["So hot, so hot, so hot, so hot, so hot!!! I'm about to roast alive! Just how hot is it outside!?"]
["At least forty degrees. The hottest it ever got where I used to live was about the same as this."]
["Water... someone sell me some water. I can't take it anymore."]
["Didn't you collect water during yesterday's thunderstorm? It wasn't very clean, but you could at least drink it after boiling it, right?"]
["Of course I did, but what good does that do? In this heat, any water I drink comes right back out as sweat in no time. Besides, this train is a tin box. With the sun beating down on it, how is this any different from an oven?"]
["Just bear with it. We'll reach the next station in a few more hours. The announcement didn't say the next station would have this awful weather too, did it?"]
["Bear with it? Ha. Check your own spirit. Haven't you noticed? Ever since it got this hot, our spirit and stamina stats have been dropping. I can only slow it down a little by splashing some cool water over myself... If this keeps up, even if the heat doesn't kill me, I'm afraid I'll have gone mad."]
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Ye Qiyan gulped down an entire bottle of mineral water, then opened his personal interface to check his information.
[Stamina: 98][Spirit: 110]
His stamina was indeed falling, but his spirit hadn't changed the way the others described.
"My spirit seems different from everyone else's? Could that also be because I ate too many Whiteforest Fruits?"
Bang!
A gunshot interrupted his thoughts.
He looked toward the sound.
The defense device was firing.
Outside the train, a pack of scrawny jackals had gathered at some point and seemed to be chasing after it.
They weren't fast compared to his train, which had already reached level 3. What really caught his attention was that, unlike during nighttime survival, these monsters hadn't been announced by the train broadcast. They had simply appeared outside and started chasing the train.
And perhaps this sort of thing might become the norm in the future.
"So they don't appear for everyone at once? It really is completely random."
No one in the chat had mentioned this, meaning Ye Qiyan had only encountered this pack of jackals because of his own bad luck.
[You have a new message]
The private chat interface flashed faintly.
Someone had sent him a message.
Zhao Lin: [Brother Ye, are there monsters outside your train?]
It was Zhao Lin, the person who made automatic fishing rods and an easy trader to deal with.
Had she encountered monsters?
Ye Qiyan glanced at the jackals outside, which were gradually falling behind.
["Did you run into them too?"]
["Yes. If I hadn't barely managed to raise my speed to 35 kilometers per hour after the fourth station, they probably would've caught me already. Those birds were really scary. A lot of them crashed into the windows as they passed. If I hadn't had the gun you sold me, Brother Ye, I'd have been done for."]
Birds, then. They weren't the same type of monster as the jackals he'd encountered.
["Oh, so what do you want to buy this time?"]
["...I want to buy materials for upgrading, but I don't have any Train Coins left right now. Can I pay with fish?"]
ID E-3-7741
Dressed in very light clothing, Zhao Lin watched the messages on the private chat interface nervously.
Sweat trickled down her wheat-colored skin.
She was very afraid that Ye Qiyan would refuse her purchase.
But she truly couldn't think of anyone else she could buy upgrade materials from.
After all, speed meant life. There were only two days left before the next nighttime survival round, and all the remaining survivors were now working hard to upgrade their trains. No one was willing to sell upgrade materials.
"If even Brother Ye won't sell to me, what am I supposed to do... Ugh, my talent really screws me over."
Zhao Lin also possessed a talent.
[Luck Equilibrium] [Good luck follows bad luck; bad luck follows good luck]
At the third station, her luck had been terrible. She had entered a dark, damp Bat Cave and hadn't dared leave the train at all, toughing it out inside for three hours.
Her fourth station, however, had been a fish pond. Using the fishing rods she had been making from the very beginning, she had actually caught over a hundred fish and a level 1 treasure chest in just three hours.
She hadn't even had any bait. The fish had all run into her hooks as though they were blind.
Without a doubt, that had been a stroke of good luck.
But what about next time?
Next time was destined to bring bad luck, and she most likely still wouldn't be able to upgrade her train. That would leave her with only one station's worth of opportunity before the nighttime survival round.
Zhao Lin didn't dare gamble on obtaining enough resources to upgrade in a single station.
She could only pray that she would be able to buy them from Ye Qiyan, the powerful player who was the only person who might sell her resources.
Upon seeing Zhao Lin's message, Ye Qiyan chose to refuse without a second thought.
He wasn't short on food now. He had only sold Zhao Lin a hundred bullets before because he had happened to want some fish, and Low-level Bullets weren't much use to him anymore.
["Sorry, not interested."]
Zhao Lin panicked, as though her lifeline were about to snap.
["No, please, Brother Ye! Just think of it as... as saving me. Please sell me some resources. You're the only person I can think of who can spare upgrade resources right now! If I don't upgrade soon, I definitely won't survive the next nighttime survival round."]
["There are still two stations left. It's not as though you have no chance of reaching level 2."]
["Other people might, but I can't... Brother Ye, I have a talent..."]
Zhao Lin gritted her teeth and revealed the entire secret of her talent.
Looking at the screenshot she sent, Ye Qiyan saw someone else's talent for the first time.
"Good and bad luck alternate. Uh, what a bizarre talent. My Ascension is better after all. Still, no wonder she's anxious. If the next station brings bad luck, even if the one after that brings good luck, she might not necessarily manage to upgrade."
Ye Qiyan thought for a moment.
["How much are you still short?"]
["38 kilograms of wood, 22 kilograms of metal, and 14 Mechanical Parts."]
["You must have opened a treasure chest before this, right? Give me what was inside it, plus ten fish. And once you've upgraded, I want to see your upgrade options. Oh, don't give me that fishing rod blueprint. I want the treasure chest you opened at the last station. Don't get it wrong."]
He did have the materials. After all, he had been the first among the train conductors to trade firearms for materials. Now, even if he offered those guns again, it would be difficult to trade for basic materials that could determine whether a train could be upgraded.
However, Ye Qiyan wasn't a philanthropist. He was only helping her because she had a talent, and perhaps he could make better trades with her in the future.
["Okay! Thank you. You're such a good person! I'll repay you!"]
The trade went through, and several items and ten freshwater fish appeared before him within a ring of light.
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