The Wisteria Train 34

Zhou Caiwei also stepped forward and patted Vigi's shoulder. “Yeah, it's been so long. Don't be too hard on yourself.”

“The most important thing right now is to find a way to break the curse, not to beat yourself up here.”

Yan Zheng's tone was firm, his words serving as half a piece of advice. “Now is not the time for this. Let's keep searching and see if there are any other clues.”

“Perhaps, besides the matter of the wisteria tree, there are other secrets related to the curse.”

Everyone nodded and threw themselves back into the search.

Although they had found clues regarding the wisteria tree and the Mountain God, many questions remained unanswered.

For instance, was the Mountain God truly dead? If so, why was it reviving now? And how was the practice of offering blood sacrifices established in the first place?

Bai Ci didn't hold out much hope of finding answers to these questions at the surveying station.

This was because many of these events had gradually taken shape only after the railway line was built, whereas the surveying station would have been abandoned before its completion.

As for the train station, which possessed more information, it was too far away to contact.

Before long, Bai Ci found a damaged logbook among a pile of clutter.

The logbook recorded the names, ages, and causes of death for some of the laborers who died during the construction of the railway back then.

She opened it to find a dense list of names, with most of the causes of death listed as exhaustion, accidents, or disease infections.

Almost every day, someone died. Even in an era without labor protections, this mortality rate was incredibly high.

“Have any of you found information about laborer deaths?” Bai Ci asked.

“My dearest friend, have you perhaps broken through the mystery and found another side to this place's secrets?”

“Not exactly. I just found a record of laborer deaths and feel like something's a bit off. But as for what we can deduce from it, we still need more information,” Bai Ci replied as she continued her search.

“I saw one earlier on my end. Hang on a second.” Yan Zheng turned back to search through the pile of papers he had already looked at.

Soon, he found a note-like slip of paper and handed it to Bai Ci.

On the note was written: “Laborer deaths are too high. Distribute burial fees and recruit replacements immediately. The project schedule must not be delayed.”

On the back of the note, an amount was written and circled. Outside the circle, it read: “The higher-ups say this is the limit. No more.”

“Wow, is this the burial fee? It's so little. Is it even enough to bury a single body?” Zhou Caiwei poked her head over to take a look, then hurriedly went back to rummaging through the damp pile of trash.

“I knew it! I've seen something too,” Zhou Caiwei said, carefully picking up a torn, damp piece of paper. Using some scrap paper from Bai Ci's desk as a backing, she pieced the contents together.

She glanced at the content, clicked her tongue, and called the others over. “Look at this itemized procurement list. Based on the prices here, what is that tiny burial fee even good for? The hearts of these capitalists are truly black.”

“This... is likely why the laborer mortality rate was so high.” Vigi's voice was full of dejection. The more things they found in the surveying station, the worse he felt.

It wasn't that he pitied the laborers or the innocent passengers; rather, he was struck hard by the reality of the future that might await him, and the shattering of his illusion of his father.

Even his search for his father's manuscripts—the very reason that had made him accept this escort mission without hesitation—no longer brought him that intense sense of excitement and desire.

What Vigi handed over was a yellowed medical record. It was a letter written by the accompanying doctor to a close friend back then, but for some reason, this unfinished letter had been tucked inside a book and was never sent.

In it, the doctor complained to his friend that this job was a true torment to his conscience.

Many laborers died because they had eaten moldy grain for a long time, lived in damp and dark environments, and contracted illnesses. Coupled with the lack of sufficient medicine to support their treatment, they ultimately perished.

The doctor described that they had been on the verge of a full-blown plague outbreak.

In the face of this situation, the labor boss extorted a sum of money from the construction party, only to pocket all of it himself.

Then, they nipped the plague in the bud by burning the diseased corpses—and even some living infected people.

Aside from that, many other laborers died because they were forced into high-intensity labor. Their bodies couldn't take it, and their mental states were poor, making them highly prone to fatal accidents.

As everyone read the contents of the letter, the faces of the players—especially those who lived in modern times—turned incredibly grim.

The railway construction back then had actually been so brutal.

In the eyes of the higher-ups, those laborers weren't even human; they were merely tools to be exploited at will. Their lives seemed so insignificant in the face of profit.

“This is too much!” Zhou Caiwei stamped her foot in anger. “These people were too cold-blooded. They were absolutely insane!”

“A group that hates this railway and the vested interest parties more than they hate the Mountain God has emerged,” Bai Ci pointed out.

“It seems what happened back then is far more complex than what the station told Vigi.”

“It's not just about burning down the Mountain God's incarnation, but also about so many laborers being exploited to death. Perhaps their resentment has all gathered together, forming the curse we see today.”

Yan Zheng speculated further.

“But haven't these people already died?” Vigi was somewhat reluctant to believe such a thing.

“We already have a Mountain God, so what's impossible?” Zhou Caiwei nodded repeatedly in agreement. She fully accepted Yan Zheng's deduction.

There was no other reason than sheer experience.

Once you've gone through a few more instances, you'd know that the resentment of those who died unjust deaths—especially in such large numbers—could easily form a final boss.

Looking at the various pieces of information on the table, everyone pieced the scattered clues together, and the truth of what happened back then gradually materialized before their eyes.

Back then, Vigi's father, as the project manager, was ordered to construct this railway.

While excavating the mountain path, they encountered a massive wisteria tree that was the incarnation of the Mountain God. The wisteria tree repeatedly blocked construction, striking fear into the hearts of the workers.

However, driven by profit and pressured by the higher-ups, Vigi's father ultimately burned the wisteria tree to ashes.

Meanwhile, during the railway construction, a large number of laborers were forced into high-intensity labor, fed moldy grain, and housed in terrible conditions, leading to deaths one after another.

Yet the construction party couldn't have cared less. They simply distributed a meager burial fee and continued recruiting replacements, solely focused on rushing the project schedule with absolute disregard for the laborers' lives.

The resentment of those laborers intertwined with that of the wisteria tree, forming the current curse. Every once in a while, a train would become a blood sacrifice to appease the Mountain God.

But just when everyone thought they had gotten to the root of the curse, a question suddenly surfaced in Bai Ci's mind.

She realized something.