That figure was about two meters tall, completely enveloped in black armor, even his head covered by a helmet, with only a pair of red eyes visible.
From those eyes, Chen Bugu saw a tyrannical emotion.
Standing on two feet, with both arms hanging down, the enemy's form was almost identical to a human's, except for the huge wings on his back and the black mist shrouding his body.
After breaking into the carriage, the enemy quickly locked onto Chen Bugu and the thin man behind him, then charged forward, the long blade in his hand glinting with cold light, his killing intent undisguised.
Chen Bugu activated Bullet Time, and at the moment he raised his hand, Jade Ripple appeared in his hand, and a Rin Water shot out.
Because they were inside a narrow carriage, and the opponent was charging straight at him, Chen Bugu was practically in his face at such a close range.
The Rin Water arrows in front of him formed a black water column, striking the enemy, who was within arm's reach, squarely.
At this distance, the enemy had almost no chance of dodging.
The seemingly hard armor appeared to be ineffective; Chen Bugu personally saw the armor penetrated by the water arrows, immediately followed by black ice flowers bursting open.
With one arrow released, Chen Bugu did not linger in battle; he directly hoisted the thin man from one side and leaped out through the broken window.
Before leaving that carriage, he saw the black-armored enemy with wings still encased in ice.
From the results of Weakness Detection, the opponent's weaknesses were no different from a human's: still the head, neck, and heart, which were also the areas Chen Bugu had focused on attacking just now.
However, because he couldn't estimate the defensive power of the black armor at first, Chen Bugu had reserved a killing blow among the dozens of water arrows.
For this, he didn't hesitate to use an extra second of Bullet Time.
Among countless black water arrows, a Water Wood Arrow, entwined with blue and green, was mixed in.
As the black ice sealed off movement, the Water Wood Arrow also precisely shot into the opponent's glabella.
That area was not covered by armor, and the Water Wood Arrow, meant for 'breaking defense,' almost without any obstruction, pierced through the enemy's glabella.
Logically speaking, that guy should have died.
However, Chen Bugu felt no energy flowing into him.
Although he had not yet broken through to Silver, killing a monster would still result in energy flowing in, though it would overflow and dissipate if his body couldn't absorb it.
But in the current situation, he didn't feel any energy at all.
That only left two possibilities.
First, the enemy was not dead.
Second, the enemy was not a monster, most likely another race, which would mean a racial war.
After Chen Bugu jumped out of the train, he quickly observed his surroundings, then looked down at the instrument in his hand.
He could already confirm that the instrument in his hand was a radar used to detect enemy positions.
The flames in the carriage behind him had extinguished, and black ice had begun to grow outwards, which was out of place compared to the other carriages and easily drew attention on this battlefield.
The radar in his hand showed fewer red dots in the southeast direction, and Chen Bugu glanced in that direction.
"Don't play dead, tell me, where does that way lead?"
"That way? That way is Tongzhou."
"Tongzhou?"
Chen Bugu had no impression of this place name.
"Yes, that's Tongzhou; the train can't be saved, brother, let's go quickly!"
The thin man on his shoulder was somewhat agitated at this moment, as if a drowning person had grasped the last straw.
"Shut up."
Chen Bugu saw several more red dots rapidly approaching on the radar, so he had no choice but to jump off the tracks and leave the area.
After running a few meters, Chen Bugu looked back into the carriage.
He could still see the black-armored enemy with wings through the black ice.
Still inside the carriage...
But on the radar, his red dot had disappeared.
Chen Bugu had no time to think further; carrying the thin man on his shoulder, he ran at full speed towards Tongzhou.
During the retreat, Chen Bugu saw many battles, with the combatants mostly human Awakeneds and black-armored enemies of various forms, their general strength fluctuating between Black Iron Seven Stars and Nine Star.
Occasionally, he saw a few battles with larger commotion, estimated to be Silver-level, and Chen Bugu avoided them early on.
Fifteen minutes later, seeing the traces of battle behind them becoming fainter, Chen Bugu also slowed down.
The red dots that initially approached them seemed to have been drawn into other battles at some point; in any case, they had given up their pursuit.
No red dot markers were visible on the radar anymore.
In other words, they were temporarily safe now.
In the southeast direction, Chen Bugu didn't see towering cities; instead, he vaguely saw the outline of a city.
He then realized that Tongzhou was not Tongzhou City, but Tongzhou City.
Connecting this with the previous train, which was completely filled with traces of human civilization and wisdom, Chen Bugu suddenly understood.
The background of this Free Secret Realm seemed to be a return to Earth.
He dropped the thin man from his back onto the ground and found that the wound on his abdomen had basically healed.
"Next, I ask, you answer."
"No problem, brother, you saved my life; you can ask anything you want, but can we talk while we walk? I'm afraid they'll catch up later."
The thin man got up from the ground and looked in the direction they came from, his worry appearing genuine.
"If they catch up, I'll notice," Chen Bugu shook the radar in his hand.
"Brother, you're confused; the radar can see the traces of demonic species, but it can't see the movements of our own people."
"Demonic species? Our own people?"
"Yes, we're already in this together; no matter the outcome, we have to run first."
Chen Bugu frowned, somewhat unable to grasp this guy's logic, and the term 'demonic species'...
"Alright, let's go then."
"Brother, can you give me back..."
The thin man pointed at the radar in Chen Bugu's hand, seemingly wanting to ask for it back.
"You used my medicine; this thing can be considered payment for the medicine."
"Alright..."
After they finished speaking, the two headed towards the blurred city outline in the southeast direction.
The thin man's speed was not fast, roughly at the level of a Black Iron Eight-Star Awakened.
The two ran across the barren wilderness, traveling and conversing at the same time.
Occasionally, a surprised expression would flash across the thin man's face, seemingly puzzled by Chen Bugu's questions.
But he still provided detailed answers one by one, returning that surprise to Chen Bugu intact.
The wilderness was barren, with only dry ground and red sand and stones carried by the wind.
There were no birds in the sky, no crawling insects on the ground; only the footsteps of Chen Bugu and the thin man echoed in the wind.
Even as they approached the city's outskirts, the surroundings remained lifeless.
No flowers, no animals, and no people.
When all of Chen Bugu's doubts were answered, he finally walked into that dilapidated city—Tongzhou.
The desolate streets and the high-rise buildings on both sides, long since turned to ruins, all indicated that this was not the city he remembered.
Through his conversation with the thin man, he had confirmed that the world constructed by this Free Secret Realm was indeed set on Earth.
However, it was Earth in the year 2030...
