Although everyone already knew that Xi Yuan’s wolf head was a result of his native identity at this station and that he would most likely revert once they left, Yu Zhenzhen had become so accustomed to seeing his ferocious-looking wolf head every day for the past ten days that she no longer thought much of it.
But in an instant, the terrifying wolf head transformed back into a normal human face. Even if he had just been an average, plain-looking young man, the stark contrast would have made him seem exceptionally handsome. However, Xi Yuan was naturally striking—his refined and breathtakingly beautiful features stood out even more now.
He appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen years old—after awakening in the System Tower, people could choose to remain at their preferred age. Clearly, compared to the eighteen-year-old version Yu Xi had met in the Seventh Hell world, he preferred a slightly more mature look.
Still, his natural youthful features made him look younger than his actual age.
Now that he no longer had a wolf’s head, Yu Xi could finally compare him to the person she remembered. He had grown noticeably taller, his shoulders were broader, and his limbs appeared longer and more defined.
His facial features had also become more pronounced. The once purely boyish refinement now carried a hint of masculine allure, his deep gaze brimming with unwavering determination.
He stood there, noticing her looking at him, and smiled. His posture was straight, his presence filled with boundless vitality—like the morning sun at eight o’clock, radiant and full of hope.
“Wow, so…” Yu Zhenzhen instinctively blurted out. The word “handsome” nearly escaped her lips, but she forcefully swallowed it back down.
She caught Xi Yuan’s gaze, which clearly said,
See? I told you I was handsome!
Then she turned to Yu Xi and saw that she, too, was observing Xi Yuan. Lowering her voice, she muttered under her breath, “Well, whatever. I’m not calling him ‘Dad,’ and ‘Uncle’ is definitely out of the question…”
On the other side, Ya Tong had just lit a cigarette, intending to take a few puffs before boarding, but she ended up choking on the smoke instead.
This girl really hadn’t changed at all—her habit of overthinking things was still as strong as ever.
Lin Wu glanced at Ya Tong. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” Ya Tong coughed a few more times but continued smoking as if nothing had happened.
Seeing Lin Wu turn back toward Xi Yuan, clearly still deep in thought, she took a step forward and casually reassured him, “Relax. Xiao Xi sees him as a little brother.”
Lin Wu turned to look at her again, surprise flickering in his eyes.
Ya Tong chuckled. “If I had to pick a side, I’d be on yours.”
Lin Wu: …
**
As they made their way from the departure hall to the platform, the group chatted and laughed, but they remained alert to their surroundings.
Unlike before, their team now consisted of five people. At an S-level station, the strength of a team was determined more by its quality than its size, and five was already considered a relatively large group.
Moreover, only experienced travelers could reach S-rank stations, and most of them carried spare valid train tickets. As a result, platform battles weren’t as intense as at lower-level stations.
Of course, conflicts still happened, but they were usually premeditated ambushes or acts of revenge. Combatants also kept a close eye on their surroundings—if they noticed someone attempting to swoop in and reap the benefits, they would immediately disengage.
The more relaxed Yu Xi’s team appeared, the more cautious others became. No one dared to provoke them recklessly.
Besides, many travelers were preoccupied with other unexpected issues.
After everyone stepped onto the platform, their phones received a notification:
“At the ‘Fairy Tale Amusement Park’ station, wristbands will disappear after boarding. Items and rewards stored in the wristband will automatically transfer to the traveler’s inventory and storage space. Warning: If your inventory is full and you do not have additional storage, any excess items will disappear along with the wristband.”
Within Yu Xi’s team, everyone except Xi Yuan had storage space.
Ya Tong’s space was the smallest, only 15 cubic meters—even with the extra 5 cubic meters she had gained as a reward from this station’s night games.
Lin Wu had expanded his space to 30 cubic meters through several upgrades at the “White Bird Lake” station and this one. Being a man, he had fewer personal belongings, so his space was still sufficient.
Upon seeing the notification, Ya Tong immediately walked over to Yu Xi and offloaded some of her bulkier personal items to free up space for the automatic transfer.
She also took out all the food and drinks stored in her wristband from the “Fairy Tale Amusement Park” station and handed them to Yu Xi for safekeeping, preventing them from disappearing.
Yu Zhenzhen, noticing their preparations, activated her semi-transparent shield to prevent distractions from the outside.
Just as Yu Xi finished stowing away Ya Tong’s things, Xi Yuan approached and asked, “How much space do you have?”
“350 cubic meters,” she replied. She had also expanded her space once at this station. She had noticed that travelers like her and Yu Zhenzhen—who prioritized space-related abilities—always received a base increase of 50 cubic meters per upgrade.
In contrast, Ya Tong and Lin Wu only gained 5 or 10 cubic meters per expansion, which seemed rather unfair in comparison.
Xi Yuan’s eyes lit up. “That’s perfect!”
Saying that, he took out a pile of items.
Yu Xi only glanced at them briefly before her expression changed, and she swiftly stored everything away.
Once she finished, she immediately checked outside the shield, her vigilance heightened.
Luckily, Xi Yuan had been standing in the middle when he retrieved his items, with the rest of them blocking the view. Plus, she had put everything away quickly, so other travelers probably hadn’t noticed.
Still, to be safe, after confirming that everyone else had enough room for their wristband transfers, she urged the team to board the train immediately.
Her teammates had also caught a glimpse of the things Xi Yuan had taken out and understood the situation. Without hesitation, they adjusted their formation and ran toward the train in a battle-ready stance.
**
{Please present your ticket.}
{Verifying ticket, please wait…}
{Ticket verified. Please check your remaining station stops.}
{Reminder: Combat is strictly prohibited inside the train.}
…
Departure time: 23:00
Previous station: Fairy Tale Amusement Park
Next destination: Not yet selected
Detected team members. Please select a destination.
…
Only after they successfully stepped onto the train did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Ya Tong took out a bunch of ordinary items and food for Yu Xi to store, while Xi Yuan handed over a pile of reward items. The sheer variety of these items was overwhelming, making it impossible for her to look through them properly—she instinctively stored them away as quickly as possible.
This time, the situation was special. The reward items they obtained at Fairy Tale Amusement Park were not virtual items sent to their phones in text form but tangible, transferable objects. So, they planned to take advantage of their time on the train to sort through and organize everything properly.
Especially the items Xi Yuan had just taken out—many of them were completely unfamiliar. Sorting through them in a regular train car wasn’t an option.
Regardless of how far their next station was, they needed a private sleeper compartment to properly sort their belongings. Thus, they temporarily ignored the destination selection prompt on their phones and directly used a team sleeper upgrade ticket, heading towards the rear compartments.
After using the upgrade ticket, everyone received the same message on their phones:
“Team sleeper upgrade ticket detected. Please proceed to Carriage 11 to bind your sleeper compartment.”
Surprisingly, they were directed to Carriage 11—did that mean Carriage 10 was already full?
As they passed through Carriage 10, they noticed it wasn’t actually full; several compartments still had open doors, with no travelers inside.
Xi Yuan had been in the sleeper section before—he had experienced an emergency boarding situation at another station when the threshold limit was exceeded.
However, back then, he had been alone. After binding a bunk in a shared compartment, other travelers had joined in shortly afterward. He had never experienced a completely private space before.
In Carriage 11, the doors of the compartments were spaced far apart, suggesting that they were significantly larger. They randomly picked an open-door compartment and stepped inside—what they found was beyond their expectations.
Yu Zhenzhen let out a timely “Wow!” in amazement.
The interior of the compartment was massive—if regular sleeper compartments were like ordinary sedans, this one was like a luxury stretch limousine.
The compartment was rectangular, with the entrance positioned at the front.
Not only were there more sleeping berths, but the bathroom count had increased from one to two. In addition, the central area featured a multi-seat dining table and a minibar. Although the bar had no food or drinks stocked, it contained various functional appliances, including a sink, induction cooker, toaster, and microwave—it was practically a miniature mobile apartment.
They counted the beds—eleven in total, scattered throughout the compartment. Some were near windows, some against the walls, and others close to the bathrooms—offering different placements to suit various needs.
Clearly, the team sleeper upgrade ticket was designed for a full team of eleven. Unlike individual sleeper upgrade tickets, they didn’t need to bind specific bunks—once the ticket user bound the entire compartment, only their team members could enter. No other travelers would be allowed in.
Yu Zhenzhen sighed regretfully, “There are only five of us. If I’d known, we wouldn’t have used the team ticket—what a waste. This place is so big! I hope our next trip is long enough to let us enjoy it properly.”
“Well, we already used it, so there’s no point worrying about it now. Besides, our team is never going to reach eleven people anyway,” Yu Xi said as she washed her hands at the sink. “You guys go ahead and pick our next destination.”
destination options:
Yu Xi: Fran City (A-rank), Jingshan Hospital (S-rank), Devourer’s Domain (A-rank)
Lin Wu: Fran City (A-rank), Jingshan Hospital (S-rank)
Ya Tong: Jingshan Hospital (S-rank), Bright Academy (S-rank), Fran City (A-rank)
Yu Zhenzhen: Jingshan Hospital (S-rank), Fran City (A-rank)
Xi Yuan: Fran City (A-rank), Jingshan Hospital (S-rank), Dream Town (S-rank)
At first glance, their destination options seemed all over the place, but in reality, they had only two practical choices:
Fran City (A-rank)
Jingshan Hospital (S-rank)
“S-rank hospital… that sounds tough. It might even be a supernatural station. There’s no way an entire hospital spans an entire star system like the amusement park,” Yu Zhenzhen mused. “I’d rather go to Fran City.”
Lin Wu nodded. “I agree. If we have an A-rank station as an option, we should take it.”
Ya Tong and Xi Yuan didn’t mind either way, and Yu Xi also agreed on Fran City, so the decision was quickly made.
next destination: Fran City
team sleeper upgrade ticket detected.
estimated arrival in 28 hours.
For some reason, seeing that “28 hours” made everyone feel a little happy inside—especially Yu Zhenzhen, who immediately stretched out and leaned back in her seat. “Finally! We get 28 hours of rest!”
It was no surprise that everyone felt exhausted.
Sure, Fairy Tale Amusement Park had been a great place—unlimited free food and drinks, stunningly beautiful environments, and opportunities to stock up on supplies.
But the nightly Nightmare Amusement Park games were like ticking time bombs—forcing them to be on high alert every night. It was mentally and physically exhausting.
Now, with plenty of time ahead, no one rushed to organize their belongings. Instead, they each took a turn showering, changing into clean, soft clothes.
Yu Xi then took out three fully automated washing machines and placed them in the two bathrooms.
These machines—one of the few mechanical products available at the Fairy Tale Amusement Park—automatically washed, softened, and dried clothes with scented ion technology. Dirty clothes could be tossed in, and after the cycle, they would come out neatly folded and ready to wear. It was a perfect tool for long journeys in confined spaces.
Yu Xi planned to have everyone use this 28-hour window to wash all their accumulated dirty clothes. Although they had plenty of extra outfits, it wasn’t necessary to discard clothes unless they were completely soaked in blood or filth.
Once everyone had tossed in their first load of laundry, they gathered around the seating area.
Yu Zhenzhen had already brought out five glasses of “Jade Nectar,” insisting that everyone try it. She also took out some specialty fruits from her homeworld—ginseng fruit and celestial peaches.
Yu Xi contributed a box of crispy blue-bone fish, two bubble buns, a box of cloud-sweet pastries, and some spicy magic chicken wings—perfect snacks for a late-night team meeting.
This time, aside from the travelers who had died in fights on the platform, there were almost no stranded travelers left at the previous station. But they all knew that many had already died inside the Nightmare Amusement Park games, forced to stay there forever in a different way.
As the train slowly departed from the station and into endless darkness, Yu Xi pulled out a notebook and pen, ready to log their collected clues and items.
“Alright,” she said, “let’s start by going over the memory fragments everyone obtained.”
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