019 Subway Skirmish
The train arrived at its final destination, Rongdu.
Before getting off, Wang Heng glanced in a mirror and nearly jumped out of his skin. He saw that his eyes were completely red. Looking closer, the whites of his eyes were covered in blood vessels, making him look almost demonic.
But considering the ordeal of this journey, the red eyes were perfectly normal. After all, he had pulled an all-nighter last night, not sleeping a wink.
It was already difficult to fall asleep in a hard seat, not to mention the air conditioning in the car was broken. Of course, even more terrifying was the noise…
Starting at ten o’clock at night, the people around him started playing Fight the Landlord at the top of their lungs, only stopping at two in the morning. At the same time, the auntie next to him was watching a drama on her phone with the volume on full blast. The pile of melodramatic lines not only tortured Wang Heng’s ears but also poisoned his sanity.
And in the latter half of the night, just as Wang Heng was finally feeling a little sleepy, the sound of a child crying suddenly erupted in the car. And one child’s crying set off two other children. They were all probably between three and five years old, an age where they are both unreasonable and full of energy. With all that noise, no one in the car could sleep.
Walking past the mirror, Wang Heng scanned his surroundings. Sure enough, more than half of the people around him, regardless of age or gender, were listless, and some even had dark circles under their eyes.
The moment he stepped off the train, Wang Heng took a deep breath of fresh air and felt much more refreshed. But after a few more steps, his head was still a little fuzzy, and he let out several yawns in a row.
Following the flow of people, he walked out of the train station and squeezed into the crowd heading for the subway.
The easiest way to get from the train station to the school was by subway. He had already checked the route and could see the signs, so even though he was drowsy, he knew which way to go.
But as he squeezed into the subway car, Wang Heng was suddenly wide awake.
He heard a rather familiar voice, the slightly complaining tone of a young girl: “Mom, just don’t worry about this kind of thing…”
Following the sound, Han Yixuan’s face appeared less than five meters in front of him.
Wang Heng couldn’t help but curse inwardly—This is the power of the worldline’s correction mechanism? Isn’t this a bit too terrifying!
The girl and her mother were standing together, also squeezed into a corner of the subway car. Between them was a large red suitcase, which was forced to take up a lot of space, making it feel even more crowded.
At this moment, Wang Heng couldn’t help but feel fortunate. It was a good thing he had seen Han Yixuan first, and not the other way around. Otherwise, it would have been another heaven-sent trouble.
He shrank his neck and bent his knees slightly, trying to make himself as short as possible.
But not long after, a middle-aged man next to him asked, “Young man, are you not feeling well?”
Crouching like Wang Heng was now was indeed too strange. It was easy for people to mistake it for some kind of sudden illness. He didn’t dare to straighten up, but he couldn’t attract the attention of others either.
So Wang Heng shook his head and put on the most natural smile he could muster. “I… just really have to pee.”
The middle-aged man immediately looked at him with sympathy.
**
Han Yixuan and her mother didn’t notice Wang Heng huddled in the corner not far away until they got off the subway car.
At this point, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Wang Heng straightened his back, twisted his neck, his face full of relaxed contentment.
However, he had forgotten that the kind-hearted middle-aged man from before hadn’t gotten off the train yet.
“Young man, you’ve… already opened the floodgates?”
Wang Heng’s face stiffened, and he was suddenly at a loss for words.
The man looked down at his crotch, his small eyes filled with great confusion. “It’s not wet. What’s going on with you? Can you hold it back into your kidneys?”
Wang Heng blurted out a random excuse, “It’s auto-suggestion, a hypnotic technique from psychology.”
The man exclaimed in amazement, “Hypnotizing your bladder? That’s an amazing technique you’ve got there!”
Wang Heng really couldn’t explain any further. Fortunately, his transfer station had arrived. So Wang Heng stopped talking to the man and rushed out of the car.
This platform was the intersection of two subway lines. According to the route he had looked up beforehand, he was supposed to get off here anyway.
However, Wang Heng could never have imagined that right after getting off the train, he would see another familiar face. And this time, their eyes met. There was no way to hide anymore.
She was wearing a gender-neutral black shirt, light blue jeans, and white sneakers. She was of medium height and slightly slim, looking just like an ordinary female university student. Her short hair, which just passed her earlobes, was also restrained and not flashy. But the confident look in her eyes, that strong and unquestionable aura, was anything but ordinary.
Of course, her delicate features and the faint, almost imperceptible makeup were also just right, not standing out in the bustling crowd. But once you noticed her, it was impossible to ignore her.
It was Lu Qi.
The moment their eyes met, Lu Qi didn’t seem to recognize him. But the surprise in Wang Heng’s eyes immediately made her realize.
“Hi, what a coincidence… You’re that Grand Mage?” Lu Qi walked over with a smile and asked.
Wang Heng swallowed. At least on the surface, he was still calm. “Yes, that’s me.”
“It feels weird to call you Mage… Your surname is Wang, right? Should I call you Little Wang then?”
“My name is Wang Heng. Please remove the ‘then’.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to,” her smile was slightly apologetic. “My name is Lu Qi. Nice to meet you.”
“Sister Lu, I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Calling me sister already? Do I look that old?”
Of course, Wang Heng couldn’t say that he was used to calling her ‘Sister Lu’. He could only explain, “No, since you’re an employee of Penguin, you’re definitely a senior. I haven’t even started my freshman year yet, so of course, I have to call you sister. But you don’t look old at all. You look as young as my high school classmates.”
Lu Qi blinked. “You’re so glib-tongued. You don’t sound like a programmer, more like a product manager.”
“No way, product managers are so dumb…”
“True. It would be great if they were actually articulate.”
The two quickly reached an agreement on this strange topic. And this subtle feeling of hitting it off made the corners of Lu Qi’s mouth unconsciously curve up a little.
So Lu Qi said, “It just so happens I don’t have much to do today. The new department isn’t set up yet, so I’m very free. Why don’t I take a look around your school? We can chat more on the way.”
It was a question, and her tone was inquisitive. But Wang Heng knew that when Sister Lu made a suggestion, there wasn’t much room for negotiation. The key was, he couldn’t find a reasonable excuse to refuse.
Not long ago, she had added an extra five thousand yuan to the agreed-upon payment for the task. He really couldn’t turn her down.
Wang Heng could only answer, “Uh… okay.”
