Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 593 Subway Station

……

On the 23rd of that month, at Xiaojiazhuang Station on Metro Line 23 in Chunming.

Sun Hang, Wang Xiyi, Zhong Ling, and Xue Yue sat silently on a bench at the train station, watching the few passengers who were getting off the subway.

It is now 10:26 PM. This is the second-to-last bus from Xiaojiazhuang, with eight minutes left before the last bus.

These passengers were mostly tired-looking office workers who had just finished overtime. Compared to the high rents in the city center, rents in Xiaojiazhuang, located in the suburbs, are much cheaper. Many young people who come to Chunming City from Beijing to work hard but are short of money often choose to stay in such places.

The biggest drawback of living here is that I have to get up more than an hour earlier than my colleagues in the city every morning and take several subway lines to get to the company. But compared to the low rent, this drawback is insignificant.

A young man dressed in a wrinkled Brazilian suit, carrying a laptop bag, glanced at Sun Hang and his group, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. Zhong Ling and Xue Yue's appearances, even without makeup, were considered quite outstanding among ordinary people. As for Old Wang, although she was dressed in very concealing clothes, with a wide hood and a mask that only revealed her eyes, hiding her dragon horns and scales on her face, her amazing body proportions could not be hidden. Even if you couldn't see her face, her long legs crossed together would make passersby take a second look—whether they were of the opposite or same sex.

The young man finally fixed his gaze on Sun Hang, his eyes shifting from surprise to a mixture of doubt and envy—perhaps in his eyes, Sun Hang was probably some playboy second-generation rich kid who could easily find himself surrounded by three completely different types of beautiful women whenever he went out.

However, the young man ultimately said nothing and silently walked towards the exit.

As a wage slave who has been brutally beaten down by society, he knows very well that his fate and that of people like him are two parallel lines that will never intersect in his life.

Besides, he was already very tired, so tired that all he wanted to do was go home, take a shower, and then go to bed...

Sun Hang watched the young office worker disappear at the end of the escalator out of the corner of his eye, shrugged at Old Wang, and said, "I told you you didn't need to follow me, you're too conspicuous..."

"Isn't the problem that too many people followed us?" Wang Xiyi grabbed Sun Hang's arm. "It was just the two of us, and pretending to be a couple waiting for the subway wouldn't have attracted any attention. But by bringing these two along, it makes you look like a playboy having a harem in public... How can you not be conspicuous?"

"Actually, I only wanted to bring Xue Yue," Sun Hang muttered.

“But Xue Yue has no fighting ability, and you’re unwilling to bring people from the Heavenly Pivot Tower over. You need someone who can fight by your side, right?” Wang Xiyi pouted. “What if, I mean, what if, a whole train full of bread-like people gets off that ghost train? What are you going to do then?”

Sun Hang pursed his lips, deciding not to continue arguing about the topic.

Unless you shut Old Wang up, she can always come up with a bunch of reasons... As for how to shut him up, that's a topic that's not really suitable to discuss in this situation.

Eight minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and the last subway train slowly pulled into the station.

The last train had slightly more passengers than the previous one, but only a small number. Occasionally, a few people would glance at Sun Hang and his companion with puzzled looks. At this time, the people lingering at the station were definitely not waiting for a train, but they would find it hard to associate these four young men and women with the elderly people who liked to use the air conditioning in the subway station.

As the last empty train pulled away from the station, the subway station manager cautiously approached Sun Hang and reported, "So far, no abnormalities have been found in the station, and Line 23 is operating normally. The detectors that the Anomaly Investigation Bureau previously placed throughout the station are also operating quietly..."

"Okay, I understand. You can go home now." Sun Hang nodded. "Leave this to us."

"Are you sure we don't need to keep them here? What if..."

"How much do you earn a month?" Sun Hang suddenly asked.

"Uh... before tax, not counting year-end bonuses and various benefits... a little over 16,000," the station manager replied, clearly not understanding why Sun Hang would ask such a question.

“It’s not worth risking your life for this little bit of money.” Sun Hang patted the other man on the shoulder. “What’s coming into the station later might be a train full of strange creatures.” Upon hearing the phrase “full of strange creatures,” the stationmaster couldn’t help but shudder.

"Just follow the usual procedure, and go home after you've finished your work... Oh, and don't lock the door."

"Okay, okay," the stationmaster nodded hurriedly.

Sun Hang kept a low profile during this operation. He did not mobilize any troops, hunters, or field agents to enter the subway station. The Anomaly Investigation Bureau also left after installing detectors in the subway station under the pretext of inspecting fire-fighting facilities.

At the subway station, apart from the stationmaster, no one knew their identities or what their next move would be.

This was done to avoid causing panic, and also to "control variables"—Sun Hang had to ensure that today's Xiaojiazhuang station was as similar as possible to the Xiaojiazhuang station on the 23rd of every month, especially when facing rule-based monsters. Even a slight change in a seemingly insignificant variable could lead to drastically different results.

This is called the "butterfly effect".

The subway station staff skillfully completed the cleaning and maintenance work before closing the station. During this time, some people cast strange glances at the four "stranded passengers," but it was clear that the station manager had given prior notice. Although these people were curious, none of them came up to persuade Sun Hang and the others to leave.

At 10:55 p.m., the stationmaster was the last to leave the subway station after saying goodbye to Sun Hang and the others, and the entire subway station suddenly became extremely quiet.

"Aren't the lights on?" Wang Xiyi couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"No, I won't turn it on." Sun Hang shook his head. "What if turning on the light scares the fish away?"

"That's right..."

Time ticked by, and when the reading on the wristband screen jumped to 23:23:00, everyone held their breath.

However, nothing happened.

"That...urban legend...could it be...a prank?" Wang Xiyi muttered.

"Whose pranks can bypass the mainframe's security system?" Sun Hang glanced at the time again; it was now 23:23:30 PM. A full half minute had passed, and the so-called ghost train hadn't appeared at all.

"I know what's wrong!" Sun Hang said, and quickly ran towards the upper level of the subway station.

"What's wrong?" Wang Xiyi hurriedly asked.

"No card swiped!" Sun Hang rushed up the now-shut-down escalator, dashed to the power-off turnstile, and slapped his Cairo Metro transit card onto the sensor.

At this moment, he didn't forget to glance at the time on his bracelet.

23: 23: 55
The moment the subway card was tapped, a faint sound of wheels and rails rubbing together could be heard inside the tunnel, and the ground trembled slightly.

A pair of dim headlights appeared in the tunnel, slowly approaching.

(End of this chapter)