Chapter 170: Loving Too Much
"Didn’t you notice?"
Shen Yu suddenly stood up.
"It’s getting hotter."
His gaze shifted toward the pink carriage.
More precisely—
Toward the bathroom.
The cracks in the wall from earlier had already healed completely. Yet beneath the smooth surface, something was moving.
A mass of fleshy tissue pulsed beneath the wall.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
It looked disturbingly like a living organ.
"The real station wants to run very fast."
Shen Yu’s eyes narrowed.
And as if responding to his words—
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
The Twilight Station train accelerated violently.
Its wheels screamed against the tracks.
The entire train seemed impatient to reach the end of its journey.
Outside the windows, the sun became increasingly intense.
The landscape warped beneath the scorching heat.
Even the air seemed to twist.
Inside the carriage, the temperature continued climbing.
It became harder and harder to breathe.
Every breath felt like inhaling burning smoke.
The passageways seemed to be turning into furnaces.
Shen Yu covered his nose and mouth.
"Damn."
"It seems this level is about breathing."
"The seven spirits..."
His expression became solemn.
"This is the lung."
Control of human breathing.
Menloa’s face changed.
He immediately covered his mouth and nose and began controlling his breathing as carefully as possible.
"Cough!"
"Cough! Cough!"
His chest heaved.
"Breathing..."
"Damn it."
"If the temperature keeps rising, would water help?"
Matsumoto Kika had already abandoned her outer kimono.
She was left wearing only a thin pink undershirt, her entire body drenched in sweat.
Desperate for relief, she rushed into the bathroom.
She turned on the faucet.
She expected cold water.
Instead—
HSSSSSS!
A torrent of boiling water erupted from the faucet.
White steam exploded outward.
It struck Matsumoto Kika directly in the face.
"AHHH!"
Her skin blistered instantly.
She staggered backward, covering her face with both hands.
"What the hell?!"
Shen Yu’s voice came from outside.
"Idiot."
"This train is alive."
Matsumoto Kika gritted her teeth.
She finally understood.
The train wasn’t a machine.
It was a living entity.
Everything inside it was part of its body.
Menloa gasped heavily.
"Shen Yu!"
"Maybe we should open the doors!"
"If we let some air in, we might be able to cool the carriage!"
He staggered toward the rear door.
Shen Yu immediately stopped him.
"The temperature outside is even higher."
"Don’t open it."
Menloa froze.
"This level..."
Shen Yu’s eyes darkened.
"It’s probably designed to kill us through our lungs."
Before the two could say anything else—
RUMBLE!
The entire carriage began shaking violently.
Metal groaned.
The walls twisted.
Then—
HISSSSS!
Countless tiny holes suddenly opened across the metal panels.
They looked like iron pores.
Like the surface of a gigantic living body.
And from every single pore—
Scalding steam erupted.
HSSSSSS!
"AH!"
Menloa screamed.
A blast of steam struck his head.
Large clumps of hair instantly fell away.
His scalp burned.
"Shit!"
Shen Yu’s eyes widened.
His gaze immediately turned toward the front door of the pink carriage.
The door was tightly shut.
And Sandy—
Was nowhere to be seen.
Shen Yu’s expression became grim.
"This level..."
"There’s no way through normally."
Suddenly—
Two golden halos appeared.
WHOOM!
Golden light enveloped Shen Yu and Menloa.
Their bodies disappeared from the carriage.
Inside the blazing carriage, the situation became even worse.
The metal seats twisted.
The windows bulged.
The walls writhed.
Every surface seemed to develop living pores.
HISSSSS!
Scorching vapor erupted everywhere.
"AHHH!"
Matsumoto Kika curled up inside the bathroom.
Her body was already badly burned.
White, rotten-looking flesh peeled from her skin as she stumbled through the carriage.
She looked like a corpse that had been boiled alive.
But she refused to give up.
She had survived this far.
Partly because of her revival ability.
Partly because she had slowly learned how these dungeons worked.
She knew one thing.
If she stayed here—
She would die.
So she endured the pain and charged toward the front door.
BANG!
She slammed both hands against it.
"Open the door, Sandy!"
"Open it!"
"Do you really want Shen Yu and Menloa to burn alive?!"
"Open the door!"
Again.
And again.
BANG!
"Open the door!"
Her voice became hoarse.
But there was no response.
Only silence.
Then—
A cold female voice finally came from behind the door.
"Shen Yu?"
Matsumoto Kika froze.
The voice continued.
"It’s because I like him too much."
"So he can’t leave."
"Absolutely not."
"He has to die here."
Matsumoto Kika’s pupils contracted.
"Die..."
Sandy’s voice became increasingly distorted.
"Shen Yu is mine."
"Mine."
"No one can take him away from me."
"Hahaha..."
"Hahahaha!"
The laughter echoed through the front compartment.
Matsumoto Kika stared at the door in disbelief.
This woman wasn’t simply obsessed.
She was insane.
"Shen Yu..."
Sandy whispered.
"You belong to me."
HISSSSS!
A blast of steam struck Matsumoto Kika.
Her nose was burned open instantly.
Blood sprayed from her breathing passage.
She staggered.
Her lungs desperately attempted to inhale.
But the air entering her body was hotter than fire.
Her chest suddenly convulsed.
BOOM!
Her lungs ruptured.
Blood and fragments of flesh exploded from her mouth and nose, mixing with the scorching steam into a crimson mist.
Her body went limp.
Her head tilted to one side.
Then—
She collapsed.
Thud.
Matsumoto Kika was dead.
She had died on the journey to the final station.
Meanwhile...
Inside the golden palace.
Shen Yu and Menloa stood side by side.
Both were drenched in sweat.
They repeatedly wiped the water from their faces while gasping for breath.
"Huff..."
"Huff..."
Menloa looked at Shen Yu.
"Tell me something."
"Why is there no way out of this level?"
Shen Yu remained silent for a moment.
Then he sighed.
"Go find Sandy."
Menloa stared at him.
"She’ll protect you."
"No."
Shen Yu shook his head.
"She won’t."
Menloa looked confused.
"But doesn’t she like you?"
Shen Yu smiled bitterly.
"That’s precisely why."
"She likes me too much."
"She doesn’t want me to survive."
"She wants me to die here."
"So I’ll stay with her forever."
Menloa’s expression became complicated.
He suddenly understood.
Sandy’s affection wasn’t protection.
It was possession.
Then—
A familiar voice suddenly rang inside Shen Yu’s mind.
DING!
Shen Yu froze.
The Goddess Strategy System had finally returned.
[Sandy’s Favorability toward you +5.]
[+5.]
[+5.]
[+5.]
Shen Yu’s mouth twitched.
"Again?"
The notifications continued.
[Current accumulated favorability: 112.]
[117.]
Shen Yu’s expression changed.
"Wait."
[WARNING.]
[WARNING.]
[Favorability level has exceeded the normal limit.]
[Target’s emotional state has become abnormal.]
[Dangerous obsession detected.]
Shen Yu stared blankly ahead.
His expression slowly became serious.
"Too abnormal..."
The system had never warned him like this before.
And Shen Yu suddenly realized—
Sandy’s favorability wasn’t simply increasing.
It was becoming something much more dangerous.
Something that might make escaping this dungeon harder than ever.
Because the woman waiting at the end of the Twilight Station train...
No longer merely wanted him alive.
She wanted him hers.