Musheng finally experienced the power of the train, with continuous travel for two days, but luckily by tomorrow dawn, they would reach Capital City, although at an inconvenient hour.
The food on the train these past two days was deadly awful. As the carriage got stuffier, her appetite waned. She drank several bottles of water without feeling hungry, only having consumed a tub of instant noodles.
Due to the gloomy atmosphere, Musheng simply lay in bed all day.
A few young passengers quickly became familiar with each other, but Musheng and the girl beside her seemed out of place, not having spoken a word to anyone in two days.
The burly man seemed to be in a bad mood and no one in the carriage spoke to him either. The only difference was that his glances at the girl next to Musheng grew more and more disgusting. Whenever he walked past the girl's bunk, he would "accidentally" bump into her. The girl seemed to realize this and dared not sleep at night, only napping in the innermost part of the bed during the day.
Even so, perhaps because their arrival was imminent, the burly man grew impatient. During the day, he tried to take advantage of the girl when she was sleeping, wanting to touch her waist. The young locals saw but dared not say anything, for the burly man looked truly ferocious.
It just happened that the train conductor came around to peddle goods, which caused the burly man to begrudgingly withdraw his hand. However, the girl was startled awake, and from then on, she was too frightened to sleep. Despite her fear, she just silently shrank into a corner, saying nothing.
At night, Musheng went to bed early, but the train was inherently noisy, so her sleep was not deep. In a groggy state, she was awakened by the sound of crying. When she fully awoke, the cries coming from the girl next door were clearer, mixed with faint pleas for help.
"Please... save me... save me..."
The girl's voice was somewhat hoarse, and Musheng opened her eyes. She was in the opposite direction of the girl. With the help of the dim carriage light, Musheng turned to see the burly man on top of the girl, tearing at her clothes. The girl struggled, but not too violently, because a sharp knife was pressed against her abdomen.
The others, also awoken by the noise, were afraid to interfere. Two even curled up aside, shivering with fear, clearly not daring to meddle in the matter.
When Musheng got up, a few people saw her and looked over with fear. Sensing something, the burly man raised his head and cursed at Musheng fiercely, "Mind your own damn business, or you'll get the same!"
To add to his threatening tone, he gestured towards Musheng with the knife.
The girl beneath him, her face wet with tears, looked at Musheng with desperation and a glimmer of fading hope.
Musheng's eyes narrowed slightly, and a chilling and formidable aura began to emanate from her. Suddenly, with a movement swift as a cheetah, she struck at the burly man's wrist. Somehow, his hand went limp, and the knife fell powerlessly onto the girl's bed.
Before the burly man could react, Musheng's hands were already pressing heavily on the back of his head.
With a loud "DUANG," accompanied by the hollow echo from the metal frame of the bed, the burly man's head smashed directly against it. Such was the force that he rebounded twice. His eyes rolled back as he slumped off the girl, completely knocked out.
The entire carriage fell deathly silent.
A dazed murmur came from nowhere, "So cool..."
Hearing this, everyone nodded with lingering fear. Musheng's actions had been incredibly sleek and efficient, like something out of a movie. Who would have thought that this quiet young lady was actually an expert!
A sense of reverence for the expert rose in everyone's hearts, but the mood was not right for voicing their worship.
Leaving the burly man lying on the floor, Musheng checked the time on her phone, 3:40.
She cursed under her breath, "Can't even sleep in peace!" She seemed to be cursed with such occurrences; the last time she met Hai Ge was the same, and now again!
Well, she was awake now, and would be reaching Capital City by five o'clock anyway.
Just as Musheng was about to close her phone, she suddenly saw the girl from the next bunk scrambling over with a blanket in a fluster. When the girl made it to Musheng's bed, her face still had tear stains that hadn't dried. Seeing Musheng looking at her indifferently, she pleaded, "Can I...sleep on your bed for a while?"
Clearly, Musheng's previous actions provided her with great psychological comfort, and now she regarded Musheng as her savior.
"So I should sleep on your bed?"
Musheng didn't have a cleanliness obsession, but she wasn't keen on close contact with others, sharing a bed with someone else was a bit too much for her to accept. However, no sooner had she spoken than the girl looked like she was about to cry again, "I... I just want to sleep beside you."
Facing this situation, she was scared to death. In this strange space, she developed a strong dependence on the girl she had never met before, and more importantly, sought psychological comfort.
Musheng fell silent for a moment, then pointed to the passed-out man, "What do you plan to do about him?"
"Definitely report him to the police!"
The couple opposite Musheng interjected, but the girl shrank back and looked at Musheng with a somewhat evasive gaze, "I... I don't want to report it..."
"Why not?"
"Why wouldn't you report it?"
Not only the couple but other young people also joined in to ask. Musheng clapped her hands, "Exactly, I don't want any trouble either!"
If she reported it, she might have to go to the police station herself. Musheng didn't want to deal with such incidents on her first day in Beijing. As for what the girl thought, that was her concern, and Musheng didn't care to interfere.
Seeing Musheng respond this way, everyone else looked at each other, and no one spoke.
Eventually, the girl managed to sleep on Musheng's bed for a while. Before falling asleep, she even shared her name, Mo Yao, the 'Yao' of 'distant.' Then, clutching Musheng's clothes, she finally fell asleep.
During this time, the big man was lying unconscious on the floor. When the conductor came to check, he was quite surprised, only to be deceived by Musheng's calm remark, "Don't know, maybe he's sick and likes to sleep on the floor..."
No one else in the carriage piped up, but to avoid raising the conductor's suspicions, they still subtly explained what had happened. Once the conductor understood, seeing that the involved parties were not intending to pursue the matter, he decided not to concern himself with it either.
On trains, such incidents were not rare...
Musheng had hit harder than usual, and since she'd struck a particularly vulnerable spot, the man would definitely be out for a few hours. As for what would happen after the train arrived, that was none of her business.
After arriving at the station, since it was still dark outside, many people chose to rest at the train station for a while. Relatives coming to pick up passengers hadn't arrived either. Musheng woke Mo Yao up and then left the train on her own, not expecting Mo Yao to follow her.