Chapter 53: 51. The Luggage Bag

51. The Luggage Bag

The female college student's overly terrified reaction startled everyone; at that moment, everyone felt as if the psychological shadows lingering over them were all converging onto her alone.

Her reaction was truly too exaggerated and her scream too shrill, to the point that everyone felt their numbness and fear temporarily washed away, replaced by bewilderment and pity for her.

They felt as if they were witnessing a poor wretch more cowardly and fragile than any of them; those who had been trapped in a haze of fear from witnessing the gruesome suicide scene now naturally began to sympathize with the weak, temporarily forgetting their own pain.

"Um, it's better to take that bag out quickly." Seeing that everyone was at a loss, Xin Junmao regained his composure and advised the attendant who had brought the luggage bag in.

The attendant woke as if from a dream, and only then, with cold sweat on his forehead, took the luggage bag out.

Sure enough, after the luggage bag disappeared from the female college student's sight, her emotions visibly stabilized.

After the minor interlude, those who had been on the verge of a breakdown also recovered one after another, either leaving with the friends and family who had arrived, or finding the strength to leave on their own.

Xin Junmao did not notify his parents to come; he did not want to cause more trouble for the two elders as such an incompetent son.

He had originally intended to leave right after, but seeing the female college student huddled in the corner and hearing her soft "thank you," he suppressed his plan to leave alone and sat back in his original seat.

"Are you okay?" Having not initiated a conversation with a girl in a long time, Xin Junmao squeezed out these four words after a long while.

The female college student glanced at him, her eyes still lingering with terror as if saying, "Can you open your eyes and look at me right now?"

"Uh, what is your name? My name is Xin Junmao." Xin Junmao seemed to realize the inappropriateness of his words, laughed awkwardly, and hurriedly changed the question.

The other party was silent for a long time before hesitantly replying: "My name is Zhang Xiaoxiao."

"Nice to meet you, Zhang Xiaoxiao." Xin Junmao revealed a stiff smile, then, while observing Zhang Xiaoxiao's expression, said cautiously, "A lot of things happened early this morning."

Zhang Xiaoxiao buried her face under her knees, peeked out with a pair of eyes, and nodded.

Xin Junmao continued: "Actually, I was originally going for an interview today. Although the job conditions offered by that company weren't particularly good, for someone like me who hasn't been able to find a job in a year, there wasn't much to pick from... Because I always fail, I prepared for this interview for a very long time, but unfortunately, heaven did not grant my wish..." He spoke to himself, talking more and more, becoming increasingly dejected.

Looking at Xin Junmao's dejected appearance, Zhang Xiaoxiao couldn't bear it and offered a word of comfort: "It's okay, there are many opportunities, you can keep looking."

"It's not that easy." Xin Junmao shook his head with a bitter smile. "Soon, my status as a fresh graduate will be stripped away. Most companies now are starting to recruit this year's graduates. To those companies and enterprises, I'm no different from rotten fish and shrimp. Without the status of a fresh graduate, I'm equivalent to an ordinary person with no work experience at all."

Zhang Xiaoxiao had thought the other party might be making up a story to comfort her, but seeing Xin Junmao's anxious and painful appearance, it didn't seem fake, so she immediately believed his situation. However, she was only a sophomore, and she planned to continue to graduate school after college, so she couldn't empathize with the job-hunting aspect.

Thinking of this, Zhang Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth and said: "Actually... actually, I have seen her."

"Hmm?" Xin Junmao was a bit confused, looked at Zhang Xiaoxiao, who had started trembling again, and asked, "Her?"

"The woman who died this morning..."

Xin Junmao froze and guessed: "Is she your friend?"

"No!" Zhang Xiaoxiao shook her head, her apricot eyes like two small boats drifting in an ocean of fear, and said, "When I took the last train back to school from the city last night, I was in the same carriage as her..."

Speaking of this, Zhang Xiaoxiao began to ramble incoherently. The memories of last night seemed to be magnified by a magnifying glass, becoming doubly clear. She found more and more incredible details in her memories, and the more she thought, the more terrifying it became.

"There was also a very strange young man in that carriage. On the train, he told an Urban Legend that didn't sound very scary at first. He said that if you pick up a lost item belonging to a dead person on a train, that person will be affected by something like a Curse afterward, and in order to return the lost item to someone who no longer exists, they themselves will soon die too..." Zhang Xiaoxiao tried hard to calm her emotions and explained to Xin Junmao, "Then there was a couple in the carriage who really did pick up a Diamond Necklace lost in the carriage..."

Zhang Xiaoxiao recounted her bizarre encounter last night to Xin Junmao, including her argument with that hateful couple, getting off the train in a fit of pique, and then discovering that the strange young man who got off with her seemed to be a dirty thing... All sorts of things poured out like bitter water as Zhang Xiaoxiao kept confiding in Xin Junmao.

Although Zhang Xiaoxiao knew she shouldn't be this honest with someone she had just met, this pressure was like a popped balloon; once there was a start, it was hard to stop.

On the side, Xin Junmao listened in a daze. He opened his mouth, but was actually at a loss for words, because he himself did not believe in any supernatural claims.

"I know you won't believe me." Seeing Xin Junmao's hesitant expression, Zhang Xiaoxiao could see that he didn't believe her, and she said dejectedly, "The bag the attendant took just now was that woman in black's... That's why I was so scared when I saw that woman's luggage bag."

Xin Junmao pursed his lips and coughed lightly, saying: "Although that luggage bag might be that woman's thing, didn't you say that lost items only count if they are dropped on the train?"

"The point isn't the luggage bag." Zhang Xiaoxiao said with a complex expression, "Remember the couple I mentioned just now?"

"Just now, when the attendant walked in with the luggage bag, I saw a detail you didn't notice. In the outer zipper pocket of the luggage bag, a silver pendant had fallen out. Because not much time has passed, I remember it very clearly—that was the necklace the couple picked up!"

Xin Junmao froze, and also seemed to feel a chilling coldness. "Wasn't it picked up by the couple? Why would it appear in that woman in black's luggage bag?"

"This is the part I'm afraid of." Zhang Xiaoxiao gasped for air, staring with wide eyes, and said, "I really want to know what happened to that couple now. No, what happened to everyone on that train last night? Also, I'm really concerned about the identity of that woman in black. How exactly did she get that necklace, and why did she suddenly jump onto the tracks..."

"Holy shit!" Just as Zhang Xiaoxiao and Xin Junmao pushed the topic to the climax of suspense, several exclamations and curses shifted their attention to the outside.

Hearing a commotion outside, Xin Junmao and Zhang Xiaoxiao looked at each other, both managed to walk out of the duty room to check, and then saw people gathered in a circle outside, each with a horrified expression.

When Xin Junmao and Zhang Xiaoxiao gathered the courage to step forward to look, the two saw a scene that almost caused them to have another mental breakdown.

They saw that the luggage bag that had been brought into the duty room had its zipper opened, revealing several human heads vacuum-sealed in plastic, and those heads were exactly those of the people who had been on the last train Zhang Xiaoxiao took last night.

No one expected that, except for her and that strange young man who didn't know if he was human, everyone else on that train had actually died!