Not long after Yama ended the call with his senior brother, Ming Daochuan, Chen Fei received a text message with a number.

Italy, oh, Italy...

Under the shroud of night, Chen Fei stood by the window, quietly holding his phone. His lips involuntarily curved into a faint smile, and his pitch-black eyes, as clear as glazed glass, seemed to fill with a cold light that was faint, yet incredibly unsettling.

By the early hours of the next day, he had obtained a new identity from Chief Luo Yuanzhi: a Hong Kong residency permit. The reason for this was his plan to launch a great raid across thousands of miles, traversing the icy lands of the Northern Bear Kingdom.

After all, his mission in Italy was to destroy their headquarters, so he couldn't afford to leave any traces. He especially didn't want certain people back home to know his whereabouts or what he was about to do. Besides, he was planning on having some fun with those people after he returned. It would be no fun at all if he alerted them to his plans prematurely.

「...」

After packing some essential gear, Chen Fei boarded a sanitized vehicle with no identifying information and headed north toward the northeastern border. Several days later, he crossed it and arrived in Russia, the snow-covered kingdom of great bears and wolves.

Russia, the senior "big brother" figure in the Republic's bloc during the last century, had established an international train line between Moscow and Capital City back in that era. In the old and chaotic seventies and eighties, countless people made their fortunes on this international route, a path of bloodshed, violence, and murder where they struck the biggest gold of their lives. For this reason, it was known as the Golden Road—or the Golden Road of Death.

Countless people died there. For the very few who succeeded, it was a path paved with the blood and bones of others. The ugliest and greediest sides of human nature, complete with blood, tears, and suffering, were on full display. Everyone who traveled it had to be prepared to put their life on the line for a chance at wealth. Out here, it was live or die.

Of course, with modern advancements, many things from back then have been washed away by the river of history, their former glory gone. Still, Chen Fei planned to travel this legendary route that cut across the icy landscape, taking it from Capital City all the way to Moscow.

However, since he intended to hide his identity, he couldn't board the train at a major departure point like Capital City. Instead, he had to be smuggled across the Sino-Mongolian border to catch the train there. Only then could he be sure to leave no trace of his movements.

And so, he paid no mind to the unfamiliar scenery of Outer Mongolia. He simply rode in the sanitized vehicle as it crossed mountains and traversed hills, finally arriving at his destination: a seemingly endless, ice-cold international railway line.

"Chief Instructor, I have to leave now," a Member of Flying Leopard said respectfully, leaning out from the driver's seat.

"Right. Thanks for the past few days, and for driving me all this way," Chen Fei replied with a smile, waving goodbye. He hadn't come alone, of course; he'd had an escort.

"It was my honor," the Member of Flying Leopard, clearly a man of few words, replied respectfully. He then turned the vehicle around, its humming engine fading until it disappeared from Chen Fei's sight.

It was a good car. It was a pity it couldn't be kept after this trip. It would have to be disposed of somewhere along the way.

Once the untraceable vehicle had completely vanished, Chen Fei turned around. Wiping the scab on his neck with an expressionless face, he chuckled to himself. "I've already suffered so much, and this is just the beginning... It really makes me look forward to what things will be like once I get to Italy."

He was not a man who enjoyed solitude, yet he had been forced to endure it for days. The experience had been grating. But it didn't matter now. He could settle his mind and begin his cultivation, and time would pass in a flash.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG...

In the dead of night, the rhythmic clang of the distant international railway broke the silence.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Chen Fei opened his eyes slightly, a smile on his lips. With a wave of his hand, he formed a Seal Gesture and vanished, leaving only a faint shadow behind. A sharp-eyed person might have noticed it in the daylight, but it was now the dead of night...

WHOOSH! WHOOSH...

RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE...

Moments later, a steel behemoth came thundering out of the distance, kicking up a gale as it raced forward.

Chen Fei watched it approach, his eyes narrowed to slits. He slowly crouched, his muscles tensing. The instant the train thundered past, he moved in a flash, slipping right through the window of one of the cars. Not a single person noticed his presence, as he was practically invisible.

"Done."

Having successfully boarded the international train, Chen Fei flashed a "V for victory" sign. After a quick glance at the passengers sleeping in disarray, he began moving toward a less crowded car. As he moved, he found an empty restroom and slipped inside. A moment later, he walked out brazenly, his invisibility deactivated.

After passing through several more cars, he finally found a sparsely populated one. "Huh, this car is practically empty. This is the one..." He smiled, but as he stepped inside, his expression suddenly shifted.

He realized that as soon as he entered, the two or three men in black who were seated inside had turned to him. Their gazes were fierce and cold, sweeping over him as if he had just trespassed on their private domain.

But that wasn't even the most startling part. Chen Fei frowned, looking at the men in black with a detached expression. These guys... they aren't human, are they?

It was no wonder the thought crossed his mind. The men felt far too eerie and somber, their emotional fluctuations chillingly cold... It reminded him of the bio-engineered humans he had encountered from America. They seemed very similar.

Furthermore, he noticed two other people in the deserted car besides those strangely unnerving individuals: a man and a woman.

The man wore a fleece top and black trousers. He had a clean-shaven face and round glasses perched on his nose, giving him a scholarly look. Yet, Chen Fei's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the man. Could that guy... possibly be at the Innate Early Stage?

The woman was even more striking. She wore a pale-yellow knit top, and her ink-black hair rested casually on her shoulders. It wasn't very long, but it gave her a unique, dashing charm that complemented her stunning beauty. Her oval face was exquisite, with brows like crescent moons and skin as white as snow. Most captivating of all were her bright, clear eyes, like a pristine stream, and... a slight glimpse of cute bunny teeth behind her soft lips.

Seeing this stunning, goddess-like woman, Chen Fei couldn't help but frown. Why does she look so familiar? He had the strangest feeling he had seen her somewhere before.

Yet, he couldn't place her and didn't feel like racking his brain over it. He simply found an empty seat by the window and sat down. He could feel that his sudden appearance was out of place, but he couldn't be bothered to care. After several days of "disappearing" and trekking across mountains, he was in no mood to deal with subtleties.

HISS!

GROWL! GROWL!

At once, the expressions on the men in black grew even colder, their gazes turning ruthless and fierce. They let out involuntary, animalistic noises that sounded especially jarring in the quiet car.

Chen Fei didn't turn to look at them, but as he stared placidly out the window, a cold glint appeared in his eyes. These guys... he thought. They feel awfully similar to someone I personally killed once before.

Witnessing this, both the scholarly man and the stunning, goddess-like woman had a change in expression. The man frowned slightly and discreetly waved a hand at the men in black. The woman, however, knitted her lovely brows, making no effort to hide her disgust.

However, as she was about to turn her gaze back toward the window, her eyes met Chen Fei's face—a face that was both strange and familiar. Her delicate body trembled, and her soft lips parted as she whispered so quietly that no one could hear, ...It's him?

The reason she recognized him was simple. The heroic silhouette of a certain man slaying two opponents single-handedly atop the Summit of Tian Kui Peak had been deeply engraved in her memory.

So, the very next moment, to the visible surprise of both the scholarly man and Chen Fei, she stood up. With a serious expression, she moved with silent grace, walking directly to the row where Chen Fei was seated.

"Excuse me, may I sit here?" she asked, her clear, stream-like eyes meeting Chen Fei's deep, glass-like gaze.

"You want to sit here?" Chen Fei turned to look at her, surprised. "Who are you?" The question inexplicably slipped out.

The stunning, goddess-like woman smiled, a sight as beautiful as a hundred blooming flowers. "Hello. My name is Shadow Immortal Dance."

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