Chapter 223: Welcome

A man with a full beard was squatting on the roof of an old residential building in the east of the city. He was observing the downtown area through a pair of binoculars. Occasionally, he let out some expletives.

“The Constabulary hounds have tightened their security again. Things have become really tough...”

One of his team members showed up at the entrance to the roof and yelled at him, “Brother Tian, the leader has sent a telegram!”

“Why are you shouting? I can hear you just fine.”

Lao Tian got back and went to the entrance to take a look at the crumpled, damp telegram. He sighed in relief.

“Good. We don’t have to think of ways to plant bombs anymore. Put the rest of the bombs into the car and send them near the supermarket in front of us. When there are a lot of people inside, set them off. Notify Xiao Li to have some fun with the fireworks too.”

“But this place is quite far from the downtown area. Will it be useful?”

Lao Tian side-eyed him. “I want to bomb the downtown area too. Why don’t you do it?”

The team member immediately hunched his shoulders. “Forget it, then.”

Lao Tian huffed. “Just do as I said and stop arguing with me.”

“I’m just worried that we won’t fulfill the leader’s wishes.”

“The leader is smarter than you are. If you could think of it, how could he possibly not have?”

Lao Tian checked his watch. It was 3:25 a.m. In about two hours, the sky was going to turn bright. “Do as I said. I want to hear a loud bang before 6 a.m.!”

“Just watch me, Brother Tian.”

***

Chen Chuan’s team had reached the north of Spill Hill. There was no accessible road in the wilderness leading straight to Spill Hill. They had to stop at the foothill and cross the hill via the path the Constabulary had mapped for them until they reached the segment that would lead them to the railway.

Most of them were martial artists, and even the handful who weren’t had years of experience doing missions. They had plenty of stamina. Even if they had to carry heavy packs, they moved briskly through the mountain path. Before the sun was up, they reached their destination.

The Constabulary had picked this spot for them. The trees provided them cover, but they could see the railway around 250 meters away despite the dark.

Before them was a steep slope that was about fifty meters tall. Still, this was nothing to them. Should anything happen, they could swiftly climb down with tools.

Chen Chuan looked south. If a train came, it would need to go through a tunnel, which would take twenty seconds or so. It was the area where most attacks happened. Due to that, there was a sentry post set up nearby. The railway security guards came out to patrol the area once every hour.

Chen Chuan checked his watch.

It was 4:12 a.m..

The resistance group should be hiding nearby, though he wondered whether the cult and the cultist who was going to activate the ritual had already arrived.

For the time being, he had no idea what sort of effects the ritual would have.

But Chen Chuan wasn’t worried. He was prepared, and Lei Guangcheng had told him that the larger the scale of a ritual, the more difficult it was to control. If the cultist overlooked even the smallest part, he might lose control over the entire ritual.

Hence, the most worrisome part of a large-scale ritual was locating it. Once they found out where it was, they would have ways to destroy it.

***

Bao Yuan had brought his team to the back of a mountain in the north. They were several kilometers away from Chen Chuan’s group.

He checked his watch.

If there were no delays, the train would pass by at around 6:05 a.m.. Since the government had tightened security and patrol at this stretch of the railway, trying to bomb it was practically impossible.

Luckily for them, they weren’t going to rely on that.

Artist had promised that he would deliver similar results.

Bao Yuan didn’t know how Artist would do it, but he trusted the man. Artist had helped him accomplish many of his deeds, even though they had never met each other before.

Bao Yuan also suspected that Artist was a part of the resistance group and shared the same ideals as he did. That would explain why he kept helping him.

***

Two kilometers away, Lei Guangcheng hid in a sentry post with a few other people from the Cult Investigation Bureau.

Practically all the members had been mobilized for the operation, but they were waiting in the perimeter or other secluded areas. They had telegraph sets to ensure communication ran smoothly. The moment they saw any abnormal activity, they could react.

This operation was the largest over the last decade for the Cult Investigation Bureau, so the younger members were excited but also nervous. They kept glancing at their watches.

Time trickled by. At 5:55 a.m., the train was about to arrive at the stretch, just as scheduled. Suddenly, a Cult Investigation Bureau member pointed at the area above them and exclaimed, “Look!”

A hot-air balloon was flying above the mountain range.

Lei Guangcheng’s eyes fixed on it. He didn’t even need to think to know that the cultist was inside it.

Using a hot-air balloon was a good idea. It allowed him to take control over the ritual but also stay out of its range.

“Get ready. He should be up there,” he said.

Most of the Cult Investigation Bureau members came to a quick realization, but one member asked in puzzlement, “But how is he supposed to activate the ritual if he’s up there?”

A ritual could only be activated after its catalyst was inserted into the array. An incomplete ritual set-up was useless. Yet the cultist couldn’t activate the ritual before the train arrived. If that was the case, how could he possibly activate it from the sky?

After Lei Guangcheng saw the hot-air balloon, he figured out the cultist’s train of thought and said, “He doesn’t need to. The train is the catalyst.”

“The train?” The Cult Investigation Bureau members were shocked.

“Either his subordinates are in there, or he has tampered with the train itself. That way, he won’t need to perform the activation himself. Once the train arrives, the ritual will be activated. If it doesn’t, he can just come down from the hot-air balloon,” Lei Guangcheng said grimly and checked his watch.

6:02 a.m..

If the train was punctual, it would arrive soon.

***

Guan Yuming suddenly heard two loud explosions in the east and west while he was giving out commands near the downtown area.

He scowled. Even though they had done their best to find the bombs, they couldn’t lock down the entire city and didn’t have the manpower to sniff out the resistance group members hiding in alleys.

But aside from injuring civilians and creating chaos, bombing the places outside the downtown area was meaningless. So, this was just a way to restrain their movements so that they couldn’t mobilize the constables.

Guan Yuming sent two squads to the explosion sites before turning around and saying to the telegraph clerk, “Send word. ‘Downtown perimeter attacked with explosives. Exercise extreme caution.’”

***

A moment later, both Chen Chuan and Lei Guangcheng received the telegram one after another. If the city was attacked when the train was about to arrive, it meant that their enemies were about to make their move.

The Eternal Shun Train was heading toward Yangzhi City. It had seventeen carriages, and its facilities and interior furnishings were all top-class.

Aside from carrying normal passengers, the middle and back carriages housed the foreign company representatives heading to Yangzhi City for the meeting. Each company occupied one to two carriages. Most of their people were armed security guards. They had come with weapons and stab proof vests. A handful even wore protective gear.

Lindenberg, representative of Bolun Corporation, was watching the passing scenery. His assistant said, “Sir, the land outside the Great Shun Republic’s Central City is barren and dull. The people living in these cities are like cattle in pens. They’re barbaric and stupid. There’s nothing worth seeing here.”

“It’s the same everywhere in the world. It’s like that in the Great Shun Republic, and it’s the same in Norland. But Black Orchid had chosen to retreat to this city, so this land must have some amazing properties we don’t know of,” Lindenberg said and stopped looking at the scenery outside.

Instead, he started reading through the information regarding Yangzhi City. He wasn’t supposed to be the representative, but the man chosen for it had been transferred to another project, and the senior executives sent Lindenberg instead. Since he didn’t know the situation, he had to start doing his homework from scratch.

“Hmm?” He suddenly looked up and removed his brown, decorative glasses. His implanted pupils instantly became bigger, and he saw a small, black dot in the distance.

Surprised, he cried out, “A hot-air balloon?”

He also saw a banner hanging below it.

Welcome, International Guests!

“Is this the Yangzhi City government’s welcoming ceremony? They sure are friendly.”

The train reached the tunnel going through the mountain range. The train driver was paying attention to the area ahead. He knew that this railway segment was often attacked. Fortunately, everything appeared normal at the moment.

Since they were about to enter the tunnel, he pulled at the steam whistle to alert the passengers.

When the train entered the tunnel, he looked around him briefly and was shocked. The patterns on the walls and ground formed a grotesque, smiling face that looked grinned at him. The black tunnel ahead also looked like a large, gaping mouth.

Whoo...

The train plunged into the tunnel, and a little over twenty seconds later, it came out. And stopped. Only a small section of it was outside the tunnel. The rest of it was still inside the darkness.

The passengers remained in their seats, but they didn’t seem to have realized that the train had stopped. All of them were still doing whatever they were doing.

In the carriage belonging to Bolun Corporation, Lindenberg’s assistant spoke up. “Sir, the land outside the Great Shun Republic’s Central City is barren and dull. The people living in these cities are like cattle in pens. They’re barbaric and stupid. There’s nothing worth seeing here.”

Lindenberg looked away and said, “It’s the same everywhere in the world. It’s like that in the Great Shun Republic, and it’s the same in Norland....”

He frowned. Something felt wrong, but he still continued, “But Black Orchid had chosen to retreat to this city, so this land must have some amazing properties we don’t know of...”

He continued reading through the documents. After a moment, he looked up and said, “A hot-air balloon? Is this the Yangzhi City government’s welcoming ceremony? They sure are friendly.”