Arms trading

[Stamina: 21][Spirit: 59]

[Current status: Exhausted]

Aboard the train, Ye Qiyan lay motionless like a total slacker who had lost all his dreams.

In the final stretch, he had used the last of his strength to make two round trips to the Armory. Aside from the considerable effort spent hauling supplies, he had not forgotten his promise, using a shovel to dig a grave for the remains and erecting an unmarked headstone.

At last, that wrapped up his final haul at this station.

As the departure countdown reached zero.

The stationary train slowly set off.

Ahead of the locomotive, spatial ripples abruptly appeared again.

The train picked up speed, and after passing through that space, it returned once more to the boundless, dim wasteland.

At that same moment, the train's broadcast sounded.

[Ding-all train conductors have left the platforms. Congratulations to all 9,892 of you on safely departing the First Beginner Station.]

[You have officially left the beginner safety period.]

[Starting at the Second Station, trains will no longer be guaranteed to stop in safe areas.]

The announcement caused an uproar.

["What does that mean? Weren't we supposed to leave the platforms an hour ago?"]

["Someone stayed at the first station for an extra hour? How is that fair?"]

["Could the rules be fake? Maybe the trains won't leave even if we don't board before the countdown ends? Anyone want to try at the next station?"]

["You're right. You try it at the next station."]

["Damn it, I want to report someone for cheating!"]

["The first station was actually safe?! If I'd known, I would've gotten off to take a look."]

["Can people die even at safe stations?"]

["Of course. My first station was a desert. If I hadn't been lucky, quicksand would've swallowed me."]

They had no idea that the "big shot" they were discussing was sitting propped up on the floor, sorting through his entire final haul from this station.

[Low-level Marksman Rifle]: 49

[Low-level Bullets]: 1,100 rounds

[Wood]: 150 kg

[Metal]: 104 kg

[Mechanical Parts]: 162

Besides these, he had also found some usable tools in the Armory, hardware such as crowbars, shovels, and screwdrivers. Apart from the broken ones, which he tossed into the workbench to dismantle and recycle, he kept everything for future use.

As for the blueprints he currently owned, the 40 kilograms of metal and 110 Mechanical Parts needed for the [Low-level Water Tank] and [External Garbage Collector] were no great expense to him.

He placed the blueprints and supplied the resources.

Both could be installed on the train through the Train Control System.

"Put the water tank inside the carriage and hang the collector outside on the carriage's left side."

Once installation was complete, Ye Qiyan got up and walked into the carriage. A noticeable portion of the supplies was gone, replaced by a metal tank with wheels secured in place.

This Low-level Water Tank could hold a thousand kilograms of water and had a nonremovable partition that kept dirty water and clean water separate.

After he poured the dirty water he had brought out of the Armory into the dirty-water compartment, it took up roughly a tenth of that compartment, or fifty kilograms.

"Too bad there's no water purifier."

Ye Qiyan felt a little regretful, but he was not particularly anxious.

["Buying water, glass, fiber, blueprints, and various other resources and items. If interested, message me privately with your price. Trading firearms and food."]

This was the first message he sent to the public chat, and after sending it, he paid it no further attention.

Clearly, firearms were precious, just as he had told Li Xiaosheng earlier. There would be people who understood their value.

["Guns? The kind where you pull a trigger?! Holy crap, can you give me one?!"]

["You've got some nerve, asking someone to give you something as rare as a gun."]

["All I got at my first station was a mess of chicken feathers. How come other people already have firearms?"]

["Collecting resources? Are you upgrading your train, big shot?"]

["Carry me, big shot! I'm an innocent college girl. Give me some food, and when we meet, you can do anything you want to me!"]

After inspecting the water tank, Ye Qiyan checked the collector as well.

The collector hanging from the carriage roof looked entirely like a black iron box. He would have to reach the Second Station before he could see it working.

Only after finishing all this did Ye Qiyan finally have the leisure to open the chat interface, where he also saw that his private messages had been bombarded.

Zhao Ke: ["Big shot, give me a gun and I'll be your lackey. Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it!"]

Lin Zhaopeng: ["Friend, could you share how you obtained firearms? At a time like this, we should all help each other. If you have lots of firearms, you can give them to me to distribute to people in need. That way, more people can survive."]

Shangguan Yingxue: ["Lake water, 20 kilograms. Containers not provided."]

Kane Jones: ["I only have 16 kilograms of glass. Can I trade that for a gun?"]

"Foreigners?"

Looking at some of the unusual names, Ye Qiyan was a little surprised.

But on further thought, that made sense. Nothing in this world of train survival had ever said that only humans from the same country existed here. No, perhaps even whether they came from the same world was uncertain.

After blocking and muting the people who liked guilt-tripping others or asking for freebies, Ye Qiyan carefully screened the messages and did find a few people he could trade with.

"Twenty kilograms of lake water is too little."

After thinking for a moment, Ye Qiyan replied to the woman named Shangguan Yingxue.

["I'll need a more sincere offer."]

Train conductor number E-3-3924, Shangguan Yingxue, frowned slightly at the reply in the chat interface and hesitated for a moment.

Shangguan Yingxue: ["How much do you want? Name your price."]

Ye Qiyan: ["100 kilograms."]

At this point, water was more precious than resources like metal.

After all, lives depended on it.

It was not just that water was needed to sustain life. More importantly, at this stage, even if someone's first station had been a lake with clean water, very few would also have containers for storing it.

If it were purified drinking water, he would have been willing to lower the price a little, but this was lake water, which he would have to purify himself.

Shangguan Yingxue: ["..."]

["You're asking for too much. Let me think about it..."]