Master of Kaidan-Chapter 578: Crisis Everywhere

"Is this the consequence of smoking in the car, or did they smoke cigarettes provided by vendors outside?"

Feng Xue watched as the smoke giant beast slowly dissipated, even ignoring the chill on her body for a moment. But immediately after, the sensation of her body beginning to stiffen stimulated her spirit, forcing her to concentrate on herself.

She quickly opened the rear door of the sixth carriage and twisted her body to get inside. It was not until the door was closed again that the spreading stiffness began to slowly subside.

"This cold is definitely not just a simple drop in temperature, there must be some special buff!" After checking the Masked Rider Mystical Lord’s internal circulation system and confirming that the temperature was fine, Feng Xue finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She activated her Inner Strength to quickly return her body to an optimal state. Her gaze swept back and forth inside the carriage. Compared to the soft sleeper, there were no private rooms in the hard sleeper carriage; beds were separated only by walls.

Honestly, this bed structure made Feng Xue feel quite uneasy, not only because of its narrow confines but mainly because this arrangement of beds separated by a wall unconsciously reminded her of the cells in Jeston Prison.

"Speaking of which, I wonder how Jeston is doing. With his luck, he might have already become a Kaidan," thought Feng Xue. She suddenly remembered Jeston, whom she had sent to the game world for experiments. She considered checking on him later, but realized that turning an ordinary person into a Kaidan in less than a year was not an easy task, especially considering Jeston’s intellect was somewhat lacking.

Shaking her head to dismiss those clever thoughts, Feng Xue scanned each passenger in the carriage as she continued forward. Compared to the four-person soft-sleeper, the air here was mixed with a variety of strange smells.

Activating the Masked Rider’s air purification feature, Feng Xue checked the air quality readings in her view as she proceeded.

The reason she kept the air exchange on, despite not needing to breathe, was not due to any peculiar habit. Rather, air factors like smell, humidity, and pressure were integral parts of human perception.

People might not notice it normally, but these factors often constituted a crucial part of an impulsive moment.

With a flick of her fingers, the Pardon Bell hanging at her waist emitted a shockwave from the Abyss, and various depths of Pardon Marks rose into Feng Xue’s view.

"So many independent entities?" Feng Xue’s gaze extended toward the end of the carriage, only to find that at least one-third of the people on the train had varying degrees of Pardon Marks on their heads.

While it was possible that they were completely sinless, considering that on a train two-thirds of the passengers had never lied or had each lie punished as is deserved, Feng Xue would rather believe they were impostors.

But if that was considered, the remaining one-third with Pardon Marks deserved scrutiny.

Were they real people from the outside world?

Were they individual Kaidans like Lin Jiaxin?

Without definitive ways to confirm, he was not inclined to dwell on this, simply walking quietly through the carriage while occasionally making eye contact with those marked by the Pardon Bell overhead.

The section of the carriage soon ended, and once more at the linking section between carriages, Feng Xue saw smokers again.

He now deeply suspected these smokers were actually trigger traps; there would be no issues if he ignored them, but their smoke monsters would activate as soon as one got close.

Otherwise, it was hard to understand why he continuously encountered individuals who were smoking.

Once again, he triggered Instantaneous Teleportation to skip the linkage section, and the crunching and tearing sounds of flesh returned.

While internally criticizing the crudeness of the Kaidan, his eyes couldn’t help but look toward the ice that was beginning to spread toward the linkage section.

"The snow is getting heavier!"

The unease in his heart grew; although he felt that a seven-day train ride wouldn’t drop a significant challenge as early as the second day, Feng Xue still felt a "danger" sign rising over his head.

Indeed, as he escaped the cold once more, a figure appeared before him—

It was a conductor, pushing a cart and dressed in a bright red uniform.

She approached slowly with graceful steps, and the nauseating stench from the cart made one want to avoid her.

Suddenly, alarms blared in Feng Xue’s mind. In that instant, he experienced a deathlike sensation similar to what he had felt when facing the merchandise-selling women outside the train.

He wanted to avoid interacting with her as he had with the conductor in the green skirt, but at that moment, this conductor clearly had her sights set on him and was steadily approaching.

The cold buff from the train coupling hadn’t dissipated yet, making Feng Xue feel stiff all over—he couldn’t even reach for his cape.

Seeming to sense Feng Xue’s attempt to escape, the conductor hurried even more, closing to less than three meters from him while pushing the cart filled with unknown contents and offering a commercially warm smile as she said,

"Sir, is there anything I can help you with?"

"!!!"

Just as they were about to make contact, Feng Xue’s figure suddenly disappeared. The conductor’s initial smile stiffened slightly, and then, as if nothing had happened, she resumed her rigid posture, pushing the cart to the train linkage and removing several large black trash bags, stacking them by the door.

The cold wind slowly seeped in, the trash bags gradually became covered with frost, and then after about a minute, they completely shattered into ice debris, merging with the ice creeping in from the windshield interface, stabilizing the carriage’s linkage further.

...

"Phew, that was close! Uh, why is it a bit cramped?"

Having completed his Instantaneous Teleportation, Feng Xue felt the tight space and hadn’t even had time to react when a piercing scream rang right beside his ear.

He immediately realized he had teleported directly behind someone lying on the bed. Feng Xue immediately grabbed his cape and entered his Instantaneous Teleportation state, escaping the awkward situation.

At the same time, a conductor in a blue uniform hurriedly arrived, asking the screaming passenger,

"What’s the matter?"

"Just now, oh, nothing, I might have had a nightmare, sorry," the passenger started to say something but then suddenly noticed that there was only a plain plank underneath him. His expression stiffened and he made up an excuse.

But having just returned from the shadows to reality, Feng Xue secretly breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that the Oathkeeper’s Appearance’s teleportation didn’t need any start-up time, or he might have been in serious trouble...