Theresa stood in the train hall, surrounded by a dense crowd, the towering dome above making her seem so small.
“Never taken a train before?” Xing Chen pulled his suitcase to Theresa’s side; he remembered that Terra had trains.
“I’ve heard of them, but this is actually my first time.” Theresa snapped out of her thoughts and took her own luggage.
That’s right, besides Siracusa, Terra was constantly hit by Catastrophes, and high-investment infrastructure like rail transport would be wasted if built in the wilderness, only to be destroyed by a Catastrophe.
“Grrr~~~” Theresa’s stomach rumbled, and she was too embarrassed to ask Xing Chen, hoping to go get something to eat.
Xing Chen, however, advised her to bear with it, saying that things at the station were too expensive, and they could just make instant noodles once they got on the train.
“Why is food at the station so expensive? Shouldn’t places like this provide travelers with provisions before they depart?”
“Who knows? Theresa, could you keep an eye on the screen over there? Let me know when it’s time for our train to board.”
There were quite a lot of people in the hall, and the areas near the boarding gates were all taken. Xing Chen was also nearsighted, so he couldn’t distinguish people from animals if he was too far away.
However, just as he closed his eyes to rest, a scream came from beside him.
Opening his eyes, he saw Theresa holding an unfamiliar man in a reverse chokehold.
“What era is this, and there are still pickpockets at the train station?” Xing Chen saw the public security officers on duty at the train station approaching, so he signaled Theresa to let go.
As her hand loosened, the man collapsed to the ground.
“What happened here?” the public security officer asked.
“He was stealing, and my girlfriend is a bit strong,” Xing Chen explained.
Another officer checked and found that the man’s hand bones were almost completely dislocated.
Since the thief had fainted from the pain, and the facts of the incident were clear and the process evident, the public security officers simply recorded it and took the unconscious thief away.
“Xing Chen, why did you tell me to knock him out just now?” Once the people were gone, Theresa couldn’t help but ask.
“Because he might try to extort us.”
“But he’s the thief,” Theresa said, puzzled.
“He’s shameless and would throw a tantrum however he pleased, but we’re not like that. We still have to get to a meeting.”
They could win, but it would be disgusting.
“Good people always have guns pointed at them, so you have to learn to adapt.”
“No, no, no, what I mean is, why don’t you just kill him directly? That’s how we handle things over there.”
There’s no disputing the act of theft, but the motivation is another story.
For example, if you’re alone, out of money, and starving, stealing a bit of food is understandable; many children in Kazdel survive that way.
But if someone is able-bodied and steals other people’s property, that’s intolerable. In Theresa’s view, that man fell into this category, and she believed that with how developed this country’s economy was, he shouldn’t have trouble finding work to support himself.
“Oh, well, perhaps it’s because we are a modern, civilized, law-abiding society.”
After the small interlude, it was soon time to board.
Xing Chen found Theresa and told her that once boarding started, she should pull him forward and push through the crowd.
Theresa didn’t understand but did as she was told.
Soon, she understood Xing Chen’s intention. If she didn’t push hard to the front, people cutting in line would continuously surge towards their boarding gate.
“Don’t worry, there’s definitely enough time; it’s just that I get annoyed when people constantly cut in line.” On the platform, Xing Chen and Theresa were looking for their sleeper berths when a high-speed train whizzed past.
“What kind of train is that? It’s so fast.”
“That’s a high-speed train; it can go up to three or four hundred kilometers per hour.”
“Three or four hundred kilometers!” She had never seen such a fast vehicle. Mobile cities weren’t very fast, and the dump that was Kazdel might even be the slowest among them. “Will the people on it feel very uncomfortable?”
“If you’re interested, we can take the high-speed train on the way back; it’s very comfortable.”
Entering the carriage, a familiar smell forcibly assailed Xing Chen’s nose.
He turned to look at Theresa, but the girl showed no reaction.
“You’ll be on the bottom bunk, and I’ll be on the top bunk later.”
“But my ticket is for the top?”
Faced with her question, Xing Chen chose to let her experience the top bunk. However, she merely clung to the ladder, stood on the outside of the bunk, and then climbed back down.
“How does it feel?”
“I hit my head on the corner.”
“Do you want me to help rub it?”
“No, Xing Chen, why do you keep the very top bunk? Is it specifically for Durin?”
“The top bunk is cheaper, and some people aren’t that well-off. If you want to experience it, a soft sleeper only has four berths and a huge amount of space.”
“But don’t you also have seating tickets? Aren’t those cheaper than this top bunk, and you can sit upright?”
Xing Chen shook his head, indicating he had nothing more to say.
Once settled, Xing Chen made instant noodles for both of them. After he finished eating, he rested on the top bunk, while Theresa busied herself with her own things on the bottom bunk.
However, he had barely lain down when Theresa called him from below.
The matter was simple: a program she had just coded hadn’t automatically saved to the cloud because of a network interruption.
Losing data was indeed frustrating, but she had nowhere to vent her anger now, so she could only discuss with Xing Chen if there was a way to prevent this from happening again.
Xing Chen said it was good enough to have a basically stable network connection. Back in Terra’s wilderness, let alone a network, it was hard to even see a trace of civilization.
After Xing Chen said that, Theresa lost interest in continuing her research and instead started chatting with Xing Chen about the scenery outside the train.
“What beautiful wheat fields.” The Demon King rested one arm on the window sill, looking at the winter wheat outside the train. “If only our city also had such fertile land.”
“These lands didn’t just appear out of nowhere,” Xing Chen said with a smile. “The land in the Central Valley is quite good too.”
After Xing Chen finished speaking, the person beside him remained silent. He turned his head, only to find Theresa looking at him.
“Is there something on my face?”
“No, I just feel like you’ve been a bit… too aggressive lately?”
“Have I? I haven’t felt it at all.”
Xing Chen admitted that he had some lingering aggression, as the general environment was like that. But to say he was aggressive… he didn’t think so.
“Aggression? I have a way to deal with that.” Emotional issues were easy to handle; Theresa was only afraid this was Xing Chen’s personality. She gently pushed Xing Chen down, letting his head rest on her lap.
“What are you trying to do?” Looking at half of the ceiling, Xing Chen couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked.
“Just helping you adjust your emotions. Alright, now I’m going to borrow the power of the continuation of civilization. Relax…”
