When Chi Mu reached into the dark space behind the door, he didn't feel anything strange.His hand groped around until it touched something hard. Gripping it tightly, he pulled his hand back.
It was a wooden box—this had to be the key clue mentioned in the rule.Chi Mu let out a long breath of relief. Lady Luck had clearly smiled on him; he hadn't chosen the door that led to hell.
"Congratulations, young man. You picked the right door."The Angel of Doors clapped gleefully, visibly pleased with Chi Mu's choice.
Chi Mu stashed the wooden box and asked, "Then… I can take it with me?"
"Of course. Your bravery earned the favor of Lady Luck. It's your trophy now. You're free to leave."
Chi Mu nodded and turned to go.
But after a few steps, he turned back. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out one of the two remaining mangoes and handed it to the Angel of Doors."Here. This mango is for you. You helped me out big time—consider it a little thank-you gift."
The angel looked a bit surprised but accepted it without question."You're too kind, young man."
Watching the angel take the mango, Chi Mu's mind turned. He had a new theory. Smiling faintly, he stepped out of Carriage No. 3.
Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, the chosen players from various countries were also making their choices between the two doors.
Some weren't so lucky. Two of them chose the wrong one—the path straight to hell.The moment their hands slipped inside, their entire bodies were sucked in. The screen turned black. Moments later, a cursed tale began unfolding in their homelands.
…
Back in his private compartment, Chi Mu returned with the wooden box. As expected, the hourglass on the bed was untouched—An Changlin hadn't dared to tamper with it.
Clearly, the mangoes were doing their job. The other passengers in his compartment were definitely afraid of them.
Judging by the water level in the hourglass, Chi Mu figured he'd only been gone about 30 minutes. It should be around 6:00 PM now.
Opening the wooden box, he found a single item inside: a key. Nothing else."What's this key for…?"
Chi Mu held it in his hand, deep in thought.
No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure it out. Eventually, he tucked the key away.
Day three passed quickly. Chi Mu continued using the hourglass to track time.Lying on the bed, he began analyzing the rules again and making plans for the next four days.
Rule 4: Neither demons nor angels can interfere with the train's scheduled departure.
With this in place, Chi Mu wasn't worried about the two demons onboard messing with the train's journey.As long as nothing unexpected happened in the next four days, he just needed to wait until Day Seven to safely disembark and complete the S-rank mission.
But he didn't know who the remaining two demons were—or what their abilities might be. That meant there was still plenty of room for disaster.After all, this was the world of the cursed tales. Danger came daily. And traveling with demons? Peace was wishful thinking.
In this environment, the only way to ensure survival was to identify the remaining demons and understand their powers—know thy enemy, win every battle.
Then there was the serious issue of sleep.The Sleep Demon was gone, but Chi Mu still couldn't guarantee he'd wake up on his own after exactly five hours.The hourglass only measured five hours, and—
Rule 5: Once you fall asleep, you cannot be awakened by any outside noise. Only a passenger sharing your compartment can wake you up.
Setting an alarm was useless. He could only rely on Zhang Dada or An Changlin—but neither of them was particularly reliable.
Chi Mu racked his brain for a solution. Then, inspiration struck.
"Zhang Dada, I'm going to sleep. Take this and wake me up before it runs out."Chi Mu handed over the hourglass, shaking the mango in his other hand."Oh, and if you don't wake me up in time… I swear I'll make you eat this mango."
Zhang Dada's face turned pale with fear. He nodded frantically."I swear I'll wake you!"
"No. I still don't trust you."Chi Mu shook his head, peeled the mango, broke off half, and shoved it into Zhang Dada's mouth.
Zhang Dada fought back with all his might, but he was small and weak. Chi Mu easily forced him to swallow half the mango.Zhang Dada screamed in pain, curling up in the corner of the bed with tears streaming down his face.
Only then did Chi Mu smile with satisfaction and drift off to sleep.
"Genius. Absolute genius. Chi Mu really is the God of Rules. He always knows how to use them to his advantage!"
"Poor Zhang Dada though… Let's all feel bad for him for like, 0.1 seconds."
Four hours later, Zhang Dada woke Chi Mu up.Chi Mu reset the hourglass and went right back to sleep.
Another four hours passed, and Zhang Dada woke him again.
Stretching lazily, Chi Mu sat up and gave Zhang Dada a few appreciative pats."Well done, Dada. You stayed up all this time just to help me. I'm truly touched. And just to be clear, I didn't force you, did I?"
"You didn't force me?!" Zhang Dada blurted out instinctively.
"Hmm? Are you saying I did?"
Zhang Dada saw Chi Mu reaching for the mango and instantly backpedaled."No, no! Totally voluntary! My pleasure!"
"Good."Chi Mu smiled and put the mango down.
After two resets of the hourglass, he estimated it was now around 8:00 or 9:00 AM on Day Four. The hourglass wasn't precise—it could be off by an hour or two.
Chi Mu spent all of Day Four in the compartment, studying the rules. Nothing unusual happened.
That night, he repeated the mango-threat routine with Zhang Dada and slept soundly.
Another day passed in peace. But during that time, Chi Mu began to notice something deeply unsettling.
An Changlin liked doing weird things.He'd hide Chi Mu's shoes while he was sleeping, or suddenly scream in a quiet room, startling everyone.
And Zhang Dada? He lied constantly.Chi Mu caught him contradicting himself in conversations, and even flat-out denying things Chi Mu had seen with his own eyes.
By Day Six, Chi Mu started to feel something was wrong.
Nothing had happened for two full days.
He had walked around the train multiple times. After one major stop, there were barely any passengers left.Other than that? No change.
But how could the world of cursed tales be this safe?
If this continued, he just had to survive another 20 hours and he'd complete the S-rank mission, get off the train, and win.
But calm always comes before a storm.
Chi Mu pulled out all the paper notes he had collected.He had already reviewed them dozens of times, but something felt off. Maybe he'd missed something.
He scanned through the rules from all three sequences. Still nothing new.
Then his eyes landed on the note listing the mission objectives—
His pupils contracted sharply. A chill ran down his spine. His scalp prickled.
At some point—he didn't know when—the S-rank mission objective had disappeared.Only the SS-rank mission remained…