Lu Mingfei, who had read Dragon Clan before slaying the dragon

The first time, when your breathing stops and your heart stops beating, you are declared biologically dead.

The second time, when you were buried, people attended your funeral wearing black clothes. It was announced that you would no longer exist in this society and leave quietly.

The third time is when the last person in the world who has anything to do with you forgets you. Then, you will truly die, and the entire universe will no longer have anything to do with you.

The man has been forgotten by the whole world. The only thing he left in the world is Chu Zihang, which is the proof of his existence. If even Chu Zihang is shaken... the man seems to be really going to die, as if he had never been there.

Suddenly, the computer let out a dull exclamation, pulling Chu Zihang back to reality from his memories. He stared at the red line at the bottom of the screen. The analysis had failed. He hadn't found the dragon's location. After so many days, it seemed like he was still going in circles.

A dull ache throbbed in his shoulder blade, like a burning sensation. He took off his shirt, revealing a dark red mark in the air. It was a half-rotted book, like the emblem of Kassel College, etched into his skin like a birthmark. But it wasn't something he was born with; it had slowly grown on his skin since he escaped that rainy night.

He escaped from that rainy night, only to be trapped in this one. His memories seemed to have woven a rainy cage from which he could never escape. He was trapped inside, unable to find any trace of that man. But the mark that had remained indifferent for five years now reacted. He could vaguely sense a clue hidden in the rainstorm.

He calmed himself down and was about to calculate the fifth formula to try to activate it when the mailbox icon in the lower right corner of the computer desktop suddenly flashed and an unread message appeared.

He checked the time: 11:57, almost midnight. He looked out the window at the torrential rain pouring down. He couldn't believe who would have sent him an email on such a night. He clicked it, holding his breath as he read, a golden light flickering in his pupils.

The email contained an encrypted program package and a password. What surprised Chu Zihang was that the sender was clearly marked as "Lu Mingfei". This was a genuine email sent to him from Lu Mingfei's account, and the text content was only a short line.

Trust your instincts.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Chu Zihang chose to install the package and entered the password. Suddenly, the entire screen went black, and Chu Zihang was stunned.

His first reaction was, was Lu Mingfei's account stolen? Was his computer infected with a Trojan?

But a moment later, the screen lit up again, and before Chu Zihang appeared a three-dimensional model of the city beneath his feet. He dragged the mouse. The model was meticulously detailed, the city's structure and architectural layers clearly visible, though there were no text annotations. He narrowed his eyes slightly. Amidst the translucent black and white complex, a red dot appeared, moving around the corners of the buildings like a thief wandering aimlessly...

Besides, he couldn't think of anyone who would hang out there late at night during a rainstorm.

He connected his computer and mobile phone with a data cable. Although this modeling program was very sophisticated, it took up very little memory if it was only read and not edited, and it had wide compatibility. He planned to make a copy for easy carrying.

The text message ringtone rang, interrupting the data copying.

Dear user, our mobile secretary reminds you to have lunch at Xia Mi's home at 12:00 PM today. Please go to bed immediately after reading this message to ensure adequate sleep.

The sender was Xia Mi herself. It was probably some kind of mischief before bed. Although she knew that Chu Zihang was not the kind of person who would forget an appointment, she always had to emphasize it again when she arrived at the appointed time. The girl's personality was just like her, playful and impressive.

She probably just finished taking a shower, threw herself onto the soft bed, snuggled in the quilt, edited a text message and smiled secretly. The image of the girl flashed through Chu Zihang's mind for a moment, like a cat whose thoughts were hard to understand.

His eyes flickered between the text message and the moving red dot on the computer screen. He gently clicked the "Continue Transfer" button, then picked up the fruit knife and paper towel on the table and cut his wrist lightly. Blood slid down the cut, soaking into the paper towel, staining it a deep black.

The pure blood he had recovered after the "blood burst" was restored. Chu Zihang could clearly feel the increase in strength in his body, but the price of strength was life.

Once the bloody violence begins, one slides into the abyss of sin. This is a road of no return. He has released the devil in his blood, and he doesn't know when the devil will take over his consciousness. He only knows that time is running out, but many things are not yet done.

He was straight, but not retarded. Chu Zihang knew exactly what Xia Mi meant by bringing him home. After so long at university, every time there were holidays, couples would always make plans to go home together. When they met again at the beginning of the semester, they would either take their relationship to the next level and apply for engagement with Norma, or they would break up due to family reasons. This was why he didn't want to agree to Xia Mi's request.

The girl's parents would probably interrogate him with scrutiny, just like checking his household registration. The girl's brother would probably yell at his sister, asking her when she would bring her expressionless brother to play again. He would also probably leave a deep mark in the girl's heart, just like the one on his shoulder... But does he have the qualifications to do so?

He was a ghost who would eventually get lost. He even thought that if he died, then all three deaths would come at once, as if he had never been in this world. He didn't want to leave an indelible mark on anyone's life, nor did he want anyone to bear his fate.

The model has been copied. Before turning off the computer, he took a last look at the location of the red dot on the map. It was twenty meters below the ground. Maybe it was in a subway station?

Is the subway still operating at this time?

Chu Zihang opened the suitcase and picked out the equipment needed for the operation, Murasame, folding knife, flashlight... Finally, his eyes fixed on an item that had nothing to do with this operation. After a brief hesitation, Chu Zihang folded it and put it in his pocket.

He put on a black windbreaker and immersed himself in the deep rainy night, with one hand in his pocket gently holding the thing he had always kept well.

It was a deflated Winnie the Pooh balloon.

……

"Since you're using Lu Mingfei's account, he should be able to figure out it's not him. After all, Little White Rabbit No. 2 is such a cautious person." The potato chip girl stared at the screen and asked with her head tilted.

"Of course he'll find out, but that won't affect his actions at all. As long as the message gets through, that's enough. Little White Rabbit No. 2 has always been a man of action!" Jiude Mai smiled confidently. "Their story is almost reaching its climax. Tang Ben and Zhu Yan just sent me the manuscript, but I'm not very satisfied with it. They've sent it back and are working on it now."

"Is it too late?" asked the potato chip girl.

"We must believe in our young people and also believe in my vision. They were chosen by me, and I see ambition in their eyes!" Jiude Mai said confidently.

"I'm talking about Old Tang." The potato chip girl sighed. "He looks very capable. To be honest, I can't imagine how Sanwu will lure him over. It's really worrying."

"Hey, don't you understand Old Tang and Sanwu?" Jiude Mai said, "That girl can always complete the most difficult tasks with the most direct method!"

……

"Hello, is anyone here?" Old Tang found himself on an empty platform.

He came here purely out of deception.

He was having a great time playing tutorial matches at the internet cafe, and several girls had left their phone numbers with him. But then he felt his phone and it was dead. He thought about going to the front desk to borrow a charger, thinking that since he had brought such good business to the internet cafe today, the girl at the front desk would definitely be smiling and handing him a charger.

But when he reached the front desk, he noticed a new person was there. The new girl was petite, with platinum hair that shone brightly under the dim lights of the internet cafe, leaving Old Tang stunned.

The girl only told him briefly, "Lu Mingfei is in danger," and immediately turned and left. Old Tang was so anxious that he chased her all the way to a subway gate. Old Tang looked at the dark stairs and wanted to say that the subway was closed at this time, so where could Lu Mingfei be? Or we could take a taxi. But he never expected that the girl kicked him in the butt, and he actually passed through the gate and rolled down the stairs, all the way to the platform.

What baffled Old Tang was that even if he'd passed the first gate, he should have reached the security checkpoint. How could he have rolled directly onto the platform? Didn't he need a ticket to ride the subway here? Old Tang stood up and tried to brush off the dust, but found he wasn't even covered in dust, and it didn't hurt at all. It was as if he hadn't just rolled down a flight of stairs, but had fallen directly from a height.

He looked around and realized he'd indeed fallen from the real world into an alternate dimension. He'd clearly been falling toward the ground, but now he'd landed in an underground train station. Torrential rain pelted down from the sky, slamming into the transparent dome overhead. A cyan mist billowed in from all directions. Thinking it was some kind of biological weapon, he immediately covered his mouth and nose and jumped off the platform.

"Hey, what's going on!" Old Tang complained at the top of his voice. He was originally using the keyboard and mouse in the Internet cafe to command thousands of troops like a king, but he fell into a beauty trap and was deceived into such a shabby place where no one lays eggs or lives. He couldn't help but feel like "Who wants to murder me?"

He was caught between a rock and a hard place in the pitch-black tunnel. If he walked out of the subway station, he would be exposed to the rain. At least there was a roof here, but what if he returned to the platform and was poisoned by the green smoke? But staying here forever was not a good idea.

Old Tang looked up at the sky in despair, and was surprised to find several black shadows hanging upside down in the corner of the ceiling. His night vision was very good, and he could clearly see those bird-like monsters.

"Hey, is that a new species of bat? It's so big. I'm glad to see a living creature here. Hello!" Old Tang waved enthusiastically to the sickle-tailed weasels that were mistaken for bats.

The sickle-weasels seemed to be awakened by this sound. They opened their dark golden pupils, let out a sharp hiss, and then glared fiercely at the ignorant guy below who had awakened them...

Then a tall shadow was reflected in their dark golden eye sockets, and the body trembled as it fell straight to the ground.

Old Tang looked down at the bodies of these "bat" friends who had died just after he met them, his face ashen.

Chapter 159 Ghost Train

The bodies of the sickle-tailed weasels turned into dust and shadows and disappeared into the night, as if a part of the darkness that had been stripped away had now returned to the embrace of the night, and the darkness in the space became thicker again.

Old Tang clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and prayed, sighing deeply. "Good luck to my new breed of bat brothers I just met. Although our friendship was only fleeting, our bond will last forever..."

After a brief farewell, Old Tang decided it wasn't worth staying here any longer and decided to pack up and set off. He trudged through the pitch-black tunnel, along the straight tracks, surrounded by nothing but darkness. After an unspecified amount of time, he saw the outline of the platform. Torrential rain streamed down the edge of the roof, like a small waterfall.

They walked for an unknown amount of time, losing track of time. The waterfall-like edge seemed so close, yet Old Tang felt it was just out of reach. He spat inwardly, "What the hell? I've been walking for so long, and it's still getting closer and farther away. It seems like I'll never get out of this lousy station. Could this be the legendary 'ghost wall'?"

Old Tang suddenly recalled that a former hunter colleague had introduced him to this kind of supernatural phenomenon. The colleague told him that the locations of ghost walls are mostly places where negative energy gathers, such as cemeteries, abandoned buildings and the like. He also told him that one of his companions encountered a ghost wall and was trapped for three days and three nights before being rescued. When he came out, he was already mentally ill and unable to recover... But after Old Tang finished recalling, he found that the guy's description was very weird, but he didn't tell him at all how to get out of the ghost wall!

Old Tang rolled his eyes as he sat down at the base of the tunnel wall. It was still dark, and he figured he'd just hang in there, get some sleep, and maybe someone from the subway station would find him at dawn. But as he neared the tunnel's edge, he realized the rocks that built the walls were incredibly ancient, a solemn bronze color, engraved with mysterious and magnificent patterns.

Old Tang was stunned. Who would carve patterns on the inner wall of a train tunnel? Normally, no one was allowed to leave, so no one would see. Wouldn't it be superfluous to go through the trouble of carving exquisite patterns here?

Old Tang reached out and touched the lines; they felt a faint warmth. It didn't feel like polished stone at all, but more like the fossilized sedimentary rocks he'd seen during his previous missions in the Grand Canyon. The fossilized sedimentary rocks there were formed from shale, sandstone, and clay, formed over two billion years by the scorching sun, the cutting of the Colorado River, and finally the erosion of wind and rain.

He suddenly realized that those exquisite patterns might not have been carved by humans, but rather looked like the bones of countless creatures stacked together. This was a masterpiece of nature that could not be replicated by humans...

But how could such a natural wonder appear in a city subway station?

Old Tang frowned and stroked the rock formation. It seemed as if something was being stirred deep in his memory, and tiny ripples began to spread in his calm mind... But before his memories could surge, they were interrupted by a loud rumbling sound.

A pale spotlight pierced the darkness, focusing on Old Tang. The rails beneath his feet vibrated, and a strong wind blew against his face, making his clothes rustle. Old Tang squinted into the light and saw a subway train roaring towards him at an astonishing speed.

Light and strong winds dispelled the darkness and smoke, and the mechanical beast came with great power. The fierce wind pressure almost blew Old Tang's scalp off. If he was ruthlessly run over by such a giant beast, he would undoubtedly be smashed to pieces and not even a complete corpse would be left.

But Old Tang stood still.

The train stopped almost at the tip of his nose, the headlights illuminating his dark pupils with a blazing intensity that threatened to ignite the night. It approached with immense momentum, only to abruptly stop just before it touched Old Tang. After a deafening roar that threatened to pierce his eardrums, silence returned. Before Old Tang, this massive steel beast was like a child returning to its docile nature after a period of madness.

The rusted sliding iron door slowly slid open, revealing the dark carriage as a bottomless maw, reminiscent of those ghost trains in movies where you can't get out once you step inside. Old Tang looked back at the platform edge, so close yet so far away. The rain continued to fall, threatening to drown the entire city.

It seemed that there was no other choice. Old Tang walked into the carriage with a sigh, as if he was swallowed by a big black mouth. The iron door behind him rolled over the rusty tracks with a teeth-grinding sound and closed with difficulty.

Soon the train pulled out of the station, a steel beast roaring as it sped through the torrential rain, its steam-powered xenon lights swaying. The windows were all sealed shut, the dense stream of water washing over them making it nearly impossible to see outside. Only the blurry silhouette of the city rapidly receded before my eyes.

"Wow, this is much more fantastic than the stories those guys told. Being kidnapped by a ghost train in the middle of the night, who would believe it if I told others about it?" Old Tang recalled the bragging and nonsense his experienced hunter friends had told him about ghost ships and uninhabited islands. Compared with his own bizarre experience, they were nothing. It was so boring that it was like eating a whole wheat sandwich at the grandma's house next door.

Old Tang paced the train with great interest, glancing left and right, wondering if a mummy would pop out from the front or a zombie from the back, perfect for practicing his new skills. His footsteps echoed like a drum in the hushed train, beating against one's heart... Suddenly, Old Tang froze, and his feet stopped moving.

"Damn! It really is a ghost train!"

Old Tang stopped, but the footsteps did not stop.

Someone was slowly approaching in the darkness behind him! He clearly heard the old partition door being gently opened, the mottled rust peeling off, and someone was hiding there, secretly watching him.

He turned his head, and four pale golden pupils suddenly lit up in the darkness.

……

"Little white rabbits number one and three are already on the way. How are number two and four? Is there anything wrong?" asked the potato chip girl.

"No! Our Little White Rabbit No. 2 is amazing! He is worthy of being called the Ace Specialist of Kassel Academy along with Little White Rabbit No. 1. His tracking skills are very sophisticated! The distance is kept just right from the beginning to the end, fluctuating between one hundred meters and one hundred and five meters!" Mai Jiude looked at the two red dots close to each other on the computer screen, and she couldn't help but applaud, her face as beautiful as a flower.

"Are you sure you're talking about the Ace Specialist? Why does he sound so much like a stalker? And a pretty experienced one at that?" The Chip Girl tore open a bag of chips, tasted a piece, and stuck out her tongue. Texas barbecue was her least favorite flavor, but it was still potato chips, so she couldn't waste them. She ate them one by one.

"How can there be such a perverted man who follows people around? He's handsome, well-behaved and polite. Even though he has a bit of a blank expression, isn't it a pleasure to be followed by such an elite cool guy?" Jude Mai said with a sweet smile.

"Damn, so you like guys like Chu Zihang, or do you like being followed by handsome guys? No wonder you always dress up beautifully when you go out. I didn't expect that your fetish is so...unscrupulous." The potato chip girl said with disgust.

"Hey, hey, hey, you're the one who likes being followed! I don't dress up to please men, I just want to please myself, okay? You, a boring nerd, don't know shit!" Jiude Mai puffed out her chest, exuding the aura of a queen. "If I must say, I actually prefer guys like Caesar. Proud and confident men shine like a thousand feet! Chu Zihang is too boring."

"What a pity! Caesar should be preparing to propose to Chen Motong at this time. He will go to see the ring at dawn. You don't have much chance." The potato chip girl laughed happily. "But Chu Zihang is not dull, he is more reserved. Lu Mingfei said that he has never seen a man who is more gossipy than his senior brother."

"Whether he's sullen or reserved, he'll have to face his inner self this time. The lights will converge on him. He's one of the protagonists of this story, and the final choice is in his hands..." Jiude Mai said dimly, "Chu Zihang, will he choose a tragic ending and turn his life into a complete tragedy... or will he follow his heart and grasp the only light in his life... I'm really looking forward to it, let's wait and see!"

……

Chu Zihang arrived at what looked like an abandoned subway station. He hadn't expected such a shabby place to exist tucked away in a corner of such a bustling city. The gates weren't working at all. Huge rocks looked like they had fallen from the ceiling, cratering the concrete platform. Only a large red sign at the entrance read "Do Not Enter," but it didn't seem intimidating at all.

A gaunt figure stood on the dilapidated platform, dressed in an oversized black hoodie and wide-leg pants. His physique was indistinguishable, and his face was completely obscured by the hat, mask, and sunglasses, making him seem to blend seamlessly into the darkness. Just as Chu Zihang had said, he was dressed like a thief. Chu Zihang had followed this guy here. He looked down at his phone, and the red dot on the screen had stopped moving. They were already quite a distance from the city center.

Chu Zihang hid behind a massive pillar, facing a large, unpowered billboard. His wet figure was reflected on the grimy glass. To conceal his pursuit, he hadn't carried an umbrella and had been drenched in the rain. His blood was surging through his veins, his body temperature rising sharply, and steam was rising from the seams of his clothes, making it look like a fire was on.

His eyes were fixed on the thief-like guy from beginning to end. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he always felt that the other party gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity, but he couldn't tell where the familiarity was. However, he didn't dwell on this idea. What puzzled him was why the other party came to such an abandoned subway station in the middle of the night during a rainstorm, standing quietly in front of the platform as if he was waiting for a train.

But now he had already passed the subway's operating point, and he had just searched it on his mobile phone before entering the station. This underground station located in the SJS area is called "Gaojing Station", also known as "Station 53". It is an unfinished station on the west side of the city subway Line 1 and the westernmost station on the underground part of Line 1, numbered 101.

This station, built entirely for wartime preparedness, was completely different from a passenger station. It was heavily guarded, dreary and silent, with a high, vast dome, simple whitewashed walls, a rough concrete floor, incandescent lights permanently turned off, and a concrete ramp over 700 meters leading to the ground-level exit.

There have always been many urban legends about this station. Someone on the Qiangguo Forum said that when the subway passed Gaojing Station, it suddenly stopped, the lights of the entire car suddenly went out, and some strange clapper sounds were heard in the darkness, which made people's hearts palpitate. The subway started again a long time after the sound, and the lights came on again after passing the station, which made him unforgettable for life; others said that when passing the station, the lights would suddenly dim a little, the subway doors would be opened for no reason, and many blurry black shadows would appear on the empty car. Only when all the black shadows got off the car did the subway resume normal operation.

Due to the cold and damp environment inside the station, many people believe that it is a gathering place for wandering ghosts.

What kind of guy would come to a station like this in the middle of the night, and who would use Lu Mingfei's account to let him follow this guy? Chu Zihang's first reaction was that this might be a trap. Assuming that the message was sent to him by the man in the black hoodie not far away, why would he lure him to such a remote place?

But the next scene shattered his doubts. A rumbling sound came from far away, and a train without any lights on really slid slowly into the platform from the thick darkness and stopped in front of the guy in the black hoodie.

That guy actually came to wait for the bus!

The platform here had no screen doors, only a simple glass barrier. The man easily climbed over the barrier and disappeared into the pitch-black carriage. The train door began to slowly close, and Chu Zihang felt a fierce burning sensation on the mark on his back. He grabbed his shoulders, took off his sunglasses, and his golden eyes pierced the darkness.

He smelled the same rainstorm as that night!

Chu Zihang took a deep breath, emerged from behind the pillar, and began to sprint quickly. If the Olympic champion of the 100-meter track was here, he would definitely be ashamed to give up this career. Chu Zihang was like a bullet shot out of the muzzle, shooting at an astonishing speed, squeezing into the last carriage through the gap before the door was completely closed.

He rolled on the ground and hit the door panel on the other side, making a dull sound in the darkness. Ignoring the pain in his body, he quickly stood up, took possession of Murasame, and entered a combat state.

He clearly remembered the guy in the black hoodie entering the train from the front. He'd counted carefully when the train arrived, and there were a full ten cars between the front and the back. He probably wouldn't have had enough time...

But after regaining his sight, he was stunned, and a violent fear exploded in his mind.

He couldn't see what was happening in the front carriage because the carriages in the middle of the train were filled with densely packed black shadows!

Chapter 160: Old Tang, what is your bloodline?

There was no sound, no breathing, and even no life. The black shadows seemed to merge into the darkness. Hundreds of golden pupils stared at Chu Zihang quietly, revealing greed, as if craving his flesh and blood.

These minions are back again, on this same stormy night, with the same greedy eyes, like lingering ghosts.

"We meet again." Chu Zihang stared at them expressionlessly, his voice devoid of any emotion. "A normal person probably wouldn't want to see you a second time in their lifetime, but I've been looking for you... and still, as always, with that ugly expression."

Hundreds of golden eyes began to flicker in the air, and those dark shadows began to gather together, like a surging black tide. The scene was as terrifying as a hundred ghosts parading at night. No expression could be seen on their ferocious faces, but Chu Zihang could sense their endless greed, just like starving ghosts seeing fresh meat, eager to share him with them.

At the moment Chu Zihang was swallowed, a spherical field quickly opened up with him as the center. Dark black arcs flowed on the outer wall of the field. Although there was no fire, the air was heated to the extreme in an instant!

"Word Spirit·Jun Yan" was instantly activated! "Blood Rage" was also instantly activated!

The king's rage raged, the dust in the air unable to withstand the scorching heat. Black air suddenly exploded, and blazing flames swept across. Chu Zihang was like a barrel of gunpowder that exploded, instantly scorching the dark shadows that approached him. The glaring flames danced across their dark skin, illuminating the green bones within, as if the flames of the Bronze and Fire Kings were smelting some kind of ancient bronze.

Chu Zihang's clothes ripped and quickly burned to ashes. His naked upper body was muscular, with visible tendons and veins twisting and turning, and his skin was coated in a layer of molten gold. Flames began to rise from his wrists, heating Murasame's blade to a bright red. The already sharp Imperial Sword was now infused with an extremely high temperature. Chu Zihang, wielding the sword, would be invincible!

The black shadows began the second round of attack. Murasame drew a bright arc of light across, and all the black shadow bodies that approached Chu Zihang were split in half from top to bottom. The bones at the broken ends seemed like molten gold, and extremely high temperatures spread from the broken ends. The golden light in their dark eye sockets quickly dimmed, and the broken bodies still slowly crawled towards Chu Zihang, like a centipede that was dead but still alive.

These things seemed to have no concept of "death" in their consciousness, or perhaps they were evil spirits hovering on the edge of life and death. No matter how many of their predecessors died, they still pounced on them one after another, in groups, as if in their eyes, Chu Zihang was something more tempting than life.

Chu Zihang didn't intend to expend too much energy here. He took a sudden step forward, scales spreading from his neck, and bone spurs bursting out of his body! The temperature around him rose rapidly again, and the space was distorted by the burning. The dark air flow surged more violently, like a demonic will-o'-the-wisp. His eyes seemed to be filled with two suns, and the light almost pierced the darkness.