–So that’s it. I thought it was some kind of Moxel ability manifestation. By the way, I saw he used a capability sphere with such powerful Chronos storage. Who is he?–
No one inside the house knew.
In the great hall.
Rose Queen listened as the noises outside gradually quieted, and the bizarre mental torment had faded for a while.
–He’s gone.–
The girls, who had tightly encircled Shiu Aiyuan, holding hands to protect her, finally dared to let go and lift their heads.
The young girl with a baby face, hit by the coin, tearily picked up the glowing coin.
The information carried by it appeared in her mind.
[Life Bank: 100N.]
[I can use an extra 100N.]
Her body trembled slightly, then she looked up at the big sister who gazed back at her with a tender expression.
–Only a hundred years.–
She murmured softly, feeling a bit embarrassed.
With Chronos, one’s face could regain youth, but the naive temperament clinging to her was hard to disguise. Shiu Aiyuan looked at the girl’s appearance before her—this should be her true age, yet she was willing to rush recklessly to protect her.
At this moment, Rose Queen’s heart felt a touch of solace.
She took the coin, which was imprinted with the usual four characters: –ZiCang First Year.–
[I can use an extra 100 N.]
Her beautiful eyes swept across the distant ground, where chunks of charcoal faintly glowed around—these shoddy trinkets littered the earth everywhere.
Shiu Aiyuan brushed her hand over her leg, settling her qipao before sitting down. With a glint in her eyes, she clasped the iron coin in her palm: –That guy.–
A clatter of messy footsteps came from outside the hall.
The women looked toward the entrance, but the man who was just there had vanished without a trace.
……
Night.
The train hurtled at even greater speed.
Occasionally, passing through places inhabited by people, they caught sight of that eerie ghost-train, as chilling as a bullet-head streaking through the Peng Zone—scattering the onlookers in panicked screams.
–That’s twelve.–
He pulled out yet another from nearby. Little Liu on the train let out a deep sigh of relief—they were already nearly halfway. Zuo Feixian glanced guiltily at the rest of the crowd in the carriage; even now, he wasn’t sure whether what he’d done was right or wrong. If it was wrong, perhaps every human on this earth might face catastrophe. But he had no choice.
Yang ZiCang unfurled the map and crossed out several marked circles with a pen.
–On the map that mysterious being gave us, there are less than thirty spirit stones marked.–
–Judging by the images those little ones showed us just now, it seems there aren’t just thirty spirit stones on this earth.–
Yang Zicang pondered for a moment, then looked at the few people before him:
–I think this much should be enough to handle it…–
Rumble! The train burst through a mountain range, churning up a deafening roar as if smashing through a tranquil lake, while outside the window plunged into a deeper, heavier darkness, like hurtling through a cave.
Robin Lo said cautiously: –Further ahead, much of it is still Red Moxel’s Peng Zone; we can’t afford to be careless.–
–That piece of Godstone they were transporting to Rose Creek earlier—it was probably from a nearby Peng Zone. The map marks two Godstones closest to Rose Queen. If the place we’re heading to now has none, we’ll head straight to the farther one.–
–Alright.–
The train whooshed through mountains and plains, and the outline of a dilapidated settlement appeared up ahead, its noise sparse, almost silent.
Suddenly, a small gleaming cluster of light flew down.
It was a strange little creature, looking rather cocky.
{Listen up, big shots.}
–What’s wrong?–
Yang Zicang turned to look at him. The tiny creature landed atop a massive Godstone, lounging on its side, propping its head on one hand, and flicked its tiny palm—a faint force field sealed off the area around them.
{We can’t record the area any further ahead.}
–Can’t record it.–
A tremor ran through the hearts of the group. There was only one explanation for such a phenomenon. Instantly, they were reminded of the anomalies that arose in Chief Xiao’s presence.
–Ahead…?–
Yang Zicang said nervously:
–Are you saying that there’s something like…–
{I’m already breaking the rules! Anyway, be careful, it’s best to leave right away.}
As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of electric sparks suddenly erupted from this little messenger’s body.
Crackle, crackle!
The little guy’s entire body instantly looked as if struck by lightning—his face was blackened, his hair singed and frazzled, and it stood up in all directions.
He glared at Yang Zicang with his tiny eyes, then got up and transformed into a ball of light wreathed in smoke, wobbling erratically as it flew out through the carriage and into the void.
–That little reporter is risking danger to help you.–
–Matt Chao, go around the Peng Zone ahead.–
The train had already heard this warning.
Just as it was about to approach that eerily silent Peng Zone, it abruptly swerved and cut a great arc, charging from the edge of the Peng Zone into the darkness.
Inside this Peng Zone, a silhouette as massive as a small hill sat on a broad and exquisite blanket of fur; this silhouette was as tall as a house.
It was the body of a human being.
In his hands, he clutched a rock bound with chains, surrounded by the corpses of humans.
More than a dozen survivors were huddled on the ground, trembling in fear, constantly scribbling something on the paper in front of them.
–So it swerved and went away.–
This man stood up, nearly ten meters tall, like an oversized sumo wrestler. The short robe on his body rustled without wind, adorned with embroidered scenes of shifting mountain mist and ocean waves.
–Since they’ve found me here, it must be because the reporters informed on me. Are they unwilling to acknowledge the editor-in-chief or what?–
–Secretary Shan.–
Around him, two dwarfish, bizarre figures looked at him with deference: –Should we pursue that group of celebrities?–
–Of course, we can’t let those ignorant beings gather the spiritual wraiths.–
He looked down at the several people trembling in fear from his words.
–You, keep writing your autobiographies, everything about Earth. Write as much as you can—that world seems quite intriguing.–
The short, strangely grinning outsider added cheerfully:
–Too bad it’s just a civilization born mere millennia ago. Their tales are nothing more than seasoning you read like novels, not even one-tenth the magnificent, twisted wonder you’ve lived through, oh great one.–
–Still, it’s an irreplaceable flavor on its own. Besides, most of all, us experiencing such ages is just mental illusion, to us. I’ll be heading off now.–
The secretary Shan sat cross-legged on the giant street stall. As energy surged within his body, the huge, shaggy, flowery blanket lifted and hovered off the ground. The next second, it whooshed into the distance. Two to three seconds after blasting off, a sonic boom echoed throughout the distance.
BOOM!
The disturbed air flipped the clothes, papers, and the bloodstains on the ground. The sharp-nosed, short figure like a waiter suddenly turned his head, a flash of cruelty in his eyes.
–You beasts, if these papers are lost, you’ll pay with your lives!–
Everyone panicked, scrambling frantically to grab the flying papers.
The train sped through the air. Yang Zicang felt something and turned to look inside, gazing backward from the semi-transparent shadow carriage.
A small black dot charged from the faint light on the horizon at an astonishing speed.
–Something is chasing us.–
The others turned to look, and that small black dot was slowly growing larger.
An invisible pressure surged towards them.
–What is that?!–
–Whatever it is, Matt Chao, hurry up!–
Whoosh—
The train seemed to pick up speed, but soon the distance that had widened began to shrink again.
After just over a minute, Xiao Liu and the others could already see a colossal floating carpet adorned with exquisite patterns, bearing the massive frame of a burly man. His hair was tied in a topknot, he wore an elegant short robe with billowing sleeves, baring his chest and belly, his eyes fierce as a dragon or tiger, exuding an aura thick as a mountain.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of sonic booms rippled out, astonishing people for miles around.
In the distant darkness, someone stood atop an undulating hillside, gazing into the distance.
–What is that?–
They saw a ghostly train racing across the barren land, with a colossal figure trailing behind like a cannonball shot from a barrel, drawing closer with each passing moment.
–The one ahead should be the big shot, Cargo Crew from the C-grade leagues—and the one behind…–
–Could it be a Moon Shadow Monster?–
On the hillside, the onlookers watched in perplexity as the two tracks vanished at breakneck speed.
Inside Hubville.
The employee who had been monitoring Yang Zicang’s group finally lost restraint, reaching out to slap the monitor that was flickering wildly on a convex CRT screen.
Those around him stared in shock at his movement.
–What are you doing!–
–Trying to get yourself killed, huh? That’s not something you just hit.–
The kid came to his senses at once. –Oh, sorry, everyone! The signal keeps dropping.–
Someone voiced an uncertain analysis:
–Don’t worry, probably those little reporters are too focused on something else. Maybe they’ve gotten bored watching the train chase.–
With that, the crowd in the observation room turned their gazes to other monitors—after all, everywhere on the Shibin Wastes, alibis were being fabricated and hostilities were brewing. Many figures who had been overlooked before were now erupting with real strength on the screens, captivating the audience with silent amazement.
The vast land still harbored many hidden individuals of precious ability.
It was just that they themselves were unaware of their potential, or those around them failed to uncover it—but tonight’s upheaval finally let them step into the spotlight.
–That screen signal is also lost.–
One person pointed to a grainy image in the upper left corner.
–Isn’t the Peng Zone in the midst of heated battle right now?–
–Fighting’s breaking out everywhere. Little reporter must be sick of it all. Whoa, Yang ZiCang’s feed is back.–
Everyone’s eyes converged on those screens. Inside, the train was picking up speed, but within seconds, it cut out again.
This time, four or five screens focusing on Yang ZiCang all simultaneously lost their broadcast feeds.
–Something’s off.– Ju Yin Chase rested one hand on his hip and braced the other against the edge of the solid wood desk, his gaze sharp as he stared ahead.
No sooner had he spoken than the severed feeds all flickered back, showing the train racing along—yet the little reporters seemed to have silently zoomed in closer in unison.
But within two seconds, the zoomed-in feed disconnected again!
–Damn it! Something’s definitely wrong.–
–Is something interfering with the reporters’ broadcast?–
Without Ju Yin Chase’s reminder, everyone had already sensed the anomaly.
The atmosphere in the room shifted abruptly.
Could this be the reason day turned to night?
If the Shibin Wastes are truly remarkable, it would have to be these mysterious little beings of unknown origin—carefree, immune to any real harm, nearly invincible in their existence.
But now, something unknown can interfere with them, and those things are chasing the phantom train.
–The train has accelerated several times—it must be fleeing. It has already missed several Peng Zones,– said the group anxiously.
–Let me ask what’s going on.– A Moxel emerged from Ju Yin Chase’s chest.
–Futown, Yang Zicang might be the trigger tonight. Are you sure it’s okay for you to step in and ask?–
–No time to care about that now.–
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