Within the pitch-black passage, a train sped through the lightless tunnel, heading toward an unknown destination.
After quite some time, Ye Feng, who had been dozing on this very train, slowly opened his eyes. The moment he did, he instinctively raised a hand to shield them; the lights inside the subway car were jarringly bright.
"Did I really fall asleep..." Realizing he had actually drifted off, Ye Feng rubbed his eyes and observed the state of the subway car.
He saw a few scattered office workers resting in their seats and some peers his own age sleeping while listening to music. For some reason, an indescribable sense of eeriness washed over him. He turned to check on Qin Yuxin, only then realizing his shoulder felt slightly numb; he discovered her head resting against him, fast asleep.
"Tch, this woman is using me as a pillow."
He made a mental note to charge her for the service once she woke up, then put it out of his mind and looked up to see which station they were approaching.
"Huh? What station is this?"
Gazing at the station names displayed on the screen, Ye Feng was momentarily dumbfounded. The other stations appeared unchanged, but the real issue was the next stop. He and Qin Yuxin had boarded near West Lake Square, yet the platform display showed that the previous station was still West Lake Square, and they were currently bound for the terminal station: Fourth Dimension.
After West Lake Square, shouldn't they be heading toward a residential street? How did they end up going directly to a terminal station? Furthermore, what did "Fourth Dimension" mean? Was there even such a station in Hangzhou?
Ye Feng checked the time: 1:30 AM. He must have been asleep for over an hour. His brow furrowed at the realization. Even if he were exhausted, he was out in public; he should have only been in a light sleep for thirty minutes at most. How could he have been out for this long?
He tapped Qin Yuxin on the shoulder, but seeing her sleeping so deeply, Ye Feng knew something was definitely wrong. Even if she felt safe around him, she should have woken up after a few nudges. To be this deeply unconscious was highly abnormal.
He took Qin Yuxin's bag, placed it beside him, and gently propped her head against it. Then, Ye Feng stood up and began to move through the train. He estimated there were eleven cars in total; he and Qin Yuxin were in the second to last one.
With that in mind, he looked toward the front of the train. After glancing back at the sleeping Qin Yuxin, he hesitated for a moment before deciding to investigate.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Walking through the cars, nothing seemed out of the ordinary—just the workaholics sleeping in their seats and the youths nodding off with their headphones on. Outside the windows, since they were underground, it was pitch black, making it impossible to see anything.
Ye Feng moved quickly and reached the lead car in a minute. Here, aside from a high school girl and two middle-aged men who were all asleep, there was nothing unusual.
"Something's wrong. Something is definitely wrong."
The lack of any abnormality felt like the biggest red flag of all. First of all, the train was too quiet... Quiet?
Ye Feng suddenly realized something. He rushed to the window, pressing his face against the glass to look down toward the underside of the train. At that moment, a light flickered in his eyes, as if he had been fitted with ultra-clear night vision, allowing him to see the scene outside.
"How is this possible!"
Ye Feng recoiled, looking as though he had been struck by lightning, his face filled with disbelief. He peered out again to ensure he hadn't misseen anything, then turned his gaze toward the driver's cab at the front of the train.
The glass used for these cabs allowed those in the car to see only a faint silhouette of a person, proving someone was driving. But as the Light was subtly and constantly strengthening him, Ye Feng looked through the glass as if it were ordinary clear panes. He could see everything inside the cab clearly.
Inside the driver's cab, there was no one at the controls!
A train with no driver was not only traveling this smoothly but was actually levitating and flying!
Subway trains make very little noise while running, but there is always a sound. Just now, as Ye Feng walked from the back to the front, he had felt it was too silent—there wasn't a single sound. It wasn't until his Light-enhanced eyes saw the truth: the train wasn't running on tracks at all. It was flying, floating through the air as it advanced.
Levitation was one thing, but with no one in the cockpit, Ye Feng was one hundred percent certain this was an alien conspiracy.
"There haven't been any reports of missing trains. Could it be that this train isn't from China, but was built secretly by aliens..." Carrying this question, Ye Feng ran back to Car 10 where Qin Yuxin was.
Seeing her still in a deep slumber, Ye Feng didn't fully understand why, but it was undoubtedly linked to whoever was controlling this train. He gently slid her bag out from under her head without waking her and opened it.
Inside the backpack, besides feminine products, lipstick, a makeup mirror, tissues, keys, and credit cards, there was the Light Ring he had given her, a standard-issue TPC Hyper Gun, and seven energy magazines. Seeing the gun, Ye Feng breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Qin Yuxin had brought these along; otherwise, things would be dangerous.
He took out the Hyper Gun and the magazines, finding five standard energy clips, one anesthetic round, and one explosive round. He stuffed the clips into his pocket and held the Hyper Gun, fully arming himself.
However, as he was about to leave, he felt it wasn't right to leave Qin Yuxin here alone. He took her bag and hoisted her onto his back. To be honest, carrying Qin Yuxin for the first time felt a bit... strange. Specifically, there were two places on his back that felt remarkably soft, briefly sending his thoughts wandering.
Fortunately, he didn't stand still for long. Snapping back to reality, he quickly returned to Car 1. He placed Qin Yuxin on a seat to continue sleeping and looked at the cab door, realizing it was locked from the inside.
But Ye Feng didn't panic. He raised the Hyper Gun and fired three consecutive shots at the lock.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Clang—
The three shots destroyed the lock, leaving a gap. He reached in and pulled the door open. Sure enough, the cab was empty; only the instruments controlling the train were flashing, indicating it was still operational.
"Is this... a route map?"
Ye Feng glanced around and found three devices that looked completely out of place on a train. One appeared to be a route map, showing the total path the train was to travel. It indicated that the train had completed ninety percent of its journey. At its current speed, it would reach the terminal in about ten minutes.
As for the other two, they were basketball-sized, perfectly square cubes—clearly alien technology. Given the situation, one was likely responsible for the flight, while he couldn't guess the function of the other.
Aside from these cubes, Ye Feng found a canister resembling a fire extinguisher, though it appeared empty. He boldly leaned in to sniff it and immediately felt his strength beginning to fade. Fortunately, his unique constitution allowed him to recover almost instantly.
Setting the canister down, he murmured, "Using the subway to haul away citizens, using hypnotic gas to put them under, and this flying state... are they kidnapping humans to use as slave labor?"
Ye Feng surmised he had woken up early because of the Light, which had raised his constitution beyond human levels, significantly dulling the effects of the gas.
Meanwhile, the TPC Energy Observation Team in the Imperial Capital had detected a situation.
In Lin Jing's office, the Director-General stared at a research report. After a moment of silence, he spoke: "A Four-Dimensional space reaction appeared in Hangzhou. Are we certain this is real?"
"Completely certain. Even though it only appeared for a minute, the new energy detector captured its coordinates with precision." As the reporter explained, they handed over the location data to Lin Jing.
"11:53 PM, the West Lake Square subway entrance..." After a moment of thought, Lin Jing issued an order: "Pull the surveillance footage from that time. Also, contact Imperial TPC freshmen Ye Feng and Qin Yuxin. Have them investigate alongside the local Hangzhou TPC branch immediately."
"Understood!"
As the subordinate walked out, Lin Jing rubbed his temples, looking exhausted. He stared at the reports on his desk with worry.
"Four-Dimensional space... could this be related to Captain Qin Tianyi's disappearance?"
Recalling the theories Shajura had mentioned, Lin Jing paused to think, then reached out to the Defense Force...