Chapter 131
Chapter 131
Quinlyn didn’t get angry. She stood up when Harriet turned and walked away.
“Why are you following me?” Harriet glared at her halfway.
Quinlyn looked at the dark surroundings and said softly, “I’ll go with you.”
“I don’t need you to,” Harriet said angrily, quickening her pace. But she couldn’t shake off Quinlyn.
Harriet entered the toilet in a huff, finally getting a moment to breathe. Looking at the moonlight through the small window, tears slid down her face.
She was an orphan who just wanted a better life. She didn’t know why the world was so cruel to her. And she hated Quinlyn, who just had to appear.
At the same time, Quinlyn, dozing outside the door, heard a noise from another carriage. She saw a shadowy figure sneaking down the aisle, searching the bunks.
Soon, a flashlight beam came over.
“What are you doing? Which carriage are you from?” A conductor quickly approached, grabbing the figure’s shoulder and asking in a lowered voice to avoid disturbing other passengers.
As the figure turned, a sharp knife was thrust directly at the conductor. The conductor, in pain, tried to shout but was muffled.
The attacker pulled out the knife and was about to strike again when a force from behind knocked him away.
He crashed into the iron railing of a bunk with a loud noise, waking many passengers, who turned on the lights to see what was happening.
The person, holding his arm, turned and fled.
Quinlyn, instead of chasing, squatted to check the conductor’s wound. Relieved that it didn’t seem to have injured internal organs, she stood up and ran to the end of the carriage, ringing the alarm bell.
The shrill alarm rang out in the night, and staff soon came to handle the situation. Quinlyn, hiding in the crowd, watched for a while and then left.
Back at the toilet door, she found it open and empty. Harriet had intentionally run away in the three minutes Quinlyn was away.
The green train roared through the night as it rolled over the tracks. Quinlyn hurried back down the aisle, her steps hurried.
Passing a bunk, she heard rustling and saw a woman stealing. Their eyes met in the darkness, then Quinlyn quickly looked away and walked off.
These two carriages were overcrowded, likely areas under Chandler’s care. The passengers were not good people.
The conductor, young and in a new uniform, obviously didn’t know the rules and had almost been stabbed to death for wandering into this area by mistake.
Quinlyn knew her mission and didn’t intend to get involved in other matters.
But Harriet was different.
Not far from where Bill and the others were, Quinlyn spotted her.
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12:10 Tue, 25 Mar
Chapter 131
སཾ., 79%L
She was pinned against the carriage wall by the tall, thin man from the day, her small body trembling, her face streaked with tears visible even in the dim moonlight.
“Finally no one’s around. Little girl, come play with me, and you’ll get much tastier candies…” The man’s foul–smelling breath from his decayed teeth sprayed onto Harriet’s face as he spoke.
Sensing his hands groping, she looked terrified, her muffled mouth beginning to scream soundlessly. She didn’t want any more candy now.
Bill and his two companions sat at the foot of the bunk, smoking and watching the man’s actions with indifference, as if punishing Harriet for trying to escape.
They thought that a lesson would make her obedient.
As her skirt tore, Harriet closed her eyes in despair. ‘Somebody help!‘ she screamed inwardly.
In the darkness, a thermos accurately exploded on the man’s head. The burst inner lining and scalding water spilled down, making him yelp and jump back in pain.
Harriet was pulled aside by a hand. Through her blurred tears, she recognized Quinlyn’s equally slender figure.
“You, why did you…” she began to sob.
But Quinlyn, seeing the man try to get up, yanked off the carriage window curtain and covered his head with it, the elastic at the bottom tightening around his neck. She pulled in the opposite direction.
“Let, let go of me… The man coughed and flailed backward, but Quinlyn knelt on his spine. With his chest and throat injured, she soon suffocated him into unconsciousness.
Only then did Quinlyn release her grip and stand up.
At this point, the corridor lights came on, and many people poked their heads out to see the commotion. Seeing Quinlyn, a little girl, had defeated an adult, they all raised their eyebrows.
Some even whistled. But no one offered sympathy or help.
Harriet stared at the mocking faces of the crowd, her sense of right and wrong shaken. When Quinlyn walked over, she opened her mouth to speak, “I…”
Before she could utter a word, Quinlyn raised her hand and slapped her.
“Next time, I won’t save you,” Quinlyn said. Then she turned and walked back to her seat in the corridor, curling up to sleep again.
Harriet, clutching her burning cheek, felt a surge of anger and sadness. ‘Quinlyn thinks she can hit me just because she saved me?’
She stood up and walked back, intending to ask Quinlyn what she had done wrong.
She just tried to escape when she came out of the toilet and saw no one was around. And she thought anyone else would have done the same.
But as she approached, Bill, holding a cigarette, nodded at her and sneered, “You’re hopelessly stupid. You think we didn’t watch you? On this train, you can’t escape.
“You wouldn’t even get out of this carriage. Like that drug addict earlier, he would have been more than enough for you. “That kid saved you today from eating poisoned candy; otherwise, you’d end up like that guy.”
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སོ ཊཱི, 70%L
12:10 Tue, 25 Mar
Chapter 131
After watching the drama, Bill, no longer sleepy, gave Harriet a lesson on what would happen when one got involved with drugs.
Harriet’s hairs stood on end as she listened. Recalling the candy she had fought over earlier, which turned out to be drugged, she felt goosebumps all over. ‘So, Quinlyn saved me. Quinlyn knew this all along,’ she thought.
Tobias also woke up, glanced at her, and said, “You’re really stupid, stupid without even realizing it, just asking for trouble.” Harriet’s face turned red. Even though what he said was true, her pride couldn’t bear it, and she wanted to retort.
But after thinking, she couldn’t find any words and could only trudge back, dry her tears, and continue to sleep.
This time, she turned her head to watch Quinlyn, and when she was afraid at night, she would open her eyes to check if Quinlyn was still there before daring to fall asleep again.
Three days later, the train finally entered the plateau. Before getting off, many in the carriage were negotiating with Bill. “It makes no difference where the child is sold. Why not sell her to me?”
“Hey, I want to bid too. I like this girl. She’s smart and lively. Maybe she can be my heir someday.”
“Your heir? You take pride in swindling and cheating?”
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