Seeking Truth with a Sword

Chapter 421 - 372 Lonely

"The train stopped?"

Li Ang leaned closer to the window. The world outside was pitch black and silent.

Something was off. The stations for the Spiritual Energy Locomotives were all located near towns, and they would inevitably be brightly lit at night. Furthermore, driving regulations prohibited drivers from stopping in the wilderness.

"Is there a malfunction?"

He Fanshuang put down her brush and stood up. "I remember that if the train is forced to stop due to a malfunction, someone should quickly come to notify each compartment."

"I’ll go have a look."

Li Ang retracted his gaze and turned to walk out of the private compartment.

Because he was worried about Mo Si suddenly losing control, for this trip to Luoyang, he had still kept his Ink Silk Clone in the cave in East Chang’an. He also hadn’t deployed any Mo Si insects to follow the vehicle, so he had no idea what was happening outside.

The oil lamps in the corridor flickered dimly. Li Ang went directly to the compartment door. He flicked several strands of Mind Silk from his sleeve, piercing them into the door’s gap.

He had been deeply involved in the improvement plan for the Spiritual Energy Locomotives and was very familiar with every detail of the vehicles. For example, Alarm Talismans were hidden inside the doors, which would emit a sharp alert if someone tampered with them.

The Mind Silk extended, skillfully avoiding the well-hidden Alarm Talisman and slipping into the lock core. With a lift and a pull, it unlocked the door latch.

CLICK.

Li Ang opened the carriage door, and a cold night wind rushed to meet him.

The light cast by the hanging oil lamps in the corridor was too faint, barely allowing him to see the gravel-laid tracks beneath the carriage. Beyond that lay endless weeds, shrubs, and forests.

...

Li Ang’s eyes narrowed. The wilderness was shrouded in darkness, which wasn’t unusual, but strangely, the area in front of the carriage was also pitch black, without a single speck of light.

Could it be...

He walked down the steps from the carriage, leaving the door ajar, and stepped on the scattered gravel as he went to the front of the carriage.

It was empty. The locomotive and all the other carriages were gone. Only this last carriage, marked with the words "Carriage No. 19," and the lone coupler at its front remained.

It had been detached, or rather, deliberately left behind.

At this point, the passengers in the carriage also began to sense that something was amiss. The doors to compartments along both sides of the corridor opened, and many passengers, some with families, peeked out, whispering amongst themselves.

"What’s going on?"

"Why has the train stopped?"

"Where’s the train conductor?"

A chorus of hushed voices arose.

He Fanshuang’s brow furrowed slightly. She folded her drawing paper, tucked it into a book, and stepped out of the compartment into the corridor.

At the same time, Li Ang reboarded the carriage and shook his head at He Fanshuang, whispering, "The front carriages have disappeared."

"An accident?"

"An incident."

Li Ang did not use the word "anomaly"; instead, he pulled out a strangely shaped iron rod.

He Fanshuang asked, "What’s that?"

"A hook pin, for securing the coupler," Li Ang explained. "Initially, Dr. Su Feng and the others used a plug-in type coupler. On my advice, they switched to a separation coupling, which is more efficient and stronger."

The separation coupling was also known in his Otherworld memories as the Janney coupling. When two couplers move close to each other, the knuckle is struck, causing it to rotate, and the locking pin inside will automatically drop, securing the couplers firmly—much like two hands gripping each other tightly. To separate them, one only needed to lift the hook pin on the coupler, allowing the couplers to come apart.

"Something pulled the hook pin while the train was moving, leaving us stranded here," Li Ang said calmly. "It could be the Demon Sect, or it could be something else."

"I’ll notify the Academic Palace."

He Fanshuang immediately took out a rectangular, hollowed-out copper plate hidden in her jade pendant from her belt, pouring Spiritual Energy into it in an attempt to contact the Academic Palace.

BUZZ—

The copper plate vibrated for a long time but received no response.

Li Ang silently watched He Fanshuang’s attempts. He had already lost contact with his Ink Silk Clone in East Chang’an, once again disconnected from the other Mo Si.

The last time I encountered such a situation was at the Jialan Sect...

Li Ang was certain that he and everyone in this carriage had been caught up in some kind of anomaly. He couldn’t help but sigh deeply in his heart.

Why do such incidents always happen to me? It was the same during the incident at the Jialan Sect, and during the Chinese Valentine’s Day as well. Is the principle that anomalies attract each other really so effective?

While grumbling, he was also rapidly pondering. Who could be behind this? Zhao Ming? No, that’s unlikely. The Mountain Master has been missing for so long and hasn’t even returned to oversee something as important as the Spiritual Energy Locomotives. Judging by the attitudes of Sacrificial Officer Chen Danqiu and the others, they are likely searching for clues about Zhao Ming across the land, perhaps even hunting down Zhao Ming’s followers. This place is only a little over a hundred kilometers from Chang’an; Zhao Ming wouldn’t take such a significant risk to target me again. The remnants of the Demon Sect or the Former Sui Sect? What would be their motive? The Academic Palace is currently at its zenith. If an accident befell the train, it would undoubtedly provoke a fierce counterattack from the Academic Palace, thereby tearing up any previous tacit understanding. Could it be some faction whose vested interests were affected by the Chang’an-Luoyang railway? Or perhaps, someone nursing a grudge against a particular individual on this train...

Li Ang’s thoughts raced, but his expression remained unchanged. He looked at the anxious passengers in the corridor, carefully observing each person’s expression.

"What happened?"

A familiar voice came from the rear of the carriage. A figure in attire similar to the Academic Palace uniform emerged from a compartment, raising an eyebrow upon seeing Li Ang and He Fanshuang at the front of the carriage.

"Pei Jing?" Li Ang looked at his classmate in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I went to Luoyang to pick up my younger brother and bring him back to Chang’an." Pei Jing moved aside slightly, revealing a six or seven-year-old child holding his hand. The child was dressed in luxurious brocade clothes and had a timid expression. "I read in the newspaper that you were going to Lizheng Academy for an exchange. I didn’t expect we’d be returning in the same carriage."

He paused, his gaze fixing on the hook pin in Li Ang’s hand. He promptly squatted down to say a few words to his younger brother, then handed the boy to several Pei family guards in the same compartment. He himself walked through the corridor to Li Ang’s side and asked in a low voice, "Did someone tamper with things to leave this carriage here?"

"And we can’t get in touch with the Academic Palace." He Fanshuang gently shook the copper plate in her hand. Her academic performance was far superior; she had long surpassed the half-hearted Li Ang to reclaim the top spot in their year. The Supervision Department also thought highly of her and had provided her with an expensive Communication Copper Plate.

Pei Jing said nothing, taking a seal from his belt and infusing Spiritual Energy into it—clearly a communication device from the Pei family. After a moment, he shook his head and put the seal away. "I can’t get through to my family either. Someone has blocked Spiritual Energy communications."

"At night, train attendants patrol the carriages. According to standard procedure, they should be able to discover this carriage’s disappearance within 15 minutes and send someone to look for us right away," Li Ang said. "Are there any other Cultivators on the train? I still have some Alarm Talismans here..."

BLARE! BOOM! CRASH!—

Without any warning, an extremely loud and boisterous sound of drums and music suddenly came from afar.

The expressions of the three changed slightly, and they all looked out of the carriage door in unison.

In the far distance, they saw a wedding procession, adorned with red decorations and accompanied by the clamor of gongs and drums, slowly approaching along the tracks.