Chapter 28: The Shadowed World

Although he watched the female corpse run off into the distance, Han Qianliu stood there dazed for a moment. Yet, in another sense, he felt relieved. He had been entangled with the corpse for quite some time, unable to subdue her, relying solely on his agility and quick thinking to keep himself safe. If not for the sudden appearance of that arrow, he would have had no way to drive her back. He was not weak in a direct confrontation, but it wasn’t his specialty.

Catching his breath, he leapt a few times and arrived at the side of Mu Rongxun and the other two.

“Thank you for your help just now,” he said, bowing respectfully to Mu Rongxun, who was crouched on the ground.

“But why did you come here?” he asked. He could tell that Xu Ying and her companion were newly awakened, inexperienced rookies. Mu Rongxun’s second arrow had impressed him, but it seemed like a one-off, not a standard technique. With this level of strength, coming here was courting death.

“Ask him. We don’t know what’s going on either,” Xu Ying replied, pointing at Mu Rongxun. She and her companion didn’t even know where they were, let alone answer any questions.

After a moment’s recovery, Mu Rongxun had caught his breath. He had only expended a large amount of energy in a sudden burst, leaving him a bit tired.

“Mu Rongxun, Special Bureau. May I ask how to leave the Ghost Abyss?” he said.

“So, you’re one of us,” Han Qianliu smiled, then looked at him with a peculiar expression. “You don’t know where this is, but you know about the Ghost Abyss?”

“Isn’t this the Ghost Abyss?” For once, Mu Rongxun looked genuinely confused. He had assumed, based on the mission prompt, that this place was the Ghost Abyss.

“Of course this isn’t the Ghost Abyss. If you’d entered it, you wouldn’t be so safe. But if you know nothing, how did you end up here?” Han Qianliu asked.

Mu Rongxun fell silent, and Xu Ying explained how they had taken the bus, witnessed something strange, and recounted what happened afterward. However, their knowledge was limited, so Han Qianliu found her account rather muddled.

“You’d better explain,” he said. “I’m Han Qianliu, Deputy Director of the Special Bureau.”

“I’m from the Second Squad of Operations,” Mu Rongxun revealed his identity. “I went to investigate the Ghost Bus, encountered an anomalous attack, jumped off the Ghost Bus with them, arrived here, then bought a short-distance ticket to take the rail train and ended up here.”

He summarized their actions in concise words and explained that Xu Ying and her companion were flame awakeners, which made Han Qianliu take them more seriously—his chances of completing the mission were higher.

“So you’re saying the Ghost Bus actually takes both people and anomalies to the Ghost Abyss?”

Han Qianliu was astonished; he hadn’t known this.

“Yes,” Mu Rongxun nodded, trusting the mission instructions.

“Looks like I’ll have to investigate that Ghost Bus thoroughly,” Han Qianliu said, his expression solemn. Bringing both people and anomalies into the Ghost Abyss was no small matter; there was much to ponder behind it.

“Where are we?” Mu Rongxun asked, voicing his chief concern. Since his main mission was to escape the Ghost Abyss, but this wasn’t the Ghost Abyss, it was worth considering what the real problem was.

“This is the Shadow World,” Han Qianliu explained. “It’s the dark side of reality, just a corner of it, but a sizable one. It corresponds to Tianhai University in the real world. All the darkness generated in reality is absorbed by the Shadow World, spawning ghosts and growing stronger. This place is also a node leading to the Ghost Abyss, so powerful anomalies must be regularly cleared out. You should leave, return to reality as soon as possible.”

“The Shadow World…” Mu Rongxun was startled. He’d suspected something similar, but having it confirmed was still surprising; such a place truly existed.

“How do we get back? We wanted to cross the campus and take the rail train on the other side, but we couldn’t make it,” Xu Ying asked hopefully, looking at the middle-aged man before her, who seemed far more reliable than the person beside her.

“Take the rail train? Are you trying to die?” Han Qianliu was speechless. “Don’t let the ticket booth fool you.”

“What do you mean?” Xu Ying and Zhang Jiao exchanged confused glances.

“Sigh, let me explain,” Han Qianliu said helplessly. He had no choice when faced with a group of rookies. “The ticket booth is actually a connection point between Shadow Worlds. The so-called short and long-distance tickets are passes; the rail train can travel between Shadow Worlds. Short-distance only lets you pass through one, while long-distance covers the whole route.”

Seeing the others listening intently, Han Qianliu nodded inwardly. Ignorance was nothing to fear; it was the unwillingness to learn that was dangerous. He plopped down on the ground, ignoring their expressions.

“But what you don’t know is that the rail train’s terminal is the Ghost Abyss. Actually, it’s not really a terminal—the rail train is a loop, always running, with no beginning or end. Some of its stops lead directly to the Ghost Abyss.”

He paused.

“There’s simply no way out of here! No matter how much you search, it’s pointless. I’m still looking for the passage myself.”

“Even you can’t get out?” Xu Ying grew anxious.

“Who said I can’t leave?” Han Qianliu replied helplessly. “I need to find the passage and seal it, cut off the connection between this Shadow World and the Ghost Abyss!”

Hearing this, the two girls breathed a sigh of relief. They had just experienced a ride from heaven to hell, then back again.

“There aren’t many direct links from the Shadow World to the Ghost Abyss, are there?” Mu Rongxun asked.

“Of course not. Otherwise, how could our Special Bureau possibly defend reality? Reality would have fallen long ago,” Han Qianliu sighed. “But there was still a problem. One Shadow World with a passage fell; headquarters suppressed it quickly, but some escaped, creating hidden dangers in reality.”

Thinking of his fallen comrades, his expression darkened.

Mu Rongxun was silent. He had many questions, but none seemed important now. For a moment, he didn’t know what to ask.

“I have a passage bead here. Take it and leave quickly!” Han Qianliu tossed a faintly glowing bead to Mu Rongxun.

“Won’t you come with us?” Xu Ying looked at the warm-hearted man.

“No, I have a mission,” Han Qianliu sighed. “I need to find and seal the passage. Otherwise, the anomalies will keep coming, pouring in from the Ghost Abyss, until this place collapses again. That would be a disaster.”

He paused, then continued, “And who knows where that powerful corpse-type anomaly came from—it killed the former king of anomalies here. If you hadn’t helped, I wouldn’t have been able to deal with it!”

Hearing him mention the previous anomaly, Mu Rongxun’s heart stirred. He felt a strange familiarity with it, though he couldn’t recall why. He hadn’t encountered any formidable anomalies before, so he was left without a clue.