Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 187 Chapter 186 Spirit World Express
Miskatonic University, school gate.

A huge and somewhat ferocious steel beast stands quietly here. The platform continues to emerge from the void with the power of miracles, and is then changed and repaired by the wonderful power, deepening the details and creating various symbols that are both decorative and mysterious.

"Terminus Miskatonic University."

At this time, at the gate, workers from the Path of the Educator and the Path of the Secret Peeper were making final preparations.

This steel behemoth, born from the fields of mysticism and science, is being assembled bit by bit. Various mysterious symbols and complex logos sometimes appear on the windows of the steam train, and sometimes wander around the front and rear of the train. One complex symbol after another stands out and disappears under the scrutiny of the workers. It is elegant, and can also bring an unconcealable shock to those who see it for the first time.

"A structure that transcends its time, a perfect fusion of mysticism and science, an unprecedented miracle!"

Tang looked at this machine that was ahead of its time and grabbed a ticket from the cracks in history.

"Arkham Express, Route 1 (Advance tickets, not available to the public, for school personnel only)"

"Departure Station: Loen Kingdom, Ahowa County, Tingen City."

"Destination: Miskatonic University."

"The entire journey takes eight hours. Please take care of your luggage, follow the train staff's instructions, and get on and off the train in an orderly manner."

"During the journey of this train, you will see something you cannot understand. If you experience symptoms of nausea, vomiting, or other problems, please inform the train staff immediately!"

"The conductor of this train, Rivera Abraham, sincerely hopes you have a wonderful journey."

Tang walked onto the steam train, entered it, and saw the scene inside the carriage that was familiar yet also unfamiliar to him.

"I miss it a little bit, um, just a little bit."

"It's just a pity. I'm not a keyboard expert, and before I traveled through time, I didn't replenish my knowledge because of some weird fantasy like 'Ah, I'm traveling through time.' I can only consume fragments of knowledge to exchange for corresponding information from the system."

Otherwise, as a fortune teller, as long as he has seen something, even if he has not seen it very carefully, he can still remember it through dream divination, without the need to use the system at all.

"Of course, if I modify the appearance, I can turn it into a maglev train or a bullet train. As long as I have enough status and the corresponding authority, I can make the plane right now, and it will appear in the form of a historical pore image."

"However, if we talk about the difference between this and the steam trains of Emperor Roselle's time..."

If you ignore the magical elements, there is probably no essential difference between the steam train built by Emperor Roselle and the steam train in the knowledge he exchanged for the knowledge fragments, from appearance to power supply.

But in the final analysis, what drives this steam train is not steam power in the general sense, but the power of knowledge contained in various mystical symbols.

The Book of the Dead itself is equivalent to a high-level thing of the second path of contaminated knowledge. Three hundred years is enough for Tang and many secret puppets to explore all the contents of this book, organize and practice them, and make them his own occult knowledge.

The knowledge in this book is indispensable for enabling a steam train to travel rapidly through the spiritual world, traveling through various countries and regions without causing any impact, while effectively avoiding the threats from most high-level creatures in the spiritual world.

Tang found an empty seat and sat down, watching the busy puppets outside. They were doing the final debugging of the train and making final preparations for pre-departure.

Soon, the secret puppet was in place on the newly built train platform, and the train head made a whistle-like buzzing sound.

The gears began to turn, and various mystical symbols flowed on the surface of this trackless steam train, shining brightly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the train is about to depart. Please check your belongings. If you have any questions, please contact the staff of the carriage."

An ethereal female voice sounded from above his head. Tang looked out the window. The train platform outside the window began to move further and further away, and the iconic, four or five-meter-high black iron gate of Miskatonic University was also gradually shrinking.

There are still a lot of wilderness outside this city. The trackless steam train roars and moves steadily on the rugged road.

"The train is about to enter the spirit world."

The light and shadows around suddenly dimmed. Countless blocks of rich colors, red, white, yellow, and black, appeared rapidly as the train moved forward, enveloping the hundreds-meter-long steel behemoth. With a slight feeling of dizziness, the train sped into the spiritual world and disappeared at the end of the wilderness.

In the spiritual world filled with rich and eye-catching colors and all kinds of strange creatures, a steam train that was out of place here roared into it.

The flickering lights in the train dimmed for a moment and then immediately returned to normal. Looking out the window, all kinds of twisted and abstract symbols of the spiritual world and all kinds of strange creatures suddenly appeared in front of Tang.

-

Archer Lancaster stood at the corner of the street carrying a suitcase. He looked around and only breathed a sigh of relief after making sure that no one was following him.

Then he felt a hint of timidity and uneasiness, as well as an inexplicable pleasure.

The letter from a university called 'Miskatonic University' was actually not that trustworthy.

Whether it was the strange name and precautions, or the seemingly ordinary ticket, it all made people feel that this was a ridiculous and naughty prank that could not be more ridiculous.

There are indeed many powers in this world that are beyond human imagination, and Archer himself has been exposed to some mystical things.

This kind of thing is quite common, especially in places where low-level workers gather. Sometimes people even lose their lives because of these unimaginable things. As the child of a gang leader who controls several streets and some docks, he is naturally exposed to and understands the extraordinary existence.

But unlike his father who hopes to become a gang leader as well, Archer likes to explore the unknown and study knowledge. After knowing the other side of this world, he has been trying to understand it. Recently, he successfully joined a mystical circle with real extraordinary powers and got a potion formula called "Assassin".

Miskatonic University, a university with a strange name. Archer naturally couldn't trust the contents of the letter after just one look, but he was indeed moved by the sentence "If you are a seeker of knowledge determined to explore the truth of the world, then this school must be your best choice. Experts and professors in various fields will guide you here..."

"The truth of the world..."

What is the truth of this world?
What's going on in this world?
With an inexplicable impulse, Archer stood at the entrance of the alley, holding the ticket with a miniature of a university on the front and the train number, boarding time, and his own signature on the back, waiting for that moment to come with a nervous mood.

Seven fifty-eight, seven fifty-nine, eight o'clock... When the hands of the pocket watch in his hand pointed to eight o'clock, the surroundings dyed red by the crimson moon were still quiet. This city lacked nightlife without lights at night. Many lower-class people would not be willing to light a candle to brighten the room after a busy day and earning money, after having nothing to do at night.

It was completely silent here, nothing was happening, not even a dog passing by barked.

Archer's grip on the luggage tightened and loosened, feeling disappointed and dazed.

He was disappointed that the ticket in his hand seemed to be a complete scam. There was no such thing as 'Please present the ticket to any location in your city and try to stay alone three minutes before departure time. This train will provide you with a waiting service'. It was just a trick on him and a waste of his time.

What was in a daze was how he was going to explain to his father why he believed such a ridiculous joke and left alone with his luggage at this time?

Archer twitched the corners of his mouth and was about to turn around and leave to pay for his brainless behavior when a strange sound suddenly came from beside him.

"Woo——"

In the deep night, tiny specks of warm light streamed out through the polished windows. Archer turned his head and stared with wide eyes at the huge, terrifying, and enormous monster that had stopped on the street in front of him at some unknown moment. It looked like a sandworm in some horror story.

"This..." He didn't turn around and drop his luggage to run away immediately. Letting the crazy secretion of hormones control his impulses was the best he could control.

"Mr. Archer Lancaster?"

On the surface of the steel behemoth that stopped in front of Archer, something like a door slowly opened and moved to the side, revealing a young man wearing a half-high silk hat, a military green coat, off-white trousers, white gloves, and strapless black boots.

He was holding a list and seemed to be checking the names.

Seeing that Archer was stunned and had no intention of speaking, the conductor asked again very gently.

This time Archer nodded hurriedly and put his luggage into the luggage locker with the help of the conductor. Then he handed the ticket in his hand to the conductor a little awkwardly.

"Your seat number is Carriage 12, Section 1B. Please let me know if you can't find it."

The conductor tore off a quarter of the ticket he had received and handed it back to Archer.

"Okay, okay."

There was a slight vibration under their feet, and the door they had just entered was closed by the conductor. The monster seemed to start moving again.

Strange, this is all really strange.

Archer walked dazedly to the location where "12, 1B" was written in various languages ​​including Intis, Loen, and Feysac, and found that there were already two people sitting there.

The two people were a man and a woman. One of them had high cheekbones, a thin face, blue eyes, a bold hair color and a rather exaggerated dress. She seemed to be attending a high society ball. She had a strong personality and was very curious about everything around her.

The other one was a man over 1.9 meters tall, wearing a linen shirt, simple but somewhat worn trousers of the same color, and a pair of leather boots. He looked quite bewildered and shocked, buzzing in his heart, and did not look very smart.

The latter was most likely a Feysac person. After all, in Loen, it was rare to see men taller than 1.9 meters.

Seeing someone coming, the tall woman with blue eyes smiled at Archer. Her smile was bright and flamboyant, but it made people subconsciously not feel any malice towards her.

"Hello, I'm Celia Jane."

"Hello, Archer Lancaster."

Archer found his seat and sat down next to the Feysac man who was over 1.9 meters tall, facing the person who called herself Celia Jane.

The 1.9-meter-tall giant beside him hummed, "Regulus Albert."

"What a coincidence! You also got that strange notice and boarded this train?"

Archer calmed himself down and quickly accepted the fact that such a large object was referred to as a 'train', but he was more curious about another place.

"You also got on board through that strange notice?"

"Yes, that's right." Celia Jane nodded briskly. "I'm from Intis, from Trier, and this big guy is from Feysac, a resident of Montbierre."

One is from Trier, the capital of Intis, and the other is from Feysac?
That university called Miskatonic, does it recruit students from the entire northern continent?
Archer was somewhat shocked by his previous speculation that the so-called Miskatonic might just be a newly built university in a city within the Kingdom of Loen. However, he did not expect that the lady who called herself Celia Jane suddenly raised her head and looked at the wall clock in the carriage.

She said, "Ah, come to think of it, an hour ago we were still in Intis."

Archer was stunned, and for the first time in his life he doubted his hearing.

"An hour ago? No, wait, what do you mean we were still in Intis an hour ago?"

This is Loen, far from Intis. Even if the fastest horse runs day and night, it will take at least a month to cross the border and reach the border of the Intis Empire!
What do you mean you were still in Intis territory just an hour ago?!

Suddenly, Archer heard the humming of a device.

"Even after watching it once, this image still gives me an incredible thrill."

Following the gazes of Celia Jane and the 1.9-meter-tall Feysac man who claimed to be Regulus Albert, Archer couldn't help but turn his gaze to the world outside the window.

There, the dim and silent streets disappeared, and countless red, white, yellow, blue and various colors appeared like spilled ink paintings. Countless color blocks overlapped together, forming a magnificent world where the sense of up, down, left, right, and direction was completely lost!
"Ladies and gentlemen, the train has entered the spirit world. Next stop: Loen Kingdom, Jianhai County, Michael City..."

(End of this chapter)