Although he had just employed an instantaneous teleportation, Feng Xue wasn’t the slightest bit intimidated. The strength of the Oathkeeper’s Appearance lay in the fact that it had no cooldown period; as long as the "sinner" was marked, he could teleport behind them at any ti before they received their due punishnt.
In a carriage filled with various potential targets for marking, even a casual glance could leave behind more than a dozen coordinates.
Passing through the sleeper cars, he arrived at the very front where the hard-seat area was located. Compared to the sleeper cars, the noise level here was several notches higher.
However, in Feng Xue’s eyes, the number of people here dramatically decreased.
With the sound of the Pardon Bell, out of the sixty or seventy people in the entire carriage, only a single marker slowly rose. Judging by the color of the marker, it seed to be a Buddha who had snuck onto the train.
But this actually wasn’t strange at all. After all, sane people absolutely wouldn’t buy a hard-seat ticket for a long-distance train journey of seven days and seven nights.
In fact, the very existence of hard-seats on such a train was quite outrageous.
Of course, perhaps so people were only riding for one or two stops, which couldn’t be said to be entirely unreasonable.
"Sir, may I ask if you need any help?" A stewardess dressed in blue attire and a blue hat seed to notice Feng Xue’s wandering and imdiately approached him. Although the attendant’s attire was perfectly normal, Feng Xue felt a hint of danger and promptly took out his ticket from his pocket:
"Sorry, I’m motion sick and a little confused; I can’t find my seat."
"I see, please wait a mont." The stewardess, wearing a professional smile, politely took the hard-seat ticket from Feng Xue’s hand, looked at it, and then spoke:
"Your car should be even further up front. Please follow ."
With that, she turned and walked, her every step nearly identical to the last, all the way to the connection between the train cars. Feng Xue once again saw a few smokers puffing away.
This ti, however, there was a slight difference. The dignified stewardess still wore a smile and spoke softly:
"Gentlen, this train is a non-smoking train. For the sake of others’ health and public hygiene, smoking on the train is not allowed. If you really can’t resist, you may go to the restroom..."
"Fuck off! My smoking is none of your fucking business, you damn stewardess—think you’re soone special?" The man who was smoking swore rudely, but no dissatisfaction showed on the stewardess’s face, which still wore a hint of a smile. Feng Xue, however, could clearly feel the intense danger within that smile.
But she didn’t imdiately take action; instead, she pressed a button on the pocket of her chest and said:
"There is a passenger smoking at the front link of Car Three. Please deal with it promptly."
After speaking, she ignored the cursing smokers, stepped to the connection door, and said to Feng Xue:
"This way, sir."
"Oh." Feng Xue checked the Masked Rider System’s internal circulation system to make sure he hadn’t inhaled any secondhand smoke, then stepped past the cursing smokers following the stewardess through the partition.
Unexpectedly though, the partition didn’t give off the cold feeling it did before.
"Is it because the stewardess is with this ti? Or is it simply because there isn’t one here?"
Feng Xue frowned, stepping into the second carriage. Then he heard the stewardess’s gentle tone—
"Ma’am, this seat is reserved for another passenger, please don’t cause any trouble for others."
Feng Xue took two steps forward and saw a pair of long white legs sprawled across what seed to be her seat.
The owner of the long white legs, however, glared and retorted upon hearing the conductor’s words,
"What other passenger? I haven’t seen anyone since I got on the train!"
"Regardless of whether there’s soone sitting here or not, this is not your seat, and this gentleman has already shown his ticket..."
"I don’t care! I haven’t seen anyone since I boarded!" The owner of the large white legs was unrelenting. While such people could be found anywhere, Feng Xue was still surprised to encounter such a character on the Kaidan train.
But before he could say anything else, the owner of the white legs suddenly scread, and then, the white legs vanished.
Yes, only the white legs vanished.
"I’m sorry, sir, we will clean up the seat right away, please wait a mont."
For the grisly scene that had just unfolded, both the train attendant and most of the passengers acted as if they were entirely unconcerned, but Feng Xue noticed that a few passengers revealed clear fear, with one even cowering into a corner as if terrified that their sizable rear would encroach upon more of the seat.
The seat, sared with blood and bone fragnts, was quickly cleaned, and Feng Xue sat down, observing the unfazed attendant in the blue uniform, feeling sowhat puzzled. He had not noticed at all how those legs had disappeared.
In other words...
"Rules enforced with compulsion? So, the real trouble with the first system isn’t the riding instructions but the implicit code of conduct? Good thing I didn’t ss with the carriage layout earlier."
Having gained a deeper understanding of the train’s rules, Feng Xue remained cautiously alert, all the while the attendant spoke with a tone of concern,
"Sir, do you need any other assistance? If you’re severely affected by motion sickness, we do have dicine available."
"No need, I’ve already taken so," Feng Xue replied quickly, and then, as if rembering sothing, remained on guard, ready to activate Oathkeeper’s Appearance at any mont, and asked,
"I heard from a passenger earlier that our country’s train police alighted at Trent Station. When will the police from Kent Country board the train?"
The attendant showed no dangerous change upon hearing Feng Xue’s question, but responded with a slight apology,
"I’m sorry, sir, the police resources in Kent Country are not abundant, and this stretch of railway through Kent Country isn’t very long, so there is no train police carriage. However, around tomorrow morning... when factoring in the ti difference, that would be tonight, we will enter the territory of Bell Country. At that ti, Bell Country’s train police will board the train. As for the duration in between, sir, you needn’t worry, as there will be police deploynts at the various stations in Kent Country during stopovers, ensuring no danger will be present."
"Thank you, I have no other questions," Feng Xue replied noncommittally, but still nodded his thanks.
After receiving a smile from the attendant, who then turned and walked away, Feng Xue finally had the chance to turn his head and look at the passenger who had previously showcased the vanishing act with her white legs to the public.
Now, the leg of the passenger, who seed to be in her early thirties, showed a necrotic state at the thigh stump, as if corroded by so strong acid, and there was no blood flowing from the wound.
Her complexion was a pale shade indicative of excessive blood loss, almost as if she would die completely in a few more seconds.
Feng Xue tapped his index finger lightly on the Pardon Bell. Markers began to appear over this passenger and those who had shown signs of fear earlier.
"Why are there so many ’people’ in the sa hard seat section?"
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