Manipulating the Paper Puppet from a distance via the spatial thread, Li Yunlong triggered the curse bound within its paper shell. True to expectation, the Train to Paradise ground to a halt at the station, its automatic doors gliding open to invite the construct aboard.
In occultism, curses form a vast and tangled discipline. The Eastern traditions Li Yunlong favored held countless variations-common manifestations included vengeful spirits pursuing souls, red-clad specters demanding lives, or puppets bound in blood. Advanced curses, such as three-lifetimes karma or the Seven Arrows Nail Book, were far rarer, yet their menace and intricacy scaled exponentially. Li Yunlong possessed a comfortable mastery of these artful subtleties, confident that his refined technique far surpassed the brute force employed by the Train to Paradise.
Broadcasting a curse through digital video files might appear ingenious at first glance, but even setting aside the disastrous cost-efficiency, it was sheer madness-a suicidal gamble born of desperation. Spreading a curse through video was undeniably swift and convenient, yet it introduced total randomness and chaos. The faster it proliferated and the wider its reach grew, the more likely it was to draw swift retaliation from hostile forces, drastically narrowing the creature's own window to react. It was the ultimate self-defeating maneuver: the harder it strove, the deeper it dug its own grave. It was no different from lighting a bonfire in the pitch-black wilderness-while it might deter small scavengers, it blazed as a glaring beacon to every monstrous predator that did not fear the flames.
Li Yunlong was no grand predator compared to the supernatural train-he was, at best, a scheming fox preparing to scavenge from a fallen titan, hoping to tear off a nourishing hunk of flesh to sate his own gnawing hunger. Yet executing such a scheme demanded more than raw courage; it required exquisite skill. He knew precisely how to isolate the video's curse within the body of a Paper Puppet, sealing it so thoroughly that it posed no danger when dormant, yet easily tricked the entity into taking the bait when activated. Deluded into believing a genuine victim had walked up to its doorstep, the train opened its doors in triumph, allowing Li Yunlong's remotely operated puppet to step seamlessly into its carriages.
Amelia stared intently at the screen of her portable processing unit. The moment the Paper Puppet set foot inside, every video feed cut to black simultaneously. Though signal feed restored in less than a second, the sudden dark terrified her, and she instinctively reached out to grab Li Yunlong's arm.
Li Yunlong did not even turn his head, his focus entirely consumed by observing the entity before them. «Don't panic, Amelia. Did you truly believe the Train to Paradise was merely a physical locomotive? It is a powerful, anomalous entity-a realm of paranormal force capable of warping the natural order of space itself. The moment that Paper Puppet stepped inside, it departed our world and entered the train's domain. The video feeds blacked out because the threshold between those two worlds operates under laws foreign to our realm. A standard camera lens cannot function in such an environment; stripped of light and reason, it registers nothing but void.»
«Foreign to our realm?» Amelia asked, her voice tight.
«Beyond the mortal world,» Li Yunlong replied absentmindedly. «Outside the realm of ordinary men, or beyond the scope of common logic-call it what you will.»
Unease flickered in her eyes. «Then… Lee, will the video files we're recording right now turn into cursed footage too?»
«There's no need to worry. Even for an anomaly as potent as the Train to Paradise, crafting a curse capable of proliferating freely through digital files is no simple task. Furthermore, those cameras are mounted directly on my Paper Puppet. In occult terms, they are treated as extensions of the construct itself. For a curse to corrupt them, it would first have to overcome the puppet. Since the construct remains intact, whatever residual curse exists cannot taint the footage we are capturing now.»
His logic was sound enough on the surface, though it glossed over numerous intricate danger points-reassurances tailored purely to soothe Amelia's nerves. What he refrained from telling her was that had the Train to Paradise not been driven mad, his ploy would have been a direct provocation. Even if the construct had slipped by unnoticed outside, its entry into the train's interior would inevitably be detected by a coherent mind. Had that occurred, their only remaining path would have been to face the entity's full, unbridled horror head-on.
Fortunately, Li Yunlong had bet correctly. To ordinary eyes, the train remained an aura of terrifying, inscrutable majesty, but he was not relying merely on physical sight. His primary tool was his sensory control ability, allowing him to perceive the entity at a far deeper metaphysical layer. If dispersing curses through random video files was the first sign of the train's fraying sanity, then being tricked into accepting a puppet was undeniable proof of its decay. Yet even those revelations paled in comparison to what his sensory control was uncovering now. Those details were mere child's play, utterly insignificant beside the true prize: his perception had pierced straight to the train's core.
This was no longer a question of mere madness; the entity had spiraled into a state of ruin far beyond his wild imaginations. It had lost even the fundamental power required to shield its core essence! In that thrilling second, temptation flared in Li Yunlong's heart. If he could imprint his own spiritual mark upon that exposed core, there was better than an eighty percent chance he could subjugate the Train to Paradise, bending its formidable power to his own will.
Yet almost as quickly as the alluring thought arose, he forced himself to abandon it. A cold, rational assessment of their relative strength shattered the illusion: if Li Yunlong was a mere pebble, the train was an overwhelming mudslide. Trying to swallow an elephant as a snake carried a failure rate exceeding ninety percent. And even in the miraculous event that he succeeded, could he truly control a collapsing, insane specter? What was to stop it from dragging him straight into the abyss in its final, frantic death throes?
He had always maintained that necessary risks were unavoidable in his line of work, but leaping blindfolded into a pit of fire while staring death in the face was not bravery-it was reckless stupidity. A wise man did not commit suicide.
Before long, the Train to Paradise lurched away from the platform, resuming its endless journey. Though its tail car remained faintly visible to the naked eye, the wireless transmission from the puppet's cameras quickly hit its physical limit. The feeds on the portable monitor degraded into a blur of static, the signal flickering erratically.
Without a moment's hesitation, Li Yunlong activated his contingency measure. Though the puppet could have endured a little longer, keeping it alive no longer served any purpose. Under his mental command, the Paper Puppet burst into self-consuming flames from the inside out, reducing both its spiritual frame and the mounted cameras to ash.
Amelia began organizing the newly acquired video files, forcing down the lingering waves of dread that washed over her. «Lee… weren't you terrified back there?»
Li Yunlong pulled his gaze away from the fading phantom image of the train. «Terrified? Amelia, have you forgotten what I do? I am an occult scholar, an explorer of the unknown. Fear is nothing more than a familiar spice in my profession.»
He had long since made peace with his reality. Given a second chance at life through transmigrating into this world, every extra day was borrowed time. In a treacherous place like the Marvel universe, could cowardice ever truly keep someone safe? Fear, dread, confusion-they were all natural, but one simply had to gather their courage and press forward. There was no need to deny those emotions, nor any reason to let them shackle his steps. In his past life, he had been nothing more than an ordinary, unimportant nobody-a loser by most standards. Now that he had been granted a fresh canvas, he was determined to live out a life true to himself, pushing his capabilities to their absolute limit.
Amelia offered a weak smile. «Look at me, Lee… I was so frightened I completely forgot what you do. Will these recordings actually help your research?»
«Of course they will, Amelia,» Li Yunlong replied smoothly. «These video files capture the entity from a normal, physical perspective. Earlier, I used my arts to observe it from an occult standpoint. Once we return, comparing the two sets of data will yield invaluable insights for my work.» He paused, turning his head to look at her directly. «And congratulations, Amelia! Based on my observations, I am one hundred percent certain that the train has entered its final, suicidal frenzy. Its curse is no longer an insurmountable death sentence for us.»
Despite having prepared herself emotionally, hearing the definitive confirmation made Amelia burst into a breathless laugh of relief. «That's wonderful news, Lee, truly wonderful. What should I do next?»
«First, we'll head to your apartment to gather your essential belongings, then you'll come stay at my place,» Li Yunlong instructed. «My residence has long been fortified and converted into a magical stronghold. Having caught a glimpse of the train's core secrets during our confrontation, I can make targeted adjustments to the warding arrays once we return. Starting today, as long as you stay inside my sanctuary for seven days without stepping foot outside, I am confident I can forcibly suppress the curse placed upon you. In fact, the train will almost certainly collapse within six days at most. When it perishes, the curse will dissolve on its own without us ever needing to break it directly.»
Amelia turned the key in the ignition and began driving toward her home. After a few minutes of quiet, seeing Li Yunlong lost deep in thought with no intention of speaking, she found the silence unbearable. The thoughts churning in her mind demanded an outlet.
«Lee… did you notice the passengers inside those train cars?» she asked softly.
«No,» Li Yunlong replied, his tone detached. «My focus was entirely consumed by the train itself. As for those passengers, you needn't worry about them posing a threat to us. They are completely subjugated by the curse now, reduced to little more than living wooden puppets. It will take time for the train to fully digest them. If they are lucky, some of them might even survive once the anomaly breaks down on its own.»
Amelia fell silent for a long moment before speaking again, her voice hushed. «I was reviewing the footage just now… Three of them were colleagues from our television station. I didn't know two of them very well, but the Indian man worked right alongside me in post-production for the news department. We even gave him a nickname – 'Bald Ali'.»
She paused, swallowing hard before adding, «Thank you, Lee. Truly, thank you. If it weren't for your help, I would be sitting on that train right alongside them.»