Treasure chest

"What the fuck was that?"

Lu Xingyuan fell silent as he stared at the thing he had shot into something resembling ground meat.

He had no idea how many bullets he had fired.

All he knew was that he had spent a full three minutes executing it by gunfire.

For fuck's sake, he was just a 222-month-old baby. Of course he would overreact when something suddenly scared the shit out of him!

"That looks like a zombie..."

After examining it carefully, Lu Xingyuan was fairly certain what it was.

Yep. A zombie.

Judging by its position, it had intended to hide behind the service counter and ambush him. What it had never expected was a young man so brimming with martial virtue that he fired bullets like they were free.

"Should be safe now."

Holding his gun, he scanned every corner. Only after confirming that he was safe did Lu Xingyuan's taut nerves finally relax. As he gulped down air, he could even hear his own heart pounding wildly.

"Fuck me! This was way more nerve-racking than Fortune's Losing Streak!"

Not daring to waste much time, Lu Xingyuan hurried to open the treasure chest.

After all, the train would only stop for an hour. If he failed to board before it departed, he would be stuck on this platform forever.

[Level 1 treasure chest]

[Description: Guaranteed to yield basic survival supplies and materials; a small chance of additionally yielding equipment, blueprints, or rare materials.]

Open.

Five items appeared before Lu Xingyuan.

A five-hundred-gram bag of raisin toast.

A five-hundred-milliliter bottle of Pepsi.

50 units of wood.

10 units of metal.

And a silver coin stamped with the image of a train.

[Train Coin]

[Description: The universal currency of the train survival world. Has a wide range of uses.]

Without taking the time to examine them further, Lu Xingyuan immediately hauled the materials he had obtained back into the carriage.

"Fuck, I should've just brought the treasure chest aboard before opening it. I'm such a dumbass."

It took several trips back and forth to move everything, mainly because the wood and metal were so damn heavy.

Checking the time, he found that he still had a little over ten minutes before departure. Lu Xingyuan gritted his teeth and forced himself to scour the service station for supplies once more.

He could ignore things like windshield wipers and fuel additives, but toilet paper and laundry detergent were still pretty useful. He was completely broke right now. Any supplies were better than none.

Finally, three minutes before departure, Lu Xingyuan climbed aboard. Exhausted like a half-dead dog, he collapsed onto the floor and gasped for breath.

After resting a while, he got up, took a few swallows of cola, and ate two slices of toast. Only then did he feel considerably better.

Now it was time to take stock of his haul.

Besides the supplies from the treasure chest, Lu Xingyuan had collected ten packs of toilet paper, ten jugs of Blue Moon laundry detergent, and three metal shelving units used to display merchandise—they counted as metal too and could be used to upgrade the train.

[The train is moving. Please remain seated and hold on!]

With a blast of its whistle, the stationary train started up again and continued along tracks that stretched beyond sight.

Messages in the chat channel began pouring in as well.

"Holy shit, we're finally moving. Two zombies were wandering aimlessly right outside my window. Even though the train is under protection, I was still scared to death."

"Did any of you get off to search the platform for supplies?"

"Me! I went out! Guess I was pretty lucky, because I didn't run into any danger. The platform's resources were honestly crap, though. I only found a few bottles of water."

"Heh! This'll blow your minds. I found a treasure chest! Got loads of good stuff out of it!"

"Holy shit! Seriously? You actually found a treasure chest?"

Lu Xingyuan had no particularly strong reaction to that message.

Among a hundred thousand Train Conductors, he definitely wasn't the only one with a powerful talent!

Talents were absolutely the key to getting ahead in the early stages. Without Infinite Firepower backing him up, he wouldn't have dared get off the train so rashly either.

Of course, just as the game had warned at the start, this was a game of luck. No matter how good someone's talent was, it couldn't compete with being Lady Luck's darling.

The second stop was twenty-four hours away. For Lu Xingyuan, who could only kill time in the chat channel, the wait was genuinely hard to endure.

He had planned to look at the scenery through the window to relieve his boredom, but unfortunately, all he found outside was an endless wasteland. The view never changed, as though it had been frozen in place. "Is this even Earth anymore?"

The windows were fixed shut and couldn't be rolled down. Even enjoying a breeze had become a luxury.

Perhaps this was meant to stop mentally fragile Train Conductors from jumping out and killing themselves, but wasn't it a form of torment too?

As his thoughts wandered, drowsiness crept over him. Lu Xingyuan soon fell asleep on the cold floor.

So many sudden upheavals had taken an enormous toll on both his mind and body.

An unknown amount of time later, Lu Xingyuan abruptly sat bolt upright like a corpse coming back to life.

"Ah... my Fortune's Losing Streak."

Other Train Conductors missed their dads, moms, and all sorts of relatives. But as an orphan, the only thing Lu Xingyuan kept thinking about was that unfinished match.

He checked the time and found it was already past seven in the evening.

He really had slept for ages. His arms were still a little sore, probably from firing the gun. As a homebody, he really didn't get enough exercise.

After eating two slices of raisin toast and taking a tiny sip of water, Lu Xingyuan opened the chat channel.

The messages from a few hours earlier had been a mixed bag.

Some demanded to be let go. "Stop this prank! I don't have time to play along with your bullshit!"

Some were searching for their dads, moms, grandpas, grandmas, and every other kind of relative. "Where's my husband?"

Others declared that they would conquer this new world. "I, Zihan, shall reign supreme for all eternity and sweep aside every foe! Mwahahaha!"

But as time passed, the Train Conductors' demands gradually converged.

"Water! Who has water? I haven't had a fucking drink in seven or eight hours. I'm dying of thirst!"

"Could some kind soul give me a little food? I'm so hungry I can barely walk."

"I really want Haidilao, big northeastern barbecue skewers, and little Tastien burgers! Boohoo!"

Hmm. Feels like something's missing.

"Innocent eighteen-year-old college girl willing to trade panties worn for three days without changing for water and food. Interested guys can DM me."

Now that's more like it.

Lu Xingyuan nodded in satisfaction.

How could a survival world be complete without girls trading all kinds of unwashed intimate wear for water and food?

"I originally had a bottle of water, but some bastard traded for it so fast I don't even know who it was. I'll hold that grudge for the rest of my life!"

Who was it? How awful! I'll draw a little circle and curse him for you.

Feeling a little guilty, Lu Xingyuan closed the chat channel and began exercising inside the carriage.