The train arrived at the Station 16.
Gu Jiu stood up, noticing only a faint ache in her back where she had been struck by the hunter. Other than that, her body was fine and wouldn’t hinder her upcoming actions. That blood pill was indeed remarkable, worthy of being crafted by cultivators in the world of immortality. She resolved to stock up on such pills next time.
As the train doors opened, Old Hei glanced at Gu Jiu, as if silently asking if she intended to disembark again.
Gu Jiu stepped off the train calmly.
Seeing this, Old Hei and the others were once again reminded of her relentless determination in her search for someone.
The situation at the Station 16 wasn’t too bad—at least there weren’t human flesh and organs strewn across the ground. However, that didn’t mean it was completely safe.
The group explored the B2 level for a while and found nothing amiss.
Suddenly, a commotion arose from the B1 level.
Old Hei cocked his head to listen and said, “It sounds like there’s a fight on B1.”
The group exchanged glances and decided to check it out. If it turned out to be dangerous, they could simply hold out until the next train arrived and retreat. While they weren’t hardened warriors, they were experienced enough to handle a fight unless it involved monsters like the hunter. Ordinary ghosts and monsters were manageable opponents.
Gu Jiu and Old Hei led the way.
They chose to take the escalator up, moving swiftly. In just a few seconds, they reached B1.
As soon as they arrived, they saw a group of players being chased by ghosts.
The players’ behavior was bizarre. Although nothing seemed to be around them, they were running in circles in a confined space, occasionally lashing out at thin air in a frenzy or smashing their heads against the walls with twisted expressions, as if locked in combat with imagined enemies.
The ghosts, in contrast, appeared grotesque—missing limbs or with mutilated bodies. Despite their pitiful appearances, they were immensely powerful. They didn’t engage the players directly but instead manipulated something unseen, forcing the players to fight against the air or obstacles, toying with them.
Noticing newcomers, the ghosts turned their sinister gazes toward the group.
Old Hei, with his wealth of experience, quickly assessed the situation and said, “These ghosts must be creating some sort of illusion, fracturing the space. Those people are trapped in it, convinced they’re fighting the ghosts.”
At that moment, the ghosts launched an attack without hesitation.
The group felt their surroundings blur and shift. In the blink of an eye, they were no longer in the subway station but in a dim alley. The alley was filled with horrifying creatures—four-legged beasts crouched low, baring fangs that dripped with viscous liquid. Crimson eyes glared coldly at them.
Old Hei roared, as if trying to shatter the illusion.
The monsters lunged at them. Even knowing this was likely an illusion, they couldn’t help but instinctively react.
“Stay calm! Don’t fall for it, and don’t attack your teammates!” Old Hei shouted. “Li Jing, do you have any Awakening Incense?”
Awakening Incense could break through ghostly illusions and traps.
“Only one stick left,” Li Jing replied, drenched in sweat. The illusion crafted by these ghosts was terrifyingly realistic, making it easy for one to forget it was an illusion. If trapped for too long, they would lose themselves, unable to escape, and ultimately perish in the destruction wrought by their own minds.
“Quickly light it!”
Li Jing tried to suppress his thoughts, forcing himself not to look at the monsters, but it was excruciatingly difficult.
The illusion was too realistic. Everything, from the environment to the air, even the stench emanating from the monsters, made him feel as if he were truly there.
“Don’t look.”
A calm voice rang out as a fragrant breeze swept over him. Startled, Li Jing saw Gu Jiu standing in front of him. One of her hands pressed firmly on his shoulder as she instructed, “Look at me!”
Li Jing instinctively looked at her face, his own instantly flushing with embarrassment.
This was the first time in his life he had been this close to a girl. The earlier moment when he carried her while fleeing didn’t count—his mind had been completely preoccupied with survival, leaving no room for romantic notions.
Now, however, she was urging him to look at her. As he gazed at Gu Jiu’s elegant and serene face, the subtle fragrance she exuded masked the foul smell of the monsters, leaving him with no mental capacity to notice the ghosts around them.
“Light the incense!” Gu Jiu commanded.
Snapping out of his daze, Li Jing quickly lit the stick of Awakening Incense. He shielded the small flame with one hand, allowing a thin stream of blue smoke to curl upward.
In no time, half the incense had burned away.
Wherever the smoke reached, the illusion dissipated. The players’ surroundings shifted back to the familiar subway station.
Old Hei, wasting no time, drew his large steel blade and charged at the ghosts.
Heartbroken over the loss of half the incense, Li Jing fumed, “Old Hei, cut them to pieces! Avenge my incense!”
The others joined in, grinning fiercely. “Damn it! We couldn’t take down the hunter, but we can definitely handle you freaks!”
The group unleashed their usual tools and weapons, launching a counterattack against the ghosts.
Caught off guard by the players’ ferocity, the ghosts shrieked in dismay and scattered in panic. With their illusion shattered, the trapped players regained their senses. Upon seeing the ghosts, their initial terror turned into rage, and they too charged at them.
Now faced with dozens of attacking players, the ghosts let out piercing cries and fled toward the subway station’s exit.
The players pursued them relentlessly, chasing them to the tunnel leading out of the station. There, the overhead lights flickered briefly, and the ghosts darted into the pitch-black passage.
The tunnel had no lights, only endless darkness. As the ghosts vanished into it, the players cursed angrily, frustrated that the ghosts only knew how to run and hide.
Gu Jiu, however, curiously studied the tunnel. It wasn’t blocked, but the complete darkness made it impossible to see where it led. She couldn’t be sure if it truly connected to the outside.
Noticing her interest in the passage, Old Hei remarked, “These tunnels aren’t physically blocked, but players can’t get out through them. They always end up back where they started.”
“That’s why we suspect the monsters here all come from outside,” Li Jing added, sneaking a glance at Gu Jiu. When he saw she seemed indifferent, he felt a pang of disappointment.
As expected, she wasn’t interested in men. Her earlier gesture had purely been to help him focus.
Meanwhile, Old Hei began questioning the other players about the situation at the Station 16.
“There were only a group of ghosts here,” one of them explained. “When we first arrived, we didn’t expect them to lie in ambush. They trapped us in their illusion before we even realized what was happening.”
The players looked visibly shaken, but their gratitude toward Old Hei’s group was palpable. If not for their intervention, they were certain they would have perished in the ghosts’ trap.
Gu Jiu interjected, “Have you seen these two people? Their names are Lu Ji and Wan Xingzhou…”
She went on to describe the two’s appearances. However, the players all shook their heads, confirming they hadn’t seen anyone matching those descriptions.
Gu Jiu felt a twinge of disappointment but was not overly dejected. Before departing earlier, she had checked the names of Lu Ji and Wan Xingzhou in the Death Register. Both were still alive. As long as they remained so, they would eventually cross paths.
Taking advantage of the situation, Old Hei and the others asked about the whereabouts of some people they were searching for. To their surprise, they received news about two individuals.
One of them was Li Jing’s partner. Elated, he exclaimed, “I can’t believe Ji Changxin was at the twentieth station yesterday afternoon! If we had set out a little later, we might have run into him.”
Old Hei shared in his joy, laughing, “As long as they’re alive, you’ll meet them sooner or later.”
The group quickly searched the Station 16, but no further clues emerged.
With no other leads, they returned to the B2 level and prepared to board the train.
The other players decided to join them. Though strangers to each other, in the perilous world of the Death Train, there was strength in numbers. Traveling together offered a greater sense of security.
Old Hei didn’t mind traveling with others as long as they weren’t the type to use others as cannon fodder.
When the train arrived, the group boarded.
Before stepping onto the train, Gu Jiu glanced back at the station and left two small paper figurines behind. If Lu Ji or Wan Xingzhou arrived at the Station 16, they would encounter the paper figurines and know she had been there. Similarly, Gu Jiu trusted Lu Ji to leave her own paper figurines at any station she visited.
Since she hadn’t seen any of Lu Ji’s figurines yet, it was clear she hadn’t been to the recent stations they had passed.
—
Lu Ji stood with a dark expression, staring down the blackened tracks, waiting impatiently for the train to arrive.
A group of players lingered nervously behind her. They exchanged anxious glances, but no one dared to approach.
While they had managed to recruit this powerhouse into their team—someone who could cut down undead as if they were mere weeds—they quickly discovered that her temper was far from ideal.
Her sole focus was on finding someone, refusing to waste even a moment. Unfortunately, they had already delayed her multiple times.
Whenever her cold gaze swept over them, filled with disdain for “deadweight,” their guilt gnawed at them.
They were sinners.
Under her teammates’ desperate prodding, Chai Yingying reluctantly stepped forward. She carefully approached her and said cautiously, “Lu Ji, don’t worry. I’m sure the young lady will be fine.”
Lu Ji didn’t respond, but her silence was louder than words, amplifying their unease.
“You should rest,” Chai Yingying pressed on, forcing herself to speak even as her nerves frayed. “You haven’t stopped since yesterday. If your young lady sees you so worn out, she’ll feel heartbroken.”
Lu Ji finally glanced at her and asked coldly, “Are you all done resting?”
Chai Yingying suspected that if she dared to say no, she would stab her with her sword on the spot, solving the problem of their fatigue permanently.
She nodded quickly. “We’re all rested and ready to go.”
Lu Ji turned her gaze to a few players nearby. “How are their conditions?”
“They’re almost fully recovered,” Chai Yingying replied with a nervous smile. She was somewhat flattered that she seemed to care about the others’ well-being. She had assumed she only cared about Gu Jiu, the young lady she was so focused on finding.
But the truth was, Lu Ji didn’t care about any of them.
To someone like him, born under the shadow of misfortune, humans were an entirely different species—curious creatures, but never companions or equals. He simply couldn’t view them as anything more than distant curiosities.
Until he met Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu was the only person Lu Ji had ever felt a sense of connection with, the only human he held dear. It was likely that no other human would ever evoke such emotions in him.
Still, he knew Gu Jiu loved lively environments and was fond of people like Chai Yingying. If Gu Jiu met Chai Yingying, she would probably be delighted. Driven by a peculiar desire to make Gu Jiu happy—and perhaps influenced by Chai Yingying’s earlier comment, “How far along are you and your young lady?”—Lu Ji decided to let Chai Yingying tag along.
After all, she was the only human he had encountered who seemed genuinely invested in the progress of his relationship with Gu Jiu.
For that reason alone, Lu Ji resolved to ensure Chai Yingying’s survival. One day, she would bear witness to their relationship.
Chai Yingying: ???
When the train arrived at the station, Lu Ji was the first to board.
The other players scrambled to follow her, trailing behind like chicks and settling down in the same carriage.
They were now at Station 25.
Yesterday, with Lu Ji’s help, they had successfully reached the first station and boarded the return train. Their original plan was to find a safe station to rest, but Lu Ji had insisted on heading straight to Station 25.
If not for the fact that they encountered dangers on the train and several players had been seriously injured—forcing them to stop and recover at Station 25—Lu Ji would have likely continued riding the forward train after the return train arrived.
Her plan was to search for Gu Jiu station by station, starting from the twenty-fifth stop.
It had taken Chai Yingying all her persuasive efforts to convince her to rest here. Reluctantly, she agreed.
Chai Yingying suggested, “What if Gu Jiu stayed overnight at one of the earlier stations to rest? She might have reached the first station before us.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Lu Ji replied flatly. “If she found the paper figurines, she’ll wait for me.”
Chai Yingying paused. “…You’re that certain?”
Lu Ji shot her a look that spoke volumes.
In that moment, Chai Yingying felt as though she’d been force-fed an invisible pile of dog food. She began to suspect that Lu Ji might have already “bent” the young lady, and that the two of them were now deeply involved in an enviably close relationship.