to the train also be rewound at the same time? The mission and the train itself are an integral part of the instance; they are both part of the same instance. The entire instance, including the train, should rewind to its original state at the same time. I can understand the difference as them being programmed with different procedures. For example, the mission rewinds after six stations, while the train’s destruction would immediately trigger a rewind.”

So, Mia was actually already dead and is now part of the instance, but she has no memory of her own death and thinks she is still alive and carrying out the mission.

The instance begins the moment you enter the platform.

Based on the actual situation, all of the above assumptions hold true.

Mu Yegui slowly closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

(End of this chapter)