Chapter 54: The True Meaning of Social Anxiety Is Making Society Anxious

Mingyang City, High-Speed Railway North Station.

The train attendant stood at the entrance of the carriage.

Looking at the small group of people puffing away on cigarettes on the platform, she couldn't help but helplessly remind them:

"Attention, passengers. Train D2233 only makes a temporary stop at this station for a short while. Passengers who got off to smoke, please board the train as soon as possible to avoid missing it."

This kind of thing happened all the time.

She was already used to it.

Every time there was a temporary stop at a platform, a few individual passengers simply couldn't resist getting off for a quick drag before running back, as if they would die if they were away from that stuff for a few hours.

Sure enough, upon hearing the reminder, those people took a couple of fierce puffs, extinguished and tossed away their cigarettes, and quickly hurried back into the carriages to avoid missing their train.

Seeing them return, the attendant stepped back inside.

Unbeknownst to her, however, there was an old man in his fifties or sixties among the crowd who didn't take her words to heart at all.

He continued to puff away on his cigarette at his leisure, his face a picture of pure, pinched malice.

"Hmph! Trying to boss me around? I bought a ticket with my own money; can you really just drive off without me?"

The old man, who had spent the better part of his life trying to take advantage of others and putting himself at the center of the universe, was filled with a mysterious sense of confidence.

Beep, beep, beep—

Just as his voice trailed off, the chime signaling the closing of the doors sounded.

As the carriage doors shut completely, the old man instantly panicked.

He hurriedly dropped his cigarette butt on the ground, stamping it out, and tried to pry the doors open with his hands.

At the same time, he shrieked at the top of his lungs: "I haven't gotten on yet!"

A thin, bookish-looking young man wearing black-rimmed glasses, who happened to be standing right by the door inside the carriage, saw this.

He stepped closer to remind him: "Old man, be careful with your hands! It's dangerous!"

"Why did these doors close! Open them up for me right now!" the old man bellowed, pounding on the carriage door.

The young man seemed to be anxious on the old man's behalf as well.

After a brief moment of thought, he hurriedly said: "Don't panic. I'll go find an attendant to help. What is your seat number?"

"10F, by the window! Hurry up!" The old man was growing impatient.

Yet, watching the young man turn and run into the carriage,

he felt a slight sense of relief wash over him.

He couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "There are still plenty of good people in this world..."

Little did he know, the young man who had walked away into the carriage had no intention of looking for an attendant.

He simply went straight to seat 10F.

Sure enough, it was by the window.

Moreover, it was completely empty, save for some melon seed shells scattered about—presumably left behind by the old man before he got off to smoke.

The young man swept the debris from the seat into a garbage bag.

Then, he sat down with supreme naturalness.

As if the seat had belonged to him all along.

The corners of his lips curved up slightly as he thought to himself: "There really are good people in this world after all. Knowing my buddy here was in a rush and didn't get a reserved seat, he even went out of his way to get off and clear up a spot for me."

Whoosh—

The high-speed train started moving, emitting a rushing sound as it forged ahead.

Looking out the window, Wu Wang smiled and waved goodbye to the old man on the platform, whose face was turning purple from holding his breath: "Thanks a lot, old timer. Wishing you immortality."

Earlier that day, after asking his second older sister about her whereabouts from back then,

an interesting detail emerged. Whether due to the dungeon's influence or the gentleman penguin's clean-up efforts,

Wu Wang's second sister's memory of that quest for her family background had been altered into a simple solo trip to the mountains for hiking and camping.

However, bad luck had struck in the form of a torrential rainstorm.

Consequently, she had merely spent the night in a county town outside the mountains.

Treating it as a relaxing vacation to unwind.

Upon learning this, Wu Wang immediately booked the earliest high-speed train ticket available,

heading toward the county town where his second sister had taken her "vacation."

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he should be able to gather information about Yin-Marriage Village there.

"Do other Spirit Calamity players know that dungeons can alter the timeline? What is the attitude of the Paranormal Affairs Bureau?" Wu Wang wondered, feeling a hint of curiosity.

He had already confirmed that the dungeon he experienced took place five years ago.

The reason was simple—

His second sister really could see ghosts.

Wu Xiaoyou in the dungeon had mentioned that she could see ghosts ever since she was a child, and she had been duped into searching for her origins by a fortune teller who knew how to catch ghosts.

Ever since he came out, Wu Wang had been wondering how to verify this in reality.

Asking about it directly was obviously out of the question.

He wouldn't be able to explain how he came to know about it anyway.

Coincidentally, among the items rewarded by the dungeon,

there was a prop that might involve ghosts.

He decided to use it to test the waters.

[Skill Evolution Guide Prop]!

The description of that black fountain pen heavily emphasized that the user must bid farewell to the Pen Fairy after using it.

This aligned with Wu Wang's understanding of the Pen Fairy game.

Legend had it that without a proper farewell, the Pen Fairy would haunt the person who summoned it.

Ultimately, that person would meet a violent death.

Thus, Wu Wang intentionally skipped the farewell.

He simply wanted to see if the entity would try to curse him as a test.

"Little bro, you must pay attention to your safety these days, understand? Be careful not to choke when drinking water, and keep dangerous items in a safe place, don't touch them."

As a result, right before he left home, his second sister had inexplicably and repeatedly warned him to mind his safety.

Wu Wang had also noticed at the time that

her gaze hadn't rested on him directly.

Instead, she kept staring fixedly at his shoulder.

As if something were resting there.

At that moment, he understood.

The Pen Fairy had indeed come to curse him.

And his second sister could actually see it.

"The Paranormal Affairs Bureau, the reality-altering effects of dungeons, the authenticity of history..."

Wu Wang, having finally secured a seat, browsed through his mobile phone.

The search bar displayed a string of keywords he had previously entered.

Yet, from the perspective of everyone else around him, this young man was merely scrolling through short videos to pass the time.

[Spirit Calamity Game APP]!

When Baili Dao gave him the lowdown on the beginner's guide, he had specifically explained this app—

Once you become a Spirit Calamity player, this app automatically appears on any electronic device you hold in your hand.

Furthermore, the app possessed extremely high privacy settings.

Its icon and contents were visible only to the person who opened it.

Even if another Spirit Calamity player stood right next to you, they wouldn't be able to see what you were browsing unless you enabled public permissions in the app's backend—let alone ordinary people.

In reality, the existence of this app was equivalent to an exclusive forum for Spirit Calamity players.

From dungeon walkthroughs to local hookups,

every section imaginable, from strategy guides to commission boards, was available.

He even managed to find a few posts related to BDSM, which just went to show that the circles Spirit Calamity players ran in were indeed rather complicated.

Most things could be figured out through the app.

There was only one thing he couldn't look up.

And that was anything involving the actual purpose behind the existence of the [Spirit Calamity Game].

It was nowhere to be found in any post.

Naturally, this absence included information regarding dungeons affecting real-world timelines.

Yet Wu Wang wasn't an idiot.

He figured that something so easily noticeable couldn't possibly be completely unknown to the Paranormal Affairs Bureau, given that it was an organization with official backing in the country.

He was therefore curious about the extent of their knowledge.

Perhaps he would still have to find a way through Baili Dao...

Squish—

Right at the climax of his deep contemplation, Wu Wang suddenly felt a sharp pain in his backside.

He reached out and touched it—his hand came away covered in bright red blood.

Reaching a bit further, he pulled a bizarre black fountain pen out from beneath the seat cushion.

The person sitting next to him cast a bizarre look in his direction.

Especially at his blood-red hand.

Wu Wang offered a polite smile and explained, "Sorry, my aunt is visiting. In modern society, could you please accommodate someone with social anxiety like me and stop voyeuring over here? Disgusting male."

"Otherwise, I'm going to put you on Xiaohongshu."

"Folks~ Does anyone get this~"

Hearing this lunatic start acting unhinged, the neighbor quickly averted his gaze.

You call this social anxiety?

Giving society a heart attack is more like it!

Right now, there were still 7 hours left until arrival.

Wu Wang remained completely oblivious to the fact that

trouble was already beginning to brew at his destination.

The Paranormal Affairs Bureau was currently sealing off the entry and exit points of the mountain range where Yin-Marriage Village was located.

Because they had discovered that

the malignant energy fluctuations there were far too powerful.

Therefore, they were currently waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

Reinforcements from Mingyang City...