Chapter 172: Sandy’s Father
Shen Yu’s eyes opened.
Outside the window was no longer a normal sky.
Only a twisted orange-red world remained.
No clouds.
No mist.
No horizon.
Only burning light.
Hiss!
Sparks suddenly erupted from the rusty carriage.
Then flames spread across the walls.
"AH!"
Menloa’s leather coat caught fire.
Flames engulfed his body in an instant.
"Damn it!"
He tore the burning coat from himself.
Shen Yu wasn’t doing any better.
Fire crawled across his clothes.
His skin began blistering.
The entire carriage had become a furnace.
Menloa gritted his teeth.
"As expected..."
"The end of memory is destruction."
He looked toward Shen Yu.
"Do you still agree with the plan?"
Shen Yu remained silent.
Menloa’s breathing became increasingly ragged.
"I..."
"I can’t hold on much longer."
"You..."
"Go."
"Go beg Sandy."
"Maybe she can still save you."
Shen Yu looked at him.
Menloa shook his head desperately.
"Go!"
"You mustn’t die!"
Then—
Poof!
Menloa’s body became engulfed in flames.
But even while burning, he didn’t forget Shen Yu.
He pushed him toward the front carriage.
Creak...
The front door slowly opened.
Shen Yu looked up.
Inside the burning front compartment stood Sandy.
She was pushing an old man seated in a wheelchair.
Yet the scene violated every law of physics.
The train was flying almost vertically toward the sun.
But Sandy and the old man stood perfectly upright.
As though gravity itself obeyed them.
Sandy looked at the old man with an expressionless face.
"Dad."
"Don’t worry."
"After eating the memories of these two..."
"You’ll recover."
"We’ll always..."
"Always..."
"Always be together."
The old man’s bald head trembled.
His eyes slowly closed.
His breathing became weaker.
Then—
His body suddenly twitched.
A foul smell filled the carriage.
The old man had lost control of his bladder.
Yellow liquid slowly seeped across the floor.
Wherever it touched the burning metal—
Sizzle!
A disgusting stench filled the carriage.
Menloa covered his nose.
"Damn..."
"There’s one final hurdle!"
His face twisted.
"I..."
"I think I just..."
Shen Yu glanced at him.
Menloa’s expression was one of absolute despair.
"I shit myself."
Despite the situation, Shen Yu almost laughed.
Almost.
Then he felt something twist violently inside his own abdomen.
His expression changed.
"No..."
His intestines contracted.
Something was wrong.
This wasn’t ordinary heat.
This was another mechanism.
The final mechanism.
Shen Yu’s eyes darkened.
"The last hurdle of the seven souls."
"Purification."
"The mechanism controlling the body’s excretion."
At first glance, it sounded ridiculous.
But in this dungeon, nothing was harmless.
The body’s ability to control its own waste was being stripped away.
Menloa’s body was already failing.
And Shen Yu felt the same thing happening to him.
His stomach churned violently.
Then—
A strange warmth spread downward.
Shen Yu looked down.
His pupils contracted.
Blood.
Not urine.
Blood.
The excretion system was malfunctioning completely.
Blood mixed with bodily waste.
Every forced release would weaken the body further.
One time.
Two times.
Three times.
Eventually, the human body simply couldn’t endure it.
Shen Yu clenched his teeth.
His upper body was already burning.
His arm was dislocated.
His skin was torn.
His legs trembled.
And now even his organs were beginning to fail.
Sandy’s voice drifted through the flames.
"Darling..."
"I told you."
"No one can leave the Memory Train."
"You..."
"Me..."
"Everyone..."
"We’ll become part of Dad’s memories."
"We’ll stay together forever."
"Stay."
"Stay and serve Dad with me."
"Stay..."
Sandy’s own body began burning.
Her deformed face slowly pressed against the old man’s.
Then—
The two faces merged.
Sandy was absorbed into his forehead.
The old man’s face constantly shifted.
One moment it was Sandy.
The next moment it was an old man.
Then something else.
Finally—
The old man slowly stood.
His body twisted unnaturally.
His feet stepped onto the carriage floor.
Yet he walked horizontally across the burning train as if the laws of physics no longer existed.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
The foul smell became unbearable.
Shen Yu and Menloa stared at the approaching figure.
Menloa’s expression turned grim.
"It’s over."
"This time..."
"It’s really over."
"My S-Rank talent is useless."
"Where can we run?"
"The front is blocked by that thing."
"The rear is fire."
"Outside is the sun."
"Annihilation Station..."
"This station itself is destruction."
"We’re doomed."
The old man continued approaching.
The barrage exploded.
"There’s nowhere to escape!"
"They’re going to die!"
"Either the fire kills them or the old man eats their memories!"
"This is a dead end!"
"The final station is actually the destruction station!"
"It really is over!"
Then—
Menloa suddenly turned toward Shen Yu.
"Go."
He removed his burning leather coat.
Using the blood leaking from his body, he smothered the flames.
Then he threw the coat toward Shen Yu.
"I’ll hold him off!"
Menloa crouched on the seat.
His face was burned almost beyond recognition.
But his eyes remained determined.
Shen Yu caught the coat.
"Menloa."
"Go!"
Menloa shouted.
Shen Yu suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
"Follow me."
Menloa froze.
"Ha?"
"Where are we going?"
"Where else can we run?"
Shen Yu didn’t answer.
Instead, he jumped.
The two men leaped from the burning carriage.
Their bodies slid down the train’s exterior as the Twilight Train raced toward annihilation.
They passed the cars one after another.
Menloa looked at Shen Yu in confusion.
Then Shen Yu began counting.
"Two."
"Three."
"Four."
Menloa stared at him.
"Shen Yu..."
"What exactly are you looking for?"
Shen Yu continued.
"Five."
"Six."
"Seven."
Then he suddenly asked:
"Menloa."
"Is there something in your life you could never let go of?"
"Even if you died?"
Menloa was silent.
Then he answered quietly.
"Yes."
"If I die..."
"No one will take care of my mother."
Shen Yu’s eyes softened.
"I see."
"Memories may fade."
"But love doesn’t."
"Six."
"Seven."
Then—
BOOM!
They passed the seventh carriage.
Shen Yu suddenly twisted his body.
Below him were two seats.
Two seats that had not burned.
Not even slightly.
He landed directly on them.
The labels were clearly visible.
E05.
E06.
Shen Yu’s eyes widened.
"Menloa!"
"Do you see those two seats?"
"They haven’t burned!"
"Grab them!"
"Grab them now!"
The train raced through the sky.
Menloa reached out.
CRACK!
His arm snapped violently.
The broken limb swung uselessly.
But he didn’t let go.
"Got it!"
His remaining hand caught the bottom of seat E05.
The sudden force nearly tore his shoulder apart.
But the seat held.
Menloa’s enormous body stopped falling.
Shen Yu grabbed him.
The two men swung beneath the burning carriage.
Then, with the last of their strength, they pulled themselves into the narrow gap between E05 and E06.
They collapsed.
Panting.
Burning.
Bleeding.
Yet something strange happened.
The moment their bodies touched the two seats—
The pain disappeared.
Shen Yu slowly opened his eyes.
The burning sensation was gone.
The bleeding had stopped.
Even the uncontrollable pressure in his intestines vanished.
Menloa stared at his body in disbelief.
"What..."
The carriage around them was still burning.
Every other seat had been reduced to blackened skeletons.
The walls were glowing red.
But E05 and E06 remained untouched.
Perfectly intact.
As though these two seats didn’t belong to the Twilight Train.
Shen Yu slowly sat up.
His expression became complicated.
"This..."
Menloa stared at him.
"What is this place?"
Shen Yu looked at the seats.
Then at the burning carriage.
"This is the place..."
"That father and daughter truly cared about."
Menloa frowned.
Shen Yu’s eyes narrowed.
"Then let’s gamble."
"What?"
"Does that father want to force himself to recover..."
"Or does he want to protect the only thing he truly loves?"
Menloa didn’t understand.
But he didn’t have the strength to argue.
His arm was broken.
His other arm was almost completely burned.
His body was covered in blood.
Shen Yu wasn’t any better.
Neither of them had enough strength left to fight.
Menloa slowly leaned back against seat E06.
"Hey, Shen Yu."
"If we actually make it out alive..."
"How about you, Meilin, and I have a drink together?"
Shen Yu smiled faintly.
"Sure."
"But only if we survive."
"Hahaha..."
Menloa laughed weakly.
"Fair enough."
Inside the burning train, the two men lay quietly against the only safe seats.
Outside, the sun continued approaching.
And somewhere ahead—
The final truth of the Memory Train was waiting.