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Translator's note: The last time we saw this part, I mentioned that the doll reminded me of the little girl "Red Light, Green Light" from Squid Game. Now we're back here again, and the second season of Squid Game is currently airing. What a coincidence!
As night fell, Fang Xiu led the group to the platform where the Specter Train was about to appear.
The team consisted of Li Xiaoru, Xiong Tianguang, Luo Qingxin, Yang Ming, and Xiao Chuxia.
Xiao Zhenhua had stayed behind, assigned to protect the Director.
The platform was empty when they arrived. Fang Xiu had made sure the area was cleared beforehand.
"Xiu, when will the Specter Train arrive?" Li Xiaoru asked.
"At midnight," Fang Xiu answered without hesitation.
"Midnight?" Li Xiaoru, who considered himself quite cultured, raised his left hand to check the large golden watch on his wrist, only to be surprised. "Isn't it already twelve?"
"Exactly. So, it's already here." Fang Xiu replied calmly and stepped onto the platform.
The group was taken aback when they noticed that, just moments ago, the tracks had been empty. Now, an old-fashioned train had mysteriously appeared.
The train looked incredibly old, as if it had come from the previous century.
BANG!
The train doors slammed open with a loud noise, almost as though it was welcoming them aboard.
Li Xiaoru and the others immediately became serious. Despite their peak fourth-tier powers, they hadn't sensed the Specter Train's arrival. This left them uneasy.
Fang Xiu was the first to board the train. The others followed without hesitation, climbing aboard.
BANG!
The doors of the Specter Train slammed shut, and the train slowly began to move.
Inside the train, Li Xiaoru and the other captains, all first-timers on the Specter Train, couldn't help but look around.
"This Specter Train is really outdated," Luo Qingxin remarked. "It clearly looks like something from over a hundred years ago. I wonder how the psychics back then even managed to build something like this?"
Luo Qingxin walked over to the station sign and read the words aloud, "The Drum Tower, the City of Lust, the Old Mansion, the Graveyard, and the Land Between... Five stops in total."
"That seems about right," Yang Ming added. "Last time, we made it to the third stop, the Old Mansion, before we had to turn back."
"Turn back? Did something dangerous happen?"
Yang Ming shook his head. "It wasn't really danger. I'd say it was more of a close call. After all, we had Xiu leading the team, so the safety rate was 100%."
"Then why did you turn back at the third stop?"
"Because Xiu said he had seen the future. He said we would all die at the fourth stop, so we turned back."
The captains' eyebrows twitched.
"What kind of danger lies at the fourth stop that could destroy the whole team?" Luo Qingxin asked.
This seemed hard to believe. They had all witnessed Fang Xiu's abilities over time. In their eyes, apart from not being able to have children, the guy was literally capable of anything.
Yet now, they learned that the all-powerful Fang Xiu couldn't even make it past the fourth stop. This left them feeling uneasy.
Fang Xiu explained calmly, "Don't worry. The reason we couldn't make it past last time was because I was only at the second tier. At the fourth stop, The Graveyard, the Specter there has the ability to bury others in grave soil.
This power is similar to the Domain ability of a fourth-tier psychic, so only someone of that tier can break it."
He paused before continuing, "This time, I've reached the third tier, and I'm bringing all of you peak fourth-tier psychics along. We should be able to make it past the fourth stop easily."
Hearing this, the group felt a little more at ease.
Additionally, had Fang Xiu not mentioned it, they might have completely forgotten that he was still only a third-tier psychic.
After spending so much time together and seeing Fang Xiu's consistent performance, the captains had unintentionally started to overlook his tier.
They had grown accustomed to seeing him as an equal—or even superior—so hearing that Fang Xiu had been unable to get past the fourth stop made them instinctively worry.
Now, they understood—last time, they couldn't get past the fourth stop because Fang Xiu was only at the second tier. But now, with his third-tier strength, they were ready to move forward.
As the group chatted, the first stop, The Drum Tower, arrived.
A towering structure, over five meters high, appeared before them. It was painted dark red, but much of the paint had chipped away, making the tower look old and worn out, as if it could collapse at any moment.
At the very top of the tower, a giant red-painted white drum sat, and a doll with a thin body and a head as large as a watermelon was furiously banging the drum.
"Not this big-headed doll again?" Yang Ming said, bewildered. "Xiu, I remember last time you killed it with a big slap, right?"
Fang Xiu wasn't surprised by the doll. He recalled that when he tried to devour it last time, its body had turned into wood, breaking apart piece by piece, and the Specter energy inside had vanished.
He suspected the doll wasn't a real Specter but rather a puppet created by someone and infused with Specter energy.
But none of that mattered now.
At that moment, a series of clicking sounds came from the doll's neck, and its head twisted a full 180 degrees to face the group.
Its face was round and chubby, with thick blush on its cheeks. Its eyes were as big as copper bells, and its mouth was like a cherry. It stared intently at the group.
However, instead of being frightened by this creepy sight, the group found the doll's appearance rather comical.
Li Xiaoru yawned. "Who wants to deal with this?"
"I'll do it," Luo Qingxin said coldly. She raised her slender hand and released a piercing cold aura that shot out, instantly enveloping the big-headed doll.
The doll froze into an ice sculpture, then shattered with a loud crash, scattering into pieces.
"Let's go, next stop," Fang Xiu instructed, leading the group back to the train.
He didn't even glance at the big-headed doll. After all, back when he was a second-tier psychic, he had been able to defeat it easily, so now, with his third-tier strength, it was nothing to worry about.
Soon, they arrived at the next stop, the City of Lust.
This time, without Zhao Hao around, it was much easier to pass through.
Luo Qingxin, who already had a cold personality and ice powers, simply froze herself to resist the overwhelming desire in the city.
Xiong Tianguang, as usual, didn't pay attention to anything. He kept his head down, engrossed in playing games on his phone.
Li Xiaoru used his Domain powers to counter the city's influence, sending out dozens of soldiers to absorb the pink mist around him.
Except for Yang Ming, who took a couple of hits, everyone else passed through unharmed.
The third stop, the Old Mansion, came next, and the same Specter reappeared.
This time, Fang Xiu didn't rely on repeated deaths to deal with it. Instead, he let the captains handle it, and they easily took care of the threat.
This Specter's ability was essentially a Specter Domain, one that could rob a person of their vision and hearing within a certain range.
Naturally, it was easily countered by another Domain.
It showed that the patterns of Specters weren't absolute. If they met a stronger opponent, their abilities would be ineffective.
Finally, they arrived at the fourth stop, the Graveyard, the place where Fang Xiu's team had been wiped out last time.
They saw the Fisherman again, continuing his eerie practice of fishing for corpses.
But this time, the bodies he fished up were not only more numerous but also stronger, including corpses from the fourth tier.
It seemed that the Fisherman adjusted the strength of the corpses based on the strength of the intruders.
Though the corpses were stronger, they were still just corpses. Even fourth-tier ones, while powerful, couldn't match the true battle strength of a living psychic.
After a short fight, the group easily overcame the challenge.
Last time, when Fang Xiu was still at the second tier, they had been able to defeat the corpses. Now, with three peak fourth-tier psychics with him, it was even easier.
After the corpses were dealt with, the Fisherman used his old trick again, attempting to bury everyone with grave soil.
Fang Xiu remembered this move well because it had been what led to their previous wipeout.
"Li Xiaoru, you three stand together and use your Domain powers to protect Yang Ming and Xiao Chuxia," Fang Xiu ordered.
"Got it, Xiu," Li Xiaoru responded.
"Yang Ming, make sure to protect the Imperial Seal and the Tiger Tally in your bag," Fang Xiu ordered.