Chapter 714: Interlude
Yun Bilan’s voice awakened everyone from their daze. Behind them, the endless stream of danger was pressing closer and closer. They hesitated no longer and rushed straight onto the train.
The moment the last person stepped onto the footboard, the train started immediately.
“Choo-choo—”
Under the blood-colored sky, the train roared into motion.
Through the windows, it was a hair-raising scene. Humanoid frogs with pale, clammy skin and dull, hollow eyes, along with frog eggs, surged from all directions. Eerie paper dolls with smiling faces were mixed in, still relentlessly chasing the train.
Thump!
A loud noise came from close by. The blond youth was frightened into taking a step back and turned his head to look.
A humanoid frog crashed straight into the window closest to him. Its face, resembling both human and frog, was pressed tightly against the glass. Even though it had been smashed flat, its eyes were actually still rolling.
“…” Seeing this, the blond youth only felt a wave of nausea.
As if they didn’t know pain, they crashed against the glass continuously, one after another.
Like giant insects hitting the windshield on a highway, their juicy bodies were smashed and burst open by the train, mixing with unhatched frog eggs, leaving layers of nauseating slime on the windows.
“Don’t worry.”
Just then, Yun Bilan’s voice came from behind.
“The rules on them can’t affect the inside here.”
The blond youth froze and turned to look at her.
“Look around,” Yun Bilan, who had sat down by herself at some point, raised her chin and motioned to the surroundings. “Remember now?”
The blond youth looked around and said in disbelief, “This is… the Crazy Little Train?”
As part of the Fantasy Amusement Park, they originated from the same source, so no wonder Yun Bilan said their rules couldn’t affect this place.
“—Yun Bilan, is it really you?”
Ji Guan took a step forward, his eyes fixed tightly on the old friend who had suddenly appeared, his tone still carrying a bit of uncertainty.
His eye sockets were hot, his voice uncontrollably tight:
“Thank God, you’re still alive…”
“Alive?”
The blue-haired woman sat in her seat. Her pale face was plated with a bizarre red glow by the sky outside the window, and the cold aura around her body was not faked at all.
She paused, seeming unfamiliar with this word.
“If you guys want to think of it that way, I suppose that works.”
Hearing this, the blond youth’s throat suddenly choked up.
They were all veteran anchors who had experienced many battles; how could they not understand her underlying meaning?
“But, haven’t you left Yuying Comprehensive University now?” On the side, Ji Guan still asked unwillingly to give up, “If that’s the case, then doesn’t that mean…”
Yun Bilan’s gaze paused on him for a moment, and she smiled: “No, I haven’t left the university.”
The few of them were taken aback.
“—It’s us who came in.”
Beside them, Wen Jianyan suddenly spoke up.
Earlier, he had vaguely caught glimpses of some characteristics of the university’s buildings, but because there was too little information, he hadn’t dared to be completely certain. Now, seeing Yun Bilan, he finally confirmed his guess 100%.
“It seems that after leaving Fukang Hospital, the rules of the train we boarded probably spiraled further out of control,” he took a deep breath, withdrawing his gaze from looking out the window. “Now, it’s not just breaking through the boundaries of an instance, but every single one.”
All the intermediate stations the train passed through had become entangled with each other in an unstable superposition state, which was why such bizarre phenomena occurred.
For a moment, the train car fell silent.
“…” Ji Guan clenched his teeth, his knuckles hanging by his side clenching uncontrollably.
Yun Bilan turned to look at Wen Jianyan, her eyes appraising: “Honestly, when I sent you off, I knew you were going to cause some huge commotion. But I really didn’t expect… your commotion would end up being this huge.”
She withdrew her gaze and continued:
“Anyway, after discovering that other instances had mixed into the school, or rather, that it was mixed with other instances, I guessed it was your doing. But the good news is, finding you wasn’t too difficult—after all, wherever there’s chaos, you should be right there.”
Wen Jianyan: “…”
Standing to the side, Figaro gave him a very subtle look.
That assessment was indeed quite accurate.
It just didn’t sound much like a compliment.
Yun Bilan cut straight to the chase and asked, “So, are you going to the core of this place?”
At this moment, Ji Guan had already adjusted his state.
He took a deep breath and nodded: “Yes… do you know where the core is?”
Yun Bilan raised an eyebrow and smiled: “Of course, I still have this bit of privilege.”
Although the multiple instances before them looked bizarre and chaotic, they were not mixed disorderly. While the instances overlapped, the cores of the instances also overlapped. Therefore, although Yun Bilan couldn’t control other instances like she controlled the university, she clearly knew where the core of the instance under her jurisdiction was.
And finding one was equivalent to finding all of them.
The sky above was torn open even wider. Eyeballs rolled out in strings, staring unblinkingly at the tiny train below.
The Crazy Little Train traveled under the blood-colored sky. Just like its name, its way of driving was equally crazy—no rules, no tracks, and it didn’t matter if there was anything blocking the way ahead, it just kept driving forward.
Outside the window, chaotic and bizarre scenes flashed by quickly. Scenes from different times, spaces, and styles intersected and overlapped with each other, looking like a crazy dream.
Those gloomy, dilapidated, or kitschy buildings, even just looking at them, made one’s heart palpitate with lingering fear.
If it weren’t for this train under their feet, and they had to walk through it… no one knew what else they might encounter next.
The train seats were limited. After learning that Wen Jianyan had already met Yun Bilan and kept his mouth shut about it, Ji Guan and the blond youth ruthlessly drove him to another row to sit, because they were preparing to “scold you properly behind your back” together with Yun Bilan.
The train rattled and clanked forward.
The carriage was very empty. Aside from the three from the same guild, the others sat scattered about. Bai Xue habitually chose a corner to space out, Figaro sat in the front row pretending to sleep, while Wen Jianyan and Wu Zhu sat shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the train.
The blond youth looked at Yun Bilan with red eyes. Even though his eyes were scalding hot and bloodshot from overusing his talent, he still couldn’t bear to look away. Although Ji Guan didn’t show his emotions as openly as the blond youth, he also didn’t step away for a moment. Neither of them mentioned half a word about life or death again, but kept talking about everyone else’s current situation and interesting things in the guild—of course, it was mostly the blond youth talking, while Ji Guan just occasionally chimed in to supplement.
During the time Yun Bilan was gone, no major changes had occurred within the guild. Everyone’s life trajectories still continued forward. Chen Mo still worked overtime every day until his vision went black and his steps floated.
It was said that once, someone among them even saw him interrogating a water dispenser about the whereabouts of a document.
Ji Guan went into seclusion and developed new dessert recipes, fattening up everyone around him by several pounds, except for Chen Mo who was on the verge of death from overwork.
Aside from this, there were always some idle people with nothing to do all day who only knew to come to their place to freeload food and drinks.
“…Chen Cheng?” Yun Bilan took a few seconds to remember who he was—although she had vaguely heard of this anchor’s name before she died, after all, she had only met this person a few times at the end of the Yuying Comprehensive University instance—she was somewhat surprised, “He actually joined you guys too?”
“Not really, theoretically he’s still from Eternal Day,” the blond youth shook his head, “It’s just that this guy likes to side with outsiders, so he spends most of his time hanging out at our place.”
“What’s he like?” Yun Bilan asked.
“Not a good thing,” Ji Guan interjected, “A broken mouth blabbering all day long, says terrible things.”
The blond youth nodded vigorously in agreement: “Exactly, exactly!”
“Once, he called Orange Candy a short winter melon runt, and got cornered at the guild door, sacked, and beaten up by her,” he recalled, “When we found him, his eye socket was still bruised, but he absolutely refused to admit it, insisting he fell.”
Yun Bilan laughed out loud.
“Oh right, Bai Xue also hangs around our guild all day now, but every time he comes he doesn’t say a word, just squats in the corner spacing out, or plays cards with himself, like a ghost, with such low presence. Every time you suddenly see him, it scares the crap out of you.”
“Once, Chen Mo was pulling an all-nighter and got delirious. He didn’t check before leaving the guild and totally forgot about him. Who would have thought this kid really just stayed inside quietly for the whole night. He scared four or five guild members working overtime out of their wits one after another. Two of them went home with fevers, talking nonsense in their sleep about instance invasions and ghosts haunting the anchor space. It almost evolved into a supernatural legend in our building later.”
Just as he finished speaking, Bai Xue not far away suddenly raised his head.
A pair of eyes as black as an unfathomable abyss without impurities instantly gave the blond youth a fright. He hurriedly shut his mouth and shrunk behind the two of them in a panic.
Yun Bilan immediately laughed even harder.
“Oh, and also, and also…”
As she was laughing, she suddenly stopped and turned her face away.
“What’s wrong?” The blond youth froze, “You—”
Before he could finish, the rest of the sound stuck back in his throat.
He stared blankly at the other party’s face, suddenly unable to say a single word.
“Nothing,” Yun Bilan closed her eyes, her voice a little hoarse, “I just…”
“Just very happy.”
She turned her head back, smiling once again, without the slightest gloom of death: “Come on, tell me some more interesting things.”
*
“…”
Wen Jianyan turned his head, his gaze falling on the three people beside him.
They hadn’t seen each other in a long time, chatting familiarly, looking very happy from afar.
He suddenly said: “…Thank you.”
Wu Zhu tilted his head to look at him, puzzled: “Hm?”
“About saving the university,” Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze from that direction, “And saving Yun Bilan.”
When he entered the university instance, he saw with his own eyes that between the buildings, golden blood flowed like a lifeline, mending the cracked bricks and rubble, forcefully halting its collapse and disintegration.
Wu Zhu used a part of his own power to reshape the Yuying Comprehensive University instance, forcibly keeping it intact. Otherwise, everything would have vanished into thin air when the instance closed.
Wu Zhu lowered his eyes and denied: “…No.”
There were some rules that even he couldn’t fight against.
Some choices, from the moment they were made, could no longer be changed.
“I did stop her from disappearing,” his voice was as calm as ever, carrying a bit of cruelty unique to non-humans, “But this wasn’t ‘saving’.”
Eternal imprisonment or peaceful eternal sleep, which choice was better? No one knew.
“However, if one day she regrets it and wants to return to death again, I can also put an end to her pain.”
“…I understand.”
Wen Jianyan’s gaze fell on Yun Bilan’s side profile.
At this moment, she was listening attentively to Ji Guan and the blond youth chatting back and forth, her face bearing a faint smile that even she herself hadn’t realized.
Seeming to sense Wen Jianyan’s gaze, she looked over.
“But,”
Wen Jianyan returned a smile to her while saying to Wu Zhu.
“It’s already very good.”
“Regardless, you gave her another choice.” Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze, looking fixedly at Wu Zhu, flames flickering in his eyes, “Even if just for this point, I should say thank you.”
Under that unconcealed, clear, and focused gaze, Wu Zhu’s throat rolled fiercely for a moment.
But thinking of the other party’s previous warning, he had to forcefully endure the urge to kiss him, forcing himself to turn his head away.
“However…”
Seeming to think of something, Wen Jianyan suddenly asked again.
“Why did you do that at the time?”
He couldn’t think of the reason why Wu Zhu did that. If his memory served him right—at that time, the relationship between them was still a chaotic and unclear hostile one, mixed with interests and deception, utilization and betrayal, drawing blood with every cut, giving tit for tat, and even attempting to kill each other multiple times.
Although Wu Zhu still had his head turned away, he thought about it very seriously.
Soon, he gave an answer:
“I don’t know either.”
Wen Jianyan froze and looked up at him.
Wu Zhu: “At first, I really didn’t intend to do anything.”
He didn’t just have no feelings for humans; he was even malicious towards them. Not long ago, he had even tried to kill Wen Jianyan in this instance. Logically speaking, whether the corpses here awakened and were released, whether the principal here lived or died… none of it mattered to him.
“But,” he paused, turning his head to look at Wen Jianyan, the blood-red skylight reflecting in the depths of his eyes, “I felt the emotional fluctuations transmitted from you through the mark at that time.”
“—Very strong.”
“And then,” he paused, even now looking back, he seemed confused by the situation at the time, “It was already over.”
Even if Wu Zhu didn’t know what this feeling was at the time, nor what it truly meant for his emotions to be tugged by another person, even before he realized it, his body had already instinctively made a choice and put it into action.
…Even before understanding what love was, he had already fallen in love.
Wen Jianyan’s eyes suddenly moved, as if burned by the other party’s words.
As if to cover up how moved he was, he cleared his throat and changed the subject, asking:
“Then why didn’t you tell me later?”
The answer Wu Zhu gave was still very much the kind of answer he would give, indifferently detached, with almost no empathy: “I couldn’t guarantee that you could meet, nor could I guarantee that in the confrontation with Nightmare, I could always maintain control and adhesion over that place.”
If he failed in the end, it would bring an even greater pain and blow, which would run counter to Wu Zhu’s original intention.
“Since there was a possibility of failure, there was no need to let you suffer heartbreak again.”
Although he said that, Wen Jianyan knew clearly that Wu Zhu had indeed done it.
Even when imprisoned on the cruise ship by Nightmare, even if he needed to pay with himself, putting himself into the situation to stop the cruise ship from sinking, he had always maintained the adhesion of Yuying Comprehensive University. Even under the most extreme threats, he hadn’t withdrawn that part of his power.
“So stupid.”
Wen Jianyan raised his hand, his fingertips hooking onto Wu Zhu’s collar.
“Such a good bargaining chip, wasted by you for nothing.”
Whether used for coercion or enticement, if it were him, he would have long fully exploited the utilization value of this matter to the extreme.
“Do you know, if it were up to me, I would have used this to play you in the palm of my hand long ago.”
Wu Zhu was pulled closer by his collar. He lowered his eyes, his breathing chaotic, dazzled and mesmerized by the other party’s proximity, his voice frighteningly hoarse.
“I already am.”
The train’s rumbling operation swallowed the soft, sticky sound of moisture.
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, a very light laugh spilling from their pressed lips:
“Indeed.”
He left a light bite on Wu Zhu’s lower lip.
“The bad news is, it will be the same in the future.”
*
The little train ran for an unknown amount of time.
“We’re here.”
Yun Bilan suddenly stood up, looking out the train window.
Sure enough, as soon as her voice fell, the driving speed of the little train began to slow down bit by bit.
The others followed her gaze.
Not far away, was a blood-red lake.
It was as calm as a mirror, presenting a viscous texture like asphalt. A rust-mottled pirate ship floated upon it, like a pupil resting in the center of an eyeball. A hair-raising, gloomy, and cold aura emanated from it, enough to make all living things shrink back.
Within the lake’s surface, there seemed to be another world, forming a bizarre and twisted mirror image with the surface above.
“Clatter-clank—clatter—”
Accompanied by the gradually slowing sound of mechanical friction, the little train slowly stopped by the lake.
The train had only just stopped steadily when, the next second, accompanied by a sharp sound of metal friction, the doors abruptly opened, highlighting a frantic rush, barging straight through.
“I can only send you this far at most,” Yun Bilan stood up, imperceptibly hiding the reluctance in her eyes, and said slowly, “I am bound too tightly to Yuying Comprehensive University. Once I enter an area with such a high degree of instance folding, it’s very easy to trigger uncontrollable crises.”
She smiled at the blond youth and Ji Guan: “Thank you guys, I haven’t been this happy in a long time.”
In such a long time, this was the first time she remembered the feeling of being alive.
It was truly nostalgic after so long.
The two hugged her tightly, dropping a heavily nasal “Take care,” and then got off the train as if fleeing.
Bai Xue followed them like a ghost.
Figaro nodded to her with quite a gentlemanly demeanor, said, “Beautiful miss, until we meet again,” and then followed closely behind to leave.
Yun Bilan finally turned her gaze to Wu Zhu for the first time. Her gaze carried scrutiny, sweeping up and down his entire body. Just as Wen Jianyan opened his mouth ready to introduce him, she cut him right off, saying directly, “They mentioned you to me.”
“However, I think this shouldn’t be our first time meeting.”
Although they hadn’t formally met, as the principal of Yuying Comprehensive University, Yun Bilan was extremely familiar with the aura on Wu Zhu that was deeply rooted within the campus. She cut straight to the chase: “You’re the one maintaining the collapse of the university, right?”
Wu Zhu gave a very brief response: “En.”
“Although the others have quite a few complaints about you, I think you’re not bad,” After carefully sizing Wu Zhu up, Yun Bilan finally relented and said, “However, this doesn’t have much to do with you saving me—at least not that much.”
“Of course, there are also people saying you used coercion and enticement, used some kind of means… but in my opinion, if the President isn’t willing, no one can force him,” Yun Bilan’s gaze paused meaningfully on the two of them’s faces, “At least their relationship wouldn’t visibly be this good.”
Wen Jianyan choked: “…Cough!”
“So, my view is different from the others’,” Yun Bilan shrugged, “After all, as long as the President is willing, it’s fine.”
“Plus, I can see he really does like you quite a bit.” She recalled the other party’s behavior when she chatted with Wen Jianyan about this topic last time at Yuying Comprehensive University, and added.
Wen Jianyan coughed even harder: “Cough cough cough cough!”
“Is that so?” Wu Zhu licked the tooth mark on his lower lip, an invisible tail behind him seemingly wagging up to the sky.
“Is my foot.”
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth and pushed Wu Zhu down hard, “Get down quickly, we still have things to say.”
Half-dragging, half-pulling Wu Zhu off the train, Wen Jianyan let out a long sigh and scratched his head in frustration:
“Sorry, he…”
Yun Bilan’s gaze fell on Wen Jianyan’s wrist, which was exposed along with his movements, and suddenly froze.
“Let me see.” Ignoring Wen Jianyan’s refusal, she pulled his hand over without any explanation.
The cuff was pushed up, revealing a slender wrist.
On the pale skin, tearing-like scars lay across, ferocious and etched to the bone.
For a moment, silence descended.
“Don’t worry,” Wen Jianyan understatedly pulled his hand back from Yun Bilan’s grasp and said, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“…” Yun Bilan was speechless.
“Listen,”
Wen Jianyan raised his eyes, staring into her eyes, and said very steadily and solemnly:
“I don’t use points to heal it, not because I don’t want to, but because it shouldn’t be healed by Nightmare.”
Such an arrogant and stupid thing, thinking that by playing with its authority, dispensing its rewards and punishments, creating its false gods, it can play everyone like fools, making them willingly become its slaves and accomplices?
“It is unworthy.”
Behind him, the sky was as intense as blood.
The young man’s eyes were very quiet.
“This is our world, not its.”
They are such contradictory, such imperfect creatures, yet knowing the fear, they still choose to move forward; knowing they are insignificant, they still act without fear of sacrifice.
The injuries they suffer, they must heal themselves. Their desires, they must realize themselves.
Their freedom, too, they must seize themselves.
“………………”
Yun Bilan stared at him fixedly, saying not a word for a long time. Suddenly, she opened her mouth, enunciating word by word:
“Very well. Go, destroy it.”
“Of course,” Wen Jianyan blinked and smiled—
This was a light, lazy smile belonging to a liar,
“Don’t forget, I’m the best at causing destruction.”
He waved to Yun Bilan and got off the train.
The others were already waiting for him outside the train doors.
Not far away, the icy lake of blood lay between heaven and earth, seeming to await its destined end.
Yun Bilan’s voice came from behind once again:
“Right!”
Wen Jianyan paused his steps and turned his head to look.
The Crazy Little Train had already begun to slowly move. Yun Bilan stood inside the train doors, her eyes reflecting the blood-red sky. She showed a smile: “There’s also an old friend who asked me to say hello to you on her behalf—she also really wants to see you again, but she can’t speak, and she doesn’t like the way she looks now, so she had to ask me to pass on a message: Please survive. She will pray for your success. If possible, please also take good care of Sister Wen Ya.”
“…!”
Wen Jianyan froze.
The next second, his pupils shook. Seeming to suddenly realize something, he abruptly raised his head and looked towards the front of the little train.
Through the thick train windows, he vaguely saw a frog-like silhouette. It was working hard to steer the train, just like it had once worked so hard to survive.
Seeming to notice Wen Jianyan’s gaze, it raised its head and waved its hand with unpracticed movements.
As if saying: “Long time no see.”
And: “Goodbye!”
