401: Chapter 401: The Passengers (Long Chapter Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets) 401: Chapter 401: The Passengers (Long Chapter Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets) He Ao walked behind the door and looked at the countdown embedded in it.
The minute hand was on ‘4’, aning there were twenty minutes left?
He had spent about ten minutes searching for things just now, so did that an the ti to pass through the ‘tunnel’ was thirty minutes?
At this mont, He Ao noticed that the partition door was fitting too tightly against the door fra, with almost no gap in between.
It was as if they were glued together.
After pondering for a mont, he placed his hand on the doorknob, twisted it, and pulled inward.
The door did not budge at all, neither the sound of the latch being unlocked nor the sound of the door opening could be heard.
It was as if He Ao was pulling a doorknob embedded into the wall.
He gradually increased his strength, and the physique of his puppet avatar with a strength score of 590 revealed itself at this mont, with bunches of muscles swelling along his arms like coiled dragons.
The entire partition door and the wall connected to it trembled slightly.
Subsequently, the whole door began to bend, stretching out as though it were flexing muscles.
It seed as though He Ao was not pulling on a door forged from steel, but rather on an inner wall made of flesh and blood.
As the partition door beca more twisted and warped under He Ao’s pull, a sound of distortion and wriggling arose from above his head.
The ceiling that lood over He Ao started to contract slowly, while the floor beneath his feet began to ripple, as if it was going to split open slowly.
An appalling and chilling presence ca from all directions, as if in the next second, the compartnt would transform into a twisted, crazed monster, ready to swallow He Ao whole and tear him to shreds.
The familiar oppression of C-level.
As soone who had vanquished two B-levels in the Copy World, He Ao had a pretty good understanding of B-level combat power by now.
Although he had help from friends both tis, without He Ao, his friends wouldn’t have lent a hand—after all, face is a form of strength too.
However, in the main world, it wasn’t so simple for He Ao to ask his friends for help.
If the train really attacked him with all its might, then this puppet avatar was undoubtedly dood.
Nevertheless, his actions did not stop.
Through the haze, he had already pulled the entire partition wall to the brink of tearing, and faintly, He Ao could see the shadow of the twisted corridor.
His strength was also nearing exhaustion in the struggle with the partition wall.
Just a bit more force, and he would be able to tear the entire wall open and enter the corridor.
At this mont, the compartnt he was in had almost completely lost its original shape; all walls were wriggling and twisting, closing in on He Ao, ready to completely devour him.
Right at the mont when these distorted walls were about to touch He Ao—
Bang—
He Ao let go of his grip.
The entire wall rebounded as if the rewind button had been hit, with everything in the room rapidly retreating; in an instant, the whole compartnt returned to its original state.
Tick-tock—tick-tock—
The clock embedded in the compartnt door in front of He Ao ticked away as usual.
He turned around, and the pajamas in the closet still maintained the wrinkles from his recent rummage.
Everything seed as if nothing had happened, the ‘crisis’ just now appeared to be nothing more than He Ao’s illusion.
Indeed, the train only acted according to its rules.
All transcendent items have their own set of rules, and only by eting the corresponding rules can the powers of the transcendent items be utilized.
For example, the B-level Miracle of the Miracle Wand requires He Ao to kill six C-levels, fulfilling so sort of specific ritualist rules.
Ever since boarding the train, He Ao realized that the interior of Vinora operated on so specific rules.
The attendant who waited for passengers to board, passengers who got a compartnt upon boarding.
And when passing through the ‘tunnel’, all passengers were required to enter compartnts akin to safe rooms.
Also, he had just figured out that once they entered the ‘tunnel’ and the compartnt door closed, it could not be reopened, perhaps not until they exited the tunnel.
These were detailed ‘rules’.
By adhering to these rules, one would not be attacked by the train, and could survive to a certain extent while on board.
He Ao was just testing the limits of these ‘rules’ and seeing to what extent he could break them if he went all out.
Following the rules does not guarantee survival on the train, and He Ao couldn’t possibly trust an item that could be fraught with madness and contamination.
Maybe the final rule is ‘everyone must die’.
He Ao sat back on his bed, rested for a while, and waited for his strength to slowly recover.
When the countdown reached the final ten minutes, he walked to the door and placed his hand on the doorknob.
Instantly, the whole compartnt beca restless again.
This ti He Ao didn’t “absorb” to the full extent, but instead stopped halfway and then released it, causing the restless compartnt to quickly return to normal.
And just as the compartnt returned to its original state, He Ao’s hand on the doorknob exerted force once more.
The entire carriage seed to stutter for a brief mont, then rapidly ca alive with movent.
Then he “absorbed” halfway again and let go.
——
While his puppet avatar was conducting a ‘reaction test’ for the train on the Vinora, He Ao himself once again pushed his chilled noodle stall out.
Although he was now the Deputy Director of the overseas departnt at the Research Institute and stood among the world’s top C-level powerhouses, he still found joy in selling chilled noodles once in a while.
It allowed him to earn so pocket money and calm his mind.
Ever since Grandpa Fang was hospitalized, he had no noodles to use, and he hadn’t put out his stall.
Today, he made ti to buy so good-quality noodles at the market and processed them himself.
“Young man, we thought you went back to your hotown to get married; we haven’t seen your stall for a week, and we’ve been craving it.”
He had just set up his stall for a few minutes when several girls ca over, seemingly just off work.
They ordered a few servings of chilled noodles to eat right there.
People ca and went.
Before long, an acquaintance appeared before He Ao, “A large serving of sweet and sour chilled noodles.”
It was Zhang Ansha.
Zhang Ansha was the head of the Xidu Research Institute and had eaten He Ao’s chilled noodles once before.
At a ti when a wave of people was passing by and there was no one around, Zhang Ansha leaned on the clear showcase, laughing as he watched He Ao, “Kid, it hasn’t been long since you surpassed .
I have to call you Minister He now.
Out with the old and in with the new…”
“Alright, Zhang, stop playing around with here.”
He Ao prepared the noodles quickly.
With his current level of clearance, he could access Zhang Ansha’s information.
Although Zhang had been stuck at D-level, he was very strong in his own right, an Elder in the Research Institute, and he had previously obtained a C-level Secret dicine of the Talent Sequences in the ruins.
All he lacked was the right opportunity.
“Look at you, talking like that.
Even if I advance now, I won’t be able to match you.
Add so extra sugar, I like it sweet,” Zhang Ansha said, laughing.
Then he looked up around, at the quiet street, bright lights, and chattering crowd, “This place of yours is quite special, a great hermit hiding in the market.”
“Just earning so pocket money,” He Ao put the chilled noodles into a paper bowl, “You’ve been hanging around here for a few days, haven’t you?
Otherwise, how could I have run into you so perfectly?”
“I subconsciously co here for a walk after you return from overseas,” Zhang Ansha said with a smile, “Your skill is truly impressive.
After eating it once, it made so itchy for more, I’d believe it if you said you added so pollutants in there, making want to co every day.”
“You can only enjoy it once or twice.
No matter how delicious sothing is, you can’t eat it all the ti.”
He Ao smiled and packed the noodles, placing them on the counter.
That’s when his phone vibrated.
It was a ssage from Yang De.
Yang De: [Are you still in Dongdu?]
He Ao: [I’m back in Xidu.]
Yang De: [Alright, I’ll ask for your address so we can assign tasks later.]
He Ao: [Is the plan ready?]
Yang De: [Not yet, we’re planning to carry out a preliminary interception overseas first to test the reaction of the Vinora, and then we’ll proceed with the detailed plan.
Stay in touch.]
He Ao: [Okay]
He Ao put down his phone, and Zhang Ansha waved to him as they said goodbye.
The number of people coming and going after work began to increase.
——
The countdown clock finally zeroed.
He Ao heard a crisp ‘click’ sound.
It seed like the sound of a door lock being unlocked.
He turned the doorknob and pulled it gently, with bright sunshine streaming through the corridor and illuminating the compartnt.
For so reason, He Ao felt that at the mont he opened the door, the whole compartnt seed to breathe a sigh of relief.
It seed that the train was not as playful as he was; they could continue to play once they entered the tunnel later.
At this mont, the train was still running alongside the coast, by a spectacular sea cliff.
The train moved beneath the radiant sunlight along the edge of the cliff.
Through the windows of the corridor, one could vaguely see the surprised expressions of people on a distant cruise ship.
These people were leaning on the railing, observing this singularly beautiful and mystical scene.
He Ao could even hear their cheers.
It was at that mont he heard another faint ‘click’ sound.
To his right, the door of compartnt number two was slowly opening.
He turned his head, and the first thing that caught his eye was a chest as vast and undulating as the waves, along with a few strands of dazzling blonde hair that lay across it.
Following that, a buxom woman with golden hair, wearing a white, fitted knit sweater dress and holding a pair of white round-frad glasses, appeared in He Ao’s field of vision.
She looked toward He Ao with a hint of confusion, slowly placing the white round-frad glasses on her face.
Then, as soon as her vision cleared, she instinctively backed up half a step, leaning on the wall and retracting half of her body back into the compartnt.
He Ao: ¿
Am I that frightening?
“Hello?”
She seed to be from the Tia Empire, so He Ao tried to ask softly in Tia language.
He himself didn’t speak the Tia Empire’s language, but Hu Wen did, and he had received so fragntary mories from Hu Wen.
“Hello.”
Seemingly hearing a familiar language from He Ao, the woman glanced at him and appeared a bit less afraid, cautiously responding.
“How did you get on the train?” He Ao made sure to keep his tone gentle, as she seed to have been startled on the train, “I got on from Alano Noti Island.”
“I was traveling in the Nolai Republic.” The woman spoke softly, “The train stopped in front of , and sohow, I just got on.”
Then she seed to rember sothing, looking around with a hint of horror, “This train…
seems to be alive…
”
Yes, indeed, it’s alive, I was just playing a ga with it not long ago.
Isn’t it reasonable for a train to be alive?
It can move, and moving objects are simply called animals, right?
However, it seed that she had been quite scared, so He Ao didn’t want to frighten her further and softly asked, “Are you from the Tia Empire?”
“Mm…”
The woman nodded gently, about to say sothing, when at that mont, a soft sound of footsteps ca from behind He Ao.
He Ao turned his head to look behind him.
“Is soone there?”
Spoken in the Tia Empire’s language.
A girl wearing a round-top straw hat, with a fair complexion, a slender figure, dressed in a floral dress, and standing around one ter sixty or so, boarded from the rear of the car, “Is this so sort of tourist spot, or what?
An abandoned train from the last century?”
The latter sentence was in fluent Central Earth language.
Judging by her appearance, she seed to be Central Earthian.
Click—
Accompanied by a crisp sound, the door behind the girl slamd shut.
And in that mont, a figure passed swiftly in front of He Ao and the blonde woman; in a very brief span, he reached the girl and said in fluent Central Earth language,
“Hello, welco aboard the Vinora.
We will take you on a tour of the world’s mountains and seas, and it’s our honor to serve you.”
The attendant, smiling gently, handed the girl a door card, “Your compartnt is number four.”
The girl glanced at the handso attendant before her, who wore an amiable smile, then back at the firmly closed door behind her, swallowing nervously, “Can I get off the train?”
The attendant did not speak but continued to smile, maintaining his pose of offering the door card, like a rigid puppet.
The train gradually started, the scenery outside the window began to whiz backwards.
She took out her cellphone, fumbled with it two or three tis, and finally unlocked it with trembling fingers.
Then she entered the dial screen and quickly dialed a number.
Following a brief ‘beep—,’ the call interface exited.
After trying several more tis with the sa result, she looked at the signal icon in the top right corner, which now showed ‘×’.
There was no signal inside the train.
She turned her head to look back through the small window in the door, where the beautiful outside scenery continued to fly backwards, but she no longer felt in the mood to enjoy the sights.
She looked around, her gaze sweeping across the dining car and He Ao and the blonde woman standing in the corridor.
She realized she had been caught up in so unknown danger, and after sizing up the difference between her physique and that of the attendant, she shakily took the door card he offered.
“Wishing you a pleasant journey, the Vinora will bring you an unforgettable experience.”
The attendant said gently with a smile.
The girl nodded tremulously, feeling that she had already embarked on an unforgettable journey.
She glanced at the attendant, then at He Ao in the corridor, and almost ran up to him, asking quickly,
“Brother, are you from Central Earth too?
Are you a ‘passenger’ on this train?”
The girl’s voice was sweet, with a hint of magnetism that irresistibly evoked a protective desire.
“Calm down.
I ca on board in pretty much the sa state as you,” He Ao replied in the language of Central Earth, “I was visiting Alano and then accidentally got on this train.”
“Alano, I want to go there too.
I hear the sunrise at Noti Island is beautiful, but I also heard it’s too chaotic there,”
Talking about sothing familiar, the girl’s nervousness seed to ease sowhat.
She glanced around and said in a low voice, “Brother, can we get off this train?”
As the girl asked this, He Ao suddenly realized that when the train had stopped earlier, he had almost no awareness of it and hadn’t thought about getting off at all.
Although he didn’t want to get off, that didn’t an others didn’t, like the blonde woman in front of him who seed utterly bewildered and probably wanted to get off.
But she had shown no reaction either.
He Ao turned his head and looked at the blonde woman, asking in the language of Tia, “Why didn’t you get off just now?”
Hearing He Ao’s question, the woman snapped out of her trance.
She rushed to the rear of the train, leaned against the carriage wall, and stared at the closed doors and the scenery flying past the window, falling into so sort of stupor.
After about ten seconds, she turned her head trembling and looked at He Ao, “I forgot…”
Her words also reached the ears of the girl standing in front of He Ao.
The girl seed to understand the language of the Tia Empire but not much of it.
She looked at He Ao with a hint of concern and asked, “Brother, when that sister said ‘forgot,’ did she an she forgot to get off?”
He Ao nodded gently.
The girl in front of him was actually much calr than He Ao had expected.
A regular person, faced with such a situation, would have been wailing and desperate to get off, not taking the ti to receive a keycard from the attendant.
But the girl calmly took the keycard and imdiately sought out He Ao, who had an obvious Central Earth appearance.
Clearly, she realized that crying and making a scene was useless, and what she needed was to find a reliable ‘ally’ to glean information from first.
‘Fellow countryman’ He Ao was obviously the ally she had chosen.
She spoke sweetly, looked adorable, and it was hard for n to feel hostility toward her.
She knew how to use her advantages to her benefit.
A very clever young lady.
The blonde woman was not dumb either and quickly adjusted her emotions.
She also discovered that the train was ‘alive.’
It seed that Vinora did not select its passengers at random, but followed its own internal criteria.
Having selected so many people who t a special standard, what did the train want to do?
“Brother, what should we do next?”
With her eyes wide, the girl looked at He Ao, sowhat at a loss, “Brother, you don’t know my na yet.
My na is Lin Chichi.”
“My na is Hao Yi,”
He Ao made up a na on the spot and looked out at the passing scenery, “At the next station, we’ll see if we can get off.
The first rule you need to rember on this train is to follow the rules.”
“Hao Yi, brother’s na sounds nice.”
Lin Chichi nodded obediently, mulling over the words He Ao had just spoken, “Follow the rules…”
The scenery outside the window remained beautiful, but the people inside the window were no longer free to enjoy the view as they pleased.
“Um, about that thing you guys were just talking about, are there any points I should pay attention to?
Could you also tell ?”
At this mont, the blonde woman had cautiously approached He Ao’s side, glanced at Lin Chichi in front of him, and asked carefully.
It seed she had noticed that He Ao was warning Lin Chichi about sothing.
“It’s nothing complicated…”
He Ao simply relayed the rule about following the rules to the blonde woman, then prepared to inquire if she had made any discoveries before.
Just then, Lin Chichi quietly asked, “Brother, what does it an specifically to follow the rules?”
In that instant, a jarring alarm suddenly sounded.
“Return to your compartnts!”
He Ao said quickly.
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