Chapter 428: Inside the Carriage

Tattered clothes, cotton wadding spilling from his pant cuffs—the homeless man's attire looked completely out of place. When I first entered the subway station earlier, I had made a point to observe him. He was over fifty and seemed intellectually disabled. Even though it was autumn, he was bundled up in a foul-smelling cotton jacket and heavily patched cotton pants.

Now, as he brushed past me and spoke, his voice carried a weathered, hoarse edge. I immediately realized I might have misjudged him.

"Get on? Old man, not just anyone can board this train."

The homeless man didn't reply. He brushed past me and slipped into the carriage.

"Mr. Lu? Mr. Lu?" Feng Minglong called out in a low voice beside me. "That fox seems to be looking at you."

I pulled my gaze from the homeless man and glanced at the Blood Fox. It was clearly wary of the train. It stared dead at me, wanting to come inside but hesitating.

Time lost its meaning in this moment. The clock on the wall remained stuck at 11:11. I had no idea how long had actually passed until the train behind me started moving again, its doors slowly sliding shut.

"I can't delay this any longer." I took a step back. Before my foot even touched the ground, the Blood Fox's fur stood on end as it readied to pounce. It obviously didn't want me to get on the train.

"Feng Minglong, get on first. I'll bring up the rear."

I gave Feng Minglong a push. With a bitter expression, he said, "Are you sure you want to get on? We don't even know where this train came from. The main dispatch office got off work a long time ago. Plus, most of the trains at our station are four-car Type-C light rail trains. They're completely different from this one..."

"Why so much nonsense? Are you going to wait out here to die? Hurry!" I snapped, my tone urgent as I noticed the doors closing.

"Do you think it'll follow us onto the train?" Feng Minglong's question hit on my exact fear. If the Blood Fox followed me aboard, I would have nowhere to run. Getting caught by it meant death, and jumping from a high-speed train also meant death.

While I hesitated, the train started moving. Feng Minglong glanced at me and slipped into the carriage like a loach. "Mr. Lu, I'll go on ahead!"

The doors slowly closed. The Blood Fox bared its fangs at me, seemingly threatening me not to do anything stupid.

I focused all my attention, waiting until the doors were about to shut completely and the train's speed began to climb. "Forget it!"

Turning, pushing off the ground, and jumping into the carriage—the entire sequence flowed in one smooth motion. When I got inside the train and looked back, the doors snapped shut. The Blood Fox shrieked on the platform in exasperated fury, sprinting wildly after the train.

"Even the most cunning fox can't beat a good streamer." I admired the Blood Fox's frantic expression as it followed closely behind the train like a bloody meteor. Perhaps sensing my mockery, it suddenly leaped up and vanished from my sight just as the train entered its final acceleration.

"Thump!"

A loud bang came from above my head, as if something had landed on the roof of the train.

I looked up at the ceiling, my expression instantly turning grim. "This live broadcast was already extremely difficult, and now there's the added variable of the Blood Fox. This is going to be tough!"

The train was already moving, pulling out of the platform and plunging into the pitch-black tunnel.

Complete darkness blanketed the window; nothing could be seen. Only the howling wind rushed constantly into my ears.

'The Underworld Live Show live broadcast task can be viewed in two parts. The first step is to board the train before midnight, and the second step is to leave the train alive.' Now I had completed the first step; the important part was how to survive on this train. 'If the train's final destination really is the Underworld, what should I do then?'

I shivered, holding the Underworld Live Show Phone in my hand. I gently turned on the Brooch switch before observing my surroundings.

This was an old-fashioned train. The interior was completely clean, with no debris on the floor and not a single strange smell in the air.

I was standing at the connection between two carriages, bouncing and swaying along with the train's constant motion.

'Where did that beggar and Feng Minglong go?' The doors to both carriages were open. The door to the north said October 27, while the door to the south said October 28.

'Dates?' Before midnight yesterday was exactly October 28. The reason I remembered it so clearly was that this year's solar calendar date of October 28 fell on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month—the Double Ninth festival.

Speaking of which, I didn't know much about the lunar calendar. Thanks to the end of the last live broadcast, He Bo had mentioned that day was the sixth of the ninth month and that the broadcast would start three days later. That was why I knew that before midnight was the ninth of the ninth month.

'The Double Ninth festival, when heaven and earth's Yang Qi is at its peak. Could that have something to do with this last train?'

Unwilling to let go of any clue, I lingered in the connection between the two train carriages.

The lights inside the train weren't on. I activated my Judging Eye and first walked to the door of the October 27th Carriage, poking my head in to take a look.

It felt incredibly oppressive. I could see the rows of seats were completely filled with people, yet not a single person spoke. All that met my eyes were heads swaying along with the motion of the train.

I slowed my pace, trying my best not to make a sound, and slowly shuffled my way into the carriage.

Recalling the appearances of Feng Minglong and the beggar, I walked down the middle of the aisle. A thick chill emanated from both sides, and my intuition warned me absolutely not to turn my head to look around.

After walking about three or four meters, my palm was suddenly grabbed by something. It felt like I had just plunged my fingers into ice water—bone-chillingly cold.

I forcefully suppressed the urge to turn my head and stopped in my tracks.

The grip on my palm tightened. Sensing that the other party meant no harm, I allowed it to pull me backward until I retreated out of the October 27th Carriage.

As soon as my body left the carriage, cold sweat instantly broke out all over me. I felt like I had just been fished out of water; even my back was completely soaked.

'This has never happened in any of the previous live broadcasts. I actually didn't even have the courage to take a single look.' Only after exiting that carriage did I finally feel the warmth of my blood flowing again. I twisted my neck and quickly looked down at my right hand.

It was being held by a little girl. She wore a tattered red princess dress, and her face was smaller than the palm of my hand.

'This girl feels so familiar.' I squatted in front of her and took a closer look, my eyes suddenly widening. "Xu Qin?! I saw you at the Qicun Maternity and Children's Health Center! You're the vengeful spirit attached to Wang Yu! Why are you here?"

I was instantly dumbfounded. I never expected to run into this little girl in the October 27th Carriage, and it seemed she had just inadvertently saved my life.

Hearing me speak, the girl quickly covered my mouth. Her hand was freezing, as if an ice cube had just been pressed against my lips.

'I can't speak?' I remained in a half-squat, watching the girl's every move. She glanced back and forth and only breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that no one in the aisle had turned their heads. She pressed a finger against my lips, pointed to the October 28th Carriage, and then hurried away, running back into the October 27th Carriage.

'What a weird girl.' I noticed that her movements and demeanor had changed drastically compared to when we were at the Qicun Maternity and Children's Health Center. The resentment radiating from her body had dissipated, and right now she looked more like an ordinary little girl.

'She harbored such massive resentment before, looking fierce enough to kill anyone she laid eyes on. How did her temperament change so much?' I rubbed my lips. Truthfully, the way she had pressed her finger against my lips just now had deeply surprised me. 'Can a vengeful spirit really be this gentle?'

I didn't dare to casually enter the carriage again. Looking at the numbers on the door, I vaguely felt like I understood something. 'October 27 was the exact day Wang Yu was kidnapped by Lu Jin. The girl's ghost should have been attached to Wang Yu the whole time. A vengeful spirit is terrifying to most people, but to Lu Chen, an authentic Celestial Master of Profound Truth, it wouldn't be too difficult to deal with. When I faced off against them on the night of October 27, I didn't see the girl's ghost appear, which means there's at least a ninety percent chance it had already been eradicated by Lu Chen at that time.'

'No, Daoists have many methods for dealing with ghosts—sealing, dispelling. Complete soul eradication is only used as the most ruthless option.'

'The difference in cultivation realms between Lu Chen and the girl was massive. Given his transcendent temperament, it's highly likely he simply dispelled the girl's resentment and released her to reincarnate...'

Thinking of this, my gaze sharpened like lightning as I looked at the October 27th Carriage door. 'Reincarnation, October 27, Carriage!'

Connecting the three points into a line, I formed a basic hypothesis. However, I still needed more evidence to verify it.

'This final train is probably really heading to the Underworld.' I looked into the pitch-black aisle and turned to enter the October 28th Carriage. I didn't know if I should be coming in here, but I had, after all, boarded the train on October 28.

Taking a single step into the carriage, the scene before me made me draw a sharp breath. Inside the endless-looking carriage were rows upon rows of seats, and sitting in every single spot was a "person" with their head lowered.

My calves went numb. I tried my best to make my movements look natural, searching row by row until I finally found Feng Minglong and the homeless man sitting side by side.

There were three seats in that row. Feng Minglong sat on the far outside, the homeless man sat on the far inside, and sitting right between them was a woman with disheveled hair.

There wasn't a single empty seat on the train. I stood frozen in place for a few seconds, and it wasn't until a "passenger" right next to me began to slowly raise its head that I hurried over to Feng Minglong in a few quick strides, squeezing right into the space between him and the woman.

Four people were now crammed into three seats. Fortunately, none of us were particularly big, so it was only slightly crowded.

The woman originally sitting in the middle didn't raise her head, nor did she speak. Instead, Feng Minglong asked me in a low voice, "Mr. Lu, do you not have a seat?"

"I was just about to ask you that. How did you find a seat?" I turned to look at him, my gaze so sharp it was as if I wanted to see right through him.

He shifted his rear, his tone highly mysterious. "When I got on the train just now, I had a very strange feeling. It seemed like this seat already belonged to me, as if it were destined."

"One seat per person?" I muttered. A thought clicked in my mind, and my expression slowly turned grim.