Catastrophe Card King

The armor of the steam train was thick, but its locks were less complex than the doors in the alternate dimension 4.07.

Leonard Churchill didn’t steal a key. He only glanced at them a few times and, thanks to the Eidetic Memory ability from the Trickster, easily memorized the exact structure of the keys. During a break from gambling to use the toilet, he was able to duplicate a temporary key.

Now well-prepared, he could handle any discoveries.

Leonard remained vigilant, continuing to observe his surroundings.

The carriage was still rowdy, but amidst the noise, he suddenly overheard a story that sparked his interest.

“Hey, have you heard? There was an incident at the camp in the ‘Altar of the Silver Moon in the Past’ alternate dimension a couple of days ago.”

“How could we not? They say the Old Smoker Group found an altar and some ancient artifacts there. Someone wanted to pocket them, and ended up murdering the over thirty people in the camp… The Hunter’s Association even offered a bounty of 100,000 for any clue to the murderer.”

“I’ve heard a different version. Apparently, the killer touched the ancient artifact, lost control, and transformed into a monster, which led to the massacre. They say the dozens of bodies in the camp were mangled. If it weren’t for the transformation, why would anyone kill and then mutilate the bodies…”

“So, there really is an ancient artifact in the Silver Moon Altar?”

“Seems so.”

“Jeez, even a random class I artifact would be worth hundreds of thousands. If it’s a high-level one, we’d be set for life. Why aren’t we ever that lucky…”

During the hours on the train, Leonard had heard quite a few similar tales of adventuring companions stealing equipment in the wilds, or of murderers looting their victims.

Stories like these play out every day, and hunters don’t regard murder and lootings as anything extraordinary.

Survival of the fittest is a core principle in Sinless City.

Compared to how many people died, they’re more curious about how much the artifact is worth.

Only then did Leonard gradually realize why even the powerful Miller family of the Governor’s Mansion can’t stop a train. Law and order is undermined to such an extent.

It’s not power that has a problem in this world, it’s the people of Sinless City.

Others hearing that story might ponder about the artifact.

But Leonard suddenly caught a keyword in his mind: “Loss of Control?”

After merging with the Joker, he gained a unique ability to sense charm energy overflow, or curse power, in living beings.

Normal humans’ curse power is like body temperature—it’s constant.

Usually, it’s invisible to the naked eye.

Even when someone deliberately shows it, it appears uniform, like flames.

But earlier, when he was in the train and observing the nearby carriages, he detected an irregular overflow of curse power, shaped like “octopus tentacles,” from a guy in the 16th carriage.

After Leonard saw this, he paid closer attention to it.

He confirmed that this guy would irregularly release curse power like this every once in a while.

Leonard suspected this could be a “charm energy overflow.”

Normally, uncontrollable curse power would turn someone into a monster.

Interestingly though, this guy didn’t transform.

This made Leonard more curious and he kept a keen eye on him.

Previously, he thought it was only a misunderstanding due to his insufficient knowledge about the overflow.

But after hearing the story of the murder and stolen loot, he grew increasingly suspicious of this guy.

Yes,

Suspicious!

With this hypothesis leading his thoughts, he immediately noticed more anomalies.

This guy chose the 16th carriage, at the tail of the train—a seemingly inconspicuous passenger.

But Leonard now thought that, like himself, this guy was probably biding his time to conveniently jump off the train.

Moreover, few people move around the rear carriages, so any stranger is easy to spot.

Also, this guy chose a corner seat facing the front of the carriage.

Inconspicuous but with a wide field of view to watch all the passersby.

Adding all these coincidences together made it far from merely coincidental.

All signs indicated that this guy had a strong awareness against reconnaissance.

Also, there was the story he just overheard.

Even though there were thousands of passengers on the train, only this guy had an overflow of curse power.

Leonard suddenly connected the dots: Could this guy be the murderer and looter?

Upon reflection, it seemed highly likely.

Escaping from the Demon Cross Camp would involve taking the train, which only ran every two days, so a coincidental meeting wouldn’t be surprising.

Simultaneously, it would not be unusual for two fleeing individuals to encounter each other at the rear of the carriages.

As Leonard thought this through, his mind instinctively began to consider other possibilities.

But before he could dwell on these, an unexpected event occurred.

Suddenly, he noticed a tall, skinny figure wearing a hoodie covering his face.

This figure moved slowly, the hood trembling slightly as if facial muscles were moving rhythmically.

Upon seeing this figure, Leonard instantly became alert.

Smelling scent?

Extraordinary man with heightened senses?

However, he didn’t exhibit any signs of unease and continued gambling in the crowd.

Even if the figure was here to find someone, he might not be able to find Leonard.

The guy wearing the hood didn’t seem to notice anything unusual and walked straight past.

Not long after, in the 13th carriage,

The four-man scouting team of the Blackwater Mercenary Group showed up, all of them wearing distressed expressions.

They had been searching for several hours. They found a few suspects, but upon checking, none of them were the person they were after.

“Boss, could it be that the person isn’t on the train?”

“Whether he’s on the train or not, we need to search.. The Chief just issued an urgent order, if we don’t find him this time, we’re in big trouble!”