Chapter 202 Train to Santarém (Part )

There were no more accidents on the train to Santarém. The only minor incident was that it started to rain heavily after the train passed through Aveiro and entered Coimbra.

It was not yet six o'clock when Lu Mingfei and his friends arrived at the Porto train station, and they took the earliest train.

Portugal has a small population, and trains usually have only three or four carriages. The carriage where Lu Mingfei was located was only half full, and most of them were young or middle-aged people.

Although there were not many people on the bus, it was obvious that every passenger noticed the strange pair sitting in the corner of the car, and glanced in their direction with pointing eyes.

But this is normal. In this era, not many Chinese people go to Europe for tourism or study. In places like Portugal, it is even more difficult to see East Asian faces. The passengers on the bus looked at Lu Mingfei, just like the people of the same generation in China who would always turn around and glance at foreigners when they saw them on the street.

What's more, it is even more rare that this young man with East Asian appearance was communicating in Chinese with a beautiful Central European girl with blonde hair and green eyes.

However, despite communicating, Lu Mingfei and the girl didn't actually say a few words. The girl would only say a few words to him when the conductor came to check her ID and Lu Mingfei reminded her, or when Lu Mingfei opened a bag of biscuits and asked the girl if she wanted some. But most of the time it was just simple words like "OK", "No need", and "Thank you".

I don’t know whether the girl is wary of Lu Mingfei or she is just too socially anxious.

Even the girl's name was something Lu Mingfei accidentally saw when he was using her passport to buy a train ticket for her. The name column read Charlotte goettinge.

German is the common language in Austria, and Lu Mingfei doesn't know the German phonetic symbols. He does know how to pronounce the first name, which is pronounced as Charlotte in English, but is more similar to Charlotte in German or French. There was a famous female assassin in the history of the French Revolution named Charlotte Corday, who killed Marat in the famous painting "The Death of Marat".

However, Lu Mingfei didn’t know how to pronounce the last word in German, and could only use English phonetic symbols to barely pronounce “Göttingen”.

Looking at the girl's emerald eyes, Lu Mingfei felt that the name Charlotte was quite appropriate.

The rainstorm outside the train window turned vertical again. The train stopped at the railway station in Castelo Branco, and people got on and off. Three tall middle-aged men dressed as herdsmen sat next to Lu Mingfei and the others, with long-handled umbrellas placed diagonally beside the seats.

They wore traditional Portuguese fur-collared short jackets and colorful stocking caps, and sang passionate Portuguese songs. Led by a few of them, other passengers in the carriage also started humming along, and the entire carriage, which had been originally quiet, became lively in an instant.

Lu Mingfei stared blankly at the scene in front of him, which was as noisy as an Indian musical, and had no idea why the people in the car suddenly started singing.

"They are singing fandango songs, which are often sung in Portuguese parades, feasts, biblical performances or carnivals." Charlotte, who was sitting opposite Lu Mingfei, suddenly spoke. Her sweet voice, which had not yet fully grown, was flat and calm.

She had been looking out the window and didn't know when she turned back. She looked at the singing and dancing in the car and explained to Lu Mingfei:
"November is the month with the most celebrations in Portugal. November 11 is All Saints' Day... that is, Halloween, November 11 is All Souls' Day, and November 1 is St. Martin's Day. They should be celebrating a festival, so they sang a celebration song."

"So that's how it is." Lu Mingfei nodded as if he suddenly understood something.

It is said that European people are open-minded. He doesn't know whether they are open-minded or not, but she is really a social cow. She sang when she was asked to sing on the train. It seems that European girls with social phobia like Charlotte are still a minority.

Although singing like this might be a bit disturbing to others, the festive atmosphere was indeed very strong. Even Lu Mingfei, an outsider, could hear the enthusiasm and joy in the songs they sang.

It was at this time that several middle-aged men nearby stood up from their seats and performed a dance in the aisle. One of them even took off his hat to greet the people on Lu Mingfei's side. The moment he lowered his head, Lu Mingfei saw the bald patch in the middle of the man's hair.

"Aúcar?" the Mediterranean man asked with a smile.

"Ah?" Lu Mingfei was stunned, and quickly waved his hands and said: "Eu no falo português. (I don't speak Portuguese)"

What Lu Mingfei didn't expect was that after hearing his answer, the Mediterranean man immediately switched to English and asked him: "Are you going to eat sugar?"

As he spoke, he spread out his broad palm in front of Lu Mingfei. In his palm lay a few colorful candies, which seemed to be the local specialty candies in Portugal.

Lu Mingfei was a little surprised. He didn't expect that the man approached him just to give him candy.

Although Lu Mingfei didn't like eating candy very much, he didn't know if this was a local holiday custom in Portugal. If giving candy represented a blessing or something, it would be bad if he didn't accept it. So he thanked the other party in English while reaching out to take the candy from him.

However, as soon as he stretched out his hand, it was blocked by a cane.

Lu Mingfei was stunned, and saw Charlotte, who was sitting opposite him, picked up her cane with an emerald on the top and blocked Lu Mingfei's hand. After pushing Lu Mingfei's hand back a distance, she tapped the back of the man's hand with her cane, lifted the man's palm and said:

"Thank you for your kindness, but sorry, we don't need it." Charlotte said, her voice was not loud, but it seemed to have unquestionable authority.

After hearing Charlotte's answer, the Mediterranean man's expression suddenly froze, and then he laughed awkwardly. After putting away the candy, he put on his hat and sat back in his seat.

"Why don't you let me take their candy?" Lu Mingfei asked in Chinese.

"Didn't your parents teach you not to eat anything given to you by strangers when you were away from home?" asked Charlotte.

Lu Mingfei thought about it and wondered whether his parents had taught him this. He really didn’t know. His parents had not been back for many years and he had long forgotten everything related to them.

"I haven't seen my parents since I can remember..."

Charlotte was stunned, and an apologetic expression immediately appeared on her cute face with a little baby fat, "I'm sorry, I didn't know your parents had..."

As soon as Lu Mingfei saw Charlotte's expression, he knew that she had probably misunderstood, and quickly explained: "They are not dead! They just traveled all over the world on business trips when I was very young and never came home, so I rarely saw them."

"So that's how it is. I take back my apology then."

"By the way, you just said not to eat anything given to you by a stranger, but am I not a stranger too?"

"So do you see that I ate the cookie you handed me just now?"

Lu Mingfei choked for a moment, thinking that it was no wonder that she said no matter what he asked her, she was on guard against him, and he was so kind to take her to Santarém by train. But he changed his mind and thought that if he were like Charlotte, thirteen or fourteen years old, beautiful, rich, and traveling alone, he might be more wary than her.

It seems that it was not wrong for Charlotte to be more vigilant.

At this time, the train broadcast suddenly sounded, and it turned out that the train had arrived at the Idanha Nova station. The conductor announced in Portuguese on the radio, and Lu Mingfei could not understand what was being said on the radio. He only saw people in the carriage getting off the train one after another, and it was empty all of a sudden, with only the three middle-aged men left in the carriage.

When the middle-aged men saw that there was no one in the carriage, they stopped singing and dancing and returned to their seats. For a moment, the lively atmosphere in the carriage disappeared. The white noise of raindrops enveloped the carriage again.

As the train started again, the wheels clanged on the rails and drove forward in the rain, just like before. However, it seemed that something in the air had changed. This change was not prominent, but something had definitely changed.

Lu Mingfei sat still. His five senses were now much more sensitive than those of ordinary people, so he could sense the abnormality in the car. In such a short period of time, the air flow rate suddenly increased, and the car became stuffy, as if the concentration of carbon dioxide suddenly increased.

Lu Mingfei had a vague feeling that danger was approaching him, but before he could find out the reason for this abnormal phenomenon, Charlotte sitting opposite him suddenly changed her sitting posture, from crossing her legs to sitting with legs together, with her cane placed across her legs like a knife.

"Who sent you?" Charlotte asked softly, her pale pink lips opening and closing.

"It's definitely not the Solomon's Temple. They won't attack me. Which organization do you belong to?" Charlotte said. "By the way, you should understand Chinese."

Not only were several middle-aged men stunned, but even Lu Mingfei was stunned. This statement sounded very much like a second-dimensional middle school girl who was mesmerized by Japanese comics. What "Solomon's Temple Society" sounded like a dark night organization like "Assassin's Creed Brotherhood".

Several middle-aged men looked at each other in confusion and chattered something in Portuguese, as if they didn't understand the Chinese spoken by Charlotte.

Then, the Mediterranean man who had approached Lu Mingfei and the others stood up and spread his hands, as if he wanted to explain something to them. Lu Mingfei looked at the man's face and suddenly realized why he felt something was wrong.

It's breathing!
Lu Mingfei looked at the man's dilated nasal cavity and his chest rising and falling. For some reason, the man's breathing had become noticeably heavier, and the sudden heavy breathing was due to the increased carbon dioxide concentration in the car.

"Is it 'King's Servant'?" Charlotte said, "Sequence No. 29 Word Spirit 'King's Servant' has the effect of strengthening the abilities of other creatures in the domain. The strengthened creatures will have their physical indicators greatly improved. However, once the strength of a creature increases, the corresponding oxygen consumption will also increase by the same amount, so your breathing will suddenly become heavier."

Yan Ling?
Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment, and thought to himself, how come every girl he met in Portugal was mixed-race? And from what Charlotte said, the three men in the same compartment were probably mixed-race too. But this also makes sense why Charlotte could speak Chinese, because Chinese is the universal language in the mixed-race world.

I heard from the little girl before that her father said that Portugal has been in unrest recently. I didn’t expect it to be so unrest that there were five mixed-race people sitting in one carriage.

"You are worthy of being the heir of the Gaotingen family. You saw through me so easily." The tall and thin man among the three spoke in Chinese with a low and turbid voice.

"Who sent you?" asked Charlotte.

"Is it important?" The tall and thin man shrugged. "A dead person doesn't need to know so many things."

"I don't think I know you. I haven't even been to Portugal many times. I have no grudge against you." Charlotte paused. "So, I want to know why you attacked me."

"No grudges or hatred?" The tall and thin man sneered, "Maybe..."

Charlotte suddenly turned her head to look at Lu Mingfei. A serious expression emerged on that adorable face that made people want to pinch it. The green in her pupils flowed and then transformed into golden color, which clearly activated her bloodline.

"Don't be surprised or panic no matter what happens. Just stand behind me. After it's over, I will make you forget this memory." Charlotte said softly.

Lu Mingfei blinked and wondered if he was inexplicably attracted by this beautiful girl.

The train entered the tunnel, the sound of rain disappeared, and darkness suddenly descended in the carriage. In the dim light inside the carriage, the other two men and Charlotte stood up together. The moment her red skirt fluttered, Charlotte had already grasped the cane in her hand.

The Mediterranean man also took a step back and held the umbrella next to the seat. As he pressed the button on the umbrella handle, a thin sword reflecting silver light broke away from the umbrella.

It turned out that the shape of the umbrella was just a disguise. It must have been in this way that they were able to bring the weapons onto the train.

Without thinking, Charlotte grabbed the back of Lu Mingfei's collar and dragged him back a step. At the same time, she raised her stick like a knife and blocked the Mediterranean's horizontal slash with a "clang". The blade of the sword sent a series of sparks on the stick. Charlotte's petite stature was not at a disadvantage at all in front of the tall man.

After the blow, the Mediterranean man took a half step back, but another middle-aged man behind him immediately rushed up and attacked Lu Mingfei from the other side, as if he wanted to distract Charlotte by attacking Lu Mingfei.

But of course Lu Mingfei dodged this attack... although his dodging was not pretty, as he dodged and crawled to the front seat to avoid the sword.

Seeing that Lu Mingfei actually dodged the attack, a glimmer of surprise flashed in Charlotte's golden eyes, and then she also stepped back. The thick cane in her hand was as nimble as a sword, blocking the other person's move.

In just a few seconds, the two sides had already carried out more than a dozen offensive and defensive rounds, and sparks flashed like star spots in the dark carriage.

Seeing Charlotte standing in front of him like a bodyguard, Lu Mingfei thought to himself that he was actually quite good at fighting...but he was unarmed now, so it seemed like he would be doing more harm than good if he went up to her?

However, he also found something strange, that is, the tall and thin man who spoke before did not take action, but followed behind his teammates and watched his companions fight two against one.

That's right! Lu Mingfei suddenly remembered that he had seen this kind of words in Chu Zihang's mission report. The thinking ability of people who have been strengthened by "The King's Servant" will be drastically reduced, and only instincts or control will remain. Obviously, the person who launched "The King's Servant" was the tall and thin man who spoke before.

The reason why he has not taken any action is because he is controlling his teammates!
"Anyone who is enveloped by the domain of 'Word Spirit·King's Servant' will lose their consciousness and be controlled by someone with advanced Word Spirit." Lu Mingfei quickly told Charlotte this information, "So as long as we defeat the tall and thin man hiding behind these two people, they will also lose their ability to fight."

Charlotte was stunned, her face full of eagerness, and she obviously wanted to ask Lu Mingfei how he knew all this, but her lips only moved slightly, and in the end she said nothing.

The current situation was not suitable for distracted chatting. Although she had many questions in her heart at this moment... she could only ask them after the battle was over.

……

(End of this chapter)