Chapter 61 - Mastermo Is Near A Demon

The four came to the joint conclusion that they were in the middle of nowhere, the station was empty with no staff and no timetable or other trains passing through here. When they tried to get back on the train, they found themselves helpless as the train that they had got off from had left the station and them behind with it. They were completely stranded in the middle of the night in this empty, unmanned creepy station. 

Hasumi went to find a taxi stand but came back with a dejected face saying that she couldn't find anything.

A station in the middle of nowhere indeed.

No taxi stand, no staff, no houses nearby, no signs of humans as far as their eyes can see. There wasn't even a payphone they could use.

Hasumi also informed them about how she searched up the station's name but came up with nothing on the station and nothing about the area they were in. Her GPS wasn't working and she had no idea where they were. 

Zhihao didn't ask her much in fear of triggering OOC..

Zhihao told Hasumi to call someone and she listened to him as she called her father. Her father told her to wait while he searches the place up on the map and comes to pick her up. When Zhihao heard this, he was sure the father was not going to be of much use. 

Now that all of this had happened, Zhihao thought it was safe for him to ask her who she was texting every once in a while. Hasumi told him that she started to panic at the beginning when she didn't see them so she went online to find a safe place where she could share her story and get help from people. 

Zhihao didn't find this to be out of the blue since most people, when faced with a situation all alone, would usually go online to search for a solution. It wasn't weird for her to do the same and if Zhihao had been in her shoes, he would have done the same thing. By looking for information online, you could actually gain legit help or become famous from trying. It was kind of a win-win situation unless you were a person who didn't like talking to strangers or being famous. 

The online strangers she was texting told her to walk on the tracks and try getting back to the previous station. 

Hasumi was a foolish girl who trusted these online strangers and decided that while she waits for her father, she might as well try going back on her own. Zhihao didn't know if this woman was reassured that she wasn't alone or if she was truly just stupid. Would she have done the same thing if she was alone? How dangerous would that have been?

Li Ling and Alvi followed her without any further words, but Zhihao stayed behind for a minute as he looked at the station name. The name was read as Kisaragi1 in Japanese, but the character used was familiar to him. It was a kanji2 character that meant devil. They were at the devil station. This was not going down anywhere pretty.

Zhihao looked back at the silhouettes of the three who were walking on the track and without much thought, he followed after them.

Some time passed and her father called her, asking her a lot of questions because he couldn't find anything on the station. Zhihao had already predicted something like this happening. 

Her father advised her to call the police and that seemed to be the best idea. Hasumi called the police, but they thought she was making up a story and pranking them. Hasumi was so scared to hear them scold her that she apologized immediately and didn't call them again. 

At this moment, the only thing that seemed to keep her from breaking down was the surety that she wasn't alone. If the two players and the bot weren't here, she really would have been so creeped out to the point she would've just fainted at the spot. 

As far as they could see, there was really nothing except for fields and mountains.

When they walked along the track, it was dark and cold. Hasumi was shivering from the cold that the players couldn't feel. 

[You guys are lucky.]

It seemed that Hasumi was not the only one who was able to feel the cold. Alvi, who was a bot was also affected by the cold and her thin Lolita costume really did not help her keep the cold out as she shivered and hugged herself trying to keep the heat in. 

Zhihao saw the little ten-year-old freeze to death and his conscience didn't let him ignore it. Zhihao took out a gear from his inventory and gave it to Alvi. It was truly a funny sight to see the little girl wearing his big armor that hardly fit her. 

When Li Ling saw her dressed in Zhihao's armor, he broke out laughing. Anyone would've laughed when they saw her. She looked like a little kid who had stolen her father's clothes and was making a fool out of herself. 

Alvi seemed to be a bit embarrassed about it, but she was freezing and this armor was very warm so she didn't take it off. Zhihao didn't know why, but his health stats didn't seem to be affected by the cold, but Li Ling was a different case. His health stats started depleting and he had to take out his own armor and wear it in order to keep the cold out. 

At this point, it seemed that Mastermo was the only one unaffected, Li Ling was affected a bit, but the other two girls were in a position far worst, they were shivering like a wet cat in winter. They walked for a bit and still found nothing. 

Zhihao, "What's the time?"

"It's 1 a.m." Hasumi looked down at her phone and answered, "Kinda weird."

"How so?" Li Ling asked as he checked his pockets. They were given new characters so it was normal for him to check if he can find something in the pockets. The original owner of this body must have bought something with him, right? Something that could hopefully provide clues?

Hasumi, "I got on the train at 11:40 p.m."

Zhihao, "So you- I mean 'we' have been on that train for more than an hour?"

Hasumi nodded, "It seems so. As I remember it, the train takes only thirty minutes or so to reach the last station."

"I see. It seems we traveled through time and space." Zhihao spoke jokingly even though what he said was actually one of his guesses. 

Zhihao didn't know what was happening and with a nonexistent station and weird time frame popping up, he thought this was some sort of dimension travel. She took a rain that somehow went into the future and she ended up here. The reason he thought the time travel had taken place was because Zhihao found the time not quite matching up. Hasumi had told them that she was on the train for more than 20 minutes with the train not stopping at any stations.

This train, according to Hasumi, usually takes about thirty minutes to reach the last station and if it was moving nonstop, the time taken to reach the last stop should have been cut short yet the train kept on moving for 20 minutes and only stopped at one station, Kisaragi and after they got out of the train, it kept on moving. Either Hasumi was lying about certain things or she had taken the wrong train.

With twenty minutes of train travel and not even ten minutes of meeting them, the time should not have exceeded an hour yet it did. The calculations weren't matching up. There was something wrong with the time. Zhihao guessed that Hasumi was actually lying without being aware of it. She might have fallen asleep on the train and after half an hour, she woke up and the other half an hour went by. This was the most scientific guess Zhihao could make. 

Games didn't follow science and Zhihao was well aware of this so he gave his next theory. If she was telling the truth then they had time-traveled to the future but the time was really not too different, just an hour or so. 

Li Ling who was looking through his pocket and wallet found something very interesting and immediately showed it to Zhihao. 

Zhihao looked at the piece of paper Li Ling showed him. It was a talisman. Most talismans were demon-repelling so naturally, Zhihao thought this one had the same features. What Li Ling really wanted to show him was the edge of the talisman which was slightly burned. 

"What can this mean?"

Alvi heard the two players talking amongst themselves and moved towards them as she looked at the piece of burnt talisman. 

[That's a demon locator]

"What's that?" Zhihao asked in a whisper.

[It's a type of talisman that burns when a demon is near. Oh, look, it's burning]

The talisman that was half burnt, when held by Zhihao, completely turned into ashes. 

Zhihao had a guess but he didn't like the guess so he'd not say it aloud.

[There is a demon nearby]

"..."

It was better to keep moving on the tracks. Don't look behind and avoid being scared to death.

Li Ling walked beside Zhihao and the two discussed in a low voice so that they don't alert Hasumi. 

Hasumi who was walking in front of them didn't seem to mind the two talking, she wasn't interested in overhearing their conversation. If they didn't want to share, as an NPC, she would naturally not be interested in it. 

Alvi who was supposed to help the two was absolutely uninterested in them and moved forward, walking alongside Hasumi. 

When Zhihao saw the two girls conversing, he couldn't hear what they were saying but he very much wanted to. Why was the bot even allowed to talk to in-game characters? 

Zhihao suddenly thought that maybe someday this feature of Alvi may come in handy if they were to be faced with a situation in which they needed to seek out help from NPCs and couldn't do it themselves because they were trapped in a dungeon or something like that. Zhihao thought about it again and he wanted to laugh at his optimism. Even if they were to be faced with such a situation in which Alvi could be the only help, she won't. It was as simple as that. 

Zhihao could imagine the little girl sitting outside their dungeon with a bucket of popcorn in her hand, laughing and taunting them. Zhihao wasn't wrong in thinking that because he was absolutely right. The system named Alvi was here to help them by providing aid but she was not allowed to save them. She could provide them information on how to get out of the dungeon but she won't be able to find help for them. 

"Why do you think he has a talisman with him?" Li Ling asked. 

Zhihao, "Can't judge. The original owner of your body is certainly not a simple character."

"Should I be glad that I'm not a cannon-fodder?"

Zhihao smirked, "We can't be too sure about that."

"..."

Zhihao wanted to ask Hasumi another question but before the words could come out of his mouth, he went silent as he focused on the small sound he suddenly started to hear. It was the sound of drums mixed with the tingling of bells. 

It sounded much alike a festival but it was far from where they were and as a result, the sound was very faint. 

Hasumi also seemed to suddenly hear the sound as she faltered on her steps. 

"What's that sound?"

Li Ling, "There may be a town up front."

The group suddenly found their hopes rising as they heard the faint sound of a festival. If they kept walking on this path, they were sure to reach the town. 

There was sound so there was hope. They increased their speed as they kept walking on the tracks, suddenly they heard a loud hoarse voice of a man calling out to them from behind. 

"Hey! Don't walk on the track, that's dangerous!" 

The group looked back. Hasumi thought it was an attendant from the train station so she was enthusiastic to turn around but as soon as she saw the owner of the voice, the smile that had not managed to warm up on her face was stuck as she looked at the sight in horror, not even daring to breathe.