Chapter 323: 323
After dealing with the prankster’s harassment, Zhang Heng took out a ‘Finnish Grammar’ book from his bag and continued from where he stopped . Surprise flashed in the eyes of the TOEFL girl sitting opposite of Zhang Heng
Finnish was a very niche language, where only one university in China, namely the Beijing Foreign Studies University, offered any related major . The enrollment each year was tiny as well . In fact, less than 100 people managed to master Finnish in the whole country . Besides, Zhang Heng’s poise was very much that of a student’s . The TOEFL girl hesitated and whispered, “Classmate?”
“Hmm?”
“Aren’t you from Beijing Foreign Studies University?”
“Oh, I am not,” said Zhang Heng . Realizing what had caused the misunderstanding, he waved the book and explained, “Just for my own pleasure . ” The TOEFL girl’s face turned red . “I’m sorry…” she muttered .
Zhang Heng smiled . “Don’t worry about it . I like Finland very much, and I hope to go there someday . ”
“May your dreams be granted soon . ”
After that, the TOEFL girl quickly buried her head in the red book again . The train continued to move forward, and the carriage was alight with sounds . Some chatted and ate sunflower seeds . Children were crying and playing music, and the middle-aged man beside Zhang Heng was still talking on the phone . Suddenly, Zhang Heng missed the moon’s eternal silence .
The man had got up from his seat, and when he came back, he finally put away his phone as he muttered a few words . Then, he leaned his head on the curtains and fell asleep after that . Zhang Heng continued to flip through the ‘Finnish Grammar’ in his hand until an attendant who was pushing a cart reminded the passengers to keep their legs off the aisle .
The TOEFL girl took out an apple from her bag . After a few moments, she took out another one, and in a soft voice, she asked Zhang Heng, “Hey there, do you want an apple? It’s washed . ”
“Thank you . ”
Zhang Heng did not refuse her kindness to avoid embarrassing her . The TOEFL girl breathed a sigh of relief . The gesture had eased the previous awkward introduction, and she seemed to have forgotten about it . She appeared less bashful and started to talk while taking a bite off the apple .
After chatting for a while, the TOEFL girl winked at Zhang Heng, whispering, “Look at the uncle next to you . He’s drooling . ”
Zhang Heng looked at him and frowned . Many people drooled while sleeping, but it was rare seeing a middle-aged man drooling so much that the curtain was wet . In fact, he seemed completely unable to control his salivary glands . Immediately, Zhang Heng tried to pat the middle-aged man on the shoulder, but there wasn’t any response . So, he tried harder, nudging the man this time . Still, the middle-aged man did not wake up .
The TOEFL girl, too, noticed that something wasn’t right .
“What’s wrong with him, is he sick?”
“I don’t know . Let’s call the attendants first,” Zhang Heng replied in a low voice .
After that, he placed his fingers under the middle-aged man’s nostrils . Seeing that the man was still breathing, he proceeded to open his eyelids and saw that his pupils were not dilated, and they responded instantly when exposed to light . Apart from the abnormal amount of saliva, his current state wasn’t medically abnormal . He was in a deep sleep, but it was strange that he couldn’t be awakened by any means .
After a while, the TOEFL girl came back with a train attendant . Zhang Heng did not move the middle-aged man, placing him flat on the seat instead to stop him from choking on his own saliva .
Nonetheless, there was only so much the train attendant could do . They had received a good amount of first aid training, but they certainly did not possess any professional medical knowledge . Unable to make a better diagnosis, the only thing the train attendant could do was to keep shaking him, hoping he would come to .
“Sir, wake up . Please wake up!”
After confirming that the middle-aged man was breathing properly and his heartbeat was also normal, the attendant began to suspect that the man was actually pretending to be asleep . Just then, a rough part of the track caused the whole car to shake, and the man’s body fell towards the table, his head hitting the corner hard . Although he wasn’t bleeding, the loud, sickening thud from skull colliding with metal couldn’t be faked .
Even so, the middle-aged man still didn’t wake up .
It was then that the attendant started to panic a little . Soon, an emergency broadcast came over the intercom . They were looking for any doctors on board . After a few tense moments, a doctor showed up, but he could only make simple diagnoses since he had no medical equipment with him . Unfortunately, he, too, failed to find the root cause .
The middle-aged man had been traveling alone, and his phone was locked . Hence, train attendants couldn’t contact his family to enquire about his medical history . In the end, they could only reach the hospital at the nearest station . When they arrived at the next stop, medical staff quickly rushed into the train and carried the man into the ambulance .
Finally, the unexpected incident had come to an end .
As the crowd slowly returned to their seats, the TOEFL girl and Zhang Heng returned to their respective places as well . She still seemed a little shocked and gasped a little when she saw the drool on the curtains . “What happened just now?” she asked .
“I don’t know . ”
Zhang Heng lied . After seeing the condition of the middle-aged man, he came up with a few guesses . When the train attendants and the kind doctor were busy ‘rescuing’ the middle-aged man, he turned on his mobile phone . He then opened up WeChat and touched Why Do You Always Look Unhappy with Aqua’s profile picture (#’O’) .
(Hey, I want to ask a question . ] (What’s up? Finally decided to visit the haunted house with me? Looking forward to…)
(Stop talking about the haunted house first . I told you I’m on the train . )
Zhang Heng typed, paused, then typed again .
[Dreamland of Death . Who’s holding it now?]
[??? Play stupid . jpg]
(Will a person targeted by Dreamland of Death never wake up? And all that drooling is abnormal as well, right?] This time she kept quiet for a long time, struggling to answer Zhang Heng . It took her half a minute before she replied .
[Did you see it happening to someone?] [Yes . It happened just now, right in front of me . The person has been carried off the train, but I suspect the user is still here . ]
[…big brother, I really don’t know who has it right now . I know the Dreamland of Death’s previous owner, but as far as I know, she sold it right away after she got her hands on it . It hasn’t been used at all . Besides, the Dreamland of Death doesn’t require its user to be in the vicinity . )
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