Chapter 90 - 87: Subspace

Chapter 90: Chapter 87: Subspace

High above the sea.

Daji’s nine tails blossomed like crimson flames, burning through the ink-black mist spewed by the octopus monster.

Giant tentacles shot out like a collapsing mountain, only to be incinerated by the Fox Fire. The air filled with a mix of scorched stench and a strange fragrance.

Daji chuckled softly as her jade-like feet danced on the crests of the waves. With a mere thought, the sea behind her transformed into an inferno that surged toward the Sea Coachman.

Jiang Chaosheng watched the battle from a distance.

’Heaven-Burning Sea-Boiling? I guess I’ve finally seen it with my own eyes.’

It looked like Daji had the upper hand, but Jiang Chaosheng knew she would eventually run out of energy.

The Sea Coachman, on the other hand, had a seemingly endless supply of power. It didn’t fear heavy injuries and was essentially a heavily armored tank.

Fortunately, the Jing River Dragon King came roaring out of the clouds and joined the fight.

The god and the demon together completely suppressed the Sea Coachman.

Jiang Chaosheng shot into the Sea Train.

Taboo Items have weaknesses.

Every generation of Managers had an unspoken agreement to record the weaknesses of the contained Taboo Items in the Manager’s journal.

Jiang Chaosheng suspected that since the giant octopus could fight for so long without tiring and heal even from severe wounds, its weakness was probably inside the Sea Train.

He landed on the surface of the sea, treading across the churning water and into the Sea Train.

The passengers cowered in the corners, watching Jiang Chaosheng with awe and fear.

There were several new corpses in this car.

When he left, he had told Zhong Shu to stop those three members of Taiping Dao.

It seemed these people had been caught in the crossfire when Zhong Shu’s ’friend’ fought the three Taiping Dao members.

Before Taboo Items, ordinary mortals were as fragile as ants.

Jiang Chaosheng shifted his gaze to the other side of the car.

Li Xinyuan was lying on the floor, his eyes closed. If it weren’t for the fact he was still breathing, Jiang Chaosheng would have thought he was dead.

Zhong Shu called out,

"Sir, um, Li Xinyuan said to leave these people for you to handle."

Jiang Chaosheng looked over to where Zhong Shu was standing.

The twin men were on the ground, barely breathing.

They were beyond saving.

Lying beside them were a Copper Bell, a Suona, and a Western Sword.

Jiang Chaosheng asked,

"What about the old man?"

Zhong Shu pointed to Li Xinyuan’s hand.

"He said the old man talked too much, so he tore off his arms and legs and threw him into the sea."

Jiang Chaosheng saw that Li Xinyuan was clutching a pale white braid in his hand.

Jiang Chaosheng picked up the three Taboo Items from the floor.

"Good work."

As he recovered and contained the three Taboo Items, the curse on his body was lifted.

Zhong Shu nodded.

"Yeah, Li Xinyuan is amazing."

Zhong Shu’s mind replayed the battle from moments ago.

The twin brothers had taken out the Copper Bell and the Suona, and a terrifying melody had echoed through the car.

Several passengers had died on the spot just from hearing the sound.

And Li Xinyuan?

Zhong Shu turned to look at Li Xinyuan, who was lying on a seat.

He had simply opened his mouth and unleashed the third form of the War God Dragon King Technique: the Lion’s Roar Skill!

His roar had directly dazed the two of them.

The long-braided old man’s Western Sword was seemingly indestructible, but Li Xinyuan had countered with the second form of the War God Dragon King Technique—the Golden Bell Shield.

When the Western Sword struck Li Xinyuan, it rang out like a tolling bell but couldn’t harm him in the slightest.

The three powerful opponents had been completely overwhelmed by Li Xinyuan!

Jiang Chaosheng walked toward the front of the train, leaving a single sentence behind:

"You’re the one who’s amazing, it has nothing to do with him."

Jiang Chaosheng didn’t know that Li Xinyuan was a character from Zhong Shu’s writing, but he did know that Zhong Shu was the trader who possessed the Twin Dials.

Zhong Shu froze, his eyes fixed on Jiang Chaosheng’s retreating back.

Only after Jiang Chaosheng had disappeared from the car did Zhong Shu whisper to himself,

"The director, the old beggar, Li Xinyuan, Bai Tasha, the boss."

In this world, only those five people had ever shown him kindness.

And four of them were connected to this journey.

...

Jiang Chaosheng reached the locomotive at the front of the train.

The train conductors stood there in a daze, their expressions wooden, mechanically muttering:

"Prohibited..."

"Return..."

"Hello, passenger..."

Jiang Chaosheng walked right in front of them, but they remained like wooden puppets.

They were like robots that had run out of power, unable to even form a complete sentence.

Jiang Chaosheng bypassed them and walked straight into the driver’s cabin.

...

The cockpit.

The space was empty except for two wooden seats.

In the very center was a Compass.

In front of the main driver’s seat was a ship’s helm.

Jiang Chaosheng had expected a train’s cabin to be filled with precision instruments.

’A Compass, a ship’s helm... Aren’t these things you’d find on an old ship?’

But then he remembered the steam engine was called the Sea Train, and the Taboo Item was designated 4-01, the Sea Coachman. It suddenly made sense.

In an inconspicuous corner, Jiang Chaosheng spotted a small booklet.

He picked it up.

The text inside was written in the ancient script of the Xia Kingdom.

Fortunately, Jiang Chaosheng had been interested in ancient scripts in college and had audited quite a few related courses.

Although he couldn’t recognize every character in the booklet, he could piece together the general meaning through guesswork and deduction.

"New City, Miami, Mozik... Eastern Capital, Liancheng, Dongpu..."

It was a sailing plan.

Jiang Chaosheng kept flipping through it.

The paper was ordinary, and due to its age, many of the words had become illegible.

Jiang Chaosheng was about to put the sailing plan down and continue searching for clues.

Suddenly, on the back of the page, he spotted a few scattered words.

"His Majesty... from Subspace... Void..."

Jiang Chaosheng furrowed his brow.

He understood the meaning of that last word.

It had to be referring to the Returning Ruins.

’Who is ’His Majesty’ referring to?’

Jiang Chaosheng’s mind flashed back to the basement of Antique Shop Zero.

The White Jade Skull, clad in a tattered black robe, sat upon the Golden Throne, holding a small black wooden box.

Designation 0-01, the Emperor.

Jiang Chaosheng muttered,

"Don’t tell me ’His Majesty’ is the Taboo Sculpture?"

’If ’His Majesty’ is the Taboo Sculpture, then what is Subspace?’

’Although parallel universes are theoretically possible, another dimension is still just the stuff of science fiction legend.’

’Could another dimension really exist in our universe?’

Jiang Chaosheng figured that ever since taking over Antique Shop Zero, there wasn’t really any strange occurrence he couldn’t accept.

’But... does Subspace really just mean another dimension?’

He remembered the Jing River Dragon King saying that the Sea Coachman didn’t belong to any of the Sea Races from Blue Star’s oceans.

He didn’t think the Jing River Dragon King would lie or be mistaken.

’He’s the Dragon King, for crying out loud. How could he not recognize a member of the Sea Race?’

Therefore, the Sea Coachman wasn’t an ’octopus’ from Blue Star.

Jiang Chaosheng suddenly thought of something.

’The Sea Coachman is from Subspace, so what about the other Taboo Items?’

’Are they from Subspace too?’

’That doesn’t seem right. Daji and the Jing River Dragon King are beings from the myths and legends of the Xia Kingdom.’

Jiang Chaosheng felt that the more he learned about Taboo Items, the more mysterious they became.

BOOM!

The sound of something colossal crashing into the water echoed out.

A monstrous wave crashed against the locomotive.

As the seawater receded, Jiang Chaosheng could finally see the scene before him clearly.

The Sea Coachman had fallen into the water and was struggling to climb back out.

Daji gave it no chance, relentlessly casting all sorts of Magic at the Sea Coachman.

The Jing River Dragon King chanted an unending, esoteric Spell, turning the sea in front of the locomotive into a swamp-like mire that made it difficult for the Sea Coachman to break the surface.

Jiang Chaosheng immediately looked away, searching the driver’s cabin for a way to subdue the Sea Train.