Vol·②③ [All the Dark Places]

"My two students, let's begin the lesson."

David Victor sat motionless at his desk.

He crossed his legs, his large hands resting on his thighs, his spine straight like a sculpture for art students to draw on in a figure drawing class.

The VIP carriages were still decorated in their usual bizarre way, with a glaring red carpet leading to the train's final exit.

Jiang Xueming and Bu Liuxing stood in front of the door, and at this moment, they once again felt that powerful Inspiration Pressure.

At first, the two little ones thought that Victor was like a sculptor's chisel or a hammer, constantly reshaping their will and spirit into new forms.

Every encounter, acquaintance, and companionship with Teacher Victor...

As time went on, Jiang Xueming could feel that this VIP was constantly influencing his inner world and spiritual energy.

Xue Ming hardly needed to "ask for advice," "absorb" anything, or do anything else—just like Teacher Victor, whose presence was too overwhelming, like a giant fireball, constantly radiating energy and power.

These days, the two little ones have finally managed to make out Mr. Victor's [shape]—the man is a pen. A cold steel shell, a hot inkwell, constantly leaving new stories on the pages of the Three Musketeers' poems.

Like his stick and pen, he is consistent inside and out.

"I believe you have many questions to ask me, just like every one of my readers, everyone who connects with me on a spiritual level, and everyone who has a spiritual communion with my words."

He remained the same, unhurried and unhurried, delivering a long string of lines in a soothing and precise manner, without showing any impatience or laziness, joy or sorrow.

"You can all ask all your questions at once, like a New Year's fireworks explosion. I will try to record and answer them. Remember, these questions are very important; they will be the absolute theme of today's lesson."

Jiang Xueming: "Could you tell me about the history of the station?"

Bu Liuxing: "What's your zodiac sign, teacher?"

Jiang Xueming: "What exactly is a BOSS?"

Bu Liuxing: "What type of girl do you like?"

Jiang Xueming: "I remember that different batches of passengers would take different trains after completing their missions. Why did we happen to run into the teacher on our return trip?"

Bu Liuxing: "If we're considered Victor's students, then wouldn't I be Ming Ge's senior?"

Jiang Xueming: "I recently owe a waitress a debt. Can you tell me how to earn money? Earn Radiant Stone coins! I don't want to owe her money because I feel that if this debt drags on, it will become very troublesome."

Bu Liuxing: "Speaking of which, I gave the Universal Elixir to my mother. My waiter scolded me for wasting such a precious treasure—but I feel that I still have the opportunity to repay my mother's kindness in raising me, which is truly fortunate. Was what I did right or wrong, teacher?"

Jiang Xueming: "I want to know what happened after that story last time, teacher. Was the story you told us true or false? If it was true, what happened next?"

Bu Liuxing: "Ming Ge said he saw a demon on you. What was that phantom?"

Jiang Xueming: "I have no other questions."

Bu Liuxing: "I have no other questions."

Then they waited, hoping Victor could answer these questions properly.

Victor jotted down the ten questions on a piece of paper, tore them into ten small strips, and crumpled them into balls. He then said, "My two students, today's lesson will test your observation skills."

He took a clear glass from the workbench and poured all the paper balls into it. "There are many questions, but I can only answer two of them. You each get one chance."

"Oh!~" Meteor suddenly became excited, and in an instant, a bright red fighting spirit ignited within Fusou Wannian. "Teacher, you're starting again? You're starting again?"

Victor was confused. "What do you mean by that? Are we starting again? Have I ever stopped?"

During a break in the conversation, Jiang Xueming quickly put the Steel Heart back on his wrist. He concentrated his mind, relying on the resonance of the pyroxene, and stared intently at the paper ball that was constantly rolling in the glass.

"Teacher! Don't underestimate me! After our last encounter, I'm not the same person anymore!" A Xing said with a grin, then immediately became serious.

Victor shook the cup vigorously, and the paper ball bounced even faster.

"--If you can see clearly the Must-choose question in your heart, then reach out and grasp them. If you can't see them, that's okay too. Just tell me the truth, and I will choose one of these questions to answer."

"What?" A Xing's smile vanished instantly. "This feeling... I have to choose between two questions: Victor's zodiac sign and whether I, Bu Liuxing, am considered Ming Ge's senior?! It's so hard, so incredibly hard! But I also want to know what kind of girl Victor likes—after all, this part is definitely related to the prototypes for his writing Inspiration! I want both. It's so hard to choose. Oh no! I don't remember!"

Victor swirled the clear glass, smiling as he asked, "Which one is it?"

"Ugh!" A Xing pursed her lips, her pupils following the bouncing paper ball in her cup. "Oh no, oh no, oh no! In that moment of distraction, I forgot the most important question! What's your zodiac sign, Professor Victor? If I can't ask that—how can I seize the opportunity to ask about your birthday? To prepare a birthday present for you!"

"It's okay if you can't tell the difference or recognize it!" Victor tossed the cup into the air, the reflection of the overhead light creating a dazzling U-shaped streak in the air. "But you must tell me the truth—never deceive your own hearts, because this is Must-choose question for your own heart, the most important [essential path]. If even you can't tell the difference or recognize it, why would you reach for my cup?"

Victor's expression turned terrifying. As he took the cup, his eyes widened, his eerie green pupils filled with curiosity, as if he wanted to skin and dissect a living person to study their anatomy.

"I'll cut off your filthy hands, then take your journal and use it to write the next chapter of my novel."

Jiang Xueming remained silent, immersed in this strange Inspiration Pressure.

He thought to himself that the five questions he had prepared were all very important. Just now, he almost lost sight of the most important question in a moment of being caught between two equally important questions, just like A Xing.

You can ask others about making money, the history of the station, and the background of the boss.

As for why Professor Victor happened to be on this train and [coincidentally] met us, that's a given fact, so there's no need to ask any further questions.

The only thing that matters is Victor's story.

The most important thing for the two students is the VIP's past, how he transformed from a caterpillar to a butterfly, and it is also the correct answer to the coded message "the inevitable path" spoken by Teacher Victor.

The cups stopped sloshing, and Victor presented the [trophy] to the two heroes.

"From these paper balls, take out your Must-choose question. Answer them carefully, and don't open them beforehand. You must read them aloud first, then open them. If the content on the paper doesn't match what you read, I'll chop off your hands—"

Victor flicked his wrist, and the heads of the two students bounced and swayed along with the cups.

"--Giving up is fine. Admitting defeat is fine. Not only will I not punish you, but I will also personally select one question that I think is appropriate to answer."

Bu Liuxing, quick-witted and agile, selected what she wanted and exclaimed loudly, "Teacher Victor! What's your zodiac sign?!"

Open the paper--

--The answer is correct.

"Capricorn," Victor emphasized, "Born on January 1st, you are attracted to intelligent and mysterious women like Eileen Adler. If we follow the order of Chinese teachers, you are indeed Jiang Xueming's senior, and also my first student. I admire you greatly—finally, you gave the Universal Elixir to your mother, even if it only cured her ingrown toenail, it's still a great thing. Trust your heart—as for the phantom on me, it's a manifestation of spiritual energy and soul power. After you undergo six [transformations], it will naturally come to you."

"Wow!" A Xing was so happy he jumped up and down, waving his arms and legs, the radiance stone on his chest turning into a ball of fire. "Teacher! You actually answered all of them? Didn't we agree to answer only one? I'm so surprised!"

"Because Lady Luck favors the brave." Victor handed the glass to Jiang Xueming: "No matter what, to be number one, one must be extremely brave. And the second-place person must never slack off either."

"Indeed." Jiang Xueming felt even more pressure. "The current situation is that if I accidentally make the wrong choice, it will be equivalent to losing everything."

Hearing this, A Xing also became nervous and worried for Ming Ge.

He imagined how tense and exciting the duels would be—the stakes kept increasing, and the rewards kept escalating.

Not only that, we also have to be wary of Professor Victor cheating—yes, that flamboyant, unruly guy will definitely cheat! Remember those rats?!

"Ming Ge, look carefully," Bu Liuxing wanted to remind him a few more times.

Jiang Xueming interrupted, "I saw it clearly."

Bu Liuxing: "Then why haven't you made a move yet?"

Jiang Xueming: "Ten paper balls, ten questions, you just took one, right?"

"Yes," Bu Liuxing followed Jiang Xueming's gaze, then his expression changed drastically. "Why?! Teacher Victor, you..."

There are also ten paper balls inside the clear glass.

Even though Bu Liuxing had already taken one of them, the total was still ten—at some point, Victor had secretly added an extra wrong answer to the cup.

"It was just now!" Bu Liuxing immediately realized, "It was when Teacher Victor tossed the cup! It must have been at that moment! We were only focused on looking up at the cup, and that's when he tampered with it!"

Jiang Xueming: "That's true."

"That's right." Victor placed the cup back on the table and applauded his quick-witted eldest apprentice. "But the rules don't say you can't add new questions to the existing question bank. Jiang Xueming, you must be very curious about what I'll add, right?"

"Yes." Jiang Xueming felt a dryness in his throat and exhaustion, but also an intense curiosity. "If, as the teacher described, we must confront our inner selves and choose the most important [Must-choose question], is the question the teacher added actually the most important [essential path] in the teacher's mind?! It's really intriguing, really. I simply can't ignore this hidden X factor!"

Xue Ming felt like a fish that had bitten the bait, its gills and lip about to be torn apart by this intense curiosity.

"Did you see it clearly? I believe you definitely can." Victor remained calm and composed, his posture and demeanor as alluring as a woman in the throes of first love. "In my long life, I have seen many exceptional individuals with extraordinary spirits and strong wills. If we're talking about outstanding individuals, you are one of them. I must give you an extremely difficult question."

The pen circled in his hand again and again, from his pinky to his Thumb.

Have you thought it through? Have you seen it clearly?

The fervent urging was like the drums of a battle.

"It must be hard to choose the right one, right? It must be very hard to choose."

Xue Ming's hand drew closer and closer to the water glass, as if he were trying to select the safe and harmless [White Lady] from among the poisonous insects and the dense swarms of snakes and worms.

A Xing's palms were sweating with nervousness.

Time seemed to slow down.

Jiang Xueming made his choice; he remained true to his original idea.

Take out the crumpled paper and begin your presentation.

"I want to know, is the story that Teacher Victor told us, the story of that boy David going to jail and paying off his debts in the American West, true or false? What happened afterward? And why are you immortal, Teacher Victor?"

Unfold the crumpled paper --

--The answer is correct.

Victor rummaged through the water glass, clearing away all of Bu Liuxing's questions, and putting aside the ones that had already been answered.

He then began to untangle Jiang Xueming's paper ball, signifying that he was willing to accept defeat.

About the station and the boss--

"--As far as I know, a very long time ago, almost before the time of Cro-Magnon, between about 30,000 and 100,000 years ago, a huge monster came underground and used its indestructible body to dig tunnels and cultivate the wasteland."

"It dug for a very, very long time. No one knows why it went underground, no one knows why it dug so deep and so far. What was it looking for? Perhaps it simply wanted to know what mysterious and strange things were hidden beneath the surface of this planet."

"Until human civilization burst forth with dazzling light and heat—it immediately jumped on this express train of civilization, hiring humans to explore the underground world for it; it is the BOSS."

Xue Ming wanted to interrupt Teacher Victor. He wanted to ask about the [giant monster], since that cute Black Cat didn't seem to have anything to do with a giant monster at all. Or rather, when the BOSS was angry, the shadow behind him looked more like the monster itself.

"It has made many, many preparations in order to offer humans a suitable price." Victor's burning gaze forced Xue Ming to stop talking, his eyes seeming to say, "Don't rush, let me explain."

"It smelted minerals to make all kinds of clubs and tools, and entrusted the best masterpieces to the Five Kings—these five were the earliest VIPs."

"The five kings used their clubs to break its limbs, removed the twelve bones of Mingde, and gave them to others. They later established the Senates of various schools of thought."

"They sealed its strong physical body away, using it as a vessel to nurture White Lady, providing the raw materials for the Universal Elixir for countless passengers later on."

"Now it sits majestically in that oil painting between the twin towers of the platform; it is our BOSS—the monster of [Ming De, Disrupting Heaven's Order]."

"Then why did it dig a tunnel?" Bu Liuxing asked in surprise. "Why build a station?"

"Why do people raise their heads and look up at the sky?" Victor answered the question with a question, "Very few animals in nature can do the action of [raising their heads]. Why do you think that is? You'll probably have to ask the BOSS yourself; perhaps it will only answer—"

Jiang Xueming: "--Because I want to."

"Yes!" Victor pointed to the security door that had long been removed, to the path of Inspiration that filled him with both unease and anticipation, and to the dark and deep underground railway.

"Because it wants to."

All the dark places--

--All ugliness, profundity, superficiality, reason, madness, joy, and sorrow.

--All the magnificence, anticipation, fear, greatness, insignificance, life, and death.

The severed limbs and mangled remains of the behemoth resembled a petrified giant tree, oblivious to everything else. Until life flowed from its body, like new buds on a withered tree, one might mistake it for having died long, long ago.

Why?

For no reason--

It was right there, completely still.

Original Author: Fox Man

[Abyss Special Train]

[Desperado]

[--I thought I was dead, a long, long time ago]

[To be continued]