I Want to Go Home
[Next stop-Homecoming Station.]
After the announcement ended.
The atmosphere in the carriage visibly changed.
Finally.
The last stop.
As long as they got off.
This A-rank instance would most likely be over.
But no one dared truly relax.
Especially after what Ning Hongzhuang had just said.
"How can you be sure that place really is your homecoming?"
Shen Niannian looked down at her ticket.
[Destination: Homecoming Station]
The words clearly hadn't changed.
But for some reason.
The longer she looked, the more something felt wrong.
Cheng Ye was evidently going back over the original rules too.
A few seconds later.
He suddenly spoke. "Of the original six rules for riding the train, there's one that was never really triggered from beginning to end."
Everyone immediately looked at him.
Cheng Ye raised his head.
"Rule six."
[When the announcement says "The terminal station is approaching," please make sure you still remember where you are going.]
Shen Niannian's eyes flickered.
That's right!
This rule had seemed strange from the moment they boarded.
The other rules all corresponded to clear dangers.
Sitting in the wrong seat.
Looking out the window.
The train attendant with the black badge.
The tickets.
Only the sixth rule.
Simply told them-
To remember where they were going.
Just then.
The lights in the carriage suddenly dimmed.
The pitch-black wilderness was no longer outside the window.
Instead, city lights appeared.
Shen Niannian looked over instinctively.
She froze.
That was Jiangcheng.
To be precise.
It was the old neighborhood where she currently lived.
The convenience store.
The bus stop.
The twenty-four-hour noodle shop on the corner.
Even the apartment building where she rented a place appeared in the distance.
Comments instantly flooded the livestream.
"Isn't that Jiangcheng?"
"How did the platform in Shen Niannian's livestream turn into the area near her home?"
"Oh my god, does Homecoming Station really turn into the player's home?"
The other players reacted one after another too.
Zhou Min's eyes instantly reddened.
"That's my hometown."
Another man was breathing rapidly.
"I can see my mom..."
On the platform outside the window.
An old woman had actually appeared.
She was even carrying a lunch box.
She kept waving toward the carriage.
"A-Hao, come home and eat."
The man's eyes reddened at once.
Cheng Ye immediately warned them sternly. "Don't be so quick to believe what you see! Everyone, look at your tickets first and check what your destination says!"
Several people looked down at once.
[Homecoming Station]
They were all the same.
But the next second.
The announcement sounded again.
[The terminal station is approaching.] [All passengers, please confirm your homecoming destination.]
The tickets suddenly began to heat up.
Below the original [Destination: Homecoming Station].
A blank line slowly appeared.
[Homecoming destination: ________]
Shen Niannian's eyelid twitched.
Here it comes.
The real final hurdle!
At the front of the carriage.
The conductor reappeared.
Still wearing that black uniform.
It had no face.
Only roiling black mist remained beneath the brim of its cap.
It held a thick register in its hand.
"Before arriving at Homecoming Station, you must complete your final homecoming registration."
"Please answer one question each, in order."
The conductor spoke slowly.
"Where are you going back to?"
The entire carriage fell silent in an instant.
Even the livestream comments paused for a moment.
This question.
Sounded far too simple.
But the simpler it was.
The less anyone dared to answer.
The first player questioned was named Zhao Hao.
He was the man who had just seen his mother.
The conductor stood before him.
"Where are you going back to?"
Zhao Hao looked out the window.
The old woman was still waving on the platform.
"A-Hao, the food's getting cold."
Tears immediately fell from Zhao Hao's eyes.
"I want to go home."
Click.
The ticket made a soft sound.
[Homecoming destination: Home]
Zhao Hao froze for a moment.
He hadn't died.
There was no rule violation notice.
Even the conductor nodded slightly.
"Registration complete."
Quite a few people in the carriage visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
"So we really just say where we want to go back to?"
"Then can't I just say Jiangcheng?"
An argument also broke out in the livestream.
"Looks like there's no problem!"
"Zhao Hao registered successfully!"
"No way it's really that simple, right?"
But Cheng Ye didn't relax in the slightest.
He stared fixedly at Zhao Hao's ticket.
"Don't answer yet!"
But it was already too late.
The train slowly pulled into the station.
Above the platform.
A huge sign appeared in everyone's sight.
It didn't say [Homecoming Station].
Instead, it said-
[Home]
Zhao Hao's face lit up with wild joy.
"We're here!"
The doors opened.
He stood up almost immediately.
"Mom!"
Cheng Ye suddenly shouted, "Don't get off!"
But Zhao Hao had already rushed out the door.
The old woman on the platform smiled and opened her arms.
"I'm glad you're back."
Zhao Hao threw his arms around her.
The next second.
The old woman's face slowly split open down the middle.
There was no blood.
Only endless darkness.
Zhao Hao didn't even have time to scream.
His entire body was swallowed by that split-open face.
[Player Zhao Hao has died.] [Players currently alive: 8]
The carriage fell deathly silent.
The "Home" on the platform.
Vanished in an instant.
Outside the window, everything returned to pitch black.
The livestream exploded.
"Holy shit!"
"Saying home was wrong!"
"The registration clearly succeeded!"
"Can even 'successful registration' be a lie at the end of this instance?!"
Shen Niannian's heart gave a violent thud.
That was the most insidious thing about Homecoming Station.
It wouldn't tell you your answer was wrong.
Instead, it would actually generate a "destination" for you.
And then-
Send you there.
Cheng Ye had already lowered his head to reread the rules.
Soon enough.
He looked up sharply.
"Rule six never told us to remember 'where home is.'"
"It said-remember where you're going."
Everyone froze.
Cheng Ye said, word by word, "From the moment we boarded, our tickets have had only one destination."
"Homecoming Station."
Shen Niannian finally understood.
Right!
The conductor had asked:
"Where are you going back to?"
Not:
"Where is your home?"
And the players' actual destination.
Had been written on their tickets all along!
[Homecoming Station]
The so-called "home."
Jiangcheng.
Some address in the real world.
They were all lures created by Homecoming Station!
Just then.
The conductor walked up to the next player.
"Where are you going back to?"
The man's face was pale.
He glanced at Cheng Ye.
Then gritted his teeth and answered:
"Homecoming Station."
Hum-!
His ticket lit up.
[Homebound destination: Homecoming Station]
Nothing went wrong.
The conductor nodded.
"Registration complete."
This time.
Nothing changed outside the window.
Cheng Ye's gaze finally showed certainty.
"That's right."
Next.
Zhou Min.
The other players.
Answered one after another.
Every answer was-
"Homecoming Station."
No one came to harm.
At last.
The conductor came to Shen Niannian.
The entire livestream fell silent.
"Miss Shen."
The conductor was clearly much more polite to her than to the other players.
"May I ask where you're going back to?"
Shen Niannian looked down at her ticket.
The answer was already perfectly clear.
Homecoming Station.
But just as she was about to speak.
The view outside the window suddenly brightened.
It wasn't Jiangcheng.
It was-
A completely unfamiliar world.
A blood-red sky.
Towering black city walls.
Countless eerie beings knelt prostrate on both sides of a long street.
At the end of the road.
Stood a pitch-black palace so tall its top was almost out of sight.
Shen Niannian froze.
(⊙_⊙)
Where is this?
Ning Hongzhuang's previously indifferent expression.
Also changed visibly for the first time after she saw what was outside the window.
She shot to her feet.
"Don't look."
Two words.
Her tone was more forceful than ever.
Shen Niannian immediately looked away.
But in that instant just now.
She had distinctly seen-
At the very top of the palace.
There seemed to be a person sitting there.
And the Identity Archive had even displayed a prompt on its own.
[Extremely high-authority identity projection detected.] [Current authority insufficient.] [Inspection unavailable.]
Shen Niannian's heart gave a violent leap.
Inspection unavailable again!
The conductor, however, was still standing in front of her.
Quietly waiting for her answer.
"Miss Shen."
"Where are you going back to?"
Shen Niannian closed her eyes briefly.
Whatever was outside the window.
It wasn't what she should be pursuing now.
Inside an instance.
Trust the rules first.
Then trust yourself.
Only trust your eyes last.
She opened her eyes again.
And answered very clearly:
"I'm going to Homecoming Station."
Hum-!
The black-and-gold ticket suddenly lit up.
[Homebound destination: Homecoming Station] [Identity confirmed.] [Valid rides: 1]
The conductor visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
And even bowed slightly.
"I wish you a smooth journey home."
Shen Niannian: "..."
(￣ー￣)
She didn't know why.
But hearing a peak A-rank boss wish her a polite journey home.
Somehow felt strange.
Cheng Ye, however, hadn't noticed any of that.
He was staring at the last line of the prompt.
[Valid rides: 1]
The next second.
The train's announcement finally sounded.
[All valid passengers have completed homebound registration.] [The Lightless Train will soon arrive at its final station.] [All passengers, please prepare to disembark.]
At the end of the carriage.
A white train door that had never appeared before.
Slowly opened.
Beyond the door.
There was no platform.
Only a field of blinding white light.
And on everyone's ticket.
One final line appeared at the same time.
[Do not look back after disembarking.]
Shen Niannian stared at those words.
Silently tightening her grip on her ticket.
The final step.
As long as she crossed it.
The second A-rank instance-
Should be over.