Thinking about it, he really saved sixty thousand. Helplessly, he finally paid, bought two buns, and quickly stuffed them into his mouth.
Sure enough, Xu Lianzhi's buns had an immediate effect. He felt as light as a swallow, blood surging inside him, and it seemed like he had endless energy.
"I'm charging!" The boy suddenly accelerated, dashing toward the academy gate.
His speed was indeed incredible. A fast-attack Soul Master admitted to Shrek Academy would definitely have no issues with speed.
His legs suddenly grew thick without warning, and with a powerful push, he shot forward like an arrow—truly astonishingly fast.
But just then, he suddenly felt his body sink. A mysterious yellow light landed on him, and he immediately faltered. Then, streaks of star-like lines descended from the sky, encircling him.
"How can you gang up on one?" the boy shouted.
"We're here to rob—oh no, to borrow money. Who said anything about one-on-one?" Jian Ji slapped the boy's shoulder, knocking him to the ground. The cold blade hovered before him. "Will you lend it or not?"
"Lend!"
Another one hundred thousand…
Ye Xinglan counted the money and sheathed the Star God Sword. "You may go."
"Wait." Ye Xinglan suddenly called out.
The boy turned angrily, "What else do you want?"
"What class are you in? What's your name?" Ye Xinglan asked.
The boy was suspicious. "What for?"
"To pay you back later."
"Really?" The boy blinked in surprise.
Ye Xinglan frowned. "Enough nonsense, hurry up and tell me. Don't waste our time."
"Second year, Class One, Xia Lekong." After shamefully saying his name, he bolted.
Gu You headed straight for the Shrek City high-speed rail station. Forging one piece of "Thousand-Forged Grade 1 Metal" earned him more than ten thousand.
Tickets were only checked before boarding the Spirit Conduction High-Speed Rail. Gu You confidently entered the station and looked up the train schedule.
According to his plan, the first stop was Tiandou City. As a large city, it was easy to find Soul Masters of his level there. Also, there were many spirit conduction trains from Tiandou City to Mingdu, making this route the shortest by bypassing a mountain range.
Ticket check, board train.
The high-speed rail quickly started, heading straight to Tiandou City.
"Ah, missed it. Luckily, there's another train to Tiandou City in half an hour." When Xu Lianzhi, Ye Xinglan, and Gu Yue arrived at the station, the train Gu You was on had just departed.
"Per the students' wishes, we split up here," Ye Xinglan gestured a fist to Gu Yue.
Gu Yue smiled faintly. "Let's see who comes back first."
The spirit conduction high-speed rail accelerated, quickly entering high cruising speed.
The journey from Shrek City to Tiandou City took about an hour and a half…
The high-speed rail was yawning when suddenly her spirit communication device rang.
"Conductor! Conductor! Please come to Car 5, there's a group of criminals hijacking our train. Please come immediately." The conductor was shocked—hijacking? That would be a disaster for a spirit conduction high-speed rail.
A few months ago, a hijacking in the west had caused a rail explosion, killing over five hundred people—an event that shook the entire alliance.
Even more so, there had been multi-city train disappearances years ago, so everyone was deeply uneasy about hijackings on trains.
However, the conductor showed extraordinary composure despite her pale face. She solemnly ordered, "All crew, listen up! Immediately open the emergency weapons locker, arm yourselves, and proceed to Car 5. Please remain calm and avoid alarming other passengers to prevent chaos."
She hurried into her duty room, took a set of keys, opened a safe, and retrieved a spirit conduction pistol.
She plugged her headset into the communication device to avoid voice leaks.
"I'm on my way. What's the current situation?"
"Conductor, there are six criminals. We don't know how they smuggled spirit conduction ray guns onboard. They have many weapons: four hold automatic ray guns, one small spirit conduction cannon, and cluster bombs already attached to the carriage walls. They could explode at any moment. Over ten staff members are already confronting them, but we're outgunned."
Cold sweat poured down the conductor's face. She cursed the security check—how could bombs be smuggled onboard?
This was serious. The criminals had bombs and heavy weapons on a non-stop train to Tiandou City. Once fighting broke out, the train would likely suffer major damage.
She decided immediately, "Tell the driver to isolate Carriages 6 through 16 once I reach Car 5. They will run separately. Has the headquarters rescue signal been sent?"
"Yes, Conductor."
"We can only pray now." She pulled out her wallet and opened it while walking quickly.
Inside was a photo of a chubby, pale baby, only a few months old and very cute.
Her eyes welled up; she kissed the photo gently and put the wallet back.
"Baby, Mommy's a hero…"
Her steps were heavy. The communication head confirmed the isolation of Carriages 6 through 16.
Near Car 5, the side of Car 6 was already crowded. They couldn't hide things there anymore and were evacuating toward Car 7.
More than a dozen armed staff were there, using the carriage for cover and holding spirit conduction ray guns against the criminals.
The security ray guns on the train were all pistols with ordinary power.
"How's the situation?" the conductor asked the security captain.
The captain's face was pale. "Very bad. The criminals use passenger seat shields for defense. They likely control the previous carriages. The cluster bombs are armed with timers."
The conductor took a deep breath. No matter how grim, as the train's leader, she had no choice but to stay calm.
Stepping forward, she shouted inside, "Everyone inside, please stay calm. If you have demands, say them. We can negotiate. I will try to meet your requests. Please don't harm the hostages."
"No more talk. You're the conductor, right? Our demand is simple: tell the Federation government to release those arrested twenty days ago…"
(End of Chapter)