Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 387 Pursuit
To be fair, these early steam trains weren't very fast.

In addition, the procurement official was probably only half-baked, only knowing how to look at the appearance and size, which made the train's power system very worrying. For two whole days, the train still hadn't left the state's territory.

The aftermath of the fight had been dealt with. It was unclear what method Feng Qianlin had used, but despite the commotion in the first-class carriage, it hadn't caused any further trouble. The corpses and vegetation had been disposed of silently, and even the bloodstains had been thoroughly cleaned. The entire carriage was spotless and looked no different from before.

The scenery outside the window flashed by, accompanied by the occasional sound of a ship's horn—it looked like a scene from a period film where a talented man and a beautiful woman meet.

Apart from the occasional glimpse of abandoned villages and corpses frozen or starved to death outside the window, nothing seemed different.

Zhou You exhaled and looked at the curtains, then gazed at Feng Qianlin.

At this moment, he was holding a newspaper in one hand and a coffee in the other, looking relaxed and content.

Chen Xun had already gone out to patrol—since that incident, he and Zhou You had been working in two shifts, one patrolling the other carriages and regularly taking down the assassins sent there, while the other stayed by Feng Qianlin's side to prevent any accidents from happening.

They were on full alert, but the person in question...
After saying that the future was bleak, he's been like this ever since.

Zhou You glanced at the Broken Evil at his waist—this creature was weakly eating its ingredients.

Then I looked at Feng Qianlin—he was so relaxed, it was like he was on vacation.

Zhou You sighed, leaned back in his chair, and then casually mentioned something.

"I'm talking to Brother Feng."

"what happened?"

"I've always been curious, how did you, a rich kid, the kind of rich kid who's richer than a country, come up with the idea of ​​becoming a revolutionary? Could it be that you were ostracized by your family and had to leave home alone?"

Feng Qianlin put down the newspaper and smiled.

“Mr. Zhou, you’re joking. Although I am the second son of the family, my father and my elder brother have always treated me very well. I have never lacked money, and they have always helped me with whatever I need. Compared with a bunch of families that fight to the death, our family is quite harmonious.”

"Then why"

"Mr. Zhou, have you ever heard of Shi Dakai, the Wing King?"

Putting aside what he had learned before, Zhou You had seriously researched the history of this world before, and had also heard of the name of the Wing King Shi Dakai—and seriously suspected that he was also a time traveler.

But this man has been dead for decades, so what connection could the revolutionaries possibly have with him?
Feng Qianlin seemed to see Zhou You's confusion and smiled.

"I met the Wing King once when I was very young."

"That time, it was because of the war. My father took us to avoid the disaster, but there was an accident that caused my family and me to get separated. At that time, only my old steward was left with me, and we happened to run into the Wing King's army."

Feng Qianlin raised his head and said as if he were reminiscing.

"According to the propaganda of the imperial court at the time, everyone in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was a reincarnation of a demon, and they all liked to eat human flesh and drink human blood. When we ran into the banner of the Wing King, the old steward and I thought we were doomed. But to our surprise, the Wing King did not make things difficult for us. After learning my identity, he simply had someone keep an eye on me and then contacted my father to send me over. As a result, I was able to stay in the Wing King's army for three days."

Feng Qianlin paused for a moment, then continued.

"Those were the three most important days of my life."

Zhou You didn't interrupt. He just looked at Feng Qianlin, watching this man over fifty years old tilt his head back as if looking at something, and slowly speak.

“Brother Zhou, have you ever met someone like a raging fire? I have. Prince Yi, Shi Dakai, is such a person. He is compassionate and loves the people. He treats his soldiers well and helps the common people. But actually, there is no need to say more about these things. After all, although the Qing court strictly ordered them to be passed down, some books still record a lot of them. But most importantly, unlike others, even the so-called Heavenly King, he genuinely wants to save this world.”

Zhou You finally spoke at this moment.

"How so?"

"—It's the look in their eyes."

What kind of look is that?

However, Feng Qianlin shook his head and did not answer.

"—I stayed by his side for three days. After three days, he faithfully returned me to my father and brothers without even extorting any money from me. You know, young people are most easily influenced by external things. Since that time, I have regarded him as a role model in my life and have been following in his footsteps, hoping to learn from him how to redeem this country and its people."

"--but."

“I soon realized that as long as the country existed, I could not save the people; and if I wanted to save the people, I had to overthrow the country first.”

Zhou You paused for a few seconds before speaking again.

"So that's why you chose to join the revolutionaries, hoping to overthrow the Qing Dynasty through revolution? But the problem is, no matter how corrupt the Qing Dynasty was, it was still a behemoth, and how many of you are there? In the current situation, it's nothing more than ants trying to shake a tree."

However, Feng Qianlin simply smiled at this very realistic statement.

“I really like this saying: If we don’t do some things, then no one will. Besides, my mission this time is to find an opportunity—an opportunity to truly and completely overthrow the Qing Dynasty.”

Zhou You looked into Feng Qianlin's eyes.

Feng Qianlin was also looking at him.

There is nothing false about it; there is only seriousness, determination, and a willingness to die for it.

In a daze, Zhou You recalled the old Taoist priest who, dressed in a Taoist robe and holding a long sword, charged forward without hesitation during the Tai Sui era.

How similar they are!
Seeing that Zhou You remained silent, Feng Qianlin picked up his coffee cup again and took a sip.

"Forget about these discouraging things, how are things on your end?"

Getting down to business, Zhou You regained his composure, pondered for a moment, and then spoke.

"It's strange. For the past two days, they've been harassing us at a leisurely pace, causing trouble every now and then and delaying the train's departure. But that's the problem."

At this moment, Zhou You suddenly caught a glimpse of light outside the window.

It was very faint and blurry, and most people would think it was just an illusion. But in that fleeting glimpse, Zhou You felt as if it were the eyes of two people.

However, he didn't say it aloud, but continued the previous topic in a slow tone.

"If he really wanted to stop it, he could have just blown up the locomotive, or taken the ordinary people in the other carriages hostage. Why go through all this trouble, which even involves taking lives?"

Feng Qianlin smiled and shook his head.

“Mr. Zhou, you probably don’t know much about this. Yu Sanzhi may kill some people in secret or do his shady business, but if he dares to do something big in the open, or even kill dozens or hundreds of people at once, we won’t even need to lift a finger. All the cultivators in the world will unite to kill him.”

"Because this is the rule, the rule that everyone has accepted since the establishment of the Qing Dynasty."

Zhou You nodded upon hearing this—after talking for so long, he also felt a bit thirsty, so after looking around, he simply picked up the coffee in front of Feng Qianlin and drank it all in one gulp.

"That's fine then—by the way, Brother Feng, your coffee beans are really good. When we part ways, you should at least give me a couple of packets."

Feng Qianlin was taken aback. After spending the past few days together, he knew that Zhou You had never liked coffee, especially the kind of special coffee that Zhou You had specially asked someone to buy for him. He thought it was as bitter as Chinese medicine and preferred tea and alcohol.

Why are you suddenly praising it, contrary to your usual behavior?

Feng Qianlin lowered her eyebrows, but soon, she revealed her usual smile again.

"No problem, I'll give you as much as you want. Oh, by the way, excuse me, I really need to pee, I need to go to the restroom, is that alright?"

Zhou You nodded, picked up his sword, and stood up.

"It's okay, I'll go with you."

In just four or five minutes, the two turned back again.

With the same expression on his face, Feng Qianlin sat down and picked up the newspaper to continue reading, while Zhou You looked around and suddenly frowned.

"Speaking of which, why hasn't Master Chen come back yet?"

Feng Qianlin's face was hidden under the newspaper and could not be seen clearly at first, but his voice was very casual.

"Perhaps the carriages that need to be inspected are just too long? You know, when this train was first purchased, the Qing government bought an extended version to save face. It takes half a day for a person to walk back and forth on a normal day, let alone carefully searching for suspicious individuals."

Zhou You nodded upon hearing this, but his expression still showed some unease.

But after a while, he frowned again and said.

"No, so much time has passed. Even if it's slow, the patrol should be over by now. Brother Feng, wait here for me. I'll go check and make sure we don't get picked off one by one."

Feng Qianlin simply waved his hand casually.

After receiving an affirmative answer, Zhou You picked up his sword, solemnly pushed open the door, and walked to the other side.

The private room fell silent once again.

All that remained were the vibrations from the moving train and the occasional sound of a newspaper being turned.

But in this quiet atmosphere, a ripple suddenly appeared in the coffee in the cup.

Then, the ripples gradually expanded, eventually taking on a complete shape in the dark brown liquid.

—That was a human face.

The face glanced at Feng Qianlin, and seeing that it hadn't been discovered, its smile became even more twisted. A hand slowly emerged from the cup, then an arm, then a body. Before long, a complete human body had actually crawled out of the cup of coffee.

A naked, pale, and distorted human body.

And from beginning to end, he didn't utter a single sound.

The naked man stared at Feng Qianlin, then beckoned and took out a short dagger made entirely of liquid from his coffee cup.

Then rotate your arm and thrust down forcefully.

—We succeeded!

The man was laughing almost maniacally. Thinking of the astronomical reward promised by Yu Sanzhi, he felt as if countless treasures of gold and silver were beckoning to him.

But immediately.

His smile suddenly froze.

It doesn't feel right.

Moreover, I clearly inserted it into his throat, so why is this guy still not moving?
He gritted his teeth and ripped the newspaper off Feng Qianlin's front.

However, what appeared before him was not that smiling, gentlemanly face.

Instead, it was a pale face with two large red circles on its cheeks, making it look particularly bizarre at that moment.

This is a paper figure—wearing Feng Qianlin's clothes, but not actually a paper figure of Feng Qianlin!
Wait a minute, I clearly remember coming back as the same person. When did it change to this?
The naked man realized he had been tricked and immediately tried to roll down the car window and jump out—but the next second, the paper figure suddenly moved and gripped his leg tightly.

Its strength wasn't great; normally, he could break free in two or three minutes, but this time...
A sword suddenly appeared!

The man was naturally unwilling to be captured, and even wanted to try to use magic to power the liquid as a weapon, just like before—but the moment he raised his hand, the sword was already at his neck.

Furthermore, it was clear that if he dared to make any move, he would strike without hesitation.

Feeling the sharp edge of the sword and the murderous aura surging from it, the man swallowed hard and shakily raised his hand.

At this moment, Feng Qianlin, wearing a thick coat, walked in from outside.

He glanced at the composed Zhou You, then looked at the man, and without any preamble, asked directly and crisply.

"Finally caught someone alive. Who are you? And what is your identity?"

"Sir, I admit defeat this time, but before we talk, could you please let me put on a coat? This wind is really freezing."

However, before he could finish speaking, Zhou Youjianfeng lowered his head slightly.

The man's neck immediately bled, and he shuddered. He dared not delay any longer and answered cleanly and decisively.

"I am Cang Hesong, and I practice the methods of the Divine Water Sect. I'm based in the Fenjiang area!"

"Fenjiang? I've heard of that name. Are you the River Dragon from the Twelve Linked Forts?"

"I never imagined that such a humble name could catch the Second Master's eye."

"Stop talking nonsense. Fenjiang is a hundred and eight thousand miles away from the North. How come you've come here and been hired by Yu Sanzhi?"

The man glanced at Zhou You first, then grinned.

"I was here on business a few days ago and just happened to be passing by. But sir, you probably don't know, Chief Yu has raised your bounty to the maximum. Anyone who can take your head will receive a thousand taels of gold, as well as two of his treasured life-extending pills—you can try to negotiate the former with money, but the latter..."

However, before he could finish speaking, his body suddenly convulsed.

Then, his eyes suddenly rolled back, and a lot of white foam gushed from the corners of his mouth, as if he were having an epileptic seizure—but just as Zhou You sensed something was wrong and was about to draw his sword, the man suddenly stopped.

Then, a few smiles appeared on their faces.

Then, he spoke.

"Second Master Feng, it's been a long time. How have you been lately?"

(End of this chapter)