Chapter 78: Interrogation
The deafening noise sent the entire train carriage into chaos. Shattered glass sprayed everywhere, littering the surroundings.
"What happened? How did the window break?"
"Did something just explode? That scared me half to death!"
"It was so loud—was that an explosion?"
Everything had happened too quickly. No one had seen a thing.
Chen Shouyi watched as the mysterious young man vanished, finally letting out a sigh of relief. He pulled himself back from the window and slumped into his seat, utterly drained, not wanting to move a muscle.
His back felt cold—his clothes were soaked with sweat. His heart still pounded violently.
This had been a narrow escape from death.
That mysterious man had given him the impression of a Primordial Beast, terrifying beyond words. It wasn’t just his aura, but the way he carried himself—aloof, detached, as if all living things were nothing more than ants beneath his feet. Ordinary lives probably seemed as fragile as soap bubbles in his eyes.
Even on Earth, where the extraordinary remained hidden, with his terrifying physical prowess, if he had unleashed his killing intent, not just this carriage but the entire high-speed train would have been bathed in blood.
---
Soon, a crowd gathered around Chen Shouyi’s seat.
"Did you see how the window broke?" asked a slightly overweight middle-aged man.
Snapped out of his daze, Chen Shouyi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and shook his head.
"That’s strange. I saw you leaning out the window earlier—I thought you must’ve seen something," the man said, still shaken. The noise had been so loud, like an explosion, it had nearly given him a heart attack.
"Yeah, you were sitting right here. How could you not have seen it?"
"Maybe he’s the one who broke it?" someone muttered under their breath.
"That’s bulletproof glass. What could he possibly use to break it? And even if he did, it wouldn’t shatter the entire pane at once."
The crowd buzzed with speculation around him. Soon, people from other carriages came over, their voices merging into a chaotic drone, like a swarm of flies buzzing in Chen Shouyi’s ears. His head throbbed faintly, and a wave of irritation rose within him.
With one window shattered, the wind howled inside, making his eyes sting. He stood up, grabbed his luggage, and prepared to move to another seat.
"Excuse me," he said, pushing through the crowd.
"Looks like someone’s feeling guilty. Maybe he really did it?"
Chen Shouyi’s steps faltered, his expression turning icy. Having just narrowly escaped death, his emotions were already unstable, his patience worn thin. The baseless accusation ignited a surge of anger in him.
He turned and locked eyes with the bespectacled young man who had made the snide remark.
"What did you just say? I didn’t catch that. Care to repeat it?"
Chen Shouyi was tall and well-built. Though his frame didn’t appear overly muscular, the slightest movement revealed lean, densely packed sinew beneath his skin. In contrast, the bespectacled man was scrawny and frail.
Just in terms of physique, the bespectacled man already seemed weaker. He hadn’t expected his muttered comment to be overheard. His gaze flickered nervously, but he forced himself to sound defiant. "S-so what if I said something? Can’t I even speak now?"
"No one cares if you can speak or not, but if you dare slander me without a shred of evidence, then I’ll make it my business. There’s surveillance in this train carriage—do I look guilty to you?" Chen Shouyi laughed in anger.
Under the crowd’s scornful and disgusted gazes, the Bespectacled Man’s face flushed red then paled before he slunk away in shame.
……
Before long, two Train Police officers arrived. "Sorry to trouble you, but we’d like to ask a few questions. We hope you’ll cooperate."
Chen Shouyi swiftly grabbed his backpack and briefcase.
"Does everyone have to go?"
"All passengers in this carriage must come. It won’t take long."
Soon, the group arrived at the Police Room.
One officer placed a laptop playing surveillance footage on the table. "Take a close look—does anyone recognize this person?"
"I’ve never seen him. Was someone even sitting there?"
"No impression. I thought only that young man was sitting alone."
"Don’t remember. Officer, was this the one who broke the glass?"
……
One by one, everyone shook their heads. Only then did they realize in shock that someone had been sitting by the shattered window the whole time—yet no one had noticed.
Especially the Middle-aged Man, who had been sitting barely a meter away from the mysterious Young Man. He looked as if he’d seen a ghost—how could he have missed a living person right beside him?
"The rest of you can leave. You’ll need to stay—we have a few more questions," one officer said to Chen Shouyi.
"No problem," Chen Shouyi replied.
He had already braced himself and wasn’t surprised.
"How did you notice him?" an officer asked sternly.
"He was sitting in my seat at the time," Chen Shouyi said.
He suspected that under normal circumstances, even he might not have noticed the man.
"We saw you speaking to him. What did you talk about?"
……
Half an hour later, Chen Shouyi left the Police Room and returned to the train carriage.
Inside, passengers buzzed with chatter, the air thick with noise.
Chen Shouyi found an empty seat and slumped into it, exhausted.
……
"The next stop is Hedong High-Speed Rail West Station. Passengers disembarking at Hedong High-Speed Rail West Station, please prepare to exit. The train will stop for five minutes…"
Chen Shouyi stepped out of the station and quickly hailed a taxi. "Driver, to the Martial Arts Assessment Center."
The car soon set off.
Chen Shouyi silently gazed out the window.
Towering skyscrapers, dense traffic, pedestrians hurrying along.
As he took in the still-bustling Hedong City, the gloom that had weighed on him since encountering the mysterious man began to lift slightly.
"Driver, when did the power come back on here?"
"The power? It was restored five days ago. You’re not from around here, are you? Yours still out?"
"Not yet. Who knows when it’ll come back in our small town?"
The driver suddenly perked up with interest.
"If you ask me, it's best to move to a big city. Don't even think about getting the restoration of electricity in your area anytime soon—it won't happen for at least another half year. A buddy of mine who works in the power grid told me the national power supply is already stretched to the limit. They can barely keep up with the demand in first- and second-tier cities, so who knows how long it'll take before smaller towns get their turn."
"But the housing prices here are unaffordable!" Chen Shouyi agreed.
"That's true too. They were already sky-high before, but ever since the power came back, property prices in Hedong have shot up like crazy. Luckily, I got two apartments as compensation from the demolition back then, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to afford a place for my son’s wedding."
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