“Hiss, my head hurts so much…”
Bai Cheng sat up from the ground, rubbing her still dizzy head. “I think I had a strange dream, dreaming that I transmigrated again.”
She laughed dryly, “Haha, how could this… What the hell?!!!”
Bai Cheng instantly jumped up in shock, her back no longer aching, her legs no longer sore.
“What a joke!”
Bai Cheng looked around and found herself in a spacious, dimly lit indoor room.
The wall-mounted lamp cast a faint yellow light, illuminating a wooden table directly below it, on which sat a simple black backpack.
Besides that, connected to three walls, directly behind Bai Cheng, was a huge triangular screen, but it was motionless, looking more like a wall.
And beneath it was a human-powered railcar that looked incredibly dilapidated.
Seeing the section of rail beneath the wheels, Bai Cheng’s pupils contracted, and the dream she just had instantly became clear.
“Oh, for crying out loud, I really did transmigrate.”
Having already transmigrated once, Bai Cheng accepted it quickly. She sighed, deciding to make the best of it.
“Survival game? Infinite Train?” Bai Cheng meticulously checked the room again. Aside from the so-called novice gift package, there was nothing else helpful in the room.
She stepped forward and opened the black backpack. Inside were two packs of compressed biscuits, two 500ml bottles of mineral water, a small dagger, and a box of only twenty matches.
Bai Cheng shook the backpack, not believing it, and indeed, there was nothing else inside.
She remembered the safe period was five days, but this food was clearly only enough for one day.
“This initial station has nothing. It seems I can’t waste any more time here.” Bai Cheng immediately put on the backpack, grabbed the only wooden table with one hand, and walked towards the human-powered railcar.
She remembered clearly that everyone had to reach First Station, five hundred kilometers away, within the five-day safe period, or their train would be destroyed and they would die.
Staying here for even one more second was a waste of life.
Stepping onto the decaying wooden steps, Bai Cheng struggled quite a bit to move the table onto the human-powered railcar.
The railcar’s space wasn't large, estimated to be about six square meters.
On the car, there was only a single fixed power lever for one person, and a brake lever. The floor was entirely constructed from steel frames and fasteners, so much so that one could even see the wheel hubs and tracks below through the flat plate.
And yet, on such a simple and rusty human-powered railcar, there was an ultra-modern screen at its front.
“The Infinite Train’s system?” This was not difficult for Bai Cheng, who was well-versed in web novels, to understand.
She stepped forward to check it, and the screen automatically lit up.
What greeted her eyes were several minimalist modules: 【Channel】, 【Trade】, 【Tips】, 【Mail】, 【My Train】, and 【Personal Info】.
“It has that vibe.” Bai Cheng immediately clicked through them with curiosity.
First, she clicked on the channel, and a screen full of messages instantly flooded in.
“Where the hell did they bring me? Is this still China?!”
“No, bro, I was just taking a shit, didn’t even wipe my ass. What do I do now, air dry?”
“Ah, paralyzed mother, alcoholic dad, good-for-nothing younger brother, and her who cheated… Maybe coming here is a good thing…”
“Damn! I begged my girlfriend for ages and she finally agreed to give it to me. I just pushed her down and hadn’t even gotten in, and you’re telling me I transmigrated?!”
“Ahhh, I just got my Spring Breeze Spirit and haven’t even had a chance to use it yet!!!”
“……”
It was clear that everyone was complaining the moment they transmigrated, evidently without any sense of urgency about survival.
The chat messages scrolled by quickly. Everyone’s avatar was a headshot of themselves, and it was a real-name system.
Bai Cheng looked at the bottom right corner, which displayed 【Regional Channel: 10000 people】, and the bottom left corner showed 【Daily Remaining Posts: 10】.
“It seems if I’m lucky, there’s still a chance to meet acquaintances.”
She wasn’t in the mood to chat and turned to check the remaining modules.
Trade was also regional trade, and as soon as Bai Cheng clicked it open, many people had already listed their items.
“Trader: Cai Zhongfen”
“Item for Trade: One pair of overalls”
“Demand: One 500ml bottle of mineral water.”
Besides these, there were also useless items like compressed biscuit wrappers, hair ties, and so on; she didn't see anything like ‘original flavor’ items.
Bai Cheng also saw a few people selling tables, like the small wooden table currently on her railcar.
“Hmm, in a sense, this can also be considered part of the novice gift package.”
Bai Cheng then opened the 【Tips】 module, which clearly displayed two messages.
“1. Safe period remaining: 5 days.”
“2. Please arrive at and defend #1 Station before the safe period ends.”
“Reminder: If #1 Station falls, your train will begin self-destructing!”
Train self-destruction, train destroyed and people dead, obviously this also meant Bai Cheng would face death.
The 【Mail】 module, as the name suggested, was empty when opened. The only additional function was to add friends.
Bai Cheng continued to open 【My Train】, and detailed information about the human-powered railcar immediately appeared on the screen.
“Train: Dilapidated Human-Powered Railcar”
“Level: Cannot be upgraded!”
“Armored Core: None yet”
“Crew: None yet”
“Advancement Conditions: 0/50 Exquisite Leather, 0/100 Fine Wood, 0/200 Iron Ingots, 0/1 Steam Engine.”
Besides displaying this information, the screen also showed a dynamic view of the railcar that could be swiped left and right, with each position marked for parts that could be added or modified.
For example, walls, floors, and even the power lever and brake lever could be replaced.
There was also an item compendium in the bottom right corner, which Bai Cheng guessed was used to unlock constructions.
“I just feel like there are quite a lot of upgrade materials…” She pouted and opened the last personal module.
It was basically the same as 【My Train】, except this time it presented Bai Cheng’s own detailed and digitized personal information.
“Lieche Zhang (Train Conductor) - Title: Bai Cheng”
“Level: Not yet unlocked, killing monsters can grant experience points.”
“Strength: 3 (Standard 10)”
“Physique: 4”
“Spirit: 5”
“Talent: cheng book (Any item without an upgrade path can be strengthened through use.)”
“What is this?” Bai Cheng looked at the last column, ‘Talent,’ with a puzzled expression.
But with a thought, an ancient book with a black cover and yellowed pages immediately appeared in Bai Cheng’s hand.
“Oh ho?” Bai Cheng’s face lit up with joy. “It seems this is my cheat!”
She eagerly opened the cheng book, and the first page that met her eyes was a strange item selection page.
“Items without an upgrade path?” Bai Cheng looked at her box of matches. “Does this count?”
At the same time, an image of the matchbox immediately appeared on the cheng book, with a small line of text below it.
“There is a 24-hour cooldown after changing the upgrade item.”
“…??”
“Matches: 0/20”
Bai Cheng roughly understood: her talent was to strengthen items after using them a certain number of times.
But the key was, this box of matches only had 20 sticks in total!
Wasn't this telling her to use them all up?
She hadn’t even started the train yet, and she was supposed to use up her fire source. Was she trying to make her survival difficulty too low…
“Damn it, whatever!”
“If something as outrageous as transmigration can happen, then my talent can’t be a trick, right?!”
Bai Cheng immediately pulled out a match and started lighting it.
The 20 matches ignited quickly, and the matchbox was completely empty in no time.
The progress on the cheng book also successfully reached 20/20.
The next second, the matchbox in Bai Cheng’s hand flashed with a white light, transforming into a white lighter.
“What the hell?!”