"..."
Shangguan Yingxue fell briefly silent at this ambiguous reply.
Half-submerged in warm water that was still steaming, she hesitated for a moment before continuing:
["What are you collecting gunpowder to make? Bullets? Can you sell me some?"]
He had a customer as soon as he finished making the bullets.
Ye Qiyan narrowed his eyes. As the second conductor besides him to reach level 2, Shangguan Yingxue ultimately had more resources than the others.
And unlike Li Xiaosheng, who was somewhat troublesome, she was fairly easy to trade with.
["Of course I can sell you bullets, but this time, I don't want water or resources. All I want is Train Coins. One Train Coin for thirty bullets."]
["? Are you robbing me?"]
Clearly, Shangguan Yingxue could not accept this price.
["No, I'm stating a fact. My bullets are well worth that price."]
He sent a screenshot.
When she saw the level 3 suffix attached to the bullets, Shangguan Yingxue widened her eyes and murmured in disbelief:
"How is that possible? Level 3 bullets? Has he really reached level 3 already?"
But Shangguan Yingxue did not ask anything like, "Why do you have level 3 bullets?"
Everyone had their own secrets and luck.
She was no exception.
Taking a deep breath, Shangguan Yingxue hesitated for a moment before deciding to try bargaining first.
["Fifty rounds. One Train Coin for fifty bullets. Thirty is too few. That's nowhere near enough."]
["Fifty is too many. How about we meet in the middle? Forty bullets. What do you think?"]
People often left room for a middle ground when negotiating a price.
Once someone proposed that middle ground, both sides would most likely accept.
Shangguan Yingxue sighed inwardly, picked up a pouch beside her, and took out her only three Train Coins, feeling a little pained.
["Deal... but you have to throw in a gun. The previous one is a little damaged."]
["I definitely can't give you one for free, but I can sell you a new one. Don't turn me down just yet. Take a look at the new gun before you decide."]
[Refined Marksman Rifle] (Level 2)
Looking at the firearm in the screenshot, which was clearly much fancier and more powerful than a low-level rifle, Shangguan Yingxue instinctively felt a desire for it.
["How much?"]
["Not much. Two Train Coins, and I'll throw in another ten bullets. Including the earlier ones, that's fifty bullets in total, exactly what you wanted. Pretty fair of me, right?"]
Silently looking at the three Train Coins she had, Shangguan Yingxue inexplicably wondered whether this man was monitoring her. Otherwise, how could he name everything she currently owned so precisely?
After hesitating for quite some time, Shangguan Yingxue gritted her teeth.
["Let's trade."]
["Of course. Oh, right, I remember you have a Wooden Bed Blueprint. Could you make one for me? I'll provide the materials, of course. How about treating it as your return gift for those ten extra bullets?"]
["...Ten kilograms of wood."]
Shangguan Yingxue no longer wanted to speak. After completing the trade, she looked at the extra wood he sent over and merely sighed, made the wooden bed, and traded it to him.
With three Train Coins and a bed to sleep on, Ye Qiyan had made a killing on this trade.
The Refined Marksman Rifle was of little use to him.
With the Gunfire Judgment module, he could hit targets at longer distances even with just a handgun. Keeping it served little purpose, so he might as well sell one for Train Coins.
Lying on a bed frame for the first time in ages improved his mood considerably.
Fourteen Train Coins. That was the wealth he now possessed.
"Trading with people like her really is more pleasant. No unnecessary chatter. Oh, right, there's her too."
Ye Qiyan removed the low-level rifles from the sentry platforms, used Ascension to bring them all to level 2, and sold them to Zhao Lin for the same price of two Train Coins apiece. He also traded one hundred Low-level Bullets for five freshwater fish.
This brought his Train Coin count to sixteen.
Not long afterward, he successfully acquired the electronic components as well.
Using up the materials, Ye Qiyan built the Watcher straight away and installed it in the third carriage.
Just like the sentry devices, he could not use Ascension on it for now. He needed to find a way past that level 4 threshold.
"Right, I can redeem the generator now, can't I?"
Ye Qiyan had not forgotten the option unlocked after he reached level 3.
That generator blueprint cost a full six Train Coins.
"Redeem."
[Power Generation Device Blueprint (Level 3)] [Requires: 50 Mechanical Parts, 40 kilograms of metal]
It required fewer materials than he had expected.
That was just as well. With no need for any additional trades, Ye Qiyan built the power generation device straight away.
[Power Generation Device] [Consumes diesel to generate electricity]
There was diesel on the trading platform, but only one barrel, and it contained very little. Even if he bought it, it would not last long at all. Trying to acquire more would probably be difficult too.
Dissatisfied, Ye Qiyan patted the calf-high power generation device and began Ascension.
[Power Generation Device → Power Generator · Enchanted Omnivore] (Level 3) [Can consume resources: metal/wood/coal/oil... to generate electricity]
"Now I don't have to buy fuel."
He casually tossed in a piece of wood, and the charge gauge on the generator rose a little.
He bought some light bulbs and hung them inside the carriages. With electricity, he would no longer have to endure the darkness at night.
On his fourth day in this world, he could finally lie in bed and count the stars as he drifted off to sleep like an ordinary human being.
Of course, there were no stars that night.
There were only the rolling black clouds overhead that made it hard to breathe.
The wilderness was especially desolate at night. No monsters harassed him that night, as the thunder grew increasingly sparse and the patter of rain gradually faded.
The thunderstorm weather quietly passed.
Early the next morning, dazzling sunlight streamed through the window onto Ye Qiyan's face.
Waking groggily, he stretched, casually grabbed a Whiteforest Fruit for breakfast, and headed toward the locomotive out of habit.
But the moment he entered the locomotive, the rolling wave of heat instantly jolted him awake.
"Holy shit! It's so hot! What's going on?"
["Ding-dong!"]
The broadcast sounded.
["Today's weather is Hot Wind Day."]
["Attention, all conductors. Please maintain your body temperature and avoid heatstroke."]
"The weather changed again? But this time, it didn't say the platforms would change along with it."
Ye Qiyan returned to the temperature-controlled carriage and washed his face. Then he gritted his teeth and went back to the locomotive anyway.
"It's really inconvenient that the control system can only be used in the locomotive."
He opened the chatroom, which was already buzzing with voices.
In fact, everyone except Ye Qiyan had been woken by the heat as soon as the weather began to change. He was the only one who had managed to sleep until now.
Before you continue