«No,» Li Yunlong said. «I never said that. But what you just said gave me an idea-perhaps the curse on you isn't quite as troublesome as I thought.»
«Are you saying the curse on me isn't as dangerous as you imagined?» Amelia asked.
«Quite the opposite!» Li Yunlong countered. «I am absolutely certain the curse on you is extremely dangerous! If we don't find a way to resolve it, you will be dead within seven days!»
She fought back a surge of indignation. A gorgeous young woman like her had so much youth left to enjoy! How could she be so unlucky as to be mysteriously cursed by some absurd Train to Paradise? Was her flower-like life really reduced to a seven-day countdown? No way! At the thought, Amelia's eyes welled with red rimmed panic, her breath coming in ragged gasps. «Then what do you mean, Lee? Am I truly left with only seven days to live?»
Li Yunlong offered a calm smile. «My answer is still no. But this time, it's good news. I need to run an experiment to test my hypothesis. If my guess is correct, I can guarantee you'll get through this curse completely unscathed.»
That was indeed good news, yet Amelia caught the nuance in his phrasing. «Lee, you said 'get through' the curse, not 'break' it?»
«Precisely!» Li Yunlong nodded. «If my theory holds, we don't need to waste any effort trying to lift the curse from you at all. We just need to ride out the seven days, and the curse will naturally disperse on its own!»
Amelia practically leapt for joy. «That's wonderful! Lee, that's the best news I've heard all day!»
«Don't celebrate just yet, Amelia,» Li Yunlong cautioned. «I still need to prove my theory first.»
«Right!» Amelia said, sobering up quickly. «So what should we do?»
At half past eleven that same night, Li Yunlong and Amelia were huddled inside a car. A short distance ahead lay a derelict train station near Yorba Linda. Amelia felt as though she had lost her mind. «Why did I agree to come to this desolate place in the middle of the night for your experiment?»
«Haven't I already explained that?» Li Yunlong replied, feeling somewhat helpless himself. «You carry a curse. The only reason it hasn't manifested yet is that I'm using my own power to suppress it for you. If you get too far away from me, I won't be able to keep it in check.» Spatial threads were convenient, but they suffered from a limited load capacity. When Li Yunlong focused his vitality inward, it fortified his body and repelled evil spirits; when projected outward, it tapped into cosmic forces to erode hexes and spells. Suppressing the curse on Amelia required a substantial amount of vitality. Up close, Li Yunlong could control it directly, but at a distance, the spatial thread simply could not carry that volume of force.
«Then why did you have to drag me out to this creepy spot in total secrecy in the dead of night?» Amelia pressed.
«Amelia, I told you,» Li Yunlong explained patiently, «occultism operates on its own law of conservation of energy-even if it's entirely different from the physical one! This principle manifests in every aspect, and the curse on you is no exception.»
Since the curse had forced her onto the same boat as him, Amelia was more than willing to absorb whatever occult knowledge Li Yunlong offered. «You did say that, Lee. But what does that have to do with us lurking around this awful place at midnight?»
«In occultism, a curse itself can serve as a conduit,» Li Yunlong said. «It works both ways-what you might call 'sowing one cause to reap two effects.' I can use the curse as a medium to trace the Train to Paradise in reverse.» He tapped his finger against the car window, gesturing toward the abandoned station outside.
Understanding dawned on Amelia instantly, turning her expression to sheer horror. «Lee, are you telling me the Train to Paradise is going to pass through this station tonight?»
Her face drained of all color. Turning around, she reached frantically for the ignition to start the car and flee, but Li Yunlong caught her wrist, holding her back. «What are you doing? Lee, you know how powerful and terrifying that curse is! Why did you bring me here?! Do you want me dead?»
By contrast, Li Yunlong remained completely unbothered. «Don't panic, Amelia. With me here, my power will suppress the curse. It can't harm you. Take a few deep breaths with me. Calm down, and don't let fear overwhelm you.»
As a member of the professional elite, Amelia managed to pull herself together after his reassurance. Taking several long, deep breaths, her frazzled nerves gradually settled. «Lee, I trust you have your reasons for doing this, but don't you think this is far too dangerous for us?»
She emphasized the words us and dangerous. Li Yunlong understood her frustration, but he had no intention of coddling her. «Amelia, as your friend, have I charged you a single cent for any of this?»
Amelia opened her mouth, unable to reply, her aggressive stance deflating instantly. In America, taking money to perform a service was just business ethics; helping a friend for free put Li Yunlong firmly on the moral high ground. «The Train to Paradise is an immensely powerful and dangerous occult anomaly,» he continued. «Even for me, stepping into this carries risk. Have I complained about that once?»
Amelia lowered her head further. Strictly speaking, this entire ordeal had almost nothing to do with Li Yunlong. Had he not stepped up out of goodwill to save her, the curse would likely have claimed her life by now. Supernatural phenomena, occult entities, deadly curses-none of these were safe. Li Yunlong was risking his life to save hers purely out of volunteer spirit. If he hadn't uttered a single complaint, what right did she have to lose her temper at him?
«If we don't find a way to lift this curse, it will kill you!» Li Yunlong pressed. «Aside from taking a small risk to test my theory, do you have any better ideas?»
Under his three-part volley of logic, Amelia was completely subdued. She offered a sincere and humble apology, explaining that the sheer terror of impending death had made her lose her composure. She assured him she recognized her mistake and promised it wouldn't happen again.
Seeing her acknowledge her fault so readily, Li Yunlong let the matter drop. If every interaction were measured strictly by zero-sum rules, there would be no way for people to get along. Besides, giving her a bit of reassurance was necessary. «Amelia, do you remember what I said after watching that cursed video? I said 'logically, this doesn't make sense.'»
Amelia nodded. «And then you reminded me of something,» Li Yunlong continued, «which made me realize a possibility: perhaps the Train to Paradise has gone mad!»
Amelia blinked in confusion. «Isn't evil always crazy?»
Li Yunlong shook his head. «Evil and madness are two different concepts, Amelia. Evil isn't necessarily crazy.» He held up his hands, making a gesture like assembling building blocks. «A train is made up of many distinct components brought together, and the Train to Paradise is no different. Like building blocks, it's assembled from various parts-only its parts happen to be countless evil souls! That's why it's so powerful and dangerous; in essence, it's an entire army formed from malicious spirits.»
Amelia gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. Only now did she truly grasp the terrifying nature of the threat she was facing. Li Yunlong continued his analysis: «Now, since it's an army, it needs a purpose, an organizational structure, a system to regenerate its forces, and a logistics network to sustain its existence. Think of it in terms of a human army and it becomes easy to understand. Such a complex, formidable force involves many factors, but there's at least one crucial element it can never bypass-money!»
Amelia understood instantly. A modern military was a terrifying beast, but it was also a money-devouring sinkhole. Sustaining its power required a bottomless pit of funding; if she recalled correctly, the latest defense budget proposal had crossed five hundred billion dollars. The universally accepted truth was simple: waging war was literally burning money. Broke entities couldn't afford to play the war game; a few days of spending would bleed them dry and force them into bankruptcy before the battle even finished.
«Spreading the curse through video is indeed an effective method,» Li Yunlong explained. «But there's a cost-efficiency problem! Occultism must observe the conservation of energy too! When the Train to Paradise broadcasts its curse through videos on such a scale, how does it control the expenditure? Copying and sharing a video is simple, and getting people to watch it doesn't take much effort. But maintaining the actual effect of the curse requires an active outlay of energy from the Train. In other words, playing the game this way is burning money! Even if every curse takes effect quickly, digesting those victims takes time, which means its return on investment suffers a massive delay.»
He leaned in slightly. «On top of that, human authorities aren't complete fools. If one or two people drop dead, they might miss it. But if people start dying en masse in a short window, unless the authorities are utterly incompetent, how could they fail to notice? That's why I felt it made no logical sense.» Li Yunlong looked intently at Amelia. «As the old saying goes, even the wisest mind makes a mistake, just as even a fool occasionally hits upon the truth. How right that is!»
«It wasn't until you nudged my thinking that I realized another possibility,» he continued. «What if the Train to Paradise has already gone insane? If it's lost its mind, then its irrational behavior suddenly makes sense.»
Amelia was growing increasingly bewildered by his logic. «If the Train to Paradise has gone mad, wouldn't that make it even more dangerous? Why do you think that makes the curse easier to handle? Why risk bringing me out here just to test that theory?»
Li Yunlong let out a triumphant grin. «Madness forces the Train to squander its power recklessly. In that state, its frontal threat level skyrockets, but at the same time, its control over that power becomes clumsy and wild! To put it another way, the curse it releases under these conditions retains only its most basic functions. As long as you don't stand directly in its path, it won't actively target you-and it completely loses the ability to adapt flexibly!»
He wagged a finger playfully. «If our test proves that the Train to Paradise really has gone mad, then congratulations, Amelia! You won't have to worry about the curse taking your life. I can cast specific spells to stall for time. With a bit of luck, before seven days are even up, the Train will burn through all its reserves from its own wild squandering and collapse into self-destruction. And when that happens, the curse on you will break automatically!»