In the end, Chen Xiao gave the old whistle an idea: export it!
Chen Xiao casually pointed northeast: "Japan is in chaos right now. Riots and vandalism are rampant in major cities. Although the military is trying its best to quell the unrest, sporadic small-scale clashes continue. At this time..."
Old Whistle immediately snapped to attention. "Oh no! I've spent my whole life in the smuggling business, importing everything. Now I'm finally going to export?" He immediately began contacting familiar "clients" in Japan.
Chen Xiao cooperated and didn't cause any trouble for the smugglers. He enjoyed being treated like royalty at sea, and as soon as they reached the shore, he immediately and cooperatively said he wanted to leave.
The two sides remained at peace. Chen Xiao had been enjoying the shrimp paste on the ship for the past few days, and when he was about to leave, the smugglers were almost moved to tears. They even willingly chipped in some money for his journey—how novel! Back when they found this old man on that Japanese warship, he was naked and didn't have a single coin on him.
Holding a stack of colorful banknotes in his hand, Chen Xiao didn't refuse and happily accepted them. He roughly counted the denominations; it was exactly ten thousand.
After a friendly farewell, Chen Xiao left the dock and port. The people living in this small town nearby mostly made their living by the sea. Chen Xiao found a car, went to a nearby city, transferred to a long-distance bus, and finally arrived in Fuzhou. Then he didn't know where to go next.
Chen Xiao's memory has not yet returned; he doesn't know who he is or where his home is.
What's even more frustrating is that in a small city you can easily find a hotel to stay in, but in a big city, even a slightly nicer hotel requires you to register your ID card—where would Chen Xiao find such an ID card now? These people were all picked up from the sea by those smugglers, and they came back naked.
Finally, he decided to give up staying there and head straight to the train station—he didn't go to the airport, even though he had enough money, because you need to register your identity to fly.
At the train station, Chen Xiao stood at the entrance of the ticket hall, staring at the train schedule on the screen for a full twenty minutes. Finally, he simply closed his eyes, rushed into the crowd, and squeezed to the ticket window: "Ticket for the fastest train right now."
"The fastest?" A young girl at the ticket window was immediately startled. She'd never encountered anyone like this before—not saying where she was going, not asking about the time, just wanting a ticket for the fastest train… Could she be one of those legendary江湖人士 (jianghu figures) who run away when trouble comes their way?
She glanced up at Chen Xiao, but Chen Xiao was a handsome young man with delicate features, which made the girl blush and her eyes soften—he didn't seem like the kind of person who had committed a crime and ran away.
Chen Xiao felt a little awkward under their gazes and whispered a few words of encouragement before the young girl finally produced a ticket with a blank expression. Having lost his money, Chen Xiao didn't even bother with the change; he just grabbed the ticket and squeezed through the crowd, running to a corner to look down. The ticket clearly stated the destination: Shanghai! He glanced at the time—his train was in seven or eight minutes—and rushed towards the ticket gate.
Once on the train, Chen Xiao ate a bowl of noodles in the dining car. The way he ate it startled the dining car attendant: "He looks like a well-mannered young man, but he looks like a starving ghost reincarnated!" He ate six large bowls of noodles by himself, not wasting a single drop of soup. He didn't look like a refugee from somewhere.
Fortunately, Chen Xiao didn't look like a bad guy. Even if he ate a lot, such a handsome young man would easily lower people's guard. Otherwise, the train police would probably have been called in long ago.
Chen Xiao felt somewhat helpless. He didn't know what was wrong with him. From the moment he set sail, his appetite had become unusually large. On the ship, he ate the equivalent of six or seven people. With such a large appetite, if the smuggling ship hadn't unloaded several barrels of military rations from the Japanese warship, they would have run out of food before even reaching shore.
Besides eating a lot, Chen Xiao has also become extremely sleepy, needing to sleep for more than ten hours a day just to feel fully rested.
Eating and sleeping a lot, Chen Xiao has been wondering if he's turning into a pig these days. But despite all this eating and sleeping, he hasn't gained any weight.
I don't know where all the energy I ate went.
He ate six bowls and still wasn't satisfied, but Chen Xiao dared not eat any more. If he did, he'd probably attract onlookers, and since he didn't have an ID card, attracting the police would be troublesome. Besides, he was no longer able to protect himself; physically, he was no different from a normal person.
Actually, Chen Xiao didn't need to be afraid of the police, since he hadn't committed any serious crimes in China. But... he felt guilty! After regaining some of his memories, although he didn't know who he was, he still knew most of the other common sense.
After all, he had committed such a serious crime in Japan, setting fire to their sacred mountain, being chased by an entire fleet, and spending so many days hanging out with a bunch of smugglers...
After buying a few more packs of instant noodles, Chen Xiao returned to his sleeper compartment and fell asleep with his head in his hands.
Chen Xiao is indeed strikingly handsome. Back when he worked at the fast food restaurant, he always attracted infatuated girls.
It's also unfortunate that he's on the train now. There are two girls in his carriage, who look like students, also going to Shanghai. The two girls keep sneaking glances at Chen Xiao from time to time, and their faces turn red as they do so.
If Chen Xiao were to approach and strike up a conversation at this moment, it would likely lead to two romantic encounters during his trip.
Fortunately, after Chen Xiao woke up, he ate instant noodles in the carriage, and the sight of him eating the noodles finally scared away the two girls who were infatuated with him!
The two girls exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing: What a pity, such a handsome guy, but he eats like an idiot, what a waste of such a good-looking face.
Without any major incidents, we finally arrived in Shanghai the next morning.
Shanghai Railway Station was indeed crowded, befitting China's largest city. Chen Xiao squeezed his way out of the station with the flow of people, and was immediately surrounded by a group of people as soon as he exited the station.
"Sir, would you like a car?"
"Young man, need a hotel? Standard rooms are cheap, and a three-star hotel is only a hundred a day!"
"Boss, do you need tickets? Cheap!"
"Would you like to eat, sir?"
Chen Xiao covered his head and ran out of the crowd, rushing across the street to shake off the touts. But when he reached into his pocket, he froze!
A large slit, about seven or eight centimeters long, had been cut into his pocket sometime during the day. It looked like it had been made with a razor blade, and all the banknotes inside had been moved.
Chen Xiao stood there stunned for a full two minutes, then touched his empty pockets and suddenly couldn't help but laugh.
He was filled with a sense of absurdity.
What kind of situation is this?
He himself blew up Mount Kinya in Japan, flattened a naval port, and chased after a fleet, leaping and bounding through the air and sea, seemingly capable of anything.
Upon arriving in Shanghai, I was given a rude awakening by pickpockets at the train station!
These thieves in Shanghai have really avenged the Japanese people...
Chen Xiao wasn't angry, but he felt a sense of absurdity.
It seems that even a tiger fallen into the plains is bullied by dogs.
However, looking at the sun, it was almost noon, and his stomach started growling—Chen Xiao realized with a sigh that he was hungry again!
But the travel expenses collected by the smugglers in his pocket had already been given to the thieves at Shanghai Railway Station, and he couldn't find a single penny on his body.
Chen Xiao stared at a sign across the street with a resentful look: Xin Ya Baozi. She stared for several minutes before sighing, randomly choosing a direction, swinging her arms, and striding down the street.
Logically speaking, if it were an ordinary person, stranded in an unfamiliar place, starving and thirsty, penniless, and not even knowing who they were—anyone would be filled with fear. But Chen Xiao remained calm. After all, his experiences were different; he had done earth-shattering things. The only thing that had happened was that his extraordinary abilities had inexplicably vanished, so he wasn't worried.
I was still quite relaxed, and I started "measuring" the streets of Shanghai on an empty stomach. I walked several streets in one go without any rush, but my stomach kept growling, which inevitably spoiled my sightseeing mood.