At this thought, he felt a chill down his spine, and all the hair on his body stood on end as if in alarm.
Was the March 7th before him really March 7th?
Why did she seem to know everything, even the fact that he was a transmigrator?
“March 7th, you…” Ye Cang stared at the girl with the flawless smile before him.
Feeling as if his death was imminent, he abruptly pulled out the diary, preparing to leave a thirteenth critical warning.
But a pale, cold arm had already pressed down on the leather cover of the Death Diary.
No matter how hard Ye Cang tried, the arm did not budge.
Ye Cang’s breath caught.
He turned to look at the owner of the arm, only to see a red-haired woman covered in blood, half of her beautiful face torn by bloodstains, staring at him with dull eyes.
“Himeko?”
Without a doubt, the Navigator Himeko before him was just a cold corpse.
But her body seemed to be controlled by some eldritch power, like a puppet, mechanically stopping Ye Cang from using the Death Diary to record the scene.
She can see the Death Diary?
No…
Ye Cang’s face turned pale.
He quickly denied this conjecture.
The dead Himeko could not possibly see the Death Diary.
Cang’s records in the diary were not wrong either.
No one on the train had the ability to see the Death Diary.
But that did not mean higher existences could not!
Emanators, Aeons, even the eldritch contamination that Cang feared might all possess the stature to see through the Death Diary!
Then, what exactly was the March 7th before him?
Ye Cang’s mind raced.
His gaze quickly turned to the strongest person at the table, the only one who might be able to break the situation with sheer power, the former Anti-Entropy Sovereign, Welt Yang.
But he quickly despaired, because at this moment, Welt Yang had already become a pile of rotting humanoid flesh, constantly writhing, dripping foul green pus.
As for Dan Heng, he was shrouded in thick black mist, his form grotesque, occasionally letting out terrifying low roars.
As for Conductor Pom-Pom, his originally cute appearance had long been covered by ferocious, mad fangs and tentacles.
The slimy tentacles repeatedly rolled up chunks of meat from the plates and stuffed them into a mouth full of spiral fangs.
As he chewed, even his own arms and tentacles would be crushed along with it, making a tooth-aching grinding sound, with juice and minced meat splattering everywhere.
Looking at the table again, where was there any fine wine, food, or cake desserts?
It was all disgusting insects and human limb meat chunks, horrifying beyond words!
Even the small cake that March 7th had originally handed him had turned into a complete head!
That head was March 7th’s!
“Ha…
haha…”
Ye Cang gasped violently, his eyes bloodshot, saliva mixed with a nosebleed dripping down.
His sanity was completely gone.
Along with his mental breakdown, his body actually began to mutate, growing ferocious tumors and tentacles.
“Already lost control?
If this is all it takes, then Cang’s desperate gamble was entrusted to the wrong person.”
“March 7th” jumped onto the long table, walked briskly to Ye Cang, crouched down, and poured all the scarlet wine from the goblet onto Ye Cang’s head, making him look like a drowned stray dog, utterly despondent.
“Let’s make a deal.
Take a guess—” She raised a hand and pinched his chin, pulling his face toward her.
At such a close distance, the girl’s sly smile briefly restored a sliver of clarity to Ye Cang, and then he heard that low whisper, as if from the abyss: “Who am I?
How did Cang break the loop of the 25th?
After he drank the potion and completed the ritual, what was the blessing of the Abundance?”
March 7th stuck out her tongue, licked the blood on her lips, and said with a smile, “As agreed, after you answer these three questions correctly, I will help you and tell you the truth about Cang and the 25th.
Otherwise…
you will die here and become part of the eldritch contamination.”
“You…
the loop of the 25th?
The blessing of the Abundance?”
Ye Cang’s adam’s apple bobbed.
After madness was suppressed by reason, everything he had witnessed, including Cang’s records in the Death Diary, what he had seen and heard on the train, the horrifying banquet at this moment, and every word “March 7th” had said, surfaced in his mind one by one.
Then…
a palace broke through the silent sea of his mind.
Every clue and memory was arranged, sorted, and catalogued like exhibits in a museum, then laid out before him.
Between life and death, madness and reason, pain and numbness, his brain operated at an unprecedented “power,” running at extreme speed!
Three questions:
One: What exactly is the “March 7th” before him?
Two: How did Cang break the loop of the 25th?
Three: After Cang drank the Abundance Potion and completed the ritual, what was the blessing of the Abundance?
One premise:
Even if he answered these three questions correctly, would the “March 7th” before him really do as she promised, tell him the truth about Cang and the 25th, and spare his life?
One point of contradiction:
Other than making a deal with “March 7th,” did he have any other means to escape his current predicament?
Ye Cang held his breath and focused, ignoring the pain and mutation of his body.
His gaze quickly swept around, finally landing on the pale hand of “Himeko’s corpse” pressing down on the cover of the Death Diary.
Obviously, there was none.
His only option was to gamble!
Gamble that the Death Diary had the ability to reverse time!
Gamble that he could rely on the Death Diary’s reversal function to return to before he entered the observation car!
If his guess was right, then if he killed himself now, there was still a chance to return to the train corridor.
But without any diary warning, there was no doubt that even if time reversed, he would once again step into the trap of the observation car.
This was an infinite loop!
An unsolvable infinite loop.
At this moment, Ye Cang was no different from fish on a chopping block, ready to be slaughtered!
And obviously, this unknown existence wearing March 7th’s appearance would not give him a chance to reverse time either!
Even taking ten thousand steps back, the Death Diary’s reversal ability was only a guess Ye Cang had deduced from Cang’s diary records.
There was no way to verify its authenticity!
So, only one path remained before him: a deal.
Since it was a deal, the other party must be able to gain something from him through this deal.
Otherwise, it would be charity, not a deal.
The answers to the three questions?
Obviously not.
Their true purpose was hidden beneath the answers to these three questions!
The true identity of “March 7th”…
was actually not hard to guess.
Based on the characteristic of being able to see the Death Diary, their stature must be quite high, at least at the level of an Aeon’s Emanator, and very likely an Aeon themselves.
Thinking of the worst-case scenario, “March 7th” was an Aeon.
After all, before reversing time, Cang himself was the Emanator of an Aeon.
It was not rare for him to possess means to attract an Aeon’s descent!
If that were the case, then the second question could also be explained: How did Cang break the loop of the 25th?
Because he summoned this one before him through some means!
Both Cang’s disappearance and his own transmigration could be the work of this one before him!
Then, this unfathomable girl before him, which Aeon’s incarnation was she?
For no reason, a sentence surfaced in Ye Cang’s mind:
“Erudition is a pile of scrap iron, Preservation is a fool; The Hunt has no sense of humor, Destruction is like a madman.”
Aeons are all single-minded, except that one!
Ye Cang suddenly raised his head and once again met eyes with the pink-haired girl.
The moment the smile on her face rose, he called out.
Their true name:
“You are Elation…”
Shh…
The pink-haired girl extended a finger, pressed it to Ye Cang’s lips, stopping him from continuing to say Their true name, and chuckled, “Correct, but I don’t suggest you continue, because not only will I hear your call, it will too.”
Ye Cang’s pupils contracted.
“It?”
“The eldritch contamination.” The Aeon of Elation, attached to March 7th’s body, patted Ye Cang’s shoulder, a rather comical smile on their face, and pointed out the window of the observation car.
“Look, that’s it.”
Ye Cang suddenly turned his head.
The starry sky outside the train window had long disappeared.
What appeared before the two was an Astral Express running side by side!
And within that Astral Express, a terrifying humanoid monster covered in clown masks was slowly wandering, its form twisted, occasionally twitching and shaking, constantly emitting black mist and dripping pus.
It covered its face with both hands, weeping and wailing.
That horrifying cry seemed to pierce through the vacuum, causing nameless fear to rise in Ye Cang’s heart.
This is the eldritch contamination?
No, wrong!
Those clown masks…
Ye Cang looked in disbelief at the Aeon “Aha” beside him, his scalp tingling as he spoke: “You…
are also infected?”
“Yes.” Aha nodded and giggled, “Before this universe was reset, a Pathless Walker named Cang attracted my gaze.
He told me the eldritch contamination was very dangerous.
I tried to make contact, hehehe, and it was indeed very dangerous.”
Ye Cang: “???”
Although he was shocked, he was not surprised at all, because…
this was indeed something Aha, the universe’s fun-lover, would do!
“You just made contact with the source of the contamination without any protective measures?”
“Protective measures?
Hahaha…
Aren’t I one?”
“You?” Ye Cang glanced at the “March 7th” beside him, still somewhat in disbelief.
“Eldritch contamination…
Heh, let’s call it that for now.”
Aha spread their hands, squeezing a rather comical smile onto March 7th’s cute face, and said in a low voice, “Like a marionette…
I manipulated my own body to make contact with the source of the eldritch contamination, and successfully infected myself with it, hehehe.
So now, having lost my body, I can only temporarily reside in this little girl’s body, hahaha!”
“That’s too reckless!” Ye Cang said through gritted teeth.
“March 7th” suddenly stiffened, then turned her entire head 180 degrees toward him stiffly, speaking with a fake smile: “You believed that?
Hahahaha…
You really believed it?”
“You really believe I am [Aha]?
You really think my mind hasn’t been contaminated?”
The moment “March 7th” said the two words “Aha,” Ye Cang felt cold all over, boundless chill sweeping in from all directions!
It was also at this moment, through the corner of his eye, that he saw within the “second Astral Express” running parallel to the Astral Express, the monster covered in clown masks suddenly turn its head, staring straight in the direction of the two, revealing a sinister smile.