Chapter 164: Lucky Star
"Shen Yu, to make it this far, we’ve already done pretty well."
Menloa’s expression was strangely calm.
Perhaps he had already expected this moment.
He reached out and gently patted Shen Yu on the shoulder.
His body was beginning to fracture.
Tiny cracks spread across his skin.
Then—
Sha... sha...
White sand began drifting from the corners of his mouth.
Shen Yu’s lips parted.
He wanted to say something.
But before he could—
Menloa’s body shattered.
His entire figure dissolved into countless grains of white sand that floated into the air.
The strange thing was that the sand did not simply scatter.
It moved with purpose.
Every grain slowly drifted toward the Twilight Train, as though being drawn toward it by an invisible force.
Then it disappeared into the train.
Swallowed.
Absorbed.
As if Menloa himself had become another fragment of the memories contained within the train.
Shen Yu clenched his fists.
"Damn it."
"Damn it!"
"What exactly is the way out of this level?"
His eyes remained fixed on the collapsing station.
Then—
An image suddenly flashed through his mind.
Meilin.
That was it.
Where was Meilin?
She had never left the train.
Not once.
And yet the train had departed without her being forced off.
Why?
Shen Yu’s pupils contracted.
"Wait."
"Could it be...?"
His thoughts raced.
"Meilin found the transfer card inside the train?"
That possibility immediately led to another.
Twilight Station.
What exactly did "Twilight" mean?
Could it be that Twilight Station wasn’t referring to the railway station at all?
Could it mean...
Twilight itself?
Shen Yu’s breathing stopped for a moment.
Ten minutes.
The train had only stopped for ten minutes.
There wasn’t enough time to explore the streets outside the station, search the surrounding buildings, and return with a transfer card.
The dungeon wouldn’t deliberately create an impossible dead end.
Therefore—
The answer had to be somewhere they had overlooked.
Inside the Twilight.
"Damn..."
Shen Yu finally understood.
But it was too late.
The realization came several minutes too late.
He looked at the collapsing station without anger or resentment.
Instead, his expression gradually became calm.
The audience watching the Dragon Kingdom’s livestream erupted.
"Peppa Pig: We really lost?"
"Chainsaw Massacre at Bare Mountain: Damn... he made it this far. That’s already incredible."
"Lazy King of Green Pastures: Thankfully, Shen Yu evacuated early."
"Take care, Shen Yu."
The comments from the Dragon Kingdom were surprisingly peaceful.
There was no anger.
No excessive regret.
Everyone knew how difficult it had been for Shen Yu to reach the fifth station.
Even if an entire national team had entered this dungeon, they might not have survived this long.
But the comments from the other countries were far more chaotic.
"I’m selling drinks at the Bear: Menloa is a real man!"
"I’ll build a monument for him and pour a barrel of vodka over his grave!"
"And Shen Yu is out too!"
"Matsumoto Kika, couldn’t you find a way to save yourself?"
"That’s my hometown! It’s disappearing just like that!"
"It’s over!"
"Everyone is dead!"
"Total annihilation!"
One comment, however, remained strangely calm.
"Leaning Tower: Why is everyone crying? Isn’t Lady Meilin still alive?"
The other perspectives had gradually begun disappearing.
But Meilin’s livestream remained active.
Inside the Twilight Train.
Meilin finally stepped out of the bathroom.
She looked exhausted.
Shen Yu’s shirt was still wrapped around her body.
She held the fabric tightly against herself as she walked back into the carriage.
Then—
Her pocket suddenly trembled.
"What?"
Meilin froze.
She reached inside.
Her fingers touched something cold.
She pulled it out.
A transfer card.
Her eyes widened.
"No way."
"How did this get here?"
She stared at the card in disbelief.
She hadn’t found it.
She hadn’t searched for it.
She had simply spent the last ten minutes hiding in the bathroom.
And yet—
The transfer card had appeared in her pocket.
"Did the dungeon just... reward me?"
Meilin’s expression became complicated.
The train began moving.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
She hurried to the window.
Outside, she saw Shen Yu, Menloa, and Matsumoto Kika still standing on the platform.
"Shen Yu!"
"Shen Yu!"
She shouted and desperately waved.
But the soundproofed carriage swallowed her voice.
Shen Yu couldn’t hear her.
He simply stood there calmly.
Watching the train disappear.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Footsteps came from behind.
Sandy walked toward Meilin with an unusually cheerful expression.
She glanced at the transfer card in Meilin’s hand.
Then smiled.
"You actually survived until the end."
"You monster."
Meilin’s expression twitched.
The audience immediately exploded.
"Damn! I used to think Shen Yu was dead weight."
"Now I realize I was completely wrong."
"How can dead weight be this lucky?"
"Meilin didn’t do anything!"
"She literally spent the entire station hiding in the bathroom!"
"And somehow she still reached the sixth station!"
"Respect the lucky star!"
"She doesn’t even need to work!"
"Her reward is enough to carry her!"
The comments flooded the screen.
But nobody noticed what was happening outside the station.
Because at that exact moment—
A white light suddenly flashed.
The collapsing Twilight Station froze.
Shen Yu narrowed his eyes.
Something was wrong.
The white sand that had been drifting away suddenly stopped.
Then—
It began moving backward.
The grains of sand returned to Menloa’s body.
The cracks across Matsumoto Kika’s body closed.
The collapsing buildings reassembled.
The departing Twilight Train reversed along the tracks.
Everything began moving backward.
Faster.
Faster.
Faster.
It was as though someone had grabbed reality itself and pressed the rewind button.
Shen Yu stood motionless in the middle of the scene.
His eyes widened.
"Perfect Timeline..."
His talent had activated.
Time itself began reversing.
Everything that had happened moments ago was being erased.
The train returned.
The platform rebuilt itself.
Menloa’s body reconstructed.
Matsumoto Kika returned to her original position.
Even the white sand flowed back into the bodies from which it had emerged.
Then—
Shen Yu saw it.
An image.
A possibility hidden inside the reversed timeline.
Someone stepped into it.
And the entire world changed.
"Dear, aren’t you getting off the train?"
Sandy stood in the doorway of the pink carriage.
Her smile was gentle.
But her words made Shen Yu’s expression change.
"Getting off?"
"Too much help will only make me feel like a loser."
Sandy tilted her head.
"Are you sure?"
Shen Yu stared at her.
Then he suddenly understood.
She had been giving him hints all along.
Every time she had told him—
Get off.
Get off the train.
At the time, he had assumed she was simply trying to help him survive.
But now—
That didn’t make sense.
If Sandy truly cared about him so deeply, why would she repeatedly urge him to leave?
Unless...
She wanted him to do the opposite.
Shen Yu’s eyes narrowed.
"How could I have missed that?"
Sandy liked him.
Her favorability toward him was extremely high.
So why would she eagerly want him to leave?
There was only one explanation.
She had been guiding him toward the wrong answer.
A hint hidden inside another hint.
Unfortunately—
There were no "what ifs" in life.
If he had realized it earlier, things might have been different.
But now...
He knew.
Shen Yu looked at Sandy for several seconds.
Then he smiled.
"If I were someone else, wouldn’t you like me too?"
Sandy blinked.
Then—
"Pfft."
She covered her mouth.
"Shameless."
Shen Yu shrugged.
"Aren’t you getting off?"
"Not yet."
With that, he stepped out of the pink carriage.
The moment his feet touched the floor—
The world changed.
The same scene began playing again.
Matsumoto Kika stumbled forward.
"Wasn’t I just with Shen Yu?"
"How could it be you?"
She hurriedly pulled her kimono tighter and moved away from Meilin.
Meilin rubbed her fingers with a disgusted expression before rushing toward the bathroom.
Then—
Menloa stumbled out from the rear carriage.
His face was pale.
His steps were unsteady.
He opened his mouth.
"I—"
Matsumoto Kika immediately turned toward him.
Her expression darkened.
"Enough."
"Don’t say another word."
She pointed toward the station.
"Get off the train."
"Go find the transfer card."
The scene was almost exactly the same as before.
But this time—
Shen Yu was no longer the same person watching it.
He knew what was coming.
And more importantly—
He knew that the fifth stop had not ended yet.
The real answer was still hidden somewhere inside the twilight.