Night.
Boundless night shrouded this continent.
Countless corpses, skeletons, and specters appeared in the darkness.
Their appearance brought an endless, blue-black mist.
Anyone enveloped by the mist would be infected and become one of them.
Qi Xiao had run out of bullets, but those things were already dead; they couldn't die again.
Qi Xiao kicked away a pouncing skeleton and turned to yell at Old Six:
"Damn it, we can't do this, let's go, let's go!"
Qi Xiao led Old Six rushing back into the carriage and closed the door.
But the light screen was slow to appear, making Qi Xiao sweat anxiously.
Fortunately, the black mist could not enter the Train.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Someone was knocking on the Train window. Qi Xiao turned to look, and it was Kong You!
With a crack, the Train window was violently broken by Kong You.
The black mist found an outlet and surged wildly into the carriage.
The moment Old Six and Black Wind Monster were engulfed by the black mist, their bodies rapidly decayed.
......
Qi Xiao sat up abruptly, cold sweat soaking his pillow.
"Another nightmare?"
Xi Jian got up and turned on the bedside lamp, then pulled out a tissue to wipe the cold sweat from Qi Xiao's forehead.
"You've been under a lot of pressure lately, haven't you? The higher-ups are always pushing you."
Xi Jian comforted Qi Xiao while lying in his arms.
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. If it's too much, we can always find another job."
Smelling the fragrance on Xi Jian, Qi Xiao's tense nerves relaxed.
He held Xi Jian's hand as she reached for his inner thigh:
"I'm tired. Let's sleep. Not tonight."
Xi Jian obediently withdrew her hand.
Qi Xiao lay down, but he felt something squirming under the blanket. He pulled back the blanket and saw a mass of pink tentacles where Xi Jian's lower body should be.
He was so scared he fell out of bed, scrambling backward on all fours.
Just then, the room door opened, and two children, whose lower bodies were also tentacles, crawled in and shouted in unison at Qi Xiao:
"Daddy, I'm hungry."
......
With a jolt, Qi Xiao sat up from the ground.
Looking around, he was still lying in the initial carriage.
"Chief, you're awake!"
"Woof woof woof!"
Old Six and Black Wind Monster had been guarding him.
Qi Xiao glanced at his watch. I was only unconscious for five minutes?
Five minutes, and I had a dream within a dream?
And they were all nightmares.
Was it Spirit Vision showing me the future?
What the hell was that boundless black mist, and why wasn't Kong You affected?
And Xi Jian, why did she grow tentacles like that monster?
Qi Xiao rubbed his temples and summoned the light screen.
"Have you been feeling unwell lately?"
"How did you know my stomach hurts?"
Qi Xiao's nerves suddenly tensed.
"Oh~ Did you predict my period is coming soon? I've stocked up this time, don't think you can trick me again!"
"You thought I only took snacks, huh? Humph, humph."
Looking at her smug expression, she should be fine.
Qi Xiao relaxed, got up, and went to the bathroom.
He lifted the toilet lid and relieved himself.
He wondered how that father and son were doing, if they had escaped the Nibelungen.
Sigh, my Senior Brother.
"Old Six, I'm hungry. Make lunch."
"Understood!"
Old Six climbed onto the wooden shelf and started chopping vegetables.
Qi Xiao, meanwhile, took out the Level 5 treasure chest.
This treasure chest was a silver metal briefcase, but without a password.
Qi Xiao had opened it before in the Nibelungen, and everything was inside.
After putting the thirty-six train coins into his jie bracelet, Qi Xiao took out the short blade.
This was a wakizashi, a medium-length sword.
An alchemical weapon capable of harming Dragon Kings, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, 'lust'.
Among the Seven Deadly Sins, the Blade of Rending, when cutting an object, the blade vibrates at an extremely small amplitude, thereby tearing the opponent apart.
It's also the easiest one to pull out in the setting.
How to activate it?
Qi Xiao held 'lust' and tried to activate its function.
He swung it a few times, no reaction.
An invisible barrier enveloped Qi Xiao. In his eyes, everything around him slowed down.
Black Wind Monster's barks were also intermittent.
"Woof... woof... woof..."
Old Six's chopping movements also became slow.
This state lasted for about half a second before Qi Xiao suddenly recovered.
It's Word Spirit!
Just like Principal Chu Tianjiao, Word Spirit · Time Zero!
The caster constructs a domain with themselves as the center. Time slows down within the domain, while the caster can still move at normal speed, thus appearing to outsiders to have increased their speed by several or even dozens of times.
Because the caster is always at the center of their own domain, this Word Spirit can be considered to have no concept of "boundary."
It places an immense burden on the caster's body, usually only sustainable for a few seconds, but a few seconds are already enough for an assassin to kill an opponent.
Masters of this Word Spirit are usually top-tier assassins. Coupled with physical training, their movement speed can reach over a hundred times that of an ordinary person, even appearing like teleportation.
I really have Word Spirit!
Although I didn't figure out how to use 'lust', I accidentally released Word Spirit.
Qi Xiao activated it again, entering that state.
He stood up, walked to Old Six's side, and used 'lust' to cut the potatoes on the cutting board into pieces.
Time Zero disengaged.
Huff, huff, huff, huff, huff.
Qi Xiao leaned against the carriage, then sat down on the floor.
He had only used Word Spirit twice, for a combined duration of less than a second, yet Qi Xiao's stamina was drained.
It felt like running ten kilometers under triple gravity in one go.
The burden is indeed very heavy; one needs very strong physical fitness to endure it.
When Chu Tianjiao used it, he seemed perfectly fine, and his speed increase was far greater than mine.
In Old Six's eyes, in just the blink of an eye, Qi Xiao appeared beside him as if teleporting.
The potatoes on the cutting board only scattered into pieces two seconds later.
"Chief, you can also do that move where you suddenly become very fast?!"
"Want to learn?"
Old Six nodded frantically.
"Work hard, and when you become Deputy Train Conductor, I'll teach you."
"Understood!"
Old Six raised his hand and saluted Qi Xiao.
"You cook, I'll sleep a bit more."
Qi Xiao crawled back onto the bed, pulled the blanket over himself, and fell asleep again.
One hour later.
They were eating lunch.
Old Six cooked two dishes Qi Xiao taught him yesterday—scrambled eggs with tomatoes and beef stew with potatoes.
"Chief, that eight-legged horse today was so cool."
"Get lost, didn't you see he was here to attack us?"
"I mean, Chief, you'd look really cool riding that horse."
"If the Chief had that horse, could I ride the motorcycle then, hehehe."
"You've got a good plan there, but if I let you ride it, could you even hold onto the handlebars?"
Qi Xiao summoned the light screen to check the next stop's information.
【Current stop: Gaojia Village (Single-person Station)】
【Departure from this station requires two train coins】
【There is one Level 3 Water Ghost in the river west of the village. Danger Level: 3.】
【There is a Level 3 treasure chest under the bridge. Can open: 12 train coins, one bottle of toad potion】
"Old Six, can you swim?"
"Huh? I, I guess so."
"Good, tomorrow it's your time to shine again."
