Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 365 "Jiangxi News Station"

Zheng Fan's appearance made the atmosphere in the carriage somewhat tense.

The interior of the Zero subway car is painted in the most common and obvious white, with silver metal seats. There are only a few people in the car. Zheng Fan, dressed in all black, stands out so conspicuously against the white background that anyone with a clear mind would not ignore him.

So, where did the Zheng Fan (a group of anti-Zheng factions) come from?
He simply finished his self-introduction with a smile, seemingly unaware of why he had made everyone so nervous.

This was especially true for Yu Hao and his two companions. Newcomers might still think this was part of the subway system, while the elderly person had already been gone for a while.

They had absolutely never encountered this situation before.

"Hello, Mr. Zheng Fan." Lin Yilin broke the silence first, even stepping forward and extending her hand. The speed was so fast that it seemed that this cold-faced, scarred lady was a little impatient.
It might be an illusion.

Zheng Fan instinctively reached out, but Lin Yilin grabbed his hand tightly with both of hers.

"The sensation is no different from when I was hallucinating," Lin Yilin said in a soft voice after they moved closer. To others, however, wasn't this a bit too close from a social distancing perspective?

Fried calmed down and realized once again that the illusion behind Miss Number One was quite powerful.

After being pushed out by Subway Zero, it actually managed to infiltrate back on its own initiative? It can even spontaneously generate a physical entity! Regardless of whether this entity has any other restrictions, the fact that it can perform this operation without being possessed is proof of its strength.

He also stepped forward to greet him: "Hello sir, just call me Weekday Fog."

Snapped!
Then, for no apparent reason, he was slapped by Zheng Fan.

There was no intense pain, only a slight stinging sensation and a perfectly placed, conspicuous red handprint, which left Fried in a daze.

Fried: ?

Did he do something wrong?

"Oops, sorry, I hit you when I swung my hand."

That slap you just gave wasn't a direct strike; it was a retraction before the blow. Nobody believes it was an accident!
The bystanders weren't stupid, but they dared not utter a sound.

However, the interactions between Lin Yilin and Fried and the other party eased the tension slightly. Regardless of what this Zheng Fan was, he seemed pretty much like a normal person for now, treating the beautiful woman very well, almost to the point of sticking close to her, and then slapping that jerk who had such a foul mouth.

Is there anything wrong with this?
That's perfectly normal.

Fried watched helplessly as Zheng Fan and Lin Yilin sat side by side on the subway seats next to him, feeling extremely uncomfortable sitting two seats away.

Yu Hao and his two companions exchanged glances, then vaguely welcomed Zheng Fan before approaching the office worker next to them with similar words, though the office worker remained skeptical.

The other person, who was quite drunk, seemed unlikely to wake up anytime soon.

"If there's danger next, wouldn't he be..." The young office worker looked at his colleague next to him with some worry.

"It's alright. If you're scared, just don't get off when you arrive at your stop. When the train announces the final destination, you'll be automatically transported out by the subway. However, in this case, the subway won't take you back to your original location; it will likely take you to another area of ​​the city," Yu Hao explained.

Didn't expect there was a way out?
"This subway is pretty conscientious," Zheng Fan said, but then changed his mind: "Except for sometimes refusing passengers, it's not conscientious enough in that respect."

"In terms of the freedom we're given, that's true. However, the alternate universes we're going to are full of hostility towards us," Yu Hao said in a deep voice. Seeing that the atmosphere had relaxed a bit, he took the opportunity to give them a heads-up.

"Is it the danger you mentioned before?" a student asked.

"The danger I'm talking about isn't just a simple encounter with danger. It's that these worlds themselves are targeting us. Every time we stay somewhere, the world will launch malicious attacks on us, transforming into various forms of crisis. The longer it goes on, the more terrifying it becomes, until a certain ultimate moment arrives, and a final boss-like being will directly hunt us down." Yu Hao's expression was serious.

Does this mean we'll be targeted by the world?
"Death has arrived?" Zheng Fan exclaimed.

However, this movie doesn't exist in this world, so apart from Lin Yilin, everyone else only felt that Zheng Fan was saying the literal meaning.

"It really feels like Death is chasing us all the way. Although, based on what we've gathered so far, the situation will be different in each world, we will all end up in the same place. So even though the time we spend on the subway may be very short in the outside world, we don't have the leisure to spend it all."

At this point, Yu Hao said earnestly, "These are crises, but also opportunities. As long as we overcome these crises little by little, we will have more and more tickets to the future, and we will be able to take countless things with us. Therefore, it is definitely right for passengers in the same carriage going to the same station every night to work together." The students responded enthusiastically, while the office workers seemed to be deep in thought.

Lin Yilin, Zheng Fan, and Fried made no further comment, and everyone waited quietly for the subway to arrive at the station.

A series of very standard notification sounds suddenly broke the quiet atmosphere.

"The train is about to arrive at 'Earthquake Impact Jiangwen Station'. Open the left door... Next station, starting point - Jiangwen Metro Line 3. Number of tickets required: three."

The announcement was delivered in a muffled, synthesized electronic voice, which sounded anything but approachable.

As soon as he finished speaking, the subway train, which had been traveling at high speed, slowed down significantly due to the strong inertia. Fortunately, thanks to the advance notice, no one was thrown about this time.

After hearing the broadcast, Zheng Fan looked up and glanced at the speaker with a strange expression.

Lin Yilin blinked.

Does "Earthquake Impact - Xinjiang News Station" refer to the Xinjiang News area during the recent earthquake?
They had just finished here, and then the subway started running again and brought them back?

"The earthquake's impact, as expected, means the newly restored subway won't be able to reach very far. But the earthquake's impact is no simple matter, especially in Jiangwen Street during that period." Fried frowned upon hearing this and took the initiative to explain to Zheng Fan and Lin Yilin.

"Everyone knows that Jiangwen Street suffered serious damage, but apart from the riot of the Longevity Society, there is still a lot of information that is quite vague, and the earthquake illusion also ended up in that place... Wait, doesn't this subway have a difficulty rating? Is this the kind of thing you put in the beginner dungeon?" Fried said, and suddenly couldn't help but complain.

Zheng Fan and Lin Yilin: "..."

A silent silence fell over them; they didn't know what to say, and any response would seem insincere.

Yu Hao and the other two passengers also looked grim and immediately began to discuss the matter amongst themselves.

"What's going on? Is this time the difficulty a bit too high?"

"If it were a peripheral area, that would be one thing, but why would it be that Jiangwen Street?"

"The situation might not be that serious. The requirement to leave is three tickets, which isn't too high. It's not as bad as we were a few days ago. Don't panic," Yu Hao immediately analyzed.

They had operated earthquake-prone sites before, but the difficulty of earthquake-prone sites in Xixi Keke and Xinjiang Wen was worlds apart.

The students were also talking a lot.

The earthquake, so recent, still holds a novelty for them. It's well known that many thrill-seekers reside in the white-clad urban areas of the capital.

The Raphael School District was minimally affected by the earthquake; for many students, the worst impact was seeing trees fall and feeling the tremors from their neighboring school, Shishikoko.

This is something that people in the White World will likely never experience again in their lifetime, but they can even go directly to the most dangerous area at the time and do it again!
I felt tense and uneasy, but I couldn't suppress my excitement either.

"What if the timeframe was when we were fighting with 'Lossway'..." Zheng Fan was communicating with Lin Yilin in his mind.

“Mr. Illusion rarely cares about disrupting the scene; sometimes he even deliberately makes a big commotion,” Lin Yilin received.

They felt absolutely no pressure.

They resolved everything themselves; if things went wrong, they could just try again. Zheng Fan was even curious about encountering his own version of himself in this instance.

However, from another perspective, the thought of the others present stepping into that battlefield without knowing anything about it makes one fall silent.

The car door opened, and a strong smell of blood and decay hit my nose.

I can already see that familiar scene outside through the window.

(End of this chapter)