Burn After Use

As the sun set, the lamps began to flicker to life.

Paul pushed his cart slowly down the aisle, twisting the gas lamps on one by one for the passengers.

He had heard that in the Loselin Empire, there were already lamps that required no fuel, lighting up with the simple press of a button; Paul couldn't even begin to imagine what such a thing looked like.

He didn't care about that right now, either.

As his footsteps carried him toward the VIP carriage at the rear, a cold bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.

He took a deep breath. Calm down, Paul, calm down. He's just a man, he won't eat you... probably. As long as you serve him well and don't cause any trouble.

With that, he slowly pushed open the rosewood door of the final carriage.

Because of the thick, billowing smoke released by steam engines, VIP carriages in this era were usually placed at the rear, and some trains even converted the last carriage into an open-air observation deck so that VIPs could enjoy the scenery while sipping afternoon tea.

At this sunset hour, however, the carriage was empty, save for a burly man sitting with his legs crossed on a white-painted, carved chair, slowly sipping a cup of cold black tea.

"Sir." Paul tiptoed to the man's side and presented the evening meal: four rosemary-seared lamb chops, a baked potato stuffed with butter, sour cream, and minced meat, two soft-boiled eggs cut in half, and a large spoonful of baked beans in tomato sauce.

"Hmm?" The man turned his head slowly and glanced at the food on the table. "Not bad. But remember, next time, I want double the portion. Don't make me remind you a second time, alright?"

"Yes, yes, of course!" Paul nodded frantically. Even though the man's tone was actually quite mild—even carrying a hint of pleasure from the view—Paul dared not be the least bit careless; he knew all too well that these big shots were fickle and temperamental.

"You may go." The man waved his hand. Paul felt an immediate sense of relief and retreated with lightning speed, leaving behind only two damp footprints on the floor.

The observation carriage returned to its empty state once more.

The man quietly lit a cigarette and watched the lush coniferous forest on either side of the tracks, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly. Although the green of the conifers was never as lush or vibrant as broad-leaved forests, it was still far better than the Gobi Desert.

The man was, of course, Lude, and the reason he could scare other VIPs into cowering in their rooms and surrendering the observation carriage to him—and the reason he could make the attendants turn pale as paper and sweat like rain—was naturally the Obsidian Hall uniform of Aleppo.

It was thanks to Lude having changed out of this uniform while disguised as an attendant earlier and storing it in his Glazed Pouch that he had survived the fire.

The Glazed Pouch was a relic crafted from the heart membrane of an Earth Dragon; like Lude, it was immune to fire and could even use the power of flames to repair itself, naturally protecting the items inside from being scorched.

Up to this point, the most useful thing in Lude's possession had never been some extraordinary item, but rather this "tiger skin" he had swiped.

Three full days had passed since Lude's meeting with Lord Hypnos.

In these three days, Lude had traveled from the western border of the Rhine Kingdom all the way north to the northeastern frontier.

As of yesterday morning, the landscape around the train was no longer desert, which meant Lude had arrived in the Bohemian Forest in the northeastern part of the Rhine Kingdom, not far from his destination.

Lude's destination was a small town called Blackwater Town.

Blackwater Town was known for its black pine and various mushrooms, and it had once been a summer retreat for the nobles of the Duchy of Bohemia. Though it had since fallen into decay, Lude's reason for choosing this place had nothing to do with its scenery.

His reason was simple: Blackwater Town was very close to the border of the Loselin Empire—less than five kilometers away. If Lude started running, he could cross into the Loselin Empire in two or three minutes.

If one were to ask why Lude didn't just leave the Rhine Kingdom directly, but instead traveled north along the border...

Lude clenched his fist tightly. Damn it all, Hypnos, you old scoundrel!

Even after all these days, Lude still felt a surge of irritation whenever he thought about it.

As it stood, he faced two risks on top of the pursuit by the Black Tide Society.

One was the hunt by the descendants of the Radiant Light Society, though they were unaware of the existence of the Lord Society or Lude himself, so as long as Lude didn't expose himself, he would be fine. Besides, once he entered the Loselin Empire, this risk would be virtually non-existent.

Lude didn't believe any organization would risk offending the Loselin Empire just to hunt down the descendants of an enemy organization from a thousand years ago, let alone send a large armed force across the border to cause trouble.

The descendants of the Radiant Light Society were not an immediate concern, but the other pursuer was far more dangerous.

That was Malinkov, from whom Lude had swiped the identity of a Lord's apprentice.

Malinkov's strength was considerable, at least equal to Lude's after he had used his first Wyvern Blood Essence.

On this point, Lude chose to trust the judgment of that old geezer, Lord Hypnos.

Therefore, Lude figured it was best not to clash with Malinkov immediately.

Malinkov had no way to directly sense the Lord's Ring, which was good news for Lude.

However, that was only on the condition that Lude didn't use the connections recorded within the Lord's Ring. Once Lude tapped into those contacts, Malinkov would likely sniff him out and spawn right next to him.

This was exactly why Lude cursed Lord Hypnos—this was the treacherous nature of the old turtle!

After Lude had found a piece of glass to study the list, he realized that the contacts the old geezer had given him were all compromised. Simply put, these people had either already been noticed by Malinkov or had been turned by him.

The old man, as if afraid Lude wouldn't notice, had "thoughtfully" marked the names with [Burn After Use]. Not "read after use," but "burn after use"—burn these people as soon as you're done with them!

The crux of the matter was that if Lude wanted to enter the Loselin Empire, he had to use the Lord Society's connections to forge a fake identity. And if he wanted a better starting point, that identity needed to be a down-and-out noble from the Rhine region with an illustrious ancestry.

After all, in certain circles, if you didn't have an admission ticket, no matter how capable you were, you couldn't blend in.

Lord Hypnos was clearly aware of this, so he had placed a border inspector at the top of the list, specifically noting: [This person can assist in forging an identity, but you must prevent him from contacting Malinkov.]

In other words, unless Lude chose to hack his way into the Loselin Empire and bleed out in the streets with the Imperial immigration bureau until dawn, the moment he crossed the border, he would be blowing the horn to summon Malinkov for a duel.

To this, Lude's choice was to turn around and head eighty kilometers north without looking back.

So long, suckers!

There was no helping it; Lude's trust in Lord Hypnos had been a big, fat zero from the very beginning. The old man hadn't said a single honest word.

For all he knew, the moment he was told to take out Malinkov, the old man had tipped Malinkov off, and was now sitting on the border waiting to watch them fight to the death. That wasn't impossible!

Of course, Lude hadn't abandoned his plan to go to the Loselin Empire; he just needed to develop his strength first.

After all, since transmigrating to this world, Lude hadn't had a chance to settle down and regroup. This meant he actually had quite a few ways to grow stronger, but he simply hadn't had the time to put them into practice.

So, after carefully selecting a spot on the map, Lude chose to board this train to Blackwater Town, deep in the Bohemian Forest in the northwest of the Empire—a beautiful, near-isolated little town.

Lude set a time limit for himself: one week.