Chapter 821: Meeting of Four

The one who usually likes to greet people with a smile?

Ye Qiyan quietly glanced at his own face reflected in the ice-cold rearview mirror that the White Bear had condensed from frost.

Yeah, he looked quite menacing.

"Thanks for the compliment."

"Huh?"

Zhao Lin didn't catch on.

But she quickly realized the ambiguity of what she had just said.

"S-sorry, Brother Qiyan! I didn't mean it that way!"

"What's there to apologize for? Hold on tight, I'm speeding up."

Ye Qiyan twisted the throttle.

With a thunderous roar from the Frost Sky White Bear, the Road Tyrant, a veritable land leviathan, thundered forward at full speed.

Past one cargo truck after another.

In just a few short minutes, they arrived at their destination.

RUN Company headquarters, main entrance on the first floor.

The piercing screech of brakes rang out.

Ye Qiyan brought the bike to a stop sideways in front of this building, whose front gate was a colossal metal door dozens of meters tall.

"Oh-ho, it didn't look that big when viewed from afar, but up close, it truly doesn't lose to any of those city buildings."

Ye Qiyan remarked in admiration as the Road Tyrant beneath him sank directly into the Matrix space.

The couriers on guard walked over, and the lead one sized up Ye Qiyan and Zhao Lin before putting on a friendly expression.

"You two must be Train Conductors from outside, right? Are you also here for the concerts of Miss Stacia and Miss Alice, as well as our RUN Company's special annual trading conference?

May I see your invitation letters? I'll lead you both to the Warping Door leading to the upper levels."

Upon spotting the VIP designation on the two invitation letters, this guide's pupils constricted.

A flicker of barely concealed disgust flashed through his eyes before he continued to treat the pair with the same warm smile, giving a slight bow in a welcoming gesture.

"This way, please. You two can head directly to the top floor, where rooms have already been prepared for you. Oh, and this lady, your room was already prepared beforehand. You two will be arranged in the same rest area."

Ye Qiyan and Zhao Lin followed behind the courier and boarded a small cargo robot only about three meters tall.

Following the designated route, passing through a spatial doorway that directly connected two separate spaces, Ye Qiyan and Zhao Lin arrived at the highest level of the building.

A massive indoor plaza.

Its total floor area was roughly the size of three or four villages combined.

Hotels, pool parks, service areas, and most importantly, the stage had all long been constructed.

Quite a few Train Conductors who weren't natives were gathered here.

"You two, enjoy yourselves."

The courier turned to leave, but just before departing, he heard a faint whisper at his ear.

"Next time, remember to hide your emotions a little better."

The courier's pupils constricted, his body stiffened, his foot slipped, and he tumbled down right in the middle of the doorway.

Ye Qiyan did nothing.

He didn't even care in the slightest about the emotion in that man's eyes.

Because of Russell.

That young man had harbored extreme malice from the very beginning toward Train Conductors who weren't native to the Wasteland, but had been cast into the Novice Station worlds by the System.

A company controlled by someone with such malice would only make that malice even more extreme.

————

City of a Thousand Stars

Babel Tower · Highest Level

[Homeward-bound Souls Parliament Hall]

The 12 seats that had previously been left empty now showed several figures.

Counting Lu Jiayun himself, the City Lord of the City of a Thousand Stars.

Of the twelve original Homeward-bound Souls, four had appeared at once.

Of course, there weren't many of them left to begin with.

Suoluo City, Miranda City, City of Eternal Night, Hanging Gardens, and the Nation on Ships.

The first four had completely lost contact with the Homeward-bound Souls, and the last, the Nation on Ships, had been largely taken over by the former mayor of Suoluo City due to his interference.

Excluding the City of a Thousand Stars, among the remaining six cities, two of the city lords were also two of the twelve Homeward-bound Souls, and they were among these four right now.

At this moment, Lu Jiayun was looking with a displeased expression at the woman sitting directly across from him, a haughty look written all over her face, dressed in a black military uniform.

And at another man with a full head of long cyan hair, wearing a perpetually smiling expression.

This meeting was not exactly friendly.

"Lu Jiayun, have you still not figured it out? At a time like this, you still want to cooperate with those so-called Divine Monsters?

Even the so-called Supremes.

Especially that Space one you've placed your greatest hopes on.

Let me tell you, that one's Supreme Divine Sequence has recently dropped to 3. You want to keep helping it grow stronger so that it can use us, beings who hold memories of our homeland, as memory anchor points to find those coordinates that may not even exist at all?

Wake up!"

The military-uniformed woman's eyes were filled with killing intent.

"The homeland we once lived in might just have been a Station World, or it might have been destroyed by the End at some unknown time and place!

Or perhaps that world was already weak and fragile to begin with. Do you think that with so many worlds falling into the End nowadays, that planet, that star system, that star river, that world,

why should it still exist?"

Bang!

Lu Jiayun slammed his palm on the table.

"Enough! I know exactly what I'm doing!

There's no mistake in the plan!

As long as we keep weakening the weight of the train system, and then let those Supreme Deities, and the True Gods above the Supreme Deities, rule over the Wasteland—compared to the meaningless train system, they can use regression to find a beacon for us to return home!

As long as there's a beacon!

As long as we can go back, even just to take a single look!"

"Lu Jiayun..."

The smiling man spoke.

"Gods cannot be trusted. I too once hated the train system out of fear, and grew angry because it wouldn't allow us to regress. But, it's meaningless."

The man opened his eyes, yet the smile on his face remained as gentle as ever.

"Train Conductors, the world, the train system... everything should keep moving forward. Regression is meaningless.

Even the Utopia City I established was to give the people in stasis a utopia of love, kindness, and beauty, like a dream~

Home...

Indeed, I want to go back and see it too.

But don't drive yourself insane over it."

"Shut up! Heinz! What exactly did you two come to see me about today?! If it's just a lecture, then please excuse me, I still have things to do!"

Lu Jiayun was about to press the button to end the meeting.

Heinz withdrew his serious expression and reverted to that same smiling demeanor.

"That secret Substitute Cube you once commissioned us to find has appeared again.

Right now, it's at RUN Company. As long as you find it, open that door in the company.

What you want is behind that door.

However, I'd advise you not to go looking for it. If you're too disappointed, I'm afraid... you might die."

Lu Jiayun's face was filled with joy, completely ignoring Heinz's latter words.

"Finally found it? The one most likely to be the holder of the talent that can send me back! As long as I find him, combined with the power of those False Gods... maybe, just maybe..."