---
"Woo... woo... woo..."
The train came to a slow stop after a long whistle.
Finally, Sinless City had been reached.
...
The latter half of the train journey went without any further incidents.
Jixun thought this was only natural. After that intense battle, almost everyone would probably assume he was in league with the wanted criminal "Lone Wolf" Barron.
Now that the main culprit had jumped off the train and escaped, looking for a small fry like him was pointless.
Moreover, they wouldn't be able to find him.
After that chaotic fight, the atmosphere in the carriage was completely mixed up. Even the scent-sensitive curse card user couldn't identify him before, and now it was even more difficult.
Most importantly, the train had arrived at its destination.
Once off the train, with no spatial restrictions, he could move freely like a fish in the sea.
People in the carriage were already packing their belongings, their faces eager.
"Old Meng, where are you headed after getting off?"
"Of course, I'm going to the Fengyue Tavern to relax for half a month first!"
"Hahaha, I was thinking the same. I heard a new batch of girls arrived at the Ginza Tavern recently. Word is, they're exiled nobles from the capital..."
"Pah, those madams and pimps always exaggerate! Let's go check it out together."
...
Upon arriving in Sinless City, the hunters talked mostly about various pleasure houses.
Risking their lives in adventures, nothing relieved that stress better than physical pleasures.
Over the past ten hours, Jixun had heard the names of dozens of different taverns and pleasure houses. He had a vivid impression that the entertainment industry in Sinless City must be very well-developed.
As people were getting ready to disembark, he leisurely moved away from the box containing the bodies.
Looking at his attribute panel, Jixun couldn't help but feel amazed: "In just over three hours, my strength increased by 0.9. Not bad."
His strength had clearly grown significantly since he boarded the train.
His physique, agility, toughness, and elemental affinity stats had all increased.
Although he still felt some weakness, it was important to remember that these gains came without any physical training or potions.
It had only taken a few hours!
If there were more bodies, wouldn't he grow stronger effortlessly?
"If only there were more bodies..." Jixun murmured, having tasted the benefits.
The [Demonic Feast] skill might have even stronger effects as it improved.
But there was no rush.
He got up and joined the crowd.
He didn't know if anyone would notice anything strange about the bodies he had absorbed supernatural traits from, so it was best to leave the train quickly.
...
Stepping out of the can-like carriage, he immediately felt the fresh air.
Though the air was thick with coal dust, it was a hundred times better than the mixed stench inside the carriage.
As the train stopped, workers in blue coarse cloth clothes started unloading cargo using various steam-powered mechanical arms. Almost all the steam machinery bore the inscription "Gold Digging Dock XX."
Dock? Not a station?
Jixun was slightly puzzled.
Wearing a half-face gas mask and pulling his deerskin hat low, he blended into the crowd.
Glancing around, he saw no suspicious characters.
However, the raggedly dressed kids darting through the crowd caught his attention. Despite their young age, they were skilled pickpockets. Everyone knew hunters returning from expeditions carried treasures, and those dirty little hands were quietly reaching out.
Jixun only had a tactical backpack and didn't look like he had struck it rich, so the pickpockets left him alone.
Everyone moved in the same direction, and he followed.
The buildings near the station resembled those at the Demon Cross Camp, with tall chimneys belching white smoke everywhere.
The surroundings were still lit by gas lamps. Looking up, Jixun could vaguely see rock formations, which puzzled him: "Still underground?"
He could understand the ruins being underground, but after a ten-hour train ride, they were still underground.
Holding onto his curiosity, he continued to follow the crowd.
After walking for a short distance, his view suddenly opened up.
At this moment, Ji Xun was stunned by the sight before him. Only then did he understand that this place was indeed a dock.
And the true Sinless City was on the other side of the chasm!
...
"What... what is this?"
Ji Xun looked at the gigantic cliff, which seemed like the end of the world, and couldn't describe the shocking scene before him.
He felt even more surprised than when he first realized he had transmigrated.
In the depths of the earth, there was an enormous rift, like a bottomless pit, so deep it couldn't be seen, and so high it couldn't be reached.
Ji Xun now understood what the hunters meant by "Abyssal Rift."
He had thought it was just a large crack in the ground, but he hadn't expected it to be this grand.
It was as if he had reached the world's end, with nothing ahead but a void.
Moreover, did this world have no sky at all?
Ji Xun looked up and saw that the space above the rift was also filled with endless mist and darkness.
No wonder he hadn't heard words like sun, moon, or stars from the hunters.
To facilitate people's movement, dozens of giant steam boilers at the Gold Digging Dock belched white smoke. Huge cable cars, driven by steam power, pulled carriages slowly across the rift.
But even a hundred-meter-high steam boiler seemed like a tiny grain of rice compared to the rift.
Ji Xun felt a profound awe at the enormity of the scene.
Humans seemed like insignificant specks of dust in the face of this immense abyss.
And what was even more amazing was the rain in the abyss.
In his vision, the raindrops fell densely, like a curtain.
But instead of falling down, the raindrops were falling upward, towards the sky.
This was "Inverted Rain."
Moreover, the huge cable cars flipped 180 degrees when entering the cliff, continuing forward.
Ji Xun was baffled: "Is gravity reversed in the rift?"
Could there really be two directions of gravity in this underground world?
It felt as though the world was like a mirror that had shattered, splitting the entire world apart.
...
Below the cliff was a bottomless black hole, giving the feeling that falling into it would lead to an endless void.
Collecting his thoughts, Ji Xun queued up to buy a ticket and boarded a cable car.
As the cable car reached the edge of the cliff, it flipped over. The hunters, accustomed to this, stood on what was now the "ceiling," treating it as a normal mode of transport. The cable car then sped into the sea of clouds.
Ji Xun marveled at the sudden reversal of gravity.
As the cable car moved forward, the surrounding mist grew denser, but the path ahead remained unclear.
Looking outside, he saw nothing but void above and a bottomless abyss below, with shadows of unknown giant creatures moving through the mist.
Staring into the abyss felt like looking into the world's eye, watching the passing travelers.
The cable car, like a small boat at night, sailed through the endless void, surrounded by mist, creating a vast, surreal scene.
Ji Xun was deeply fascinated by this suffocating sense of mystery.
This rift seemed like a gateway to another world, beckoning him to explore a new and unknown realm.
After half an hour, a faint light appeared on the horizon.
Ji Xun, recovering from the awe of the immense rift, estimated the distance: the rift was at least several kilometers wide.
And on the opposite cliff face was a scene of bright lights and vibrant activity!
There were buildings resembling stilt houses, adorned with various neon signs.
Sinless City had been reached!
...
With a clang, the cable car flipped, and gravity reverted.
As soon as he stepped off the cable car, a group of tavern girls and pimps surrounded him.
"Oh handsome, want a drink? The girls at our Catgirl Tavern are famous for their tender and soft bodies. Satisfaction guaranteed~"
"Our Train Tavern is having a masquerade party tonight where you can do whatever you want~"
"Emperor's Bathhouse offers royal treatment with nude attendants. The second bath is half-price~"
...
Ignoring the touting pimps, Ji Xun walked onto the street. This was the "Downing Street" that the hunters had mentioned most frequently.
These intoxicating nightclubs would quickly drain returning hunters' wallets.
Ji Xun walked into the city.
Sinless City was still an underground city, with a unique architectural style dominated by steam and machinery.
The city was vast and intricately laid out.
Buildings were tall and built along the mountains. Towering structures of a hundred meters clustered densely, interconnected by various pipes and high-altitude bridges. Many buildings featured hollow iron frames inlaid with glass, giving a dark, magical feel.
In the city's depths, a greenish glow emanated, a luminescence from the drifting alchemical dust.
Downing Street was the most bustling area, with brass replacing steel, adding a touch of brightness and luxury to the streets. The colored glass in the taverns' windows, illuminated by lights, reflected a dazzling, hedonistic array of colors.
Ji Xun quickly noticed that Sinless City itself was an ancient ruin.
The attire on the streets varied widely. There were punk youths in leather outfits with shiny iron spikes, young girls in Lolita dresses, composed middle-aged men in suits and polished shoes, flower-selling girls in linen dresses, and boys with deer stalker caps carrying cigarette boxes.
If it weren't for the guns, blades, and mechanical equipment almost everyone carried, it would seem like a bustling, harmonious city scene.
Walking through the streets, Ji Xun observed this entirely novel world, his eyes reflecting the bustling crowds.
At this moment, a new world door opened.
Unconsciously, he walked to a Y-shaped intersection. On a rusted iron plate by the street was a graffitied sign reading "13 Downing Street."
Here stood a massive building shaped like a locomotive, with a brightly lit sign featuring a giant wine glass and the name "Old Gun Tavern."
Thinking he needed a place to sit for a while, Ji Xun walked in.
He had heard from the hunters that taverns were one of the best places in Sinless City to gather information.
For professional hunters, staying in a tavern often surpassed the time spent at home.
Upon entering, Ji Xun saw the walls plastered with various recruitment notices.
A group of people pointed and discussed the notices.
"Hunter Flag Group hiring pioneers, ¥1000/day, daily payout! Major discoveries, top bonus of millions!"
"Lion Mercenary Group hiring professional mercenaries, priority for retirees, apprentice card masters ¥/month, formal spell card masters to discuss in person, generous benefits!"
"Hunter Guild recruiting contract hunters for pioneering and reconnaissance..."
...
Ji Xun glanced over and noticed that hunters' wages were generally good, with the highest pay for pioneering hunters on a daily basis.
Looking at another recruitment board, he saw that ordinary jobs paid significantly less.
"Municipal hiring sewer workers, ¥/month"
"Heisen Pharmaceutical hiring alchemy apprentices, ¥/month, must know basic alchemy knowledge"
"Green Machine Factory apprentices, ¥2800/month, room and board included"
"Golden Dock boiler workers, ¥3000+/month, more work means more pay"
...
Ji Xun took note and quickly understood the price and wage levels in Sinless City.
Professional risks were clearly proportional to the rewards.
He even suspected that the original owner of his body had been one of those so-called "pioneering hunters."
In plain terms, they were cannon fodder gambling with their lives.
No strength, poor equipment, and broke.
Like the 407 other-dimensional space, every time an unknown door was opened, it could lead to unknown risks, where cannon fodder played a significant role.
Sacrificing a cannon fodder to uncover some unknown information was worth the expense for large mercenary groups.
Ji Xun didn't linger on the notices and entered the tavern.
He wanted to have a drink, relax, learn more about this world, and gather some information.
For instance, the "Thirteen Paths to Divinity" and "Fifty-Two Extraordinary Profession Sequences" he heard about on the train.
And those mysterious cards, the inverted rain of the Abyssal Rift, the miraculous steam black technology...
There were too many secrets in this world.
Mystery lay just ahead, within reach.
When the wind rises, dance with the wind; when night falls, journey alone with a light. Even if he were to fall into the abyss, he would still smile brightly.
Ji Xun liked this new world.