Capítulo 71: Hell Gate

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"Bait?"

Charlize was on the brink of asking cautiously when she suddenly felt a strong gust of wind swirling around.

"This is our actual objective" Christian's expression grew increasingly serious as it appeared that the lingering power of the Ghost Tiger had truly emerged.

She looked up and observed the frightened expressions on the faces of the airborne battling ghosts. They found themselves encircled by an unexpected, peculiar wind, desperate to escape but with no means of doing so.

The eerie wind systematically tore the ghosts apart, akin to a wild beast running amok in a crowd. While the ghosts could reassemble after being torn apart, their bodies' color had noticeably faded.

If it weren't for their inability to make a sound, Charlize believed they would be screaming at the top of their lungs.

"Unfortunately, only the heroine in a horror film can confront danger and endure for an hour and a half while screaming."

Charlize couldn't help but admire the confidence of a true horror movie heroine.

"Does this mean it's enraged?"

"Probably," Christian's response wasn't particularly optimistic either.

"Without Wei Changhui's consciousness to control it, the Ghost Tiger's power remains dormant. However, in certain special circumstances, it acts based on its primal instinct, just like now"

He gestured toward the trembling ghosts in mid-air.

"Attracted by the smoke emanating from the burning of spirit money, these individuals unconsciously broke free from the Ghost Tiger's control. This is the indomitable force's instinct at play."

"So it was drawn out?" Charlize fully grasped Christian's plan at this point—to use the smoke from burning spirit money to lure the ghosts, causing them to lose control and thereby infuriating the remaining power of the Ghost tiger, bringing it right in front of them out of instinct.

This was yet another meticulous plan, perfectly aligned with Christian's character. But what should they do next? Charlize unintentionally glanced at Christian beside her and was surprised to find him reciting a poem:

"...I don't believe the sky is blue, I don't believe in echoes of help, I don't believe dreams are false, I don't believe in death without retribution."

With the final line, Charlize felt a chill at her feet. Glancing downward, a faint mist hovered over the ground, and in the haze, a massive dark portal began to open at Christian's feet.

"Sally, stay back. Otherwise, Alexis will get caught too" Christian urgently warned Charlize, but before she could react, a sudden change occurred.

Seemingly influenced by powerful suction, the ghosts originally trapped in the air by the peculiar wind surged toward Christian's location like a wave of pale white.

"Quick, move" Charlize began to say, but the enormous wave swallowed Christian before she could finish.

"That guy will be fine" Alexis reassured the girl in her thoughts.

"It's true that we need to take cover. The door beneath his feet is emitting powerful suction. Staying here any longer is becoming impossible" Charlize exclaimed.

"Is that the gateway to hell?" Charlize muttered to herself, but she still followed Alexis's advice and stepped back a short distance.

She had already realized that Christian was indeed safe. Even though the massive wave of ghosts engulfed him, the actual gate resided at his feet.

The dark door had completely opened, and the ghosts entered in droves without causing any commotion, as though they had descended into a bottomless abyss.

Christian stood there serenely, suspended over the gate, allowing the ghosts to pass through him like a boulder in a stream.

Gradually, the ghosts descended into the door, and the door began to close slowly. Suddenly, a whirlwind swirled around Christian, his clothes billowing and black hair flowing.

"It's the whirlwind brought by the lingering power of the ghost tiger. Don't worry," Christian reassured the girl with a wave of his hand, although he was still intently gazing at the slowly closing dark door beneath his feet.

"When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you," a thought suddenly crossed Charlize's mind.

The gate at Christian's feet finally closed.

"Is it over?" Charlize inquired cautiously. She seemed to be unharmed, but Christian had previously mentioned the danger posed to Alexis, who was attached to her, by the dark gate.

"It's over," Christian nodded. By now, the door beneath his feet had completely disappeared.

"Sally, if Alexis had still been sealed in that bottle, and you had followed my instructions to break it at the crossroads, you might have seen this gate a long time ago."

"Seen it a long time ago?" Charlize was taken aback. "Are you saying that if I had chosen to break the bottle containing Alexis, I could have seen this"

This revelation was incredibly unsettling. Not only was Charlize shocked, but Alexis, hiding in her subconscious, also voiced her discontent.

"But didn't you say that it had to be broken at a crossroads to be effective?"

"This is a crossroads, a very significant yet forsaken crossroads" Christian's expression grew somber, and he gazed into the distance.

"Sally, do you know about the Pacific Railroad?"

"You mean the railroad that spans the east and west coasts of the United States?" Charlize, compared to the average American, had a fairly good grasp of geography. She looked at Christian and appeared to find an answer.

"Could this be"

"This is the Pacific Railway. To be precise, it's a branch of the Pacific Railway. However, because it was constructed alongside the official Pacific Railway, it's considered a part of the Pacific Railway project."

Christian stomped the ground twice. "Ten years ago, this branch line was dismantled due to mismanagement. And where I'm standing now is the intersection of the branch line and a dirt road from back then, which is"

"a crossroad" Charlize instantly comprehended.

"But even though the Pacific Railway was once a vital transportation route, it's now abandoned. Can such a crossroads still be of use?"

"Absolutely" Christian stated confidently. "In some spells, the remnants of bygone glory can enhance mana more than modern prosperity"

As a transcontinental nation, figuring out how to connect the thriving east and west coasts of the United States had always been a challenge. Before the Panama Canal's opening, the Pacific Railway, linking the two coasts, served as the country's major artery. The United States of that era could be considered a nation on rails.

With the rise of the automobile industry, the Pacific Railway's glory gradually faded. After the 1960s and 1970s, many sections of the railway were abandoned or even demolished due to poor management.

The abandoned railway in the Vinales Valley had also experienced the same cycle of glory and decline, and this vacancy was exactly what Christian needed. Not to mention.

"This segment of the Pacific Railway, especially the western section, was constructed at the cost of many lives."