"Ticket price is 18 bucks," the hefty female conductor said with a blank expression.
"Here," the young man replied, withdrawing his lifeless gaze and pulling a bill from his pocket to hand over.
The conductor's already plump face twisted into a scowl. "What kind of money is this? Are you messing with me?!"
"This money... can't be used?" Theyoung man frowned.
"No, it can't!" The conductor snapped, her tone unfriendly.
"Got it," he shrugged, then turned to the passengers in the carriage. "Excuse me, can anyone help me exchange some money? Euros for Guohua currency, one to one."
The carriage fell into an instant silence, countless eyes focusing on him. A female police officer in the fourth row frowned, her gaze clearly wary.
Exchanging foreign currency? Seriously?
In Guohua, this was a well-known scam, long exposed by various media outlets. No one would fall for it.
Seeing the suspicious, wary, and even hostile looks directed at him, the young man felt puzzled—what was wrong with these people?
Suddenly, a guy with dyed yellow hair in the fifth row glanced at the female officer in front of him and shouted at the young man, "Hey, kid! Trying to scam people in broad daylight? Areyou looking for trouble? Do you think we're all idiots with that old trick?!"
His words were filled with righteous indignation, his voice loud and passionate.
As he spoke, he left his seat and walked towards the young man, continuing to shout, "Everyone, watch closely! I'm going to expose this scammer's tricks!"
The young man didn't say a word. He let the guy stride over, snatch the euro note from his hand, and grab his backpack.
It wasn't that he couldn't stop it; he just wanted to see what this fool was up to.
"This euro note is definitely real."
The blond guy waved the 20-euro note he had grabbed, then opened the canvas bag and dumped its contents out. "If someone falls for this 20-euro note, he'll immediately ask to exchange more, using counterfeit money... That's right! All the euros in here are fake!"
Clatter...
The contents of the canvas bag spilled onto the ground. Besides some insignificant items, everyone's eyes were glued to the stacks of brand-new euros sealed with tape.
Wow!
The passengers gasped, thinking the blond guy had indeed exposed the scammer's trick. This guy dared to use so much counterfeit money; he was incredibly bold!
"Damn scammer!"
"Call the police!"
"Why call the police? There's an officer right here!"
"Yeah! Officer, look..."
"I see it."
The female officer's eyes flashed with cold light as she quickly stood up from her seat and walked toward the young man, her gaze filled with anger. "You're bolder than I imagined."
Seeing a police officer in the carriage and still daring to use such an old trick, not only was he incredibly bold, but also extremely foolish!
"Pick it up." The young man ignored the female officer and spoke to the blond guy in a calm but commanding tone.
"You..." The blond man was furious.
"Wait a minute!" The female officer's expression changed dramatically. She suddenly bent down to pick up a stack of cash and said in a daze, "These... these euros are real..."
The entire train car fell silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone's expressions froze as they stared at the stacks of high-denomination euroswith different emotions in their eyes.
Excitement!
Awe!
And even... greed!
Judging by the thickness, each stack should contain a hundred bills, all with a face value of 500 euros. There were twenty stacks in total, which would convert to over 700,000 local currency!
Carrying millions in cash, how rich could this person be?
The blond man, who had been smugthinking he had exposed a 'scam,' instantly became a laughingstock. The passengers, while staring at the cash with burning excitement and shock, turned their mocking gazes towards him, as if watching a clown.
And the blond man?
He was filled with shame and intense resentment but didn't dare to show his anger.