Chapter 72

Sanda... Sanda...

The human officer slowly walked along the mountain path.

Suddenly.

It stopped, and gently opened its mouth.

A thin, semi-transparent line appeared from the void, one end connecting to its mouth, the other leading to the end of the road.

The officer maintained the open-mouthed posture, waiting for a moment.

A semi-transparent humanoid figure rapidly flew from the distance, shrinking into a ball in front of the officer, and was swallowed whole.

"Please, don't... eat me..."

The desperate cry of Hayate echoed from the officer's mouth.

The officer's face remained expressionless, and its throat moved slightly.

Hayate's voice abruptly stopped.

The wind blew.

The officer stood still, silently absorbing all of Hayate's memories.

After a moment.

A scene quietly appeared.

Wu Xiaode transformed into a bird, instantly flying deep into the tunnel.

At that moment, the officer's dull, lifeless eyes suddenly widened, and a hoarse voice emerged from its mouth: "It's a spirit... from the Realm of Death..."

Before it could finish speaking, its body began to move.

The officer started to run slowly.

At first, its running posture was somewhat awkward, but after a while, its movements became very swift, almost surpassing human limits.

Buzz—

Dust rose on the mountain path.

The officer continuously accelerated, sprinting toward the location of the cave.

...

"It's among us."

The monster's image became even more eerie and ominous as it spoke.

The most prominent feature on its body was its mouth.

A long mouth, similar to that of a crocodile.

But overall, it had a human form, walking upright, with a tail, resembling a lizard transformed into a human.

This monster had killed Hayate.

It used some incomprehensible method to disguise itself as Hayate, driving the train and leading the entire team deeper underground.

No matter what it planned, they couldn't wait any longer!

Wu Xiaode made up his mind, quickly stood up, walked to the leader's side, and sat down next to her, saying:

"Leader, do you have any food?"

"Here, take this." The leader handed a piece of chocolate without looking up.

While reaching for the chocolate, Wu Xiaode quickly wrote something on the leader's hand.

—Journal.

When he wrote the first character, the leader's eyes widened slightly.

By the time he wrote the second character, she had calmed down.

What journal?

—It's a journal!

"Leader, I have so many things in my backpack. Why don't I just throw away the scientists' journals?" he said.

"Don't throw them away, let me take another look." The leader said, drawing a question mark on the table inconspicuously.

"You want to look again? Okay." Wu Xiaode took out a few journals and laid them on the table, also taking out the photo.

"I'll take a photo too, to show a few experts when I get back."

He took out his phone, took a few photos of the journals, and quickly opened the notes app, writing a small line:

"Name order, last page, combine strokes."

"Leader, how do the photos look?" He handed the phone to her.

"These are good." The leader glanced at the small line and nodded.

That's it.

She should understand.

Wu Xiaode took the phone, deleted the note, unwrapped the chocolate, and started eating it.

The leader lowered her head and studied the items seriously.

She first looked at the line of text in the photo, then flipped through the five journals, closed her eyes, and seemed to be thinking about something.

After a moment.

She opened her eyes, continued flipping through the books, and casually asked:

"I have a lot of snacks in my backpack, at least six kinds. Can you find me a piece of chocolate?"

—There are six of us here. Can you find it?

"I can." Wu Xiaode said.

—I can find it.

"Then go to the backpack and find me a piece of chocolate. The rest are things for us girls, don't touch them." The leader, with her hand supporting her chin, continued flipping through the pages without looking up.

—Find it, and I'll handle the rest.

"Okay." Wu Xiaode nodded.

He walked to the other side of the carriage, took out the leader's backpack, and unzipped it.

He saw that the backpack didn't contain much else—

It was full of snacks: egg rolls, green rice balls, runny egg yolk pastries, mung bean cakes, osmanthus cakes, milk candies, chocolates, walnut-stuffed dates, hawthorn rolls, red bean small bread, potato chips, sunflower seeds, honey cakes, packaged nuts, meat floss cakes, sugar beans, lotus leaf pastries, mooncakes…

All snacks!

Despite the strange and urgent situation, Wu Xiaode was speechless for a few seconds.

—Can a girl eat so much?

—You're on a spring outing, aren't you?

Wu Xiaode rummaged through the backpack and collected quite a few snacks.

"Leader, you have so many snacks. I want to give some to Hayate and Eagle. Is that okay?" he said loudly.

—I suspect it's Hayate or Eagle. I'm going to act. Do you allow it?

"Okay." The leader, still flipping through the pages, said.

Wu Xiaode smiled and took out more food from the backpack.

"Leader, here you go!"

He handed the chocolate to the leader and gave a piece of snack to the marksman and Xiao Baihong each, then walked briskly toward the driver's cabin.

The marksman glanced at the leader, who looked calm and continued flipping through the book.

The marksman tore open the packaging and started eating the sunflower seeds.

However, he slightly moved his position to be closer to the guns on the ground.

Xiao Baihong also gently tore open the potato chip packaging and grinned. "I don't really like tomato-flavored chips, but I can manage."

He smiled, showing a look of anticipation.

Wu Xiaode's actions with the leader's hand hadn't escaped their notice.

They had already sensed something was wrong and were preparing themselves.

Wu Xiaode walked into the driver's cabin and said with a smile:

"Have something to boost your spirits."

Eagle and Hayate were in the driver's cabin, one looking at the route map, the other fiddling with the train control buttons.

Wu Xiaode handed a cake to Eagle and a bag of nuts to Hayate.

Eagle tore open the packaging and started eating.

Hayate placed the nuts on the table and said naturally,

"Thanks, Xiao Wu. You should go rest. We'll need you to lead the way when we arrive."

Wu Xiaode smiled. "Sure, you should also rest. Embrace the frost."

In an instant.

A series of battle prompts appeared on the Book of the Dead:

"You spoke the incantation: 'Embrace the frost.'"

"The Bone Dragon's Deep Cold Blessing has been released!"

"Any existence below level 60 will be frozen by the cold from the depths of death."

"Duration: 3 seconds."

Hayate's body was immediately covered in a layer of white frost.

He was frozen in place, unable to move.

First second.

A flash of a blade, and Hayate's hands and feet flew off, landing in the corner.

The long blade was retracted and placed on Hayate's neck.

Second second.

Eagle's face changed, and he was about to act, but was held down by two hands on his shoulders.

The marksman and Xiao Baihong!

"Don't move!" the marksman shouted.

The moment Wu Xiaode acted, they rushed in.

Third second.

The leader quietly appeared beside Wu Xiaode, pasted a yellow talisman on Hayate's forehead, and shouted, "Divine Thunder, Bind the Demon!"

A burst of lightning from the yellow talisman instantly transformed into glowing chains, binding Hayate's body.

Three seconds over!

Hayate let out a strange cry and suddenly laughed,

"People from that world, you are indeed stronger than the trash here, but it's too late. Everything will be destroyed."

"Who are you?" the leader asked sternly.

Hayate grinned. "You will all be devoured by the monsters, without exception. This is the eternal history."

He tilted his head and stopped moving.

At this moment, his appearance gradually changed, transforming into a form no one had ever seen before.

—A long tail, a back covered in hard scales, vertical pupils, a human body and limbs.

It was the monster!

Xiao Baihong checked for a moment and said in surprise, "It's dead."

Everyone was somewhat bewildered.

Hayate had been impersonated by a monster.

He was likely already dead.

—But what exactly is this monster?

The next moment.

A semi-transparent shadow emerged from the corpse, floating in the air.

No one saw this scene.

Only Wu Xiaode saw it clearly.

—Because the shadow was the monster's soul!

The shadow provocatively circled around everyone and said in a low voice, "We will meet again soon—I will come to watch your deaths."

With that, it tried to leave, flying deeper underground.

—It's leaving?

It can't leave!

Wu Xiaode silently called out in his mind, "All the spirits residing in the armor, stop it for me!"

Ding ding dang ding ding—

Something in him seemed to awaken.

The shadow flew a few meters and suddenly felt a pulling force, struggling desperately.

But it was no use.

In the void, spirits rapidly emerged, quickly spreading everywhere, and shouted in unison,

"With the power of this armor, seize it!"

—This armor, forged by fairies and elves, can house countless spirits and souls.

It had already absorbed countless spirits!

An invisible force burst from the armor, spreading in all directions, instantly enveloping the shadow.

The shadow could no longer escape.

It was pulled back and absorbed into the armor, disappearing.