Chapter 37 Midnight Subway (6) Zhu Yi hugs 001 sticks...

With the help of the system, Zhu Yi carried 001 through one silent carriage after another. His wine-red eyes swept over the passengers who were immersed in the illusion of obsession. Their faces showed joy or sorrow. Some faces were peaceful, while others showed expressions of struggle.

They were all trapped inside the train carriage.

Time doesn't flow between the outside world and inside the train carriage, so Zhu Yi doesn't know how many days he's been in the carriage, according to outside time.

Ye Zang's words echoed in Takeichi's ears from time to time. This was indeed a good hunting ground. If those people were left in the carriage forever, and the system's power was used to absorb them, he might be able to obtain an astonishing amount of ghost story points.

but……

Zhu Yi's gaze fell on a young office worker not far away. The man was muttering to himself in front of an empty seat. Zhu Yi could roughly guess who he was talking to, given the love and remorse in his words.

On the other side, an old woman gently patted a non-existent grandson in her arms, humming a soft lullaby, and gazing down at the non-existent person in her arms.

These souls are already suffering enough. If preventing them from returning to reality only makes their suffering worse, it would be better to let them remain forever trapped in their own thoughts.

Zhu Yi suddenly woke up, surprised that he had such thoughts. He shook his head, his eyes darkening.

If I were to actually do that, that would truly strip them of their hopes and obsessions.

Yozo's moral compass, or rather, something within his own nature, was strongly resisting it.

"Meow." 001 seemed to sense his emotions, and gently meowed, tugging at Zhu Yi's collar with its paw.

“I know,” Zhu Yi replied, patting its head. “We can’t do that.”

He needs to deal with this strange tale; if left unchecked, more people will be lured onto the bandwagon.

The rules of this ghost story continue to operate. To reclaim the ghost story, all of this must be broken. Every ghost story has its own logic and weaknesses. The rules of this subway train seem to be a response to obsession, providing an illusion of obsession and longing. But the price of staying on the train is the passengers' time, obsession, and life force.

Advanced Ghost Stories cannot directly use the system's power to return Him to the Underworld.

Then we must find its core...

Zhu Yi closed his eyes and tried to spread the system's perception. Zhu Yi's consciousness continued to expand, and he could see every carriage clearly.

He saw Dazai Osamu and Oda Sakunosuke having a calm conversation, Izumi Kyoka crying loudly in the phantom of her parents, Edogawa Ranpo clinging to that false warmth even though he saw through the truth, and Watanabe Emi tightly holding the phantom of her sister, struggling painfully between staying and leaving.

Various obsessions—love, regret, resentment—weave together a tremendous energy that flows and circulates within this enclosed space.

Within this immense energy, Zhu Yi sensed a vague, inhuman consciousness.

He has no inherent good or evil; He simply acts instinctively to follow the rules.

Is this the core of the ghost story?

As soon as Zhu opened her eyes, a bold idea came to her mind.

Although he cannot "hunt" as Yozo hoped, he might try to "purify," just like the human head balloon operation.

By utilizing the power of the system to channel and resolve these pent-up obsessive energies, allowing them to dissipate naturally, the very foundation of this strange tale can be dismantled.

It's really risky. He's never tried this method before, and if he doesn't control it properly, it could trigger a backlash of energy.

But this is the method that Zhu Yi can think of right now, the one that is least against his conscience.

In the carriage where Dazai Osamu was, the conversation with Oda Sakunosuke was nearing its end, and the phantom figure began to become somewhat transparent. Perhaps the subway also realized that it could not keep an existence like Dazai Osamu for long.

“It seems the time has come.” Oda Sakunosuke looked at his increasingly transparent hands, his tone remaining calm.

"Ah, what a short farewell." Dazai Osamu shrugged, a regretful smile on his face, the heaviness in his iris-colored eyes lessening considerably.

This conversation, while not exactly one of temptation, was more of a psychological adjustment. He confirmed some things and let go of others.

Goodbye, Dazai.

Goodbye, Odasaku.

As Oda Sakunosuke's phantom watched Dazai Osamu gradually dissipate, silence returned to the carriage.

Dazai Osamu stood up, stretched, and walked toward the connection point of another carriage on the train.

In another carriage, Izumi Kyoka cried for a long time in her parents' arms. Nakajima Atsushi and Kunikida Doppo stayed by her side without disturbing her. They could tell that this phantom might not be entirely a bad thing for Kyoka; it provided her with an outlet to vent her emotions.

Finally, Izumi Kyoka's crying gradually subsided. She raised her head and looked at her parents' gentle faces. Although she was very reluctant to part with them, her eyes became firm.

"Father, Mother," she whispered in her parents' arms, "Thank you."

Izumi Kyōka's parents exchanged a glance and smiled with satisfaction.

"It seems that Xiao Jinghua has made her own decision."

"Um."

"Go on, Jinghua." Her father patted her head.

"Be happy, my dear little Jinghua." Her mother gave her a final hug.

Izumi Kyoka released her parents, and their phantoms began to blur. Kyoka's parents watched her silently until she disappeared, with a sense of reluctance.

Izumi Kyoka wiped away her tears and turned to Nakajima Atsushi and Kunikida Doppo. Although her eyes were still red, she had returned to her usual state.

"Kyoka-chan, are you alright?"

"I'm so happy, Atsushi, don't worry." Izumi Kyoka rarely showed such a bright smile.

This relieved Atsushi Nakajima.

Meanwhile, Edogawa Ranpo, after enjoying that brief embrace, released his parents' arms, pushed up his glasses, and his emerald green eyes regained their usual sharpness and confidence.

"Alright, time for your baby talk is over!" He put his hands on his hips and said to his parents, "Even though the famous detective knows you're fake, I'm still very happy to see you again! But, the famous detective has work to do, so I can't just stay here playing house forever."

"Yes, our Ranpo is a mature adult now, and he still has to work." The woman affectionately patted Edogawa Ranpo's head, looking at him with her same green eyes, and said in a tone of advice, "Take good care of yourself."

"Okay, okay!"

The woman sighed: "Husband—"

The man took off his detective hat and put it back on Edogawa Ranpo's head.

"I just want to give it a try," he muttered.

The woman adjusted Edogawa Ranpo's crooked hat and then tidied the other person's hair.

We're about to go astray.

"Hmm!" Edogawa Ranpo's lips curled up in a smile. "I know."

"Mom and Dad will always love you."

Edogawa Ranpo paused for a moment, remained silent for a while, then broke into a wide smile: "The great detective already knew!"

The two embraced Edogawa Ranpo once more. After the phantom gradually disappeared, Edogawa Ranpo turned to Kunikida Doppo and the others who were walking over and said, "Let's go. I roughly know the trick of this train. The key is in the direction of the engine. Let's go and take care of it."

Let's return to Takeichi's side.

Zhu Yi carried 001 to what he considered the core location, the first carriage of the train.

He found a relatively spacious spot to sit down and placed 001 aside.

"If you want to purify, someone needs to filter out the obsessions." Zhu Yi manipulated the system, guiding the subway ghost stories to introduce energy into his body.

The system can use ghost stories to purify the mental pollution in its own body; similarly, it can also purify these things.

At first, things didn't go smoothly. Zhu Yi carefully controlled the system, feeling the energy flowing into his body. The obsessive emotions tore at his soul, while the system kept operating and repairing itself, constantly gaining and consuming ghost stories.

001 lay quietly at Zhu Yi's feet, its black fur having turned white at some point.

Zhu Yi bit her tongue, trying her best to stay rational. Gradually, a soft white light emanated from Zhu Yi's body, and the subway began to vibrate slightly.

Some passengers, still immersed in the illusion, showed subtle changes in their facial expressions.

The lights in the entire carriage flickered violently, and a powerful surge of consciousness energy erupted from the depths of the train, penetrating directly into Zhu Yi's mind.

Zhu Yi groaned, his brain feeling as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer. The soft white light began to flicker. Zhu Yi struggled to open his wine-red eyes, and a twisted, indescribable fragment of pollution merged into the depths of his mind.

Ouch! ...

Zhu Yi's pupils contracted, and he tilted his head back, making a "hoarse" sound in his throat.

He felt as if a knife was being plunged into his head and stirred inside.

My thoughts and consciousness began to tear apart, and I saw things flashing before my eyes...

What did you see?

He is unable to think.

Blood kept flowing from Zhu Yi's eyes, nose, and ears, and the inexplicable whispers were constantly corrupting his reason.

His fingers moved first—not on their own, but with a sharp "click" as the finger bones snapped against the flesh, twisting into a reverse angle.

His left arm then twisted outward out of control, with his elbow pointing upward in a distorted arc, stretching his skin until it turned white.

The right arm, neck, torso... the whole body seemed to be forcibly folded by an invisible hand, and the spine made a sound of being unable to bear the burden.

"Creak...creak..."

Finally, it bends at a strange 90-degree angle, with the waist as the turning point.

Zhu Yi's red eyeballs bulged out of their sockets due to the excruciating pain and fear.

He tried to scream, but his throat was blocked. When he opened his mouth, what came out was not a sound, but a dense stream of red blood mixed with bits of flesh stuck between his teeth.

[Warning! Warning! The host's mental pollution level has reached the critical point!]

【"z；*s"z%q7@（】

[Warning! Warning! Host's mental pollution level has exceeded the critical threshold!]

(Sizzle—)

Amidst the electrical noise, those sounds suddenly became clear for a fleeting moment, like a whisper close to the ear: ":@*!/%"

The text on the system's character information panel kept twisting and writhing.

Name: Zhu Yi

Race: Human (? &*)

Affiliation: Player (Strange Tales%*? □□)

Overall Rating: SS