American variety show world begins with subduing Jason

The bronze bells of St. Patrick's Cathedral rang nine times precisely on time, their deep sound piercing the night and spreading through the gradually quieting streets and alleys, reminding everyone, according to old customs, that it was time to rest.

Of course... that was in the past. Nowadays, people in the city are used to going to bed late and getting up late, or even staying up all night. Besides, this is Manhattan, where the nightlife is incredibly diverse and exciting, and this is just the beginning.

The wide streets remained bustling, with luxury cars coming and going, full of handsome men and beautiful women, shuttling through the bright lights and heading towards the stage of desire and money.

In this environment, two figures appeared gracefully at the side entrance of the hotel, got into a slightly worn Ford that was already parked there, and disappeared into the traffic like a drop of water flowing into the ocean.

"Phew, your psychological invisibility is so convenient." Taking off the hood of her trench coat, her smooth, shoulder-length gold hair cascading down her shoulders, Michelle put her arm around her companion's, her words tinged with envy.

They just walked out of their room together in a very open manner, passing by numerous staff members, including bodyguards, without any hindrance. It was quite a strange and exciting experience.

Unfortunately, to utilize mental power to such a level requires not only long hours of diligent practice but also considerable talent; otherwise, she would really like to study it part-time.

When praised by her friends, Nan just covered her chubby little hands and chuckled foolishly.

"Do we really not need to bring a few men with us? The security there is terrible." Caroline was both delighted and worried. She was grateful for their help and didn't want them to get hurt.

Michelle patted her pocket confidently. "Relax, the 'toys' I brought are much more powerful than pepper spray. They can handle not only ordinary thugs, but even a herd of mad elephants."

"Don't worry about safety. I've recently learned some... combat techniques." Seona's voice drifted from the driver's seat, calm yet hinting at a longing for adventure, before she stepped on the gas.

"Hold on tight, ladies, I'm about to speed up."

As night deepened, the yellow and white headlights drew a long streak of light, gradually leaving the hustle and bustle of the upper city behind, leaving a lonely and resolute trail on the quiet back street.

As we slowly drove into Brooklyn, the surrounding buildings gradually became old and dirty. The few pedestrians mostly walked by quickly, appearing hurried and wary, as if afraid of being swallowed up by this dangerous and impoverished land.

“It’s right here.” Caroline looked around nervously and led the group to a deserted subway station entrance. “It’s almost 11 o’clock now, there are usually not many passengers, but be careful of those crazy drug addicts.”

Under the flickering streetlights, the broken and cracked steps were covered in dirty stains, interspersed with slang graffiti sprayed with fluorescent paint, giving off an eerie feeling.

It's like... some kind of terrifying lair.

Chapter 353 Midnight Train, Danger Lurks in the Dark 1

As a well-known century-old institution, the New York Underground system is so large and complex that it requires a significant amount of cleaning and maintenance resources.

However, financial constraints and management issues have made it difficult to effectively resolve these problems for a long time, which is why its health situation has always been worrying.

Anyway, the gentlemen have their own luxury cars and never take the subway. As for funding proposals, they can just mention them casually during the election and let them go once they are in power.

If the relatively decent Upper East Side is like this, then the situation in the slums, where the poor gather, is naturally even worse, just like the scene before us:

The tiles and wall plaster were covered with clumps of grime, with hardly any intact pieces; the black men's "art masterpieces" were layered upon each other, colorful yet full of violence and unease.

The dampness and musty smell in the air were bad enough, but the strong ammonia odor emanating from the suspicious yellow stains in every corner was so strong that it brought tears to people's eyes.

Even fresh or dried excrement can occasionally be seen, paired with puddles of thick vomit mixed with the smell of fermented alcohol, together impacting the visitor's already fragile SAN value.

Against the backdrop of these abstract objects, even the piles of white discarded toilet paper and fast food wrappers on the ground appear pure and lovely, like little angels.

The makeshift adventure team covered their noses and carefully navigated the trash under their feet, like special forces personnel on a mission, using great courage and wisdom to navigate through the minefield and reach the relatively safe platform.

At least to ensure the train runs smoothly and doesn't get caught in anything strange, the subway company's cleaners have put most of their effort into cleaning, so the environment here is barely acceptable.

The dim electric lights cast flickering light, illuminating the two rows of somewhat faded wooden benches along the edge of the platform. A few passengers sat on the benches in twos and threes, having been busy all day. Some were flipping through rough tabloids, while others were sipping cheap coffee to stay awake. Their expressions varied, but all revealed a deep weariness.

"What do we do now?" Nan still used her psychological invisibility technique to hide from the onlookers, and the group huddled to the side whispering among themselves.

"Wait a moment, and try to match the time period of the disappearance as closely as possible, then we'll perform the formal ceremony again." The fortune teller girl spread her fingers to tie her hair back with a rubber band, and tidied herself up neatly.

As midnight approached, the number of passengers gradually dwindled until they all left.

"If I'd known it would be this slow, I should have had Nan use hypnosis to chase them away," Michelle muttered, picking up a chalk pen and drawing three concentric circles on the ground.

Nan, munching on the red velvet cake Caroline had given her, happily twisted her body, helping the latter unfold a red and yellow waitress uniform and lay it flat in the center of the circle.

"Don't worry, we'll help you find your friend. Her cakes are so delicious, she must be a good person. Everything will be alright," the naive spirit witch said clumsily but sincerely.

"Thank you, thank you everyone, I hope so." Caroline clenched her fists gratefully, her eyes fixed on the ceremony.

"...The same time, the same place, a replica of fate's trajectory, the leftover items—please reveal the whereabouts of your master..."

As the fortune teller girl chanted softly, a palm-sized transparent crystal plate floated in the air, its platinum-filled zodiac chart reflecting a mesmerizing light.

Countless points of light converged into a blurry image, projecting into her mind and constructing a miniature scene exactly like the platform in front of her, within which two figures, one tall and one short, gradually took shape.

The faces of the two were indistinct, but it was vaguely discernible that they were a man and a woman. The black-haired man was short and stocky, while the white woman was curvaceous with long, wavy chestnut hair, which matched Caroline's description of the missing persons.

Restaurant waiter Max and Asian owner Li Han!

They struggled to carry seven or eight large takeout bags, anxiously watching the clock on the wall, craning their necks and looking on expectantly.

The pointer silently pointed to zero, and two beams of yellow light pierced the darkness in the tunnel. The classic silver square-headed Bard R32 train then emerged, swaying and coming to a stop. The two scratched, worn sliding doors, like an old woman, slid open slowly and hesitantly. The two part-time deliverymen, who had been waiting for a long time, breathed a sigh of relief and ran over in a few strides.

Because their bags were so bulky, they carefully maneuvered around the car door, afraid of crushing the cake delivery boxes.

A large, friendly hand reached out, blocking the metal door that was about to close. The middle finger of the hand reflected light slightly, as if it were wearing a ring.

The two exchanged a few words of thanks and then disappeared into the carriage.

Michelle perked up and activated her secret technique to continue searching, wanting to follow the target onto the vehicle and track down its final whereabouts.

However, at that moment, a sudden phantom pain shot through her mental world. A hard, cold sensation surged in like a wave, as if a thick, rough iron plate had slammed down, forcefully cutting off the prying gaze!

Although she couldn't see the specific details clearly, a strange sense of unease, like a cold, venomous snake, crept up her spine.

The ceremony was abruptly interrupted!

Michelle withdrew her spirituality, breathing heavily and in a disordered manner. The hidden power behind this disappearance seemed to be far beyond her prior imagination.

"What happened?" Saiona, being older, noticed something amiss from the conversation.

Michelle's expression was complicated. She shook her head and whispered, "Something's not right."

The fact that the matter involved supernatural factors was completely unexpected. After a moment of hesitation, she decided to be cautious and reached into her pocket to contact the authorities.

A rational gentleman would not stand under a wall that is in danger of collapsing.

This was an Eastern proverb that the girl had learned from her boyfriend: ignoring security regulations and going out privately might elicit a few mild criticisms, but if someone recklessly runs into danger, there's nowhere to turn for help. She clearly understood the difference between what was more important and what wasn't.

As she fumbled for her phone, a low rumbling noise suddenly rang out, and a train approached from afar.

"...Finally, we caught up."

At the same time, the sound of high heels clattering on the ground filled the air as a heavily made-up Asian woman, reeking of alcohol, stumbled and rushed down the stairs.

Just as it seemed they were about to miss their stop, a hand with large, protruding knuckles emerged from inside the carriage, grabbed the closing door, and delayed it for a few seconds.

The red light shimmered on the middle finger; it was a warm, bright red agate ring.

The familiar scene instantly triggered Michelle's innate abilities, and a sense of premonition suddenly arose in her heart. She couldn't help but exclaim softly:

"The clue is on this train!"

"Oh dear, it's too late! It's already gone!" Caroline raised her hand in frustration, as if trying to grab the departing subway, tears welling up in her eyes.

Before Michelle could explain why, Nan, who had just finished her snack, suddenly raised her head and patted her chest, volunteering.

"It's alright, I have a solution—[Starlight Travel Technique]!"

A crystalline spot suddenly appeared between her brows, and a large expanse of silvery-white liquid, shimmering with starlight, appeared out of thin air. Like a surging wave, it enveloped the bodies of several people, transforming into a stream of light that caught up with the subway and seeped into the last carriage without any hindrance.

After all the visitors had left, the midnight platform fell into a deathly silence again. A few minutes later, the clock on the wall groaned a few times, marking the start of its duty to chime on the hour.

A tall, thin man in a security guard uniform shuffled lazily from the entrance.

He irritably raised his eyelids to glance at the time, his gloomy face full of weariness.

"Damn it, finally got a prostitute to send up, today's work is done... Damn men, we have to do this every day, and we have to do it secretly. When will this shitty mission, which is like dancing on a knife's edge, ever end?"

Chapter 354 Midnight Train, Danger Lurks in the Dark 2

A billboard advertising Converse sneakers hangs forlornly beside the dark tunnel, its faint glow struggling to break through the thick cobwebs and dust to illuminate the train rushing past.

The last carriage seemed empty, with a few clumps of dry yellow cigarette butts and hamburger wrappers rolling back and forth with the slight jolts of the train, before coming to an eerie stop in an empty corner.

"You're too reckless... Oh well, never mind." Michelle kicked away the trash at her feet, looked at Nan's proud expression as if she wanted to praise her, and helplessly shut her mouth.

In a fit of pique, she pinched the other person's chubby, round face, mercilessly inflicting a righteous punishment.

"Stay put and don't move. I'll contact the outside...?"

Michelle was speechless, pressing her phone in astonishment. The pale blue fluorescent screen was completely blank, with no signal whatsoever.

She tried it several times, refusing to believe it, and her face grew increasingly serious.

Although the federal infrastructure has always been terrible and it's normal to not be able to receive mobile signals in the subway, this is a special model produced by the intelligence department, so it should be able to make emergency calls no matter what.

The training she received made her instinctively want to retreat temporarily, but after glancing at Caroline's hopeful eyes, she hesitated for a moment and changed her mind.

This is New York! The heart of the government. Any dangerous entities that could pose a threat have long been eliminated. It's impossible to allow any powerful figures to run rampant. Most of the time, it's just a few degenerates colluding with gangsters committing crimes.

"Nan, activate telepathic communication, let's go take a look ahead."

She clutched a small, dark-black tube, about the thickness of a cigar. This was a tranquilizer gun specially designed by an official agency. It was easy to carry and operate, powerful enough to easily subdue a bull, and could evade security checks, allowing it to be brought into various situations. It was specifically provided to spiritual mediums and other physically weak supernatural advisors for self-defense.

"Let me do it." Having already been briefly introduced on the way, and knowing that one of them was immature and the other was not good at fighting, Seona secretly pinched the hard thing under her sleeve, and then volunteered to stand at the front of the group, leading the group to move forward quietly.

The cool metallic touch gently rubbed against her palm. The compartment door quietly opened a crack, and her movements suddenly stopped. Her delicate earlobes trembled slightly, sending a silent warning through her mental network.

—Be on high alert, there are screams ahead!

……

……

Clang, clang, the wheels sped along, making dull thuds as they clattered against the intersections of the tracks, echoing throughout the train, yet unable to conceal the terrified screams and angry curses hidden beneath.

"If you want money, I can give it to you..." The black thug in the leather jacket wildly brandished his switchblade and shouted at the figure in front of him.

"...But get the hell away from me, I'm not as easy to bully as that woman!" Although his words were deliberately fierce, his voice was hoarse and trembling, revealing a fierce but cowardly attitude, clearly indicating that he was terrified.

How could I not be afraid!

Seven or eight rows away, a tall, imposing figure silently turned his head, revealing a middle-aged white man with a hard, expressionless face.

His gray-black suit was impeccably tailored, and his neat buzz cut was the typical attire of a typical office worker in this metropolis. However, the briefcase that should have been in his hand was now replaced by an exaggeratedly menacing weapon.

A menacing steel hammer, about half a foot in size, was raised high, dripping a few drops of a viscous, crimson-white substance, adding a few vibrant flowers of death to the rust and grime on the floor. Its origin was obvious at a glance:

At his feet, the Asian woman who had been lively and energetic just a dozen minutes ago lay drowning in a pool of blood. Her youthful face, concealed by heavy makeup, had turned into an irregular mosaic. Her hands and feet, still warm, twitched slightly, driven by residual bio-currents, like a skinned frog on a dissection table, futilely trying to hold onto her rapidly fading life force.

Seeing that his attempts at persuasion and threats were ineffective, the black man's eyes flashed with malice. He mustered his courage and used his extensive experience in street fights to strike first. He feinted at the man's face, but then the knife slid diagonally downwards, insidiously plunging into the man's unboned abdomen.