"You think a single employee card will change my mind?" Bai Cheng sneered, but Tang Yan's brief words had revealed a fair bit of information.
In any case, this guy was definitely not simple.
Closing their chat, Bai Cheng stared at the trading interface for a few more minutes. This time, neither the others nor Tang Yan offered any more employee cards.
Only when the Book of Cheng's urging echoed in her mind again did Bai Cheng reluctantly resume chopping trees, her expression slightly disappointed.
As Tang Yan had said, resources along the way were extremely limited. Fortunately, trees were still highly useful to Bai Cheng in her current state.
While traveling, she hacked away at one small tree after another. As the last sapling fell, her trusty bronze axe suddenly flashed with a violet light.
The next moment, the dull bronze axe in her hands transformed into a gleaming silver one.
The blade was smaller than before, and the axe felt incredibly light in her grip. Even the handle was now made of the same metal as the blade.
[Name: Silver Axe]
[Grade: Purple]
[Durability: 100]
[Description: Forged entirely from mithril, this axe can effortlessly fell trees and even inflict severe spiritual damage on intangible monsters.]
[Evaluation: Chopping wood and exorcising evil, two birds with one stone!]
The information this time was far more detailed.
"Exorcising evil?" Bai Cheng examined the silver axe in her hand. "So it can damage demon-type monsters?"
It wasn't hard to understand, but what she really looked forward to was seeing what form the axe would take after its next upgrade.
"100 durability means just a hundred trees."
Although gathering wood was slower during the day, it allowed her to upgrade the axe quickly.
Bai Cheng set a goal for herself. She had to upgrade the axe to gold before nightfall!
Gripping the silver axe, she swung at a small tree ahead. It took almost no effort, and the moment the blade touched the trunk, an invisible force seemed to burst forth.
The trunk split, then toppled, transforming into several pieces of wood.
Bai Cheng was stunned. "One hit? Just one!?"
One swing per tree?!
Skeptical, she immediately chopped down a few more nearby saplings, and each one fell in a single strike without exception.
"This is amazing!"
Overjoyed, she bent down to pick up the wood, but her hand froze mid-air as she realized something.
"Wait… the durability didn't drop?"
[Silver Axe: 0/100]
Her face instantly fell. There was no way to upgrade the axe by chopping trees during the day now.
Still, she wasn't too disappointed. Her wood-gathering efficiency had greatly improved.
If she couldn't start off rich with a water filter, then Bai Cheng would rely on her own hard work to trade wood for everything she wanted!
What if I can't trade for something? Then I just need more wood!
One hour, two and a half hours, four hours…
Bai Cheng tirelessly chopped down tree after tree, pushing her body to its limits. The rail cart was overloaded with lumber, slowing it down considerably.
Yet the silver axe remained unchanged, its durability still untouched.
Even though chopping trees now required almost no effort, Bai Cheng felt her body reaching its breaking point.
When she looked up at the sky again, the light had dimmed significantly.
"It's getting dark already?" Frowning, she realized that she didn't feel particularly hungry.
Tossing the axe onto the cart, she plopped down, her entire body aching. Her arms felt like they didn't belong to her anymore. "So tired… so sleepy…"
She glanced at the odometer:
[Distance to next station: 446 km]
"Still so far away…" She sighed in despair. "There's barely any supplies along the way. Once I restock, I'll have to hurry."
After a full day and night, she had only covered 54 km out of the 500 km distance. She suspected that she was the slowest among all the survivors.
A hundred pieces of fine wood were synthesized in an instant, replacing the rough, square-cut logs with polished, high-quality fine wood.
Bai Cheng immediately opened [My Train] and submitted all the materials.
Before focusing on traveling, she needed to not only fully stock her train with every material except for the steam engine, but also stockpile enough food and water.
Most importantly, she had to upgrade her employee card.
Defending Station One alone would be impossible on her own.
"Now that I think about it, everyone's first employee is some kind of wild beast, and some are even worse than wild beasts. Can an animal really defend a station?"
Bai Cheng found it hard to believe. Maybe the so-called 'danger' of Station One wasn't that severe, or perhaps individual strength mattered more than employees.
"Could it be that the Infinite Raider sounds fierce but is actually just for show?"
She didn't dwell on it. Her plan remained unchanged. She needed to upgrade her employee card to the highest possible rank before reaching Station One.
[Train: Dilapidated Hand-Powered Rail Cart]
[Grade: Cannot be upgraded!]
[Armor Core: None]
[Employees: None]
[Advancement Requirements: 0/50 Refined Leather, 100/100 Fine Wood, 0/200 Iron Ingot, 0/1 Steam Engine.]
"Still need a hundred pieces of leather." She raised an eyebrow.
After dinner, she planned to wait for nightfall and trade wood for the remaining leather she needed.
Seeing the dwindling stock of fine wood in her cart, she decided to trade some for food first.
But the moment she opened the trading interface, an employee card materialized out of thin air and dropped onto the ground.
[Trader Lin Qiuyue has exchanged your wooden hunting bow for Employee Card ×1!]
"It actually sold!" Delight flashed across her face. She glanced at the card, and it depicted a rat.
After trading some fine wood for food, she prepared to cook.
Of course, she still habitually checked the public channel for entertainment.
However, entertainment was secondary. The main reason was to monitor other survivors' progress and ensure that she wasn't falling behind or, if she was ahead, learn how far ahead she was.
The first message she saw made her freeze.
"Guys, nightfall is speeding up! I have a watch. Yesterday, it went dark at 6 PM, but now it's not even 5 yet!"
Instinctively, Bai Cheng looked up. The sky was unnaturally dark, and it would probably take less than half an hour for it to be completely dark.
Others in the channel chimed in as well:
"I knew it felt early today! So it really is getting darker sooner!"
"Damn, is nightfall just gonna keep coming earlier? We're all in danger!"
"…"
Before Bai Cheng's meat could finish roasting, the world plunged into darkness.
With the sunlight gone, the solar-powered lamp on the rail cart flickered to life, casting a dim yellow glow that barely pushed back the encroaching shadows.
But when Bai Cheng looked around, the grasslands were gone, replaced by the eerie dark forest again.
[The Silent Night Descends!]
[Hint: The longer you stay outside a Station, the greater the danger!]
Bai Cheng suddenly understood. The system wasn't referring to how long she parked outside a Station, but the total time spent outside any Station!
And in that moment, she finally grasped the true purpose of the five-day safety period before reaching Station One.