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Translator's note: Chen Yongjun, Song Xiangrong, Yang Shufen, Li Fangfang, Chen Jianguo… Those names were either about "country", or"army", or "honor". Such names were quite common among those born around 1950s, when the PRC was found.
When Specter disappeared, a slowly spinning white hole appeared at the bottom of the dry well.
Fang Xiu glanced at the white hole and then turned to leave the Old Mansion. He was heading to his next stop, the Graveyard.
He had traveled through three stations and wanted to see what the final stop, the Lands Between, was all about.
The challenges at the Old Mansion were much tougher than the first two stops. Fang Xiu had to activate death reset several times, otherwise, his team would have been completely wiped out.
He expected the Lands Between to be even more terrifying. Fang Xiu was ready to die many times to catch a glimpse of the Lands Between.
They had faced three challenges on the train, and each time they succeeded, they could choose to quit. His intuition told him that the Lands Between held some incredible secrets.
It was like a trial in a fantasy novel. The harder the challenge, the greater the reward.
Everything seemed to be deliberately arranged. Fang Xiu wanted to know who set this up and what their purpose was.
He knew that at least a fourth-tier expert couldn't do this. He was sure of this because he had fought with the Ace of Spades. Although the Ace of Spades' domain was powerful, it didn't have such astonishing methods.
Soon, he walked out of the Old Mansion. The others saw him come out unharmed and weren't surprised. It was as if they thought Fang Xiu had just gone out for dinner.
In their minds, if Fang Xiu dared to enter the Old Mansion alone, he must have already seen the future and knew he could handle it by himself. In their eyes, once Fang Xiu decided to go in alone, the outcome was already determined, with no unexpected events.
Only Hei Jiji's beautiful eyes sparkled, showing her admiration as she looked at Fang Xiu.
"Get on the train," Fang Xiu said.
Everyone nodded and boarded the Specter Train.
On the train, Hei Jiji approached him.
"Xiu, what was the Specter in the Old Mansion like? Was it strong? Did you get hurt?"
Fang Xiu heard her fake concern calmly and said, "No need to worry about it. It's already gone."
After that, he closed his eyes to rest and prepared for the battle at the Graveyard.
Hei Jiji pouted, dissatisfied, and said no more.
Soon, they arrived at the fourth stop, the Graveyard. After getting off the train, they saw an endless graveyard before them.
On the gray-white land stood countless scattered graves.
The distribution of these graves was very strange. Some were scattered with gaps of tens of meters, while others were clustered together in groups of five or six. This scene gave a very discordant feeling.
The Graveyard was filled with a faint gray mist, making everything look hazy and unclear.
Fang Xiu frowned when he saw this mist. He had seen similar mist before, on the Other Side.
But the mist in the Graveyard was different from that on the Other Side. It was much lighter, as if it had been diluted several times.
_'Could it be...?'_Fang Xiu wondered.
He had a suspicion. He walked straight into the Graveyard, stepping onto the gray-white ground. The others followed closely behind.
Zhao Hao, a bit scared, asked, "Why is the mist gray? Is it poisonous?"
Before anyone could answer, they heard a loud inhale from Fang Xiu. He took a deep breath, drawing in a lot of the gray mist.
"Xiu, you..." Zhao Hao was stunned.
Fang Xiu slowly exhaled a breath of foul air. "Yes, that's the smell."
He was almost certain that this faint gray mist had come from the Other Side because the two mists smelled the same. Inhaling it was like breathing in sulfuric acid, which corroded the internal organs severely.
But Fang Xiu had adapted to the real Other Side, so this diluted mist was nothing to him.
Suddenly, Zhao Hao and Liu Shuai started coughing violently. It sounded like they were going to cough up their lungs.
They couldn't say a word and just kept coughing. Soon, blood began to flow from their mouths and noses as they started coughing up blood.
The faces of the others changed slightly.
"The mist is poisonous!"
Seeing Zhao Hao and Liu Shuai almost coughing their hearts out, Fang Xiu told them to go back. They needed to stay away from the Graveyard and wait by the Specter Train.
"The mist has a strong corrosive effect on humans. Only third-tier psychics can resist it. Zhao Hao and Liu Shuai, you two stay here and wait."
Fang Xiu then led Yang Ming and the others deeper into the Graveyard. He needed to find out the connection between this place and the Other Side.
The Other Side was very important to him. It was his ultimate destination because wherever there were Specters, he would be there. The Other Side was the home of Specters, and therefore, his "home."
Ever since he had seen the Other Side, Fang Xiu had set a goal. One day, he would conquer the Other Side!
As they went deeper, the gray mist became thicker, and even Yang Ming and the others started coughing occasionally.
Fang Xiu knew that third-tier psychics couldn't survive in the real Other Side. The reason Yang Ming and the others could enter the Graveyard was not because they were strong enough, but because the mist here was relatively thin.
If this were the real Other Side, everyone else would die, except for him.
Even Hei Jiji, who could deceive herself, would eventually run out of Spiritual Energy and die.
To survive in the Other Side, there were only two possibilities.
One was to be strong enough to ignore the gray mist. So far, third-tier psychics couldn't achieve this, and it was uncertain if fourth-tier psychics could.
The second option was to be Specterized. Since the Other Side was the home of Specters, one could survive there by becoming a Specter.
There was no other way.
The Graveyard had the mist from the Other Side, but it was very thin.
Fang Xiu guessed that the further they went, the closer they got to the Other Side, which was why there was a faint mist.
'What is the final stop, the Lands Between? Could it be another name for the Other Side?'
Fang Xiu needed to see it for himself.
They all walked carefully, observing their surroundings with intense focus. They were tense for two reasons.
First, the mist alone was so powerful, which meant the Specters ahead would be even stronger. Second, Fang Xiu hadn't yet said the words that would reassure everyone, 'I have seen the future.'
This phrase was like a magic pill. No matter how dangerous the environment or how powerful the Specters were, hearing these words would calm everyone down.
"Look, it seems like every tombstone has a name," Hei Jiji said, pointing to a nearby tombstone.
Everyone looked and saw the inscription: "Zhou Zhennan's Grave."
No one recognized the name.
They looked at the surrounding tombstones, each with a name: Chen Yongjun, Song Xiangrong, Yang Shufen, Li Fangfang, Chen Jianguo.
"Does anyone else feel like these names sound very old-fashioned?" Hei Jiji asked, surprised.
"Could these be graves of people who died a hundred years ago?"
"That's very likely. The previous three stops all had a historical feel. Now these names too. Could we have traveled back in time to a hundred years ago?" Yang Ming asked, strangely excited.
"Idiot, what are you so happy about?" Bai Qi scolded.
Yang Ming chuckled, "Traveling back a hundred years, that's time travel! With our modern knowledge, going back a hundred years would be like an ace strike. With our understanding of history, becoming the world's richest person would be easy!"
Everyone was a bit speechless. Yang Ming's focus was always different from others.
Hei Jiji even rolled her eyes helplessly. "Is he really your leader? If your Greenvine Branch has someone like him for a leader and still survives, you are incredibly lucky."
Yang Ming was slightly taken aback. "Huh, how do you know I'm always the luckiest one? Have you heard of me?"
Hei Jiji just sighed.
Fang Xiu ignored the bickering and continued walking deeper into the Graveyard.
Suddenly, he stopped. His pupils widened, and his gaze fixed on a particular tombstone.
"Xiu, what's wrong? Why did you stop?" Yang Ming asked in surprise.
But Fang Xiu didn't answer. He continued to stare intently at the seemingly ordinary tombstone.
The tombstone had a few large characters engraved on it.
"The Grave of Zhou Qingfeng."