To be honest, the inside of Krabi station was even more shabby than it looked from the outside. When passing through the ticket gate, there wasn't even a detection device, there were only a few ticket inspectors standing there checking tickets. They didn't even get the chance to show their gun-carrying permits.
This scene reminded Aiden of the news he had idly watched these past few days about T Country's public security issues, and he couldn't help but sigh, "No wonder robbery and shooting cases happen so frequently here, the train station doesn't even have security checks."
At this moment, they were checking tickets. Hearing his words, a female ticket inspector smiled slightly at him and said, "Sir, please don't worry. The public security in Krabi is still quite good. What you mentioned only happens in some remote and poor places, so please feel free to enjoy your travel."
However, just as the female ticket inspector finished speaking, someone in the crowd shouted in another language, "Robbery!"
But it seemed that no one understood, so after noticing that the people around were unmoved, that voice switched to English, "Robbery!"
This time the crowd became slightly chaotic, and then Aiden saw a child around ten years old squeezing out from the crowd while clutching a small bag, running toward the exit of the ticket gate, followed closely by seven or eight people chasing him while shouting "robbery."
"Security is really good," Aiden said as he blinked at the female ticket inspector.
The female ticket inspector gave a slightly embarrassed smile. However, what surprised Aiden was that, upon seeing the child rushing toward them, the ticket inspectors, including her, had no intention of stopping him, they all tacitly stepped aside a few steps.
"Seems like the local gangs have a lot of authority here!" Aiden naturally understood why they were acting this way. With a cold snort, he charged toward the child.
But someone moved even faster than him. It was Jill, who had passed through the ticket gate earlier. She stepped forward and performed a back throw, directly taking the child down.
Police-born Jill flipped over the child who was still dazed from the fall, skillfully pinned both his hands and used her knee to press against his lower back.
"Stay still, don't move." Jill clearly did this kind of thing often back in Raccoon City, her actions were fluid and practiced.
And Aiden simply went forward to pick up the small bag that had fallen on the ground, then handed it to the group of tourists who had just caught up.
"Thank you, thank you so much." The one who stepped forward to take the bag was a young woman dressed fashionably. She panted as she thanked Aiden, but used English.
"No need to thank me, thank her. I didn't even do anything." Aiden pointed to Jill and replied in the girl's native language.
"You're from Y country?" Hearing Aiden reply, the young woman froze for a moment, and the others around her quickly bowed toward Jill to thank her.
Seeing this scene, Aiden gave a few cold laughs and then said to Jill, "Let him go. We should get going."
Jill didn't want to waste time here either. Upon hearing this, she released the child. The child, now a bit recovered, scrambled into the crowd on all fours and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Why did you let him go? Why not take him to the police station?" Seeing Jill let the child go, an older middle-aged woman among them asked, but not Jill. It seemed like she didn't dare to ask Jill directly, so she asked Aiden, and her tone was quite impolite.
Aiden didn't even bother responding to her, simply called to Jill and the others who had passed the ticket gate and left.
Those tourists still standing there vaguely heard Aiden mutter to himself, "As expected, foreigners still have more face in this era."
And after hearing this, a few of the younger ones couldn't help but blush.
"Hey, what kind of attitude is that?" Among the older middle-aged folks, one of them said unhappily, but no one followed up.
"Let's go in too." Watching Aiden and the others walk off, the young woman who had spoken to Aiden earlier exhaled and said to her companions.
Krabi is a tourist city. Although the city's transportation mainly relies on buses and airplanes, quite a few people still choose trains. After all, the price is cheaper than flights, the comfort better than buses, and you can enjoy the scenery along the way, so there are still many people.
The group waited by the platform for a while. A rare double-decker train slowly pulled into the station, and Aiden's group began to board with their tickets.
At this moment, Aiden noticed that those tourists from earlier were boarding the same carriage as them, and also on the second floor. The young woman among them even greeted him with a friendly smile when she saw him.
Aiden casually waved at her and began to look for his seat. Yes, they all had seat tickets.
Soon the group found their seats, but just as mentioned earlier, their seat numbers were scattered and not adjacent. Dutch and Aiden had no choice but to look for kindhearted people willing to switch seats.
Although most people initially refused to switch, once Aiden took out a wad of green Franklins, those people became warm and reasonable. Soon, they were all seated together.
Speaking of which, because this train was a double-decker, the seats were all standard double seats, the kind that face each other. Aiden's group had nine people altogether, and after some discussion, Dutch volunteered to sit alone on one side.
Naturally, Aiden sat with Roberta, and opposite them sat Fabiola, with Irina beside her.
As for Jill, she sat together with Choi Ji-Yoon, Revy, but unlike their usual endless chatter, today only Choi Ji-Yoon was talking, which made Aiden particularly curious.
But obviously now wasn't the time to ask. Aiden decided to wait until Sawyer's situation was settled before questioning the two properly.
While waiting for departure, those tourists actually swapped seats with some other passengers seated opposite Aiden's group. That young woman took the aisle seat and smiled at Aiden again.
Aiden frowned and didn't want to acknowledge her, but the woman spoke first.
"Where are you from?", a very common question among Y country people meeting abroad.
"The South." Aiden replied casually.
This casual answer annoyed one of the woman's companions, a boy who still looked immature, probably not even twenty. He spoke in a harsh tone, "There are so many provinces in the South. Who knows where you're from? Can't you be clearer?"
But his tone displeased Roberta, who was sitting beside Aiden. She hadn't even moved yet when Aiden placed a hand over hers.
"Is that really important? As long as you know I'm from Y Country, that's enough." After calming Roberta, Aiden glanced at the boy.
The boy immediately froze, then turned his head away awkwardly and stopped speaking.
The young woman quickly said, "Sorry, my classmate is a bit hot-tempered. I hope you don't mind."
Aiden didn't reply. He simply nodded and turned to talk with Roberta and the others.
Seeing that Aiden ignored her, the young woman looked embarrassed. It was unclear what her companion whispered to her, she just shook her head and then looked at Aiden again, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.
Aiden chatted with Roberta and the others for a long time, yet the train still hadn't moved. He lowered his head to glance at his tactical watch and found the departure time had passed by nearly ten minutes.
Just as he was wondering about the delay, the broadcast in the carriage came on, the voice claiming to be the train conductor said that the rear freight cars were being loaded with cargo temporarily, so departure would be delayed by another half hour.
After hearing the broadcast, Aiden was speechless and thought to himself that not only was management here a mess, the efficiency was also terribly low.
Still, having a reason was better than a delay without explanation. Aiden didn't complain further and continued chatting with Roberta and the others.
After another half an hour of chatting, the train finally started moving. With a clattering rhythm, the train slowly left the platform.
Honestly, the sound of the train in motion was quite sleep-inducing, so as the train began to speed up after leaving the station, Aiden started to feel drowsy.
Thinking that Roberta was there anyway, Aiden simply closed his eyes and leaned on her shoulder to doze off. This move caught the attention of those tourists, particularly the two male ones, who looked at him with eyes full of envy.
———
Aiden didn't know how long he slept, he was woken up by the need to pee.
He slowly opened his eyes, lifted his head off Roberta's shoulder, and stood up.
Roberta had never fallen asleep. Seeing Aiden get up, she asked with concern, "Didn't sleep well? Want to lie down on my lap instead?"
Aiden shook his head, "No, I just want to go to the bathroom."
"Then I'll go with you." Roberta stood up too.
Aiden shook his head again and pointed to Fabiola and Irina, who were both seemingly asleep with their eyes closed, "Watch them for me. Don't let any thieves or anyone suspicious near them."
But before he even finished, Fabiola opened her eyes, she hadn't actually been sleeping, just pretending.
Roberta smiled at Aiden, "So can I go with you now?"
Aiden thought for a moment, but still refused. He was an adult, after all. Who needs someone to accompany them to the toilet? Saying that out loud would be embarrassing.
Seeing Aiden refuse again, Roberta had no choice but to sit back down, looking rather displeased.
Aiden patted her shoulder lightly and turned to head toward the restroom. As he passed by Jill's group's seats, he saw that only Choi Ji-Yoon was asleep, leaning on Jill's shoulder, and it looked like they'd made up.
Jill and Revy noticed his gaze and looked at him. Aiden pointed to the restroom and whispered, "Going to the bathroom."
The two returned their gaze and continued idly flipping through the train's magazines.
When Aiden reached the restroom, he saw that it was occupied, so he waited at the door.
After a while, the door opened, and to his surprise, the person who came out was the young woman who had spoken to him earlier.
Seeing Aiden standing at the door, her face reddened slightly, and she quickly stepped aside to make room.
Aiden didn't say anything, just walked in and closed the door.
While relieving himself, he also lit a cigarette, taking a few deep drags before stepping out.
But to his surprise, the woman was still there, apparently waiting for him.
"Is there something you want?" Aiden frowned.
"N-no…" The young woman looked down and said shyly, "I just wanted to say sorry."
"You already said that earlier." Aiden couldn't figure out what she was thinking.
"But you didn't accept my apology," she said anxiously.
'So that's the reason…' Aiden was speechless. He looked at the university-age woman in front of him and nodded, "Alright, I accept your apology. Now, can I leave?"
But the woman hesitated again and said, "Um… can we get to know each other?"
Before Aiden could answer, she introduced herself, "My name is…"
Aiden cut her off, "Sorry, I'm not interested in your name."
With that, and ignoring her disappointed expression, he turned and walked back to his seat.
But he had only taken a few steps when the train suddenly shook violently, and then several loud bangs came from the rear of the train.
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