She is not an investigator.

"Vampires? Of course I've seen them. When I was very young, I even fantasized that vampires might be like those in fairy tales, all of them super handsome and beautiful nobles who drink blood like red wine and live in super big castles every day."

Compared to ordinary vampires, the nobles in these stories are definitely more popular. Unfortunately, these kinds of vampires don't exist at all.

At least Igris had never heard of it.

"Did you know that vampires actually have their own language?"

"...Never heard of it."

Seeing the somewhat bewildered Felina, Igris gently shook her head.

It's normal that she didn't know, because vampires, strictly speaking, don't have their own language. Their communication and interaction are far from being able to support a language system.

However, they do have special ways of communicating with each other, such as strange cries that are almost indistinguishable from noise, and the marks left by vampires.

Of course, this kind of interesting tidbit of knowledge is not a secret. With a little effort, it is probably possible to find out, provided that no one is as idle as Igris to investigate vampire information.

It's worth mentioning that Igris also specifically researched the possible hybridization between vampires and ghouls, and ultimately determined that ghouls and vampires are infertile.

Just as Igris was about to explain this rather interesting tidbit of information to her, the train conductor's voice suddenly rang out.

"Sit tight, we're about to go through a tunnel."

"...?"

Igris turned her head to look out the window. The high-speed train continued as usual, the only difference being that the distant plains had changed slightly, becoming more barren and devoid of grass.

This is quite normal during this season.

The next moment, darkness suddenly enveloped the entire carriage, plunging everyone into complete darkness.

Apart from Igris, almost everyone else also completely lost their sight at this moment and could see nothing.

But just as Igris was about to look out the window at the tunnel again, the train conductor's voice rang out once more.

Don't look.

"..."

He could not see, but he seemed to know what Igris was doing, and he also knew that she could see.

Igris could choose not to be curious about the specifics for now, but…

"The human eye also has a self-protective mechanism; in places where one shouldn't look, darkness becomes the best shield."

Suddenly, Igris' sleeve was gently tugged. Beside her, Philina shrank back nervously, seemingly afraid, almost pressing her body against Igris.

Before I could think any further, the train conductor's voice came through again.

"But if someone can see, see things that shouldn't be seen, then this illusory shield will naturally collapse completely and disappear without a trace."

The carriage seemed even quieter in the darkness, and the tunnel was much longer than most of the tunnels Igris had experienced.

"so."

Beep.

A wisp of light appeared from the direction of the train conductor, who lit his cigarette, creating a red dot of light in the darkness, symbolizing flame.

"In the dark, you'd better pretend you can't see anything."

The Gods' Fool - The Northern Train: Chapter Seven, The Long Tunnel

“You know, you’ll be curious about why I know these things, or rather, how I know you can see them.”

The point of light in the darkness moved slowly. In Igris's line of sight, the train conductor, who should have been unable to see anything, suddenly turned his head, looked at Igris, and pointed to his eyes.

"In short, this train journey is not as simple as you think. If you don't want any accidents to happen, you'd better stay in your seat like everyone else, don't go anywhere, don't look around, and don't ask anything."

Upon hearing this, Igris lowered her head silently, looked at Felina who was clutching her sleeve tightly beside her, and nodded without a word.

Igris is currently in good condition, and it could even be said that she is in much better condition than Philina.

Are you afraid of the dark?

"Ah—maybe a little… You probably won't mind, will you? I'd probably feel safer if I could be near you…"

"Please go ahead."

Igris had no objection to this; she simply closed her eyes silently, leaned back in her chair, and in the darkness, gently relaxed her restless nerves.

But when her eyes truly went dark, her other senses became even more acute once again.

For example, her hearing and her sense of smell.

Faint, murmured sounds began to appear beside Igris's ear, seemingly from a great distance, yet also as if someone were whispering something close to her earlobe.

A faint smell of rust began to fill the air, a smell that was particularly jarring and obvious, yet seemed out of place on this fast-moving train.

There's no doubt that Igris has run into some trouble again, unless she's experiencing another mental breakdown.

"Felina?"

"Hmm...? I'm here, what's up?"

"nothing."

Felina was a little nervous at Igris's call, but Igris didn't say much after receiving a response.

She was simply trying to determine whether this feeling was something only she could perceive, or whether, in this darkness, everyone else besides her was still the same person she once knew.

This method of certainty is not obvious, but it doesn't matter, because as long as Igris can still hear other people's voices, it means that her sanity is still maintained at a controllable level.

As long as she can maintain this state, there's nothing for her to fear.

"This tunnel is very long. It takes at least half an hour, and at most…"

The train conductor's voice, as if talking to himself, reached Igris's ears.

"One week."

"..."

Iglesias should have been slightly surprised to respond to the train conductor's quirky humor, but she wasn't in the mood.

The sounds around her had disappeared sometime earlier, but the smell of rust grew stronger and stronger.

This made her somewhat uneasy, and also somewhat...manic.

"Why is there such a big difference...? Half an hour versus a week?"

Felina asked in surprise, while the train conductor replied in the same listless tone.

"Because at that time, we would have to wait a week for the tunnel cleanup crew to come and carry our bodies out."

"..."

Felina shrank back and moved closer to Igris again.

The joke wasn't very funny; at least Igris didn't get the humor from it, and Philina was even more frightened because of it.

"So, can you smell it?"

Igris wasn't going to engage in such pointless jokes with him, so she took the initiative to ask.

The train conductor paused for a moment, then slowly put down the incense stick in his hand.

"Although smoking is prohibited on trains, I don't think this smell of smoke should make you so anxious. Just wait patiently, and you can open the window for some fresh air after we pass through the tunnel."

He knew perfectly well that Igris wasn't referring to the smell of smoke.

"Old buddy, go to the kitchen, Alvin needs to talk to you."

A somewhat aged voice suddenly rang out in the aisle; Anfer had somehow walked over from the last carriage.

His movements were very quiet, with almost no sound of footsteps, perhaps because the darkness itself masked most of the sounds.

"What's wrong with our chef this time? Just wait, I'm coming right now."

The train conductor sighed, reluctantly stood up, and even stretched.

As he passed by Igris, he stopped and whispered a reminder.

"There are many passengers on the bus. Just sit still and nothing will go wrong."

After saying that, he and Anfer left the first carriage together.

At this moment, only Igris, Philina, and Constantine remained in the first carriage.

The priest wasn't too worried; at least he seemed to know the car fairly well, but Philina seemed to be the opposite.

You could tell from the way she was gripping Igris's sleeve so tightly that she was probably very nervous, perhaps because she was too uncomfortable with the prolonged darkness.

But that seemed to be all; she neither smelled nor heard anything strange.

After an eerie silence, just as Igris thought she was about to fall asleep, her sleeve was tugged again, and Philina's voice softly sounded beside her.

“Igris, we’re out of the tunnel. You can open your eyes now.”

"..."

"You can open your eyes now?"

In fact, even with their eyes closed, people can still clearly perceive changes in the light source.

For example, when sleeping, even with your eyes closed, as long as the light is on, a little light will appear in front of you, which should be completely dark.

Although it's not obvious, it's still a little bit of common sense.

So naturally, Igris knew perfectly well whether the train had regained its light or had completely exited the tunnel.

Then the problem becomes quite obvious.

"Mirror Demon".

"I'm here—I thought you'd finally forgotten me... Waaah! It's so dark!"

The Mirror Demon's somewhat noisy voice echoed in the carriage, which relieved Igris's tense nerves considerably.

"Can you see anything?"

"Um... are you on the train? All I can see are lots of seats, nothing else..."

"Beside me."

"There is nothing but me."

That's the problem.