Murder Case

What a coincidence?

Lu Xingyuan was a little surprised.

He hadn't expected to end up at a station Gu Wanqing had visited before.

"How was it? Was it dangerous?"

"Yes!"

Gu Wanqing quickly explained, "This is a station with magical powers. You'll arrive in a forest, and at the end of the forest is a castle. Only after you clear out all the mushroom monsters surrounding the castle will you qualify to be invited inside."

"Inside the castle is a group of little dwarves with differently colored noses. They're friendly creatures and won't hurt you."

"Then you'll get caught up in a murder case. As long as you help find the killer, you'll receive a Level 3 treasure chest as a reward."

Holy crap, a Level 3 treasure chest?!

Lu Xingyuan's eyes immediately lit up.

A Level 2 treasure chest had already yielded so many good things. He didn't dare imagine what a Level 3 treasure chest might contain.

"Did you remember all that?"

"I did."

Lu Xingyuan nodded, then asked,

"Did you get that Level 3 treasure chest?"

"No. I couldn't even clear out the mushroom monsters, so I never qualified to enter the castle."

Lu Xingyuan stroked his chin.

If she hadn't even entered the castle, then how did she know there would be a murder case and a Level 3 treasure chest?

Wow, Sister Qing, I feel like you just exposed yourself.

The train arrived at the station right on time at ten.

The Prismatic Orb dropped.

He picked it up.

20 sets of simple circuit boards, plus 20 units of rubber.

Not bad. With this, he would soon reach Level 3 and unlock new Hextech.

After getting off the train, he found that, just as Gu Wanqing had said, this station was located in a forest.

Looking up, he could vaguely see the castle's pointed spires hidden at the far end of the woods.

With a submachine gun in hand, Lu Xingyuan headed deeper into the forest.

The environment here was nice. The branches were lush, the grass was thick and green, and the air was fresh. Birds chirped from time to time. It was nothing like the previous stations he had encountered, all ruined, lifeless, and crawling with zombies.

He hadn't ridden his electric scooter because the forest paths were inconvenient. After walking for nearly twenty minutes, he finally caught sight of the so-called magic castle.

It was a blue-gray castle, not particularly grand.

Vines crawled over its weathered walls, and some windows were even half-covered by branches, making it look more like an abandoned old house.

An owl stood on a windowsill, lowering its head to preen the feathers on its chest. When it sensed Lu Xingyuan's arrival, it did not fly away. Instead, it tilted its head and studied him curiously.

"Damn, they hid this place deep."

Lu Xingyuan wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The walk here had really not been easy.

Still, he had found it. Next, he just had to clear out the so-called mushroom monsters.

Lu Xingyuan looked around and quickly spotted them.

Gray mushroom caps, pale white stems, and tiny bodies less than a foot tall.

Two shiny black round eyes were set beneath the edges of their caps, rolling about restlessly.

Their skinny arms and legs carried all sorts of weapons—rusty little daggers, crooked wooden swords, and toothpick spears longer than their bodies.

When they saw someone approaching, they shook their assorted weapons and tried their best to put on vicious expressions.

"That's it?"

Lu Xingyuan nearly laughed out loud.

Just how weak was Gu Wanqing that she couldn't even deal with this kind of trash?

But in the next second, his expression changed.

The soil split open without warning, and mushroom monster after mushroom monster burrowed out. They packed the ground densely, hundreds upon thousands of them, instantly turning the area before him into a gray ocean!

Even more terrifyingly, they were remarkably well-trained.

"Form ranks! Charge!"

"Kill!!!"

They erupted with the overwhelming momentum of tigers devouring ten thousand miles!

All right!

Lu Xingyuan swallowed and decided to take back what he had just said.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

The battle began. The submachine gun continuously spat blinding muzzle flashes as dense bullets rained down with precision upon the charging mushroom monsters.

Their bodies were incredibly fragile, perhaps even weaker than Level 1 zombies, but there were simply too many of them. They were still quite troublesome for Lu Xingyuan to deal with!

Fortunately, he had unlimited bullets. After a hard fight, he achieved the glorious result of trading zero losses for a thousand kills.

"Can these mushroom monsters be eaten?"

Looking at their mangled corpses, Lu Xingyuan fell into thought. Maybe I could sell them to Sister Qing at a high price?

Forget it. Mushrooms were not something to eat carelessly, or he might end up seeing his dog dancing.

The owl on the windowsill witnessed everything, spread its wings, and flew away.

Before long, the tightly shut castle doors opened.

A short figure walked out.

He truly looked like a little dwarf from a fairy tale, less than half a man's height, draped in coarse cloth, with a jingling ring of brass keys hanging at his waist and a beard longer than his face.

Lu Xingyuan's gaze swept across his face before finally settling on his white nose.

White...

"Welcome, train conductor from afar. Thank you for clearing the mushroom monsters around the castle. This has undoubtedly made traveling much more convenient for us."

"Don't mention it."

Lu Xingyuan waved his hand.

"I now sincerely invite you to visit Pilas Magic Castle. Would you be willing?"

"Of course."

Hurry it up. I'm pressed for time. Once I get that Level 3 treasure chest, I can make my escape.

Upon entering the castle, Lu Xingyuan found that it was a different world inside. It was nowhere near as shabby as it appeared from the outside. A magnificent crystal chandelier hung from above, illuminating the castle brightly. The red carpet beneath his feet, made from some unknown beast hide, was exceptionally soft to walk on.

A wooden round table stood in the center, with goblets filled with red liquid.

And as he had hoped, Lu Xingyuan saw the other little dwarves. Some had pink noses, some had green noses, while others had black noses, gray noses...

In terms of appearance, they were not all that different. Their nose colors were the only way to tell them apart.

At that moment, they were all gathered around a small room and had not noticed Lu Xingyuan's arrival at all.

"Hey, fellows, look who I've brought! This is a legendary great train conductor!"

The white-nosed dwarf's voice rang out loudly.

Yet no one turned around.

The white-nosed dwarf clenched his fists, forcing out a smile as he looked at Lu Xingyuan.

"Great train conductor, please excuse them. They aren't usually this rude."

With that, he hurried over to them.

"What are you all doing?! Don't you know that a distinguished guest has arrived?!"

But all he received in response were terrified faces.

The white-nosed dwarf clearly realized that something was wrong. He instinctively looked into the room.

Inside, a little dwarf lay motionless in a pool of blood. His nose was a vivid red, and his wide-open eyes revealed deep terror.

"Ah—!"

Screams soon echoed through the castle.

Behind them, Lu Xingyuan, who had long known how the story would unfold, remained expressionless.

So we're entering the plot already?

Works for me.