Then, the two continued walking toward the Station of Sector Eight. And on the road to Sector Eight's station, the two saw quite a few Shinra soldiers patrolling and maintaining public order there.
However, since neither of them carried any obvious weapons, those Shinra soldiers only glanced at them, thinking they were just ordinary people, and didn't pay them any more attention.
"Phew! Our luck is really good."
Until the two entered the station, they didn't encounter any questioning from the Shinra soldiers, which made the somewhat nervous Jessie pat her chest and let out a long sigh of relief.
The station of Sector Eight's plate was very far from the Mako Reactor. In the original plot, even after the Mako Reactor exploded, it didn't affect the station, let alone now.
When Aiden and Jessie entered the station, they found it still orderly, and passengers waiting to board were still standing in line properly. Of course, though these people were lined up, almost everyone's face showed anxiety and panic.
"Let's go, let's find the cargo car." Jessie pointed to the train's rear carriages and said to Aiden.
Aiden nodded. Taking advantage of the fact that the Shinra soldiers guarding inside the station had gone outside to maintain order, the two ran toward the few cars at the back of the train.
Very quickly, they found the location of the cargo car.
Aiden forcefully pushed open the door of the car that had been marked, and immediately, a rotary machine gun extended from inside.
"It's us, Barret." Seeing the rotary machine gun, Jessie knew Barret and the others had already arrived and quickly called out to remind them.
Barret had already seen clearly that it was them, but just wanted to scare them a little. He then withdrew the machine gun and complained, "You guys are too slow. Biggs and I arrived ten minutes ago."
Aiden jumped into the car and turned back to pull Jessie up. Seeing that only Barret and Biggs were inside the car, he said, "At least we weren't the last to arrive."
"That's true." Barret nodded. "Cloud and Wedge are still outside."
However, just as Aiden and Jessie got on the train and hadn't even found a place to sit yet, the train suddenly began to move.
"Damn!" Hearing the rumbling sound of the train starting, Jessie's face showed an anxious expression, "Why so fast? Wedge and Cloud haven't arrived yet!"
"Don't worry, they'll definitely be fine. Don't forget Cloud's skills." Biggs didn't seem worried at all and said casually, "He's a former Shinra soldier."
"But…" Jessie wanted to say something but stopped. It wasn't Cloud she was worried about, but Wedge. Given Cloud's shown personality, she was a bit afraid he might leave Wedge behind.
As they spoke, the train had slowly departed the station and began to accelerate.
This made Jessie even more anxious. Unable to sit still, she paced back and forth inside the car, and her anxious appearance made even Biggs a little nervous.
"Alright, Jessie, stop pacing. They'll definitely catch up." Aiden, feeling dizzy from Jessie's pacing, said helplessly.
"But with the train moving this fast, how will they catch up?" Jessie looked at Aiden and said, but at least she stopped.
Just as she finished speaking, there was a pounding sound at the door, which immediately made Barret and the others tense. They raised their guns and stood on either side of the door. Only Aiden didn't react and stayed seated.
At that moment, Barret suddenly yanked the door open, and a round figure was thrown in from outside, slamming hard onto the floor.
"It's Wedge!" Seeing who had fallen in, Jessie shouted excitedly.
"Just you? Where's Cloud?" Barret asked while raising his mechanical arm.
Wedge hadn't caught his breath from the fall, but still pointed outside. Then Cloud jumped in from outside the car and landed steadily.
"Looks like your journey wasn't very smooth." Seeing Cloud come in, Aiden finally stood up. He examined Cloud all over and didn't see the thing he didn't want to see… the flower Aerith planted. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"We ran into a Shinra patrol on the way." Wedge stood up with Biggs' help, rubbed his sore spots from the fall, and said, "Our answers had loopholes, so we ended up fighting. Fortunately, Cloud was there. Otherwise, I'd be dead."
As he said that, Wedge patted Cloud's shoulder and loudly said, "Cloud is definitely a reliable partner."
"Thanks for the compliment." Cloud looked at the chubby hand on his shoulder, and in the end gave up the idea of brushing it off.
"I'll add a bit more to your reward as thanks for saving Wedge." Barret nodded toward Cloud, then walked toward the passage to the cargo car, saying, "We should switch cars now."
———
On the way from the cargo car to the passenger car, people were packed everywhere. Most of these people had rushed onboard after receiving Shinra's evacuation notice. Though crowded, it gave Aiden and the others a great chance to blend in with the crowd.
"There are especially many people today."
"They're all using the evacuation time to hurry home. After all, no one knows what might happen next with the damaged Mako Reactor."
"I saw the Mako Reactor collapse with my own eyes. That scene scared me to death. My legs are still weak."
"Same here. I almost peed my pants."
"But still, now that the Mako Reactor collapsed, what are we supposed to do without electricity?"
"Exactly! Those who destroyed the Mako Reactor are so hateful. If I find out who it was, I'll definitely teach them a lesson."
In every car Aiden and the others passed through, they could hear people discussing the destruction of the Mako Reactor. Since it was just a collapse without larger-scale destruction, people's emotions were relatively stable.
However, despite the stable emotions, their words were all condemning the ones who destroyed the Mako Reactor. After all, they didn't care whether the Mako Reactor was damaging the planet, they cared more about cheap electricity and how to live without power.
"Listening to this, it sounds like we did something wrong." Hearing the surrounding conversations, Jessie felt a bit down and whispered beside Aiden.
"It's understandable. In their eyes, we probably are terrorists who disrupted their peaceful lives." Aiden sighed in his heart. If not to avoid greater casualties, he actually didn't want to take part in the destruction of Reactor One's plot.
But if he didn't participate, the original story events would repeat, Shinra intentionally destroying the Mako Reactor and causing more casualties, just to make the public turn against Avalanche.
"But Barret said we're doing the right thing." Jessie suddenly started doubting their actions.
"Actually, Barret isn't wrong. You all are fighting for the life of the planet. It's just that he's too extreme." Aiden comforted Jessie, "And we saw today, there weren't many casualties. You don't need to blame yourself too much, Jessie."
"Mm." Jessie nodded, then hugged Aiden's arm. Her sparkling eyes looked at him, "Thank you, Aiden. I feel a lot better now."
"You're welcome." Aiden patted Jessie's head and gave her a smile.
The train continued steadily toward the lower city, and several batches of people had gotten on and off as it stopped at stations.
At this time, Aiden and the others had entered another more spacious car, and inside this car were several Shinra employees wearing business attire.
These Shinra employees were currently discussing the Mako Reactor collapse.
"To actually collapse the Mako Reactor, those criminals really know how to stir up trouble," a female Shinra employee said.
A middle-aged man beside her who looked like a Shinra mid-level manager nodded, "Although it hasn't been announced, it's almost certainly Avalanche's doing."
"I heard they've always been causing trouble for our president. They're just too hateful," the female employee complained.
"I bet it's to extort money from Shinra. After all, rebels are usually just poor people from the lower city." Another Shinra employee said.
"Hey, don't talk nonsense!" Barret, who had been sitting nearby resting with his eyes closed, couldn't help but stand up and refute them.
"I heard Avalanche's goal is to save the planet."
Seeing Barret, with his burly frame and mechanical arm, walk over, the Shinra employees were terrified and huddled together. The mid-level manager even asked, "Y-You… who are you?"
"Me? Just a kind-hearted citizen who cares about the planet." Barret stood in front of them and said fiercely.
Aiden, also sitting nearby, couldn't help but laugh out loud when he heard that, thinking, "With a body stronger than a bull and a scary face like that, you don't look kind at all!"
He really wanted to get up and watch up close, but Jessie was currently resting her head on his shoulder pretending to sleep, so he could only perk his ears and listen carefully.
"Looking like that, how are you kind?" The female Shinra employee sized up Barret, and especially when she saw the rotary machine gun hidden in his giant mechanical arm, her face showed fear.
"Stop talking, or we'll get beaten up." Her colleague quickly covered her mouth.
But the Shinra manager mustered up courage and said, "Don't be afraid! As Shinra employees, we must not yield to violence, we have to embody Shinra's fearless spirit…"
Before he could finish, Barret raised his mechanical arm and waved it at them. With that, all talk of Shinra's spirit flew out the window. The Shinra employees screamed and ran away.
"Hmph! A bunch of cowards!" Barret snorted disdainfully and then swaggered into the now-empty seat.
"That was really funny just now, wasn't it?"
Just as Aiden was feeling regret that the show ended too quickly, Jessie, resting on his shoulder, suddenly spoke.
Aiden tilted his head to glance at Jessie and saw her blinking at him. Then Jessie lifted her head from his shoulder, stretched, and said, "Barret always likes scaring people. But apart from his attitude toward the Mako Reactor, he's just a slightly hot-headed guy. He usually won't hurt the weak, at most, he'll scare them, like just now."
"Yeah, I can tell." Aiden nodded. After all, Barret had a vigilante-like identity. If not for his extreme stance on the Mako Reactor, he was actually a good person.
"Hey, Aiden, look, we're almost at the lower city!" At that moment, Jessie looked out the window and said excitedly.
Aiden looked out the window, and no longer saw the bustling upper plate zone, but instead the rundown slums of the lower city.
"See, it's all because of that pizza-smelling round plate that the lower residents suffer so much." Barret also looked out the window and said coldly, "With the sky blocked by the plate, even getting sunlight all day is a luxury for them. Plus, the Mako Reactors constantly drain the planet's life, making the land barren, the air dirty, and even flowers can't bloom. It's tragic."
"If you don't like it, why not leave?" Before Aiden could speak, Cloud suddenly said, "That's what I did. If I don't like a place, I just leave."
"Leave? Easy for you to say. Not everyone is as capable as you. Besides, this is our home." Barret glanced at him and said dismissively, "Try to understand the fragility of ordinary people and their attachment to home, Cloud."
That line immediately silenced Cloud, and made Aiden deeply nod in agreement.
Very soon, the train stopped at the station in Sector Seven.
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