Upon hearing Pan Yuqiang's explanation, Lin Yu instantly understood why there could be "gangs" existing on the Despair Train—a place that encouraged internal conflict and mutual harm among trapped individuals—even developing to a scale of over ten people.
Because there was a greater external threat!
This mechanism made Lin Yu somewhat admire the higher-ups of Truth Corporation.
Whoever designed the internal mechanisms of the Despair Train had created a system that would continuously generate negative emotions from the "passengers" inside.
It was even the optimal solution—on one hand encouraging mutual slaughter, stirring up hatred and anger between them.
On the other hand, using the "great cleansing" every three days to force them to huddle together for warmth, maintaining some organizational structure, keeping daily suspicions and fears alive, and even potentially triggering "betrayal" incidents that could generate massive negative emotions.
It was utterly inhuman, but for harvesting negative emotions on the "Despair Train," it was indeed extremely "efficient."
The passengers on this train lived even more miserably than Death Game players.
Moreover, if Lin Yu wasn't mistaken...
"New people are always dropped in after the 'great cleansing,' right?"Lin Yu said calmly, and Pan Yuqiang nodded.
"Yes, Sleepless City has no shortage of expendable materials called 'people.' Every three days is enough for Truth Corporation to gather a dozen or so new unfortunate souls to throw onto the train."
"This time we only had six people board... which is actually quite special."
As Pan Yuqiang spoke, Li Nian rubbed her chin.
"Hmm, but aside from this recently destroyed, relatively weak 'Airport Gang,' what other forces are on this train?"
"Most forces are quite fragile. Those that survive over a month without being wiped out or disbanded are considered long-standing... Currently besides the recently annihilated Airport Gang, there's the emerging group that has survived five great cleansings—the 'Lion Gang' occupying dining car 6; and two older groups jointly occupying dining car 9—the 'Blue Blood Team' and the 'Iron Thorn Gang.'"
"I haven't asked about the specifics of these groups... but they all have a major figure called the 'Baron' behind them—that communicator from the Airport Gang likely came from the Baron."
"This is all the information I know."
Pan Yuqiang shared the final details she was aware of.
Chen Zhuo was the first to express his thoughts: "Such a small train with barely a hundred people, all captured to serve as human batteries in this prison... yet it's so factionalized and complicated."
"And the mastermind is called 'Baron,' giving it almost an epic feel."
Hearing Chen Zhuo's sigh, Li Nian wagged her finger: "Where there are people, there are conflicts, fatty. You're still too naive."
"You're in school too—don't tell me your class of twenty-something people doesn't have factionalized cliques?"
Chen Zhuo paused: "Our class does have various cliques, but there are over fifty people in our class..."
Then Li Nian realized: "Oh right, you go to public school."
Lin Yu looked at Li Nian and sighed half-jokingly: "You're no miserable wretch who can't stand others' happiness. I'll fight you, you young lady from a prestigious private school!"
She knocked on her head, stuck out her tongue, and made a Peko-like expression to play it off.
"Anyway, that's the general idea..."
Wang Yuyang, however, was contemplating a different issue.
"Hmm, there are three similar gangs? If we eliminate them all, could we gather enough 'Train Tickets'?"
He casually proposed an extremely radical plan.
Lin Yu, Li Nian, and Chen Zhuo instantly stopped their banter, all looking at Wang Yuyang along with Punkdo.
"I don't think that would work, Yuyang."
Before others could formulate words of persuasion, Pan Yuqiang spoke first.
Wang Yuyang was actually quite receptive, accepting his proposal's rejection by his girlfriend without even asking why.
"Okay."
He nodded in response.
To prevent Wang Yuyang from proposing even less feasible plans, Lin Yu lightly coughed.
"Anyway, most of these gangs occupy dining cars... probably for 'transportation convenience' and easy 'communication'—this suggests there's some surface-level peace between the gangs."
"The gangs occupying other dining cars haven't come to the 'Airport Gang's' territory, so they might not know what happened here yet."
"Perhaps we could impersonate their identity, pose as new 'Airport Gang' members to negotiate with other gang members, and extract information about the 'Baron.'"
"Regarding 'Train Tickets,' the 'Baron' probably knows more about them."
Hearing Chen Zhuo's lament, Li Nian wagged her finger: "Where there are people, there are conflicts, fatty. You're still too naive."
"I second that."
The others had no objections either.
The group prepared to head out to dining car 9 to inquire with the gang stationed there.
However, before departing... Chen Zhuo seemed to realize something and suddenly spoke.
"But speaking of which, the carriage we boarded was number 13... and why was dining car 12 completely empty?"
Chen Zhuo raised the question.
Hearing Chen Zhuo's question, Lin Yu and Li Nian sighed simultaneously.
Lin Yu looked at Li Nian and sighed half-jokingly: "You're no miserable wretch who can't stand others' happiness. I'll fight you, you young lady from the aristocratic high school!"
After all... both Lin Yu and Li Nian had already guessed the possibility that dining car 12 near them was special.
Sure enough, reminded by Chen Zhuo, Pan Yuqiang spoke somewhat strangely.
"Eh? I thought you already understood what was going on."
"According to what those Airport Gang members said, newcomers from carriages 13 and 14 hardly need attention, and dining car 12 should be avoided as much as possible."
"Because dining car 12 is occupied by an incredibly powerful madman—almost equivalent to an entire faction by himself—who indiscriminately hunts everyone. Didn't you deal with him?"
Wang Yuyang realized and looked at Punkdo Von Valetti.
"I thought this guy was a newcomer like you who just boarded and got rescued by you!"
Lin Yu sighed: "Yes, he is that madman, but rest assured, he's not having an episode right now and is quite safe."
Wang Yuyang looked at Li Nian, and the young girl immediately raised her hand.
"Brother Wang, I absolutely had no intention of deliberately hiding this. I just thought... better to avoid trouble than invite it."
"Knowing your temperament, I was afraid you'd insist on taking him down."
Wang Yuyang nodded.
"You thought correctly—having such a time bomb in the team does make me quite uneasy."
"Even though he knows some internal information about Truth Corporation, I still believe... the risks of this move far outweigh the benefits."
Punkdo sensed Wang Yuyang's hostility and became alert.
Before others could formulate words of persuasion, Pan Yuqiang spoke first.
"But... if you insist on not wanting to work with me, I cannot accept that."
Punkdo said, looking at Lin Yu with determined eyes.
"This woman has something I want, and she was the one who actively invited me to join the operation."
"Unless she says otherwise, I will not leave this team."