Death Knight

Yun Jingheng sat up abruptly, the seatbelt snapping shut and pulling him back into position.

He instinctively reached for his seatbelt, but his movement was too hasty, and his fingernail scraped against the metal buckle as the buckle popped open, making a crisp sound.

Gu Yue opened her eyes.

"... What are you doing?"

Yun Jingheng did not answer.

He turned his head, his gaze sweeping across the entire carriage.

The carriage was quiet, the lights were so bright they were almost blinding. Passengers sat comfortably in their seats, some wearing headphones and scrolling through their Soul Guidance Screens, some leaning back in their seats and dozing off, and a middle-aged man with his head tilted back and mouth open, sleeping soundly, his snores coming and going.

Everything is normal.

But Yun Jingheng's temples kept throbbing.

He remembered that in the original story, Tang Wulin encountered an attack by Evil Soul Master on the train. It was a sudden disaster; the train overturned, causing countless deaths and injuries. It was also the first time he truly faced the malice of this world.

But that's the original story.

What about now?

Does the timeline match?

Will the plot continue to unfold as planned?

He's been here so long, and a lot of things have changed, perhaps—

"Boom--!"

A loud bang came from the front, and the entire carriage shook violently, as if it had been suddenly gripped and violently jolted by an invisible giant hand.

The light flickered twice, then went out.

In the darkness, the ear-piercing sound of metal scraping against metal filled the ears. The train began to tilt, and the night outside the window cut through the view at an eerie angle. Luggage crashed down from the overhead racks, some people screamed, some cried, and some were thrown from their seats.

Yun Jingheng instinctively reached out and grabbed the armrest of the seat to steady himself.

"Attack?"

"It was most likely done by Evil Soul Master."

The train tilted at an increasingly steep angle, and the dark night sky and scattered lights in the distance flashed by alternately outside the window. The carriage was filled with screams and cries.

The sharp noise of the metal deforming almost pierced my eardrums.

Yun Jingheng's feet were firmly planted on the base of the front seat, his body dangling in mid-air as the car tilted.

"Boom--"

The train finally stopped tilting and overturned on its side on the embankment in an eerie posture. The lights in the carriages went out completely, leaving only the emergency exit signs glowing with a ghostly green light, illuminating the mess.

Yun Jingheng turned to look at Ye Xinglan and Xu Xiaoyan. The two were clearly a little confused, but their instinctive vigilance forced them to remain calm.

"Are you all alright?!"

"Fine!"

The two left their seats and ran towards Yun Jingheng. The carriage was in chaos, and it took them a lot of effort to reunite.

Passengers inside the carriage were still screaming and crying. Some were trying to climb out of the broken windows, some were groping for their luggage in the dark, and one person was trapped under the luggage rack, making faint groans.

Yun Jingheng gritted his teeth.

Reason told him that the most important thing to do now was to find Tang Wulin and Xie Xie and reunite, but these people in front of him...

"Open the door for them first."

He made a quick decision. "Save as many as you can, but don't waste too much time."

The four separated. Yun Jingheng and Ye Xinglan forcefully pried open the deformed carriage door, Xu Xiaoyan smashed a jammed window with her Star Staff, and Gu Yue lifted a seat that was pinning down a passenger with one hand.

"Run that way! It's safe below the roadbed!"

Yun Jingheng yelled at the passengers who had escaped, but it was unclear whether they heard him.

About three minutes later, most of the passengers in the carriage had been evacuated.

Yun Jingheng glanced around, making sure no one was trapped underneath, and then gestured to the three of them.

"Let's go find Wulin and Xie Xie."

The four people crossed the deformed connection between the carriages; the situation in the carriage ahead was even more dire.

The car windows were all shattered, the seats were askew, and the air was filled with a pungent smell of fuel, mixed with a faint stench of decay.

Yun Jingheng slowed his pace.

He smelled a scent he remembered, very similar to the specimens in the laboratory of a medical doctor friend from his past life.

Formalin...

"Be careful." He lowered his voice and gestured for the three people behind him to stop.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than footsteps echoed in the darkness at the far end of the carriage.

It wasn't just one person's footsteps, but many, with an unnatural rhythm, as if someone was dragging their feet.

Three figures emerged from the darkness.

No, that's not a living person.

They were wearing train uniforms, but their collars and cuffs were stained with blood, their skin was an unnatural bluish-gray, their pupils were unfocused, their eyes were bloodshot, their mouths were slightly open, and dark liquid was dripping from the corners of their mouths.

Dead puppet?

Yun Jingheng's pupils suddenly contracted, and memories of countless horror movies he had seen in his past life flooded his mind. But the strong smell of formaldehyde permeating the air at this moment was more real and more nauseating than any movie.

"Roar--"

The three puppets roared like broken bellows, their grayish-blue faces contorted with stiff muscles, and lunged at the four of them without warning!

Their movements were slow, even somewhat stiff, but the overwhelming aura of death made Xu Xiaoyan instinctively take a step back.

"Don't be afraid!" Ye Xinglan's Stargod Sword slashed out instantly, the dazzling sword light drawing a graceful arc in the dimly lit carriage, "Sword God Star!"

The sword light, like Moonlight pouring down, struck precisely at the neck of the puppet at the very front.

"Laugh--"

No blood splattered, only dark green liquid gushed out. The puppet's head fell off with a thud, rolling to the side, while its body continued to lurch forward due to inertia.

"How disgusting!" Xu Xiaoyan covered her mouth, trying to suppress the churning in her stomach.

"Don't just stand there!"

Gu Yue spoke coldly, and with a gentle wave of her right hand, an icy blue wind blade whistled out, severing the legs of the other two puppets at the root.

"Bang! Bang!"

Yun Jingheng casually delivered a final blow, severing his head.

"Walk!"

The four men quickly passed through the carriage, and the sounds of fighting ahead grew clearer.

"Wulin! Xie Xie!"

Yun Jingheng called out.

"Jing Heng! Provide backup!" Tang Wulin's voice came from the front, tinged with anxiety.

Yun Jingheng kicked open the car door and saw Xie Xie clutching his shoulder, standing in front of a woman, while Tang Wulin was fighting a lewd-looking man.

The Fifth Ring Road.

Without wasting words, Yun Jingheng unleashed three crescent Crescent Slash in an instant, forcing him to retreat, and then used an A-flash to sever his head.

"Huff... huff..."

Tang Wulin, panting heavily, looked at Yun Jingheng, "Thanks."

"Stop talking nonsense and get out of here. It's not safe here."

Yun Jingheng glanced outside the carriage; the explosions and shouts showed no signs of abating. "Teacher Wu and Teacher Shen Yi are outside."

"Walk!"

Several people protected Mo Lan and rushed out of the carriage.

As soon as I jumped out of the deformed carriage, a chilling cold swept over me.

The scene outside was even more horrific than inside the train carriage.

The wreckage of the Soul Guidance Train was scattered around the tracks, still burning fiercely.

In the distance, below the roadbed, Wu Zhangkong and Shen Yi stood back to back, surrounded by dozens of Evil Soul Master.

The Heavenly Frost Sword in Wu Zhangkong's hand had turned deep blue, and each swing of the sword could take away several lives.

However, his Battle Armor was also torn in several places, indicating that he had consumed a lot of energy.

Shen Yi's situation was also not optimistic. Her Martial Soul Avatar had been activated, with countless vines acting like tentacles to block the enemy's attack, but there was still a trace of blood on the corner of her mouth.

"Damn it, how come there are so many Evil Soul Master?!" Xie Xie gritted his teeth, clutching his shoulder.

Yun Jingheng looked up at the sky.

The night sky was illuminated as brightly as day by the light of the Soul Skill.

High in the sky, two figures were locked in a fierce struggle.

One of them was a silver figure radiating a cool, Moonlight —it was Cai Yue'er, the Silver Moon Douluo.

The other was a black figure, entirely black and exuding a strong aura of death.

Pluto Douluo, Ha Luosa?!

"How did he end up here?" Yun Jingheng's pupils contracted slightly.

"Xie Xie, take Mo Lan with you! Jing Heng, let's go help the teachers!"

Yun Jingheng suppressed his unease and said, "Okay!"

Yun Jingheng paused, then abruptly turned his head.

Something is watching him!

"Roar--!"

A deep, muffled roar suddenly erupted from the depths of the forest without warning.

That wasn't the roar of an ordinary Soul Beast, but a terrifying howl mixed with the sound of metal scraping and the resentment of the dead.

Immediately afterwards, the earth trembled violently.

"Snap! Snap!"

Several large trees, each as thick as a person's embrace, were snapped in two by an extremely brute force. Amidst the flying wood chips, a creature nearly two meters tall burst forth.

Its entire body was covered in thick black iron armor, the surface of which was covered with dark red runes and exuded a nauseating bloody stench.

It drags a huge heavy sword in one hand and holds a shield in the other.

Two eerie green flames burned in the eye sockets deep beneath the helmet.

"Undead?!" Gu Yue exclaimed in shock, "Run!"

But her reminder had no effect; its gaze bypassed everyone and locked onto Yun Jingheng with unparalleled precision.

"It's... watching me?" Yun Jingheng's heart sank.

The next second, the Death Knight moved.

With just the explosive power of its legs, it stomped two deep craters in the ground, and like a black cannonball, it ignored all obstacles in its path and charged straight toward Yun Jingheng!

Its speed was astonishing; the air was torn apart by its massive body, emitting a piercing shriek.

"Careful!"