Chapter 63: Grandpa at Speeds Well Over One Hundred Kilometers per Hour

The dirt pit was completely empty.

That dark-purple-faced Ye Chun, whom he had buried with his own hands, was nowhere to be found. In her place stood this Ye Chun beside him, her face full of fear, yet unable to suppress the boundless curiosity in her eyes.

Lowering his crowbar, two thoughts arose in Uesugi澈's mind:

First, a new train had brought a new copy of Ye Chun, and behind Kisaragi Station lay a mastermind who restored all the environments he had affected back to their original state during his absence.

Second, as long as both Ye Chun and he himself died, the map of Kisaragi Station would uncontrollably reset to its initial state.

Which of these hypotheses was closer to the truth, Uesugi澈 did not yet know.

However, one thing was certain.

Ye Chun, this ordinary-looking girl no matter how one looked at her, was definitely the crucial puzzle piece for conquering this map.

"Still, if I recall correctly, according to the urban legends of Kisaragi Station, shouldn't there be five people riding on that train?"

Uesugi澈 muttered to himself in confusion.

Without dwelling too much on this minor detail, Uesugi澈 clapped his hands to draw Ye Chun's attention: "Rest assured, killing you serves no purpose. Besides, there are ghosts and monsters everywhere here; if you want to run away, please feel free."

The girl wore a complicated expression and dared not speak.

"Nishishaku." Uesugi澈 walked in the direction opposite to the tunnel. "Take her along."

"Popo..." Nishishaku stood hesitantly beside Ye Chun, keeping her hands behind her back when the latter managed a forced smile and reached out a hand.

In Nishishaku's view, this resurrected girl was an entity far more terrifying and powerful than the Taiko drum and bell.

Who knew when her head might split into several pieces and devour her!

"Ah... Haha."

Ye Chun awkwardly withdrew her hand while frantically sending out SOS messages on the forum in secret.

Uesugi澈 noticed but ignored it.

He was thinking that if he headed in the opposite direction this time, his primary task would be to gather enough soul dust for a ten-pull, followed by staying with Ye Chun for as long as possible.

Because last time, Ye Chun had died late at night, and legend had it that many urban legends only revealed their true forms as time passed.

Uesugi澈 wanted to see if Ye Chun was also that type of entity.

——And if he went off to hunt down the Taiko bell, it was very likely he wouldn't be able to protect Ye Chun's life.

The late night was silent, the railway tracks desolate.

Uesugi澈 walked for over an hour, tiring Ye Chun behind him until she was panting heavily, before he finally spotted a small cluster of wandering Chih.

[Chih (Zero Star)]

[Chih (Half Star)]

[Chih (One Star)]

"Huh?"

Uesugi澈 looked closer and discovered that among the two dozen Chih, one of them was actually a one-star entity.

Compared to its peers whose figures were so faint they were nearly invisible, this one-star Chih was dressed with unexpected clarity.

An affordable suit, a striped tie, and a briefcase in hand—it looked entirely like a corporate slave slaving away in the Japanese workplace.

Faced with a special elite monster, Uesugi澈 raised his guard while telling the two behind him, "Keep your distance from me, but do not leave my line of sight."

Uesugi澈 would not make the same mistake twice.

Lowering his breathing, Uesugi澈 stepped silently through the shadows, gradually approaching the one-star corporate slave Chih at the very edge of the group.

Uesugi澈 wanted to live as long as possible this time, so his combat strategy was—

If a backstab was possible, never engage in a frontal clash!

Kaga Kiyomitsu was slowly and silently drawn. Until Uesugi澈 closed the distance to within five meters of the Chih group, not a single Chih had noticed this approaching outsider.

An elite monster, you say?

The elite corporate slave monster didn't move either, merely slumping its body and muttering indistinctly about something.

"You lot really are the most pathetic batch of trash mobs."

Uesugi澈 sighed. Compressed white vapor poured from his nose and mouth as Kaga Kiyomitsu swiftly and silently pierced through the chest of the elite corporate slave monster.

The corporate slave whipped his head around to stare fixedly at Uesugi澈, a trace of fluctuation appearing on his previously numb expression: "Don't kill..."

Before the words could leave his mouth, Kaga Kiyomitsu had already torn his body in half, letting the unfinished words and the shattered torso dissolve together into the boundless night.

[You have killed a one-star obsession "Chih" and obtained 16 soul dust.]

A rare smile curled the corners of Uesugi澈's mouth.

Because with the death of this corporate slave Chih, his soul dust had officially broken the 500 mark, and soon he would be able to experience another exciting ten-pull.

"Still, I should deal with these small fries first."

Uesugi澈 twisted his neck and charged straight into the newly alerted Chih group.

After thirty seconds of slaughter.

Having harvested another 28 soul dust, Uesugi澈 was just about to call the two behind him to follow when he overheard Ye Chun whispering to Nishishaku,

"Did you see that sword strike just now? Demon-san is so handsome! So cool!"

A subtle expression flashed across Uesugi澈's face—he realized that the real Ye Chun did not seem as paranoid, timid, or cowardly as the original urban legend depicted.

He should have realized it sooner.

After all, how many cowardly souls could come to a ghost-infested hellhole like Kisaragi Station and still update posts on 2ch while running for their lives?

Without responding to Ye Chun, Uesugi澈's sole remaining purpose for this life was to see just how many faces lay beneath Ye Chun's ordinary human facade!

However, things did not go as planned.

They hadn't walked much further when a distant, aged voice echoed from the mountain forest ahead,

"Don't walk on the railway tracks, it's too dangerous..."

Ye Chun was so startled her wits nearly left her.

Just as she prepared to search for the source of the voice, Uesugi澈 had already clearly spotted the figure.

——Standing in the roadside forest was an elderly white-haired man leaning on a cane, with only a single leg.

"An urban legend old-timer from this chapter, huh..."

Uesugi澈 narrowed his eyes, though he was unfamiliar with the entity's abilities.

"Don't walk on the railway tracks, it's too dangerous..."

As the second sentence finished, a prompt finally popped up above the old man leaning on the cane.

——[Express Grandpa (Two Stars)]

An unexpected answer left Uesugi澈 momentarily stunned.

He was familiar with Express Granny, also known as the "Hundred-Kilometer Granny," a powerful urban legend capable of matching the speed of cars and even bullet trains on highways, with numerous different versions passed down all across Japan.

But Express Grandpa? While the name made sense, could this cane-using, one-legged figure really run fast?

Adhering to the principle of caution, Uesugi澈 decided to first...

Where was he?

Before Uesugi澈 could even speak, the Express Grandpa locked in his field of vision had vanished without a trace.

Uesugi澈 felt a chill run down his spine.

Given his current eyesight, even if a genuine Express Granny sprinted past him at a hundred kilometers per hour, he would be able to see her clearly. But this Express Grandpa...

"Lord澈! Behind you!"

Nishishaku's voice interrupted his thoughts once again.

Uesugi澈 spun around swiftly, but before he even had time to draw Kaga Kiyomitsu, he saw that the old, patina-covered wooden cane had already plunged straight into his abdomen.

When did he move?!

Without a moment's hesitation, his physique enhanced by the injury, Uesugi澈 roared and drew Kaga Kiyomitsu.

The chilling blade slashed out in almost a single instant.