Koutetsujou

"Do rookie-level missions include apocalyptic worlds like this...?"

Hearing the voice echoing in his ears, Xu Yue felt slightly surprised. Though he had only watched it once, with his memory, he still remembered the plot of the anime Koutetsujou.

It was practically Resident Evil set in the steam age, but those infected monsters known as Kabane were on an entirely different level from zombies in terms of combat power.

They possessed tremendous individual strength. In terms of physical ability alone, a single Kabane might surpass an ordinary Ninja Academy student. Normal people simply could not handle them; even the Steam Guns most commonly used in the story were completely ineffective against them.

Still, they had no intelligence, only instinct, so they were not impossible to deal with.

The story was mainly about the protagonist, a Steam Smith who could not let go of his younger sister's death and wanted to create a weapon capable of killing Kabane. He eventually developed ammunition similar to Armor-piercing Bullets. After being bitten by a Kabane, he unexpectedly became a Kabaneri with a Kabane's physical strength and a human mind. Later, he met Mumei, the female lead and another Kabaneri.

Then, he and his companions rode the Steam Armored Train, bringing trouble everywhere they went like a plague passing through. That continued until they encountered the female lead's adoptive older brother: Biba, the pink-haired man who appeared sunny on the surface but was dark within, the general's son whom even the Shogunate's shogun feared enough to drive away, and the story's ultimate villain.

They then launched an operation to rescue the female lead. After their initial failure, the protagonist defeated the ultimate villain and rescued her after Biba successfully captured Kongokaku, the Shogunate's seat of power, reaching the pinnacle of his life...

The plot was simple, a single straight line, but the Mission Space's setting was somewhat troublesome. There were simply too many Kabane, even more than the zombies in zombie films.

All things considered, it was an extremely troublesome Mission Space. He had not expected to encounter it among his first three rookie missions.

Honestly, Xu Yue was not particularly satisfied that his second mission was this kind of mission.

Although his strength was unquestionably among the very best of the rookies, facing the disaster-level number of Kabane meant certain death if he was surrounded.

Forget elite Genin—even someone at the Jonin level would be beaten to death and torn apart without a special means of survival. They could be exhausted to death alone.

If it were merely difficult, it would not have been much of a problem. He had the advantage of being familiar with the plot.

But Koutetsujou's world happened to contain very few things worth coveting.

Kabaneri?

Even Mumei, at the peak of their combat strength, should only have been at the level of a Genin. In Xu Yue's view, they merely combined a Kabane's physical qualities with human combat skills.

Moreover, they came with a whole pile of side effects. Xu Yue, who possessed a Sage Body, naturally had no interest in such a thing. With the First Hokage's Cells' powerful rejection, it was still uncertain whether the virus could even infect him.

There was almost nothing in this mission that he urgently needed to obtain, nor did it offer much potential.

In that case, this mission's primary objective was to farm points and raise the mission difficulty...

"Doctor Xu? Doctor Xu?"

The voice calling by his ear pulled Xu Yue from his thoughts. Looking at the young married woman before him, her face puzzled, her skin smooth as cream, and her bearing dignified and beautiful, he could not help but reveal his trademark sunny smile.

"My apologies, Mrs. Wang. I was a little distracted just now. Are we continuing with the next course of treatment this time?"

"Haha, Doctor Xu was probably staring at Mrs. Wang and Entering the Divine. Next time, I should come for a course of treatment too."

The pawnshop owner who had started chatting with Xu Yue could not help teasing him. He then swayed back to his shop with every step.

The dignified, beautiful woman covered her mouth and laughed softly.

"Doctor Xu must have been thinking of some woman to be so absorbed."

"Not at all. With Mrs. Wang standing before me, I should be the one captivated."

Xu Yue's masked social skills made Mrs. Wang smile with narrowed eyes after only a few words, her face full of charm.

"You certainly know how to talk. I'll have to trouble you again today. I don't know what's been happening lately, but my lower back has been aching and my whole body feels sore..."

As she spoke, she casually walked into the clinic.

Before entering the Mission Space, when Xu Yue had been scraping out a living in the foreign concession, she had been one of his main patrons.

Because of the issue with medication, Xu Yue's strongest skill, surgery, could not be fully utilized here. Besides, not just anyone would dare let a young man operate on them, especially in an era when surgical mortality rates were unbelievably high.

However, he had also studied Traditional Chinese Medicine as a supplementary field. While it was not as miraculous as people made it out to be, it possessed unique advantages in conditioning the body and assisting recovery.

He did not dare call himself a miracle doctor who could cure illness with a single dose of medicine, but ordinary massage, cupping therapy, acupuncture, and the like were no problem for him, and he was quite skilled at them.

Entering the small partitioned room, Xu Yue saw her lying face-down on the massage bed with the clothes over her back already undone, revealing her lovely figure. Without hesitation, he rubbed oil over his hands and began the day's work.

It was as though he did not regard the upcoming mission as anything at all. He worked with great care and attention...

"Mrs. Wang, the cups will need to stay on for a while. Please excuse me for the moment."

After placing the final burning fire cup against her smooth back and making her let out a comfortable moan that invited wild thoughts, Xu Yue politely excused himself.

He washed up in the washroom, put on the backpack that had been hanging behind the door, adjusted his clothes in the mirror, and silently thought,

It's time!

The next second, the entire washroom turned gray-white and completely froze. The mirror before him then shifted diagonally, splitting into countless forked cracks before shattering apart. After a sensation of the world spinning filled his mind, he lost consciousness...

The cold sensation of the ground slowly brought Xu Yue back to consciousness.

"Mm, do I have to pass out every time I enter?"

He raised his head and swept his unfocused gaze around in a daze, a trace of strangeness flashing through his eyes.

A group of people was lying inside a train carriage. However, this carriage was much taller and larger than a conventional train carriage. Iron-plated armor covered the surroundings, and like when he had first entered the Mission Space, the carriage was in a completely isolated and motionless state.

But the people lying inside the carriage appeared to be divided into three groups.

The first group consisted of more than ten people sprawled about. The second was Xu Yue and five others lying together here. The last group was three people lying in the corner.

Moreover, aside from those lying down, there was even someone playing a role similar to the rookie guide from his first mission!

According to the Mission Space's rules, it seemed such guides only appeared during one's first entry.

Looking down at the dozen or so people sprawled around the center of the carriage, Xu Yue vaguely came to an understanding.

Were these rookies entering for the first time? Then the three people in the corner were most likely "rookies" on their third mission. After all, the fourth mission was the promotion mission.

If they had completed their promotion mission and become official reincarnators, then like that Genin from Naruto, they would not be placed together unless special means were used.

"I don't know whether to call you lucky or unfortunate. This mission can be called both a rookie's paradise and a rookie's hell. Whether you Ascend to Heaven in One Step or fall into eternal damnation depends on your own fortunes."

This rookie guide was not as stingy with words as the first one had been.

Even though Xu Yue was the only one awake now, the man leaned against the wall and spoke casually.

The way he looked at Xu Yue seemed somewhat strange.

"You're clearly only on your second mission, yet you woke even earlier than those guys on their third mission who are about to leave the rookie ranks. Kid, you've got potential."

However, just as Xu Yue was preparing to probe for some information, the rookie guide in a black trench coat raised a hand to stop him.

"Although I'm willing to form a good connection with you, my duty here does not allow me to reveal plot information to someone on their second mission. Go play by yourself."

After saying that, he snapped his fingers. A translucent, pale-red soundproof barrier enveloped both the guide and the dozen or so people lying in the middle of the floor.

"There are 'rookies' on their first, second, and third missions. However, those on their second and third missions no longer have the doubled physical attributes or the 'reasonableness' bonus. It seems the mission is difficult enough this time that they brought along relatively experienced people to guide them."

Xu Yue swiftly reached that conclusion in his mind.

He then began examining the appearances and equipment of the people lying with him.

There were five people beside him, four men and one woman. Naturally, the beautiful woman drew the most attention.

She looked much like those glamorous fallen women from District E-03, dressed in sexy and fashionable clothes. She had probably used Reincarnation Points for cosmetic enhancement as well.

Xu Yue truly could not understand what these women were thinking. They had only completed one mission so far, yet they had spent their limited points on plastic surgery and breast augmentation first...

Among the other four men, aside from a muscular man in leather armor carrying a curved blade, the equipment of the other three gave Xu Yue an inexplicable sense of amusement.

They wore khaki cotton-padded jackets with some protective capability. The jackets were tied tightly with cotton cords to reduce their bulk and prevent them from hindering movement. They carried square packs on their backs, had several grenades at their waists that could be used as hammers, tightly hugged Hanyang 88 rifles to their chests even while unconscious, wore Borchardt Pistols tucked into their trousers, and had daggers tied to their ankles.

They looked exactly like they were cosplaying "revolutionary predecessors." If the prompt had not told him this was the world of Koutetsujou, Xu Yue would have almost suspected that he had entered a Railway Guerrillas mission.

"Pfft—three more idiots fooled by that damn merchant."

At that moment, the second person besides Xu Yue woke up. She was one of the three "old rookies" in the corner, those entering the Mission Space for the third time and about to shed their rookie caps.

She was a non-mainstream girl with multicolored dyed hair and hip-hop clothing, shaking her head as though she had not fully regained consciousness.

Unlike Xu Yue and the others, who all carried backpacks to store things, she had a small pouch at her waist, like one used for loose change.

True storage equipment was generally not something rookies could afford. It was probably a specialized storage pouch like a Medical Kit, capable of holding only designated items.

In other words, most of her abilities were likely related to that small pouch...

Things are so strict right now that Integrity-kun will not court death. Every character has their own purpose, so don't misunderstand anything~

Also, the contract has arrived and the status has been changed. Everyone can send rewards now. I'm already in position, so don't go easy on me...

I really have to thank the contract editor. Otherwise, this signing might have been rejected again. He argued hard on my behalf and got it approved and received. Without his help, the trouble would have been huge~