The train's speed began to gradually slacken.
As the rhythmic roaring faded into a dull hum, Ethan Ye arrived at his first station.
Standing before the carriage door, he took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the sublimated dagger, and pressed the release button.
The world outside the door was draped in absolute silence.
Darkness pressed in from all sides, devoid of any natural light, save for a massive structure directly in his line of sight that loomed like a giant matchbox.
He looked up; there was no sun here, yet both the path beneath his feet and the building ahead were visible with eerie clarity.
"Space-time traversal... such unfathomable power. No wonder the arrival times for all trains are identical."
Leaving the train, it took less than ten steps to reach the entrance. The doors were tightly shut. He wedged his dagger into the crevice to pry them open, and as the heavy doors gave way, the pungent scent of decay rushed out to meet him.
Stepping inside, he scanned the interior. Row after row of wooden crates were arranged in neat formation; the stench of rot was emanating directly from these boxes.
Ethan used his dagger to snap the rusted, decaying iron lock on the nearest crate. Inside, two bolt-action rifles lay half-buried in a bed of wood shavings.
[Low-Level Marksman Rifle]: Equipped with 20 rounds of low-level ammunition.
Two guns, forty rounds.
That was the haul from just one crate.
And there were many more such crates filling the expanse of this armory.
"Good stuff."
After prying open several more boxes in quick succession, Ethan began the arduous task of hauling the spoils back to the train.
After several trips back and forth, the strength sustained by his initial excitement finally began to wane.
[Current Stamina: 15 points]
Having used his Sublimation ability multiple times, Ethan's physical energy had long since hit its limit, though perhaps due to the adrenaline, his Spirit had recovered to 70.
During these three hours of docking, if he didn't find some form of energy replenishment, he doubted he would have the strength left to move any more supplies.
After resting for a moment, Ethan stopped the heavy lifting and began to scout the rest of the armory. On a shelf in a side room, he discovered several sealed iron cases.
In his old world, he had seen military supply videos that featured similar metal containers.
Driven by curiosity, he approached the cases. The stamped identification marks on the surface were blurred and faded, leaving only a vague, rectangular outline visible.
"Could it be..."
Ethan swallowed hard. He pried open a corner of an iron case and saw rows of compressed biscuits neatly stacked like gold bars, emitting a faint milky aroma mixed with the slight tang of fermentation.
"It really is!"
Ignoring any concerns about expiration dates, he grabbed a piece and stuffed it into his mouth.
"If only there was some water."
Though his food supply for the near future was secured, he was far from satisfied. He only ate one piece of the compressed biscuit; after all, while such things filled the stomach, they also induced a fierce thirst.
He discovered a total of four canisters containing military rations—eighty pieces of compressed biscuit in all.
It was enough to sustain a normal adult male for about half a month.
In the vicinity, he also found some sealed barrels of water, but unfortunately, the odor coming from them made it clear they were non-potable.
Nevertheless, Ethan hauled them all onto the train anyway.
The armory was a semi-enclosed, matchbox-like space. The combination of collapsed shelves, piles of rotting matter on the floor, and the putrid stench hanging in the air made exploration exceptionally difficult. The further in he went, the thicker the smell of decay became.
In over two hours, Ethan found only forty-two functional rifles. Most of the others had rusted into uselessness due to poor storage, their only remaining value being scrap for the Processing Table.
Beyond the weapons, he gathered any easily portable ironware and timber he could find and moved them to the car.
While the train could be upgraded through Sublimation, crafting items still required raw materials. Even if he didn't use them himself, he could trade them with others.
Returning to the carriage with another load of supplies, he checked the countdown on the control system.
There were thirty minutes left until departure—enough for one or two more trips.
"One more go. There should be enough time."
Looking at the now-crowded interior of the train, Ethan felt that the most urgent thing to build was the first ordinary carriage. He had enough wood and machine parts from the crates and the scrap rifles processed at the table, but he was still significantly short on metal. Construction was temporarily impossible.
"Those few rooms... I don't think I've been in there yet."
Returning to the armory, he bypassed the mess on the floor and headed straight for the innermost section. He pushed open the few remaining unexplored doors. From the internal decor, it was vaguely apparent that these areas had once served as living and resting quarters.
The first few rooms yielded nothing special, until the very last one, where something unexpected finally appeared.
Crunch.
It was the sound of bone being crushed.
Ethan slowly looked down. Beneath his boot, a segment of a skeleton's fibula had been ground into powder.
"Sorry about that, brother. Didn't mean it."
He wasn't particularly afraid. Since childhood, even the most gruesome horror movies had only struck him as entertaining; the swollen, livid faces of the deceased at funerals never stirred any discomfort in him.
As Ethan withdrew his foot and prepared to turn away, he noticed a dust-covered paper file folder lying beneath the remains.
It wasn't strange to find a folder in an armory, but its condition was far too pristine. If even the iron and wood had rotted to such an extent, how could a paper bag remain completely intact?
Fueled by doubt, Ethan pulled the folder from beneath the skeleton.
He didn't open it immediately. Instead, he jogged back to the train. The control system in the carriage had an item appraisal function; if there were traps inside, the system should be able to detect them.
[Level 1 Treasure Chest] (Openable)
"This is actually a treasure chest?!"
Staring at the folder, which was as thin as a crisp cracker, his face was a mask of shock and delight.
"Heh, thanks a million, Mr. Bones. I'll make sure you get a proper burial later."
He smiled and reached out to open it, but then his hands froze.
"Wait... this chest should be able to be sublimated too, right?"
Just as with the train earlier, once the thought appeared, there was no way to push it to the back of his mind.
He checked his personal information.
[Stamina: 30][Spirit: 80]
"For such a small bag, even if it uses Spirit, it shouldn't be too much. Besides, I have the compressed biscuits; if I eat another piece, I can recover some Stamina. It'll be fine."
Perhaps it was a peculiar quirk of this world, but the recovery of Stamina after eating was remarkably rapid.
Besides, when a person starts convincing themselves, it means the decision has already been made.
Thus, Ethan silently intoned those two words in his heart.
"Sublimation."
The numbers for Stamina and Spirit began to dwindle.
[Spirit has dropped below 50. Entering state: Self-Doubt.]
He slumped onto the carriage floor like a fish out of water, motionless, staring at the slightly swaying ceiling lamp. It was a long while before he sat back up.
[Stamina: 30 → 20][Spirit: 80 → 50]
"I don't... really feel anything."
Ethan scratched his head.
Aside from the physical fatigue, he didn't feel any discomfort associated with the so-called "Self-Doubt" state.
Shaking his head, he carefully examined the folder in his hands, which appeared outwardly unchanged.
Upgrading a Level 1 chest to Level 2 had cost a total of 40 points between Stamina and Spirit—a larger sum than he had anticipated.
[Level 2 Treasure Chest] (Openable)
"Looks like I can't continue sublimating this. Does this kind of item only have the potential for one upgrade? Or is there some specific rule?"
"Whatever. Open it first."
Rubbing his hands together, Ethan pulled open the folder.
[Opening Level 2 Treasure Chest...]
[Obtained Train Coins: 4]
[Obtained: Colt M1911 Pistol]
[Obtained: Level 2 Blueprint: External Waste Collector]