Chapter 1481: Chapter 1479: Don’t Push Me
Ma Qiu’s eyes narrowed, then realizing something, he suddenly turned his head to look at the small hill behind him. At the top of the hill, he saw two figures in Black Robes, clearly the wizards who had acted.
After killing over ten sturdy men with a Spell, the two Wizards flew down like two large birds, landing just a few meters away. One of them looked at Ma Qiu with an expressionless face and said, "Raven."
"Blue..." Ma Qiu gasped for breath and responded, "Blue Jay."
This was a code, a way to verify identity.
"Correct answer." The Wizard who asked the question softened considerably upon hearing Ma Qiu’s reply, and he approached, asking, "You’re number nine from Shalin City, right? What happened? According to the agreement, weren’t you supposed to leave the city and meet us three days ago? Why are you late? And what about the others who entered the city? Why have they all lost contact?"
"Let’s not talk about this now." Ma Qiu thought of something, waved his hand seriously, and said, "Quick... Contact the superiors quickly; yesterday I just confirmed the news, Grey Forest City and several other cities are going to launch a new attack with a danger level potentially at Catastrophe Level!"
"Catastrophe Level?!" The Wizard was stunned.
In the Shalin System, there are three levels in assessing the attacks from New Era enemies: Mad Beast Level, Surge Level, and Catastrophe Level.
Mad Beast Level is quite common and relatively easy to handle. Surge Level is less common and generally requires specialized force adjustments to manage.
As for Catastrophe Level, it’s the highest level, indicating danger to all cities in the Shalin System, requiring extremely serious responses, and the use of the Black Sun Weapon is inevitable. In the three years of the New Era, this situation has occurred twice. If Ma Qiu is being truthful, then this would be the third time.
"Catastrophe Level? Are you sure?" The Wizard couldn’t help but confirm.
"Do you think I’ve starved for over a month inside the city, nearly dying several times, just to joke with you now?" Ma Qiu couldn’t help but say, urging the Wizard, "Quick... Quickly contact the superiors; the enemy may have already acted, and if we’re any later, it will be too late!"
The two Wizards exchanged a glance and no longer hesitated. The older one quickly pulled out a Crystal Ball from his coat and infused it with Mana.
...
Inside the office compartment of the moving train.
"Is there any danger?" Locomotive Captain Kent Bob listened to the transporter and didn’t respond immediately but smiled, reaching for the metal cylinder placed at a corner of the office desk.
Unscrewing the top half of the cylinder, he revealed a bulk of roasted wheat grains inside — these wheat grains, once ordinary in the Old Era, are now rare and considered a mild luxury.
Bob carefully pinched over a dozen grains, placing them into his somewhat worn teacup. An informed crew member promptly brought hot water and helped Bob brew the wheat grain tea.
Bob blew on it, took a light sip of the hot tea, and then spoke.
"Dangerous? Certainly. You all have been following me in running around Redstone City or nearby, so you haven’t experienced it. But venturing far from Redstone City like this, you need to be mentally prepared.
These days are different from the past; the wilderness is extremely dangerous. Ever since the Sun disappeared from the sky, a host of Abnormal Creatures have emerged on the ground — nobody knows where they came from.
You haven’t seen them near the cities; they’ve already been cleared out, but deep in the wilderness, they’re beyond clearing, appearing from time to time.
They are often very brutal, possessing countless bizarre special abilities that ordinary people can’t cope with. Encounter them, and you’re doomed. In fact, our deaths don’t matter much; after all, people like us, in the city, there are plenty to replace us in doing the work. But the cargo on the train is different; some are extremely valuable, more so than our lives. It cannot be destroyed by Abnormal Creatures no matter what, so under such circumstances, there will be escorts traveling with the train.
With the escorts, encountering a small group of Abnormal Creatures, can be easily dealt with, the cargo preserved, and our lives spared. Therefore, those escorts can flaunt their prowess since they are the ones saving our lives; treating them cordially is a must."
A group of crew members nodded at this, but someone cautiously asked, "Locomotive Captain, you mentioned that encountering a small group of Abnormal Creatures, those escorts can deal with them. Does that mean, if we encounter a large group, they actually can’t handle it? So we... can’t guarantee Absolute Safety?"
"Absolute Safety?" Bob glanced at the questioner, saying, "You’re just realizing this? Let me tell you, once you’re on this train, you can’t be 100% safe. An accident with the train, can cause fatalities; track issues can cause fatalities. If you’re unlucky, like you said, encountering a large group of Abnormal Creatures will result in total wipeout. Working on the train is like this; no problems are fine, a problem is a big deal. Precisely because of this, all of you and I have high salaries — this is where there’s reward, there’s cost."
With these words, the faces of the crowd underwent various changes.
Bob scanned them with a glance and continued, "Of course, in most cases, we’re still safe, and the likelihood of an issue is very small. Take the Abnormal Creatures for instance; large groups indeed cannot be blocked, but they appear only in very special times. Usually, even small groups are rarely encountered.
I can tell you this, of everyone in this compartment, the ones who have personally encountered small groups of Abnormal Creatures are only Frank and I. So this time, there’s a high probability we won’t encounter anything at all; the escorts are just prepared for any eventuality."
"Right, Frank?" At the end, Bob looked towards a man huddled in the corner, asking with certain confidence, "You also don’t think we’ll encounter Abnormal Creatures this time, do you?"
The crowd listened and all turned to look at the man named Frank.
Speaking of which, Frank is quite an oddity on the train, having worked here for a long time, quite experienced. Yet it seems he was a soldier in the Old Era, traumatized from war, making him silent, hardly speaking.
Frank explained that he’s rather unlucky, whenever he speaks good things they tend to lead to bad results, bringing bad luck to everyone, so it’s better to speak less.
Naturally, no one believes this about him, just thinking he’s a bit strange.
Philip, when he first started working, tried to interact with him, but the other just looked at him without a word, so Philip stopped making similar attempts.
What really surprises is that someone like him has encountered Abnormal Creatures... Philip also curiously looked towards him.
Under the gaze of many, Frank naturally couldn’t remain silent, he had to speak, but unwilling to bring Calamity from talking, he ambiguously said: "Abnormal Creatures... maybe this time we won’t encounter them, maybe..."
Before he finished, a sudden flurry of screeches was heard outside the moving train.
"Sss~ Roar~"
The crowd was stunned.
Locomotive Captain Bob’s expression changed slightly.
Frank let out a long sigh.
"Ah—"
...
