“What the hell is this!?” a man shouted as panic spread through the train.

  “Is this some kind of joke?” another passenger yelled, tugging at the sealed door. “The doors really won’t open!”

  “What’s going to happen to us!?”

  “Are we all going to die!?”

  “Everyone, calm down!” Arlen’s voice cut through the chaos. He stood from his seat, fists clenched, his presence steady like an anchor in a storm. “Right now, the most important thing is to keep our cool.”

  “Oh yeah? You think you’re so calm!?” a furious passenger snapped, eyes wild.

  “Yes, actually, I am, dammit!” Arlen shot back without flinching.

  But before anyone could react further—

  BANG!

  A gunshot tore through the tense air. The man who had shouted at Arlen jerked violently, blood blooming on his shirt, and crumpled to the floor.

  Horrified screams erupted instantly.

  “Someone shot him!”

  “He’s dead!”

  “What the hell is this Death Train Game!?” Arlen’s eyes darted around, scanning the crowd, scanning every angle.

  “Good question, kid…” growled an older man nearby, rising to his feet. His tone was gruff, commanding. “But listen up, everyone! If you do as I say, we can get out of here—”

  BANG!

  Another shot rang out. The older man’s words cut off mid-sentence as his body convulsed and fell. A dark stain spread across his chest as he hit the ground with a sickening thud.

  “What the hell… another passenger just died! But why!?” someone cried.

  “Everyone, don’t panic! Think logically!” Arlen barked, his voice firm but urgent. “There’s someone among us who’s against us… and they have a gun!”

  “He’s right!” another voice yelled. “The shots came from the south… someone’s shooting from the back of the train!”

  “It’s that guy at the very end!” a trembling passenger screamed, pointing toward the far end of the car.

  “No, it’s not me! I swear!” the accused man shouted, hands raised in panic.

  “Yes, it is! I saw you with the gun!”

  BANG!

  The accuser’s eyes went wide as a sudden red wound bloomed on their chest. They collapsed to the floor, lifeless.

  “See!? I told you, it’s not me!” the man at the back yelled, terror in his voice.

  “But… the shots are definitely coming from the south!” another passenger cried, backing away.

  Meanwhile, Arlen’s mind was racing, thoughts firing like lightning in his head.

  What the hell is this…? That’s the third person to die already. But what’s the pattern? Just because they spoke up? But other people have been talking too, and they didn’t die! The doors are made of steel… my fire ability is useless against them. And most of the train is glass—if I break it at this speed, the passengers will all get sucked out.

  “You’re the killer! You keep accusing everyone!” another passenger suddenly shouted, finger trembling as they pointed at Arlen.

  BANG!

  They crumpled to the floor mid?sentence, blood pooling beneath them.

  Screams and panicked cries erupted again.

  “Another shot from the south… but how!?”

  “They’re dead!”

  “We’re doomed!”

  “Everyone, listen!” Arlen’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp and commanding. “I don’t know how or why so many are dying, but don’t speak! Speaking must be connected to this somehow!”

  “The red?haired kid is right!” someone blurted.

  “He’s right!” another voice echoed in terror.

  And then—silence. A crushing, breath?holding silence. Minutes crawled by. No one dared open their mouth.

  Until the TV screen flickered alive again, bathing the train in cold, shifting light.

  Kaden’s smiling face appeared, bright and cheerful, in haunting contrast to the situation.

  “Hey there! I see you’re starting to figure out the rules,” he said in a teasing singsong. “So, from now on, I’ll randomly select people to answer my questions!”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  His voice dripped with glee.

  “And let’s begin!”

  On the screen, the images of all the passengers’ faces began spinning like a slot machine. They blurred and whirled until—click—they stopped on one.

  “The red?haired boy is first! Wonderful!” Kaden announced. His smile widened. “Now, let’s see… what should I ask? Hmm… Ah, I’ve got it. Tell me, is it true that you’re in love with a young girl?”

  Arlen stared at the screen, pulse pounding but voice steady.

  “No, that’s not true!”

  “And the red?haired boy told the truth! Congratulations!” Kaden clapped mockingly. “Now, let’s see who’s next!”

  The images spun again, faces flashing by in dizzying speed, until they landed on a blonde woman.

  “And a pretty blonde woman is next!” Kaden’s tone was syrupy sweet. “Lady, is it true you cheated on your husband?”

  Her eyes darted nervously. “Of course I would never do that!”

  “And that was a lie!” Kaden snarled suddenly, grin turning cruel. “Lady, you’re a cheap little whore, and you’re gonna get a bullet in the head!”

  BANG!

  The blonde woman’s head snapped back, her body collapsing lifelessly to the floor as screams filled the car again.

  “Let’s see who’s next!” Kaden laughed, spinning the images once more.

  Arlen’s mind was grinding, putting every piece together, his teeth clenched tight.

  I guess I figured it out… if you lie, you die! I just want to know how he can tell when someone’s lying, and what ability he uses to kill us without being seen. But how? All we did was look at him and talk to him. So either we came under his influence when we looked at him… or when we talked to him…

  Meanwhile, Toma had just finished up in the toilet.

  “Finally! I managed to fix my hair! Now, back to my seat. Wait… why the heck isn’t the door opening!?”

  He grabbed the handle and tugged, but nothing happened. The door was armored, with only a narrow glass window set high at the top. Too high for him to see through from the ground.

  “Oh, right! I can levitate! Let’s see what’s going on out there.”

  Toma rose slowly, floating upward until his eyes aligned with the tiny window. The sight on the other side made his stomach drop.

  “What the… there’s a guy holding everyone at gunpoint!”

  Without hesitation, he threw his palm out.

  “Nova Strike!”

  BOOM!

  A deafening crash ripped through the car as the small glass panel shattered, fragments scattering.

  “What was that!?”

  “An explosion?”

  “Arlen, what are you doing!? Hurry up and catch that guy! He’s right there by the other door!”

  “But… there’s no one there!”

  “Are you blind!? How can you not see him standing there with a gun in his hand!?”

  A cold, taunting voice spoke up beyond the chaos.

  “Shut your mouth and listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you, blue-haired boy: I killed the train conductor, and I’ve programmed the robot pilot to follow only my orders. When I open this door, you’re going to walk in with your hands up, or I’ll start shooting passengers immediately.”

  “…Got it.”

  “Robot pilot, open the door!” Kaden ordered.

  Toma said he’s standing by the other door… that door leads to the conductor’s cabin. All I need to do is aim a fireball at it, Arlen thought, eyes narrowing.

  “Now get in here nice and slow, and if you try any stupid tricks, I’ll shoot someone on the spot!” Kaden barked.

  “I’m coming already…” Toma answered, stepping cautiously.

  “Good. And lift your head. Look me in the eyes,” Kaden commanded.

  “Fireball!” Arlen roared, thrusting out his hand. A blazing sphere erupted forward, striking with a flash.

  “What the—!?”

  “You did it, Arlen — you hit his hand!” Toma shouted, eyes lighting up.

  “Damn it! Robot pilot, open the conductor cabin door!”

  “Now I can see him too!” Arlen exclaimed, heart pounding.

  “That’s great — he won’t be able to focus or activate his ability now! Come on, Arlen, let’s catch him!”

  “Okay!”

  But by the time Arlen and Toma reached the conductor’s cabin, Kaden was gone.

  “The door’s open— and the train conductor is dead!”

  “But how did he jump out at such high speed?”

  “There’s a parachute hidden in every cockpit. With that, he could easily escape.”

  “…Did you learn that from the series too?”

  “Yes!”

  “Damn it, that bastard got away!”

  “We should tell the passengers what happened.”

  Arlen turned back into the car, raising his voice.

  “Everyone, please remain calm! The killer has escaped and is no longer on the train. Could you please move the bodies to the back seats, and then everyone return to your place?”

  “Of course!”

  “Leave it to us, kid!”

  “Thank you! I’m going back to my partner in the cockpit now.”

  Arlen stepped back into the control area, where Toma was already waiting.

  “Arlen, I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to ask you: what do you think that man’s ability was?”

  “I don’t know exactly,” Arlen admitted, brow furrowed, “but the game we played with him… it felt real. For example, when he asked me a question, I didn’t lie— and he knew I was telling the truth. He also knew exactly when someone else was lying. Though I have to admit, most of the passengers’ lies were easy to spot because they were just blaming each other, trying to manipulate everyone to get off the train. There was one guy who said he was calm, but in reality, he wasn’t— so he died. Another one just wanted people to listen to him, so he lied too. And someone tried to frame another as the killer. But then there was that lie with the woman… he asked her a question and somehow knew she was lying. That wasn’t something you could just guess.”

  “I see. Another thing—this guy was standing right in front of you and you didn’t see him?”

  “Yes, he spoke to us through the TV.”

  “But I was watching, and the TV was turned off. He was speaking only to you two.”

  “Then maybe he had some kind of hallucination ability— because the shots we thought were coming from the south were actually fired from the north. And we saw him through the TV.”

  “By the way, exactly how many dead are there?”

  “Five passengers and the train conductor—so six in total. Among the six victims, one was a woman and five were men.”

  Suddenly, a loud beeping filled the cockpit.

  Beep! Beep! Beep!

  “What the hell is that?”

  “It’s the cockpit computer’s emergency alarm! It says we’re going to crash into the train station in three minutes!”

  “Then let’s do something, Arlen! You know about this train!”

  “Yes, but before that guy left, he shot up the control systems, and now everything’s malfunctioning!”

  “Then there’s no other choice but to jump out!”

  “At this speed? Toma, are you serious?”

  “We already know how to use ‘Full Flow’ instinctively, and we’re faster than this train! It’ll be fine. We can slow ourselves down in midair!”

  “Okay… and then what?”

  “Together, we’ll stop the train!”

  “That’s insane!”

  “There’s no other way! Arlen, in the meantime, tell the passengers to fasten their seatbelts, because it’s going to get rough!”

  Arlen burst back into the passenger car.

  “Everyone, please fasten your seatbelts tightly, because stopping the train will be dangerous! And I’ll need a brave man— all he has to do is pull the emergency brake!”

  A man in his fifties rose to his feet.

  “Please, I will try!”

  “Thank you, sir!”

  “Arlen, come on! Only two minutes left!” Toma called from the cockpit.

  Arlen turned back to the man.

  “Sir, as soon as we leave the train, pull the emergency brake and no matter what, keep it down!”

  “I understand, but… will that stop the train?”

  “Since the train’s braking system is damaged, it won’t come to a complete stop, but it will slow down. During that time, my partner and I will stop the train from the outside!”

  “I understand!”

  “Okay then, on three we jump! One… two… three… Jump!”