Chapter 832: Alice's Song/Interrupted Concert

"They're pretty fast at running away."

Ye Qiyan toyed with a Demon Card in his hand, watching the poisonous teleportation portal rapidly seal shut, yet he didn't pull Barr back like last time.

After all, there were still other troubles to deal with.

All four thousand Train Coins were already in hand, and for the sake of his future upgrade options, he naturally had to work hard to keep Alice alive.

Of course, the deals didn't stop there.

Zhao Lin's good luck had already been used, and before this station came to an end, Ye Qiyan also had to ensure she could leave safely.

That said, he actually knew a way for Zhao Lin to quickly shake off the Misfortune clinging to her.

Just put a bullet through her skull and trigger [Pseudo·Death Refusal].

If he did that...

Ye Qiyan glanced to the side at Zhao Lin, who was also wiping away tears under the influence of Alice's singing.

"Forget it. Protecting one or protecting two, same thing."

Even though he'd never died before, it probably hurt quite a bit.

"Brother Qiyan?"

"Nothing. Keep listening."

"Oh..."

The concert continued.

The entire venue had turned into a unified sea of pink.

Under the spotlight, Alice was like a holy angel, her pink energy wings at her waist gently fluttering, translucent spiral staircases rising overhead.

The spirit dragon continuously absorbed people's sorrow, pain, despair...

All those negative emotions became its sustenance, and also planted the seed of giving up in the hearts of those RUN Company employees affected by Russell's divinity.

["Are we really going to kill her?"]

["Her songs are so beautiful..."]

["Livestreaming a murder... if we actually do this... are we even human anymore?"]

["I don't want to become a bloodthirsty devil..."]

["My hometown was once helped by Train Conductors too..."]

Emotions churned.

Outside RUN Company, Russell, already prepared for battle, changed expression.

He could feel his believers' faith in him wavering.

"Damn it! What the hell is this woman's singing about!?"

Russell cursed inwardly. When he turned and saw even the Couriers absolutely loyal to him showing signs of confusion, he knew he absolutely couldn't drag things out any longer.

"Cut off all the sound systems right now! She can't be allowed to keep singing!"

The order was given, and Russell's Demigod divinity snapped the confused Couriers back to their senses.

A spatial Doorway opened directly to RUN Company headquarters.

Massive energy surged toward the entire building.

"Tell my ally, it, can come now!"

His eyes burned with hatred. He took a Cube in his hand and pressed it against the device beside him.

[Time Flow Synchronization·World Lockdown·Substitute Rights Cube·Livestream Feed]

At this very moment.

Across all the cities in the Wasteland, on the large screens that had just been showing Alice making her entrance riding the pumpkin unicorn carriage, the feed suddenly jumped to the same time flow as RUN Company headquarters at this very moment.

People had no idea what had happened, and they'd just barely missed the scene of Abukado's Barr being scared off by Ye Qiyan's Raven demon.

They merely grumbled a bit before continuing to listen to Alice's ballad.

Even across countless worlds, Alice's talent could still provide them a sliver of spiritual comfort.

This, was one of the reasons Alice could become the superstar acknowledged by everyone in this Wasteland filled with danger and suffering.

Meanwhile, back at the performance venue, Alice's microphone was suddenly forcibly cut off.

And what followed was a violent backlash of sound vibration.

All the speakers were shut down simultaneously. The audience looked at each other, confusion and bewilderment in their eyes.

RUN Company? Power outage?

This place was so massive, why couldn't they even handle something like this?

People mocked RUN Company's incompetence.

But then, spatial Doorways unfolded one after another in the air.

Countless Trolls rode those bizarre airships to hover above the venue.

Members wearing RUN Company Senior Courier uniforms and medals appeared one by one.

Only then did the audience realize something was wrong.

Divinity surged.

Those native human audience members whose hearts had just been cleansed by Alice's singing fell into silence once more.

They were once again filled with hatred toward Train Conductors.

["It's these outsider Train Conductors! Because of them, we had to leave our original worlds!"]

["Our worlds were all destroyed by these madmen!"]

["They never treated us as their own kind! All Train Conductors deserve to die!!!"]

["We are the true masters of the Wasteland!!! We are the ones who should become Train Conductors!!!"]

Malicious emotions converged wildly.

In the sky, Alice's spirit dragon let out a wail of anguish.

At that very moment, a group of Troll mages chanted incantations, binding it with thorn-covered chains, forcing it into visibility, and slamming it directly onto the ground.

Russell appeared.

Every camera swung to face him.

A group of RUN Company employees had already surrounded Alice, who was suffering from the sound backlash.

Dark gun muzzles pointed at her head, inching closer step by step.

"I, am the boss of RUN Company."

Russell began his declaration to the cameras.

"I, am a native human living in the Station World!"

Backstage, Stacia furrowed her brow. Nine Element Cards materialized instantly, then converged into a Ring.

Before Russell's next sentence could leave his mouth, they flew out directly, completing her Magical Girl transformation in front of all the cameras.

"Hehe~"

She playfully flashed a peace sign, her face full of smiles, but her eyes were pure ice.

"You rude lot have completely ruined a perfectly good stage, so would you kindly get off gracefully?"

Stacia's appearance drew a wave of cheers.

Whether it was the Train Conductors at the scene or the people in the cities, everyone thought Russell was insane.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Don't bother us while we're listening to music! I paid ten Train Coins to a scalper for this ticket!"

"That's right! We came to hear singing, not some speech from your so-called RUN Company!"

"Get off the stage!"

"Off! Off!"

The voices of discontent grew louder. Russell's face darkened at having his words cut off. He raised his hand, and the RUN Company Senior Couriers immediately struck out, attacking the audience below.

"Hey, don't you dare hurt my audience."

"Wind, Fire!"

The Wind and Fire Element Cards overlapped, and a storm of flames erupted from the ground.

Russell sneered, raised his other hand, and produced that iron plate filled with ominous aura.

Twenty human hearts had already been sacrificed to it. For Russell, this was the necessary sacrifice to enable the Natives to resist Train Conductors.

[Numbered Weapon 90·The Lament of the Age of Decline]

[Magic Forbidden]

[Target Locked: Stacia]

However, unlike what he'd anticipated, Stacia's attack was not completely nullified.

The storm of flames was still surging toward him.

"How is that possible!?"

In the audience, Ye Qiyan continued toying with a Demon Card. He looked at the Forbidden effect that had also appeared on his personal interface and shook his head.

"Card Sequence isn't Magic. This guy, did someone swindle him?"

He looked toward Alice's direction and tossed the Demon Card in his hand into the air.

"Go. Don't let my big client get hurt. I can probably still make money off her in the future."

[Demon Card·Decisive]

The demon mech-soldier descended from the sky.