Chapter 343 - 305: Train Station
Chapter 343: Chapter 305: Train Station
「The next day.」
Gu Ning and Alex slept in, only packing up to leave well after sunrise.
"We’ll have a signal once we get to the train station." Alex packed the small pot they used for meals into his bag. "Barto and the others will meet us there," he told Gu Ning, who was tapping on her terminal.
Hearing this, Gu Ning turned off her terminal and stood up, stretching her sore back and legs.
’Her thigh muscles really took a beating last night.’
When she glanced over, she saw Alex staring at her intently.
"Does it hurt?"
Alex stopped what he was doing and squatted in front of her. "Let me see."
Gu Ning waved her hand. "It doesn’t hurt." ’Just a bit of muscle soreness.’
Alex had already checked when she woke up, and he’d even applied a cool, soothing ointment.
’But... there was still a bit of a stinging... foreign sensation.’
’It felt like they were still rubbing together.’
’She couldn’t do it like this next time. Toward the end, she honestly worried they were going to start a fire from the friction.’
Alex pulled her onto his lap and began massaging her muscles with just the right amount of pressure. "We won’t use that position next time."
Gu Ning’s ears burned. She mumbled an answer, hopped off his lap, and bent down to pick up the blanket on the ground. She started folding it to stuff into her bag. "Let’s get going."
Alex took the blanket from her and held it to his nose, sniffing it. He then took out a sealed bag, refolded the blanket to be smaller, and packed it inside. After that, he pulled out a small spray bottle of special deodorizer, sprayed the bag inside and out, and placed it in a separate compartment of his backpack.
Seeing how carefully he was treating the blanket, Gu Ning asked, "Is there a problem?"
Alex: "It has your scent on it."
Gu Ning looked at him. "It has yours, too."
Alex gently tapped her on the nose and smiled. "You got the blanket wet. The scent will be more noticeable."
This was different from Gu Ning’s usual scent.
The heat that had just subsided from Gu Ning’s face instantly flared up again. She tried to pull the blanket back out. "Then let’s burn it."
Last night, Alex had thrown the cloths they had used to wipe themselves into the fire.
"This blanket is very expensive." Alex grabbed her wrist, stopping her from taking it. "You can’t smell anything anymore. Once we get to Zone 5, I’ll give it a proper wash."
’Burn it? He couldn’t bear to. He was going to take it back and treasure it.’
Gu Ning said, "Very expensive?"
Alex’s expression turned serious as he nodded. "Extremely expensive."
Gu Ning glanced at the backpack. ’The blanket’s texture really doesn’t feel cheap,’ she thought. "Alright," she said.
She had lived through a lot of hard times since coming to this world. Even though she wasn’t short on money now, she still hadn’t considered wasting things.
Since Alex said the smell was gone, it must be gone.
In any case, she couldn’t smell anything with it packed so tightly.
After finishing packing and extinguishing the fire, Gu Ning and Alex continued on their way.
Gu Ning mounted the wolf’s back and looked up at the sky. There was no sun, but it wasn’t snowing either, and the wind was lighter than yesterday. All in all, it was decent weather.
Not long after they left, a dark figure emerged from a corner of the ruins, its vertical, emerald pupils fixed on their retreating backs.
Alex, up ahead, sensed something and glanced back. His brow furrowed slightly, and he quickened his pace.
.
The train station was much closer than Gu Ning had imagined.
Before noon, Alex had already carried her to the transit station in Zone 15, stopping at the edge of a small town two or three hundred meters away from the station itself.
From a distance, Gu Ning could hear the rumbling of the tracks as a silver-gray train pulled out of the station, quickly receding from her view.
Gu Ning pushed up her windproof goggles and pulled down her mask, watching the distant station as she exhaled a puff of white mist.
’We’re finally here.’
Seeing the moving train, a mix of anticipation and anxiety welled up inside Gu Ning.
Every step in this world was unfamiliar, uncontrollable, and even dangerous for her.
The closer she got to the center of Beastman Society, the stronger this feeling became.
But she was no longer filled with the same fear she’d had when she first arrived in this world. She was ready to step into a new world and face every challenge that lay ahead.
Right now, the first challenge was figuring out how to successfully enter the station.
Alex shifted back into his human form and got dressed. He took out his and Gu Ning’s identification documents and instructed her, "Ningning, when we enter the station, use Kaper’s ID and terminal, not your own. Don’t say a word, no matter what happens."
Gu Ning nodded. After spending so long in Zone 19, she knew how to play the part of a Dwarf hybrid.
She temporarily switched off her constantly vibrating terminal and tucked it into an inner pocket of her jacket, planning to check it after they boarded the train.
Once they were ready, Alex took her by the wrist and led her toward the station entrance.
Before long, other Beastmen began to appear around them.
The train station was surrounded by a small town where Beastmen could stop for a while. The roadside was lined with all sorts of shops and street vendors, making it much livelier than the rest of Zone 15.
Gu Ning secretly sized up the Beastmen. Most of them carried backpacks or shoulder bags and wore simple, light clothing.
Once the crowd thickened, Alex finally took out a rope he had prepared earlier and tied it between his hand and Gu Ning’s.
Most Beastmen disliked Mixed Breeds, especially irritable Dwarf hybrids. Besides actively avoiding them, some Beastmen would drive them away or deliberately pick fights.
In the Middle Lower District, where females were scarce, other Beastmen would identify Gu Ning as a Dwarf hybrid at a glance due to her size. The rope indicated that this "Mixed Breed" had a guardian, which could prevent unnecessary trouble.
After tying the rope, Alex still held onto Gu Ning’s wrist, leading her through the crowd.
Gu Ning stayed close to Alex’s side, curiously observing her surroundings.
Although this was just a small town, the foot traffic was heavy. Some Beastmen were hurrying along, while others stopped at stalls to pick out goods. Aside from food, most of the items for sale were daily necessities.
Beastmen liked to travel light, preferring to buy daily necessities at rest stops like stations or inns.
Beastmen from the Middle Lower District didn’t have high standards for daily life, especially when traveling. Some of the more cold-resistant ones didn’t even stay in inns, content to find any random spot to crash for the night.
Gu Ning looked around and only spotted a few Mixed Breeds, and they were all atavistic hybrids.
The shops and stalls here weren’t as chaotic as in Zone 19. Gu Ning even saw Beastmen in security uniforms patrolling back and forth. The management seemed quite strict.
Just then, Alex stopped and looked down at Gu Ning. "Want to look around?"
Gu Ning looked up at him and blinked. ’Can we?’
’Aren’t we in a hurry to get into the station?’
Alex smiled and squeezed her hand. "There’s no rush. The next train doesn’t leave for another two hours."
After his efforts last night, Ningning was now completely covered in his scent. He wasn’t worried she would be exposed because of her own.
Since he said so, Gu Ning was happy to look around and experience the local character of a different region.
With no need to rush, she raised her camera and started discreetly taking pictures, planning to make a travel montage.
Alex slowly led her through the stalls, buying some food and filling her backpack.
When her backpack started to feel a little heavy, Alex took it off her back and carried it for her.
After a short while, Gu Ning felt there wasn’t much else to see. The selection of goods here couldn’t even compare to the black market in Zone 19. She took one last photo and was about to lower her camera when a... small dog, about as tall as she was, appeared in her lens.