Tacet Discord Congestion Ahead, Train Requests a Delay
The sound of the train whistle came from the platform, sounding somewhat muffled through the glass curtain wall.
The air conditioning in the carriage was blasting. Dania huddled by the window, clutching a bag of original flavor potato chips, her favorite taste.
She fumbled for a while, pulled out a piece, and took a bite. The sound of her chewing was particularly clear in the quiet private room.
Zhou Yu leaned back in her chair, looking down at her phone.
Then a loud bang was heard.
The sound of metal scraping against metal was so sharp it made your teeth ache, and the entire train suddenly jolted violently without warning—the immense inertia hurled everyone forward.
Dania was lifted into the air, and golden crumbs scattered in mid-air after the bag of chips slipped from her hand.
Zhou Yu didn't even raise his head. He reached out with his left hand to block her chest and then pulled her head towards his shoulder. The movement was so fast that it was completely instinctive.
Once the train car had come to a complete stop, the floor was covered with potato chip crumbs.
The overhead lights flashed three times and then went out with a snap.
After a few seconds of hissing and crackling announcements, the flight attendant's panicked voice came through.
"Urgent report: The area between the Desorock Highland and the Norfall Barrens border... has encountered a wave of Tacet Discord. The energy of the Inferno Rider has erupted, and the train is indefinitely delayed."
The words "indefinitely" made Zhou Yu's temples throb.
He turned his phone screen back on and glanced at it. The Jinzhou Hot Pot schedule was still at the top. He had reserved a table for twelve people for 7 p. m. and ordered six servings of tripe.
He glanced at the time at the top of the screen; it was exactly 4:05.
Four hours is usually more than enough, but the idea of an unlimited timeframe is completely unreasonable. The hotel, cruise, and souvenir shops are all connected, one link after another.
Modifying a few physical parameters or finding a terrain loophole to trap the Tacet Discord isn't difficult, but he just finds it too much trouble. A vacation is a vacation, and energy needs to be planned.
Besides, this place is under someone else's jurisdiction.
If he were to resort to violence and incur questioning, investigation, and reports from Jinzhou, the remaining vacation days wouldn't be enough to cover such an ordeal.
He pressed the lock screen button.
As I pushed open the door and stepped down, the iron footboard hit the gravel on the roadbed with a dull thud.
Dania followed him down, looking down at the potato chip crumbs scattered all over the ground with heartache.
The sky was overcast and oppressive, and the sun was completely invisible in the distance, with only a hazy, gray light.
A purple beam of light shot straight into the clouds from the ground three kilometers away.
The Thundering Mephis hovered in mid-air, and purple lightning followed the scales, striking the rocks in the wilderness with a deafening roar that sent shards of rock flying.
Feilian Beringal stood on the ground and pounded his chest with both fists, producing a dull thud that could be heard several kilometers away.
Further away, small swarms of Tacet Discord moved rapidly across the ground, kicking up large clouds of dust.
Sigelica deftly removed her backpack, and with a click, her riot shield popped open, her nerves on edge.
"Standard response for the Lahai-Roi Defense Line: All personnel, form ranks!"
Chisa stood by the roadside, placed her thumb on the hilt of her sword, and pushed it open slightly to reveal a faint, cold light—the temperature in the air immediately dropped.
Chisaki rapidly tapped on the screen of her tablet to analyze the data.
"The energy wave peak has exceeded the threshold, classified as Overlord Class. The train's armor will absolutely not withstand a frontal impact."
Linnai pulled Aimis crouched in the shadows at the junction of the carriages.
Zhou Yu wasn't in a hurry looking at the situation. He opened his canvas bag, took out a black plastic bag full of sunflower seeds, and casually pulled out a pair of black tactical sunglasses, placing them on his nose to block the strong light.
Sigelica turned to look at him in disbelief.
"Manager Zhou, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and use your hands to trap these monsters underground!"
Zhou Yu slowly cracked open a sunflower seed, the shell making a crisp cracking sound.
"No, it's too tiring."
Sigelica's expression visibly froze for a moment.
"But the car can't get through at all now. Forget about having hot pot, we'll all die here!"
Zhou Yu casually spat out the sunflower seed shells, the white fragments falling directly into the pile of rubble. Then, she raised her chin and pointed casually ahead.
"This is their territory; vying to attack their monsters is a serious disruption to workplace unity."
Sigelica looked in the direction he indicated.
The azure wind field beneath the pillar of light was gradually taking shape, and the air currents swirled and converged into a towering barrier. The Midnight Rangers soldiers had already formed ranks, their long spears arranged in a tight formation.
At the forefront, Jiyan strode forward, gripping his heavy blade horizontally. The azure wind emanating from his body coalesced into a long, narrow structure, carrying a powerful airflow that crashed directly into Feilian Beringal. The swirling debris slammed into the ground with a series of muffled thuds.
Zhou Yu casually peeled open the second sunflower seed.
"These are the performance indicators for the Midnight Rangers. The general is leading his men to work like crazy. If we go there, we'll just be stealing their spot. We won't get overtime pay, and we'll even drag down their performance evaluation."
He chewed on sunflower seeds and turned to look at Chisa not far away.
"As for our security team, it's time to show them the true value of 30,000 star coins a night."
Chisa slowly released her grip on the hilt of the sword, her gaze fixed on him coldly.
"My only mission is to protect the two of you; actively eliminating the oversized Tacet Discord is not part of my contract."
Zhou Yu immediately took out his phone and brought up the logistics approval system, where a long string of budget figures was displayed on the screen.
"This money was personally approved by the principal. If we can't have hot pot tonight, all subsequent activities will be canceled. I will not only refund this money but also include a complaint letter stating that inadequate security led to the mission's failure."
He paused deliberately, then delivered his final warning in his usual casual, conversational tone.
"If this adds a 'black mark' to your resume, you should decide how it will affect you."
Chisa stared at the huge sum of money on the screen for a few seconds in silence, then helplessly turned to look at the Tacet Discord in front of her.
"I'll clear the roadblocks, you guys stay close."
She drew her sword swiftly, her tone flat but her movements noticeably faster.
"Hot pot at 7 PM, no exceptions."
Zhou Yu put away his phone and didn't say another word.
Chisa suddenly pushed off the ground, sending rubble flying backward as she charged into the wilderness, rushing towards the monster horde at incredible speed.
Sigelica gritted her teeth, raised her shield, and followed to provide cover, her heavy steps accompanied by a string of complaints.
"I must be out of my mind to believe those damn schedules you set!"
Zhou Yu completely ignored her protests, slowly took out a folding stool from his canvas bag, unfolded it, and sat down. The stool's legs were slightly tilted due to the gravel by the railway tracks, so he casually shifted his body to adjust his center of gravity.
Dania squatted obediently to the side, her arms casually resting on her knees, her chin propped up, intently watching the battle in the distance.
Zhou Yu calmly peeled an orange. The slight cracking sound as he tore the peel, accompanied by a splash of juice on his fingertips that left a slightly sticky feeling, allowed him to casually break off a segment and offer it directly to Dania's lips.
Dania habitually opened her mouth and bit down, chewing twice with her cheeks bulging.
"Xiao Yu, that gorilla over there looks like it's all meat on its body."
"You can't eat the Tacet Discord's meat. You'd better save your room for a few more plates of tripe tonight."
Chisaki stood at the carriage door holding a tablet, the monitoring data on the screen continuously scrolling. She reached up and pushed up her glasses to confirm the recorded results. The target, Zhou Yu, was peeling an orange at the scene of a devastating disaster with a heart rate of only seventy beats per minute, extremely stable.
She stared at the strange data and fell into a long silence, unable to help but suspect that this person didn't take the apocalyptic crisis seriously at all, treating it merely as a regular traffic jam that would delay her from eating hot pot.
They even used a reimbursement limit of 30,000 star coins as bait to easily dump the heavy physical labor on two top combatants. Although they didn't write these subjective judgments into the records, the logical chain in their minds was already completely in place.
On the front lines of the battlefield, Chisa's longsword had precisely sliced into Feilian Beringal's arm, and the purple cracks caused by the twisting blade spread rapidly outwards along the broken wound.
Sigelica raised her shield and bravely withstood the direct lightning strike from Thundering Mephis. Dazzling sparks flew everywhere, and the enormous impact carved two deep trenches at her feet, yet she stood firm, not retreating an inch.
Jiyan swung his heavy blade in a sweeping motion, the powerful wind pressure instantly shredding the remaining purple lightning in mid-air. He glanced at the two unfamiliar faces beside him out of the corner of his eye—they were indeed extremely powerful, but considering the urgency of the battlefield situation, he did not ask them anything.
Zhou Yu calmly popped the second orange segment into Dania's mouth, raised his wrist to check the scratched old-fashioned black digital watch, and saw that there were exactly three hours and fifty-five minutes left until seven o'clock. He then neatly folded the orange peel in his hand and placed it on the edge of the stool.
A fierce wind, carrying the acrid smell of war, blew against his face, and he sniffed it absentmindedly.
"This tripe dish needs two extra bowls of sesame oil and minced garlic sauce."