No strange things are allowed to evolve!

She squinted, carefully observing the Snow King, then blurted out in surprise, "The Snow King!"

She pushed the door open completely.

Then, she saw Jiang Shu.

"Hey hot teacher, you're here too!"

Jiang Shu looked at the familiar face and asked in surprise, "Who are you again?"

"Uh..." Wang Tiezhu's mood dropped, and his disappointment was evident.

But just as she was about to say something, suddenly her expression froze, and her mouth slowly opened wide, as if she had seen something terrifying.

Seeing this, Jiang Shu and the other two realized that there might be something behind them, and subconsciously turned around.

Then they saw a pair of scarlet eyes silently staring at them from the center of the observation window, which was welded shut inside and out with heavy steel bars.

Before they could figure out what it was, the train began to shake violently.

Bang bang bang!

A heavy, muffled sound came from outside the carriage.

The already dimly lit carriage suddenly plunged into complete darkness, leaving only the dense red lights outside the observation window.

Something covered this train carriage, completely obscuring all the observation windows...

First leave slip

I celebrated my birthday with my author friend, Iron Palm Grasshopper, and we went to the dock for some fries and drinks. After writing for an hour, I realized something was off about what I was writing—I felt a bit tipsy… I guess it's because I haven't had a drink in a while. I don't want to fob you off, so I'm going to sober up before continuing. Therefore, there will probably only be one chapter today. I'm really sorry. This is the first time I've taken a day off in almost a month, and I hope you can forgive me. But you can all go and attack the authors of *The Undying Me Speedruns Supernatural Games* and *I Achieve Sacred Body in the Real World*—they're the ones who got me hooked, sob sob…

Chapter 143 Are Kings and Nobles Born with a Special Kindness?

Just as the corridor turned pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, a faint green light suddenly came on, barely illuminating the entire passageway.

Although they still couldn't see the monsters clearly, by the dim light, they noticed that they were all kept out of the observation window by iron bars.

Although collision sounds could be heard from various parts of the carriage from time to time, fortunately the entire train was protected by a thick steel casing, preventing them from entering.

"What are all these things?"

Snow King was somewhat lost in thought.

At this moment, Wang Tiezhu had already hidden behind Jiang Shu, grabbing his sleeve and concealing half of his body.

Xue Wang noticed this, and so she, who was not very afraid at first, suddenly became afraid as well, and then naturally took over the other side behind Jiang Shu.

"Could this be the so-called Sand Demon?"

Huang Helou glanced at the three people entangled together, then turned his gaze back, looking at the red eyes with curiosity.

Jiang Shu felt somewhat helpless. He wanted to turn his head, but because both of his arms were being held down, it was as if he was being suppressed, making it very difficult to turn his head.

So he could only turn his back to the two of them and complain, "Wait, what are you guys doing here? Playing tag with me?"

After he spoke, Wang Tiezhu realized his lapse in composure and quickly released Jiang Shu.

"I'm...sorry, I can't really handle that kind of sudden shock..."

Seeing that she had let go, Xue Wang had no choice but to let go as well, and then explained, "I was frightened by Tie Zhu's reaction."

At this moment, Jiang Shu finally remembered who Wang Tiezhu was.

Isn't this the socially awkward girl from the [Creative Workshop]? I never expected that she would also find out about the message I posted and enter this incubator.

Jiang Shu was a little curious. Could it be that in that incubation facility, only Ba Wang was truly honest, and only he was a low-level evolver?

The parents are suspected to be Snow King, the top two leaders of the Holy Temple; Strawberry Milkshake's younger brother; and the rebel Hard Candy Bear. Now, it is also suspected that there is a high-level evolved being who has joined the Tongzhou Society behind Wang Tiezhu.

Everyone seems to be extraordinary.

Thinking about this, Jiang Shu wanted to ask Wang Tiezhu where he got the information, but after thinking about it, now didn't seem like a good time.

Let's wait until we're more familiar with each other and the other person is willing to share some secrets.

For now, let's focus on the present.

“These things should be related to Tie Zhu,” Jiang Shu said seriously.

"Uh...what does it have to do with me? I didn't do anything." Wang Tiezhu hurriedly waved her hands to explain, afraid that her teammates would attribute the appearance of these monsters to her.

"The three of us have been talking for so long and they still haven't shown up."

Jiang Shu squinted his eyes:

"As soon as Tie Zhu went out, these monsters appeared. What a coincidence!"

I deduce that if Tie Zhu doesn't appear, the next scene won't be triggered, and these monsters won't appear.

"What a pity, we could have exploited a bug and explored the entire train first."

"So that's what you meant..." Wang Tiezhu felt relieved.

As long as I don't cause trouble for others, that's fine.

Upon hearing this, Huanghelou smiled and shook his head:

"Exploiting bugs... Do you think this is a game?"

"Forget it, there's no point in arguing with someone like you who's a green-hearted player." Jiang Shu sighed. "Someone like me feels uncomfortable if I don't exploit bugs or use cheats."

Just as Jiang Shu finished speaking, in the direction the train was traveling, ahead in the corridor...

Suddenly, a middle-aged man wearing a leather jacket and carrying a Tibetan knife appeared.

He didn't look very old, around thirty or forty, but his hair was completely gray, and his skin was very rough, with many cracks and scabbed scars.

This is clearly a warrior who has been baptized in blood and tempered by hardship.

"Don't worry, these aren't sand demons. They're just the lowest-level sand golems. They can't get in."

The man spoke expressionlessly as he gradually approached the group:

"I thought you guys had run into some trouble since you were late in reporting for duty, but it turns out you were just scared by these guys? Heh..."

For some reason, his tone was filled with disdain.

"You are…"

Huang Helou asked warily.

“I am your instructor, you can call me Falcon.”

The man approached the group, sized them up, and his eyes occasionally betrayed disappointment.

"When I was your age, I was already able to defeat sand golems with my bare hands."

But you, besides being scared, didn't react at all. The people who came this time... have really poor manners.

"This time..." Huang Helou thought of something and asked, "So, were there other people before us?"

"of course."

The man who called himself a falcon said:

"Each time the train departs, new guards need to be replenished, but..."

He paused:

“You are not qualified guards yet. You must survive first and have the ability to defeat the sand puppets before you are qualified to become guards.”

I know that you are all talents selected from various places and possess all kinds of strange abilities, but none of these abilities can truly kill the sand golems, because their power comes from the entire desert. As long as the desert exists, their vitality and combat power are endless, and they can wear you down.

To defeat them, you must obtain a power from this desert unlike any you have ever encountered, and then use magic to defeat magic.

If you cannot master this power, death will be the only outcome for you.

Let me tell you some numbers. Among the new recruits in the past, less than half of those who possess this power survived a full journey of the Zodiac Train.

If you survive once, you're an elite; if you survive twice, you're an instructor; if you survive three times, you're the strongest in the guard. However, no one has ever survived three times.

"What…"

The three people from Huanghelou were slightly taken aback.

The ability wasn't sealed, so it's because sealing it or not doesn't matter? Unless it's targeted in a specific way, the sand puppet is immortal.

Jiang Shu, however, was somewhat puzzled:

"So, in the end, you're just a guard who's survived twice, right? So before us, you've only seen one batch of new recruits at most, but you're talking like you've seen so many, making it sound so real..."

The falcon's expression turned cold.

"I was telling you how hard it is for a soldier to survive, and all you heard was that I survived twice?"

"You yourself said you're an instructor... and since no one has survived three attempts so far, are you about to die?"

"Hoo..." The falcon exhaled, its gaze turning somewhat gloomy as it memorized Jiang Shu's appearance: "Never mind whether I can survive the third time, I hope you can survive the first time first."

He turned and walked back the way he came.

"Come with me."

The others followed in his footsteps.

Wang Tiezhu cautiously said to Jiang Shu, "Teacher La, isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to antagonize him right from the start? He can't possibly target you, can he?"

"Probably not." Jiang Shu shook her head.

"Are you so sure?" Huang Helou said with a smile, "It's fine to target you, but it would be a bit inappropriate to target us as well."

Upon hearing this, Xue Wang immediately expressed her dissatisfaction: "Lala Teacher is my good friend, can you please not be so sarcastic?"

"It's my fault, it's my fault." Huang Helou raised his hands with a wry smile, as if surrendering, and explained, "I just heard that he was your friend and thought he was someone as outstanding as you. I didn't expect him to be so careless, so I was a little surprised and just spoke without thinking."

Out of consideration for his parents' relationship, Xue Wang couldn't afford to break off relations with him right away, so she could only reluctantly say, "Anyway, just be more careful next time."

After saying that, he gave Jiang Shu an apologetic look.

Jiang Shu didn't care.

Because he was absolutely certain that the falcon wouldn't do anything to him because of this.

Just as the falcon was speaking, Jiang Shu had been using the [Absolute Truth Scale] to test whether the other party's words were true or false.

The results obtained are true.

So the falcon is probably busy figuring out how to survive right now and has no time to mess with them.

Especially after Jiang Shu reminded him that he might not live much longer, Falcon lost all interest in wasting time here.

That's right, the falcon didn't stop mocking them because of anger or resentment towards Jiang Shu, but simply because it thought it was about to die, so it suddenly lost all interest.

However, this also made Jiang Shu feel a little strange.

Logically speaking, veterans should have more survival experience than new recruits and a higher probability of surviving. So why does the falcon say that no guard has survived three times yet?

It even sounds like a strange rule: a guard who has carried out three missions will definitely die. That's the kind of feeling that really bothers you.

Before long, the four of them followed the falcon and, after passing through several carriages, arrived at an empty carriage.

It's hard to imagine how a train powered by steam engines and coal could be so big and heavy, yet still travel so fast and so relentlessly.

This carriage is practically a basketball court.

In fact, every carriage of the train is this big, but the carriages we passed earlier were either restaurants, bathrooms, or botanical gardens, and for various reasons, they were separated by partitions, making it not so obvious.

However, the carriage they were in now had absolutely no cover, and the entire carriage could be seen at a glance.

Not only is it as big as a basketball court, but it is also nearly five or six meters high.

This is the assembly point for the guards, and also where they practice their skills.

At this time, quite a few people were already waiting here; at a glance, there were probably forty or fifty people.

"So what happened just now?"

Seeing the falcon return with its men, someone in the crowd asked a question.

"The sand golem climbed onto the vehicle again and tried to squeeze in, which terrified the newcomers who had never seen a sand golem before," Falcon replied casually.

Immediately, many people turned their attention to Jiang Shu and his group of four, their eyes filled with amusement and mockery.

Huang Helou was quite displeased with this and muttered, "They're all in the same boat, yet they still keep trying to suppress newcomers. These people are really..."

Besides their disdain, many others simply chose to ignore it altogether.

They stood on the other side with serious expressions, clearly separated, their eyes fixed straight ahead. Judging from their age, they seemed to be around the same age as Jiang Shu and his group, probably making up more than half of the people there.