Chapter 431: Good Deeds Rewarded?

Closer, even closer! I held my breath, cold sweat sliding down my temples as terror from the deepest depths of my heart battered against me.

I kept my gaze locked on the aisle out of the corner of my eye. I didn't know how much time had passed before a blue trouser leg drifted into my line of sight.

'Did it pass? Did it not notice me?' I didn't dare raise my head. Staring in one direction for so long was excruciating, but I still didn't dare move a muscle.

The blue trouser leg flashed past. I silently counted my heartbeats. After a few seconds, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. A sense of having survived a disaster welled up from the bottom of my heart. 'That was close. What was that thing that just went by? Why did it give me such immense pressure? In the October 27th Carriage, Xu Qin pulled me away—was it to hide from this thing?'

I maintained my posture and took a shallow breath. Just as I was about to raise my head, a dark blue shadow suddenly appeared in my field of vision.

'It came back!' Trembling with fear, I didn't know whether to raise my head or keep it down. The surrounding air seemed to solidify.

"What is your name?" The voice sounded incredibly eerie. Every word was dragged out for half a beat, laced with a bone-chilling coldness.

I didn't raise my head, trying to bluff my way through, but it wasn't long before the voice rang out above my head once again. "What is your name?"

It was a woman's voice, and compared to the first time, it was much closer to me.

I still didn't speak. An inexplicable fear clouded my thoughts. Besides, I had too few clues and too little information on hand; I was completely unprepared for what to do next.

"What is your name?"

The voice spoke for a third time. To my horror, it sounded as if it were pressed right against my ear, echoing directly in my mind.

I shot a quick glance to the side. Besides Liu Xin and the trembling Feng Minglong, there was no one else around me.

With the voice piercing straight into my mind, I knew I couldn't keep playing dumb. I raised my head, trying my best to look calm. "My name is Lu Xing."

Our eyes met, and only then did I see the owner of the voice. Her attire was similar to a typical conductress—a dark blue uniform with long trousers and sleeves that wrapped her body tightly, revealing only an unremarkable face.

'This is the source of my fear?' In terms of ferocity and ugliness, I had seen things a hundred times worse than her, but even when facing those entities, I had never been so terrified. Forged by the Underworld Live Show, my nerves were already as tough as steel.

'Logically speaking, I have no reason to be afraid. Objectively speaking, this woman looks completely ordinary and shouldn't scare me. So what am I afraid of?' The human body evolved emotions like pain, dread, and fear to avoid danger. My current feeling was very likely an instinctual physical reaction. 'This woman is dangerous; she can kill me easily!'

Reaching this conclusion in a split second, I forced out a faint smile, maintained my composure, and repeated, "Hello, my name is Lu Xing."

The Underworld Live Show wouldn't issue a task with certain death, nor would it do anything pointless. There had to be a reason why it required me to assume Lu Xing's identity.

"Lu Xing?" the conductress asked in a cold, hard tone. Her eyes swept over the four of us currently in the seats, calling out the names of the homeless man, Liu Xin, and Feng Minglong respectively, as if those three seats had long been destined for them. "This is not your seat. Where is your seat?"

I was left momentarily speechless. I couldn't answer the conductress's question and didn't even have room to argue. Every seat on the train corresponded to one person, yet my time was still flowing. How could there possibly be a seat for me on this Soul Train?

"Everyone has their own seat. If you can't find yours, I can help you." The conductress's words were stiff and frigid, and I actually sensed a hint of killing intent within them.

'She wants to help me find a seat? How could a living person like me have a seat, unless...'

I didn't dare think any further. My hand gently pressed against my trouser pocket, which held some talismans I had obtained from Lu Jin. 'There's nowhere to run on the train. Once things turn hostile, I'm as good as dead.'

Sitting around waiting to die wasn't my style, but things hadn't deteriorated to that point just yet. I suppressed the urge to use a talisman, raised my head, and asked, "Where are you going to help me find a seat?"

The conductress's face gradually turned deathly pale. I seemed to catch a terrifying smile forming on her face. "Come with me, and you'll find out."

Neither Feng Minglong nor Liu Xin dared to move a muscle. I sighed, and just as I was about to stand up, the homeless man who had been huddled in the innermost corner suddenly turned his head.

He held his chipped bowl and shook it a few times. The clinking sound rang out clearly in the quiet train.

"What are you doing?"

I looked at him in astonishment. To my surprise, the homeless man reached his grimy hand under the coins to fish out a ten-yuan bill. He then handed the bill to the conductress, pointed at me, and muttered in a low voice, "A good man."

This sudden action left me a little dazed. Back when I tossed the ten yuan into the homeless man's bowl, my motives had actually been quite impure. I needed to hide in the restroom until the subway station was locked. Since the homeless man was sitting not far from the toilet at the time, I was afraid he would report me, so I instinctively decided to give him a little favor as a bribe. I hadn't expected him to misunderstand my intentions.

The conductress took the ten-yuan bill without a word, her gaze falling upon the homeless man. What the homeless man did next left me dumbfounded. He fished out bill after bill from his battered little bowl and handed them to the conductress. It was only after collecting over a dozen bills that she withdrew her gaze, satisfied.

"Lu Xing, I'll go check your name. I'll arrange a seat for you." With that said, the conductress walked toward the October 27th Carriage. The homeless man acted as if he had merely done something insignificant, holding his little bowl as he settled back into his seat.

"King Yama is easy to see, but little imps are hard to deal with." I cupped my hands toward the homeless man. "Thank you, old gentleman."

At this point, even a fool would understand what had just happened. The homeless man had stepped in to help me. Although he likely did so to repay the karma of the ten yuan I'd given him, no matter how you looked at it, he had shielded me from a disaster on this bizarre train.

The homeless man didn't speak to me. He kept his head lowered, and there was no telling what he was thinking.

Once the conductress was far enough away, I rolled my neck and slowly relaxed. I nudged Feng Minglong with my elbow. "You saw the conductress who just passed by, right? Do you know her?"

"How could I possibly know her?" Feng Minglong said with a bitter face. "Boss, just give it a rest for a while, alright? Don't go summoning anything else over here."

"That's not the right way to put it. I'm actively exploring the enemy's weaknesses. Are you really willing to be controlled by them?" Without waiting for Feng Minglong to answer, I pressed on. "Let me ask you something else. Are you familiar with the old gentleman who just helped me?"

"Old Ge? Of course I'm familiar with him. The subway station is his home; I see him every day."

"What kind of person is he?" I asked.

"Old Ge used to be a teacher. He sponsored impoverished students, and his family was fairly well-off. However, he married an awful wife who cheated on him behind his back. Old Ge was kind-hearted, so he eventually forgave the woman. Yet, not long after he retired, he was diagnosed with cancer. That woman insisted on a divorce no matter what, and in the end, she took his house in the settlement right when he was at his lowest. He has no children, nowhere to live, and can't afford his medical bills. He can only wander the streets waiting to die." Feng Minglong's tone grew heavy. "He lives in the subway station. We took pity on him, so sometimes we share a portion of our lunch with him at noon. But this can't go on forever. Our managers have been pushing us to kick him out, terrified that he'll end up dying inside our station."

"So, from what you're saying, he's a remarkably good man?"

"What's the point of being a good man? Do good people always get rewarded?" Feng Minglong thought for a moment before saying to me, "Have you heard the saying? The law-abiding wake up every day in sorrow, while tyrants sing every night in joy. Those who harm others to benefit themselves ride horses and mules, while the upright and fair starve. Those who build bridges and pave roads go blind, while murderers and arsonists have many sons. I went to the Western Paradise to ask my Buddha, and the Buddha said: 'I can't do anything about it either!'"

I shook my head, looking at the homeless man's battered bowl. "What you're saying makes sense too, but through the cycle of karma and reincarnation, no one can truly figure out right from wrong. We live in this world only seeking a clear conscience."

I didn't want to argue with Feng Minglong. Strictly speaking, I couldn't be considered a good person either. Glancing at the homeless man, I was just about to say something else when I saw the conductress walking toward me from the distant aisle once again.