Wang Zhifan saw a glimmer of hope at this moment.

"Request received, querying..."

"Respected Captain, if you fail to execute tasks three times in a row, you will be demoted and stripped of your captain status, but it's advised you don't do this deliberately, as such actions might lead to other punishments..."

"Damn it, fail a task three times in a row, I currently only have one task in the Evil Spirit Building, if I fail in there, won't I be done for?"

Hope arising then being dashed is a truly infuriating thing, and Wang Zhifan is experiencing just that, even the female player in sportswear watching for so long beside him couldn't help but find it amusing.

"Haha, you're really pitiful, being forcibly arranged to carry out this death task, there's no escape for you."

After saying this, the female player pondered for two seconds, then asked the large screen ahead:

"Please help me check what rewards are available after completing the task."

She realized Wang Zhifan had finished asking and started resolving her own query.

However, after she spoke, there was no response from the speakers overhead, and no text appeared on the screen in front, as if the so-called train AI hadn't heard her query at all.

"It won't answer me; maybe I lack the necessary permissions. Captain, could you ask for me?"

The female player soon turned to Wang Zhifan for assistance, despite having just teased him for being tricked, the captain's privileges were genuine nonetheless.

"Sure, I happen to be curious about this myself, hadn't considered this aspect before."

When Wang Zhifan heard her, he understood the reasoning behind her question; her angle was straightforward, why do so many people come aboard the Death Train to carry out tasks, willingly risking being tormented to death by the train's various incidents? If most people were accidentally brought aboard, how do you explain the Hell Academy batch? They actively came here for trials, it makes sense they wouldn't do so if the trials only meant suffering and doom.

"Request received, querying..."

"Respected Captain, completing tasks assigned by this train doesn't yield any material rewards, but other types of rewards do exist."

"Firstly, this train grants special powers to all teams, enabling them to kill ghosts. This potential grows and fully manifests as team members complete tasks, allowing them to fight ghosts even away from the train."

"Secondly, tasks may yield very rare spoils, all distributed by the teams themselves, with no interference from the train..."

"Thirdly, this train is mostly safe, protecting teams from external environmental damage..."

...

After reading through everything displayed on the big screen, Wang Zhifan and the sportswear-clad female player felt speechless, realizing carrying out tasks on this Death Train truly bears no rewards, the promised "other" rewards were just the train's forced connections, only the first point granting ghost-killing powers seemed to offer anything substantial.

"I recall in the first encounter with the Hell Academy instance, ghosts couldn't be completely killed, now here, ghosts don't resurrect once killed, turns out Death Train's big ghost lent a hand... In this light, Hell Academy sending students here for trials to gain ghost-fighting power makes a lot of sense, it's an important method for them to acquire ghost-fighting capabilities..."

Although confirming the Death Train tasks held no direct rewards was disappointing, Wang Zhifan solved a mystery of his own, learning that the former 444 apartment instance indeed harbored the more advanced Hell Academy, at least they knew about the enhancement path provided by Death Train, unlike 444 apartment depending on residents' luck to find ghost items without any hope against ghosts.

Of course, this ties into the fact the 444 apartment itself is a ghost, treating residents like pets, revealing means to oppose oneself is strange, what it seeks may simply be torment itself.

As Wang Zhifan and his fellow player queried and uncovered various information from the train AI, other carriages were also gradually calming down, most carriages united to clear all ghosts, while a few, due to weak abilities or poor coordination, ended up being cleared by the ghosts themselves.

Undoubtedly this is a selection mechanism by the train, requiring each team member to undergo certain trials, otherwise, they're unqualified for the real task, yet there's also a possibility that the train itself enjoys the torture, albeit not too harshly, always granting a glimmer of hope for people.

"Victory at last! Thank you all for your hard work! I will forever remember the heroic sacrifice of your companions!"

Meanwhile, in a normal carriage, a dark circle-eyed young player put away his twin guns and approached the heavily injured black-robed ghosts from Hell Academy, expressing his gratitude. Despite their severe injuries, the half-ghost modification endowed them with extraordinary damage tolerance, as long as it's not fatal, they have hope to gradually recover.

"All sacrifices are worth it... Their names full of glory will be reported to the instructor back at the academy, etched into the hero's monument."

The leader among the black-robed ghosts replied to the young player.

"Yes... They deserve such honor."

The young man nodded in agreement, and only after these people calmed did he inquire further.

"Could you tell me what privileges the luxury carriage has?"

Clearly, he was still curious about carriage 666 he abandoned, wondering what kind of treatment Wang Zhifan was enjoying there.

"This... Please forgive me for not knowing much about such information, as luxury carriages are very rarely seen, even at the academy, I heard it mentioned only once by the instructor, but they didn't explain the privileges associated with luxury carriages."

This black-robed ghost truthfully replied.

"Rarely seen, huh? Makes sense... According to the broadcast earlier, upgrading a carriage requires not only being the first to clear all ghosts but also clearing the most, even the strength of the ghosts is a factor... Meeting all these conditions is truly stringent."

Having just joined others to defeat a number of ghosts, the dark circle-eyed young man understood how troublesome those ghostly entities on the train were, not comparable to ordinary monsters.

"But even without great privileges, merely being exempt from all train incidents has major advantages."

He then recalled the broadcast mentioning that those in the luxury carriage needn't partake in any train incidents, meaning the train's troublesome plans don't concern them, events such as the dining car incident, blackout incident, and the recent clearance incident, the luxury carriage avoids altogether, solely waiting for tasks in peace, saving players' energy, and cutting risks significantly.

"Should I try returning to carriage 666? Otherwise, I'll definitely continue to be tormented by this train's various nuisances... But that carriage's forbidden zone task is very risky... However, considering the so-called forbidden zone is a forbidden zone only to these weak ghost folks, that person might have the strength to clear it, after all, his abilities are on a different level compared to them..."

While the young man pondered, he considered about going back to team up with Wang Zhifan, not blaming his fickle nature. Currently, his carriage is temporary, without a captain; he needs to join an eligible carriage's task to clear the instance. Wang Zhifan's exceptional performance makes him seem like a good ally to follow, so he must act swiftly if he's decided to accompany him, otherwise, by the time he reaches platform 17, Wang Zhifan will be on the task leaving him outside waiting.

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