Chapter 29 Part 2

She never stopped training, and today, she was completely transformed.

Whatever Yin Yu’s goals, whatever she planned to do, Zhu Ming was certain she would eventually grab her fox tail and force every truth into the open.

Threatened by the blade, Yin Yu couldn’t move recklessly. She hung from the rear of the train like a kite, swaying with the wind, but it didn’t dampen her spirits.

One hand gripped the bar, while the other, two fingers pinching the blade’s handle, unhurriedly brushed her wind-tousled hair behind her head. The wind was so strong, her hairstyle was completely ruined.

Her trench coat had long since been lost in the fight. Her long dress bore a clear footprint right in the center—courtesy of Zhu Ming. So disheveled, yet so utterly composed. The sight irritated Zhu Ming for no good reason.

Yin Yu sighed. “Truly, Mingming has changed so much. Not only can you discern others’ lies, you’ve even learned to lie yourself. When I saw that in the last dungeon, I was quite astonished.”

Using the blade’s tip to lift her chin, Zhu Ming said, “Anyone who’s been badly burned by lies learns to fear them. And to discern lies, you must first learn to tell them. Yin Yu, why all the chatter now? Trying to stall for time?”

Yin Yu gave a light laugh. “Oh dear, caught. In that case, let me teach you one more thing—focusing too much on one thing is bad. No matter how much you hate someone, you must learn to observe your surroundings.”

Zhu Ming frowned. Suddenly, she heard a rustling sound drawing near, and a sound that close meant… she couldn’t dodge!

The towering, ancient trees growing alongside the tracks had lush branches. Once deep autumn hit, they looked like they were draped in pure gold. And now, that very gold was scraping across the roof, sweeping backward. With a sharp crack, a mass of branches slammed directly into Zhu Ming.

At high speed, even fragile twigs and leaves packed enough force to sweep Zhu Ming off her feet, especially since she was already crouching right at the train’s edge. In an instant, she tumbled downward. Sky and ground flipped chaotically before her eyes. She urgently clawed out, grabbed something, and immediately pressed herself tightly against it.

Once she was securely clinging and looked up, Zhu Ming realized she was hugging Yin Yu’s waist, her face pressed right against the footprint on the woman’s lower abdomen.

Zhu Ming / Yin Yu: “…”

In perfect sync, both raised their blades—one from above, one from below—tips aimed at each other’s throats.

The white kite fluttering behind the train now had a black kite dangling beneath it. Yin Yu clung to the bar with one hand, her fingers gradually slipping. She said, “Trying to take me down with you?”

Zhu Ming had zero desire to die alongside her. “Die by yourself if you want to die.”

Yin Yu said, “I’ll count to three, and we withdraw our blades simultaneously. One, two, three.”

Neither blade budged an inch.

Zhu Ming let out a scoff. While keeping the blade threatening, she unceremoniously scrambled up Yin Yu’s body to climb upward. After a fair amount of wriggling, Yin Yu’s grip finally gave out. Zhu Ming lunged sideways, kicking off Yin Yu’s calf to grab the bar. But Yin Yu wasn’t a pushover either; taking advantage of Zhu Ming grabbing the railing, she hooked both legs around Zhu Ming’s body.

Their positions reversed. Now Zhu Ming was the one hanging onto the train, and Yin Yu was clinging to her.

“Let go of me!” Zhu Ming tried to shake her off.

“Don’t be so stingy. You were hugging me just a moment ago, and I didn’t kick you off.” Yin Yu coiled around her like a snake, slithering from the front to her back.

The two fell back into a brawl, but this time, their weapons didn’t play the same role. The extreme proximity made them inseparable, and whenever one tried to climb up, the other would drag her down. Neither gained any advantage.

Too close for comfort, Zhu Ming’s body stiffened. After failing to shake her off for ages, her irritation peaked. Finally, she lowered her head, opened her mouth, and bit down hard on the junction of Yin Yu’s shoulder and neck.

Yin Yu winced in pain, her entire body shuddering before clinging even tighter to Zhu Ming. “Sss…”

The faint taste of blood filled Zhu Ming’s mouth. Her mind wandered slightly. She knew Yin Yu was cold-hearted and unfeeling, but she hadn’t known that even this woman’s blood was cooler than a normal person’s.

Yin Yu’s soft body pressed tightly against her. A subtle fragrance mixed with the metallic scent of blood flooded her nostrils. In this moment, it felt as though she was still the eternal nightmare she could never shake off, coiling around her, refusing to let go.

Tch.

Yin Yu tilted her head, her skin brushing Zhu Ming’s hair. The half-dried blood on Zhu Ming’s face smeared onto her. Around her neck was the blazing heat of Zhu Ming’s breath. Yin Yu felt a bit ticklish, while the bitten spot throbbed with pain. She couldn’t help but chuckle softly. “Mingming, I know you don’t trust me. How about this: we split left and right, each climb up on our own. Deal?”

Zhu Ming gradually calmed down. In this situation, trying to settle the score with Yin Yu wasn’t going to be easy. She looked up at Yin Yu and acquiesced.

Yin Yu reached out one hand and grabbed the bar.

Warily watching each other, they disentangled. Each grabbed their own grip, then circled around to the left and right sides of the carriage.

Through the glass window, Zhu Ming saw Yin Yu on the opposite side. She began climbing upward, but Yin Yu didn’t climb up herself. Instead, she moved forward.

What’s this?

Oh right, she had an accomplice!

Once Zhu Ming flipped back onto the roof, she immediately looked for Yin Yu. Just in time, she saw Yin Yu slipping into a carriage through an open window. She tried to follow but failed.

Even with the window open, Zhu Ming couldn’t enter because the train had a hidden rule: One person could only move one carriage per day-night cycle.

This was also why their progress had been so slow. Earlier, when the carriage doors were open, they’d tried charging through two consecutive doors, but it was useless. After entering one carriage, they couldn’t leave again until the next round.

Yin Yu tidied herself up inside the carriage and smiled at Zhu Ming. “Still want to fight? Maybe next time.”

Zhu Ming gave her an icy glare. She hadn’t expected this woman to flee the moment she couldn’t win. It seemed she wouldn’t be getting any useful information from her this time.

Since pursuing her was impossible, Zhu Ming took the opportunity to observe other details.

Inside the carriage, besides Yin Yu, there was another person clearly a participant. That must be her accomplice. However, this person was overly mysterious, wearing a white mask, with a strip of black electronic screen where the eyes should be. Aside from gender and height, nothing else could be discerned.

And besides the two of them, the entire carriage was completely empty. It was currently “daytime,” yet utterly devoid of anyone. This meant every single ghost in the carriage had already been cleaned out by that masked woman.

Zhu Ming pulled her head back and walked along the roof.

Yin Yu had entered Car No. 57. There were three more carriages behind it. The entire train had a full sixty carriages.

Even if the participants had been scattered, the number of participants this time wouldn’t be less than the last dungeon. Zhu Ming pondered for a moment, then began walking from the rear to the front along the carriages, observing the participants’ situations inside as she went.

Car 60: empty. Car 59: empty, gruesome bloodstains. Car 58: empty. Car 57: two people. Car 56: empty. Car 55: empty. Car 54: bloodstains. Car 53: empty. Car 52: empty. Car 51: one person. Car 50: bloodstains…

The situation in the carriages after No. 50 was quite dire, but thankfully, a bit further ahead, the number of surviving participants increased.

There were likely deaths during this process, but Zhu Ming hadn’t spotted a single participant’s corpse. She wondered if they went to the same place as the slain ghosts.

After a general survey, Zhu Ming returned to Car No. 8.

Wenren Tu and Miss Legs were cracking sunflower seeds, sitting right at the small four-seat table that Yin Yu had cleared out.

Seeing Zhu Ming return, Wenren Tu said happily, “What took you so long? Who was that woman? Look how badly beaten you are—she must be pretty tough. Say, you didn’t…” Wenren Tu drew a line across her neck. “…her, did you?”

“No.” Zhu Ming slapped her blade onto the table, saying in a foul mood, “I went out to fight, and you didn’t even think to help me.”

Wenren Tu looked innocent. “I was keeping an eye on you the moment you left. I saw you knock her down. You had it totally handled—no room for me to help.” So she hadn’t intervened.

“Besides, you think everyone can crawl on trains as easily as you two crawl into bed?” Wenren Tu declared righteously. “I haven’t slept a wink since we started this carriage-hopping, brawl-per-carriage routine. I’m dead tired. And that woman left a whole carriage full of ghosts behind. We’ll have to fight another round soon. I gotta conserve some energy and stamina so I don’t get overwhelmed.”

Besides, those whose supernatural abilities were lacking relied on physical combat. Wenren Tu felt her physical combat skills being a tad inferior wasn’t shameful, and she wasn’t that bad anyway—she was far stronger than ordinary people, just a bit worse than a freak like Zhu Ming.

Zhu Ming pouted. There were more pressing matters to focus on now.

She relayed what she’d observed in the subsequent carriages. “I was considering before that we don’t know how long the rear carriages stretch. Better to go forward. There are only a dozen or so carriages up front, and the locomotive controlling the train is at the front. Maybe reaching the very front will reveal something.”

Wenren Tu said, “Judging by the pattern of the carriage numbers when we first arrived, this train should have placed participants at spaced intervals. That is, starting from Car No. 2, one participant was placed every other carriage. So the entire train should have had thirty participants initially.”

Zhu Ming said, “But now, barely more than a dozen are still alive. In Car No. 32, I saw five people grouped together—they’ve likely formed an alliance. Most of the rest are scattered. After all, more people means needing more food tickets. The more food tickets you hoard, the more ghosts appear during the same night.”

Wenren Tu asked, “Only a dozen people left in the whole train?”

Zhu Ming leaned against the sofa, arms crossed. Her mood wasn’t great. “Not necessarily. I forgot to check the frontmost carriages.”

Wenren Tu noticed her foul mood and said, “Forgot, then forget it. We’ll head over there anyway. Didn’t you beat that woman? Why are you pissed off?”

Zhu Ming didn’t make a sound. How was she supposed to explain?

That she was sulking because she hadn’t managed to get the better of Yin Yu? That would make her seem incredibly petty.