Jiang Ling eventually exchanged contact codes with the man calling himself Chen Mike. He repeatedly promised not to share her code with anyone else. But she doubted he would keep his word. Perhaps he was just setting a higher price for her code. It didn't matter, though. She wouldn't respond to any of those random people who sent her messages.
After chatting with her for a while, Chen Mike left with a few other people she didn't know. It seemed that they were in a hurry and didn't have time to wait for the train for another hour. Of course, it was more likely that they were not on the same path as Jiang Ling, and their directions were completely different from hers.
She waited for a while longer. After about half an hour, she heard the sound of air flow coming from the distant tunnel, and two bright white headlights shone from the dark hole. The train arrived a little earlier than usual, perhaps because the track in this direction was clearer, so the driver increased the speed a bit.
The subways in this world were slightly different from before Jiang Ling crossed over. Most of these trains were electric, magnetically levitation trains, and when they ran out of power, they became like scrap metal. Jiang Ling had used her A-level access to research some of the information, and found that only a few main roads still had oil-powered trains and ordinary rails. She figured it was hard for people here to imagine a power outage.
The trains on this route are all yellow, apparently newly painted. Trains passing through yellow zones are painted yellow, and those passing through green zones are painted green. If red zone lines are opened in the future, there might be red trains. To prevent people from having difficulty adjusting to the station lighting, the trains are always lit, but people online often recommend closing one eye after boarding.
As soon as the train came to a complete stop, several station staff members rushed to the doors of the train compartments with a machine. These were the so-called ticket inspectors. They separated passenger and freight transports, earning five points per person, and one point per stop thereafter. Freight had to be weighed first, reportedly at one point per two kilograms. The flow of people decreased significantly in the afternoon; the person in line ahead of Jiang Ling even bought a ticket for his bag.
Jiang Ling didn't know how they checked tickets in peacetime; it might have been quicker and more convenient. As long as you had a terminal or a pass, you could just tap it on the machine and be seated. She also bought two tickets; her bag was too big, and she wanted to save space later.
The train's interior was much the same as the world she'd traveled through before. Rows of seats lined the sides, and every five seats stood a pillar, with numerous pull-rings dangling from the center. Perhaps Jiang Ling had arrived too early, so not many people had taken their seats yet. She randomly chose a seat, untied her backpack, and placed it on the seat next to her. Then, she closed her eyes.
The next moment, her world was no longer dark. A train made of points of light appeared before her eyes. Her sensing range easily encompassed the entire train, and of course, even more so, the other people at the station. She casually connected with their perceptions. Although the transmissions from them were intermittent, she continued to try them one by one with great pleasure. She had been doing this since her experience with the consciousness confrontation.
After checking everyone who had entered, she concluded that no one with the same sensory abilities had appeared on the train yet, indicating that it was still safe. The full passenger check took her about six minutes. She could then screen everyone else later, excluding those already checked, and the process would likely take much less time.
She had little interest in the memories of ordinary people. In fact, if possible, she wouldn't even bother to check them. She called this process a safety check, just to prevent herself from being controlled by others again. Of course, if she found anything, she was well prepared to help others escape, which in a sense could be considered a good deed.
Those who had used stabilizers, or mutants, were distinct from ordinary people. She had already tested them, and the brains of those enhanced with stabilizers sped up, so their brains would be slower when examined. She suspected that those who had remained sane that day were likely enhanced humans; as for the mutants, they would likely be communicating with her mind. She had encountered a mutant in the following days, but that person seemed completely different from Meat Mountain. All he said to her was, "Brother, stop messing around in my head," and that was that. Although she couldn't believe that mutants could truly coexist peacefully with humans, the facts were there.
The train stopped at the station for a total of an hour, and only began to move after the loudspeaker warned it three times. During this time, Jiang Ling had already checked everyone on board, including the driver and the cargo box at the back, and only found a dozen or so enhanced people in total. She could only attribute this to the good security environment in the central area. Perhaps things would change at the next station, and she couldn't guarantee that the people in every place were the same.
The maglev train didn't make any "dangling" noises, only a faint, increasingly high-frequency buzzing sound, much like what Jiang Ling had imagined. After a brief period of acceleration, the sound of air rushing across the train's surface was transmitted through the metal frame into the interior. Then, Jiang Ling's carriage entered the dark tunnels.
She opened one eye. None of the people on the train could be described as shabby; some were even quite elegant. It seemed reasonable to assume that anyone with the spare time to take the afternoon train had some savings. As a country bumpkin who had lived for most of her life, it was hard for her to imagine the living conditions of these well-dressed individuals. Perhaps compared to the trip Jiang Ling had spent a month preparing for, these people were just taking a short stroll.
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