Vol. 10: Dangerous

Jiang Xueming and Victor worked together, one pinching A Xing's tiger's mouth, the other pressing his philtrum—

—and finally managed to snap him out of that dazed state.

David Victor solemnly swore that he had never used any similar occult magic. Bu Liuxing's symptoms were entirely due to the boy's enthusiasm for reading.

"Teacher Victor, let's go."

Jiang Xueming immediately set off, taking A Xing with him toward the front of the train.

Victor called out at once, "Wait."

Xue Ming stopped in the connecting passage, thinking to himself, This VIP still has something to tell us.

Teacher Victor divided the more than two hundred passenger logs into three bundles, secured them with cable ties and manuscript paper, and made three simple book boxes. He handed one each to A Xing and Xue Ming.

Jiang Xueming took the box of logs and hefted it in his arms. It felt very heavy—

—their waterproof covers and brass clasps were made of solid materials, and each log weighed around three hundred grams with its pages. More than seventy books weighed over twenty kilograms in total.

The logs themselves were heavy, and Teacher Victor had bundled them together very roughly. He had used only soft manuscript paper for the bottom, then fastened everything in place with Velcro and cable ties.

It would be very difficult to hold these more than seventy passenger logs securely while crossing over twenty train cars and protecting this precious information under the watchful eyes of the other passengers.

Jiang Xueming considered what it might mean, then asked, "Teacher, are you testing us? I just said I wanted to learn survival and combat experience from you."

Victor snapped his fingers crisply.

"YES! This is our second knightly duel."

Then the seemingly malnourished, anorexic author lifted the book box, which weighed over twenty kilograms, with just one arm.

The whole movement was smooth and natural. His body language made it look effortless, as if the weight were nothing at all—and A Xing stared at him, dumbfounded.

Victor continued, "If you think it's too difficult, you can refuse this challenge. Stay here and watch my precious things while I make three trips back and forth to carry everything."

Before Jiang Xueming could respond, A Xing immediately picked up his box and tried to imitate Victor, balancing it on one arm. He wasn't afraid in the slightest.

The muscles in A Xing's upper and lower arm swelled and tensed. Before long, blood rushed into them, and they looked like they might stretch his spirit garment a whole size larger—

—he was incredibly strong. Under Coach Zhou's training, lifting twenty kilograms with one arm was as easy for him as eating or drinking.

But brute strength alone wouldn't keep the logs safely in the box.

Jiang Xueming watched A Xing's posture. Holding the box on one arm, he could barely keep his balance standing still, let alone walk.

"You can still give up. You can hold it with both hands; you don't have to pursue an elegant gait like I do." Victor stood as steady as a statue. Even as he shouted, he had enough strength to fix his hair with his other hand.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Bu Liuxing stared at the logs bouncing and jostling in the box. "Let me get used to it! I'll adapt in no time!"

Delight flickered in Victor's eyes. He swept all the curls obscuring his vision back behind his head, and his whole demeanor turned sharp. "Really?"

"Really! Really, really! Hands and feet, listen to me! Help me out!" A fierce fighting spirit rose in Bu Liuxing's eyes, and the ruby on the golden lock at his chest began to glow again. "Teacher, how do you come up with such fun, crazy ideas?!"

"Art comes from life." Victor murmured, "When I'm writing, I need a quiet place to be alone. For a long time, I would shut myself away and refuse all visitors, sometimes for a week, sometimes for a month. My attendant thought I was too slovenly and complained bitterly whenever she cleaned up my garbage—

"—the things she called me were so vicious they might as well have been bullets. I couldn't stand that bastard verbally abusing me.

"So I decided to clean up the garbage myself. I had to go back and forth between my VIP private tea room and my hotel room, and I thought the cleaning was a waste of time.

"I wanted to sort, stack, and compress all the garbage into boxes that wouldn't take up extra space, then transport everything to the garbage station in one trip without spilling anything, leaking liquid, producing an odor, or bothering the other passengers.

"Those garbage boxes also contained my discarded drafts—immature, clumsy works. If anyone saw them, I'd be so ashamed I'd hang myself."

"Oh!" Bu Liuxing exclaimed in amazement, all while trying to keep his balance. "Teacher Victor really is amazing! Just keeping the books in this box from falling out is already hard enough."

"It's not that exaggerated." Victor sounded calm. "We're simply far apart in our understanding of Stubborn Fire Stones and our ability to control our bodies."

"So that's how it works. Stubborn Fire Stones amplify emotions? They can affect our neurons? Help us control our bodies better? Is that what Teacher Victor wants to teach us?" Jiang Xueming followed Victor's example and quietly picked up his box.

Unlike A Xing, he wasn't trying to show off. He obediently held his precious cargo securely with both hands.

The Magic Wand weighed over twenty kilograms too. He couldn't handle that weight with just one hand.

"Looks like you've both made up your minds?" Teacher Victor continued, adding more conditions to the duel. "If I lose, I'll give you the White Lady coffee from the doctor's bag. You should know what that stuff is for."

The gemstone on A Xing's chest glowed brighter and brighter. "Yeah!"

Jiang Xueming silently put on the steel ring. This was a VIP senior teaching by example, and he wouldn't pass up the chance. He had to seize it and soak up everything he could.

"To put you under a little more psychological pressure, I'm adding a few extra conditions." Victor's tone grew colder and colder. "If you lose even one log along the way—even if it just falls to the ground and someone sees its open pages—you lose."

Bu Liuxing began to have second thoughts. He glanced again at Brother Xue Ming, thinking that if they lost this duel, Teacher Victor would surely claim their logs as his spoils.

Jiang Xueming had already answered with his actions. He placed his own log on top of the box, then set his phone on top of it.

"Excellent! Jiang Xueming, you did an excellent job!" Victor's expression became feverishly intense. "I can feel the Inspiration Pressure you're giving me. As a reward, I'll tell you the secret to winning in advance!"

With that, the author pulled a portable music player out of the doctor's bag.

"This is a Sony WALKMAN, manufactured in 1980. It's also a life-saving charm that I asked Lord Lingweng to tailor for me."

The device was red and black, and its power button was a dark red Stubborn Fire Stone.

A Xing got excited the moment he saw the stone. "Teacher! So you're red too? A vivid, passionate red?!"

"How dare you question my creative passion?" Victor lightly tapped the bottom of the doctor's bag with his heel. A cassette popped out immediately. He caught it between his ring and little fingers, while his other three fingers held the small, delicate WALKMAN.

"In an emergency, this WALKMAN can record all kinds of conversations and background noises for my writing. When it starts playing music, I lose myself in it and feel as though I've reached a transcendent state where body and soul are one. I can control every muscle in my body and every thought in my mind. I live in every moment of [reality]."

Jiang Xueming watched—

—Victor's five fingers seemed capable of thinking independently. Working together, they opened the lid and slipped the cassette into the WALKMAN with only one hand.

Xue Ming was dying to have that ability. If my hands could make such nimble, precise movements too, I could change magazines with just one hand.

Victor's thumb had already settled over the life-saving stone, and he posed one final question. "You two underwent a [transformation] after boarding the train too, right?"

Jiang Xueming recalled the strange changes in his body. "Yes. My five senses, my shooting skills, and so many other abilities improved significantly. I even tried singing."

"Me too!" Bu Liuxing explained. "I went back to the gym. Usually, I had to wake my muscles up before I could start an intense workout. I used to need ten minutes or so to warm up, but now my arms are pumped after only twenty seconds. It's like these muscles have minds of their own. They get up by themselves before I even tell them to."

Click.

The WALKMAN started up. A scarlet glow like the fires of hell blazed from the dark red Stubborn Fire Stone.

The drum and cymbal intro crackled with electrical static—

—Victor's cloth shoes followed the beat, tapping out a lively rhythm against the cold train floor. "Stubborn Fire Stones can help you continue to [transform]. If you want to get stronger in this duel, give it a try. Try keeping up with my dance steps."

"No way!" Bu Liuxing stared in disbelief. His teeth started chattering, and he could barely get the words out. "Teacher Victor, are you actually planning to carry this box and dance with it?!"

Jiang Xueming's expression changed. He didn't know what to make of it.

He knew the VIPs were all otherworldly oddballs with intensely strong personalities—but he'd never imagined Victor would do something like this.

Just look at Victor—look at this great author.

He carried a jumble of books weighing over twenty kilograms on one arm as he headed into the next train car.

In front of the other passengers, he struck poses, swayed his hips, and thrust out his backside. His other arm had already hooked the WALKMAN onto his belt, and he carried the doctor's bag by its handle with his elbow. Snapping along to the driving beat, he paused and struck poses at each accent.

It was the rock and soul of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson—[Dangerous].

His ankles were supple, and when he moved his limbs, it was as if weights hung from their ends. His starts and stops had a satisfying [inertia], yet his movements were light, as though Teacher Victor's body sometimes weighed something and sometimes nothing at all.

The logs in the box struggled like a ship on towering waves, seeming ready to capsize at any moment. But every time Teacher Victor turned and thrust out his chest, every time he stamped his foot and struck a pose, every time he swayed with easy confidence, it was like the booming cannons of a battleship, hauling the ship back from the brink of the abyss and onto the [edge of disaster].

—Just as David Victor had said.

Reason and careful thought alone couldn't keep the teetering book box in check. The books' increasingly complex movements and the mounting difficulty of keeping them balanced would only drive them mad.

The fragile, soft manuscript paper was like a person's nerves. It would tear under the repeated scraping of the sharp brass clasps.

There was no point in doing nothing but defending. Dance and music were Teacher Victor's means of attack.

A Xing stared at him, dumbfounded. "How can he—"

Jiang Xueming said, "Honestly, I didn't expect it either. I thought my nerves were already strong enough, but Teacher Victor has really opened my eyes. This is just too shocking."

A Xing obediently switched to holding the box with both hands. "How can he—"

Jiang Xueming said, "How can he be so damn sexy?"

Following the music, David Victor moonwalked all the way toward the next train car.

His expression was fierce and his eyes blazed. As the song played, he pointed like a gun.

"My two little sailor-dancers! The captain's started singing his sea shanty! What are you waiting for?!"

A Xing looked at Jiang Xueming. "What do we do, Ming Ge? I—I've never done anything like this. At least let me practice first. So many people are watching!"

"Life is a live broadcast. There are no rehearsals." Jiang Xueming followed after him, steeling himself. He'd barely gone ten meters when he could feel the treasures in the box tossing about like a stormy sea. The logs were about to fall out. The manuscript-paper sides were like balloons, ready to burst.

Teacher Victor immediately caught Xue Ming. With one push and one pull, he calmed the wild, unruly logs.

"Master your mind. Control your body! Come on, follow me!"

The feeling was so strange—

—Xue Ming could hardly describe it. It was like falling into the sea with holes bitten into his clothes by sharks, only for Captain Victor to drag him back onto the deck.

By the time Bu Liuxing, that clumsy sailor, climbed aboard this pirate ship too, the three musketeers were like adventurers setting off on a new journey.

Captain Victor carried the treasure on one arm, with one hand free to lead the way.

The music coming from the WALKMAN was his vanguard, and his nimble, graceful dance moves were his tried-and-true means of survival in a complex and perilous environment.

Two little sailors followed behind, nervously holding the treasure in both hands and clumsily dancing to the captain's instructions.

It took no more than one chorus for A Xing to get completely into the groove. He had never been a shy or timid person.

After eight beats, during the seductive, breathy interlude from Teacher Victor, it felt like a rhythmic, easy-to-follow exercise class. A Xing had already fallen completely into the rhythm.

He even managed to spare a glance at Brother Xue Ming, only to be startled by his strange expression.

Ming Ge was like a machine, following behind Teacher Victor like his shadow. Their movements were identical, as if they were twin brothers with a telepathic connection.

A Xing had been too distracted to notice before, but now he could even hear Teacher Victor's singing and Ming Ge's rising and falling harmony.

Jiang Xueming thought to himself.

—This feeling is really strange. Every so often, the life-saving charm in my hand flashes like a dance-floor light, keeping time with these fervent emotions.

The stones Lingweng gave us really are amazing.

That old man seems never to have grown old.

Through the WALKMAN's music and the dance, I can feel Teacher Victor's intense desire to express himself, his unstoppable, unrivaled spirit, and his burning passion.

These emotions help me control my body better and regulate my central nervous system. They let me give precise commands to every joint, muscle, and ligament.

I just wonder whether Teacher Victor's teammates get startled when he suddenly breaks into dance during an investigation.

Teacher was right—

—the passengers along the way, all the [unease] along the way, were nothing in the face of such powerful courage. This dance, this WALKMAN, and this Stubborn Fire Stone were where that courage came from.

Before they knew it—

—they had danced through half the album, and side A of the cassette had finished playing.

But there was no encore. The two little sailors had followed the captain and brought the treasure safely to a warm harbor.

Jiang Xueming also saw the passengers behind them whistling and shouting for the three dancers to go from the front of the train to the back and dance another lap.

As soon as Teacher Victor entered the car, he shut the door behind him. The reason was simple: a woman outside was pounding furiously on the closed door.

"Victor! My sweetie! Is that you, Victor? Let Auntie get a look at you! You danced so beautifully just now! I barely recognized you! When's the next chapter coming out? If you don't want to write, you don't have to. Writing every day must be exhausting! Auntie's family owns a mine, and we have a big house too! Can Auntie touch you? I'd even settle for a lick!"

Jiang Xueming and Bu Liuxing both looked at Teacher Victor.

Teacher Victor repeated himself.

"I told you two not to tell anyone where I was going. Now you understand, right?"

The two little sailors nodded together.

Teacher Victor added a crossbar to the door, as if he were afraid some monster might come charging in. As he struggled to lock the door, he explained things to the two youngsters.

"We're born with different auras. Some people naturally command respect, while others look like vicious demons. Inspiration Pressure works the same way."

Jiang Xueming took a log from the box and resumed taking notes.

Victor took the two sailors' spoils from the doctor's bag. He set the coffee and the White Lady freeze-dried powder on the table, then continued teaching, despite all the effort it had cost him.

"It's like water. If you splash all the water out, the passengers will naturally fear drowning."

Jiang Xueming raised his hand. "So those passengers are afraid of me?"

"Yes." Victor explained, "You can describe what my Inspiration Pressure feels like."

Bu Liuxing raised his hand at once and answered. "Like a blinding ball of fire! No, more like liquor—liquor on fire!"

Jiang Xueming thought it over carefully. "Your presence is too strong, Teacher. When we first met, I felt like you were intruding on me. Even just meeting your gaze made me feel uneasy, like you were peering into me."

"That's right, Xue Ming." Victor corrected him. "You're the same way. It always seems like you're calculating something, always thinking about something. That can make other people uneasy too."

"But just now," Bu Liuxing continued, raising his hand to ask, "when we were dancing, those passengers weren't afraid anymore. Why?"

"Because we stopped paying attention to our surroundings and drew all our attention back into our bodies, focusing only on ourselves. At that moment, just as our bodies tighten their core muscles, our minds prepare to meet an enemy." Victor explained it to his two students using his own unique, highly abstract interpretation. "It's like concentrating, clenching your fist, and focusing on a single goal. When a beast is hunting, its pressure rises sharply—but unless the people watching from the sidelines are right nearby, they won't feel much pressure."

Jiang Xueming put away the coffee and the White Lady freeze-dried powder, ready to examine them later.

"About the Dead Puppet Agency—"

Before he could ask his actual question,

Bu Liuxing collapsed headfirst. His mental strength was exhausted; he lay sprawled across a seat and began snoring like thunder. Two consecutive duels had completely worn A Xing out.

Victor put the logs away and stacked them to one side of the car.

"We won't reach our destination for another sixteen hours. Let's wait until the little guy wakes up."

Jiang Xueming suddenly remembered something—

"Teacher."

Victor said, "Hm?"

Jiang Xueming asked curiously,

"Teacher, you said art comes from life. Back in the VIP private tea room or your hotel..."

Victor said, "What about it?"

Jiang Xueming could vaguely picture the scene. "Did you also walk around with your own BGM, shaking your hips and dancing while you took out the garbage?"

Victor blinked, looking especially innocent and completely unfazed.

"Of course."