"Alright." Ling Chengyan readily agreed, tucking her into the lower bunk, sitting on the edge of the bed, and covering her with the blanket.

The mother and daughter opened the door, closed it, and spoke quietly. The two people on the bed opposite were clearly awake, yet they didn’t move.

Not long after, footsteps approached from next door. Ling Chengyan got up and went out; it was Wang Liansheng.

As she opened the door, he was raising his hand to knock.

Seeing her, Wang Liansheng’s gaze circled her twice, but his expression and tone remained calm: "Is everything alright?"

Ling Chengyan shook her head, smiling: "Everything’s fine now. Go back to sleep."

Wang Liansheng looked up at her, wanting to say something but swallowed it back.

He cautioned, "You take care of yourself."

"Okay." Ling Chengyan agreed, watching as Wang Liansheng turned back, and she added, "I want to take a look at the hard seat cabin."

Wang Liansheng paused, turned back, and said, "Why don’t you stay here, I’ll go and take a look?"

Ling Chengyan hesitated briefly, then nodded.

She didn’t go back in but stayed in the corridor, watching Wang Liansheng open the door and leave the sleeper cabin. She heard some noisy commotion coming from the hard seat cabin, seemingly quieter than before, indicating that the situation was nearing resolution.

It should have been at most ten minutes, but Wang Liansheng hadn’t returned after fifteen.

Ling Chengyan raised her wrist to check the watch; it had been eighteen minutes... twenty-two minutes...

The commotion over there had quieted somewhat but still hadn’t completely settled down.

She checked the watch again, calculating that if Wang Liansheng didn’t return within half an hour, she’d wake the kids up and take them over to check.

Fortunately, at twenty-seven minutes, the cabin door opened, and Wang Liansheng returned.

The lights in the corridor weren’t very bright, but Ling Chengyan immediately noticed his face didn’t look well. It was somewhat pale, and there were remnants of agitation or anger.

His mouth was slightly downturned, tightly pressed, obviously making an effort to suppress and calm his emotions.

Seeing Ling Chengyan waiting in the corridor, Wang Liansheng exhaled softly, his tone easing: "It’s over."

Ling Chengyan tilted her head slightly, looking at him.

Wang Liansheng felt a bit helpless under her gaze, smiled, pulled her to sit on the small chair in the corridor, and quietly recounted what happened in the hard seat cabin.

There was a theft and robbery incident just as in the sleeper cabin but worse and more severe, carried out by a gang, openly stealing and secretly robbing, acting brazenly. Passengers (either waking up or simply never asleep) noticed, but out of fear of the gang’s arrogance, chose to remain silent.

Then, the gang beat someone who stubbornly held onto their luggage, sparking public outrage and fervor. As the gang was about to be swallowed by a sea of people, the train stopped, and they chose to escape by jumping out the window.

The ensuing chaos stemmed from the passengers who lost belongings or were beaten, each crying heart-wrenchingly, also blaming the train police for inaction...

Ling Chengyan listened quietly without speaking a word.

"Other passengers just lost some money, while the one who dared resist was injured more seriously... Oh, it’s a bit coincidental, that person was sitting in our previous seat."

Ling Chengyan’s mind flashed the face of the honest middle-aged man, awkwardly yet gratefully smiling at her, saying he’d watch over the luggage for them.

Their luggage was taken, yet he was beaten for protecting his own money from theft.

"Is the injury serious?"

"Yes, the gang used knives, causing quite a bit of blood loss, but there was a doctor in the cabin who gave a simple treatment, indicated no vital organs were hurt, and if sent to the hospital quickly, there shouldn’t be any life threat."

Ling Chengyan’s furrowed brow relaxed a bit. She went into the cabin and came out with a small aluminum tube the size of a finger. She said to Wang Liansheng, "You guard here for a while, I’ll take some medicine to him."

She was a member of a special training team, equipped with specialized medicine capable of stopping bleeding and saving lives in critical moments.

Wang Liansheng got up and intercepted her briefly, quickly went into the room and came out with Shi Tou’s toothbrush box: "Put it in here."

The medicine Ling Chengyan was using comprised internal formulas not available on the market, taking them out directly wouldn’t be appropriate.

Ling Chengyan gave him an approving glance, opened the lid of the aluminum medicine tube, poured the pills and powder into the toothbrush box, pocketed the emptied aluminum tube, and carried the toothbrush box out of the cabin.

Most of the lights in the dining car were extinguished, leaving only a few small corner lights. What once seemed warm and peaceful now appeared dark and void of any silhouettes, eerily quiet enough to unsettle one’s heart.

Passing through the dining car, Ling Chengyan returned to the hard seat cabin.

The cabin was much quieter now; most people were relaxed, either sitting or standing. Yet given the situation at around eight o’clock at night when most people fell asleep, staying awake in the middle of the night was inherently unusual.

She walked through the crowd, heading before the previous cabin.

But the man and his family were not seated there. Ling Chengyan asked the old couple next door to learn that he and his family were taken to the designated cabin due to his injuries.

The old man comforted Ling Chengyan: "Don’t worry about him, there’s also a doctor who went over with them."

As they spoke, the train suddenly snorted, followed by a hissing sound, and the clanging noise started; the train restarted.

Once the train moved, the expressions in the cabin noticeably relaxed. Even the old couple’s wife subconsciously expressed relief: "It’s moving; the train’s moving."

Ling Chengyan glanced at everyone’s expressions, unable to fathom why the train’s movement seemed to relieve them. Was it the eagerness to end this thrilling journey or the desire to quickly depart, leaving the gang behind?

Whatever the reason, the cabin’s atmosphere lightened, shedding the tense and scrutinizing vigilance upon her arrival.

After enquiring the whereabouts of the injured, she bid farewell to the old couple and left. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Crossing four or five hard seat cabins, approaching the staff’s cabin, Ling Chengyan noticed someone pacing in the corridor, periodically glancing toward the service cabin.

Intuition told her something was off about this person.

She halted, noticed the restroom beside her, and grasped the restroom door handle.

A man approached, glanced at Ling Chengyan, then at the restroom door, murmuring: "Still locked! You should find a crew member to open it."

Ling Chengyan suddenly realized, lowering her eyes to see "Occupied" in red beneath the handle, she lowly thanked: "I’ll find someone."

Speaking, she bypassed the cabin connection, directly heading toward the service cabin.

The man watched Ling Chengyan enter, shook his head, and turned to leave.

He pondered, holding the restroom handle, interesting to see for the first time.

However, he soon resigned himself, considering how challenging it was to use the restroom on the train. Sometimes the queue could last quite a while, and if impatience sets in... well, it’s more than understandable.