The skills of a professional actor allowed Ji Xun to easily deceive those searching glances.
However, he didn't rush to board the train; instead, he deliberately walked around the carriages.
He wanted to observe the train.
In case of an emergency, how would he escape after getting on the train?
After making a round, Ji Xun realized this train was very special.
It was a sixteen-carriage steam train, much wider than the trains from his previous life, looking like a chubby iron-clad bug.
More exaggeratedly, the front had a metal ram with a demon's head, and each carriage was reinforced with thick steel armor plates held together by large rivets. There were no windows, only some ventilators covered with iron sheets. He guessed even tanks from his previous life didn't have such exaggerated defenses.
Judging by this, it was naturally to guard against monsters.
After all, there were claw marks and dried black blood stains left by some unknown monsters on the armor plates.
While it was secure, it wasn't ideal for Ji Xun.
Getting on the train felt like getting into an iron barrel, with no place to run.
For a moment, Ji Xun hesitated, wondering if it was too risky to leave by train now.
...
Coincidentally, as Ji Xun was observing the train, he overheard two people arguing.
One seemed to be a station manager, while the other, wearing a trench coat and hat, was trying hard to persuade him.
"Stop the train? For what reason?"
"Orders from Uptown? Oh, we have a big shot here at the Demon Cross Camp, huh."
"Haha, if the Blackwater Mercenary Group wants to kiss up to those nobles in Uptown, that's your business. We hunters have no interest in that. If something's up, just say it straight. Don't beat around the bush with 'big shot' nonsense. Unless there's a monster attacking the camp, no one can stop the train!"
...
Although Ji Xun only caught snippets of the conversation, he understood the gist.
The guy in the hat wanted the train to stop, but the station manager mocked him.
Listening to this, Ji Xun was puzzled: "Isn't the Cao family the governor of Sinless City? How come they don't even have the power to stop a train?"
This had been his biggest concern.
He feared that the Cao family's young master would use his power to lock down the entire camp, making it easy to find him.
But it seemed the governor's influence wasn't that strong after all?
The hunters of Sinless City seemed to have some weight.
No wonder Chu Jiu suggested taking the train earlier; she probably knew the Cao family couldn't stop it.
"Toot... toot... toot..."
At that moment, the train whistle blew.
"Quick, get on, the train's leaving."
The hunters smoking and chatting beneath the carriages hurriedly got on the train when they heard the whistle.
Seeing this, Ji Xun didn't hesitate any longer and squeezed onto the train with the crowd.
...
As soon as he entered the carriage, Ji Xun frowned.
A train without windows had an overwhelming smell.
Hunters probably found it hard to bathe while outside, so the carriage was filled with the stench of sweat, feet, smoke, blood, and various other odors. The hot, stuffy air felt like a sauna mixed with foul smells.
The hunters inside seemed accustomed to it. Some wore gas masks used for adventures to filter the air, while others ate and drank as usual, seemingly immune to the smells.
But Ji Xun saw this environment as a benefit.
Earlier, Chu Jiu had used a scent-masking potion to prevent being tracked.
This implied that this world had extraordinary abilities to enhance scent tracking.
So, in Ji Xun's view, using the scent-masking potion itself was a flaw.
It was necessary before.
But now, if someone was tracking him and noticed a clean scent among a group of smelly people, it would immediately raise suspicion.
The mixed odors in the carriage perfectly masked this flaw.
Each carriage was packed with about two to three hundred people, with no seats, and the smells were all mixed together.
As more people squeezed into the train, Ji Xun followed the crowd deeper into the carriage.
...
As Ji Xun boarded the train, several teams also hurriedly got on.
The Cao family's influence couldn't stop the Hunters' Guild from dispatching the train, so the Blackwater Mercenary Group members had to board and see if they could find their targets.
As Ji Xun predicted, even though the young master of the Cao family knew that the "T-level Catastrophe Source" from the interdimensional space was taken, he wouldn't publicize it.
If only a few people knew, it might be possible to recover it quietly, even if lost.
But if the news spread, many would covet the item, making it harder to retrieve.
So, he could only send people to search secretly.
In the first carriage, an elite four-person scout team hurriedly boarded the train.
They included a burly man in a military green vest, a brunette woman in black leather who still retained her charm, a skinny man playing with a dagger, and a sleazy man with a red nose.
"Hey, boss, what's our mission? Why the rush?"
"An urgent task from the top. We must find two people on this train."
"Who?"
"A man and a woman."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"Damn, it's either a man or a woman on this train. Are we supposed to catch everyone?"
The group discussed, feeling overwhelmed.
But the intelligence from their leader was just that.
"I have a clue. Someone in the team just sent a message that Dimension 407 disappeared."
"What dimension?"
"407."
"No way, was that dimension cleared? I heard it had several B-level disasters, even we might struggle with them, and it limited the entry rank. Apprentices couldn't break it!"
"The news hasn't spread yet."
But that was the reality."
"Hey, wasn't our team guarding that interdimensional space? Looks like our leader got fooled. It wasn't one of our own who cleared it?"
...
Hearing this, the four of them realized what kind of person they needed to find.
The Blackwater Mercenary Group had discovered the [407 Anomaly Containment Facility], which was almost like their private property.
To them, an outsider taking what should have been their treasure was unforgivable.
"The captain has given a strict order to find those two people. I reckon something very important was lost."
"That interdimensional space yielded many rare materials and even produced a silver card. If it was cleared, it might have yielded a gold-quality demon mark. We definitely can't let those people go."
"Yeah, our stuff was stolen, the captain must be furious. No wonder the mission is so urgent. I was just hunting mutated monsters in the ruins and got called back urgently."
"The situation might be worse than we thought. The captain means we must find them at any cost! This concerns the survival of our Blackwater Group!"
"What? Survival? Is it that serious?"
...
They quickly realized the seriousness of the situation, vaguely guessing what was at stake.
But urgent as it was, finding a man and a woman among thousands of people on the train sounded like a fairy tale.
"With just this little information, how the hell are we supposed to find them?"
"Old Dog, stop complaining. We do have some clues. First, they left the interdimensional space half an hour ago, so they might still have a special scent. They probably boarded within the last half hour. Pay attention to those who don't have seats. Second, they're apprentices. Third, their height. Fourth, they might be alone or in a pair. Be careful, and that's enough to find them."
"Boss, you're asking too much. The stench in this carriage is so strong it's almost knocking me out, and you want me to sniff people out?"
"The higher-ups have given a strict order. Use that special card."
"Really? If I use it, my nose will be out of commission for months. Plus, that card was hard to get..."
"Use it!"
The man with the red nose reluctantly pulled out a card with a hunting dog illustration on it.
He pouted, muttered a command, and activated the card: "Release!"
Immediately, the hexagram on the back of the card glowed blue, infusing his body with extraordinary power. His body began to change.
As his bones grew with a crackling sound, he grew a foot taller. More strangely, his face elongated, transforming into a dog's snout.
He now resembled a tall, slender hunting dog standing on two legs.
Reluctantly, he covered his face with a hood and muttered, "Boss, I'll go check the carriages now."
...
Meanwhile, Ji Xun was playing poker with the hunters in the carriage.