Dining Car and Dining Wine, Pankto Awakens

After the carriage door opened, Lin Yu and his group entered the next carriage.

Compared to the previous D13, which was full of seats and looked like an ordinary carriage, this carriage marked "D-12" was a bit special.

It looks like a food truck—and a rather luxurious one at that.

The entire carriage has only three elegant booths, and behind the solid wood bar are stylish-looking wine cabinets and refrigerators.

The entire carriage remained empty, with no staff members present.

Lin Yu surveyed his surroundings and found no immediate danger.

"Is it break time now? Or is this considered a 'safe zone'?"

He asked cautiously.

Li Nian said casually, "I didn't know... my information wasn't that detailed."

With that, she braced herself against the bar with one hand, gracefully flipped over, and landed steadily.

Then Li Nian opened the wine cabinet and took out a bottle of wine that looked extremely expensive.

"Wow, Mist Island Manor's 370th year vintage wine [Confession], the Truth Company is really generous."

She pulled two glasses from under the bar and looked at Lin Yu and Chen Zhuo.

"Zhu Ming and that fat guy over there, wanna have a drink?"

Chen Zhuo, who had just placed the Pankto von Valetti he was carrying on a chair and was sitting on the armrest catching his breath, was taken aback when he heard Li Nian's question. He then shook his head.

"Eh? Alcohol... never mind!"

"I won't drink."

He waved his hand in refusal, then added in a low voice, "Besides, drinking isn't good, we're all underage."

Li Nian curled her lip. "You don't know what's good for you."

"You're already in Instance, why are you pretending to be a good student? Do you think the headmaster will arrest you on this bus?"

Then, Li Nian looked at Lin Yu: "And you, Zhu Ming? This is a rare find!"

Lin Yu shook his head. "No thanks. I know what kind of wine Mist Island Manor produces... Although it seems safe for now, I don't want us both to be rendered unable to Combat Power —even for just a moment."

Li Nian raised an eyebrow. "You're surprisingly a cautious person too."

"And... after only eight Instance, he already knows about the Mist Island Manor," Li Nian stroked his chin, "No wonder he's a guy with such high potential that the 'Psychology Society' sent S-Rank to hunt him down."

Lin Yu smiled modestly, "I was just lucky to have met you once."

Li Nian said nothing more, poured herself a full glass of wine, and drank it.

Then, her eyes briefly glazed over.

Ten seconds later, a tear rolled down the corner of Li Nian's left eye, and then her vision cleared.

"Phew—even though it was from a mediocre year, the results were still pretty good."

Li Nian gently wiped away her tears and muttered something.

Lin Yu looked at Li Nian and asked, "What did you see? You're crying."

"A single tear doesn't count as crying," Li Nian said nonchalantly. "What I just saw was me being arrested for stealing too much, writing a confession in the detention center."

So, these are tears shed behind bars.

Lin Yu said jokingly, not believing a word of Li Nian's explanation.

Clearly, this "Master Thief"Miss was hiding something—which makes sense, though; she seems like the type who keeps secrets.

The sorrow that arose from the "Mist Island Manor" wine was something that could never be told to Chen Zhuo and "Zhu Ming".

She wasn't close enough with either of them to the point where she could open up to them.

Sure enough, after Lin Yu's teasing, Li Nian changed the subject.

"Alright, now that it's relatively safe, let's rest and not waste any more time..."

"Let's continue investigating this guy."

As Li Nian spoke, she walked out of the bar and came to the tall, thin man that Chen Zhuo had placed on a chair, grabbing his hooded mask.

Then, Li Nian removed the mask, revealing a disheveled middle-aged man's face with sunken eyes, prominent cheekbones, and a stubble beard.

Her light blonde hair was messy and looked like it hadn't been washed in a long time.

This look makes him resemble a former special forces soldier or the Spy Gone North from a Hollywood blockbuster who, after divorcing his wife, has become an alcoholic and is quietly waiting for some fool to kidnap his daughter or plot to destroy the world and reactivate him into a fearsome hellish war god.

Wow, a foreigner.

Chen Zhuo exclaimed in surprise.

Hearing Chen Zhuo's remark, Li Nian couldn't help but roll her eyes. "He's called Pankto von Valetti, do you really expect him to be a fellow townsman of our Jiang City?"

Looking at this face, Lin Yu made an additional comparison that Chen Zhuo and Li Nian couldn't make.

He was comparing this face to the image of Will Valetti that he had seen before.

The conclusion is... putting aside weight, if we only look at their bone structure, the two do indeed have some similarities.

However, this four or five points of resemblance is not enough to prove that the two are related.

Moreover, the Will Valetti that Lin Yu saw was a soul form, so it was inevitably somewhat distorted.

"Perhaps Valetti is a common surname, like Smith..."

But if the two are really relatives... even if this guy is insane and currently under control, maybe we can try to communicate with him through the identity of "Vill Valetti".

Thinking about this, Lin Yu was conflicted—he was considering whether to try waking up the NPC.

But before Lin Yu could come up with an answer in his mind, Li Nian had already taken action.

"Since I had nothing better to do, I woke him up."

Li Nian casually said, and before Chen Zhuo and Lin Yu could express their opinions, she took out a spray bottle from her pocket.

Judging from Lin Yu Li Nian's actions, the watering can should be full of water.

She pointed the water jet directly at the sleeping Pankto von Valetti and pressed the metal lever on the handle.

"Pfft pfft!"

Some liquid sprayed from the showerhead, instantly waking up Pankto von Valetti, who had been sleeping soundly and hadn't woken up even after being tied up and carried by Chen Zhuo the whole way.

He opened his eyes wide and tried to get up, but soon found himself tightly bound, and began to struggle—like a fish thrashing about.

"What have you done? Who are you people?! Let me go!"

Pankto von Valetti growled, looking warily at Lin Yu and the other two in front of him.

Upon hearing Pankto von Valetti's words, Lin Yu and Li Nian both realized something was amiss. Their eyes met, and they were both somewhat surprised.

Li Nian spoke first, "Hey, you attacked us, and now you're questioning us?"

As expected, after being asked this question by Li Nian, Pankto von Valetti looked confused.

Just as Lin Yu and Li Nian had predicted...

Although his tone was fierce, it wasn't as "crazy" as it had been in the previous carriage; rather, it sounded somewhat "panicked."

So in other words...

Pankto von Valetti is now available for communication!

Moreover, the attack and battle just now may not have been his intention!