Chapter 198

Bansi, this place was also known as "Binxi" in ancient times.

This island is famous throughout the Five Seas for its violent and changeable climate, unique cuisine, and long-standing culture.

But most impressive of all is its weather: downpours, clear skies, stifling heat, hurricanes, light snow.

The different weather patterns that take an entire year to cycle elsewhere appear here in just one or two weeks, hence "Bansi Port" is called the "Museum of Weather."

In past seasons, this was precisely the peak time for tourists to travel here in organized groups aboard cruise ships.

Sitting in an inn, watching various climates, savoring coagulated pig's blood cubes infused with spices, paired with uniquely smoked ham and a cup of hot red wine—especially if snowflakes drifted down outside, the atmosphere would be even better.

Precisely because of its unique experience, Bansi Port has always received high praise and remains a relatively prosperous port.

Most importantly, Bansi is a vital economic shipping route, where many merchant vessels dock.

In the past, Bansi was incredibly bustling—even late at night, lights glowed from windows along the streets.

And now.

Whoosh—whoosh—

The sea wind carried light snow to the ground; through the dim glow of the bonfire, the surrounding ruins lay draped in silver, the broken holy symbol of the Storm Church planted not far away.

At a relatively flat stretch of ruins.

Lu Mingfei, oh~ no, Lu Mingfei, wrapped in thick cotton clothing, huddled beside the bonfire.

Before the bonfire, a wooden skewer carved from a branch held a sea fish; after some time roasting, the fish curved slightly, its surface tinged with faint brown char.

She watched the food Song Shuhang posted in the chat group: on a white cloth tablecloth lay a pile of fruit, each person's front placed with a white porcelain plate holding chunks of meat with distinct marbling.

Yi Leina, who had somehow traveled to the pirate world again, was calmly pointing her magic wand at Sanji, whose eyes sparkled with hearts.

She fell silent, grabbed the skewer, and sniffed the slightly charred roasted fish before her.

'I could have endured the darkness, if I had never seen the light.'

She was about to eat when another image appeared in the group.

Ye Fan: 【Image】

It was a table full of exotic dishes; beside it, Weigong Shilang smiled as he tossed rice in a wok.

'Nothing much. As cultivators, we should practice restraint and cultivate our bodies; wild fruits can fill the stomach too.'

Lu Mingfei strengthened her Dao heart, though her grip on the skewer unconsciously tightened.

Su Lin: 【Image】

Han Li: 'Weigong brother's cooking is excellent—I've truly tasted a delicacy of this mortal world today.'

Weigong Shilang: 'Brother Han Li flatters me; thank you for bringing the spiritual rice and ferocious beast meat—it gave me a chance to experiment with new combinations.'

Lu Mingfei took out her storage bag and looked inside: dried meat, dried meat, dried meat—still only dried meat!

Crack—crack—

The skewer let out a faint cry of distress.

Su Lin: 【Image】

Su Lin: 'The Dixi pie and lamb meat taste amazing~.'

Lu Mingfei bit into the roasted sea fish; the flavor was actually quite good—firm flesh, a faint saltiness on her tongue.

But for some reason, she suddenly lost her appetite.

'Zhou Mingrui!'

Her expression darkened as the bonfire before her suddenly went out.

From when exactly, a thin mist had spread around; there was no Crimson Moon tonight, yet after the bonfire died, she could still see the ground nearby.

The road was pitch black; within the mist, dim yellow lanterns appeared—one, two…

Scattered at various points, as if patrol officers were walking the streets of Bansi.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swirled from behind; Lu Mingfei's eyes turned cold, she bit into the skewered fish and tore off a chunk of skin and flesh.

Whoosh!

The skewer, still holding the fish, pierced a black shadow the size of a watermelon.

It was a head—a head without a body, hanging by its esophagus, even lacking a lower jaw.

The skull was shriveled and grotesque; yellow-green fluid oozed from the puncture wound at its brow.

'You've got guts—I thought you'd scream.' A mocking voice echoed.

'Where's the exit?' Lu Mingfei's voice was icy.

Northwest.

Lu Mingfei tossed the head, still impaled on the skewer, to her feet, chewed the remaining fish, and drew the 'Wu Gong Sword' she had used before.

Her slender arm gripped the massive sword, far too large for her frame; one foot crushed the grotesque thing beneath her, shards and blood splattered everywhere yet never touched her.

Lu Mingfei walked calmly along the dark road; the distant lights ahead served no purpose, merely decoration—time and again, moldy heads or ragged, headless monsters lunged at her.

Her giant sword slashed with exaggerated speed, wild growls rising like wolves hunting in packs.

Drip—drip—

More and more fluid clung to the sword; Lu Mingfei drew closer to her target.

Whoosh!

A sea breeze blew, scattering the hazy mist; the wailing and growls vanished, along with the fluid on Lu Mingfei's blade.

Everything felt like a dream.

At this moment, Lu Mingfei reached a location; she pulled out the map she'd taken from the ship, compared it, and confirmed this was the former Bansi Telegraph Office.

She took two steps to the center of the collapsed building, surrounded by rubble and broken stone—only here remained an open space.

On the open ground were two blood-red human-shaped silhouettes, as if two people had been crushed into pulp, leaving behind their shadows.

Lu Mingfei sheathed her giant sword, walked to the blood-red marks, scooped up some crimson soil; she faintly sensed something had been triggered—a 'danger' now mystically linked to her.

"Check in at Xigang's famous spot," Lu Mingfei said with a touch of self-mockery: "Heh, if I'd just finished reading the book earlier, I wouldn't be in this mess."

"I think it looks great—aren't you even considering the cake dress?"

"I'm going to kill you one day."

Snow continued to fall. She followed the connection through a wasteland, where collapsed houses buried the former streets; footprints remained in patches of snow.

Gradually, she spotted her target and summoned a ball of flame to illuminate the path ahead.

It was an ordinary wooden door, leaning against a collapsed wall; the brass handle reflected a twisted image.

Lu Mingfei stepped forward and grasped the door handle, ready to push it open.

"Behind the door is terrifying—are you sure?"

"I peeked a while back—it felt like returning to that summer when I was eighteen, like finding Fingal's unwashed stinky socks under a table crack."

A mocking voice echoed in her mind.

"Can I gain power?"

"You look like a broken Naruto character—Naruto's second Uchiha! Is it really that bad?"

"I've been wondering: why am I pushing myself so hard in cultivation?" Lu Mingfei turned the door handle. Suddenly, a gray-white mist appeared before her—within it, rows of houses and alleys flickered in and out of view.

"Though my world has been thrown into chaos by you, and the headmaster died in a farce disguised as a duel—really, a suicide."

"But it's already far better than the original ending, isn't it?"

She shed her coat, revealing a black evening gown, brushed a strand of long hair from her ear, took two steps forward, and pulled the wooden door shut behind her.

"But that's how people are—once one stage is satisfied, they crave the next."

"I think it can still get better—until I can obliterate heaven, earth, and air, and rewrite everything."

"Of course, more importantly, to keep daily life going, so I never end up like Su Lin."

In the mist, near the door, a house bore a wooden plaque inscribed with several Runish words:

Bansi Telegram Office.

"Are you here to send a telegram?" came a voice from inside the house.

Lu Mingfei's spiritual sense screamed a warning—along the bloodstained soil clinging to her hand, an invisible force seemed ready to descend upon her neck.

"That reason holds."

Lu Mingfei's lips curled into a faint smile. At that moment, the sound of rolling wheels reached her. She turned toward the distant, hazy length of the street.

A figure, rotten to the bone, wore a straw hat and pulled a small cart resembling a rickshaw from a Republican-era TV drama.

Beneath the cart's canopy sat a woman in a fitted long dress, holding a round fan painted with birds and flowers to shield her face—yet her skin gleamed swollen, covered in numerous dark-blue blotches.

"Well? Scary, right?"

"Fear comes from the unknown. After watching someone clear a room for three minutes, fear halved."

"Come to think of it, heh—he only lasted three minutes," Lu Mingfei said, suppressing nausea and discomfort.

An invisible hand lifted her—force surged up her neck, as if trying to rip her head clean off her spine.

【Somethingfornothing, 100%】

Gold light flared in Lu Mingfei's eyes. She seized the invisible hand around her neck, revealing a cold smile—suppressed fury spilled from her stern, golden gaze.

"You think I'm easy to bully, do you?"

A piercing sound, like bones shattering, rang out.

Under the gray-white mist, the blurred street trembled violently—cracks, terrifying and jagged, split the cobblestone ground and the rows of houses.

Inside the nearest Bansi Telegram Office, footsteps that had been approaching suddenly stopped.

"You're lying to yourself?!" Old Lu's voice came—he had just read Lu Mingfei's full plan. Though her reasons for growing stronger weren't false, deep within her burned a more obsessive goal.

【Drag them all down with me!】

Beside Lu Mingfei, a force utterly alien to the mysterious world emerged—a viscous black liquid, tainted with decay, threaded with specks of starlight, seeping slowly from the cracks in the street and houses.

Gradually, a dark corruption awoke, prying slightly at the seal linking this land to the Western Continent, reaching straight into the uncontrollable Grand Void.

Ding. A bell chimed. A blue train glided along a black track and stopped before Lu Mingfei.

Above the train stretched row upon row of long wires; on its front, a metal frame revealed it to be an ancient tram.

Through the train's glass windows, each passenger could be seen—but all that remained were their heads, each dragging a bloodied spine.

Lu Mingfei smiled faintly, forcing herself forward—each step resisted immense repulsion. She pulled out a Unique Property; the repulsion lessened slightly.

Minutes later, the train restarted, its iron plates now coated with black, fleshy nerves.

Lu Mingfei sat aboard the blue train, heading toward the heart of the City of Calamity.

————————

"Sir, would you like today's latest Runish Daily? Just one penny."

The newspaper boy, dressed in workwear, pulled a paper from his green canvas bag and offered it to the man before him—but the man merely stared silently.

"Sir?"

Su Lin looked at the boy, rubbed his eyes twice—the boy had black hair, black eyes, a gaunt face, and wore a monocle over his right eye socket.

He wore a polite smile and asked with concern:

"Are you alright?"

". " Su Lin shook his head, pulled out a penny, and bought the paper from the newsboy, "Amon."

"Thank you for your patronage," said the newsboy "Amon," tipping his dark beret: "May you have a wonderful day."

"You too," Su Lin sighed, took the paper, and sat at a bakery with coffee-colored windows, ordered a cup of black tea and a croissant, then began reading today's headlines.

"The Republic of Indis is mobilizing troops around the Honaichis Mountains, preparing for war."

"Saturday has been designated as the Day of Divine Descent, universally recognized by all nations."

"The missing Fasak airship fleet has returned to the capital—only six survivors remain. They claim the Runish Kingdom possesses a secret weapon, calling it the White Demon."

In her illness, Tracy published a missing person notice among pirate groups, stating that her younger sister had gone missing and asking anyone with information to contact her. Previously, Tracy was rumored to have had close ties with a pirate named Somalia.

The Bai Xue Sect was wiped out overnight, and the new power, the Silver Hand, claimed responsibility.

Su Lin sat in an armchair and shook his head; the world was becoming more and more fantastical. Seeing Amon selling newspapers first thing in the morning was bad enough—what kind of news was this?

"Mr., your croissant and black tea."

"Thank you."

The clerk placed a tray down; Su Lin politely thanked her, but noticed the clerk was standing by without leaving.

"What's wrong?" Su Lin lowered his newspaper and looked at her in confusion.

"Nothing. I noticed your newspaper is from yesterday—I have today's new edition. Would you like it?" The clerk, like a blooming white orchid, wore a gentle smile on her face.

Generally, anyone seeing this would feel warm and touched.

If not for the monocle on her right eye socket.

"Mr., what's wrong?" Her cheeks flushed slightly as she adjusted the monocle with her hand, asking curiously, "Is there something wrong with my face?"

Damned it. Amon got me again.

End of chapter.