Chapter 812: Next Stop... RUN Company Headquarters?

The Hunt carried Ye Qiyan across the wasteland in wild, unrestricted flight for a long while.

Until the sun in the sky sank into the ground.

And the bright, icy moonlight rose.

The wasteland remained the same wasteland, as always.

Even though The Hunt's speed was several times faster than his train, the scenery around them still showed little change.

The massive mechanical dragon hovered among the clouds.

Ye Qiyan lay with his hands folded behind his head, reclining leisurely on Lisette's lap.

He looked at the moonlight, then checked the time.

"Time to head back."

The train was still moving.

But the tracks were long out of sight from here.

He snapped his fingers lightly.

The Hunt gradually shrank and returned to its armband form.

Lisette also entered the Matrix space.

Then.

He leaned backward.

[Sailing]

Falling, drowning...

When he opened his eyes again, he was back aboard his train.

Over the next two days, Ye Qiyan didn't rush to his next Station World.

Instead, he had The Hunt and Lisette spar in the Training Grounds.

Unsurprisingly, even with the Transcend Warhead deployed and every trick in its arsenal unleashed,

the victor was still Lisette.

The Hunt was beginning to question its very existence as a dragon.

Because it simply couldn't understand why things turned out this way.

Every single time, it felt like it was just a hair's breadth from landing a hit, yet Lisette would always use Time Acceleration to float effortlessly out of the way of every attack.

Its scales were supposed to be indestructible.

Yet those tiny Second Hand projectiles could slice right through them, gradually coalescing over time into an utterly terrifying cloud of razor-sharp bolts.

Even though it had made its head exceptionally hard during its Ascension process to better protect its master,

Lisette's Chrono-Mechanical Armament, the Clockwork Star,

could still pierce straight through its draconic skull.

The battle between the two machines lasted over two hours.

The normally rock-solid Training Grounds began showing signs of collapsing under the strain.

To avoid any accidents, Ye Qiyan called an immediate halt to the fight.

But the victor had already been decided.

Even so, Ye Qiyan still felt that Lisette perhaps hadn't shown her full power yet.

But when he asked Lisette herself, she was just as bewildered.

The reason she could win was simply that she made her weapons faster, more numerous, and harder.

She didn't feel there was anything particularly special about herself.

It was just that anything she wanted to learn, she could pick up instantly.

————

Time: 9:24:01

Today's Weather: Clear

[Beep beep]

In the Nether Moon Garden.

Ye Qiyan sat in the courtyard beneath the moonlight, using the Dynamic Brush to continue researching the Mythical Gem, furthering his studies for his [Dynamic Train Skins].

At the same time, he munched on a White Forest Fruit that Mingming was struggling to hold in her arms, one several times larger than her own body.

The system notification chimed, and he deftly called it up, set down the brush, and glanced at the name on the screen.

Zhao Lin.

["Brother Qiyan, I've been pretty lucky lately. Got anything you need me for?"]

Ye Qiyan mulled it over.

He'd been considering where to head next these past two days as well.

Without a doubt, he had to visit the world recorded in that treasury Key obtained from Venus, the Goddess of Beauty.

But that place had been rated as extremely dangerous, so he needed to make some preparations first.

From the corpse of the Prism God's Prism-lifeforms,

he had obtained Prism materials, which he fed into Future Construction to produce Blueprints.

Over the past two days, he'd made a few mostly useless gadgets, like adjustable-prescription contact lenses and projectors with some degree of physical presence, things like that. Utterly pointless.

He'd been planning to come up with a genuinely useful Prism material Blueprint to boost his combat power before checking the place out.

However, the Emperor's Order's Public Chat Room had been quite lively these past two days, and even he himself had popped in to say a few words.

Occasionally seeing Zhao Lin speak had given him a new idea.

Perhaps...

He could go open that treasure chest first.

[Lucky Chest 9/10]

[Upon opening, there is a one-in-three chance of receiving one Level 10 reward, and a two-in-three chance of receiving two Level 9 rewards.]

A one-in-three chance.

If Zhao Lin didn't exist, he wouldn't even hesitate, he'd just open it.

But since there was a way to boost the odds, there was no need to gamble.

["Oho, so proactive. What do you want from me?"]

["Umm... hehe, didn't I mention it to you before, Brother Qiyan?"]

["That Game Card, huh. Well then, let's see just how far your Luck can take us."]

["Don't worry, don't worry! My last station was super unlucky, it almost drove me crazy! Brother Qiyan, the natives in the Level 8 Station World are even more insane than the ones I've met before! There was actually this woman who refused to fight because she said zombies used to be humans! And the mission was tied to that woman too, she almost got me killed!"]

Level 8 station.

So Zhao Lin really could consistently enter Advanced Station Worlds now.

["If you don't take out the bleeding hearts in an apocalypse first, you deserve the bad luck. Speaking of which, how long have you been in Advanced Station Worlds?"]

["Four stations now! Hehe, I only got two treasure chests though, but even though one station was Misfortune, I still managed to get some pretty good stuff. I'm really strong now! Oh, right, Brother Qiyan, I almost forgot there's one more thing."]

Zhao Lin sent a screenshot.

[RUN Company, Headquarters World VIP Invitation, Stacia's Magical Girl Idol Fan Meeting]

["Brother Qiyan, Sister Stacia said she's going to perform at RUN Company's headquarters. By the way, do you know RUN Company? They're amazing! Now they've got a presence in tons of Low-Level Station Worlds. As long as you spend enough Train Coins, you can rent their equipment and hired muscle. A lot of low-level Train Conductors have way better survival rates in Low-Level Stations than before."]

RUN Company.

A familiar name.

Ye Qiyan wasn't familiar with the place itself, but he was very familiar with the company's current boss.

A young native human named Russell.

His current role was as Menrojina's mole, and even more so, Ye Qiyan's mole.

But recently, Ye Qiyan had been busy with the arena matters, and with the Time Flow Desynchronized, he hadn't checked whether Russell had said anything.

["So?"]

["Wanna go check it out? I heard it's not just Miss Stacia, Alice, who just formed a new band, is going too. Ah, of course, I'm not going for the celebrities. I just heard you can buy some of RUN Company's exclusive items. Brother Qiyan, what do you think? If we go, we just need to ask Sister Stacia for a member invitation."]

"RUN Company, huh..."

Ye Qiyan rubbed his chin, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Before heading to the Golden Tribe treasury, stopping by there wouldn't hurt. Besides, I'm actually pretty curious what that company looks like. And a company isn't a city... yeah, shouldn't be any problem."

["Sure."]