Just as he stepped out of the train cabin, Hei Hao couldn’t help but laugh, turning to Old Pig beside him: "Thanks for the heads-up, Pig Train Captain. I’ll count on your support in the future."
Old Pig paused for a moment before naturally and amiably smiling.
"No problem, no problem."
"Master Mang will probably kill Biaozi, after all, Biaozi hid the fact that he used to be a Train Captain."
"Normally, according to the rules of the wasteland, he should be killed."
Biaozi had already received the message and ran into Old Pig, Hei Hao, and the others as soon as he reached Car No. 2.
Hei Hao, with hands in his pockets, looked at Biaozi approaching and said with a smile: "Thank you for letting me know. Master Mang just wants this position; he doesn’t care who occupies it. You can have the position, why not me?"
"I’ve already reported you to Master Mang."
"You see, once a person has a guilty conscience, they look just like you do now. Look, your face has gone pale."
Biaozi, who originally didn’t know why Master Mang called him over, looked as if struck by lightning. His face turned ashen after hearing Hei Hao’s words, staring at Hei Hao’s smiling face with disbelief.
Hei Hao appeared entirely unfamiliar at this moment.
He hadn’t expected Hei Hao to report him.
His body trembled as he struggled to stand, his eyes red and teeth clenched: "Hei Hao, I’ve treated you well!"
Hei Hao’s expression immediately darkened: "When we just started following Master Mang, why did you make me take the first night’s watch? So many people available, yet you picked me?"
Biaozi took a deep breath and, ignoring Old Pig beside him, decided to lay everything on the table.
"At that time, no one accepted me except you and Er Gou, who were always by my side. You were my confidants. If not you, who should I have had stand watch? And that night, while you were on watch, you even fell asleep, allowing the train to be surrounded by Zombie Wolves."
"I took the blame when Master Mang demanded an explanation after the event!"
"Have you forgotten that?!"
Hei Hao sneered, not bothering to say more, just turned to look at Old Pig: "Pig Train Captain, got a cigarette? Lend me one."
Old Pig showed no excess emotion on his face, just quietly took a cigarette from his pocket and handed it over.
Hei Hao took the cigarette, walked up to Biaozi, put it in his mouth, and lit it for him, then gently patted his cheek: "It’s okay, brother knows you like to smoke a last cigarette. Didn’t I take your last one just now?"
"Here, compensate for it now."
"After smoking, you can set off at ease."
Biaozi, face bloodless and eyes red, exhaled the newly lit smoke towards Hei Hao’s face, then bypassed Hei Hao to look at Old Pig, with a voice trembling with fear yet forcibly calm: "Pig Train Captain, what’s Master Mang’s stance, can you slip me a word?"
Old Pig shook his head, face expressionless: "I don’t know."
"What do you think my chances are?"
"Not even ten percent?"
Old Pig shook his head again: "Unclear."
As a Lower-Rank, it was not a good habit to arbitrarily speculate on the mindset of those above. He had been a Lower-Rank for too long, might not be very good at executing tasks, but knew clearly how to stay alive for a little bit longer.
After all, when it comes to tasks, putting specialized ones aside, often anyone could do them the same.
Even if someone else did it, it wouldn’t make much difference.
After failing to get any hint from Old Pig’s mouth.
Biaozi took a deep breath, forced himself to steady his body, straightened the creases in his clothes, and then turned around to pick up the cigarette that had just been lit from Hei Hao’s feet, ignoring Hei Hao’s sneer, putting it back in his mouth.
Standing at the train cabin door, he took two deep puffs, considering it his last cigarette.
Then he put out the cigarette butt in his palm.
With a heart as dead as ashes, he slowly pushed open the train cabin door, and the first thing he saw was Master Mang, with his feet propped on the table, intently watching a movie.
He didn’t dare to speak.
Just gently and quietly closed the train cabin door, and very quietly stood aside, patiently waiting, while the characters’ dialogue from the movie served as background noise, making his body somewhat uncontrollably weak.
It was unclear how much time passed.
When the movie’s end credits began to play.
Chen Mang, still savoring the movie, switched to another one and casually pulled two cigarettes from the pack, tossing one to Biaozi and lighting one for himself, then nonchalantly asked.
"Is there anything you want to say?"
As soon as the words fell.
Biaozi could no longer control himself and slumped to the ground, kneeling, eyes red and tearful, voice hoarse and trembling: "Master Mang, I’ve always hidden it from you, fearing you’d think I wouldn’t be content being under someone because I had once been a Train Captain."
"It is precisely because I have been a Train Captain and failed several times, nearly perishing in the wasteland, that I know how hard it is to become one."
"Seeing the development of the Constant Star Train these days, it’s far beyond what I could achieve back then."
"Master Mang, from the bottom of my heart, I’ve truly regarded the Constant Star as my own home. Every time, in the dead of night, I feel so proud to be part of the Constant Star Train that I find it hard to sleep."
"Since joining you, Master Mang, I’ve never wronged you or the Constant Star Train, always working diligently and without slacking."