Psychic Vision activated, but the gaze merely swept past and did not linger on Lin Qi for long.
"Did that gaze come from the train?"
Sensing its general direction, Lin Qi saw the Red-Green Train.
The entire train was encased in high-strength armor and even fitted with a large number of weapons.
Rather than a means of transportation, it was more like a war machine.
Traveling by train was clearly safer than using a Flying Vehicle. That was probably why the company had arranged things this way.
"But danger had already seeped into the train itself."
Only the first two cars carried employees of Liu Heavy Industries. Many employees from other companies were riding in the cars behind them.
Although Hongguo City was Liu Heavy Industries' territory, the major corporations were all intertwined, and other companies had branches in the city too.
Given how the major corporations operated, Greenlands City's activation of the Iron Curtain was bound to attract attention.
The Red-Green Train's sixteen cars were nearly full, which was enough to show what the major corporations had in mind.
With employees of major corporations from across half of the Asian Political Zone gathered here, would the mercenaries make their move aboard the train?
Lin Qi didn't know, and there was no way to avoid it.
At the entrance to Car Two, Lin Qi passed the identity check and entered.
"Who's that?"
"Don't know."
"I've never seen him among the A-level researchers."
The entire car was filled with A-level researchers from Liu Heavy Industries and a few mid- and senior-level managers.
Not one of them was under thirty-five.
Lin Qi entered with a youthful face, drawing plenty of attention.
Nearly every seat in the car was occupied. There were four seats in each row, with an aisle in the middle. Only a few seats by the windows were still vacant.
The Corporate Intelligence system had assigned cars, but not seats. Still, surely it had taken the number of seats into account.
There probably weren't any standing-room tickets, right?
Approaching the nearest seat, Lin Qi asked an A-level researcher sitting by the aisle, "Excuse me, is anyone sitting in the window seat?"
He maintained the most basic courtesy. It was a habit he'd had since childhood.
"Yes," the other person said, shaking his head.
Lin Qi looked around. Everyone was seated. He'd joined the company right on time; surely nobody else had arrived later than he had.
So where was this person?
He moved to the next row. Before Lin Qi could even speak, the A-level researcher in the aisle seat said, "Someone's sitting there."
Someone else?
The car gradually fell silent.
Lin Qi more or less understood the problem.
These old hands at the company seemed to be freezing him out.
His gaze shifted to the few "professionals" in white shirts in the front row.
They were company managers, not researchers.
Their positions belonged to a different hierarchy from that of the researchers, but the fact that they were on this train meant they were no minor figures. Their access levels were at least a little higher than Wei Wei's.
None of them moved. They didn't even turn to look.
Lin Qi's age made it clear that he couldn't be very high up in the company, and he wasn't a senior manager. He was most likely a researcher.
But since he was taking part in this intercity transfer, he was probably A-level—perhaps he'd only reached that level in the past few days.
Judging by his age, he might even be a key development prospect.
The old hands hated people like that.
They didn't socialize, yet they got promoted faster than everyone else.
But A-level researchers were the backbone of the company. Even when conflicts arose, the company generally wouldn't do anything to them.
In the year since he'd joined the company, this was Lin Qi's first time experiencing workplace bullying.
"This car must be full. Why don't you try the one before or after it?"
The speaker was hard to identify, and sounded rather gloating. Whoever it was, they were definitely no good.
The car ahead was Car One. It was much nicer than the others, a car reserved exclusively for the company's true upper management.
As for the cars behind them, those belonged to other companies.
"Sure."
Lin Qi nodded and headed down the aisle.
Every gaze in the car landed on him at once, including those of the white-shirted managers in the front row.
They were seated closest to Car One, but it was a place they had almost no chance of reaching in their lifetimes.
All eyes tracked Lin Qi as he walked, until he reached the end of the car.
Lin Qi stepped out of Car Two and into the connecting vestibule between cars.
[Access denied. Submit an application?]
There were access barriers between the cars. Passengers couldn't move freely from one car to another.
But he could apply for access through the train system, provided the appropriate person approved the request.
"Apply. Requesting review by Liu Xuan."
[Verifying access. Application submitted.]
The vestibule was completely soundproof. The people in Car Two could see what Lin Qi was doing, but couldn't hear a thing.
Inside Car Two.
"That guy's an idiot, right? He didn't actually apply for access, did he?"
"You people are real villains. Maybe he's a key development prospect for the company. Are you trying to ruin his future?"
"Pfft. He's just an idiot. Does he really think getting selected for the key development program means he can apply for access?"
"Haha..."
Laughter erupted in the car.
"Lin Qi?"
Liu Xuan's voice came through. She had just entered Car One when the train system sent her an access review request.
Lin Qi admitted he was a nepotism hire. After all, without Liu Xuan, he wouldn't have been able to start working at the Weapon Research Institute so easily.
When you had connections, you might as well use them!
Lin Qi didn't embellish anything. He told her exactly what had just happened in Car Two.
Liu Li, beside Liu Xuan, leaned in and joined the conversation. "Who told you to show up at the last minute every day? If you'd boarded the train earlier, none of this would've happened."
"Big Sis, ignore him. Let him go back to Car Two and embarrass himself!"
Hearing Liu Li's voice, Lin Qi decided she really was a vicious little sister.
Sure enough, no younger sister in the world was any good.
Liu Xuan pushed Liu Li away. "Stop messing around."
Then she turned back to Lin Qi. "Come to Car One. There's plenty of room."
With that, she used her access to approve his request.
Liu Xuan seemed to have the highest access level on the entire train.
The heavy metal door between Cars One and Two, like a barrier dividing two worlds, slowly opened.
The light in Car One seemed a little brighter than in Car Two. Lin Qi stepped inside.
Once he was in, the metal door slowly closed.
The brief flash of light caught the attention of everyone in Car Two.
Even after the metal door shut and the vestibule sank back into darkness, their gazes remained fixed on it.
"He... he went in?"
"Where did he get the access?"
Before they could react, an email from the company to everyone in Car Two plunged the car into deathly silence.
[Conduct violated company regulations. By decision of senior management, this month's salary will be deducted as punishment, and 20 points will be deducted from the annual performance score.]
Before you continue