Chapter 71: The Headquarters’ Request – 2

“What do you mean by the request for help?”
{The people at our headquarters—they’re trapped by the Xiongying Group in the A-level zone. Please use that Ma Chao train to pick them up!}
“Oh? Why? Didn’t your headquarters stop me from destroying the Containment Center before?”
{Well… who would have thought you could actually bring back someone like Zhao Anlong!}
He said with slight embarrassment:
{If you’re willing, headquarters says they’ll prepare fifty thousand units of chronological control for you, help stabilize one A-level area, and the conditions promised earlier won’t change.}
“I want to know, who was it that saved a young girl from Ma Chao before? Is that person also trapped in that A-level area?”
{Saving someone? Huh, I don’t know who you’re talking about. But Yang Zicang, if we wait any longer, it’ll be too late. It’s going to be dawn in about half an hour. By then, your train won’t be able to cross through, and our people probably won’t last that half hour either.}
The Midnight Train!
That’s right—this ability could only be used between eleven o’clock and daybreak. Previously, thanks to the Chronological Extension effect, eternal night had kept the train summonable at any time.
But now the Secret Treasure’s effects have vanished, and other than inside subway stations, Ma Chao’s ability can’t be freely used anymore.
And besides that, there are other limitations.
If one starts doubting this ability, the train sustained by the conductor’s mental strength will also lose effectiveness—its range, speed, and penetration all weaken, even vanishing entirely.
In other words, at night, the speed of the train depends entirely on the conductor’s mental state.
Luckily, they had never doubted this before.
“Fine, for Mu Xiaoyu’s sake, I’ll agree this time.”
With a thought, the train, now psychically linked to him, let out a “woosh” as it appeared behind him.
Yang Zicang said, “Currently, I can appear directly beside the people from Xiongying Group, so your people should be very close to the Xiongying Group, right?”
{This… hold on, why don’t you just contact our Chairman Zhou directly?}
…….
On the other side, Zhou Heng finally breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
In just a few minutes, the combat experts from headquarters who entered this Temporal Sequence Expansion Zone had been reduced to only three survivors.
Fortunately, the A-zone was vast in area, and after the terrain aggregation, the range they circled around extended dozens of kilometers. Yet, even so, the Xiongying Group members clung to them like stubborn shadows that were hard to shake off.
Tong Wenqi’s modular ability generated a blast of air like a meat grinder in the space behind them.
Taking advantage of this brief moment, the three of them charged into a nearby forest of reed-like plants, as tall as corn stalks, next to the swamp. Though bedraggled, Zhou Heng somewhat regained his usual composure.
He focused on the broken ground on the other end of the sensing screen.
Behind the young man with tattered clothes was a concave pit over ten meters wide. The Defender and that Zhao Anlong were truly terrifying—they had actually managed to punch through the interspersed land.
{Are they still in the interspersed land at a time like this?}
“The Hero Group initially pretended to leave the Cross-Collision Zone aboard the Nightmare Train, but they actually hid within the shifting cross-collision scene fragments. Only Ma Chao went out to find you, and you took his life. This caused their plan to deviate, so they simply seized the opportunity to eliminate us, then enter Hub Town and wait for the city to completely fall.”
Yang Zicang was stunned. Without even realizing it, he had thwarted both temporary schemes the Hero Group had devised.
“Can you determine our location through the Anchor?” Zhou Heng asked.
{Are you close to the people from the Hero Group? I can come over directly right now, but if I’m attacked by several people at once, things will get troublesome.}
Zhou Heng understood that Yang Zicang’s vague response was a reluctance to reveal more intel about that vehicle.
“Pretty much. I’d say we’re relatively close.”
He turned to look at Tong Wenqi: “Can you hold out a little longer?”
“With that mysterious Lü Bu around, I’m afraid I can last five more minutes at best. Unless…”
Zhou Heng knew what he wanted to say. This was clearly an opportunity to counterattack. But if Yang Zicang were to go back to headquarters to bring reinforcements now, the three of them would surely end up dead.
With Yang Zicang around, the two communicated in a deliberately covert manner as they ran.
Zhou Heng’s feet lightly touched the ground, and his body darted with the agility of a swallow, the trio dashing across the dark, rubble-covered terrain. Their tunics fluttered and rustled in the wind as they rushed toward the far end, leaving the swamp far behind.
……
Yang Zicang roughly gathered what was happening on the other side.
A group of people swiftly darted across the wilderness, pursuing each other. They had previously hidden in a relatively close behind-the-scenes setting, not far away.
His gaze was drawn to those from the Malevolent Group—a presence so formidable that they could represent the entire monster faction on their own. Each of them exuded an impressive aura.
“How much faster can you go at your top speed compared to them?”
The three people across from him exchanged glances, and one of them, a woman with a calm and delicate demeanor, nodded.
{At best, we could cross a thousand meters in one second, but then we would have to remain stationary for ten seconds afterward.}
The ability to traverse a kilometer in an instant.
Yang Zicang furrowed his brow slightly—this was a reveal of their trump cards. Although there were side effects, it was already a formidable ability.
“I’ll be there as soon as possible. Hang on.”
After cutting off the Mental Link, Yang Zicang looked at the people gathering around him.
Under the night sky, they varied in height. Some were dressed like beggars shabbily, while others wore all sorts of homemade defensive gear, such as wooden planks protecting the heart area, thick leather over their elbow joints, and so on. They dared not remove these even in the heat.
“Chief Yang, you’re going to form a team, right? Can I join?”
“Me too, Brother Yang. Just let me join your team—I’d go east if you said east and never dare to go west.”
The crowd around him grew larger.
“Sorry, I don’t have that plan yet.”
He contacted Liang Xi and found that, although buried, the labyrinthine piping had left him temporarily unharmed, so he breathed a sigh of relief.
Yang Zicang stepped onto the train: “I’ll be back soon. Please try to help rescue the buried people; some of them are my friends.”
He pointed to the position where the pipe had been: “About in this direction, at a depth of ten meters or so.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get to work right away.”
“Hey, come quick! There are people buried down here. Everyone, hurry and move the stones!”
“Coming, coming! Hey, does any brother have the ability to dig a tunnel?”
Watching the figures running over under the moonlight, Yang Zicang sighed. In times of disaster like this, it was actually still possible to see some remnants of humanity.
This is the humanity I know well.
[I have consumed 1N principal. The Midnight Train is departing.]
[Next stop: Zhouyu Station. Estimated time: four minutes.]
“Woo——”
Yang Zicang sat wearily in his seat, holding the 50N Chrono Weapon he had retrieved again, supporting it with his hand.
“Do you know what kind of world this is?”
He asked the train.
{The train conductor once asked me a similar question. If it were before, I wouldn’t have known how to answer.}
Hearing this slightly unexpected latter half of the sentence, Yang Zicang, who hadn’t originally intended to ask anything in particular, couldn’t help but tilt his head to one side, looking toward the direction of the train’s front carriage.
{A very long time ago, there was a continent.}
“A continent?”
{At first, there was no life on that continent. Then life appeared. Later, some parts of the continent were destroyed, but also emerged life forms similar to me. Gradually, life managed to continue, yet it always faced the risk of potential destruction at any moment.}
This is somewhat similar to the world revealed in the dream toward which Youhui traveled.
Yang Zicang cast a puzzled glance inside the carriage.
Because of his emergence, those tribes that were destined for destruction had managed to survive, even giving rise to a fantasy-like civilization. Unfortunately, there were no statues in either instance.
Hopefully, upon the third entry, he would obtain a statue. So, does a similar world truly exist?
“How do you know all this?”
{The White Shadow Thought-Dragon told me. It hailed from there, and I think I’m probably the same.}
“……”
Yang Zicang rubbed his cheeks speechlessly, his drowsiness considerably dissipated by this.
A white light flickered on his chest, and after linking up with Zhou Heng, who had once invested in him, he said:
“Proceed along the route I specify. I will appear between myself and the man who is hoisting that electric fan. However, this will consume my personal time-sequence, so you’ll need to provide me with extra compensation.”
{Rest assured, you’re guaranteed a seat among the top brass at Headquarters. I’ll recommend you for admission to the Board of Directors.}
……
Inside the Crisscross Lands.
Lü Bu looked toward the drowsy figure behind Zhou Yu, where intense energy was steadily gathering.
This was the mysterious being feared throughout the entire city—the Xiongying Association President*, whose code name was “Flying General Lü Bu.”
No one knew the precise abilities of Xiongying Association’s President; after all, everyone who had ever seen him in action was dead.
Lü Bu said:
“Ma Chao… and Yang Zicang have arrived.”