Between Cars Five and Six
Mo Lan said calmly, "Now you can release the others, right?"
"Good. No wonder you're a councilor's daughter—you've got guts. Miss Mo Lan, I admire you."
The gang leader was just as forthright.
"Release them!"
There were more than four hundred people in the first five cars. More than a hundred of them—elderly people, women, and children—were released and sent into Car Six.
A thug dressed head to toe in black hid behind Mo Lan, pressing a Soul Guidance Ray Gun against her back.
Watching the elderly, children, and women make it into Car Six, Mo Lan finally let a faint smile cross her face.
The thug spoke up. "We've shown our sincerity. Now we're waiting for you to show yours. You have forty minutes."
Mo Lan smiled and was just about to say something when a voice, tinged with nonchalance, suddenly rang out from Car Six.
"Looks like things are lively around here. How could I possibly miss out?"
A man suddenly appeared beside Mo Lan. He wore a black, old-fashioned robe and a matching pointed cap. A monocle concealed his right eye, making his face hard to see.
"Who are you? Quit playing spooky."
Two thugs beside the leader shouted at him, their Soul Tool Guns trained squarely on the man.
"The world calls me Amon."
The figure seemed utterly unconcerned by the guns. His tone was light and teasing, and he even gave them a perfectly proper gentleman's bow.
"What the hell is an Amon? I'll show you your daddy!"
The thug leader looked at the black-robed man's theatrics with contempt.
If your daddy Amon were really standing here, you'd already have a monocle on and become Amon on the spot.
That was what Yang Fan thought.
That's right. The man disguised as Amon was Yang Fan.
He didn't want to be a hotheaded fool like Mo Lan and expose his identity in front of a crowd.
This time it was thugs. Next time it could be Evil Soul Masters, and after that, even the Demon Empress wasn't out of the question!
When you were out and about, you needed an alias. As for whether disguising himself as Amon would draw Amon to him, Yang Fan figured that was impossible.
As he'd said, this was the Douluo Continent. It was separated from Lord of the Mysteries by a thick, tragic wall.
And even if Amon really did show up, he probably wouldn't care about Yang Fan. He'd more likely hide in some nook or cranny and watch the show.
And for some reason, after dressing up as Amon, he felt a strong urge to stir up some fun.
He was usually a serious person. It had to be Amon's influence. It couldn't possibly be that he'd always had a troublemaker's streak.
"Are you blind? Why aren't you shooting?!"
When the thug realized the man claiming to be Amon was ignoring him, he shouted at his underlings in a rage.
"Yes, yes!"
The two men behind him immediately opened fire on Yang Fan.
Three Soul Rings appeared behind Yang Fan, stunning everyone present. Even the thug who had been about to sneak up on Mo Lan was completely dumbfounded.
That was because the three Soul Rings weren't the usual yellow, yellow, purple; nor were they all black or all red. They were all white.
That's right. These were the plainest, most unremarkable white Soul Rings, disguised by Yang Fan using his first Soul Skill.
Not a single person there could have imagined that the "hero" stepping forward in a situation like this had only three white Soul Rings.
"Hahaha! Are you trying to kill me laughing?"
The thug leader burst out laughing, so hard he nearly choked.
But when Yang Fan's Second and Third Soul Rings lit up and a silver spear appeared out of nowhere, the man stopped laughing.
Yang Fan twirled the flaming Silver Dragon Spear a few times, easily deflecting the bullets fired by the underlings.
"Get me the Soul Guidance Cannon! Blow him to hell!"
The thug could tell this kid was probably toying with him. Was this kind of power really coming from a Ten-Year Soul Ring?!
"Hey, hey, hey! Soul Guidance Cannon, coming right up!"
Two more thugs walked into Car Five from Car Four. Their sleeves and pant legs were stained with dark red blood.
With his Spirit Sea Realm mental perception, Yang Fan had a clear view of everything. The only people whose movements he couldn't ignore were the Soul Elder thug leader in Car Five, the gunman holding Mo Lan hostage, the two gunmen who had attacked him, and the two newcomers carrying the Soul Guidance Cannon.
Two other thugs, armed with Soul Tool Guns, were guarding the hostages gathered in Car Four. Between Cars Three and Four lay the bodies of several young men dressed like flamboyant punks.
They'd probably mouthed off or made a spectacle of themselves and angered the two thugs who had just come to guard the junction between the cars.
That was probably the full picture.
Yang Fan made his assessment.
The Second Soul Ring flickered. A faint red glow passed over the Silver Dragon Spear in Yang Fan's hand. Red-hot fire elements pulsed along the shaft like a heartbeat, warping the air around it with heat.
This was Yang Fan's first time facing a terrorist attack, so it was only natural that he felt a little nervous. But the composure he'd forged on the edge of life and death at the Spirit Ascension Platform kept him exceptionally calm in that moment.
His powerful mental strength gave him exceptionally sharp senses. He had precise control over everything around him.
Most of the hostages were gathered in this fourth car. The greatest threat was the bombs, and he'd already located every one of them with his mental power.
So, he'd deal with the immediate danger first.
Fear hung in the air around the passengers. The thugs watched them warily, their Soul Guidance Ray Guns ready to fire at any moment.
A faint glow appeared beneath Yang Fan's feet. Red firelight flashed and vanished, and the sudden glow drew the thugs' attention at once.
The thug beside Mo Lan and the gunman aiming at him both looked toward Yang Fan at almost the same time.
But it was too late!
With the explosive force granted by Fire Element Enchantment, Yang Fan moved.
Yang Fan flicked his wrist. The Silver Dragon Spear became a streak of silver lightning, its tip wrapped in red-hot flames as it instantly pierced through the Soul Guidance Blade held by the thug beside Mo Lan.
"Shhk—"
The blade melted under the intense heat. Before the thug could even let go, the fire element clinging to the spear shattered the bones in his hand. He screamed as he was sent flying.
The other two thugs reacted quickly, firing their Ray Guns at once.
But Yang Fan had already vanished into the flames. The Silver Dragon Spear drew a graceful arc through the air, its butt end whistling as it struck the second thug precisely in the side of the neck.
"Thud!"
With the sound of breaking bones, the thug crumpled to the ground without even a groan.
The third thug had just started to turn when Yang Fan kicked him behind the knee. He dropped to his knees against his will, and Yang Fan slammed the shaft of the Silver Dragon Spear into the back of his head, knocking him out cold.
The sudden turn of events sent the thugs into a panic.
"We've run into a tough one! Brothers, even if we die, we can't let the Federation get away with this! Detonate the cars behind us!"
Yang Fan had of course considered the possibility.
But he knew this was just a cornered dog snapping at its pursuers. It was futile.
He'd already used his mental power to discover that every bomb outside the cars occupied by the thugs had been dismantled.
Yang Fan darted to the junction between Cars Five and Six and swung the Silver Dragon Spear down without hesitation.
The fire element at the spear tip condensed into a red blade of light. The metal connecting the two cars split beneath it as easily as butter under a hot knife.
He kicked the coupling, and the cars quickly separated. The front of the train pulled away with the cars behind it, carrying off the vast majority of the hostages.
Now, only Yang Fan, Mo Lan, and more than three hundred hostages in four cars remained in danger.
He condensed his mental power into a needle and thrust it at the thug guarding the junction between Cars Four and Five. While the thug was thrown into disarray, Yang Fan immediately took out the Defensive Soul Tool Leng Yaozhu had given him for protection.
After killing the thug hiding among the hostages, he tossed Mo Lan into the group of hostages in Car Four, then immediately activated the Soul Tool, generating a pale blue Soul Guidance Protective Shield.
Seeing that even the last of the hostages were safe, Yang Fan could finally focus on facing this pack of vicious thugs.