Chapter 54: The True Meaning of Social Anxiety Is Making Society Fearful

Mingyang City, High-Speed Rail North Station.

The attendant stood at the carriage entrance.

Looking at the small group on the platform puffing away, she couldn't help but remind them helplessly:

"Passengers, please note: Train D2233 is only making a temporary stop at this platform. The duration is short. Passengers who got off to smoke should board immediately to avoid missing the train."

This kind of thing happened often.

She had long grown accustomed to it.

Every time there was a temporary stop at the platform, a few individual passengers couldn't resist going down to have a cigarette before running back, as if they would die if they went without that thing for a few hours.

Sure enough, upon hearing the reminder, that group took two fierce puffs, extinguished their cigarettes, tossed them aside, and quickly returned to the carriage to avoid missing the train.

Seeing them return, the attendant entered the carriage.

She failed to notice an old man in his fifties or sixties among the crowd who had paid no attention to her words whatsoever.

He continued puffing away on his own, his face etched with a thoroughly sour and mean expression.

"Hmph! Trying to boss me around? I paid for my ticket. If I don't get on, are you going to drive away anyway?"

The old man, who had spent most of his life taking advantage of others and being self-centered, was filled with inexplicable confidence.

Beep-beep-beep—

The moment he finished speaking, the door-closing chime sounded.

As the carriage doors closed completely, the old man suddenly panicked.

He hurriedly tossed the cigarette butt onto the ground and stomped it out, trying to pry the doors open with his hands.

He also screamed shrilly, "I haven't gotten on yet!"

Inside the carriage, a teenager wearing black-rimmed glasses, with a slightly thin build and a scholarly appearance, happened to be standing right at the door and saw the scene.

He leaned in and warned, "Old man, be careful not to get your hand pinched. It's dangerous!"

"Why did this door close! Open it for me right now!" the old man roared, pounding on the carriage door.

The teenager also seemed anxious about the old man's situation.

After a moment of thought, he hurriedly said, "Don't worry, I'll go find the attendant to help. What is your seat number?"

"10F by the window! Hurry up!" The old man was getting a bit impatient.

But watching the teenager run toward the interior of the carriage,

he felt slightly reassured.

He couldn't help but sigh, "There are still more good people in the world..."

Little did he know, the teenager who walked into the carriage on the other side did not go to find the attendant.

He simply quickly located seat 10F.

It was indeed by the window.

Moreover, no one was sitting there; only some fruit and melon seed shells remained, likely from the old man cracking seeds before getting off to smoke.

The teenager cleaned the debris from the seat into a trash bag.

Then, he sat down with extreme naturalness.

As if the seat belonged to him originally.

A slight smile curled his lips as he couldn't help but sigh, "There are still more good people in the world. Knowing that my brother was in a rush and couldn't buy a seat ticket, he specifically got off to make room."

Whoosh-whoosh—

The high-speed train started, emitting a whooshing sound of forward motion.

Wu Wang smiled through the window, waving goodbye to the old man on the platform whose face was turning purple from holding his breath: "Thanks, ah. Wishing you eternal life."

After asking Second Sister about her whereabouts back then during the day,

the interesting part was that, whether due to the dungeon's influence or because Gentleman Penguin helped handle the aftermath,

Second Sister's memory of that search for the mystery of her origins had turned into a solo trip to climb a mountain and have a picnic.

But her luck was bad; she encountered a rainstorm.

So she just stayed overnight in the county town outside the mountain.

She treated it as a trip to relax her mood.

Regarding this, Wu Wang immediately booked the next available high-speed train.

Heading to the county town where Second Sister went "traveling."

If nothing unexpected happened, he should be able to inquire about Yin Yuan Village there.

"Do other Spirit Calamity players know that dungeons can affect the timeline? What is the attitude of the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs?" Wu Wang was somewhat curious about this question.

He had already confirmed that the dungeon he experienced was the events that happened five years ago.

The reason was very simple—

Second Sister could truly see ghosts.

Wu Xiaoyou in the dungeon had said she could see ghosts since childhood, and the search for her origins was tricked into happening by a fortune-teller who could catch ghosts.

Since coming out, Wu Wang had been curious about how to verify this in reality.

Asking directly was obviously not possible.

He couldn't explain clearly how he obtained this question.

Coincidentally, among the dungeon reward items,

there existed a certain item that might involve ghosts.

So he took the opportunity to verify it.

【Skill Evolution Guidance Item】!

The effect of that black pen emphasized that one must bid farewell to the Pen Spirit after using it.

This also aligned with Wu Wang's understanding of the Pen Pal game.

Rumor has it that if one does not say goodbye, the Pen Pal will haunt the person who summoned it.

Ultimately, that person will meet a violent death.

So, Wu Wang deliberately did not say goodbye to it.

He hoped the other party would try to curse him.

"Little brother, you must be careful with your safety these days, understand? Be careful not to choke when drinking water, and keep dangerous items in safe places; don't touch them."

As it turned out, before leaving, his second sister inexplicably repeatedly warned him to be careful with his safety.

Wu Wang also noticed at the same time.

Her gaze did not linger on his front.

Instead, she kept staring at his shoulder.

As if there was something there.

In that moment, he understood.

The Pen Pal had indeed come to curse him.

And his second sister had even seen the other party.

"Supernatural Affairs Bureau, the real-world impact of dungeons, the authenticity of history..."

Wu Wang, who had finally secured a seat, flipped through his phone.

A string of keywords he had entered floated up in the search bar above.

But from other people's perspectives, this young man was just scrolling through short videos to kill time.

【Spirit Calamity Game APP】!

When Chen Baili explained the newbie guide to Wu Wang, he emphasized this thing—

After becoming a Spirit Calamity player, this APP would automatically appear on any electronic device one held.

Moreover, the APP had extremely strong privacy.

Its icon and content could only be seen by the person who opened it.

Even if another Spirit Calamity player was beside you, if you had not selected public permissions in the APP's background, the other party could not see what you were viewing; let alone ordinary people.

The existence of this thing was essentially equivalent to an exclusive forum for Spirit Calamity players.

From dungeon guides down to arranging hookups in the same city.

It had everything, including dungeon guides and mission commission boards.

He even found a few posts about "S&M"; one could only say that the circle Spirit Calamity players mixed in was indeed quite complex.

He had learned about most matters through the APP.

There was just one thing he could not find.

That was any content regarding the very meaning of the existence of the 【Spirit Calamity Game】 itself.

It could not be found on any post.

This naturally included content about dungeons affecting the real-world timeline.

But Wu Wang was not a fool.

He believed that for something so easily detectable, the Supernatural Affairs Bureau, as an organization with a certain official nature within the country, could not be completely unaware.

So he was curious about exactly how much they knew.

Perhaps he would have to start with Chen Baili...

Pfft—

While deep in thought at a critical moment, Wu Wang suddenly felt pain in his buttocks.

He reached out and touched; it was a patch of blood red.

He touched again and pulled out a strange black fountain pen from under the seat cushion.

The person beside the seat looked over with a strange expression.

Especially at his reddened palm.

Wu Wang smiled politely and explained, "Sorry, my uncle's period has arrived. In modern society, please trouble you to take care of a social phobic like me; don't spy on this side, okay? Low-life male."

"Otherwise, I will post you on Xiaohongshu."

"Family~ who gets it~"

Hearing this guy start to go crazy, the person beside him quickly averted his gaze.

You call this social phobia?

Making society feel fear also counts as social phobia, right?

Now, there were still—7 hours until the station.

Wu Wang was completely unaware.

Problems had already begun to gradually appear at the destination of this trip.

The Supernatural Affairs Bureau was blocking entry and exit to the mountain range where Yin Yuan Village was located.

Because they discovered.

That wave of malicious energy was too powerful.

So, they were waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

Reinforcements from Mingyang City...