"The supplies are limited. Once everyone has secured basic resources, no further progress is possible."
Bai Cheng’s gaze sharpened. Combined with what Tang Yan had told her earlier, she had deduced the fundantal rule of this world.
"The five-day safe period is rely for everyone to gather supplies for upgrading their trains."
"And the later you arrive at a station, the greater the danger you’ll face."
In other words, the previous macho man’s strategy of rushing ahead was actually correct?
No matter what, reaching the station was the sole task of all survivors.
Bai Cheng had already realized this. She glanced at the remaining distance on the odoter and sighed. "Looks like I need to hurry."
But before that, she needed to gather enough wood.
Bai Cheng picked up her axe and prepared to step off the train.
The mont her small leather shoes touched the soft grass, a rustling sound echoed.
The next second, a dark figure with blood-red eyes suddenly charged at her!
Thwack!
The curved tusks, driven by imnse force, collided with the indestructible safety barrier and instantly snapped.
Then, the black boar’s head slamd heavily against the barrier, leaving it dazed and wobbling before collapsing to the ground.
Bai Cheng was startled, but she was no longer a newcor to this world.
Her reaction was fast. She imdiately grabbed the stone spear from the cart behind her. Its tip was wrapped tightly with a stocking and rubber bands, securing the Fatal Edge.
The blade sliced through the boar’s rough, black hide, and blood seeped out. Within monts, the beast before her stopped moving.
[Congratulations! You have slain the Beast-Class Silent Night Boar. Obtained 1 EXP, Employee Card ×1!]
Bai Cheng leaned against the rail cart, heart still pounding. She hadn’t sensed the boar’s approach at all.
If not for the safety barrier, her stomach would likely have been pierced by now.
As she watched the boar’s corpse slowly dissolve into a pool of pus, its thick blood oozing toward her feet, she froze.
I’m less than three ters from the corpse, and I’m right next to the rail cart...
"The barrier is shrinking!"
Bai Cheng reached a startling conclusion, one that confird the system’s earlier warning.
With the boar’s corpse so close, she didn’t even need to asure to estimate the train’s current safe radius—two ters.
This ant that even if there were plenty of trees at night, the number within the safety zone would drastically decrease.
"Gathering wood just got harder... but it should still be enough."
Picking up her lantern, Bai Cheng cautiously scanned her surroundings.
Although the deeper darkness made it hard to see anything, she couldn’t shake the eerie feeling of countless eyes watching her from the shadows.
This was sothing she hadn’t experienced the previous night.
"If I step outside the safe zone now, I’ll probably be torn to pieces."
She raised an eyebrow, refocused, and began chopping wood.
Compared to the stone axe from the first night, which took nearly twenty minutes to cut down a tree, the silver axe in her hands now required only two swings to cut down a tree as thick as a person.
The efficiency had improved several tis over, but...
"The durability hasn’t decreased?" Bai Cheng was stunned.
This ant that she probably couldn’t upgrade the silver axe further.
Shaking it off, she quickly cut down all three trees within the train’s two-ter radius.
After gathering the wood, she prepared to move forward and repeat the process.
"It’s a bit tedious, but still manageable." She frowned. Despite her exhaustion, she had to et her goal.
If the barrier shrank again tomorrow, failing to complete her task today would an losing her chance entirely.
For the remaining three days of the safety period, Bai Cheng planned to focus solely on traveling and reaching Station One as fast as possible.
"I’m just not sure if scrap iron can be slted into iron ingots..."
Munching on a chocolate bar, she pondered ways to obtain iron ingots.
But less than a hundred ters later, the dim glow of her lantern revealed a thick, black, viscous mass ahead.
It was about half a person’s height. Its form was indistinct, yet it sprawled directly over the tracks in front of her.
At the sa ti, a ssage flashed on her screen:
[Warning! Unknown obstruction detected on the tracks. Please clear it imdiately!]
Bai Cheng frowned. The obstruction was outside the safety barrier. She didn’t dare, nor did she intend to take the risk.
"This Lady refuse to believe that you can crawl inside the barrier!"
She knew that this was another hazard that arose from prolonged stays outside.
But she didn’t stop. Instead, she tried to ram straight through the slimy mass.
However, when the safety barrier collided with the black substance, it deford under the pressure, slowly oozing to either side.
The movent was sluggish, a sign of its extre viscosity.
At the sa ti, Bai Cheng’s rail cart lurched as if stuck in quicksand. After a few futile attempts, it could no longer move forward.
The rail cart’s speed was too slow to force its way through.
Fortunately, the mass was now pressed right against the barrier. Bai Cheng had no choice but to stop, pick up her lantern, and inspect it.
"What the hell is this?" She raised an eyebrow. There was no foul sll.
"But the system said to clear it..."
So far, she hadn’t unlocked any tools like shovels. The only thod she could think of was burning it.
Kneeling, she adjusted her lighter to its highest setting and flicked it on.
Sss!
A blue fla shot out like a needle, stabbing into the black sli.
The next mont—
WHOOSH!
The entire mass erupted into flas.
Orange-red fire surged upward, with thick black smoke billowing into the sky.
The bright blaze dispelled the surrounding darkness, startling the hidden beasts in the forest and causing them to flee.
Bai Cheng’s face glowed red in the firelight as she retreated to the rail cart.
But no kill notification appeared on the screen, aning that the thing wasn’t considered a living creature.
"I don’t know where this roadblock ca from, but if it burns this easily, it shouldn’t hinder survivors for long, right?"
But she soon realized that she was wrong.
After cutting down and collecting wood from two nearby trees, the black mass was still burning.
Bai Cheng’s lips twitched. "You’ve got to be kidding ..."
Judging by the flas, which had only just begun to die down, it would keep burning for a while longer.
Sitting cross-legged, she glanced at her silver axe, then summoned the Book of Cheng.
"I want to switch my upgrade item!"
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