"Since when can trains drive onto main roads... what the hell."
A massive steam tractor slowly hauled the locomotive along the roads at the edge of Aurora City. The driver grumbled as he operated the machine.
"Stop complaining. If the enforcers hear you, they might dock half your hauling fee," his companion chimed in. "Just deliver the goods and call it a day."
At White Dove Plaza, the train from outside the city had been disassembled into several sections, with the carriages completely separated. Multiple steam tractors worked together to transport them to a large warehouse. The movers had been busy from noon until dusk.
As the sun gradually sank behind the western mountains, the last of the carriages finally reached their destination. Watching the charred train sections being sealed inside the warehouse, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Wait, we need to do one final check."
An accompanying enforcer suddenly spoke up.
The movers' expressions darkened, but they couldn’t argue. They could only stand obediently at the warehouse entrance and wait.
Several enforcers carried kerosene lamps as they searched each carriage, confirming no one was left inside before nodding to the group.
With the barricades set up around the warehouse, the enforcers finally left. A few birds streaked across the amber sky as the warehouse district fell into complete silence.
A few minutes later...
A figure slowly descended the steps from the dimly lit carriage.
He dusted himself off like a passenger who had just disembarked, casually lifted the barricade tape, and strolled out as if taking a leisurely walk.
Dressed in a brown overcoat with a pair of half-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, black spectacle chains dangling from the temples, he looked like a scholar from afar. His young, unfamiliar face scanned his surroundings before he strode toward the setting sun.
Yet after just a few steps, he paused.
The orange-red sunset burned like flame along the horizon. On the long, straight road ahead, two figures stood bathed in twilight, watching him.
One wore a white duckbill cap with silver snake earrings dangling from his lobes, a mysterious and playful smirk on his lips. The other was wrapped in a gray overcoat, a scarf around his neck, his azure eyes seemingly capable of ensnaring souls.
The moment the "passenger" saw them, his expression turned for the worst.
He let out a long sigh. "How did you find me?"
"Guessed." Chu Muyun shrugged. "From the moment the train entered Aurora City, you stood atop the locomotive the entire time without moving. At first, I thought you just wanted a higher vantage point... but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn’t that simple.
Your position was directly above the train’s steam chimney. When you burned your body to ashes, the remnants would naturally fall through the chimney into the boiler.
At the same time, you created an illusion of playing cards flying into the sky, drawing everyone’s gaze upward... That’s when you slipped through the chimney and hid inside the locomotive, completing a flawless escape act."
Chu Muyun paused, then added, "Honestly, it was too perfect. If I didn’t know your background, even I would’ve believed you were burned to nothing... But I still don’t understand—how did you survive those flames?"
Chen Ling smiled but didn’t elaborate.
Chu Muyun’s deduction was mostly correct, with only one flaw: Chen Ling hadn’t survived at all. He had genuinely been reduced to ashes, only to resurrect inside the neglected boiler. After reviving, he immediately used [Faceless] to conceal himself. Even if the enforcers searched again, they’d find nothing amiss.
The inspiration for this performance came from an escape magic act Chen Ling had occasionally seen in theaters in his past life. Though he wasn’t a professional magician, observing backstage had taught him the basics...
The results proved his escape act was flawless. Even the five-striped judge standing right beside him hadn’t noticed anything unusual—except for Chu Muyun, who had assumed his survival first and worked backward.
After all, who could’ve guessed that even as ashes, he could resurrect?
"Honestly, I loved your final card trick," Bai Ye couldn’t help but muse. "Playing cards raining from the sky—it suits the Twilight Society perfectly. Next time we make a grand entrance, we should try it..."
As Chen Ling walked with the two toward the city streets, he asked, "What happened after I left the stage?"
"The survivors you brought into Aurora City tried to stand up for you but were taken away by the enforcers. They’re probably receiving medical treatment now. The other citizens were probably too stunned to react yet, but once public opinion spreads, who knows how things will develop..."
"What about Han Meng?"
"Him? He was arrested. Defying headquarters’ orders, fighting other judges, publicly questioning Aurora City... With charges like those, a tribunal is inevitable."
"Tribunal? What’s that?"
"A court specifically for judging enforcers. All traitors or criminals among the enforcers are tried there. Light sentences strip them of all rights and imprison them for life; heavy sentences mean public execution. Either way, it’s not a good place."
Chen Ling’s brow furrowed slightly. He walked in silence, lost in thought.
The sun dipped lower.
The amber glow of dusk spilled across Aurora City’s streets. Children clutching paper kites ran past, laughing. The crisp ring of a bicycle bell sounded as a mailman reluctantly stopped to let them pass... The scent of life, rich with the aroma of cooking, permeated every corner of the city.
This was Chen Ling’s first time walking Aurora City’s streets. For a moment, it felt like he had returned to a small town from his past life. Though the technology was far less advanced, the vitality and liveliness here were something the seven districts could never match.
Just then, Chen Ling’s gaze landed on a figure across the street, and he froze.
A ragged figure sat slumped against the wall in an ignored corner, traces of wind and snow still clinging to him, utterly out of place amidst the surroundings.
Chen Ling stopped in his tracks.
"What’s wrong?" Chu Muyun asked, puzzled. "Do you know him?"
A flicker of complexity passed through Chen Ling’s eyes. After a brief hesitation, he walked toward the man.
Chen Ling’s shadow blotted out the fading sunlight. The figure in the corner slowly lifted his head, his haggard face hollow and lost... Chen Ling would never forget this face. Not long ago, they had fought each other in the midst of a blizzard.
He was the enforcer of District Three—Xi Renjie.