Chapter 337: To Drive Them Mad Before Their Destruction

Pale streamers of light fell upon the midnight platform, and in that instant, a premonitory thought flashed through Lu Yibei’s mind.

Within the streamers, there seemed to contain a faint sign of life!?

Lu Yibei’s expression changed slightly, no time to think further, she swiftly stepped forward, hoisted Ah-Hua onto her shoulder, and immediately launched into a running technique, darting forward.

Accompanied by a slight sonic boom, she flew low over the platform like a bird, concealing herself behind a stone wall.

The next moment, a bright light silently burst forth, casting the entire station in a ghastly pallor.

It was as if a group of invisible beasts were hiding within the light, gnashing and sucking blood, tearing everywhere, leaving deep and shallow grooves on the ground, pillars, and ceiling.

However, before Lu Yibei could catch her breath, a new wave of attacks began.

Ambushers outside the station caught the vibrations caused by her movement.

More streamers, following her trajectory, descended from the sky.

Thus, frost spread, a cold storm swept through, flames erupted, and scorching waves spread, along with unnamed toxic rays and vicious Gu worms wreaking havoc.

It was as if a high-intensity earthquake had occurred, shaking the entire station violently.

Carrying Ah-Hua, Lu Yibei, guided by the premonitory thoughts flashing through her mind, struggled to weave through the streamers continually falling around them.

After a long while, the two found a relatively safe place to hide in a narrow alley between a grocery store and a restroom. Ah-Hua quickly deployed a defensive and soundproof spell formation. A golden glow spread, enveloping the cramped alleyway.

Already occupying the spot, a vagrant who had spread out his bedding saw the two burst in and was about to flee, but Lu Yibei quickly pulled him back, pinning him firmly to the ground with one hand.

“Don’t move, just sleep!”

The vagrant, “…”

Lu Yibei and Ah-Hua managed to find temporary shelter, avoiding the relentless bombardment of spell formations and innate skills, but others on the platform were not so lucky.

On the platform, many vagrants who had not managed to hide were engulfed in that life-devouring brilliance, their flesh ripped open, a thick scent of blood mingling with the smoke.

It was as if sheets of thin paper were being torn apart, lives effortlessly ripped asunder.

A series of hair-raising screams emanated from where the light shone brightest.

In the narrow alleyway between the grocery store and the restroom on the platform.

Lu Yibei withdrew her gaze from the metal framework of the station’s ceiling and grimaced.

Ever since Hydrangea had returned, her premonitory thoughts kept alerting her that someone was covertly watching her from above.

This stalker-like behavior made her uncomfortable, but since the observer had yet to overstep boundaries, she remained merely cautious, without further reaction.

However…

Shortly thereafter, an ambush was launched outside the station.

Could this possibly be related to that person secretly observing her? Lu Yibei wondered cynically.

“As she pondered, Lu Yibei turned to Ah-Hua with a serious expression, “Speaking of which, what kind of shady business have you and your Miss been involved in? You’ve really made some enemies, haven’t you?””

Faced with Lu Yibei’s accusation, Ah-Hua’s mouth twitched slightly. “Don’t pin this on me. Since I arrived here, I haven’t had any contact with those people. How could there be any grudges?”

“Weren’t you posting missing person notices everywhere?”

Ah-Hua paused, “How could that cause any grudges?”

“Ruining the city’s environment, affecting its appearance? You’ve posted so many that it’s practically a public nuisance,” Lu Yibei said earnestly.

Ah-Hua was speechless. This city still has something like appearance to speak of?

The walls are plastered with all sorts of ads like a diseased cauliflower; would my few notices really make a difference?

“Why does it have to be me who made enemies? Can’t you look for reasons within yourself?” Ah-Hua retorted angrily.

“Because it couldn’t possibly be me!” Lu Yibei shrugged. “Before I met you, I hadn’t even gotten off the train. The only haunting I’ve encountered, we got along great. To be honest, when we parted ways, she was so reluctant to see me go that she cried.”

“Tell me, I’ve been friendly all the way here. How could I have made enemies? Sitting on the train, and grudges come from the sky?”

Ah-Hua felt Lu Yibei made sense, nodded, adjusted her glasses, and asked, “Isn’t it possible that someone you offended outside followed you?”

“Uh…” Lu Yibei paused, then shrugged again. “I can’t say for sure. There are plenty of people who want me dead. How would I know who it is?”

“What? You have grudges with many people?” Ah-Hua asked, bewildered.

In her impression, Lu Yibei was still that timid temporary operator of The Midnight Watchers Society, or perhaps Wang Buliuxing sneaking around under their noses. She never expected someone like her could make enemies.

“Oh, there’s a whole lot,” Lu Yibei slapped her thigh. “The Haze Deity, Plague Taisui, Boat God, Eclipse Society, and let me think…”

Ah-Hua held her forehead and raised a hand to interrupt, “Alright, stop.”

If she continued, it would give me the creeps.

It’s a miracle she’s still alive!

However…

“The ones you mentioned, if they wanted you dead, they probably wouldn’t use these methods,” Ah-Hua said.

“Why?” Lu Yibei asked, puzzled.

Ah-Hua rolled her eyes at Lu Yibei. “Do you even need to ask?”

“Not to mention, just the Haze Deity and Plague Taisui, two hauntings that even The Midnight Watchers Society find troublesome, if they really wanted to deal with you, doing it outside would be as easy as squashing a chick.”

“Why bother sending a bunch of scattered forces, risking infiltration into the Dream Come True Journey to attack?”

Ah-Hua had already used her special psychic sense to perceive that the psychics and hauntings outside the station had no similar psychic energy fluctuations and showed no coordination.

It felt to her like they were recruited on a whim from various places, with no semblance of being from the same faction.

Scattered forces, huh? Lu Yibei repeated in her mind, her eyes darting around, then she looked at the smelly vagrant nearby. “It’s not me, it’s not you… could it be him?”

“Hey, mister, be honest with me. Are you some kind of underground leader resisting the tyranny of the Pharmacy?”

The vagrant looked puzzled, “???”

Seeing the vagrant’s silence, Lu Yibei crouched down beside him, offering him a spicy strip. She lowered her voice, clenched her fist, and shouted with conviction, “Workers of the world…”

She paused halfway, raising her eyebrows at the vagrant as if waiting for him to complete the slogan.

Amidst the continuous explosions outside the station, the atmosphere suddenly turned intense.

“…”

The vagrant remained silent but shamelessly accepted the spicy strip from Lu Yibei and began to eat.

Living in the city dominated by the Cinnabar Pharmacy, being a vagrant meant that having enough to eat was a luxury. With food being scarce, any offering was accepted without question.

“Looks like he’s not one of us.”

Watching the silent vagrant, Lu Yibei shook her head and snatched the spicy strip from his mouth, using her innate skill to turn it into dust.

If you’re not one of our comrades, why should I give you anything to eat?

The vagrant was speechless, “…”

“…” Ah-Hua sighed, Lu Yibei, I beg you, have some decency!

She rolled her eyes at Lu Yibei and said softly, “Wang Buliuxing, stop messing around. What do we do now?”

“Those guys outside clearly came prepared. If we’re going to face them, we need at least…”

Before she could finish, several streaks of light flew in through the gaps in the station’s canopy, exploding with a roar. Flames burst forth, and a heavy wave of heat spread in all directions.

The storm crashed against the defensive spell formation, causing cracks to spread like a spider web. The formation trembled, nearly shattering, as Ah-Hua quickly used psychic energy to repair it.

Lu Yibei shrank back, looking at Ah-Hua, “Face them? Are you kidding? Can’t your psychic sense detect the psychic energy fluctuations outside?”

“There are at least seven or eight Class A’s and a whole bunch of Class B’s. Going out there is a death sentence! If you want to go, be my guest, but I’m staying right here in the station.”

“But…” Ah-Hua hesitated.

“No buts!” Lu Yibei patted Ah-Hua’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, as long as we stay inside the station, they can’t do much to us.”

“On the way here, with nothing else to do, I read through all the pamphlets on the Giant Train.”

Lu Yibei always felt it was crucial to understand the local rules and regulations in a new place. It helped her find loopholes and opportunities to exploit.

“One of the pamphlets on station regulations mentioned that the station is a neutral safe zone. Any conflict involving psychic energy use within the station would lead to joint sanctions by three parties.”

“You see, they’re just outside the station, randomly using their skills like they’re playing a lottery, without any clear target. They must be afraid to come in, that’s why they’re doing this.”

“Am I right?” Lu Yibei said, raising her eyebrows at the vagrants nearby.

Vagrants, “…” Could you stop dragging me into your conversations? We’re not even close!

Ah-Hua glanced at the bewildered vagrants and turned to Lu Yibei with a serious expression, “Are we just going to hide here and not confront them? That’s way too passive! Shouldn’t we strike back?”

“No way!” Lu Yibei replied.

“We’re still inside the station. If we strike back from here, it would count as a fight involving psychic energy within the station. Maybe those guys outside are banking on this, which is why they chose this method of attack.”

“But…” Ah-Hua frowned, paused, and continued, “Are we just going to sit here and wait? The nights here are really long…”

Lu Yibei straightened her back, her chin slightly raised, “Of course not! Do I look like someone who would just sit and wait?”

Ah-Hua eyed Lu Yibei skeptically, “You don’t look like someone who would sit and wait, but more like someone who would run away and survive by any means.”

“If this station had more than one exit, you’d be gone by now, wouldn’t you?”

“Honestly, that’s true…” Lu Yibei nodded in agreement.

Before nightfall, while setting up landmines, she had studied the surrounding terrain.

This station was almost isolated from the dilapidated city of Cinnabar Pharmacy, surrounded on three sides by bottomless dark chasms.

It was like a lonely peninsula, with only a narrow road leading to the mainland.

After a brief contemplation, Lu Yibei sighed softly, “Ah! I miscalculated!”

“I thought the locals here would follow the rules and not attack the station. I didn’t expect them to just throw skills into the station from outside.”

“Looks like exploiting loopholes in the rules is something the locals are really good at.”

“Is this really the time to be praising the enemy?” Ah-Hua said, annoyed.

“Don’t panic!” Lu Yibei patted Ah-Hua’s shoulder, expressionless, “They can exploit loopholes, but so can I! I’ve already thought of a way to deal with this situation.”

Staying in a place with obvious safety loopholes like Cinnabar Pharmacy, how could Lu Yibei not have a backup plan?

“You’ve thought of something?” Ah-Hua asked, surprised.

“Yeah!” Lu Yibei spread her hands, “What do you think I’ve been doing all afternoon?”

“…”

Ah-Hua seriously recalled, looking into Lu Yibei’s eyes, and said earnestly, “Eating spicy strips, taking naps, chatting with vagrants, flipping through the station’s booklet, oh, and running to the bathroom a dozen times.”

Lu Yibei, “…” Can’t I do anything serious in your eyes?

“The correct way to say it is, replenishing energy, conserving strength, gathering intelligence, and setting traps,” Lu Yibei corrected.

During the conversation, she noticed that the explosions of mines outside the station and the sounds of attacks inside had quieted down. The surroundings had once again fallen into dead silence. After waiting briefly and confirming that the ambushers outside had paused their assault, she stood up.

“It’s about time,” Lu Yibei murmured to herself, then quickly turned to Ah-Hua and said, “I’m going to check out the situation. Stay here and don’t move.”

“…” Ah-Hua opened her mouth to speak but then stopped herself.

“Don’t worry, I won’t run off and leave you behind.”

If the situation isn’t particularly dangerous… Lu Yibei secretly added in her mind, then she left her hiding spot and walked towards the platform.

Under the crisscrossing metal framework that supported the ceiling above the platform of the Cinnabar Pharmacy station.

Hydrangea, now transformed into a sunflower parrot, was hidden in the highest corner of the metal framework, peering out of the station’s ventilation shaft towards the outside.

The area within nearly a hundred meters outside the station was covered with dry, yellow wild grass, unlit by any lights.

It seemed as though the city’s planners had intentionally kept the city at a certain distance from the station.

At this moment, the originally dark wasteland was ablaze, the ignited wild grass turning into tiny sparks that danced in the night sky like swarms of insects.

Lu Yibei had triggered a spell formation that detonated an Alchemical Bomb, leaving behind various-sized craters in the ground with dismembered bodies scattered around them.

“Setting traps in advance? Interesting,” Hydrangea muttered to herself. “But if that’s all there is, it might not be enough…”

As she spoke, her gaze shifted towards the depths of the wasteland.

On the barren land, dense shadows surged, gradually moving closer to the station.

After paying a heavy price, they had finally carved out a relatively safe route for themselves.

These poor souls, deep in addiction and with corrupted spirits, would not easily give up such a chance for a permanent solution.

Seeing this, a look of disdain flashed in Hydrangea’s eyes.

The three powers along the Dream Come True Journey, although outwardly united, operated independently and had vastly different styles of conduct.

When dealing with the same person, Lanruo Inn Customs Shop usually employed seduction tactics, Dream Come True Entertainment City advocated for fair play with chips, while Cinnabar Pharmacy, as Black Peony had said, operated differently from the other two.

Severe cases require strong medicine, and Celestian was someone who favored strong, straightforward, and brutal measures.

However, with strong medicine come inevitable side effects.

As far as Hydrangea knew, every move by Celestian was accompanied by a large number of deaths.

In his view, losing a few vagrants was no big deal.

After all, their lives were already worse than death.

“Still using strong medicine! Such a brute!” Hydrangea scoffed disdainfully.

“As she spoke, her gaze shifted to the hidden Lu Yibei, her eyes narrowing slightly, “I want to see how you, so valued by your Madame, will handle Celestian’s ‘strong medicine’…”

Her words had barely faded when a loud cry echoed from inside the station.

“He’s dead! The guy is dead! Fantastic! Hahaha, it’s all mine now, all mine!”

The voice then dropped a notch, sinisterly chuckling, “Hehe, a bunch of fools, waiting to come in after it’s all over, thinking they can still feast? Hmph! They won’t even catch the soup while it’s hot.”

Although the speaker had deliberately lowered their voice, it still carried a somewhat childish tone, and it sounded eerily familiar.

Upon hearing this, Hydrangea, transformed into a parrot, slightly narrowed her eyes, resembling green beans.

But how did she know who the Celestian wanted to kill and what exactly they were after?

Wait, that’s not right, she hadn’t mentioned anyone being dead or that something was hers now…

Interesting!

Hydrangea chuckled inwardly, turning her head to look outside the station where the ambushers, having heard the shout from within, visibly grew restless.

Before them, indeed, some psychics and hauntings had either been forced to clear the way with their bodies and miraculously survived, or, leveraging their powerful psychic abilities, had advanced ahead through densely trapped areas to reach near the station.

It was conceivable that they might have taken the chaos as an opportunity to sneak into the station in search of their target.

In fact, if given the chance, every psychic and haunting present would do just that.

After all, there was only one spot available to become the red-clothed foreman!

At that moment, the shout from inside the station rose again.

“Wait, wait, don’t attack!”

“Boom-!”

Immediately following the shout, an explosion erupted from within the station.

“You’re ruthless! I’ll split it with you, what… what? You want it all? Don’t be too… Ah-!”

Before the voice could finish, another scream followed by yet another explosion reverberated through the station.

“Boom-!”

Through the station roof’s vent, faint blue and purple electric light mixed with the glow of flames could be glimpsed.

The station, after two explosions and a scream, returned to silence. However, the unease among the dozens of ambushers gathered on the barren ground outside the station crazily intensified.

“Someone made a move inside the station? How dare they…”

“Weren’t we supposed to capture them alive?”

“You just said it was preferable, didn’t you? The reward notice said that bringing back the core entity of a haunting would suffice.”

“Should we also go in and have a look? Maybe there’s still a chance.”

“Forget it, it’s probably too late now, isn’t it?”

“…”

Though the ambushers verbally showed signs of giving up, each person and haunting subtly distanced themselves from the others, then…

“Whoosh-!”

A sonic boom burst through the air, and a dark figure, like an arrow fully drawn, shot out from the crowd and streaked toward the station.

Thus, after a brief lull, all the ambushers dropped their disguises, tore off their masks, and in their most ferocious forms, began the fierce contest for the title of the red-clothed foreman.

Inside the station.

Lu Yibei was hidden in the shadows, wearing a black robe that had transformed from her jacket. Her long hair and most of her face were concealed by the robe’s hood and high collar, leaving only her eyes visible.

In her hand, she held a copy of the “Dream Come True Tourist Safety Manual,” which she had taken from the Giant Train. It was open to the page titled “Appendix 3: Psychic Ability Usage Guidelines at the Station.”

[1. Any conflict involving psychic energy within the station is strictly prohibited (Note 1: If a traveler is attacked with psychic energy without having initiated its use, self-defense retaliation is exempt from this rule.)

(Note 2: Accidents caused by travelers’ personal belongings are exempt, but we reserve the right to seek compensation within reasonable limits…)

…

5. Anyone who damages transportation facilities within the station will be severely dealt with…]

“Perfect, accidentally triggering a bomb doesn’t count as psychic energy conflict. As long as they strike first, things will be easy to handle!”

“Hmph! Exploiting loopholes? Who can’t do that?”

“Besides, I’m acting completely within the rules! And there are witnesses too,” Lu Yibei muttered to herself, her gaze drifting towards the general area where Hydrangea was hiding.

At that moment, a series of explosions sounded from outside the station, as the remaining “landmines” were triggered.

Hearing this, Lu Yibei’s eyes narrowed slightly. She quickly put away the “Dream Come True Tourist Safety Manual” and focused her attention on the station’s entrance and exit.

Like a predator waiting for its prey, she remained still, ready to strike.

To bring about their downfall, they must first be driven mad. The Ambushers outside, already mentally unstable due to the drugs, had gone completely insane!

Soon, faint footsteps echoed in the empty entrance and exit passage, followed by a premonition flashing through Lu Yibei’s mind.

[It appeared at the entrance of the passage]

In the next moment, as a shadow appeared at the entrance, a strong psychic energy fluctuation erupted from Lu Yibei’s body, accompanied by a low growl from her lips.

“Trying to take it from me? No way! Die!”

However, she merely stirred the psychic energy fluctuation and growled, without making any attack moves, simply following her premonition and swiftly dodging to the side.

The haunting that had first entered the station heard the growl and sensed the psychic energy fluctuation approaching. Startled, it reacted instinctively, opening its mouth to spew a large amount of foul-smelling acid towards the source of the sound and fluctuation.

Yet…

The girl who had growled seemed to have anticipated its “counterattack,” dodging to the side with a blank expression, and said softly, “Oh, you struck first! Everything I do next counts as self-defense!”

As she spoke, the Broken Sword in her hand ignited with flames in the darkness.

The haunting, “???”