Even though the night was alive with thunder, Bai Cheng had no intention of stopping; she told Lan Xiaoyu to get moving.

“We've already deviated from the original route, and I haven't seen a single monster,” Bai Cheng muttered, puzzled.

Could the Azure Bird clearing the way ahead be so powerful that it scared every creature off?

Bai Cheng didn't dwell on it.

What mattered more was that this Silent Night was freer than any before; if any supplies were hidden in these clouds, she was sure they'd be found inside Silent Night itself. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

So forging ahead through the storm was a must.

The train started up again; the Azure Bird flew ahead, dispersing lightning and clearing the path as usual.

Liu San was sent back to his own carriage.

His two remaining sidekicks had already noticed the mountain of supplies rejected and returned to them—plus a few extra items besides.

When they saw the handful of purple employee cards in Liu San's hand, their jaws dropped.

“Brother Liu, these... these supplies?” one asked cautiously, breath quickening as a wild guess formed in his mind.

Liu San grinned and nodded. “That's right—Miss Bai Cheng gave them to us!”

The two exchanged glances, joy exploding across their faces.

“Th-this...” Both teared up, too choked to speak.

“And that's not all,” Liu San laughed. “Miss Bai Cheng invited us to travel with them—no need to risk teaming up with leaders from other channels.”

“Hahaha, brilliant! Brother Liu, your call back then was perfect!”

“Yeah, boss, you're the perfect simp—no, I mean...”

Soon Liu San's train restarted as well; one man handled the controls while the rest followed close behind Bai Cheng's group.

Liu San and another companion seized every second to process the supplies, determined to return to peak condition—

No, to surpass it.

The two trains sliced through the stormy night sky while time slipped past.

Whether the route had been corrected or the monsters simply feared the kingly aura of the Azure Bird, the journey stayed smooth; no creatures appeared.

Just before dawn, the wind still howled.

Bai Cheng's party never met monsters, but they did meet Survivors from the Special Channel—coming to kill.

Identifying them was easy: the pursuer simply wasn't human.

By now Bai Cheng had more or less guessed the identity of these so-called Special Channel Survivors.

Ordinary channels recruit human staff for train survival; the Special Channels seem the exact opposite.

Their conductors are non-human, their tech bizarre, and they can't recruit staff—every conductor is a lone wolf.

While discussing with Yu Nian and Leng Ningxue, the latter thoughtfully voiced a key point everyone had overlooked.

“Bai Cheng, Yu Nian, we've never seen or even heard of Channel #1, have we?”

Yu Nian pondered. “Now that you mention it—no, we haven't.”

Bai Cheng read her meaning. “You think these Special Channel Survivors might come from Channel #1?!”

The mood had been relaxed; the speeding Special train behind them wasn't taken seriously—no need for the Azure Bird to act yet.

They'd wait for it to draw close, then wipe it out in one go—sit back and let the prey come.

But while they were still speculating, two more trains flanked them—one on each side.

Four trains left and right, plus the one behind—five in total were now hunting them.

Even Bai Cheng frowned. “You've got to be kidding me.”

If every leader faced a pursuit of this scale, survival would be impossible.

She glanced back at the distant skeleton train and the flustered Liu San in its cab, still tailing them.

Seeing Liu San, Bai Cheng suddenly understood.

“Is this because we formed an illegal team?”

Grouping up must have amplified the hunters' tracking signal, drawing this many enemies at once.

Yet she and Liu San were {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} both from the same channel—even if on separate trains.

“Whatever—take them down.”

Bai Cheng signaled Lan Xiaoyu to slow; brake lights flared, and Liu San instantly followed suit.

High in the sky, the terrain left little room for most staff to fight.

Staff without flight had to use the trains as stepping-stones, and Bai Cheng needed her foes within range.

Bai Cheng and Liu San decelerated while the enemy trains accelerated; in moments the gap between them shrank to almost nothing.

But the hunters never slowed—charging straight at Bai Cheng's and Liu San's trains, intent on smashing them from the sky.

Liu San panicked; if not for Bai Cheng beside him, he would have resigned himself to death—hopeless against such force.

He never imagined his first pursuit in Cloud Sea Heaven would be on this scale.

One Special Channel Survivor was hard enough—now five. Watching two trains bear down on him and three on Bai Cheng, he clenched his teeth and shouted, “Miss Bai Cheng, don't worry about us—”

Before he could finish, a purple figure burst from the front carriage and vaulted onto their roof.

A titanic purple blade-light slashed the heavens, slicing the surrounding cloud sea in two as waves of cloud rolled outward.

In that instant Liu San witnessed a sight he would never forget.

The train rushing at him from the side was cleaved clean in half; countless bones rained toward the ground.

Liu San's crew gasped—then broke into wild delight.

“So powerful!!”