Chapter 162
Chapter 162: Anyone… Save me…
Some time after Zhao An, Shangguan Yingxue, and the others had left.
Zhao Lin, who remained on the Platform, observed the outside world through a crack in the Train window.
Those men and women dressed in white were pacing back and forth near the Train.
They seemed to be hesitating, yet also seemed to be waiting for something.
The way they looked at the Train was like looking at a live fish on a chopping board.
“Knock, knock, knock~”
There was a knock on the Train door.
An eerie voice came from outside the door.
“Respected Train Captain, are you feeling any better? Our City Lord sincerely invites you to the mansion. A delicious feast has been prepared there, just waiting for your arrival.”
Zhao Lin curled up in a corner, her hands clasped together in prayer, feeling rather frightened.
“I—I already said, I’m not feeling well and don’t want to get off the Train. Just leave me alone.”
*Bang!*
The man in white reached out with a hand hidden beneath his wide sleeve.
It was not a human hand, but a sharp mechanical prosthetic.
The claw dug firmly into the Train door. The door, which had already been upgraded to Level 4, let out a piercing screech under the blow.
“Respected Train Captain, our Ten-Cang Rice City has the best medical facilities. No matter how much pain your body is in, once you reach the city center, everything will be fine. So… please get off the Train.”
The man’s voice grew colder and colder, and by the end, faint, hollow mechanical static could be heard.
Zhao Lin grew even more terrified, her mind filled with utter confusion.
Hadn’t her Bad Luck already vanished? Why was she still encountering such dangerous situations?
She regretted it…
If she hadn’t agreed to come to this station with the others, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out like this.
The Train door was being torn at.
It was only because the Train had been upgraded to Level 4, making its hull much stronger than a Level 3, otherwise the door would have definitely been ripped to shreds by that man in just a short moment.
*Bang—Bang! Bang!!!*
More people in white swarmed around.
Hammers, wooden clubs, sharp claws…
They raised their weapons, incessantly battering and damaging Zhao Lin’s Train.
Seeing the moonlight stream through the newly forced cracks.
Zhao Lin bit her lip and closed her eyes. She picked up a bomb she had prepared beforehand—originally meant to end her own life during some moment of extreme Bad Luck—and held it tightly to her chest.
In her heart, she still held onto one last sliver of fantasy.
“Anyone… someone save me… Brother Qiyan…”
Ye Qiyan’s aloof figure surfaced in her mind.
If Brother Qiyan were here…
*Clang—*
The door was opened.
Zhao Lin covered her ears, ready to detonate the bomb at any moment.
And right at that moment…
“Hey, throw away that thing in your arms. I don’t want to waste an item to save you again.”
Huh?
Was she hallucinating?
Had she already died?
Ah, was this the revolving lantern of memories at the final moment of her life?
How strange. What she saw wasn’t the world she used to live in, but Brother Qiyan?
Zhao Lin giggled. Looking at the person in front of her, she reached out and gently placed her hand on his face, then gave it a hard pinch.
“What the hell??? Have you lost your mind?”
“Eh? The people in the revolving lantern are actually so realistic… Come to think of it, isn’t this going on a bit too long?”
Ye Qiyan slapped his forehead in exasperation. Looking at Zhao Lin, who was hiding inside a small fort made of piled wood with a dumb look on her face, he raised his hand and chopped her on the head.
“Ah, that hurts! Eh? Why does a revolving lantern memory hurt?”
“Revolving lantern my foot! Wake up!”
A White Forest Fruit appeared in his hand. With a firm push, he stuffed it directly into Zhao Lin’s mouth.
“Mph…”
The sweet taste of the White Forest Fruit stimulated her taste buds, and a cool sensation rushed to her head.
Zhao Lin’s consciousness finally cleared up a bit. She stared blankly at the young man in front of her and pinched her thigh hard.
“Ouch, that hurts! It’s not a dream? Brother Qiyan? It really is you! Wow, I thought I was going to die! Why are you here?”
“Talk after you come out.”
Looking at the hand Ye Qiyan held out to her, Zhao Lin blinked and gently placed hers on it.
Stepping out of the Train carriage, she witnessed an unforgettable scene.
Outside the Train, the people in white had already vanished. Scattered across the ground were the fused remains of flesh and machinery.
The Raven Demon sat perched on the roof of a Train.
The Demon Raven was pecking at this not-so-delicious food.
“Did you do all of this, Brother Qiyan?”
“Who else?”
“So amazing…”
With a snap of his fingers, Ye Qiyan commanded the raven to gather all the corpses of these Cyborgs.
He pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time.
It had been less than half an hour since they arrived at the station. The time spent traveling was far more than what it took to deal with these robots.
“Brother Qiyan, why are you here?”
Ye Qiyan glanced at Zhao Lin, a playful curve tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Maybe it’s because your luck is too good, bringing me to this world to save your life?”
“…?”
No, wait.
Now that he thought about it.
Why did he feel like that wasn’t entirely impossible?
Forget it, that wasn’t important anyway.
His choice to come to this station might indeed have been due to Zhao Lin’s luck, but in the end, his decision to save her was simply him following his own heart.
“Luck… hehe, then it seems my Talent really has become very good, to be able to directly summon Brother Qiyan over. That’s no ordinary luck.”
Zhao Lin said with a smile.
“What are you daydreaming about? Remember, you owe me another sum of Train Coins, got it?”
People had to be saved, but money also had to be collected.
Even biological brothers keep clear accounts, let alone her being a woman.
“Ah… oh… profiteer…”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Nothing, nothing! I said, thank you, Brother Qiyan! Once I find a Treasure Chest later, I’ll definitely give you the Train Coins inside!”
Too lazy to pay attention to Zhao Lin’s mumbling, since he had been focused on taking out those guys outside just now, he hadn’t paid attention to his surroundings yet.
All the other Trains here had the lowest-grade carriages. Aside from Zhao Lin’s, only one or two of them looked decent.
“So many Trains. Tsk, what a pity, there are no special carriages.”
By now, he was no longer the newbie who lacked basic resources. To him, these ordinary, lowest-grade carriages were meaningless other than taking up space.
As for the locomotive…
If they could be brought back to the city, each could be sold for a price of 10 Train Coins, provided they could be brought back.
But if placed on the Black Market, their buyback price was even more ridiculous.
Only five Train Coins.
Meanwhile, the selling price was 100 coins, just like the city’s Exchange.
“Nine Trains. Even if thrown into the Black Market, that’s still forty-five Train Coins. Hmm… but they can only be listed on the Black Market after their owners die… Hmm…”
Ye Qiyan rubbed his chin.
He knew these people were being taken to be sacrificed, and he also knew his objective at this station was the City Lord of this Ten-Cang Rice City.
So, should he go a bit later?
And wait until the people here were all dead before turning their Trains into Train Coins?
“However, there is someone I know…”
Shangguan Yingxue, the woman who had sold him water back then, seemed to have already been tricked into going there and was about to become part of the Blood Sacrifice at any moment.
He looked toward the center of Ten-Cang Rice City. The massive building surrounded by the city was emitting an alluring luster under the moonlit night.
Perhaps because his Mental Power stat had increased, his perception of many things had become exceptionally sharp.
Ye Qiyan could clearly sense that this Station World was at a certain tipping point. It only needed one last bit of power to break through the shackles of this place.
And that power was the final ten Train Captains to be sacrificed.
Suddenly, Ye Qiyan understood what he needed to do at this station.
Since this place was called the Ascension Platform instead of the Mission Platform…
Then his goal was not to earn those thirteen Train Coins from Kowai, but to disrupt the Ascension Ritual before they could complete it.
