◎ The First Phase of Internship is Over, and Another Intern Train Conductor Steps In ◎
Essence Blood? Source marrow?
Hearing the voice from the conductor panel, Jiang Qi felt her heart settle back into her chest.
It turned out that Qi substance was indeed the Essence Blood she had been looking for, which was excellent news. Her next step would be to try and help her people conceal their false identities.
She then looked more carefully at the four newly triggered projects.
From her experience, projects that grant experience points all at once usually indicate a breakthrough discovery or a crucial realization and progress.
Those that required hundreds or thousands of repetitions were more laborious, but completing them would grant tangible, corresponding abilities. Each had its own merits and held significant value.
Jiang Qi was pleased, and even Luo Shang seemed slightly more tolerable to her now.
She stopped watching Luo Shang and stepped away from the window, instructing, “In a little while, find an excuse to release them.”
Dong Shengfeng asked, “Can we track him now?”
Jiang Qi nodded, “Yes.”
With her current ability, as long as Luo Shang was within ten kilometers, she could basically keep up with him.
“I don’t need you all here for the time being. Go about your own business; just have Wang Minxing and his team come over to help me.”
…
Releasing Luo Shang, however, couldn’t happen immediately.
After all, if you’re putting on a show, you have to do it fully. Saying that a master is needed to exorcise spirits means an actual exorcism has to be performed.
So, a few masters arrived and began performing rituals around the detained person—shaking bells, chanting sutras, burning incense, sprinkling glutinous rice, and other procedures. After quite a while, the masters finally declared that these people were not possessed by any spirits and could leave.
Luo Shang was forced to go through the NPC’s superstitious rituals, leaving the funeral home feeling dizzy and muttering all sorts of things he wanted to curse.
As soon as he moved, Jiang Qi sensed it. It was as if her mind had a built-in radar, with Luo Shang appearing as a bright red dot. When he moved, the dot moved; when he stopped, it stopped.
Jiang Qi sat in a modified vehicle, eyes closed, sensing Luo Shang’s position and reporting his movements aloud.
“Move east for 200 meters, then turn north…”
Inside the vehicle, several members of Wang Minxing’s team used professional equipment to plot Luo Shang’s location on an electronic map in real time, guided by Jiang Qi’s updates. On the screen, his movement trajectory unfolded clearly.
After half an hour, Luo Shang came to a stop. Comparing the location on the map, Wang Minxing said, “According to this, Luo Shang has reached home.”
He immediately dialed a contact stationed near Luo Shang’s residence. “Has Luo Shang arrived?”
The response, audible to everyone, was clear: “Target is home. He opened the door and went inside.”
Everyone looked at Jiang Qi, eyes filled with shocked admiration.
Luo Shang’s home was more than four kilometers from the funeral home, yet she could track his every move with nothing but her mind.
It was simply terrifying.
…
Luo Shang arrived home.
He entered the snow-cave-like, freezing room, closed the door, and turned on his flashlight. Carefully scanning the pitch-dark room to make sure nothing was wrong, he finally reached for the stove and lit it. The fire illuminated the room and brought a bit of warmth.
Exhausted, he sat on the edge of the bed and shook his head. Strange—his brain had felt “itchy” all day. Could he really be possessed? he wondered.
He shook his head again, and the itchy sensation vanished. He didn’t dwell on it further. Instead, he sat by the stove, lit a cigarette, and pulled some food from his backpack to eat while he waited.
After a while, there was a knock at the door.
Luo Shang went to open it.
The person outside entered, covered in snow. “Finally back! I thought you weren’t coming today.”
“There was a little issue at the funeral home. It delayed me.”
“Did you get the bodies? How many?”
“Over a dozen. Including yesterday’s, it’s more than twenty. How about you?”
“Not as many as you, less than ten…”
“That’s still not bad. Crematoriums are hard to deal with these days.”
As they talked, a third person arrived, and the three of them braved the wind and darkness to head out together.
Across the street, someone watching Luo Shang’s home reported the scene immediately.
In the modified vehicle, Jiang Qi spoke at the same time: “He’s gone out, heading south…”
After saying this, she told Wang Minxing: “Tell the lookout not to follow him. His mission ends here.”
“Understood.”
Afterward, everyone continued to track Luo Shang’s movements through Jiang Qi’s sensing.
Wherever Luo Shang and the other two went, if they encountered anyone on their side, they contacted them to confirm Luo Shang’s position and status.
In this way, Luo Shang was essentially never out of their sight.
After traveling over seven kilometers, to avoid losing track of him, Jiang Qi ordered the modified vehicle to start and slowly pursue Luo Shang’s direction.
Once the vehicle moved, the escort vehicles in front, behind, and on the sides also began moving slowly.
The three of them were moving quickly. An hour later, Luo Shang finally stopped again; he had reached his destination.
Jiang Qi opened her eyes, rubbed her throbbing forehead, and asked, “Where is he now?”
Wang Minxing checked the map and said, “At the intersection of Shifu Road and Spring City Avenue.”
Jiang Qi leaned over to look at the map. “Where is this? Anything special?”
“This is in the Xingqing District. The surrounding area is full of Spring City’s landmark buildings: the sports center, science and technology museum, city museum, and city library.”
Wang Minxing’s expression turned serious: “This area was developed later. Compared to the old city center, the construction materials and social facilities are more advanced. There are many high-end residential complexes and schools nearby, and it’s not far from some government offices. So the government has placed many cold-weather shelters here—under buildings like the science museum and city museum, there are numerous hidden shelters.”
So it’s a key area.
Why are Luo Shang and his group going there?
Could the person they intend to meet be there?
Jiang Qi immediately said, “Let’s go there at once. Also, notify the command center.”
…
In a small alley near the Science Museum, the air was frigid and the ground was covered in snow. A fog of ice twisted through the dim night, and with all the streetlights out, visibility was extremely low.
By the time Luo Shang and the others arrived, several players were already waiting there.
Both groups cautiously sized each other up, though no one initiated any conflict.
After a while, more people arrived.
Luo Shang quietly sized up the people, realizing that they had come to deliver bodies just like him.
He really couldn’t understand why the people behind all this needed so many players’ bodies. It couldn’t just be a case of ‘more money than brains,’ he mused.
The group waited in the alley for a long time, until finally someone slowly approached from the entrance.
A person completely shrouded in a cloak.
Everyone became alert.
From under the cloak came a familiar voice, “Everyone’s here.”
Hearing the voice, the group relaxed. It was the buyer.
The cloaked figure approached them, holding a device resembling a detector. “As usual, let’s check if you’re carrying anything you shouldn’t have.”
“Don’t worry, we’re not carrying any tracking devices.”
The cloaked figure still meticulously checked each one. “Better safe than sorry.”
Once everyone had been checked and confirmed clear, the cloaked figure began collecting the corpses one by one.
Each corpse was handed over from individual backpacks. After counting and inspecting them, the cloaked figure placed them into their own backpack and paid the money.
Each corpse was worth 100 train coins. Luo Shang handed over 21 at once and got a whopping 2,100 coins. He smiled widely with happiness, and the cold made the cracks on his face even worse.
This business was truly profitable—just two days of work and he could earn so much!
Even if there were no places to spend money in this dungeon, once back on the train, he could buy things here or in the next dungeon.
While he was counting the money, someone nearby asked the cloaked figure, “What do you need so many corpses for?”
The cloaked figure warned coldly, “Don’t ask what you shouldn’t.”
But the person wasn’t intimidated at all, chuckling, “We’re all players here, why be so secretive? If there’s a way to make money, share it with your brothers.”
As he spoke, several others, clearly his allies, surrounded the cloaked figure, as if saying he wouldn’t get anything unless he explained.
Luo Shang and the others took a step back, not helping the cloaked figure, but watching eagerly.
If the cloaked figure revealed some insider information, they might benefit too.
A few even reached for their weapons, whispering, “This person must have a lot of money. With all of us…”
Even Luo Shang felt tempted.
Who wouldn’t want more money? And if they killed the cloaked figure, they could take the corpses back, maybe even sell them to someone else for another profit.
The cloaked figure assessed everyone’s expressions, sneering coldly: “Looking for death!”
“Heh, who’s looking for death isn’t certain yet!”
The group attacked the cloaked figure. For a moment, the alley was filled with flashes of knives and clubs.
But in the next instant, a streak of white light flashed. The players clutched their necks, blood gushing between their fingers, and collapsed in disbelief.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As they lost consciousness, their player backpacks exploded, spilling all sorts of miscellaneous items.
Luo Shang and the others were stunned, unable to believe it.
The fight had just started, and it was already over!
One against many, yet so effortlessly victorious!
The streak of white light traced a semicircle in the air before returning to the cloaked figure’s hand, transforming into a thin, crescent-shaped blade that rotated eerily two inches above his palm.
The cloaked figure raised his head a little, his cold eyes visible under the hood. “Careless fools!”
The other players, terrified, turned and ran for their lives.
With a flick of his wrist, the blade split into countless smaller blades, flying toward all the players.
The sharp white light illuminated the entire alley.
Then came the sounds of blades piercing throats, and the players fell one by one!
Luo Shang, positioned near the edge, scrambled to escape, moving at the fastest speed of his life. He emptied his backpack, even putting an iron bucket over his head—a “zombie iron bucket” to protect his head and neck.
Yet even so, just as he was about to reach the alley’s exit, a blade pierced the back of his skull.
“Ah!”
Luo Shang collapsed heavily to the ground.
…
At the same time, in the modified car rushing toward the alley, Jiang Qi suddenly trembled, clutching her head, her face turning deathly pale.
Wang Minxing and the others were startled. “Team Leader Jiang! What’s wrong?”
Jiang Qi hugged her head, shivering all over, stars flashing before her eyes. “Luo… Luo Shang is dying!” she gasped.
A fatal wound to the head!
She was too close to that drop of Qi substance, and to sense Luo Shang, she had maintained extreme mental focus.
As a result, her consciousness was fully exposed. Completely unguarded, she was struck by a powerful impact from afar.
It felt as if her own head, her consciousness, her very soul, had been pierced.
Wang Minxing and the others were anxious and helpless, not knowing what to do.
“Sever the connection!” Wang Minxing shouted, his voice thick with helpless panic. “Team Leader Jiang, cut him off now!”
Jiang Qi hunched over, head down, pressing her fingers into the back of her head. A sharp, intense pain shot through her skull, making her head spin and forcing a wave of nausea up her throat.
But amid this extreme discomfort, she heard faint, pained breathing—it was… Luo Shang’s breathing!
Along with footsteps.
Step by step, treading over ice and snow, approaching casually, carrying a chilling intent to kill.
Jiang Qi realized that through that drop of Qi substance, she had shared Luo Shang’s perception!
She was stunned for a moment, then shut her eyes tightly.
…
Back in the alley, the cloaked figure approached Luo Shang.
Luo Shang lay face down on the ground, a rusty iron bucket over his head, looking utterly ridiculous.
Unfortunately, the bucket did not save his life. The crescent-shaped blade pierced through it, stabbing into the back of his head, blood already staining the ground.
Luo Shang twitched and struggled. “No, don’t kill me… save me…”
The cloaked figure bent down and mercilessly pulled the blade from his head.
Slash—
Blood sprayed in droplets, one by one, like a string of slender, glaring red goji berries.
In the modified car, Jiang Qi suddenly clenched her hands tightly, veins standing out on her neck.
At that very moment!
In the dark alley, a cold wind blew in. The droplets of blood were carried by the wind, one droplet glowing purple flew fastest and hardest, splashing suddenly into the corner of the cloaked figure’s eye.
The cloaked figure flinched slightly, wiping his eye, staring at the blood on his fingers, his expression even colder.
He took out a wet wipe, cleaned his face, and looked indifferently at Luo Shang, who was now completely dead at his feet.
He did not notice that a small drop of blood had entered his left eye, disappearing without a sound. Deep in his gaze, a flicker of purple light flashed, then immediately returned to silence.
Moments later, when he walked out of the alley, all the bodies were gone. Even a layer of snow on the ground had been blown away, erasing all traces.
…
In the modified car, Jiang Qi leaned heavily against the seat, gasping. Two streaks of bright red blood ran from her eyes, quickly blurred by sweat covering her face.
Her pale complexion, the bright red streaks, and the bulging veins made her look terrifying.
Wang Minxing was nearly scared out of his mind. “Stop the car! Hurry, contact the command center and call a doctor!”
The modified car screeched to a halt.
With her eyes closed, Jiang Qi fumbled with her right hand, found an oxygen mask, and pressed it over her face, breathing in oxygen in deep gulps. Only after a long while did she finally manage to steady her breathing.
She opened her eyes to a dim red vision, barely able to see anything.
Damn it, overusing her ability had really damaged her vision.
Her head still throbbed painfully.
“Team Leader Jiang!”
Jiang Qi spoke intermittently, “It’s… not serious. Don’t panic. No need to call a doctor.”
Not serious?!
Wang Minxing, seeing her eyes bloodshot as if about to burst, didn’t stop reporting to the command center.
At the command center, Zhang Zhengtian nearly jumped in anger. “Bring her back! Immediately bring her back! Jiang Qi, do you hear me? Stop what you’re doing right now and return! Nothing is more important than you!”
Jiang Qi’s ears were ringing, but she could still hear Zhang Zhengtian’s words, almost imagining his furious expression.
But she couldn’t respond immediately because another voice sounded in her mind.
[Ding! You successfully placed a mark on a passenger and gained 0.001 Internship Experience.]
[Ding! You remotely controlled the Qi substance to leave the previous passenger’s body and enter the next passenger’s body without being detected. Your control of the Qi substance, in both strength and precision, far exceeds the level expected at the internship stage. From this perspective, you have already reached the level of a formal Train Conductor. Congratulations, you gained 1 Internship Experience.]
[Ding! As of now, you have triggered 40 internship projects. Your overall performance has already reached the passing standard for the internship. Congratulations on completing the first internship phase early. You will have one day of rest, during which no projects will be triggered.]
[Congratulations, you have received one Internship Medal.]
A flood of information poured into her brain. Jiang Qi, her throbbing and dull mind barely able to process it, slowly realized: the first internship phase was over!
Internship… was divided into phases?
And what was this Internship Medal?
Thinking of this, a green medal appeared before her. She instinctively reached out and held it.
Immediately, a cool yet strangely warm energy flowed from her palm into her body.
Wherever this energy passed, the coldness, dizziness, ringing in her ears, headache, weakness, and other discomforts were noticeably relieved.
Jiang Qi felt her whole body relax. Her rapid breathing steadied, and it felt like she had been revived from a near-drowning state.
The redness in her eyes visibly faded, the bleeding stopped, though her vision remained slightly blurry.
She sat up, staring at the medal in her hand, a little dazed.
“Jiang Qi, can you hear me?”
Jiang Qi snapped back to her senses and looked at the phone in Wang Minxing’s hand, reaching out for it.
Wang Minxing obediently handed her the phone.
Jiang Qi said into it, “Commander, it’s me. I’m fine.”
Hearing that Jiang Qi could still speak—though her voice lacked some strength but didn’t sound too bad—Zhang Zhengtian calmed down. “Xiao Jiang, come back immediately. Since you’ve already pinpointed the area near the Science Museum, relevant personnel will go investigate.”
Jiang Qi didn’t reply directly. She said, “In the alley next to the Science Museum, Luo Shang was killed. I injected the Qi substance into that killer’s body. Now, I’m switching my tracking target to him.”
“Jiang Qi!”
“I’ll follow him a bit longer to see what he plans to do next. Commander, I’ve made some new progress in my internship; I’ll explain later. I can hold on for now.”
Hearing her say that, Zhang Zhengtian was silent for a moment. “Stay safe. Don’t overexert yourself. Keep the line open and sync all information with the command center.”
“Understood.”
Jiang Qi returned the phone to Wang Minxing, took the towel handed to her, wiped the blood off her face, closed her eyes, and continued sensing the Qi substance’s location.
She felt it: this time, the Qi substance had entered the killer’s eyes. Vaguely, it was as if she could see through the person’s eyes, glimpsing some blurry images.
“That person is heading east along the small path beside the Science Museum.”
“One hundred meters… two hundred meters… five hundred meters… turning south…”
Following Jiang Qi’s description, Wang Minxing and the others continued mapping the target’s movements.
At the same time, inside the command center, the cloaked figure’s movement trajectory was synchronized in real time on the large screen.
Many people sat below, staring at the screen.
One of them asked, “This person is moving extremely fast. Does he have a vehicle?”
“Probably not. Two minutes ago, the only surveillance camera at the intersection caught a flash of a black cloak passing by—no vehicle was seen.”
“On foot alone! That speed is impressive!”
“The alley where he committed the murder has already been checked. No body was found, but a layer of snow and ice on the ground was scraped off, leaving only small traces of blood in the corners. It’s been cleaned very thoroughly.”
“An expert-level player.”
“Extremely dangerous.”
“Wait, he’s been circling around here. Is he looking for someone or something?”
“No, over here… and here. This is the entrance to the underground shelter!”
“He’s looking for the shelter entrance?”
“Or, he already suspects this is the entrance and is just circling back and forth to confirm it!”
Everyone drew in a sharp breath.
This player had already probed this deeply. It was clearly not something done in a day or two, yet they had only noticed now.
Zhang Zhengtian’s face darkened. “What are the people in Xingqing District doing? Stop him from investigating further!”
…
So, as the cloaked figure moved back and forth, several patrol teams suddenly sprang into action, holding bright flashlights and leading hounds, seemingly in pursuit of someone.
From a distance, the cloaked figure saw the lights and human shadows, frowned slightly, and turned to leave.
His movements were fast and stealthy, but he didn’t know that a “tracker” had already been implanted in his body, and a pair of eyes was following him like a shadow.
Wherever he went, patrols appeared to block his path.
After a few attempts, he felt something was off—how did these patrols seem to anticipate his movements?
He checked himself from head to toe to make sure nothing was wrong. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly bent his body and, with a swift motion, spread a pair of huge black wings on his back.
He took flight.
The darkness and the icy fog provided excellent cover for him.
He soared quickly through the night.
Inside the modified vehicle, Jiang Qi clutched her head again. “Bastards!”
Damn it, what’s wrong with this batch of players? How is each one so powerful?!
Hadn’t they only just gone through their second newbie dungeon? Where did all these talents and strong abilities come from?!
Wang Minxing and the others watched her worriedly. Jiang Qi gritted her teeth; she could no longer track the target’s movements—he was too fast!
All she could do was concentrate and stick to him like a shadow.
After an unknown amount of time, the cloaked figure finally stopped. He paused at the window of a building and entered through it.
It was a clinic in a hospital. Inside sat an elderly doctor.
The doctor looked up at him and glanced at the time. “You arrived earlier than scheduled.”
The cloaked figure sat across from him. “NPCs are very active tonight. I had to leave first.”
The doctor looked at him. “You drew blood? Did you kill an NPC?”
The cloaked figure replied, “I killed players. They were too stupid—annoying to watch.”
The doctor sighed, “New players are like that. Collecting live resources is hard enough; there will be even fewer usable people in the future.”
The cloaked figure smirked, a hint of mockery in it. “You have your agents spread throughout the dungeon, plenty of people doing your bidding. What do you have to fear?”
The doctor shook his head. “How was today’s harvest?”
“137 corpses.”
“Too few… What about the investigation I asked you to do?”
“Underground near the science museum and library, there should be hidden shelters. I suspect the entire area underground is full of shelters.”
The doctor squinted, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening layer by layer. “As expected. It’s normal for NPCs to hide their own, but hiding this many so deep is suspicious. This dungeon has been abnormal from the start. Could it be that our forced entry into this dungeon caused this? But the last dungeon didn’t behave this way…”
The cloaked figure didn’t respond and instead asked, “When do you plan to act?”
The doctor shook his head. “Exactly because they’ve hidden so many, the guard force in Xingqing District is not to be underestimated. That mysterious player is on the NPCs’ side and probably has a way to see through other players’ identities. If too many players flood in, it will immediately alert the NPCs and create chaos.”
He continued, “There are 11 days left until the dungeon ends. Be patient. Make your move on the last day—that’s safest.”
He looked at the cloaked figure. “Once I replace the Cunning Snake and become the new Train Conductor, you’ll be my top subordinate. I won’t treat you unfairly.”
The cloaked figure met his gaze. Deep in his left eye, an almost imperceptible purple glow flickered.
Inside the modified vehicle, Jiang Qi stared wide-eyed at the black-and-white images forming in her mind, watching the elderly doctor smile with complete confidence, his mouth moving as he spoke shocking words.
Jiang Qi muttered, “…damn!”
This had nothing to do with the Train Conductor, and collecting corpses wasn’t to curry favor with them. It was her own peers—the other interns—eyeing the same position!
The ones eyeing the train conductor’s position? The intern train conductors!