Two Tickets for Top-Tier Fun Seekers

The rails and steel wheels gently rocked the carriage.

More than an hour had passed since Jiang Xueming left the station.

He did not know how far this train had traveled, nor did he know what awaited him at its destination.

But he had already prepared himself, leaving a few final words in his will.

As he flipped to the table of contents in the passenger guide's front pages—

—a sudden source of light drew his gaze away.

He looked out the window. The train had just burst out of a narrow tunnel, and the surrounding terrain had become vast and desolate. As far as he could see were crimson Lava Lakes, along with treacherous mountains and bizarre rock formations far beyond them.

Eight enormous steel-frame bridges supported dozens of railways, with red and green signal lights standing at the switches between the tracks.

Jiang Xueming could vaguely see other trains passing along nearby tracks every few minutes.

He also saw something flash past in a darker place farther away, where red warning signs glowed.

Unable to suppress his curiosity, he leaned half his body out the window, trying to get a better look at the track inside the dark cavern that was flashing its warning lights.

Under the orange glow of the Lava Lake, the track bed there had already been destroyed. Rusted, decayed steel bars fell into the lake and immediately melted into molten iron.

Safety warnings and repair notices had been set up beneath the crimson signs.

Looking closer into the depths, he could vaguely make out dark silhouettes along the cavern road.

Those shadows did not look human, nor were they construction equipment.

Amid the chaotic, mottled light and shadow, the cavern seemed to conceal many monsters.

The buzzing from their beating wings carried far, far away. Even hundreds of meters apart, Xueming could still hear that maddening noise, which left him deeply unsettled.

Just then, at that very moment.

A hand suddenly slapped Jiang Xueming on the shoulder and yanked him back into the carriage from outside the window.

"Brother! What are you looking at?"

Xueming was badly startled. Not by the unknown creatures in the cavern, but because half his body had been outside the window just now.

That sudden slap on his shoulder nearly knocked the soul out of him.

A tremendous force brutally dragged him back into his seat. Then he saw that this uninvited passenger was also craning outside, stretching himself toward the window, while his noisy voice kept chattering away.

"What is it? Is it that interesting? Brother, what were you looking at just now? Which direction?"

This passenger looked like he was about to climb onto the roof, still complaining nonstop.

"Where is it? Hey, brother! Why aren't you saying anything?"

Jiang Xueming finally came back to himself and explained, "Oh! I saw a cavern with red warning lights on. They were doing repairs and maintenance. But inside that hole, there seemed to be monsters."

"Hah! I thought it was something rare." The passenger outside the window was remarkably nimble. In the blink of an eye, he slipped back inside, standing in the aisle and brushing dirt and coal ash from his body.

Only then did Xueming get a clear look at him. He was a tall young man, nearly six foot three, with broad shoulders and thick knuckles.

Like Xueming, he wore the standard long coat issued by the customer service department.

A pink shirt and firm chest muscles could be seen beneath the collar. The muscles in his thighs and calves bulged, stretching his jeans tight, while the gold zipper on his heavy leather boots was particularly eye-catching.

The man removed his cowboy hat. Under the light of the Lava Lake and the carriage's cold lamps, his features looked very young.

He looked only eighteen or nineteen, clean-shaven, with thick brows and large eyes.

His Bridge of the Nose was high and straight, his lips full and fleshy. Judging by his face, he seemed like an innocent young man who valued loyalty and friendship. His dark irises took up half his eyes, leaving them bright with spirit. Messy brown hair covered his ears and brow, but when he swept it back with a hand, he looked crisp and sharp.

After returning to the carriage, the passenger tossed a huge backpack beside Xueming's seat and plopped himself down opposite him without a care.

The seats arranged for passengers had been fairly spacious to begin with. But that enormous backpack nearly blocked the entire way out, with no intention of being moved—as if this reckless young man were giving Jiang Xueming a show of dominance.

"Could you put your things away?" Jiang Xueming said bluntly. That guy had shoved him while he was hanging outside the window, and now even the way out of his seat was blocked.

"Oh! Sorry." The young man immediately stood and tossed the backpack onto the neighboring seat.

This kid doesn't look very bright, Jiang Xueming thought.

Once the young man returned to the seat across from Xueming, he took out his passenger information card and ticket from his coat pocket and said seriously, "Hey, the BOSS told me to follow you. He wants me to go to the same place as you."

Jiang Xueming stayed silent, looking at the reckless boy before him without taking the initiative to speak.

The young man hunched over, propping his chin on both hands as he leaned toward Jiang Xueming. "My surname is Bu. My name's Bu Liuxing. Just call me A Xing. What should I call you?"

"Jiang Xueming."

"Heh? Nice! That's a great name!" A Xing clapped and laughed. "'A gleaming frost-snow blade, swift as a shooting star.' You look like a reliable guy. Once we reach the destination, won't the mission BOSS assigned us be easy? We'll crush it and slaughter everything in our way."

Jiang Xueming said, "Hello, A Xing."

Bu Liuxing said, "Hehe! Hello to you too, A Ming!"

And just like that, No-Brain and Unhappy had exchanged greetings.

Once Bu Liuxing sat down, he never stopped moving again.

This young man thoroughly demonstrated to Xueming what a top-tier chatterbox was.

"I'm a local from Hong Kong, and I'm a Leo! What sign are you, A Ming?

"I can tell you don't like talking. You must be a Cancer. Cancers are all secretly flirtatious."

"There are so many pretty girls at the station. I got a few phone numbers. Want them? It's our first time meeting, and I didn't bring you any gifts."

"Every passenger at this station has a story. Why did you come here, A Ming? Can you tell me your story? Make me happy?"

"If you don't want to talk, forget it. Why are you glaring at me so fiercely?"

Xueming's anger was visibly rising. He secretly wondered whether he had upset that cat during their first meeting.

Otherwise, why would BOSS arrange for someone like this to partner with him?

He covered his forehead and casually replied for the sake of work, "No, I'm not angry."

"It's good that you're not angry." Bu Liuxing immediately perked up and brought up the damaged track from earlier. "Hey, A Ming, just like you, it's my first time taking a train from this station. There are lots of things we don't understand. We need to help and remind each other."

Jiang Xueming said, "Mm, you're right."

A Xing continued explaining, "I got here earlier, so I wandered around the station and read quite a bit of educational material in the logs. Those shadows you saw on the accident track in the cavern weren't monsters. They were Nine Realms Station maintenance workers doing their jobs."

Jiang Xueming said, "Maintenance workers?"

"That's right. It was my first time seeing those things in person too." A Xing opened his passenger journal, then snatched the journal from Xueming's hand and flipped to the same page. "Look, it says so in the passenger journal's contents! The station's current railway maintenance unit—Wool Sheep Type III."

Wool Sheep were originally strange creatures from the underground world, and they could be found from Sector 47 to Sector 88.

They resembled dragonflies, insects of the Anisoptera suborder, hence the name Wool Sheep.

Adult Wool Sheep measured roughly 160 to 200 centimeters long, with females larger than males.

One hundred and forty years ago, individuals capable of communicating with humans appeared among the Wool Sheep population, and they learned human language. The Research Station concluded that the Wool Sheep had likely undergone mutation after prolonged contact with the Star Realm People and exposure to mysterious Star Realm knowledge.

Not long afterward, these insects became the station's new employees.

They could carry engineering materials several times their own body weight across bridges and were capable of reversing in midair. In modern society, even helicopters might not match the flight maneuverability of these gifted giant insects.

After three generations of evolution, the Research Station created specialized engineering protective gear and communications equipment for Wool Sheep. There were also uncivilized Wool Sheep individuals in many unexplored areas, and they served as important indicators for measuring insanity levels and Spirit Calamities.

A Xing spoke animatedly and confidently. "Amazing, right? When I saw this thing in the book, I figured there had to be oxygen-rich regions underground. Otherwise, how could these insects grow so huge? And there must be an ecosystem with plenty of food too."

"A Xing." Jiang Xueming rapidly flipped through the manual without looking up. "Tell me your story. I want to know more about you. What brought you to this station?"

Bu Liuxing froze for a moment. "You want to know about me?"

"Yes." Xueming looked up, sitting upright. "We're going to the same place to do the same thing. In this dangerous underground world, we'll have to rely on each other to survive."

"Rely on each other to survive." A Xing finally became serious, gathering his thoughts before saying something utterly unserious. "I came here to have fun."

Jiang Xueming looked like he had not understood.

Bu Liuxing repeated himself.

"I came here to have fun. Life was just too boring, so I needed some excitement. My Mother owns two plots of land in the Southern District and Eastern District. You can see Victoria Harbour across the sea from there. My whole life has been planned out for me. I've tried every extreme sport there is. My mom wanted me to go to the United Kingdom for further study and live properly, but I don't want to study."

Jiang Xueming asked again, "How did you get your ticket?"

Bu Liuxing answered, "I stole it. I wanted to experience prison. I clearly remembered stealing a ticket, but the officer insisted it was cash. That was when I knew something was wrong."

"You wanted to go to prison?" This was beyond Jiang Xueming's comprehension, a complete blind spot in his knowledge. "Why?"

Bu Liuxing lowered his head, his expression turning dejected. "I wanted to know what a cell was like. I'd never experienced it, so I wanted to give it a try! A friend told me that rent is so expensive now. Even living somewhere remote costs over three thousand, char siu rice starts at thirty or forty, and groceries and fruit easily add up to five or six thousand a month. How are new college graduates supposed to survive here? The way out for young people is prison. Food and lodging are free, you can go to bed on time, and you don't have to squeeze onto the subway."

"So you came to the station to experience life?" Jiang Xueming pursed his lips, not knowing what to say.

"I'm reliable!" Bu Liuxing grew anxious, wanting to prove his ability. "I'm really good. Look at my skills!"

Before he had even finished speaking, this reckless young man was trying to climb out the window again.

A Xing stepped onto the window frame, his entire body hanging outside. Like a sulking child, he puffed up his cheeks to prove himself.

"Jiang Xueming! Can you see? I'm not afraid!"

The fierce wind outside whipped A Xing's clothes until they fluttered wildly, while beneath him lay the golden-red Lava Lake.

The train sped across the suspension bridge and plunged headfirst into a tunnel entrance.

At that instant, Jiang Xueming swiftly grabbed the reckless fool and dragged him back through the window.

He had been just a little too late from Bu Liuxing becoming a smear of flesh on the rock wall at the tunnel entrance.

After entering the tunnel, the drastic change in temperature and air pressure inside and outside the carriage made the entire train begin to shake.

Still shaken, Bu Liuxing felt a sharp pain in his neck as he was dragged back into the carriage, as though a lion had bitten his throat and dragged him along. By the time he came to his senses, he had already fallen into the aisle.

Then he looked at Xueming—

—who still wore that same indifferent expression. The nails on his right hand had been bent back, bruised from tearing through fabric, and he was using nail clippers to trim them clean bit by bit.

Bu Liuxing touched himself, wiped the cold sweat from his head, and stared foolishly for a long while before climbing back up.

"Whoa!!! That was so exciting!" He returned to his seat and became lively again. "Ming Ge! The moment I saw you, I knew you were a reliable guy!"

Jiang Xueming said blandly, "Let me tell you why I came to this station. Since we're working together, I hope you'll take this journey seriously."

Bu Liuxing said, "Okay! I'll listen seriously."

Then Xueming truthfully told the boy about his experiences and his younger sister's illness.

At first, he had merely hoped this unserious kid would become a little more serious and get into work mode.

But later, when he spoke of writing his will and preparing for the worst—when he looked at Bu Liuxing's expression, something felt increasingly wrong.

The big boy's nose had turned red, his eyes were watery, and he simply started crying.

"No." This was not the result Jiang Xueming wanted. "Don't be like this."

"Sorry, I'm just sentimental." Bu Liuxing took tissues from his backpack to wipe his nose as he answered, "I've loved crying since I was little. Can't help it. I cry too easily."

By the time Xueming finished, Bu Liuxing was sobbing uncontrollably.

The boy lay facedown on the table with his head buried in his arms, soft whimpering sounds coming from his sleeves.

After Xueming had explained the whole matter clearly, he added, "So, do you understand?"

"I understand." Bu Liuxing raised his head with gritted teeth, blew his nose, and clenched his fist in encouragement. "I'll definitely save your sister from that illness! Don't worry!"

"Um." Xueming felt that something was off, but could not put it into words. "That's my sister, not your sister."

"Ah! I feel like I'm burning! Feelings that have lain dormant in my heart for so long are about to burst from my chest!" Bu Liuxing tightly grabbed Xueming's hand. "Without a doubt, Ming Ge, back at that tunnel entrance, you saved my life! You saved my life! That's important!"

A Xing's burning gaze was hard to meet as he declared solemnly,

"I'll remember every word you told me. I never expected the gap between our backgrounds to be so great, or our reasons for coming to the station to be completely different. Our lives were originally like two parallel rails, yet they finally intersected on this train—this is my mission."

Jiang Xueming said softly, "It would be better for everyone if you watched fewer cartoons."

Bu Liuxing would not let it go. "I'll stay by your side forever. I'll live and die with you, sharing hardship and danger. Until I repay this debt, I won't leave you."

Jiang Xueming said, "Fine."

Bu Liuxing wiped away his tears and sat upright like Xueming. "Just as you wanted to know me better, I also want to know you better."

"Oh." Xueming only felt as though his mind had suffered an enormous blow. "Ask away."

Bu Liuxing copied him by taking out his journal and fountain pen, preparing to make notes.

After a long time—

—it seemed he did not know what to ask.

It seemed everything that should have been asked had already been asked, and everything that should have been known was already known.

—so he asked.

"What zodiac sign are you, exactly?"