Rule Pollution Begins

"Could I give you a hundred yuan for your seat?"

The girl smiled, looking bright and cheerful.

"Sure!"

Song Li nodded.

She thought Lin Baici was pretty handsome. The trip was boring, so she could chat with him. Maybe she'd end up with another lovesick ATM by her side.

But Lin Baici was too aloof, and Song Li had lost interest.

Now she could get a hundred yuan just for changing seats?

What a bargain.

"I'll transfer it to you on WeChat!"

The girl took out her phone and sent Song Li the money. "I'm in car 05, seat 12!"

Song Li took her trolley case down from the luggage rack. Before leaving, she glanced at Lin Baici again.

He had gone back to reading his novel, completely unconcerned with what was happening around him.

Song Li smiled at the girl, muttered Good luck with that to herself, and walked away in her sexy studded high heels, their clacking echoing with each step.

Her long, fair legs drew plenty of eyes.

"..."

18D watched Song Li walk away, feeling utterly miserable.

He should have been happy that a prettier girl had taken the seat beside him, but he wasn't. He knew he had no chance with this high-ponytailed girl.

Song Li had a wild streak deep down, which was why 18D had dared to strike up a conversation with her.

The high-ponytailed girl stowed her luggage, then reached past 18D and extended her fair right hand toward Lin Baici. "Hi, let's get acquainted. I'm Xia Hongyao. Hongyao, you know? It's not the name of some kind of medicine..."

"I know. It's another name for the peony."

Out of politeness, Lin Baici gave Xia Hongyao's fingers a light shake.

To be honest, this was his first time experiencing this kind of adult etiquette while out and about. He felt a little excited and curious.

18D had clearly been ignored, and it made him feel so awkward!

"Not many people know that!"

Xia Hongyao sized Lin Baici up.

Her gaze was like that of a little girl combing the beach for treasures who had just found a rare seashell and wanted to collect it in her bucket.

[She is a God Hunter, with Strength and Speed both rated A, and Intelligence rated D. She likes detective novels. She exercises regularly and is in excellent shape—a high-quality mating partner!]

God of Gluttony commented: [I recommend keeping her all to yourself. When supplies are scarce, you can use her as a backup milk source.]

Lin Baici ignored the God of Gluttony's subsequent nonsense. The words "God Hunter" put him on high alert.

But outwardly, Lin Baici's expression didn't change at all.

Baici, pay attention to the details. Don't let her realize I've figured out she's a God Hunter!

Lin Baici warned himself. He didn't know why this girl named Xia Hongyao had approached him.

Could it be for a God's Taboo Object?

Damn it!

I used Divine Grace for the first time, to uphold justice, and now I've been targeted?

What terrible luck!

"Would anyone like a bento?"

A train attendant pushed a food cart down the aisle. "We also have sunflower seeds, peanuts, and drinks!"

"Could I get two bentos, please?"

Xia Hongyao called out. She spotted the cola on the cart. "And two bottles of cola!"

"We have beef rice, chicken rice, and zhajiangmian..."

The attendant smiled professionally.

"Two beef bentos!"

"One is 68 yuan. With the two colas, that comes to 156 yuan!"

The attendant held out the payment code.

18D was surprised. This girl was so slender; he hadn't expected her to eat so much.

"Thanks!"

Xia Hongyao paid and took the bentos. She set one on the little table in front of her, then casually handed the other to Lin Baici.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you?"

Xia Hongyao was so open and easygoing that she spoke to him as if they'd been friends for years, without the slightest reserve.

"..."

18D felt as if someone had stabbed him right in the knee. The 45-yuan chicken bento in front of him suddenly didn't look appetizing anymore.

He'd thought Lin Baici was broke, and he'd felt pretty superior about being able to afford an overpriced bento on the high-speed train. Now the other guy had one too—not just the 68-yuan kind, either, and he hadn't even paid for it himself.

Damn it!

So what if you're handsome?

I hope you come back as a gigolo in your next life.

"Thanks, but I have bread!"

Lin Baici didn't take it.

"What are you being so polite for? We're all..."

Xia Hongyao stopped herself at just the right moment. The term "God Hunter" wasn't something to say in public.

"Go on, eat. It's my treat!"

Xia Hongyao forced the bento into Lin Baici's hands. Then she hummed to herself, opened her own bento, picked up the disposable chopsticks, mixed the food together, and began eating.

"If I eat this bento, am I going to pass out, then wake up to find my kidneys gone?"

Lin Baici chuckled.

18D thought Lin Baici was being ridiculous. If a pretty girl gave me a bento, I'd eat it even if it had slightly funky masala in it.

"What would I want your kidneys for?"

Xia Hongyao shoveled rice into her mouth, her words muffled.

She didn't care about her appearance in the slightest.

Xia Hongyao had just returned from a business trip. Bored while sitting on the train, she'd wandered around, observing the passengers and honing her reasoning skills.

It would be even better if she came across a fugitive or someone like that and could uphold justice.

Xia Hongyao had heard the Man with Glasses arguing with an older woman, so she'd come over and watched from the train-car connection for a few minutes. By the time the Man with Glasses had been shouted into silence, she'd been about to step in, but then a big male student had come forward.

He'd said a few words to that nasty older woman and handled her with ease.

As a God Hunter, Xia Hongyao could naturally tell that Lin Baici had used Divine Grace. That made her very interested.

There was no badge on his collar, and he hadn't understood the Safety Bureau's coded language. That meant he wasn't with the Nine Provinces Divine Guard.

A rogue God Hunter wasn't unusual,

but one this young was a real find!

Entering God Ruins, clearing all kinds of God's Taboo Games, gaining Divine Grace, then containing a divine corpse and making it out of the God Ruins alive was extremely difficult.

Without the help of experienced God Hunters, ordinary people trapped in God Ruins had a death rate of one hundred percent—let alone any chance of becoming God Hunters themselves.

"He isn't an officially registered Hunter, so he must belong to some organization. And what was the Divine Grace he used to persuade that older woman?"

Xia Hongyao transformed into Xia "Sherlock" Hongyao and began to reason things out.

Lin Baici wasn't afraid of trouble!

If it wasn't a blessing, it was a calamity; if it was a calamity, he couldn't avoid it. So after thanking her, he started eating the bento.

Xia Hongyao didn't keep chatting to fish for information from Lin Baici. Instead, she put on her headphones, closed her eyes, and continued reasoning with her Intelligence D brain.

After lunch, most of the passengers in the car quieted down and began to rest.

Lin Baici closed his eyes too, getting ready to nap.

Car 18.

"Captain, when are we making our move?"

The young man with the big nose, whom Lin Baici had seen in the Waiting Hall, looked anxious. He was worried their target would notice them, costing them the advantage of striking first.

"Keep waiting. There are too many people on the train. If a fight breaks out, innocent people could get hurt!"

Ma Yuan tugged at his tie with his right hand and loosened it.

Thump!

The sudden sound of someone falling into the water made Ma Yuan frown.

He turned and saw a male passenger who had been sleeping nearby slip into the seawater. The passenger didn't react at all, as if he were a corpse sunk in the lake by a thug.

"Where did all this seawater come from?"

Ma Yuan muttered, then suddenly jolted and sprang to his feet.

Damn it!

Black Shark III had activated a God's Taboo Object and started polluting the rules across the entire train.

"Captain!"

The four men with the big-nosed young man looked anxious and grim.

As expected of a God Hunter from the Lost Coast. The attack had come so quickly and strangely that they'd been caught completely off guard.

The seawater flowed silently, its level rising rapidly until it reached everyone's waists. Worst of all, it had an anesthetic effect.

Any ordinary person who touched it fell fast asleep, and no amount of shouting by the young man with the big nose could wake them.

"Move! We need to kill Black Shark III and take back the God's Taboo Object as soon as possible!"

Ma Yuan dashed out. If they didn't stop the Rule Pollution immediately, everyone on the train would die.

"Where's my dragon? My big dragon's gone!"

Hua Yueyu was crying sadly as she apologized to Lin Baici. "My dragon's gone. How about I take care of you instead?"

"No need! No need!"

Lin Baici refused.

"It's okay, I'm really good. I guarantee I'll get you to heaven in three seconds!"

Hua Yueyu grinned and moved closer to Lin Baici. Suddenly, she flicked both hands, unfurling a cord, and the next moment it tightened around his neck. She pulled hard, trying to strangle him!

Lin Baici choked instantly, flailing his arms and legs.

Glug, glug!

Lin Baici swallowed several mouthfuls of seawater.

Cough, cough!

Lin Baici coughed and opened his eyes. He saw that he was submerged in seawater and immediately began thrashing about in a panic, trying to stand up.

[Get up quickly! This isn't a dream. It's Rule Pollution!]

The God of Gluttony's warning sent a jolt through Lin Baici, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

The seawater felt real—icy and clammy. The water that had poured into his mouth even tasted salty.

Lin Baici had thought he was dreaming, but now he snapped fully awake. He grabbed the back of a seat and climbed onto it.

Why was there Rule Pollution on a high-speed train?

Lin Baici frowned deeply.

Inside the train car, the seawater had already risen to a height of 1.2 meters, and it was visibly rising fast.

Most of the passengers were asleep, slumped in their seats. Soon, the water's buoyancy would make their bodies slowly float up.

A few unlucky ones had already slipped into the seawater.

Their long hair fanned out like a tangled mass of seaweed. They looked like they were already dead.

Lin Baici's heart sank.

"I want a girl!"

18D mumbled in his sleep, rolling over to get comfortable. But when he moved, he slid off the seat and into the seawater.

He didn't react at all.

Lin Baici quickly reached out, grabbed 18D by the collar, and hauled him out.

"Hey, wake up!"

Lin Baici shouted. The guy was pretty heavy.

[The seawater contains an anesthetic. Ordinary people can only wake up if they're subjected to a strong physical stimulus!]

"What counts as a strong physical stimulus?"

Lin Baici asked, but the God of Gluttony didn't answer. So he swung his hand and slapped 18D four times across the face.

Smack, smack, smack!

18D shuddered and woke with a start. When he saw what was happening around him, he was completely dumbfounded.

"Holy crap, what is this?"

He instinctively grabbed Lin Baici's arm, not wanting to fall into the seawater.