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Chapter 122 - Escaping from Arcanum Train (XV)

Editor: Kitty

Carriage No.8 was easily solved because Owl had also dissected the dead cat’s body before, not to mention the dead wolf’s body this time. Rather, when he dissected the wolf’s belly with a knife, he turned his head to look at Mr. Wolf, and the look in his eyes could send chills down one’s spine.

Wolf was not afraid and was tittering in joy as he looked at Owl.

It was not until Owl stripped the wolf’s skin from head to toe that he took out its heart. Then Owl looked at the heart for a long time and said, “This wolf committed suicide... No, rather, it realized there was something in its heart, so it wanted to get it out and died.”

Owl took a bloody key out of the wolf’s heart.

Instead of looking at Owl, Wolf lowered his head to look at his fingers.

The door to carriage No.8 was opened by Owl, and now, in front of them laid carriage No. 7.

It was as dirty and messy as all the odd-numbered train cars, but fortunately, there did not seem to be anyone inside.

However, although there was no one in carriage No. 7, there was music playing. It was a song with violin instrumentals and had elegant, lyrical singing. The long tune was slowly playing.

Everyone walked into carriage No.7 one after another and naturally noticed the song with the violin instrumental playing.

Of course, after entering carriage No.7, everyone also noticed another thing. They all happened to smell a sweet and greasy smell wafting through the air that was akin to the strong fragrance of flowers, but this scent could only be clearly smelled when they entered the train car. After a period in the train car, it seemed that they were used to the smell, so the smell became less strong-smelling to them.

It was merely that carriage No.7 made them feel a little drowsy.

“Shall we look for it? Where does the sound come from?” Owl perked his spirits up, and he was the first to focus his attention on the mysterious music. Thereupon, they went to where the music sounded from. They soon found the source of the music; it came from a music box placed on a small table.

The music box was a wooden box in a relatively retro style. As long as one opened the box, the music would automatically play. Inside the box was a mini vinyl record. One could put a small metal wire on the circular disc, and it was a vintage product that would play music as it rotated.

Owl took the little music box. He opened and shut the box, and the music abruptly stopped with his actions.

The sweetness in the air seemed to be more intense now.

Owl closed the box and looked at the bottom of the box. On the box was engraved a sentence:

[Don’t stop it unless you want to die in a frigidly cold dreamscape]

Owl read out the line and looked up at Crow next to him, trying to obtain his insight. Crow had been silent since the incident with Two-headed snake, but fortunately, he still kept his will to survive. He uttered, “Just do as it says.”

Therefore, Owl opened the box again, and the wonderful music sounded out. He placed the music box back in its original position. Shortly after, Owl said, “Let’s go and have a look at the door of this carriage.”

So Owl and Crow went to see the connecting door of carriage No.7. On the door, the following was inscripted:

[There are mysterious and horrifying gases in carriage No.7]

[It can make you fall into an endless sleep]

[Only the music box can wake you up]

[But you cannot find the key unless you stop the music]

“Stop the music and you’ll find the key,” Crow muttered to himself.

Owl interjected: “But once we stop the music, we’ll die... Is that what it means?”

“Is there anything special about that music? For example, if I find a mobile phone and listen to other types of music with my headphones, does that mean I won’t die?” Crow came out with a fanciful idea.

“It’s worth a try.” Owl nodded and said, “It depends on whether there are other things in this train car such as mobile phones, MP3 players, and so on. At least there must be a set of headphones.”

So Crow and Owl agreed to take Black cat as they began to search through the entirety of carriage No. 7. They searched every corner and finally found something peculiar in this train car—there were no electronics here.

“There are no phones, no headphones, no MP3 players, and no tablet computers. As long as it is an electronic device, it won’t be present in this damned place!” Owl opened a suitcase, which was full of clothes, several document holders, and items like pens and paper. Interestingly, Owl also found one...... erm, sex toy in the luggage.

“We’re in a downright awful situation!” As soon as Owl closed the lid of the luggage, he turned to Crow and said, “It seems that we really don’t have anything that can play music except that music box.”

“I think so too... After all, if there were MP3 players or other similar things, it’d be too easy for us to pass through this train car. Even if we can’t use other music, we can record the music from the music box, put it in the mobile phone or MP3, listen to it with headphones, and then turn off the music box, and this could also cause the whole train car to be quiet...” Crow bit his finger subconsciously and began to make some assumptions.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Obviously, you don’t know anything about music.” At this time, Wolf suddenly sat down to speak and refuted Crow’s idea.

“What do you mean?” Crow frowned at him.

“Have you heard of the famous song that kills—’Black Friday‘?” Wolf seemed to have become slightly more placid. With the accompaniment of the melodious music, his tone sounded very gentle, and his attitude was quite different from before. He said, “The composer of this piece of music played it on a piano in public. When the tune’s chorus was played, one of the audience below the stage took out a gun and killed himself.

“After that, no matter who plays this piece, there will be similar incidents. Either the audience or the performer will commit suicide. Then this horrifying tune was banned, the original manuscript was burned, and all the tapes and records of it were removed and destroyed.

“But later, some people had also studied this piece. They said that the syllables of ‘Black Friday’ are very special. Regardless of whether the original author intentionally or unintentionally composed the music this way, these syllables give your brain a cue. When they are grouped together, they mean ‘suicide.’ Therefore, some listeners who are not mentally tough will be prompted by the music to commit suicide.”

Wolf gently introduced such a song, raised his head up to look at Crow and others, and said with a smile, “I think the same is true of the song we are listening to now. A song can use the tune to influence our hearts. It may also be to the extent that the cue given to us in the tune is strong, will allow us to ignore the fatal gas wafting in the air, and keep us awake.”

“Once you sleep in this train car, you’ll die?” Crow frowned and thought.

“Probably. Even if there is any recording equipment in this carriage, if one doesn’t record this song accurately... I mean, if you miss a few syllables, the music won’t be able to give us that suggestive cue, and we’ll fall asleep breathing in the sweet smell in the air—and die.”

“You seem to have studied music.” Owl stared at Wolf.

“Roughly, I think I should be able to play the piano.” Wolf smiled.

“In that case, do you have any good suggestions?” Owl seemed hopeful, but his face was expressionless.

“Suggestions? I have nothing good to suggest. When you closed the music box just now, we did not fall asleep instantly. I think it should be the smell. It will take some time for it to work, and...... our willpower can also guarantee that we won’t fall asleep immediately, so we can only use this time to find the key.”

Owl tilted its head and glanced at Wolf, and the look in his eyes carried his malicious intentions: “You are unexpectedly cooperating now.”

“Of course. You always look at me with those eyes as if you want to kill me. It’s really horrifying. I don’t want to die so soon! So of course, I can only compromise.”

“Oh! How disgusting!” Owl began to stare at Wolf with a gaze that harbored more malicious intentions: “Even if you kneel down to me and beg for my mercy, I still want to kill you.”

“Of course!” Wolf spread out his hands and acted as if... he was expecting the other party to rush into his arms. His tone was extremely mild. He said, “Come, you can kill me now...”

“Be quiet!” Crow spoke and interrupted Owl’s banter with Mr. Wolf. His voice was hoarse and his expression sombre.

The music in carriage No.7 was still playing.

Crow sighed as if helpless: “Stop arguing. I just want to quickly find the key to get out of here; the smell in this train car makes me want to vomit.”

So Owl and Wolf finally stopped arguing, and the several people began to discuss a plan. Because there was no other electronic equipment in the car and they could not see anything like a key after searching every corner of this carriage, they had to follow the instructions on the door.

The only way now was to close the music box, and before they fell asleep, they must quickly find the key, open the music box, and use the key to open the door.

Although everything sounded easy, it was actually very irksome to carry out.

“I don’t know if this is the case, but even if we fall asleep, it might still take a while to die, and during this period of time, we may still have a chance of waking up.”

Crow speculated: “Sleep is one of the methods for a human to protect themselves. If a person stops breathing in their sleep, the brain will use nerve convulsions to move their limbs in order to test whether they are dead or not. Therefore, some people will suddenly twitch during sleep. This is because one’s brain is testing whether its body is dead or alive.”

“That sounds terrifying!” Wolf teased.

Crow gave him a deadpan look and continued, “We need a man of strong spirit. He needs to squat beside the music box while the others find the key. Once someone falls to the ground and starts to sleep, that person can open the music box and wake up the sleeping person.”

“This plan sounds good,” Owl said.

T/N: That sex toy though...hehe.

Kitty: That was such a strange detail to suddenly add lol