She is not an investigator.

This is blatant moral blackmail.

The Gods' Fools - The Northern Train: Chapter Seventeen, What is this?

"That's why the carriages, which should have been quite empty, are now almost full of people."

Igris sat in her seat, clutching her small suitcase, and sighed sullenly.

As the number of people increased, the carriage inevitably became more lively. Although most people did not speak too loudly, it was still somewhat noisy.

However, if it's only this level, Igris won't feel uncomfortable, as long as no one is going to yell at her for no reason.

However, it's likely because Igris has rarely sat quietly in her seat since getting on the bus, while Felina next to her seems quite happy.

Perhaps in her mind, this way Igris wouldn't run around everywhere?

"It won't be long, we'll be at the next stop soon."

Cecilia waved to Igris as she passed by, then walked back towards the driver's seat.

Although there were indeed quite a few more people on the bus, it didn't seem to be completely full, so it looks like the bus still has some passenger capacity.

As for why they suddenly appeared in this icy wasteland…

Igris silently turned her gaze to Constantine, who was sitting next to her.

At this moment, he was quietly listening to the newly boarded passengers complaining and recounting how terrible things they had encountered.

Igris' hearing was quite good, so she could hear very clearly what they were talking about.

For example, they were actually residents who had escaped from a village ahead. That village had become completely uninhabitable due to some special events, so these desperate people had no choice but to head in the direction where there was the most likely place to find human settlements.

Naturally, Constantine also asked why they didn't choose other means of transportation. Even if the train might not be able to reach the village, it didn't mean there was no other way to get to the outside world, right?

That person's answer was simple, yet strange.

“Those things destroyed everything, our horses, our vehicles, first the walls, then the farmland, and finally we were all homeless. Faced with the ice and snow and their threat, running away became the only way out.”

These are his exact words. Although they sound strange, they are actually not difficult to understand.

First, their village was invaded by something that destroyed not only their dwellings and farmland, but also vehicles and horses, forcing them to leave.

Therefore, it is natural to exclude humans such as robbers or bandits from the intrusion.

After all, when faced with human invasion, their most likely option is to resist, and most of the people on the vehicle are armed, so there is no situation where they are completely powerless to resist.

But they didn't do that, most likely because almost everyone believed that those things were unstoppable or difficult to deal with.

Igris thought it must be the latter, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to escape so many people.

"Didn't you notify the nearby troops? It's impossible for them not to react to an attack of this scale in a controlled area."

These are Constantine's words, and the "controllable area" he refers to is actually the area where all humans can currently live normally.

The corresponding uncontrollable areas are dangerous areas that have not been developed or are difficult to develop.

For example, the place Igris is planning to go, or the place Igris planned to go in her past life.

…I always felt that she was born to do this.

What most uncontrollable areas have in common is that they all have some, or many, anomalies that are difficult to eliminate.

The army's duty is to eliminate and clear these things, and to establish a human defense line along the border to prevent controllable areas from falling into enemy hands again.

When a large-scale anomalous attack or invasion occurs again in a controllable area, and the local Special Investigations Unit is unable to resolve the situation, the military will intervene and conduct indiscriminate clearing of the area until the threat is eliminated.

The indiscriminate cleaning standard refers to all living things that appear in the field of vision, regardless of whether they are human or not.

Of course, this situation is relatively rare. After all, if it really came to that extreme, most of the people in that settlement would probably be dead.

But just as Igris was about to continue eavesdropping on their next conversation, a scream suddenly came from behind her.

It was very close, right behind her seat.

She instinctively turned around to look, and what came into her view was a very obvious splash of blood red.

"...What the hell is this?"

The passenger who was originally sitting directly behind her had his upper body gone. In his place, an exceptionally large, blood-red mass of flesh extended from his body, swaying from side to side as it tried to reach out to the other passenger next to him.

The person reacted quickly, almost immediately fleeing from their seat. Their terrified screams instantly threw the carriage into chaos, as everyone spontaneously left their seats, trying to get away from the strange-looking object.

Judging from its current state, Igris felt inexplicably that it resembled a plant, with the man's remains as its flowerpot, the flesh and blood within as the soil and nutrients, and the blossoming flowers as its outflowing bloom.

"...What am I thinking?"

Igris's reverie was interrupted by Felina beside her. The girl seemed a little slow to react, but after realizing what had happened behind her, she grabbed Igris's arm without hesitation, pulled her up, and dashed away without looking back.

She barely managed to stop when she reached the edge of the crowd, and turned to look at Igris, whom she had pulled over.

"...What is that?"

"I do not know."

Compared to that thing, Igris was more interested in Philina in front of her. Putting aside Philina's behavior of even dragging Igris along when she ran away, the way Philina looked pale with fright but still trying to hold on was already funny enough.

The commotion in the carriage caught the train conductor's attention almost instantly, and his expression froze for a moment when he saw the large, writhing mass of flesh.

For some reason, his eyes involuntarily glanced towards the last carriage before he picked up his shotgun and slowly approached the thing.

He didn't rush to take action; instead, he turned to look at the other newly boarded passengers.

"Can anyone explain to me what this is?"

The Gods' Fool - The Northern Train: Chapter Eighteen, Conflicting Statements

"Uh... this is probably what attacked our village."

It's unclear who said that, but as the train conductor turned around, everyone fell silent again.

"This guy was a passenger before, right?"

"..."

No one answered.

Even so, the train conductor clearly understood what was going on.

Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger, shattering the still-swaying flower into pieces.

Bright red liquid splattered everywhere, almost covering the entire area with its color.

But those colors were not blood; they were still alive, slowly wriggling and spreading, trying to assimilate the train as well, turning it into nauseating flesh and blood.

This change is undoubtedly unsettling. No one knows how long it will take for these things to assimilate the steel, but if they do, then this car will be a thing of the past.

Perhaps that includes everyone in the car as well.

"Okay, it looks like I really can't handle this."

The train conductor sighed and turned his gaze to Anfer, who was hiding in the crowd.

"Stop watching the show, old buddy. Go and call the train conductor out. There's something else that needs her help with."

"Okay, okay, I thought this trip would be a little more peaceful."

Old Anfer muttered to himself as he walked toward the driver's seat.

It will still take some time for the train to stop, and the biggest problem is how to deal with these items and the passengers who may be carrying them.

"I'm saying, since you've dealt with this thing before, don't you have any good solutions? Are you just going to watch it devour this car?"

"...Perhaps we could try using fire?"

The speaker was the man who had chatted with Constantine earlier. Igris had a particularly deep impression of him, probably because his previous words had given her a strange sense of familiarity.

Igris meant... that they were both a bit like madmen.

"fire?"

The train conductor reached into his pocket and pulled out a fairly well-made lighter.

As the lighter lit up, the liquid that was spreading around did indeed slow down considerably, but that was about it.

They still haven't stopped eroding the train itself, but their activity has been restricted to a limited area and range.

The train conductor couldn't simply try to ignite all of these things with just a lighter; he needed something to start a fire.

He could have easily taken off his coat and set it on fire, but he didn't want to do that, so he looked around at the crowd, intending to choose a relatively lucky volunteer.

However, before that, Igris, who had been held back by Felina, took the initiative to come out.

"If you need help, I would be happy to."

"Igris?!"

Ignoring the shouting and yelling behind her, the train conductor looked at Igris, who stood out even more among all the special passengers.

"I do need help, but how do you plan to help?"

Igris remained silent, simply walking forward and stopping in front of the still-wriggling liquid.

"When I see familiar little things, I always feel a sense of warmth for no reason."

The train conductor didn't understand what Igris meant, but he did see Igris suddenly reach for the wriggling liquid.

"and many more…"

Before he could stop them, the liquid swayed its body, cheering and pleasing itself, as it climbed up Igris's arm.

The red figures vanished from the train without a trace. Facing Igris's body, they seemed to prefer human flesh and blood to the steel that was difficult to parasitize.

Faced with this situation, the train conductor almost instantly raised his shotgun and pointed it at Igris in front of him.

The fate of the humans who were previously parasitized is already quite clear, and the outcome for Igris, who actively came into contact with these things, is probably also obvious.

"Although I did have a feeling that you might not be mentally stable... I never thought you were really a madman."

"Maybe."

Igris looked at the red lines on her arm and touched them with curiosity.

These things did not try to penetrate Igris's body again, but simply lay on the surface of her skin, unexpectedly becoming quiet.

This is probably because most anomalous creatures are unlikely to be hostile towards Igris; unless she makes an attempt to attack, most anomalous creatures will not attempt to attack her.

Although most of the time, Igris felt that her title was not very useful.

After all, the creatures she had the most dealings with were the ritual beings summoned by cultists.