Chapter 114
Chapter 114: Power Enough to Grant Him Release
“So, has this time already arrived?”
The Smiling Man recovered from his shock.
He looked at Ye Qiyan and made a gesturing motion of invitation.
“You are still the first person to arrive at the trading Platform. You truly are an excellent Train Captain.”
“I was able to come first last time; if I fall behind others this time, wouldn’t that be quite embarrassing?”
Ye Qiyan walked out of the Train.
“I am here to fulfill our promise.”
Even wearing a mask, it wasn’t hard to discern the Smiling Man’s emotions from his slightly trembling body.
He fell silent for a moment, then suddenly let out a laugh of relief.
“Truly, it surprises me that someone would actually come to fulfill the promise. However, although you are the best Train Captain I have ever seen, let’s scrap the previous promise and pretend it was never spoken. This world will never give me any chance of release!”
There was a hint of madness in the Smiling Man’s tone.
A black tear slid down his mask.
He extended his slender palm, now reduced to bare, ghastly white bones, and took off his mask. Beneath it, his once incomparably distorted face was now completely gone, leaving only a vertical eye right in the center.
“I have tried, I have struggled, and the result is that the curse has deepened, and I am completely unable to die. In this world, perhaps only high-level Train Captains obtaining high-level items within high-level Platforms have the ability to grant me release. But, pardon my frankness, although you are very capable and have great Talent, you cannot possibly obtain those powerful items at the present time.”
Putting the mask back on, the Smiling Man bowed apologetically.
“However, once your level is high enough and you acquire high-level items, you will no longer be able to find this low-level Platform. This is already a dead loop, impossible to break.”
“Sorry, my face will now reduce people’s Mental Power as long as it is exposed to the air. Let’s not think about that promise anymore. Go, respected Train Captain, I will take you to the trading hall. Today’s items for sale are already prepared there. After buying them, rest well and continue on your journey.”
He turned around and left to open the trading hall.
But Ye Qiyan did not follow. He stood in place, looking at the Smiling Man’s slightly hunched back, and spoke:
“What if I say I have a way to grant you release?”
“?”
The Smiling Man’s footsteps paused. After a long while, he slowly turned his head, his body exuding black Qi outward.
“You must be joking.”
Ye Qiyan snapped his fingers, and the Hunting Mechadragon flew out from the Armament Space.
Even without activating any modes, in its normal state, the Hunting Mechadragon still possessed a level of ten.
“What do you think of it?”
Gazing up at the Hunting Mechadragon, the Smiling Man’s body trembled unceasingly. Beneath his black cloak, he slowly raised his bone claw, wanting to reach out and touch it.
“You are actually able to own such a high-level weapon? How is this possible? Clearly your Train level should definitely not exceed level 6!”
“There is nothing impossible about it. A level 10 weapon is enough to grant you release, right?”
The Smiling Man nodded slowly.
More tears fell from beneath the mask to the ground.
“Enough, enough… Its status is enough to crush the curse on my body… Hehe… Finally, am I finally going to be released? Finally, has this day arrived? Can I finally leave this prison that traps me?”
A prison of unknown ages; as long as he stayed in this Forward Station, he would be affected by this endless curse.
He was a human, or at least used to be one.
Being human, he yearned for freedom.
Suppressing the agitation in his heart, he pointed toward the trading hall.
“Please follow me. Although I was punished after last time and can no longer provide you with more items, I will find a way to change this Platform’s most precious item into today’s trading item. If you have enough Train Coins, please be sure to buy that item!”
The Smiling Man extended his bone claws, grabbed Ye Qiyan’s hand, and rushed toward the trading hall.
Evidently, he couldn’t wait to die.
“Don’t rush, I have one more thing to confirm with you.”
“Ask me anything!”
“If I can let you leave this Platform alive, what will happen to the curse on your body?”
“This Platform represents the curse. If I can leave, the curse will naturally stop affecting me, although I cannot restore my original appearance. Why are you asking this? Leaving is impossible; no matter who it is, it cannot be done.”
“What if I can do it?”
“Please stop joking??? This, this is absolutely impossible!”
Ye Qiyan broke free from his bone claws.
“So, just ‘what if’. If successful, I can let you enter somewhere in the wilderness. Although I’m not sure where it will be, it can still be considered leaving this place?”
blasphemy card VII: the anchor’s third ability: Banish.
Remove all Anchor Points and Banish the person into somewhere within that endless wilderness.
This was originally the best method Ye Qiyan thought of before entering the Platform.
Even though the Smiling Man’s appearance had been ravaged to that extent by the curse, to live was to have hope.
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Please do not say such things anymore. This is Blasphemy against the divine; how could its curse be removed?”
Blasphemy?
Well, this indeed was Blasphemy.
Ye Qiyan pulled out a White Forest Fruit and tossed it to the Smiling Man.
“This is your own choice. Give it a try, and you might just survive. If you don’t try, I’ll let my machine dragon grant you release. Choose for yourself. But before that, let’s go to the trading hall first, let me buy the items, and then we’ll talk. Think it over carefully.”
He remembered the direction of the trading hall clearly.
Walking to that doorway, he looked back at the Smiling Man still standing in place and waved.
“Open the door, let me see what this Platform’s most precious item is.”
“…”
The Smiling Man walked over silently and nodded.
“You are right. This is the last work. Wait a moment, I will go replace today’s trading items right away. Do you have enough Train Coins?”
“Of course, I’m quite wealthy right now. Bring out the most expensive item you have here for me.”
Counting the 5 given to him by Zhao Lin, he now had a full 115 Train Coins. No matter how expensive it was, he could afford it.
“It looks like you harvested a lot from the previous few stops. Hehe~ You really are the most special and talented Train Captain I have ever seen.”
The Smiling Man squeezed into a pitch-black side door. A few minutes later, he walked out from that side door with his entire body exuding black Qi.
It was not hard to notice that his body had become even more distorted, and his entire person was completely in a state of extreme agony.
“Re—Replacement successful… Sorry, please proceed to the innermost part of the trading hall by yourself. That item is inside. I cannot accompany you for the time being…”
The curse had deepened.
If he didn’t know that Ye Qiyan could help him gain release, he would never do such a thing again.
Watching Ye Qiyan’s back, the Smiling Man propped himself up with a long-handled scythe, barely straightened his body a bit, and muttered to himself.
“That item, as a reward for granting me release… I hope you will be satisfied.”
