In the blink of an eye, the night passed.
The train never stopped, moving forward unimpeded.
After a night of continuous trading, gathering materials, and trading again, Bai Cheng's name remained prominently displayed on the[Trade]menu, making her a true celebrity across the entire chat channel.
Of course, a large part of it was due to her 'Pioneer' title. It was eye-catching and shimmering, giving off the vibe of a second-rate online game. It was impossible for others to not notice.
Most survivors had fallen asleep by the latter half of the night, as if the entire world had quieted down, but Bai Cheng still reaped considerable rewards.
Her small backpack was now overflowing, packed entirely with coal.
Due to the fixed smelting speed of the furnace and the need to trade, she had only obtained 90 iron ingots, but the two iron crates were completely stuffed with scrap iron.
Originally, Bai Cheng wanted to build two more iron crates to store more supplies.
But the space inside the locomotive was too cramped. There was simply no room left for additional structures.
Even the original iron crates had long been stacked together by Bai Cheng.
After all, while the train could run automatically and Chi Yan could tirelessly grind EXP for her, Bai Cheng still needed sleep.
Knock! Knock!
Before dawn fully broke, Bai Cheng was awakened by the sound of Chi Yan knocking on the train door.
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she sat up abruptly.
Before her was an uncountable pile of leather, mixed with a visible number of Infinite Coins, forming a small mountain that buried her lower half.
A faint, musky scent lingered in the air, emanated by the leather in front of her.
"Did we get this much last night?" Bai Cheng was stunned. She wiggled her feet, freeing her toes from the pile.
Only then did she realize that the train had stopped at some point.
"Young Lady, are you awake?" Chi Yan's rough voice came from outside.
Bai Cheng snapped out of her daze and hummed in acknowledgment.
Stretching, she immediately checked the odometer.
Last night, she had calculated the fuel consumption rate of the boiler.
1 coal per kilometer, meaning a full boiler would last exactly 100 km.
Before sleeping, she had made sure the remaining fuel would be just enough to reach Station One.
[Distance to next station: 0 km]
"We've arrived?" Bai Cheng blinked, then a glint of excitement flashed in her eyes.
She first looked at the screen, but there were no prompts.
She was puzzled, but before she could turn around to check outside, Chi Yan's voice reached her first.
"Young Lady, Station One is just a few hundred meters ahead."
Bai Cheng froze, then climbed onto the control panel to peer outside.
The sun had just risen in the east, and the surroundings had reverted to a grassland.
In the distance, a massive triangular curtain stood eerily and abruptly in the middle of the plains.
Although she called it a 'curtain', its surface was flawlessly smooth. There were no wrinkles, no movement at all. It was completely unaffected by external conditions.
The curtain was brown, adorned with strange patterns resembling totems, so clear that Bai Cheng could see them even from afar.
If not for its sudden appearance, she might have forgotten about it entirely.
"Isn't that the same curtain from the initial station?" She raised an eyebrow, realizing that its presence marked her arrival at the destination.
Bai Cheng withdrew her gaze and noticed the multifunctional wristwatch on her wrist. It fits so perfectly that it felt like a part of her.
She summoned the Book of Cheng, where the upgrade notification stood out prominently.
[Top-Grade! Multifunctional Wristwatch!]
[You have gained 1 distributable attribute point!]
"Just as I thought!" Bai Cheng wasn't too surprised and examined its function.
[Name: Multifunctional Wristwatch]
[Quality: Legendary]
[Description: A refined ladies' wristwatch that will never stop ticking. Self-correcting and comes with a built-in compass.]
[Evaluation: Maybe not as good as a Little Genius1?]
Bai Cheng shook her wrist. "Not bad. It'll do as an accessory."
She then opened the screen to allocate her attribute point but was startled to find that all her attributes had increased by 1.
"What's this…?"
[Train Conductor: Bai Cheng]
[Rank: Common Tier 2]
[EXP: 2.5%]
[Strength: 11+1]
[Constitution: 11]
[Spirit: 7]
[Talent: Book of Cheng]
"I leveled up!" Truthfully, Bai Cheng didn't feel any significant physical changes. After a brief moment of excitement, she dumped the free point into Strength and closed the screen.
Surveying the messy pile of supplies, she decided to organize them briefly before heading to Station One.
She pulled open the door. "Chi Yan, you should rest—"
But before she could finish, Bai Cheng was stunned by the sight before her.
Chi Yan stood a few meters away from the train, and there were over a dozen white treasure chests at his feet, among which were two green ones.
"This… this is a huge haul!" Bai Cheng exclaimed.
Chi Yan remained respectful. "Young Lady, these are all the chests I gathered along the way last night."
"Good, good!" Bai Cheng hopped off the train. "Rest for a bit. We'll head to Station One soon!"
With that, she eagerly began the thrilling unboxing session.
Honestly, white treasure chests no longer held much appeal for her. They only contained basic supplies, and she lacked nothing at this point.
[Opened Common Treasure Chests ×N: Obtained Flashlight ×1, Towel ×1, Mirror ×1, Mixed BBQ Seasoning Pack ×1, Cup Noodles ×4, Pork Floss Bread ×6, Compressed Biscuits ×4, Scrap Iron ×22…]
Looking at the scattered items, Bai Cheng actually sighed in relief.
At least there were no duplicates, and most were either daily necessities or food, which was still useful to her.
After a silent prayer, she opened the two green treasure chests.
[Opening Uncommon Treasure Chest ×2: Obtained Fine Leather Bed (Blueprint) ×1, Kiln (Blueprint) ×1, Flower Pot (Blueprint) ×1, Water Generator ×1, Scrap Iron ×4.]
"Not bad. A decent haul." Bai Cheng nodded in satisfaction.
She picked up the blueprints. Since their uses were obvious from the names, she didn't bother checking their details and simply placed them on the table.
The train's interior was too cramped for any new structures.
After organizing everything, Bai Cheng selected the flashlight for the Book of Cheng's upgrade. Then, while flicking it on and off, she refueled the train.
Choo—!
The train slowly started moving. This time, Chi Yan was also inside the cabin.
The two of them stared ahead, watching as the enormous triangular curtain in the distance grew closer and closer…
Meanwhile, on the plains, Tang Yan's arms were nearly numb.
Drenched in sweat, his entire body was on the verge of collapse. But he continued to push the rail cart with desperate strength, not even bothering to wipe the sweat from his brow.
"Had I known, I would've picked a pulling-type employee! Damn Bai Cheng for ruining my plans!" Tang Yan gritted his teeth, his eyes burning with fury.
He had missed countless resources overnight, and the rail cart's limited capacity made it impossible to carry much.
Right now, Tang Yan felt a mix of regret and fury.
To make matters worse, his employee was a crocodile. It was not only useless for pulling the cart, but he even had to carry the damn thing when it got tired, further slowing him down.
But it's all worth it!
Tang Yan's bloodshot eyes locked onto the faint outline of the massive triangular curtain in the distance. All his grievances, anger, exhaustion, hunger, and drowsiness… Everything melted away in an instant, replaced by wild euphoria!
"HAHAHAHA!"
"I'm about to reach Station One! I, Tang Yan, will definitely get the first arrival reward!"
But the next second, another channel announcement forcibly popped up.
[Channel Announcement!]
[Congratulations to Bai Cheng for being the first Train Conductor to arrive at a station! A special reward has been granted!]