Yu Xi’s third mory fragnt was obtained in the “Sleeping Beauty” section. Unlike the others, this mory fragnt was not a reward from a nightti amusent park ga. Instead, it appeared as a notification on her phone the mont she entered the “Sleeping Beauty” section, with a ti limit for retrieval.
The prompt read: “It is a thorny fortress, yet also a place of soft beauty.”
Given the story of “Sleeping Beauty,” this clue was quite obvious.
After the princess fell into a deep sleep, the thing that protected her and everyone in the castle was the wild roses growing unchecked outside. These roses wrapped around the castle like a thorny fortress, yet at the sa ti, they blood into the softest and most beautiful flowers.
The clue itself was easy to decipher, but pinpointing the exact location was difficult. The “Sleeping Beauty” section had five different rose gardens. In addition, there were six or seven hotels, inns, restaurants, and dessert shops nad after roses.
And she only had two hours.
Although Yu Xi was fast, running at an inhuman speed during the dayti would attract attention, making it easy for the local guards to arrest her.
Then, she rembered the “Hover Step Substitution Skateboards” she had stored before. She took out two, gave one to Xi Yuan, and they both dashed at full speed, scanning every possible rose-related location. Finally, within the ti limit, she obtained the third mory fragnt.
Compared to the second fragnt, which contained key information, this one was not as revealing. Based on the imagery, it seed to continue from the second fragnt, depicting a routine daily life in that solitary room—changing into white clothes, washing up, sleeping, waking up on ti, eating, and then being taken to a dical-like room for a full-body examination.
However, this fragnt aligned with the ones obtained by Ya Tong and Lin Wu in their latest nightti amusent park ga. Theirs was an “Easter Egg” mory fragnt, containing nearly identical details—especially aspects like the clothing, the dical check-up procedures, and the room layout.
But their fragnts contained even more information. For example, they showed a person wearing a helt, connecting their consciousness to a virtual training ground where they underwent physical, combat, and reaction-based exercises.
“It seems we all entered this place through the sa thod,” Yu Xi said.
By now, they were nearly certain—the Endless Train world was a virtual world. Or at least, the part of the world they were in now was virtual. It was as if their consciousness had entered a computer-simulated training ground.
The only difference was that this simulation was vast, incredibly detailed, and eerily realistic.
So, if they wanted to complete the world mission, escape from this place, and return to where they originally belonged, they might not be able to do so from within this virtual section. They needed to find a way back to the “real” part of this world.
That raised a crucial question—how could they break out of the virtual realm and return to reality?
Perhaps, if soone managed to piece together the full Easter Egg and recover all their lost mory fragnts, they would discover the answer.
At the sa ti, another pressing issue troubled them.
It was obvious that Leng Mian had gathered Ya Tong and the others together and sent them to Yu Xi. The goal was to take down the System Tower. However, all they had done so far was travel between different stations.
What exactly were they supposed to do to fight against the System Tower?
What made this world special? Were they supposed to find a thod here to counter the System Tower, or was there so other approach?
And finally—the biggest question—would Leng Mian co here herself?
“She told
that if she entered this world herself, the System Tower would detect her imdiately,” Xi Yuan said.
“When did she say that? Before you ca here?” Yu Xi turned to look at him.
Xi Yuan hadn’t expected her to ask so suddenly. He hesitated slightly. He didn’t want to lie to Yu Xi, but the truth was that Leng Mian hadn’t told him this before he entered this world.
She had told him decades ago—on his own tiline—back when he returned to the Sevenfold Prison world to save Yu Xi.
“What’s wrong?” Yu Xi had clearly noticed his hesitation.
He thought back to that ti, hidden within the body of Yin Yin, silently watching from re inches away. Back then, he couldn’t speak. He wasn’t able to say a word.
Now, he could speak, but sohow, this still didn’t feel like the right mont.
Those mories—important, deeply personal monts in his life—he only wanted to share them with her.
So, he rely gave a brief answer. “Not this ti. It was before.”
Yu Xi nodded. In truth, she also wanted to know whether Leng Mian would co here herself.
It had happened many tis already. Since the beginning, Leng Mian had used her own power to send allies to Yu Xi’s side, people who could assist her. Yet, she had never appeared in person, and Yu Xi had never understood why.
What Xi Yuan said about “if she enters herself, the System Tower will imdiately detect her” was sothing Yu Xi had never heard before. But if that was the reason Leng Mian had never been able to co to her directly, then it explained many of her previous doubts.
She hoped that this ti, things would be different.
With the mory fragnt discussion finished, they moved on to sorting through their collected items. They had stayed in “Fairy Tale Amusent Park” for 22 days. Other than Yu Xi, who participated in a nightti amusent park ga every night, Ya Tong and the others had participated in about thirteen gas in total.
Since clearing a ga always awarded an item, each of them had obtained at least thirteen items. While many of these were sowhat impractical, such as Yu Xi’s “Dwarf Bread,” and so were downright ridiculous, when they were all laid out together, they made for an impressive collection.
Then, Yu Xi took out Xi Yuan’s collection of items. Incredibly, he alone had obtained nearly half as many items as the four of them combined.
Xi Yuan explained that all of these were acquired in “Fairy Tale Amusent Park.” Due to his unique status at each station, he rarely received mission rewards before. He still hadn’t obtained a personal storage space, and his inventory slots were limited to fifteen, so he couldn’t carry too much.
However, because of his native resident status, he always had a reasonable amount of savings at each station and a place to stay. He would always appear in locations near his designated accommodations, so he never needed to stockpile large amounts of supplies.
The storage space in the amusent park wristband had been the first storage ability he gained in the Endless Train world. When he discovered that surviving as a Nightmare Amusent Park NPC granted item rewards, he spent a period of ti working every day just to be selected for the nightti gas. Over ti, the items accumulated…
“A lot of these are duplicates. You guys can split the extras, and the unique ones can go to Yu Xi,” he said, shrugging. Since he would lose his storage space upon leaving “Fairy Tale Amusent Park” and his inventory slots couldn’t hold this many items, there was no point in keeping them.
There was a wide variety of items—enhancent-type, weapons, and several with special effects, such as temporary skill boosts (though the skill obtained was completely random). There were also multiple individual sleeper cabin upgrade tickets and two team sleeper cabin upgrade tickets.
Yu Xi also noticed several round crystal-like bubbles. According to Xi Yuan, once activated, these bubbles would expand into large, thick, transparent spheres big enough for a person to enter. The sphere had an entrance that could be sealed from the inside.
While inside, the sphere would roll according to the occupant’s movents. Because the sphere was lightweight and elastic, even if it hit an obstacle, it would bounce off and continue rolling in the sa direction.
It sounded absurd, but the bubble actually provided a degree of defense—it allowed the user to roll away while protecting them from attacks. However, prolonged use required an oxygen mask; otherwise, the user could suffocate once the oxygen inside ran out.
Xi Yuan said he had tested one before, during a nightti ga. At that ti, he encountered a particularly strong and ruthless traveler who, for so reason, kept chasing and attacking him. Xi Yuan found it annoying—he wanted the item rewards but didn’t feel like fighting (or working hard), so he simply jumped inside the bubble and let the other traveler attack it for half an hour.
“And then?” Yu Zhenzhen asked eagerly.
“Then the ga ended, and he left, of course.”
“Not bad!” She nodded approvingly.
After so discussion, everyone unanimously decided that all the crystal bubbles should go to Yu Xi—the only one without a protective shield.
Yes, even Xi Yuan had a shield. His skill was bound to his weapon—a black longsword with a burning effect—and he had also collected several high-level defense cards in his starting inventory slots.
Yu Xi looked at the pile of crystal bubbles and imagined herself rolling around inside one…
Yu Xi: …
This was ridiculous.
However, the real MVP item in this inventory review—the one unanimously voted as the most valuable—was sothing Yu Xi had obtained in the special event ga.
It was a “Happy Four-Person Treehouse,” a shrinkable item that, when inactive, looked like a tiny decorative charm attached to a keychain. The charm featured a small green tree with a loop on top, appearing just like an ordinary trinket.
But once activated, a large simulated tree would appear on the spot, with a four-person treehouse nestled among its branches.
Inside, it was an open-concept space with a bathroom and a simple kitchen. The setup included a generator and a water tank—aning that as long as they had fuel and water, both the kitchen and bathroom could function normally.
Although it was designed for four people, it could easily accommodate six or seven if they laid out floor mats.
Essentially, it served as a substitute for tents, portable toilets, camping tables, and chairs—a compact yet highly functional temporary shelter.
It was similar to an RV or a yacht, except that it couldn’t move once deployed. It also required careful placent and defensive asures to ensure safety.
Yu Xi considered that Xi Yuan didn’t have a storage space, and carrying tent-like items would be too inconvenient. She initially planned to let him keep the “Treehouse” so he could use it when needed, but he refused.
“I have a native resident identity at the station, so I have a place to stay. Even if sothing goes wrong and I need to move, I can sleep anywhere. This suits you best—you’re the only one with enough fuel and water supplies. It wouldn’t be as useful for the rest of us. Once we reach the station, let’s regroup as soon as possible.”
So, Yu Xi put it away herself.
She then thought about giving so tal ice and nutrient solutions to Xi Yuan, but his inventory slots were limited to fifteen, and each slot could only hold a single nutrient solution or one bottle of tal ice.
tal ice was slightly better since it provided a large amount of water, with one bottle lasting a decent amount of ti. Nutrient solutions, on the other hand, were a hassle—each one took up a slot and only lasted for three days.
She considered giving him a whole box, but according to inventory slot rules, once an item was unboxed, it couldn’t be placed back unless sealed in another airtight container…
In the end, Xi Yuan stored one bottle of tal ice in his inventory and put ten extra nutrient solutions into his backpack.
Sorting and organizing all their items was an enjoyable process. They spent three to four hours carefully categorizing everything before finally settling in to rest.
After Yu Xi chose her bed, Xi Yuan quietly picked the bunk below hers. When the compartnt was locked and the lights were off, he stealthily climbed up the ladder and peeked his head over the edge, looking at her pillow.
“Go to sleep,” Yu Xi murmured with her eyes closed.
“You haven’t petted
today…” He scooted his face closer.
Yu Xi: ???
She opened her eyes and stared at his strikingly handso features up close, looking completely incredulous. “Aren’t you a little too old to be asking for this?”
“Pfft…” A muffled laugh ca from the other side of the sleeping compartnt. Yu Zhenzhen hadn’t fallen asleep yet and had overheard everything.
Xi Yuan wasn’t bothered by being heard. He deliberately let a trace of grievance slip into his voice. “But you used to pet
all the ti…”
Yu Xi fell silent, looking at him with a mixture of amusent and regret.
Xi Yuan understood that look imdiately.
…It was true. People could never compare to wolves.
Feeling a little dejected, he sighed and said goodnight before preparing to climb down. But just as he turned, a hand reached out from the darkness, gently pressing against his hair.
“Goodnight, Xi Yuan,” Yu Xi said softly. “I’m really happy to see you again here.”
Xi Yuan felt the lingering warmth of her fingers.
In the darkness, his eyes turned red.
He was happy too—extrely, extrely, extrely happy.
**
The station was old and dimly lit. The walls were yellowed and blackened, covered in unknown stains and sticky residue. Overhead lights flickered unpredictably, casting the entire platform in an atmosphere of decay and desolation.
Almost as soon as the train doors opened, the waiting travelers inside instinctively covered their noses.
A putrid, overpowering stench flooded into the car—like a massive pile of rotting fish and shrimp or a heap of garbage crawling with maggots. They were completely unprepared and nearly gagged from the sheer intensity of the sll.
Fortunately, Yu Xi had stocked up on breathing masks at the last station and distributed them to everyone. Now, they all quickly retrieved their masks from their storage spaces (Xi Yuan from his backpack) and covered their mouths and noses.
According to the station announcent, there was no puzzle-solving required here—this was a physical endurance station. They were allowed to disembark through the sa door, but they had only twenty minutes.
“I don’t think we’ve ever encountered a stench this unbearable at a station before. What is this place?” Yu Zhenzhen eyed the filthy, sticky ground outside and decided to keep her shield up the entire ti.
Lin Wu’s voice was low and serious.
“This… is the sll of human decomposition.”
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