novelraw Chapter 101: Lost in the Rift
Chapter 101: Lost in the Rift
“Guest... please find your seat and be seated... wish you a pleasant journey.”
Accompanied by the piercing mechanical welcome from the horn, he had already arrived in a brand-new world, a world without a sun.
Chen Qi quickly scanned the surroundings.
The carriage walls were covered with heavy copper plates and rust, embedded with intricate gears and springs.
Light filtered from the overhead steam lamps, casting mottled shadows inside the dim carriage, throwing long shadows that seemed like countless eyes watching in the dark.
Beneath his feet, the trembling iron plates shook with every step, letting him feel the carriage’s relentless thundering across the ground.
In front of him, a black-hatted old man sat in a simple seat, his face blank, endlessly flipping through an old newspaper.
But the most terrifying sight was outside the window.
It was the scene of the Lightless Era—endless black hills, with the dark sky writhing ceaselessly.
The Rift of Shadow and Lamp affinity was as terrifying as ever... Chen Qi thought to himself.According to the information An gave him, the key points to check in the carriage were the horn’s sound, the scenery outside the window, the old man’s appearance, the drink on the ground, the shadow beneath the seat, and the spiritual energy field throughout the carriage.
If all of these matched the first carriage, then the carriage was normal and he could proceed forward.
Otherwise, if any anomaly appeared, he must immediately retreat and enter the next carriage anew.
A misstep in operation would lead to an ambush by shadow monsters.
In theory, this was a Rift that could be passed without injury as long as calm was maintained.
Why had so many hunters failed then?
Chen Qi stayed vigilant, confirming each key point in front of him according to the guide.
The horn sounded normal, the scenery outside the window was normal, the old man reading the newspaper was normal, the shadow under the seat was normal.
“Everything is normal, moving to the next carriage.”
Chen Qi thought, stepping forward with crisp footsteps toward the second carriage.
His feet landed on the second carriage floor.
“Guest... please find your seat and be seated... wish you a pleasant journey.”
The horn sounded again.
The moment he entered the second carriage, Chen Qi’s inspiration sensed an anomaly!
The scenery outside the window was normal.
But the old man reading the newspaper ahead had grown a bright red eye on the back of his head and a black mouth.
The black mouth curled slightly, as if smiling at the entire train:
“Guest, do you want to have some fun?”
“Pretty scary...”
Chen Qi couldn’t help but curse silently.
Without hesitation, his index finger lightly slid across the blade.
Huge blue ghostfire flared along the blade.
After all, he had fought alongside the Coastal Apex Predators before.
But the atmosphere on this train was so oppressive that his courage was limited; he had to use firepower to dispel the fear!
“??”
What was going on?
The ‘old man reading the newspaper’ seemed frightened, instinctively stepping back.
As it retreated, its true form was revealed—countless twisted black pustules growing from its body:
“Human...”
There was no need to give it time to speak!
Draw blade. Ghostfire slash!
Chen Qi activated his energy, stepped forward, and slashed upward from his waist, tracing a brilliant ghostfire arc in the air.
The black monster’s blood splattered everywhere!
The blue flames tore through the narrow carriage in an instant.
“Ahhhhh!!!”
The old man didn’t even have time to show its true form before turning into charred fragments under the tear of ghostfire and black smoke.
[Human shadow monster killed, gained 120 spiritual points.]
“Phew...”
Chen Qi looked at the prompt and exhaled deeply.
Ghostfire Oil was an extraordinary flame ignited by spiritual energy, capable of massive damage to shadow monsters.
Luckily, I reacted fast enough and my firepower was strong!
Indeed, only the blade in my hand can ease the fear brought by darkness.
Chen Qi squatted down and checked under the seat again.
The spiritual energy fluctuations here were abnormal too.
“Waaah wah wah!”
The shadow beneath the seat seemed to see a monster, writhing endlessly toward the corner.
They were frightened.
“No powerful monsters here, this carriage is abnormal, moving back.”
Chen Qi placed the Black Blade on his shoulder.
Then he returned to the previous carriage and moved forward again.
Normal, move forward...
Abnormal, slash everything, gain 200 spiritual points, retreat...
Normal, move forward...
...
“Guest... please find your seat and be seated... wish you a pleasant journey.”
Chen Qi maintained his focus, repeatedly advancing, until finally reaching the twentieth carriage.
At this moment, the driving carriage at the head was no more than five carriages ahead.
Surprisingly easy, this Rift was not as difficult as imagined.
Chen Qi squatted down.
The scene in front of him was beyond his expectations.
The old man reading the newspaper’s corpse lay on the ground, bleeding a large amount of dark brown blood.
Many of the carriage chairs looked smashed by heavy hammers, severely damaged.
Another terrifying scene... Chen Qi took out the adorable Deepsea Water Spirit No. 1 from his Backpack Card and petted it.
“Waku waku (Master, hug me!)”
The Deepsea Water Spirit nudged closer.
Thankfully, during this horrifying carriage journey, he still had the cute water spirit accompanying him.
“Abnormal...”
Chen Qi instinctively stepped back, preparing to retreat.
However, he suddenly questioned himself:
“Is it really abnormal?”
Chen Qi rejected that option.
Although the scene in front was vastly different from the first carriage,
his inspiration told him the spiritual energy field in this carriage was completely normal.
Spiritual energy fluctuation was the key to judging carriage normality.
The fallen old man’s corpse, the destroyed chairs, everything seemed like a scene intentionally sabotaged by someone.
Chen Qi squatted and carefully observed again.
There was absolutely no trace of shadow monsters in the entire carriage.
Something was misleading him.
He was almost fooled by this clumsy setup.
“Finally, something a bit interesting...”
Chen Qi’s mouth curled slightly, his cheeks flushing as he showed a trace of excited smile.
After walking so far, he finally encountered something strange.
This was what a Rift with high distortion and high death rate looked like!
The Black Blade in Chen Qi’s hand was already ravenous.
The Black Blade slowly scraped the floor, drawing scorching flames on the rusty board.
The Black Blade sliced through the twenty-first carriage.
The instant he stepped in, the mechanical horn sounded an unprecedentedly terrifying voice.
“Guest... since you’re here, don’t leave... we will pass through the gutter together... and arrive at the flower sea on the other shore...”
Chen Qi scanned around; negative spiritual energy pervaded the entire cramped carriage.
At this moment, the old man reading the newspaper had already turned into black fragments!
In his place lay a white-haired youth on the ground.
He wore the latest hunter uniform, with a new model Collector rifle at his waist.
At the same time, his legs were severely damaged, bleeding large amounts of dark brown blood.
Upon seeing Chen Qi enter, the white-haired youth shed tears and shouted:
“Finally, finally someone has come! I thought no other hunters would arrive!
Please help me, my leg is broken, pull me.
I’ll pay you. My family is wealthy—I can give you five million Shell Coins, plus valuable skill cards!”
“You need help?”
Chen Qi walked to his side, carefully sensing the monster’s spiritual energy.
Sure enough, it had already become a monster... He placed the Deepsea Water Spirit on the carriage seat.
The monster youth before him was undoubtedly the corpse the Navy Admiral entrusted him to retrieve.
But now, this corpse was wrapped in a frenzy of shadow energy.
Target acquired!
But judging from the demonic aura on this body, he would have to act as an exorcist for a while.
Chen Qi said excitedly:
“Little guy, a reminder: this Rift is a single-person Rift. It won’t allow two humans to exist at the same time.”
“...”
The moment he finished speaking, Chen Qi looked up, smiled slightly, gripped the Black Blade with both hands, then suddenly stabbed down toward the monster’s head!
Puchi!
Blue flames and black energy tore endlessly!
With a loud bang, the white youth’s skin instantly charred.
At the last moment, its figure twisted, turning into a residual shadow that violently distanced itself.
Boom! Boom!
Massive turbulent shadow energy surged within the carriage.
The entire carriage trembled continuously!
“Human!”
At this moment, carrying negative emotions, a monster’s whisper echoed again inside the carriage:
“You have already chosen the path to death...”
Bright red inspiration sparks jumped out.
[You have angered the No. 8 Train’s forbidden entity—Lost in the Rift!
Rift distortion increased by 5%!
Please pay attention to your life safety!]