The World Below Surface

Chapter 88

In a forsaken park that Lin Chu had selected, the place was isolated and the chilly, wet winter weather discouraged any passersby, making it a perfect place for covert rendezvous.

When Chu Xiu got there, he saw her sitting on a park bench, tossing bits of ham to the stray cats.

She had dressed in a soft-coloured long skirt today, her smile sweet and innocent.

"You made it?" Lin Chu gave the last morsels of food to the cats, tapped the seat next to her, and said, "Come, let's chat."

He was close enough to see her friendly expression, and she showed no sign of malice. Chu Xiu felt compelled to oblige.

He walked over and sat on the other end of the bench, catching a whiff of a scent that wafted from her.

He always had a nagging feeling around her, but he couldn't pinpoint it.

"Have you taken another mission lately?" Lin Chu's voice was like talking to an old pal.

Chu Xiu nodded, "Barely survived."

Lin Chu gazed at the stray cats in the distance, "I haven't taken one yet. Don't know what the next one will be."

"Say what you want to say."

Lu Yan paused for a moment. "Have you been following me again lately?"

Chu Xiu shook his head. "After I gave your information to An Xing Yu's mother, I stopped following you."

"Really?" Lin Chu dropped her head. "I've had the feeling of being watched lately. It wasn't you?"

"No."

Lin Chu turned her head, studying him closely. Chu Xiu let her eyes roam over him, acting casual.

"Fine, if it wasn't you, I won't blame you. Let's talk about something else." Lin Chu pulled out a dagger from her sleeve, then put it back. "Tell me some secrets about missions, will you?"

"Can't you find those things on the website?"

"I want to know something different. As someone who has completed at least fifteen missions, you must have some inside knowledge, right?"

"What do you think I know?"

"For example, the causes of the world's anomalies, the differences between the two worlds, and so on." Lin Chu smiled, showing a small dimple. "Or else, what motive do you have for joining missions that don't need you? You must have a goal, and that goal is surely not simple."

Chu Xiu was racking his brain, trying to think of a way to get out of this, when he saw her stand up, spin around, and pull out a gun.

And the barrel was pointed straight at his throat.

"You!" Chu Xiu attempted to fight back, but found himself paralyzed, unable to move.

He smelled the perfume that came from her, and he knew the reason.

Lin Chu said, "The one who has been stalking me is An Xing Yu's father. It's a lucky break that I got this gun from him." As for how she did it, Chu Xiu was familiar with her methods by now.

"Now, tell me what you know. Or else..." the gun slid downward, "I won't kill you, but I can't guarantee I won't cripple you, maybe snap a bone or two. It would ruin the mission, wouldn't it?"

She pressed a gun against Chu Xiu with one hand and grabbed another gun from his waist with the other, balancing it, with a cruel smile.

Struggling to muster some force to reach back, Chu Xiu, taken by surprise, calmly said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Or what? Am I just a madwoman?" Lin Chu mockingly tapped the gun on his face, "Didn't you start this? Don't give me any excuses; I don't care. I just want to know what you've discovered and what secrets there are in the mission." Lin Chu was convinced that he knew something, otherwise, how could he survive time after time?

She was desperate to return to the world of missions, but there were no traces of the elusive tasks that others shunned. According to her research, Chu Xiu entered the mission world so often that it looked suspicious.

Facing a logical but fanatical madwoman, Chu Xiu was helpless. He regretted not acting when they first met, instead being fooled by her seemingly gentle appearance, leaving him vulnerable now.

On second thought, was her being manipulated during their first encounter deliberate?

"What do you want to know?" Chu Xiu tried to get away from her to recover his strength. But Lin Chu moved closer, her perfume growing stronger.

"How can you enter the missions multiple times?"

Chu Xiu hesitated, "Just join a team of mission-takers and go with them. The trouble is, no one wants to do that. Everyone cherishes their lives, so very few people are aware of it."

"What is your aim for your frequent missions?"

"...Trying to get away from them."

The perfume on Lin Chu, besides making people physically weak, seemed to have a subtle effect of making people "confess." At first, Chu Xiu attempted to hide things, but then he thought, why not team up with someone like her? He didn't conceal much, answering whatever she asked.

But when Chu Xiu mentioned that he joined a cult because of an NPC, Lin Chu wrinkled her brows, feeling a hint of recognition in his description of the person.

"Who is this NPC you speak of?" Lin Chu asked.

Chu Xiu paused for a moment before answering, "Lu Yan."

As the name left his lips, Chu Xiu saw a flash of astonishment in Lin Chu's eyes.

"Do you know him?"

In another world, Lu Yan was about to get on a train, heading to another city.

He had been marked, and this time, the chase seemed unusually persistent. Wherever he went, he could feel supernatural phenomena glaringly gathering around him.

That was the problem...

Faced with the no-longer-human Yi Yun and Jing Tao, Lu Yan felt nothing but irritation.

But he was powerless to act. Ordinary people couldn't slay the eerie, and the supernatural occurrences in his reality were not governed by any rules.

On the train's TV, news was broadcasting, reporting the discovery of an ancient tomb.

At that moment, Lu Yan was being coerced by Yi Yun to put her "daughter" to sleep, missing the brief but oddly familiar figure on the screen.

As the figure passed by, it gave Lu Yan a lasting look before vanishing. When Lu Yan looked up, the pale-faced host reappeared on the screen.

Ancient tomb... ancient tomb... It seemed like everyone's interest, including Lu Yan's, was riveted on the ancient tomb these days. While dealing with troubles on the train, Lu Yan laboured to decipher the inscriptions.

Perhaps because he had heard it once before, he finally had a sense of those characters. But some words were still unknown, and he couldn't comprehend their meaning, so he had to leave them empty for now.

What baffled him was the appearance of the king and his deity. It was unclear when they came into being, and their attire and tools were unlike any country or region in the world.

Without the equipment of a professional archaeological team, he couldn't estimate the age based on decay. He could only tentatively infer that this nation... must have at least a three-hundred-year history.

Just as he was musing, the train abruptly stopped, plunging into darkness.

"Ah"

A collective gasp erupted from the passengers.

Lu Yan strained his ears, trying to make sense of the mingled sounds of awe and horror that filled the air. Among them, he heard something else... something inhuman, something that chilled his blood.

He glanced at the girl who sat opposite him. She wore a crimson dress that contrasted with her pale skin, and she cocked her head as she gazed at him with a curious smile.

He could see her clearly, even in the dim light of the train. He lifted his hand, and saw a faint green glow emanating from his fingertips.

It was a remnant of the mission, a curse that lingered in his body. He felt a pang of fear, wondering if another mushroom would sprout from his bones.

Like a firefly, he thought, absurdly.

The train came to a sudden halt, jolting him from his reverie. "What's going on?" The passengers started to grumble, their voices growing louder and more agitated.

A sickening stench of blood permeated the air, accompanied by wet crunching noises. But no matter how much the passengers complained, the train did not move.

Time crawled by, and the television screens flickered from one program to another. Then, without warning, the lights in the train flashed on.

Lu Yan looked around. The train was empty, except for him. He was alone, sitting on a seat soaked with blood.

The windows were smeared with bloody handprints, as if someone had tried to escape... or get in.

The carriage door creaked open, and a stewardess wheeled in a food trolley.

A meal tray rested on the trolley, and on the tray was a severed head that looked exactly like his. However, the stewardess had no head of her own!

The trolley moved closer, bringing the decapitated head nearer to Lu Yan. The head's eyes locked with his, and its mouth twisted into a wicked grin.

Lu Yan ignored it, allowing the trolley to pass by him.

But then, he sensed something was wrong.

If the trolley bore a head that matched "his," then what had happened to the stewardess's head?

"Hold on!" Lu Yan shouted to the stewardess and grabbed the trolley.

As soon as he did, the stewardess's clothes collapsed and dropped to the floor. He lifted the cloth that covered the trolley... and saw what he had expected. A butchered body lay inside, with no head to be found. Only a bloody stump remained where the head should have been.

The head on the tray, his mirror image, slowly regained its calm.

He shuddered to think what would have happened if he had let the stewardess wheel the trolley away. His head... might truly be taken away.

This was... his reality.

The train reached the station, and the doors slid open. Darkness engulfed the world outside the carriage.

Lu Yan stepped out, and cast a glance behind him. The train was full again, with the passengers who had vanished. They sat in their seats, their eyes fixed on him in silent accusation.

He had no idea how long this nightmare would last, or when the next tasker would show up. He felt a strange longing for it.

He had seen enough of this twisted world, and he craved for something normal.

Once you have experienced life in a normal world, you will grow increasingly frustrated with its inherent strangeness.

*

*

"Why is there such a crowd for this mission?"

The taskers had followed the usual procedure, posting their details on the website and arranging to meet offline. But when they arrived, they were stunned.

There were more than thirty of them.

"Are we all on the same mission? Heading to the town of the mediums?"

"Same here."

"We have plenty of time before we depart, in two weeks' time. Let's get acquainted and share our thoughts."

"This mission is odd. Can you all confirm? I was told to find a missing person and assassinate someone called Lu Yan. No deadline given."

"Me too."

"By the way, they gave us some information on the town. But what about the person we have to find? Any leads?"

"None. The mission only mentions finding someone who vanished in the town of the mediums, without any details or clues."

They formed a circle and exchanged ideas, trying to make sense of it. Lin Chu was among them.

She had learned how to join the mission from Chu Xiu, and she had rushed to the meeting place as soon as she saw the website's instructions. Now, as she listened to the others' mission briefs, she felt shocked inside.

Why did he have to die?