232: Quiet

Xu Le took a big bite of the pastry in his hand, his cheeks puffed out.

This pastry was delicious; his brother said it was made from star flowers, and it had a subtle floral scent, fragrant but not greasy. These star flowers only grew here, and it would be hard to eat them again once they left.

Thinking of this, Xu Le's eyes darted towards the plate of pastries on the table, hoping the older brothers and sisters would take less, so he could have another piece after finishing the one in his hand.

Unfortunately, things didn't go Xu Le's way. The pastries on the table were quickly eaten, and Xu Le could only withdraw his gaze, lowering his head dejectedly.

"Here, eat it."

His brother's voice rang out above him. Xu Le looked up and saw a pastry appear before him.

Instantly, Xu Le's mood brightened, and the cowlick on his head seemed to stand on end.

"Thank you, brother, I love you."

ღ ( ๑ ′ ᴗ ‵ ๑ )

Xu Bai chuckled, patting Xu Le's head.

He had already noticed the little guy eyeing the pot while eating from his bowl, so he had secretly saved a piece of pastry for him, planning to give it to him after he finished the one in his hand.

Xu Le had always been a well-behaved child, holding one piece and eating it obediently, never thinking of grabbing two pastries at once or selfishly preventing others from eating. So, Xu Bai was happy to satisfy Xu Le's craving.

"Rumble—rumble—"

The train moved forward, gradually leaving Astria, and the sky slowly darkened... It was night.

Accompanied by the sound of the train, everyone drifted off to sleep.

Xu Bai dreamt that he was being chased by something, and he ran frantically forward.

Sometimes he ran on the school playground, sometimes on a train, and sometimes on a rooftop.

Suddenly, he realized he was dreaming, though he didn't know exactly when.

Perhaps it was when he was jumping on a rooftop and suddenly tried to fly, but the dream was very strange. Sometimes, the more he wanted to fly, the less he could. Xu Bai in the dream flew lower and lower, until he fell to the ground.

"Thud."

Xu Bai fell from the bed to the floor.

Xu Bai opened his eyes, looking at the floor in confusion.

How utterly ridiculous.

He remembered falling off the bed once when he was little, and he didn't expect to fall off again as an adult.

It must be because the bed here was too small.

It must be!

Fortunately, he was in a small room with Xu Le and no one else, so this embarrassing sight was not witnessed by others.

Xu Bai silently climbed back onto the bed from the floor, pulled up his quilt, closed his eyes, and tried to fall back asleep, intending to continue sleeping.

The night was very dark, the carriage was pitch black, and all around was quiet. It was a good time to sleep.

Wait.

All around was quiet? Quiet!

Xu Bai suddenly opened his eyes again, his mind instantly clearing.

Logically, the train should continue to run at night; they had experienced this on their way here. Why had the train stopped now?

Also, it was pitch black outside, which meant this wasn't a station. So what was the train doing stopping here?

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

Xu Bai's heart pounded like a drum. In the middle of nowhere, the train suddenly stopped. All signs pointed to danger.

Xu Bai didn't turn on the light directly. Instead, he fumbled to pick up Xu Le, grabbed the item under his pillow, and then slowly moved to the open space in the middle.

Using the moonlight filtering through the window, Xu Bai looked at the item in his hand, hesitating for a moment.

What if it was a misunderstanding? Would it be bad to wake everyone up now?

But very quickly, this hesitation was cast aside. What was more important, life or face? Xu Bai could clearly distinguish between the two.

If his slight hesitation put more people in danger or even led to their deaths, Xu Bai would feel extremely guilty.

Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated and directly inserted the cards into the cards Reader.

A steel-like shield firmly covered him and Xu Le, and at the same time, a piercing alarm sounded outside the shield.

Although Xu Bai covered Xu Le's ears with his hand, Xu Le was still woken up by the alarm.

"Brother?"

"It's okay, it's okay. We're in a turtle shell. Lele can go back to sleep."

Xu Bai soothed Xu Le, turning on his flashlight while pulling out the pre-prepared earplugs from his pocket and putting them in Xu Le's ears.

Xu Le looked at the surroundings by the light, confirming that this was indeed the 'turtle shell' he had entered before when his brother played with him, so he relaxed.

With the earplugs in, and feeling the sound diminish, Xu Le still couldn't resist the urge to sleep and drifted off again.

Looking at Xu Le's sleeping face, Xu Bai was glad they had practiced emergency drills a few times before, which prevented Xu Le from being startled.

Xu Bai also breathed a sigh of relief at this point, sitting directly on the floor. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the Guard Team to investigate and confirm...

The soundproofing of the train carriages was not very good, so the alarm was quickly heard by others.

The teachers and Students who heard it also inserted the cardss Xu Bai had given them into the cards Readers, and soon, alarms began to sound one after another throughout the train.

Xu Bai had repeatedly reminded them about this situation: don't worry about others, just protect yourselves. Investigating danger and rescuing people were the Guard Team's responsibilities.

At the same time, to prevent young people from getting carried away and wanting to be heroes, Xu Bai had also cited various incidents where attempts to rescue others backfired and caused more harm, making everyone understand their own limitations and not to rush into saving people impulsively.

Xu Bai had watched many movies and TV shows where many people could have survived, but they pushed each other to let the other run first, and as a result, neither escaped. The most classic example was the Calabash Brothers saving their grandfather. He did not want such a tragedy to happen.

After arriving in the other world, Xu Bai had also thought about learning some skills to protect himself, but unfortunately, he couldn't learn them well.

That's why he understood even more that professionals should do professional things. Don't think you're omnipotent or a hero and then rush to save people.

Card Makers should focus on cards Making and not think about fighting... On the other side, the Guard Team members were also startled awake by the alarm!

Logically, the Guard Team would work in three shifts, ensuring someone was on alert at all times.

Perhaps there was something wrong with the food they ate tonight, causing them to fall into an unconscious sleep, which resulted in no one noticing when the train stopped.

This was not the time to dwell on why everyone had fallen asleep. Now was the time to act immediately.

The Guard Team Leader systematically assigned tasks, telling members to check each carriage, ensure the safety of personnel, and deal with dangerous individuals.

One could say that it was fortunate that Xu Bai fell out of bed tonight because of a dream.

Otherwise, everyone would probably have faced a grim fate.