And when every individual is a fictional copy, how could the train possibly resist?
Fundamentally, it comes down to the living survivors.
The mystical anomaly caused by the demon.
The people inside the train car are players, and one individual is the demon.
Meaning, they were already the seeds of resistance.
Must it be so?
In truth, that logic was rather forced, but then Ron realized that the conscious individuals were the Gift.
And this place was the playground of mystical horrors.
Could there be a possibility that those remaining conscious did so because of the Gift? Yes, because those individuals bore traces of the Gift, a matter beyond dispute.
They could have originated from the ground, but for those emerging from the train, the likelihood was high that they came from the train, as their sanity rate was many times higher than the rest; except for those slain, all remained lucid.
Thus, the framework structure is as follows:
The ground represents the primary personality, consuming the deceased to absorb information, including eavesdropping and devouring corpses, while the living are those undergoing gradual assimilation.
When Ron first arrived, it was after completing the game, meaning when the mystical anomaly operated at peak strength, the inhabitants of Pegasus descended into madness, subsequently stabilizing, and then going mad once more when the giant worms arrived.
Meaning, this place was truly a free for all brawl, and this battle existed on a three tier psychological level: unconsciousness, ego, and superego.
Many factors supported that conclusion.
And Ron, he was holding a hand grenade with its pin unpulled.
It lay within what the former Ron, or his past self, had left behind.
The process of his overcoming the game aboard the train.
There was a train of thought, a method, yet a lack of lived experience.
And following that line of thought, using Ron as a reference point to analyze Ron.
Then according to psychology, if one knows the path from A to B, one can temporarily trace backward along the traversed road.
Meaning that despite suffering memory loss, knowing the general process is no different from having experienced it.
Why then was this important?
Because if Ron possessed that reference point, he would have a foundation to recall his memories aboard the train.
And when that occurred, he would possess a deep psychological connection to it.
And...
...
"Urgh."
Janeus coughed up blood, her eyes rolling back and bleeding before she collapsed.
Her body was drenched in bloodstains, along with thousands of shattered glass fragments embedded deep within her soft flesh.
She collapsed and died, just that easily.
"Yet killing them like this is futile; even though damage was minimized, it remains far too severe."
Kale exclaimed, gazing outside where the worms were rampaging in madness.
Those worms gradually emerged from the cloud of dust and smog, revealing a bizarre black color, like metal.
They were nothing other than trains, trains rising from the ground, ravaging the entire city.
"At present, our work is finished."
"Is that all? To break Janeus's psyche, one merely needed her to die?"
When Quân left, Kale turned back to inquire about that princess.
"Correct."
Quân responded indifferently, and essentially, everything had reached its end.
Promet and his psyche had shattered completely because of Lunas.
Janeus had also collapsed due to death.
The other Quân, after becoming obsessed with death, likewise collapsed when facing it directly.
And Ron...
There remained Ron, who would likely take the longest.
Once Ron collapsed, this space would be swallowed by Kale to serve as a counterweight against the train, which was currently at a disadvantage.
"However, you once mentioned the time loop, the cycle and the plan; what was that about?"
Kale approached Quân, asking him cheerfully.
Yet Quân remained indifferent, for after all, this was something he had witnessed long ago.
"Because this place was constructed based on psychology and its nature is to collect facades, basic deduction is extremely difficult."
Quân pondered, then continued speaking.
"Unless, Ron was never able to leave through proper means to begin with."
He added.
"Originally, because this world is a manifestation of a psychological realm, when subjected to excessive destruction, it can borrow the ability to restart memories in order to reset the world.
However, it always belongs to you, the Black Tide of Knowledge."
Quân added further; fundamentally, this was a cage capable of pushing everyone back to the starting point whenever a problem arose.
Why then make the effort to escape? It would be far better to simply wait.