Light Fortress

11:44 pm.

Gu Shen dashed around the empty monorail station, glancing down at his watch as he ran.

Could he still catch the last train... He was worried, but a low rumble immediately sounded in the distance.

"Rumble rumble—"

In the dark, pitch-black tunnel, a myriad of brilliant arcs of light burst forth in an instant, and the last monorail train slowly decelerated, coming to a stable stop in front of Gu Shen.

Seeing the train, Gu Shen just breathed a sigh of relief, then furrowed his brow and held his breath.

As the doors opened, a smell of rust wafted over.

He took two steps back, examining the train. The carriage was old, rust-streaked and worn, and beside the window, three neat numbers were painted in white:

001.

"If I remember correctly, Da Teng City... should've phased out this kind of train a while ago, right?"

"Beep beep beep—"

Without time to think further, Gu Shen crouched and shot into the carriage, squeezing in a hair's breadth from the closing doors.

Gripping the handrail, he exhaled in relief.

His peripheral vision caught a glimpse.

"Oh..."

Gu Shen's heartbeat missed a beat.

Usually, this monorail heading to the remote suburbs was empty on the last train, with only him aboard, but today...

There was another girl in the carriage.

Gu Shen felt his heart suddenly racing. The girl was sitting directly opposite him, only a few dozen centimeters away, with apricot eyes and peach cheeks, her long hair cascading down, wearing a nearly transparent pure white lace dress so thin, her pale shoulders were exposed, revealing vast swaths of skin as white as snow.

The thin dress was very white.

But the girl was even whiter, dazzlingly so.

The girl was barefoot, lightly tiptoeing on the floor of the carriage... a thick book lay open on her knees as she quietly read.

That girl was too perfect, exuding a unique aura that was hard to articulate, as if she didn't belong in the real world. Looking at her, Gu Shen felt as though he saw a beam of light.

Quiet, soft, holy, ethereal.

During a pause in turning the pages, the girl lifted her head.

Their gazes met, and Gu Shen quickly averted his eyes, rubbing his hands and exhaling to cover his embarrassment.

He wondered if he was dreaming.

How could there be such a beautiful girl in this world?

And... wasn't she cold, wearing so little?

He really wanted to offer her his coat.

...

...

[The second person... has boarded.]

The girl lifted her head, a flicker of surprise in her eyes, and then she closed the book, seriously sizing up the youth who had just boarded.

Although the young man was now cowering in a corner of the train, warming his hands, and smiling foolishly to himself, he was unaware of what "boarding" meant.

But she knew very well, this was no coincidence.

"Woo—"

The monorail started slowly, electric arcs splashing back and forth against the tunnel walls.

Though the train was old, it rode extremely smoothly.

The sound of the electric arcs hitting the glass was muted to a soft rustling, like rain washing over.

Neither of them spoke, maintaining the silence. If no one spoke up, the train would pass through the long tunnel, silently traveling for about twenty minutes to reach the final station.

But this calm did not last long and was soon broken by the girl's clear voice.

"A very important question, does a true π exist between 3 and 4?"

Gu Shen thought he must be hallucinating.

Was she talking to him?

Surprised, he turned his head, looked around the empty carriage, met the girl's earnest gaze, pointed to himself, and the girl nodded earnestly.

He chuckled awkwardly. She was indeed speaking to him.

"Between 3 and 4... does a true π exist?"

What kind of question was that?

The answer was obviously, yes.

But at that moment, Gu Shen hesitated, not answering immediately.

For a simple reason.

Beneath those clear pupils staring straight at him, reflecting a deadly serious shimmer, Gu Shen believed... this seemingly simple question was not so simple.

The girl stretched out a hand, pointing behind Gu Shen.

Gu Shen turned around.

The interior of this old carriage had, unnoticed by anyone, been carved with a patchy mural... What could be vaguely made out was an old ruler with an endless scale, stretching to who knows where, but what could be clearly seen were the numbers 3 and 4, boldly marked.

"If you could touch this Ruler..."

The girl reached out a hand, touching the ruler through the air. Her voice became light, like a breeze sweeping through the carriage, carrying a faint sadness.

"Could you touch π?"

Gu Shen was taken aback.

He suddenly understood the true meaning of the question, a number infinitely non-repetitive, a number that existed only in theory.

The precision of this number was infinite.

Yet the precision of a ruler was finite.

This Ruler, even if magnified by a hundred million times, would never have a point that belonged to the infinitely precise "π".

"Gu Shen... what is your answer?"

Gu Shen felt bewildered; did she know his name?

The hand the girl had stretched out slowly opened up, revealing a silver cross pattern flowing in her palm, emitting a radiant glow.

The moment Gu Shen saw the glowing cross, he felt a familiarity and warmth, as if returning to some old dream, and he couldn't help but make the same gesture, the young boy reaching out his hand, wanting to interlock fingers with the girl.

"Pfft."

The girl chuckled at the gesture.

There was no touch as he had imagined.

The girl in the pure white dress drew back her hand, retreating step by step to the far end of Gu Shen's field of vision, her smile fading bit by bit until only solemnity and seriousness remained.

"Gu Shen..."

"...survive."

The wind in the carriage suddenly dissipated.

"Rumble rumble rumble!"

The monorail exited the tunnel—

The source of light above Gu Shen's head shattered in an instant.

If there really were such things as daydreams in this world, then what Gu Shen had just experienced was the most wonderful daydream of his eighteen years, even though it occurred at night.

But as the monorail left the tunnel and the beautiful dream shattered,

he abruptly became aware... everything had changed. The patchy carriage, in the moment it exited the tunnel, seemed to have been cleansed by an invisible force.

The monorail began to tremble, the entire carriage engulfed in violent shaking, like a segment of a bent steel serpent, bumping and rising, with the sparks that erupted outside the window snuffed out in this instant.

The hub clashing with the tracks, the grating noise in his ears shattered the beautiful dream.

Gu Shen looked on with hairs standing on end at the scene before him.

The light in the entire carriage dimmed, still empty and desolate.

But the seat previously occupied by the girl was now taken by a tall woman in a black dress.

She wore an oversized hat that could cover her entire face, her hands holding a stack of yellowed, old newspapers, reading in the fragmented light. Even seated, she was nearly as tall as Gu Shen.

If she stood up... Perhaps over two meters tall?

11:59 PM.

Glancing at the time, Gu Shen's face paled a bit.

He might have encountered some anomaly that conventional cognition could not explain... Although the carriage lights were dim, he could vaguely see the armrests of the seats were brand new. The patchiness and rust he previously saw everywhere had vanished.

Had he really spent 15 minutes in such a carriage?

Every word spoken by that girl burned into his memory, especially the last three.

Survive.

Gu Shen felt a tingling on his scalp as he carefully observed the tall lady immersed in her newspaper reading, sensing a strong danger in his heart.

Just as his gaze swept over,

As if by telepathy—

The tall woman in the black dress, who gave off a great sense of oppression, slowly lifted her head, and Gu Shen saw two dark, deep red glows emanating from beneath the dark brim of her hat.

"Sir."

The woman in the black dress folded up the newspaper, raising her head and inquiring in a low, polite voice: "I have a very important question... I'd like to ask."

"Please, go ahead."

Gu Shen clenched his fingers tightly, took a deep breath, and tried his best to keep calm.

His response seemed irrelevant.

Because after the lady finished speaking, she took out a boning knife on her own initiative, placing it on the newspaper on her lap and slowly wiping it, staining the paper with more and more blood.

Then... she opened her dress, where a silver ruler dangled inside her lapel, her two fingers with red nail polish caressed back and forth between the 3 and 4 marks on the ruler.

"Just now."

The tall woman sat up straight, gripping the boning knife, tilted her head, puzzled, and asked: "Did I... touch π?"

...

...

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