Also known as Murder on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
On their way to Mongolia by means of the Trans-Siberian Railway
, the Bureau's journey gets put to a halt when the train suddenly stops in the middle of the Russo-Chinese border. Moving to another carriage to investigate, Carmen and the player come across the body of Ilya Tretyakov, a diamond magnate, strangled and hanging from the ceiling with his own tie.
Tropes:
- Activist-Fundamentalist Antics: In this case, Agrafena decides to make a smoke bomb to scare off the victim and, during the Additional Investigation, tries to hack into the Bureau's servers for her own personal agenda.
- Age-Gap Romance: Nina Rodionova, who is 27, was in a relationship with the victim, who seemed to be in his 50s.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: During Nikita's trial, Judge Adaku sentences him for theft, murder, and forcing him to videolink a trial.
- Badass Normal: Vadim Efremov saves you just in time from a grizzly bear attack by wrestling against said bear, only suffering a bloody scratch mark on his cheek as a result.
- Bears Are Bad News: A bear attacks Carmen and the player during the investigation, though Vadim manages to rescue you in time.
- Brain Bleach: Carmen experiences this after Angela gives you the autopsy reports.Angela: Do you like our makeshift lab, <Player's Name>? I never expected to do an autopsy on a train. Examining a body on a dining table, that's a new experience!Carmen: Urgh, I could've lived without that mental image.
- Call-Back: Natasha Romanova and Agrafena Raskolnikova reappear as suspects.
- Capitalism Is Bad: Nikita thinks capitalism was the one responsible for eradicating the USSR, which is why he killed Ilya, a diamond magnate, so he could redistribute the diamonds he was carrying.
- Closed Circle: The case takes place in a stopped train in the middle of nowhere, with the Bureau being incapable of leaving until they solve the murder.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Vadim Efremov, a mammoth-obsessed scholar who lives in the middle of nowhere and is willing to wrestle against bears to save complete strangers.
- Continuity Nod: The computer virus Agrafena used to infect Mikhail's computer in Case 14 makes a reappearance when she tries to hack Elliot's computer.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: The victim wrote the killer's initials with his own blood while being killed.
- Dissimile: After finishing wrestling with a bear, Vadim tells you bears are just like mammoths, only alive.
- Dueling Hackers: In the Additional Investigation, Elliot and Agrafena had a brief one when she tries to hack into Elliot's computer.
- Dreadful Musician: Lars' sad ballad is so awful Carmen threatens to throw him out of the window if he doesn't stop singing it.
- Get a Room!: Jonah says Lars and Angela should get a room after being forced to share a lab with them due to needing to improvise a workspace in a train.
- Glorious Mother Russia: Nikita Rukhin, one of your suspects, is completely obsessed with the old Russia, communism, and people like Lenin or the Bolsheviks, which is why he killed the capitalist Ilya Tretyakov.
- Gold Digger: Carmen believes Nina was just with the victim due to this, though it's implied that she really loved him.Carmen: After all, where would a billionaire be without a hot young girlfriend...
- Government Conspiracy: Agrafena is totally convinced that SOMBRA is just a government conspiracy used as an excuse to spy and force rules onto citizens.
- Hanging Around: The killer murdered Ilya by hanging him from a train car's rafters by his necktie.
- Hangover Sensitivity: Carmen is seen suffering from this at the start of the case due to last night Christmas' party, and both the lurching of the train and Dupont are not helping matters.
- I Have Nothing to Say to That: Carmen has a variation while interrogating Nina.Nina: And now you come to ask questions about him. But how can I answer questions when my heart is frozen like a desolate tundra?Carmen: I... don't know what to say to that.
- Lame Pun Reaction: As expected from Carmen, she barely has any patience about dealing with Lars' puns.Lars: How's it hanging, <Player's Name>? Alright, alright, no need to look so serious. I'll get right back on track!Carmen: Enough puns, Lars! Give us some information!
- Lampshade Hanging: Carmen lampshades how previous suspects tend to conveniently pop up close by despite being on a different part of the world, such as Agrafena and Natasha boarding the Trans-Siberian train at the same time the Bureau's riding it too when they were last seen in Saint Petersburg.Carmen: Marina's mom, again?! She seems to be everywhere we go.
- Not Wanting Kids Is Weird: Nina felt devastated when Ilya refused to keep the baby she was pregnant with, claiming that he wasn't in a relationship with her to change diapers.
- Operation: [Blank]: SOMBRA's satellite plan is called Operation Darkness Descends.
- The Reveal: There's another mole inside of COSMORUS who keeps aiding SOMBRA with their plans, and they are planning to launch a satellite that will allow them to take control of the world.
- Running Gag:
- People keep telling Marina to drop off her mommy issues, this time being Chief Ripley the one who asks her to do so.
- Angela makes another Matryoshka doll, this time of Elliot.
- An exclusive one in this case: the Bureau complaining about having to share labs with fellow members due to being in a Closed Circle, with most of the ire going towards Dupont.Jonah: I'm never sharing labs again. Lars and Angela should get a room which isn't this one, and I had to remove Dupont from here before I committed another homicide!
- Ship Tease: A slight one between Jonah and Marina, as Carmen asks him why he's not complaining about having to share a lab with her and Jonah defending Marina while she's arguing with Chief Ripley about her mother.
- Shout-Out:
- The case's setting is probably inspired by Murder on the Orient Express.
- Nikita Rukhin resembles Peter Capaldi.
- In the Trans-Siberian Lounge scene, there is a portrait of Karl Marx, a bust of Vladimir Lenin, and a ticket resembling those seen in The Polar Express.
- Siberian Geographic is a parody of National Geographic.
- Spy Satellites: It's revealed that SOMBRA's plan is launching a satellite that will hijack power from all other satellites orbiting Earth, effectively giving them control of the entire world.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Dupont has the tendency to jump out of nowhere during this case due to the Bureau having to share labs with each other.Carmen: Urgh, it's still freezing out here... but at least here we can be sure Dupont won't jump out at us like some history-quoting jack-in-the-box! I could use a moment of quiet.
- Stunned Silence: Carmen can barely get herself to say something when Vadim asks if you're fellow mammoth enthusiasts.
- Tap on the Head: The victim was knocked out with a bowl before being hanged.
- Thriller on the Express: Most of the case takes place on a stopped train or just outside of it.
- Trick Bomb: Agrafena made a smoke bomb to scare off the victim, since she considered him a public enemy.
- Venturous Smuggler: Nikita was in charge of smuggling diamonds across the border to his "fellow Chinese communists", while unknowingly also delivering COSMORUS equipment to them.
- Ye Goode Olde Days: Nikita dearly misses the old Soviet times when the USSR was still present and communism prevailed.Nikita: This is all very irregular. In the Soviet times-
- You Have Failed Me: After you inform Natasha about SOMBRA getting hold of some satellite equipment and another mole being inside of COSMORUS, she claims you've failed her in keeping her reputation intact, and thus you're no longer allowed to work with or receive her help.
