Chapter 64: Midnight Train’s Next Stop

His clenched fist suddenly shot out from amidst the rapidly expanding red phantoms—whoosh!
[Dispatch!]
The fierce wind erupted with a violent boom of red flames!
[Morrie returned my 2000N investment.]
The recently depleted time was immediately replenished!
Yang Zicang’s thigh muscles bulged as he swung a leg carrying a heavy, wild gale toward the flame-shrouded figure, the air of the entire carriage seeming to sway and churn.
Bam! Ma Chao felt as if he had been slammed by a truck.
His thrusting sword was already too late to retract and block in front of him. In that moment, he bore the pain and slashed it horizontally.
Yang Zicang twisted his head slightly, thrust out an arm, and punched the sword’s blade.
The long sword rang out with a twang, then flew off and lodged into the train ceiling.
Rumble, rumble, the body of the Nightmare Train trembled.
The time sequences offset each other continuously.
[Morrie returned my 2000N investment.]
“You actually have that much time? Are you that desperate to kill me?”
“The moment you dragged my people into this, you were already dead!”
Yang Zicang struck with faster and fiercer energy fists, each punch landing on his head.
[Molly has refunded my 2000N investment.]
[Molly has refunded my 2000N investment.]
“Woo——”
The train sped rapidly through the illusion, heading toward the next stop.
By the time Yang Zicang delivered the tenth punch, he knew someone must be investing points for Ma Chao in the Mirror, or the guy would have been dead already.
“Where do you think you’re going? Thought you were so tough, didn’t you!”
His emotions infected by the model, Yang Zicang roared and swung his fists in fury.
Blood flowing from his mouth and nose, Ma Chao said deliriously, “You fool, I’ll make you die a miserable death!”
“Is that so.”
Yang Zicang turned his head, and a blow mixed with flames and gale force struck the train floor, like a giant drum sounding.
Boom! The high-speed train jolted to a violent halt, and Yang Zicang could even hear its agonizing screech.
The long sword embedded in the top vibrated loose and fell. Its vertical trajectory abruptly trembled, defying the laws of physics, as its tip twisted toward an object on the ground a few meters away.
Ma Chao’s expression shook violently.
“You dare!”
“I dare your grandfather!”
Clang! The long sword pierced the kaleidoscope on the ground directly.
This long sword was also a Chrono Weapon. In one strike, it cracked the kaleidoscope with a snap, and the colorful energy layer enveloping the train began to weaken.
White Shadow Thought-Dragon ripped off a section of the train compartment wall, revealing a chaotic, gaping hole.
“Ah~ How dare you!” Ma Chao shook his fist in fury. The city’s one and only psionic defense treasure was shattered!
Countless fist shadows rained down. One punch, two punches, but on the third, the red glow on Ma Chao’s hand vanished, turning into a golden hue.
Now!
Yang Zicang seized this fleeting opportunity for investment, driving a fist into Ma Chao’s heart. The opponent’s reaction, swift and aligned, from Defensed this strike with an equally timely follow-up investment.
At that moment, however, the “floral armor” on him faded away. White Shadow Thought-Dragon lunged forward, yanking out Ma Chao’s psionic entity with a single bite.
In that instant, Yang Zicang seemed to hear faint murmured sounds of investation and thought commands through White Shadow Thought-Dragon.
[Someone intends to add to invest 5000N.]
[Addition investment failed…]
[Ma Chao shall leave this city and head for…]
[Escape… you will truly die!]
[Someone wants to add to Ma Chao’s invested 5000N.]
[Addition investment failed…]
Nine upon nine silvery flickers converged in a streak of light.
{Yang Zicang, ends this! Killing him will be how we all die!}
{The Eagle Elite will retaliate indiscriminarelly; ends this all!}
Unexpectedly, the very force opposite had revealed themselves as such a set of sell-coats speaking heedlessly to leverage the financial model.
{There will be countless the blindly in those, nothing harmed to heart, by your act—cessates it!}
For Yang Zicang, he merely felt those pleas faint upon his nerve yet swept them blindly away to bind in nowhere attentions ever he let share inside being called remembered in thought’s search…
As the deadly sprint to escape the zone unfolded outside, the crowd was thrown into an uproar upon receiving these flashing modal requests.
Chu Qiang, who was retreating, nearly stumbled.
He gazed in disbelief at the information conveyed by the flickering polyline on his chest.
So many people were trying to stop Yang Zicang!
And some were saying Vigor Group would retaliate ruthlessly?
Moli, witnessing this scene in Hub Town, couldn’t help but swallow nervously. He leaned in and whispered to the curly-haired boy beside him:
“See that, Boppoli? That’s the big shot who gave you all those contracts. He even brought out that Ghost Centipede. I’ve watched him grow, bro.”
Boppoli’s eyes sparkled with envy. “Oh my God, you actually got help from someone like him? Wow!”
……
In Yang Zicang’s hand, the temporal sphere more than twenty thousand years old, quadruple-amplified from the afterlife, wrapped around his fist as it struck the train carriage near Ma Chao’s chest. The monster howled in pain.
[I offset 20,000 N.]
Outside came the sound of human bodies hitting the ground. He turned his head and saw people in the other carriages falling down, faded and breathless.
Yang Zicang’s heart trembled. The temporal force of that punch had been distributed onto them.
In one punch, dozens to hundreds of lives were extinguished. A shudder ran through his heart.
{He is not fit among you… you… don’t kill me… you are my new master, let it be so.}
“You——!”
His eyes at this moment were like those of an evil dragon, but he suppressed the urge to destroy this nightmare monster. This scene jolted Yang Zicang awake from his madness.
A trace of regret surfaced.
Ma Chao’s psychic body hung limply from the mouth of the White Shadow Thought-Dragon.
As his psychic power had left his body, this person, who had hoped to disappear through it, failed in his attempt.
The blurry, humanoid psychic mass, after its initial confusion and struggle, had now somewhat regained its senses. This was all because the parasitic nightmare was also a psychic entity.
Ma Chao’s voice came in fragmented, painful tones:
“…Kill… me.”
“If you kill me, Yang Zicang will die too, hahaha… take all… my timeplasarity, and Yang Zicang can… leave here. Someone will… avenge me… later.”
He rambled on to himself, neurotically. At this moment, Ma Chao had lost his lucid personality; he was nothing more than a patient mumbling under anesthesia.
Seizing the opportunity, Yang Zicang calmed himself and asked, “How much accumulated timeline force will cause one to disappear?”
“That would be… ten thousand years.”
Ma Chao’s psychic body became ethereal, sometimes resembling a pig, sometimes a grotesque monster with four hands and fangs protruding from its mouth, but more often, it was an ugly, distorted humanoid gradually emitting a chilling aura.
Yet, at other times, it would briefly reform into Ma Chao’s image, and whenever this happened, he would speak to himself.
{That… the strongest person in the Hero Group… will head there to kill YangZicang and avenge me.}
YangZicang glanced at him and asked the train with an indifferent tone:
“Where was he originally supposed to have you take me?”
{To your Hub Town, or to Lu Bu’s place.}
“Hub Town, do you have many people there?”
{Very few. I can only bring one person over each time. Because we don’t have permission, our stay is short. But they’ve bribed some people there.}
This was what Mori referred to as smuggling.
For people outside the time sequence spreading zone, tens of hours inside amount to just a few hours outside. Sending himself over would mean a long time passes within this zone in no time.
“What are your people doing? How do they get into the nests to ripen the Defenders?”
The Train said:
{The new member Huang Zhong, a small bus can merge into the ground.}
YangZicang naturally thought of someone with the surname Huang. That bastard… it was him after all!
But that makes sense. Director Huang has the ability to burrow into the ground. It’s not hard to understand that he was chosen by someone like the council member. Besides, he should have been in this area at the time.
The Blazing Sword Technique was activated, and the flames scorched Ma Chao’s body, but his silver uniform appeared intact in the fire. Not only was there no damage, but even the chest area that had been shattered by his attack was restored.
YangZicang’s hand touched the silver uniform, and the clothes instantly transformed into a ball of light that merged into his consciousness, as if becoming a station platform.
[It seems I have become the conductor of the Midnight Train.]
He took a moment to assess it; fortunately, the White Shadow Thought-Dragon could easily tear this thing apart. Yang Zicang felt relieved.
“What is the ‘Defender’?” Yang Zicang asked the train.
{We contain the Defenders to learn more about the ‘Monsters.’ I also want to know why I was born into such a world—my inherited memories show a world without us. It shouldn’t be long before Lu Zhishen successfully contains one.}
Yang Zicang’s reserved eyes showed a hint of contemplation.
He stood up. “How does Lu Zhishen compare to Ma Chao in terms of strength?”
{Correction—Ma Chao is me; he’s just my conductor.}
“Then I’ll call you Little Ma Chao.”
{I’m quite big…}
The train retorted tactfully and wisely dropped the subject, instead saying:
{Lu Zhishen is slightly better than the previous conductor in combat. Containing a Defender requires the approvals provided by the Council members. Whoever possesses that item can contain it, provided the Defender is willing to cooperate. Right now, Lu Zhishen is controlling the item.}
“Take me to Lu Zhishen. I trust you can do it.”
{Can you spare me a bit of starting sequence? Just 1N will do.}
The silver uniform materialized on the young man’s body. Dim red light flickered along the garment’s patterns—this suit was the hub controlling the train.
Yang Zicang placed his hand on the nameplate on his chest. The light on it shifted, revealing the inscription: 【Conductor: Yang Zicang】.
After committing the time sequence, a burly bald-headed figure emerged in Yang Zicang’s mind as if through telepathy.
[I have consumed 1N principal. The midnight train is now departing.]
[Next stop: Lu Zhishen Station, estimated time: three minutes.]
“Wooooo—”
The piercing sound of the train at high speed cut through the air.
Yang Zicang stood upright and gazed out the window at the phantoms—countless fragments of human memories.
There were joy, confusion, loneliness, anticipation, and agony.
He wanted to go to the rear of the train. With a passing thought, the moment he stepped toward the next carriage, he appeared in the carriage where the old man in Zhao Bomin’s clothing was.
The old man had already collapsed beside the chair, having lost his breath. Were it not for the clothes, Yang Zicang would not have recognized his aged, weathered face.
Beside this man were two elderly men and women who had escaped with him—the very three people he had rescued back then.
Yang Zicang looked at them for a long time. Only when he felt they were nearing the monster’s lair did he crouch down, grasp the open eyelids of Zhao Bomin, and close them shut.
“I already know; it’s not by your invitation. I hope in your next lives you can live in a better world.”