Chapter 25: Battle on the Train
On a sunny plain, a train billowing black smoke rumbled past, startling birds resting among the weeds.
An old-fashioned train, emerald green grasslands, and mountains of varying heights in the distance—the entire scene was picturesque. In this era, coal was the only source of power for trains. If admired at night, one could see large sparks shooting from the train's chimney, a sight akin to a movie special effect.
Su Xiao leaped onto the last carriage. After observing, he noted the train had a total of 15 carriages. Excluding the front cabin and coal bunker, only 13 carriages were available for passengers. The witch named Mila was among these 13 carriages, but which specific one remained unknown for now.
Su Xiao couldn't recklessly sense the witch's trail now. He was in the shadows while the enemy was in the light—such an opportunity couldn't be wasted.
With this in mind, Su Xiao jumped down from the carriage roof. D·Assassination appeared in his hand. He tucked D·Assassination at his waist, covered it with the hem of his clothes, then pushed open the rear door of the last carriage and stepped inside.
The entire carriage was about three meters wide. The last carriage was empty, with no seats at all. On both sides were wooden boxes of varying sizes, and in the middle was a walkway.
As soon as Su Xiao entered the last carriage, a shotgun was aimed at him—it was the guard inside the carriage.
While traveling by train was convenient and fast, given the backward communication of this era, train robbery was a lucrative business. Over time, train conductors had all been replaced by burly men, each armed with a gun.
The shotgun was lowered as soon as it was aimed at Su Xiao, because the burly man saw the ring on Su Xiao's hand. Few people didn't recognize this item—it represented a witch hunter.
"Shh~"
Su Xiao raised his index finger to his lips, and the bearded conductor quickly nodded.
"Do you need me to do anything?"
The bearded man swallowed hard. A witch hunter appearing in this manner basically meant there was a witch on the train.
"Diamond shot?"
Su Xiao glanced at the shotgun in the bearded man's hand.
"Iron sand..."
"Then guard the rear door of the previous carriage. If anyone jumps off during this time, bang."
"Understood."
As the bearded man spoke, he began taking off his coat. Seeing his action, Su Xiao understood his intention—he wanted Su Xiao to disguise himself as a conductor.
"You must kill the witch on the train."
As the bearded man spoke, his jaw muscles bulged. Needless to say, he might have lost family members to witches.
After a moment's hesitation, Su Xiao removed the ring from his hand and put on the bearded man's coat. Not only that, but he also took the shotgun from the bearded man and replaced the iron sand inside with diamond shot.
"Have you been out during this time?"
"Never been out. I'm in charge of guarding the goods here—these are all copper ore."
"Good."
Su Xiao patted the bearded man on the shoulder. Just as he was about to step toward the front carriage, the bearded man suddenly called out to him in a low voice.
"The front carriage also has goods. The guard inside is named Matt, and the carriage is full of gunpowder. Carriages 3 to 14 are for passengers."
"Mm."
Su Xiao stepped up to the front of carriage 14 and directly knocked on the iron door at the rear.
With a scraping sound, the observation hatch on the iron door was slid open. The bearded man leaned in and said something to the guard inside carriage 14. The guard, Matt, slowly walked to the front of carriage 14, observed for a moment, then returned to the rear to open the door.
"A witch?"
Matt's voice was very low, and his hands were trembling uncontrollably.
"Don't make a fuss."
The bearded man cooperated perfectly, starting to whisper something to Matt while giving Su Xiao a look, indicating that Matt was taken care of.
Su Xiao arrived at the front of carriage 14. Since the cargo was the dangerous item gunpowder, carriage 14 was nearly completely sealed.
Pulling open the iron door of carriage 14, Su Xiao, carrying the shotgun on his back, walked into carriage 13. Starting from carriage 13, the carriages were used for passengers. On both sides were seats, each seat could hold two people, with four facing each other, so two people were inevitably facing away from Su Xiao.
The train rumbled along the tracks. It was noisy when first boarding, but after a while, one got used to the roar, even finding the sound pleasant—at least the journey wouldn't be lonely.
Starting from carriage 13, there were no iron doors at the front or rear, continuing all the way to carriage 3. As for carriage 2, the coal bunker, anyone who dared climb up would be met with a blast from the train driver's shotgun, no explanations given.
As soon as Su Xiao entered carriage 13, some passengers on the seats looked up and glanced sideways. Seeing Su Xiao's attire, they stopped paying attention to him, and some even took out their tickets.
On this kind of train, there was no assigned seating—buy a ticket and sit wherever you like.
Su Xiao slowly walked to the front of carriage 13. He took out a cigarette and lit it. Guarding flammable and explosive goods, stepping out for a smoke was perfectly normal.
Seemingly "slacking off," Su Xiao was actually using his peripheral vision to observe suspicious individuals. He had completely retracted his perception into his body, which had the advantage of preventing the enemy from sensing his aura.
The passengers were very quiet. Some were dozing, others were reading newspapers—the newspapers published by the Holy Healing Church. Don't think commoners could afford such things; those reading newspapers were all wealthy.
After observing for a while, Su Xiao didn't find anyone suspicious. He stepped toward carriage 12. After some observation, carriage 12 also revealed nothing.
Carriages 11, 10, 9, and 8—Su Xiao inspected them all in turn. He skipped the men directly, which greatly reduced the difficulty of finding the witch.
When Su Xiao reached carriage 7, he noticed this carriage was particularly noisy. Several passengers were gambling in a group, using a few copper coins. The specific rules were unknown.
Su Xiao stood near the group and watched the excitement for a while, losing a few silver coins in the process. Then, with a gloomy face, he headed toward carriage 6. When it came to acting, Su Xiao had never feared anyone—not even against Aizen, Qingyan, and the like.
As soon as he entered carriage 6, the atmosphere made Su Xiao pause. It was too quiet. Most of the passengers here were fast asleep. Such an unusual situation, as a conductor, Su Xiao naturally couldn't ignore it.
"Wake up."
Su Xiao shook a middle-aged man. The man opened his drowsy eyes and looked at Su Xiao with confusion.
"What?"
The middle-aged man was clearly displeased at having his sweet dream interrupted. He slapped a ticket onto the small table in front of him, as if to say, "I paid for my ticket."
"Sorry to disturb."
Su Xiao "breathed a sigh of relief" and stepped forward. After a few steps, he passed by a young woman. She wore a black and red dress, her skin fair and delicate, as if it might break at a touch.
Su Xiao only glanced at this sleeping beauty before continuing forward. After walking a few meters, his fingers flexed, and the next moment, the shotgun's stock was in his hand, the strap on the gun snapped off.
The dark muzzle aimed at the young woman. At that moment, she suddenly opened her eyes.
Bang!
The gunpowder exploded, white smoke billowing from the shotgun's muzzle, mixed with a large number of yellow crystal fragments.