Chapter 89: Shortest Path (4)
89 – Shortest Path (4)
The phone screen lit up, instantly projecting the subway route map of the capital onto the dim ceiling through the Goddess of the Luo River.
Lin Xun’s gaze fell on Line 4, tracing it to its terminal station.
Xicheng Station, a peripheral location—and its geographical position—
Lin Xun’s heart gave a violent thump!
He quickly looked back at the Star Dipper Array; the positions of the two locations overlapped.
He remembered the depth of this basement—only about ten meters—while the deeper location was unmistakably the terminal station!
The location of the demon realm rift was underground.
If not in this basement, but deeper—
Lin Xun picked up his phone. “Lo, call Officer Cao.”
As the call began and before it was answered, Lin Xun dashed upstairs.
A terrain map unfolded in his mind. Reaching the hall, exiting the door, climbing over the wall outside—about a two-minute journey would bring him to the subway’s Exit D. From there, heading down and running three hundred meters in the opposite direction would place him directly beneath the basement, right at the lowest point of the rift location pinpointed by the Star Dipper Array!
Amid the chaos, he only heard Chang Ji ask, “Where are you going?”
He replied tersely, “The rift is at the subway station!” before swiftly taking the stairs two at a time.
While climbing, Officer Cao answered the call, and a voice came through the receiver: “Hello.”
“Hello, Officer Cao, this is Lin Xun.”
“Lin Xun!” Officer Cao’s voice brightened. “What’s up? Something happened again? Where is it this time? Drug trafficking or murder?”
Lin Xun was still running, breathing heavily, so Officer Cao’s tone immediately grew tense. “What’s wrong? Have you been kidnapped?”
Lin Xun: “…”
“No,” he gasped, using the Light Body Technique to vault over the railing and land on the road outside. The subway entrance was not far ahead. “Officer, there might be terrorists at Xicheng Station.”
Officer Cao paused for a moment, then replied in a much more serious tone, “Terrorists? Are you sure? Send me the clues. How many? Do they have lethal weapons?”
“Not sure yet, but it’s extremely dangerous.” A single subway train could carry up to two thousand people. If it plunged headlong into the demon realm rift—the capital might not see that many disappearances in a hundred years. He added, “Can you coordinate with the subway dispatch? I’ll send you the evidence shortly. The terrorists are highly dangerous—under no circumstances should any trains come this way—” He rambled while rushing, his movements hurried. His elbow brushed against an elderly woman, and he quickly muttered, “Sorry, I’m in a hurry,” only to see the woman’s eyes dart around before she slowly and deliberately collapsed to the ground!
Lin Xun: “…”
My apologies, but I don’t have the energy to deal with your scam right now.
He ran into the subway entrance.
Officer Cao said, “Stay safe!”
Lin Xun hastily agreed and hung up, continuing inward.
Upon reaching the subway, he suddenly noticed that the crowded waiting crowd seemed to have a focal point—they were gathered around something.
Lin Xun approached, swiped his card to pass through the turnstile. The terminal station’s layout was straightforward, so he cleared security without issue and reached the waiting area—only to discover that what the crowd was watching was unmistakably a group of eccentrically dressed… cultivators.
Lin Xun: “…”
At that moment, Bihai Xianzi noticed him: “Xun’er, why did you run so fast? We couldn’t even catch up to you.”
Lin Xun: “……?”
Shouldn’t he have reached the subway station first, with the cultivation world crowd chasing after him?
He voiced his confusion.
Xiaoyaozi, however, smiled mysteriously and produced a talisman: “My Qingcheng Mountain techniques are exquisite. With just one Earth Evasion talisman, we can reach the subway hall.”
Sorry.
I underestimated your idealist world.
Lin Xun felt regret for those extra steps he had taken.
Nevertheless, despite the differences in transportation methods, it was good that everyone had arrived.
He took a few deep breaths to calm the effects of the intense exercise and began surveying the interior of the subway station.
Damp.
That was his first impression. It felt as damp as the air during the rainy season, and at the same time, the entire subway hall exuded a strange gloominess—overall, it was very oppressive.
Just as he was thinking this, a commotion erupted from one corner of the hall—a man causing trouble was being dragged away by security guards.
Lin Xun activated the Star Formation Array and saw that the entire subway hall was shrouded in black mist, much denser than in that basement.
It seemed… the rift would truly appear here.
He looked at Xiaoyaozi, whose compass was spinning wildly. They exchanged a glance, and Xiaoyaozi’s expression turned grave as he nodded at him.
This nod confirmed that the demon realm rift was indeed more likely to appear here. But if that was the case, why were there endless demonic creatures attacking them in the basement?
Lin Xun furrowed his brows, and a sense of foreboding suddenly arose in his heart.
“Has the demon realm rift at Xicheng Station not fully opened yet, or is it in the process of gradually opening but hasn’t reached a level visible in reality?”
Xiaoyaozi nodded: “According to the Star Formation Array’s calculations, the demonic Qi is extremely dense. The rift will open this very afternoon.”
“So, if we were still searching inch by inch in the basement when the demon realm rift fully manifests, would we…”
Xiaoyaozi stroked his beard, his expression growing even graver: “You are correct. If we hadn’t realized that the demon realm rift wasn’t in the basement but deeper in the subway station… by the time the rift appeared in reality and began to expand—all of us, standing directly above the rift and so close… would be silently devoured.”
Just then, Old Man Huo spoke up: “Let’s move farther away first.”
Xiaoyaozi understood, and so did Butterfly Madam. With a gentle wave of her delicate hand, swarms of butterflies suddenly fluttered out of thin air, sprinkling fine powder from their wings. When ordinary people came into contact with this powder, their eyes grew vacant. Then, the Madam played her flute, and the crowd slowly left the waiting area like mindless zombies.
The mission description stated that people who came to Xicheng always felt downcast. This low mood was due to the influence of demonic Qi, and “people who came to Xicheng” was a universal term. Under what circumstances would most people arriving in Xicheng be affected by demonic Qi?
The subway. The subway’s terminal was the source of the demonic Qi—the place where the rift was about to appear.
Lin Xun abruptly looked up at the electronic screen: three minutes until the next subway arrived.
And at this very moment, the demonic Qi concentration shown by the Star Formation Array had reached the critical point for the demon realm rift to appear!
Officer Cao called again: “Can you provide photos of the scene?”
Lin Xun glanced at the crowd controlled by Butterfly Madam’s illusion, now resembling zombies, and immediately snapped over a dozen photos to send to Officer Cao. He added, “It seems we don’t have much time.”
Officer Cao asked, “Could it be biochemical weapons? Understood, I’ll coordinate immediately.”
After hanging up, Lin Xun saw all the seniors staring with grave expressions toward the end of the train tracks.
His pupils contracted sharply—
A bug.
It seemed to be a small black insect.
The transparent air appeared to have an invisible barrier, and within this void, a black dot, like a bug, bored through the barrier and poked its head out.
Then, centered around it, thick black mist rapidly expanded at an astonishing speed!
Xiaoyaozi shouted, “Activate the formation!”
The Qingcheng Mountain disciples immediately gathered around Xiaoyaozi for protection, while the other seniors took their positions according to the formation rules, each forming hand seals. In an instant, lights of various colors appeared, especially at the formation’s core where Xiaoyaozi stood, from which a brilliant, pure light surged. An invisible force, like a giant palm, swept toward the nascent crack!
Lin Xun couldn’t use spells, and Chang Ji, having just reached the Golden Core stage, hadn’t yet learned any. While observing the Star Formation, Lin Xun also kept an eye on the surroundings—suddenly, he noticed Butterfly Madam, who had been intently playing her flute to control the crowd’s minds, abruptly stop. She coughed up a mouthful of bright red blood.
Lin Xun called out, “Madam?”
Madam suddenly opened her eyes, her voice slightly hoarse: “The demonic creatures are seizing the mortals’ consciousness!” With that, she picked up her flute again and began playing a sharp, aggressive melody.
The mortals around them underwent several shifts in expression, as if their bodies were caught in a fierce tug-of-war. Chang Ji joined in, reciting Buddhist scriptures, which seemed to have a calming effect on the mind. Butterfly Madam’s pale complexion improved noticeably.
However, if there were demonic seeds invading human bodies, there were also shadowy demonic creatures capable of surviving independently—just like the endless stream of creatures from the basement! Sure enough, the next moment, countless shrieks of demonic creatures echoed from all directions, like locusts swarming over farmland during a plague. Thousands of dark shadows swooped down, some charging toward Lin Xun, others toward the seniors who were forming the formation to block the crack’s expansion!
At this moment, the seniors were focused on sealing the crack, Butterfly Madam and Chang Ji were helping the mortals resist the demonic invasion, leaving only Lin Xun and a few guardians to fend off the rest.
Lin Xun took out his keyboard, unleashing a barrage of sword Qi. Some of the demonic creatures were restrained, but others continued to charge forward fearlessly!
As he dodged between vending machines and benches, a growing sense of unease gripped him.
If he hadn’t realized that the crack was actually in the subway station, the crack would have expanded unchecked, and he and the seniors would have been buried in the demon realm fissure silently enveloping the area—effectively wiping out the main combat force of the cultivation world.
The endless stream of demonic creatures from the basement had misled them into thinking the crack was there—a deliberate misdirection…
This basement felt like a carefully laid trap.
If it was a trap, who had lured them here?
In a flash of insight, a thought suddenly crossed Lin Xun’s mind!
How did the cultivators discover this suspicious location?
—Because of that suspicious water ghost from Qi Yun’s talent agency.
Why was the water ghost discovered?
—Because Qi Yun went missing, and Lin Xun noticed it.
Why did Lin Xun take Qi Yun’s disappearance to heart?
Because, in the mental hospital, that little girl told him that at the end of Metro Line 4, there was a massive crack slowly opening.
In the blink of an eye, the reasoning process involved many steps, but it all flashed through his mind in an instant. Lin Xun suddenly looked toward the subway tracks behind the glass door and saw, amidst the faint, flickering reflections, a short figure in a white dress.
Lin, Ke, Xin.
His heart gave a heavy thud. Transforming the key into a sword, he swiftly darted toward that spot!
In that instant, countless shadowy demonic creatures abandoned their original battles and lunged toward him!
At this moment, there was still one minute and thirty seconds until the subway arrived.