Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Raven Cipher

Fang Nian and Duan Rui were both stunned. They had truly never expected Jin Jinhui and the others to have reached the final carriage as well, and so quickly at that. Judging from their relaxed manner, it seemed they had arrived here long ago.

Fang Nian felt somewhat exasperated. He had struggled through so much hardship to get here, enduring one event after another along the way, and yet they had... Could it be that his luck was simply that bad?

“How did you get here? How were you so fast? And you crossed so many carriages, yet we didn’t notice a thing?” he asked.

Seeing the look of frustration on Fang Nian’s face, Jin Jinhui smiled.

“Well, there’s nothing to be done. We were the chosen ones. The other passage didn’t run along the carriages; it went deeper into the maze. When we emerged from that maze, we were directly brought into Mr. Brian’s carriage. This passage was actually meant for Mr. Brian’s escape, but unexpectedly we were the ones who found it.”

At that, Jin Jinhui patted Xiao Xueluan on the shoulder.

“Of course, we were fortunate to have this master mechanic. It was Xueluan who led us out of the maze, otherwise we would have been trapped to death in there.”

Fang Nian felt even more deflated after hearing that. His own luck truly was dreadful.

Seeing that Fang Nian was troubled, Duan Rui came over to comfort him.

“Maybe we were just a little unlucky. Aren’t we here now anyway? There’s nothing to feel upset about.”

When Jin Jinhui saw that Duan Rui could actually comfort people, he froze for a moment, then stepped forward and pointed at the two of them.

“Hold on, what’s going on with you two?”

Fang Nian didn’t think much of it, but Duan Rui’s face flushed red at once, and she hurriedly moved aside.

“What’s going on? What could possibly be going on?”

Xu Dong also came over and tugged at Jin Jinhui.

“All right, what does their business have to do with you? Busybody. You should be thinking about how to get through this final hurdle instead. There isn’t much time left.”

Xiao Xueluan also nodded and reminded everyone.

“Since everyone is here, and Mr. Brian is here too, we should study this carefully. We can’t just sit here and wait for death.”

Guo Ji was among the crowd as well. Xu Dong had quietly told Fang Nian earlier that ever since Guo Ji had been injured by Fang Nian, he had hardly spoken at all. He no longer offered any opinions during the hunt, simply following along with everyone else, completely stripped of the former arrogance of a team leader.

And now, seeing Fang Nian and Duan Rui so intimate, the anger in Guo Ji’s heart could no longer be concealed. Fang Nian could clearly see the unwilling resentment in Guo Ji’s eyes.

Brian looked at everyone, smiled, then clapped his hands.

“All right, since you are all friends, that makes things even better. Let us enjoy the time ahead. There is plenty of food and wine here, so please, eat and drink to your heart’s content.”

The moment he finished speaking, two beautiful women with long hair wheeled out two serving carts loaded with exquisitely prepared dishes.

The others exchanged glances but said nothing, instead turning all at once to Fang Nian, as if waiting for him to speak.

Yet this made Fang Nian feel rather uncomfortable. After all, they had taken this from Guo Ji, and it had never been Fang Nian’s intention in the first place.

Still, this was not the time for such concerns. The urgent matter was finding a way out. He did not believe in any notion of fate; since this was a hunting ground, there had to be a way to clear it.

Just then, Duan Rui suddenly turned and asked Fang Nian, “Will the method you mentioned just now work?”

Fang Nian shook his head helplessly.

“I’m not sure either. We can only try.”

As he spoke, Fang Nian took a sheet of paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and spread it flat on the table.

“I found this in the poor carriage earlier. It’s a bit rough, but you can tell it’s an escape plan.”

Xu Dong glanced at the thing Fang Nian had taken out and scratched his head.

“What is this? It looks like scribbles from a ghost. Who could possibly tell this is an escape map?”

Even Xiao Xueluan, who rarely spoke, joined in.

“Yeah, what is this weird thing? Where did you dig it up? Can this really save us?”

Fang Nian smiled, then began to explain.

“I don’t know who drew it, but one thing is certain: this person was extremely familiar with the train’s structure. To be able to design something like this on a train with such tight security, this person is anything but ordinary.”

As he spoke, Fang Nian crossed out a number of useless lines and quickly connected several points and strokes.

A moment later, a strange route map appeared before everyone’s eyes.

Duan Rui suddenly exclaimed, “This is... the Raven escape pattern?”

Everyone was instantly baffled.

“What is that? Could the expert please explain? That’s way too obscure.”

Duan Rui’s expression grew solemn at once.

“The Raven escape is a kind of coded writing developed by the ancient Raven tribe. They used points and lines to piece together escape routes. According to the Raven people’s description, all things in the world have their own way of surviving. Under a certain law, no matter how severe the situation may be, there is always room to live.”

“The Raven code uses this principle, together with the Raven people’s unique abilities, to find the best way out. In a sense, it is somewhat like modern Wi-Fi. If signals could take physical form, you would discover that there are also gaps to be found.”

“So we must use the Raven code to find a way out and survive in the cracks.”

Duan Rui’s words were somewhat ethereal. The others had no knowledge of this field at all; to put it bluntly, they were complete outsiders. Though they understood the general idea, they still could not fully grasp it.

Xiao Xueluan looked utterly bewildered, completely unable to make sense of the situation, and could only ask timidly, “Then what do we do now? We can’t see or touch this thing. Are you sure it’ll work?”

Duan Rui smiled, then pointed at Fang Nian.

“Actually, none of you know this, but this guy has the ability to understand Raven code. As long as we emerge from the cold ring and follow Fang Nian, we can get out.”

“And once we’re out, we can use the Raven code to find places where people can survive. It would even be possible to rebuild human civilization.”

“So we have to give it a try. If nothing unexpected happens, all of this can be achieved. Heaven never bars the way completely; we still have hope.”

At Duan Rui’s words, everyone was immediately uplifted. None of them had expected that a path which had seemed utterly hopeless would finally see a glimmer of hope again.

Xiao Xueluan said excitedly, “If that’s the case, why don’t we bring along everyone else still on the train? I think human civilization’s revival might not be something the few of us can accomplish alone.”

“Yes, we should bring them along.”

“Agreed. Let’s go get them.”

The group reached the same conclusion and prepared to open the door leading to the third carriage.

But just then, another accident occurred.