Chapter 64: The Train That Never Stops

Ron opened his eyes and looked at the wasteland outside the window.
Although separated by the glass, the desolate aura seemed to pierce through everything and steep into the soul.
A gentle breeze swept by, rolling up clouds of yellow sand.
Not the slightest trace of living creatures could be seen across the boundless wasteland.
He withdrew his gaze and found himself in a crowded carriage.
The passengers wore panicked expressions, shrunk in their respective seats like expressionless statues.
Were it not for his knowledge of the existence of spiritual realm dungeons, Ron would have suspected that he had transmigrated just by looking at the current scene.
He glanced down at his watch, which displayed an announcement.
[Due to the accelerated invasion of the spiritual realm, the dungeon has opened early. Authors, please bear with us.]
Accelerated spiritual realm invasion?
It seems that the opening times of recommended dungeons are sometimes not entirely accurate.
Glancing at the resonance text, Vivian was still on her way to the nearest barbarian city.
Ron calmly surveyed his surroundings, trying to see what kind of reminders might be here.
[Carriage 18, a carriage carrying ordinary refugees. It can be uncoupled and abandoned if necessary.]
Uncoupled if necessary...
[You need to proceed to Carriage 4 to kill or cure Passenger 25.]
This was the clearance hint provided by the dungeon, information gathered through the continuous exploration of countless predecessors.
It seemed that Passenger 25 in Carriage 4 was the culprit who triggered this spiritual realm invasion.
Realizing there was no other information, Ron walked towards the connection between the carriages.
His actions were far too conspicuous, drawing the gazes of the other passengers.
"Child! Don't try it, the conductor does not allow us to leave our carriage," an old man shouted in a hoarse voice.
Ron turned to look.
Every passenger in the carriage was looking at him with an expression of sheer terror.
As if his actions would bring some terrifying disaster upon this place.
Ron had already reached the aisle door.
Unlike traditional train cars, this was a door with a slight technological style.
The only ways to open it seemed to be fingerprint scanning or swiping a card.
In a dungeon, as long as it could swipe a card, there was no door he couldn't open.
Ron was not in a hurry to swipe his card and leave.
Accompanied by a cat's meow, the adorable Demon King Cat jumped onto his shoulder.
He felt a trace of relief inwardly; thank goodness he had used dungeon monthly votes to boost his ranking earlier.
Although it had garnered quite a few bad reviews, he had at least managed to unlock the Demon King Cat's new ability before the dungeon began.
Unfortunately, because the abilities [Resurrection] and [Forced Stun] were not given much manifestation in the new chapters, they had not been successfully unlocked.
Ron now understood why many novels were written with such haste.
If you didn't rush to write out the protagonist's abilities—even if you claimed they existed—if the readers didn't acknowledge them, you wouldn't be able to use the abilities the character ought to have within the dungeon. That was truly a most aggravating matter.

Ron reined in his focus, his gaze sweeping across all the passengers.
Through the Demon King's Eyes, he could quickly discern the identities of these people and glean important intelligence from them.
Although the introductory information for each person was extremely sparse, by piecing together the personal details of nearly a hundred people, Ron managed to roughly patch together the worldview of this world.
This was a magical world, possessing a prosperous civilization on par with modern civilization.
A massive empire, powerful mages.
Although people eked out a simple existence under the exploitation of noble families, at least they could still survive.
Then suddenly, one day, Outer Gods descended.
They looked down upon the entire world, wishing to turn it into fuel for their own ascension.
The Outer Gods were simply too powerful; despite giving it their all, humanity failed to achieve victory.
Thus, humanity's escape plan began.
Inside this train speeding across the wasteland were the last remaining humans of this world.
Carriage 18 was the commoner carriage; they had no access to true secrets, so everything they knew, when pieced together, only gave Ron a rough outline.
What kind of beings were the Outer Gods?
Where did they come from, and what was their purpose?
Why could humans gain temporary peace after hiding inside the speeding train?
Did the humans of this world still preserve the power to fight against the Outer Gods?
None of these questions could be answered here.
However, Ron was not here to solve mysteries.
His goal from beginning to end had only ever been one: complete the ultimate task of the dungeon.
He had to find a way to get to Carriage 4.
After confirming there were no clues here, Ron lowered his head and sent everything he had seen into the temporary communication group.
At this moment, the members of the group had already begun their respective activities.
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: I'm in Carriage 15, it seems to be the dining car here.]
After a long while, Ron saw no response from the others.
[Salmon: Where are the others? Just you alone?]
If he remembered correctly, Bailu had once said that such recommended dungeons required at least four creators to enter at a time.
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: There was another one beside me just now, but he just got turned into a dish by the chef here.]
[Salmon: ...]
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: Damn, the chef here has great culinary skills!]
[Salmon: What happened to that unlucky fellow?]
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: I'm tasting it right now, pretty fragrant.]
"..."
Ron silently closed the stabilizer and looked out at the wasteland.
Couldn't Bailu and the others have arranged a slightly more reliable teammate for him?
Since his teammate was unreliable, Ron could only rely on himself.

He decisively took out his all-in-one pass card.
With a beep, the aisle door opened automatically, and he stepped inside without hesitation.
Carriage 17 was also a commoner carriage.
Seeing Ron swipe his card and walk in here, the passengers in the carriage presumably mistaking him for a train attendant, all wore panicked expressions.
"No... hasn't the ticket inspection already been done this morning?" a woman holding a child asked tremblingly.
The Ark Train was not running a charity.
If you wanted to take refuge here, you had to accept a daily ticket inspection.
The so-called ticket inspection meant handing over something of value on your body to the train attendant—usually your soul.
The stripping of the soul would cause a person to gradually lose perception and emotion.
This was also the reason why the passengers Ron had seen were uniformly expressionless and wooden.
Ron did not say much.
After confirming there was no valuable information in this carriage either, he strode towards Carriage 16.
That fellow Chocolate with Shit Flavor was in the dining car in Carriage 15.
Since it was on his necessary route anyway, it wouldn't hurt to go check out the situation.
[Salmon: I've reached Carriage 16, what's your situation over there?]
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: I'm figuring out a way to resurrect that unlucky guy.]
[Salmon: He's already been made into a dish, can he still be resurrected?]
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: Gotta try. The dish he made is quite fragrant. If he gets resurrected, I can eat it a second time.]
Damn it, a lunatic!
People who write novels really are none of them normal.
Ron twitched his mouth, and just as he was about to tell the other person to say something of value, he saw a new message sent by Chocolate with Shit Flavor.
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: The food in the dining car imbues the consumer with the power of the ingredients. I just acquired that unlucky guy's character card.]
There was actually such a power?
Ron quickly walked through Carriage 16.
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: Bro! That chef is walking towards me.]
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: Holy crap! This guy is way too overpowered! Bro, don't try to fight him head-on if you encounter him!]
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: Bro! I'm afraid I can't hold on much longer!]
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: If you make it over, remember to eat me. I'll pass my power to you!]
Ron's pupils shrank slightly, a trace of moving emotion welling up in his heart.
[Chocolate with Shit Flavor: That piece of shit on Table 9 is me.]
When Ron saw this sentence, his face darkened instantly.