The Real Rules

After physically obliterating that woman, Ye Chuan snorted coldly.

"Audacious monster, actually possessing this innocent woman."

After doing all this, Ye Chuan glanced over at Qiu Ya. The girl was still unconscious; the drunkard uncle transforming into a monster earlier had probably scared her out of her wits.

After all, she looked like just an ordinary high school student.

It was understandable that she was timid.

Since he didn't know the train's rules, Ye Chuan casually cast a protective ward on Qiu Ya, then walked out of the carriage again—but soon, Ye Chuan realized something was wrong.

The place where the man had died just moments ago had restored itself to its original state, and the scattered flesh and corpse parts had vanished.

"Hm?" Ye Chuan looked around. Even the bloody smell in the air was gone, as if it had vanished into thin air.

"The body is gone..." Ye Chuan thought for a moment, then turned to look at where he had just blasted the woman. Since Ye Chuan had used his spiritual power to directly vaporize her corpse, there wouldn't have been a body left anyway.

"Forget it."

Ye Chuan walked directly into the next carriage. He looked left and right, and finding no new monsters, he walked forward a few more carriages.

"Nothing."

After finding no trace of monsters, Ye Chuan chose to return to Qiu Ya's side. After all, the carriage hadn't changed; it was still quiet.

But after walking back through several carriages, Ye Chuan frowned.

"Huh?"

Ye Chuan knew clearly he had walked four or five carriages, but when he walked back, he discovered Qiu Ya was gone.

"Wait, could it be..." Ye Chuan seemed to suddenly think of something. "Does every carriage change at random?"

If he walked forward, the carriages behind him would change. He couldn't return to the original carriage even if he turned back!

If Ye Chuan's guess was correct, these carriages were like a shifting maze!

"Interesting." Although it was just a guess, it piqued Ye Chuan's interest. To verify his theory, he took a piece of clothing directly from his backpack space and casually draped it over a seat.

After doing this, Ye Chuan walked to the next carriage.

Then one carriage, two carriages—

When Ye Chuan returned, he found that, sure enough, his clothes were gone.

"Hmm, unless this train makes things vanish into thin air, then the layout is indeed constantly changing."

Ye Chuan chose to sit down. Crossing his legs, he looked out the window again.

The scenery didn't seem to have changed much.

It was picturesque, with green hills and clear waters.

"Zzz, zzz—" Just after Ye Chuan had been watching the scenery for a while, a burst of noisy static attracted his attention.

Ye Chuan looked around, his gaze finally settling on the broadcast speaker not far away.

"Hello, passengers... Welcome aboard the Rusty Pilgrim... Zzz... Please observe the following rules..."

"Zzz... Please travel civilly, please do not quarrel with other passengers... No smoking or drinking inside the carriage..."

"Zzz... Please do not zzz..."

"Zzz... Ten minutes to the next station..."

"Passengers who have not purchased a ticket supplement, please do so quickly..."

The voice was intermittent, and Ye Chuan couldn't hear it clearly.

No smoking, drinking, or fighting?

"Oh, so that drunkard uncle and that couple triggered the rules?" Ye Chuan looked as if he had just realized something obvious after hearing the rules.

"So that's how it is."

If there were rules, it was simple, right?

"But what does 'ticket supplement' mean? Does it mean I still need to buy a ticket?"

"Also... so this broken train actually stops? I thought it would keep running forever."

However, since the broadcast said ten minutes to the station, Ye Chuan sat in his seat and began to wait.

As for Qiu Ya.

He couldn't find her location anyway, and since he had left a protective ward, he had already treated her well enough.

He hadn't even charged her a fee.

Ye Chuan organized the clues in his mind while sitting. Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and he could feel the train's speed steadily dropping.

The scenery passing on both sides was also slowing down.

And now, the view outside the window had changed drastically—no longer the picturesque hills and waters, but dilapidated residential buildings, scattered and sparse. The scenery outside exuded a gray, gloomy atmosphere.

"Zzz... Zzz... Arriving at the Hospital... Zzz... The train will depart again in 24 hours..."

The broadcast sounded again.

Hm?

Time to get off, then?

Ye Chuan didn't overthink it. Since he could get off, he walked straight out through the open train doors.

He stepped onto the platform and looked back. The train looked like a giant snake; neither the front nor the rear was visible, stretching endlessly as if infinite.

Ye Chuan tried to release his Divine Sense, but it was still blocked by an invisible force. The range of his senses couldn't penetrate more than a few meters, rendering it useless.

"It seems it's useless both inside and outside the train. But did the broadcast just say this station is called 'Hospital' or something?"

Ye Chuan looked left and right on the platform and indeed spotted a building resembling a hospital in the distance—

A dilapidated white structure standing far away.

The walls, which should have been a clean white, were now mottled like an old man's chapped skin. Large patches of paint curled at the edges and peeled off, revealing the dark yellow concrete beneath. Black mold was embedded in the cracks like streaks of solidified filth;

Withered creeper vines crawled over the walls, the brown stems clinging tightly to window frames and corners, their dried tendrils looking like skeletal fingers.

The hospital sign was too rusted and worn to distinguish its original color, covered in corrosion and decay.

"Looks quite atmospheric." Ye Chuan watched from a distance. It seemed he had only one place to go, as everywhere else he looked was shrouded in a strange gray mist.

The mist blocked his vision and his Divine Sense.

"Let's go take a look." Ye Chuan didn't care about the details. He walked directly toward the hospital.

His speed was fast, utilizing the technique of Shrinking the Earth into Inches. In just a second, he appeared in front of the hospital's main gate.

The air was filled with a faint smell of damp mold. Looking inside the hospital gate, it was pitch black, with a vague sense of things moving within.

But just then, Ye Chuan heard people talking. The voices didn't come from the hospital, but from his side—

Ye Chuan paused, turning his head toward the source of the sound. He saw seven or eight people walking through the mist, heading straight for the hospital.

They were well-equipped, holding weapons in their hands.

"Huh?" One figure looked familiar to Ye Chuan, someone he seemed to have met somewhere before. He spoke with a hint of uncertainty,

"Tian Xiaotian?"