Chapter 879: Surpass the Stars - Zhou Shangqing

When that obelisk radiated a dazzling light in the dark night.

The dull-witted old beggar instinctively tried to dodge that brilliance.

But light in the darkness was the hardest thing to escape.

The obelisk's spiritual light forced its way into the old beggar's mind like a high-pressure water jet.

A locked doorway buried deep within his memories was forcibly broken open.

He clutched his head, letting out anguished wails.

"No! No! Why?! Why are you doing this to me! I clearly did nothing wrong! Aah!!"

Ye Qiyan calmly watched the old beggar rolling on the ground, and continued increasing the obelisk's output.

One by one, the chains in his memories snapped apart, and countless painful memories returned like a tidal wave.

"No, no! I don't want to remember! I don't want to appear! I'm not, I don't want to, I, I... I... You, no! Why are you forcing me! Turn it off right now!"

On the old beggar's face, it was already impossible to distinguish tears from rain. His body trembled violently, and as his memories recovered, even his aura became somewhat strange.

Despair... Sorrow... Pain... Torment...

Just what kind of mistake had he committed to make him reveal such emotions?

"Turn it, off! I don't want to, remember!!"

The old beggar's eyes were bloodshot. His divine form flickered, the stone beneath his feet instantly shattered, and in that instant, not even Lisette's Skull-Piercing Thrust could keep up with the speed of his disappearance.

So fast?!

Ye Qiyan, who had maintained a cautious state throughout, drew his blade without hesitation and swung horizontally.

In this rainy night, a bright full moon immediately appeared.

Clang!

A crisp ringing sound echoed.

The old beggar instantly appeared before him, wanting to take that obelisk, but was forcibly blocked by Moon Veil's blade force.

Before his palm was a mass of energy like a star cluster.

It was this mass of energy that had blocked Ye Qiyan's strike, which had held nothing back.

"Not bad, Senior. You're pretty strong after all. With skill like that, why would you need to hire someone to take out that lamp-post hanger?"

"Turn it off! This is the last time! Don't force me! If I remember everything, I, I will definitely kill myself! Don't push me anymore!"

"Oh, it's fine. Before you die, I'll have already asked you everything I want to know. Lisette!"

Skull-Piercing Thorns descended from the sky.

The old beggar instinctively used that terrifying movement speed to escape from this location.

"See, if you really would kill yourself, why did you dodge just now? It means you still want to live, right~"

Ye Qiyan didn't rise. The maid beside him held dual blades in her hands, and behind her, the Chrono-Mechanical Armament had already fully deployed.

Second Hand Flying Arrow.

Minute Hand Skull-Piercing Thrust.

And finally, the Hour Hand, Time Acceleration.

The Hour Hand rotated, and Lisette instantly appeared behind the old beggar.

Celestial Domain Fantasy's Psychic Blade Wave instantly slashed toward the back of his neck.

The old beggar's pupils constricted, his entire body's muscles tensed, and countless thoughts raced through his mind.

Perhaps, being cut down by a single blade just like this wouldn't be so bad.

Perhaps, just like the version of himself in his memories, he deserved to die, rather than clinging to life here.

Perhaps...

["I don't want to die..."]

Bloody tears burst from his eyes.

In the old man's eyes, the entire world seemed to have pressed the pause button, raindrops in the sky suspended in midair.

But this was not time freeze. It was his speed, which had already surpassed the stars!

He wanted to reach Ye Qiyan's side and destroy that obelisk.

But before he could make any move, the old beggar suddenly sensed a terrifying killing intent.

He turned around instinctively, his eyes filled with icy killing intent. Behind the mechanical girl in her beautiful maid outfit, that Hour Hand, stepped forward.

The old beggar's pupils constricted, and immediately after, he saw that mechanical maid shift from stasis to slow, and from slow, gradually accelerate, within this seemingly frozen super-speed world.

[Tick-tock]

The speed of sound in air was only a mere 340 meters per second. Logically, at this moment, there should have been no sound at all.

But... he heard it. The sound of a clock ticking.

The Time Acceleration domain expanded outward from Lisette as its center.

Ye Qiyan's will also completed its pursuit at this moment.

His body rose like an old film dropping frames, and he took the Talent Cube from his chest.

[Surpass the Stars]

[Uses Remaining: 7/10]

Begin acceleration!

He and Lisette returned to normalcy within this accelerated world. He gazed at the old beggar, and behind him, the slowly rotating Ring of Evil had appeared at some unknown point.

The intense malice pressed down on the old beggar until he could barely breathe, as though a pair of eyes above the clouds were looking down upon him, a tiny ant.

A monster?!

What kind of monsters were this person and this robot!?

Could Train Conductors in the Wasteland now accomplish something like this!?

And also... that cube?!

"How... is it here... why, is this fate?"

The old beggar wanted to flee, but when Bewitchment's whisper sounded in his heart within this accelerated world.

A question that made him feel terror appeared, and even if he tried with all his might to block it.

Under Defiance's enhancement, even a True God was destined to answer the first question.

["Tell me, your name."]

Crack, crack!!

The accelerated world shattered.

"Pfft- hah!"

Blood spewed from his mouth.

The torrential rain fell to the ground, and he could no longer maintain that accelerated world. With a thud, he dropped to his knees.

Ye Qiyan jumped down from a height and came to Lisette's side, gently wrapping an arm around the maid's waist.

Her expression was somewhat strained, and she whispered an apology in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"I'm sorry, Master... still... couldn't catch up..."

The core within Lisette's body was on the verge of overloading. That localized Time Acceleration just now had been activated at the exact same instant the old beggar accelerated himself.

Ye Qiyan had sensed that sudden anomaly and issued a command in his mind, causing Lisette, eternally bound to him, to push Time Acceleration to its absolute limit.

"It's fine. You did very well."

Lisette had indeed done very well. She was, after all, Ye Qiyan's only Absolute Supreme thus far. Being able to formulate a countermeasure in an instant was already a display of her strength.

So then, what about this old beggar surnamed Zhou? He... by what right was he even faster than Lisette?

Such exaggerated speed...

Wait, speed? Surnamed Zhou?

Ye Qiyan looked down at the Talent Cube in his hand that carried Surpass the Stars, and a very bold yet very reasonable idea suddenly popped into his mind.

His eyes lit up, and without waiting for the other to answer his earlier question, he spoke:

"Senior Zhou Shangqing, I never expected to meet a legendary Train Conductor here of all places. Am I right?"

"...It's me..."

The old beggar, no, Zhou Shangqing.

Twenty Wasteland years ago, the legendary Train Conductor who had united all Train Conductor organizations.

Possessing the fastest talent in the Wasteland, Surpass the Stars.

He had received aid from the Homeward-bound Souls, the Celestial Realm, and nearly all others who possessed Train Conductors, all so that he could cross the Wasteland and find its end.

People said he had failed, because one year after departing, he had only transmitted back his final words, and in everyone's Friends List, his avatar turned gray-white.

Gray-white meant the Train was shattered and the individual was dead.

Everyone believed he was dead.

But now, a fact lay before Ye Qiyan.

Zhou Shangqing.

He was still alive.