Bai Cheng's face lit up with joy. As for the rest of the information, they were just resource prompts.
She ignored them and immediately checked her personal information.
[Train Conductor: Bai Cheng]
[Rank: Common Rank 1 (Ranks are divided into Common (Pre-Transcendence), Elite, Warlord, Guardian, King, and Emperor. Each rank has nine tiers.)]
[EXP: 2%]
[Strength: 6]
[Constitution: 5]
[Spirit: 6]
[Talent: Book of Cheng]
This time, Bai Cheng genuinely felt that her physique had undergone a comprehensive enhancement. Even her mind felt sharper, now almost on par with an average adult male's baseline.
She stretched her limbs, feeling remarkably good.
"As expected, risk and reward are proportional!"
Her gaze lingered on her level: "Pre-Transcendence? So I'm still just an ordinary person now… Doesn't that mean in the future, I'll be able to move mountains and reign supreme?"
After all, judging by the system's warnings about monsters, she had long realized that this was no ordinary world.
Bai Cheng closed her stats and picked up the five Infinite Coins scattered on the ground, tossing them into her storage box.
"This is a decent feature. At least items like Infinite Coins don't drop directly from corpses."
She tilted her head toward the white wolf carcasses. Under the fire's light, she could clearly see that they had disintegrated into pools of blood and gore, like melted sludge.
She initially assumed that the system only meant that the meat of Silent Night Beasts was inedible and had even considered using it to scam others in trades.
Turns out, Silent Night Beasts didn't even drop meat. Instead, their corpses would dissolve into a pool of blood.
Still, aside from meat, nothing else was missing. In fact, killing them granted EXP, allowing her to unlock the level system earlier.
At night, the train would face danger no matter where it stopped. Despite the pungent stench of blood from the five nearby puddles, Bai Cheng had no intention of leaving just yet.
Instead, under the dim glow of her lighter, she began searching within a three-meter radius around the train.
Unlike the sparse saplings during the day, the night was a dense primeval forest. Every tree was massive, their canopies blotting out the sky.
As a result, fallen branches littered the ground everywhere.
Bai Cheng quickly gathered four around the train and rebuilt the campfire.
With the source of fire restored, she finally returned to the train to focus on her tasks.
[Name: Employee Card (Silent Night White Wolf)]
[Quality: Common]
[Evaluation: Maybe this is what a real dog looks like?]
It was identical to the Spotted Hyena's Employee Card, except for the image on the front.
Bai Cheng immediately pressed her two Employee Cards together. A flash of green light later, a new card emerged.
[Green Employee Card: 0/2]
"Just as I thought," Bai Cheng realized. "Two white cards synthesize into one green. So, upgrading this green card still requires another of the same grade."
[Name: Employee Card (Fierce Tiger)]
[Quality: Uncommon]
[Evaluation: Without a doubt, the king of beasts!]
She examined the new card in her hand. The front depicted a tiger baring its fangs.
"Compared to a hyena, the combat power of a tiger, the king of beasts, is definitely superior."
After some calculations, Bai Cheng figured that she would need at least 14 more white Employee Cards:
2 to upgrade to blue, 4 to purple, and 8 to gold.
to upgrade this green one to gold.
At first glance, that didn't seem like much. But hunting 14 new species in just four days would be tough. The best approach was still trading.
Now, Bai Cheng understood that to successfully defend Station One, employees were likely indispensable.
Even she, the conductor, had a leveling system. There was no way employees lacked progression methods.
"Those rushing ahead are probably just marching to their deaths," Bai Cheng sighed.
Next, she opened the screen and navigated to the [Trade] menu.
She still had five pieces of hyena meat left. She didn't keep any, listing them all for trade.
As for the piece bitten by the white wolf, it hadn't been eaten, so it was still intact and tradable.
Bai Cheng certainly wasn't going to eat it. She didn't care who ended up with hyena meat laced with white wolf saliva.
In the dead of night, most people were likely huddled inside their trains, making the chat channel their only source of entertainment.
More importantly, the starter pack's food only lasted a day. Right now, everyone was desperate for supplies.
[Trader: Bai Cheng]
[Item: Spotted Hyena Meat ×1 (Remaining: 5)]
[Request: 500ml Bottled Water ×1 / Compressed Biscuits ×3]
But water was even more critical than food.
A person could survive for many days without food, but without water, they would die in less than three days.
Compared to food, freshwater was currently the most precious resource.
The moment Bai Cheng's listing went live, it sparked heated discussions in the channel.
"Holy crap! First, some big shot hunted a deer, and now someone took down a hyena?!"
"Wait, bro—the deer hunter's a Macho dude! This hyena slayer… why is she a beauty??"
"No way. Must be luck. If that girl can do it, so can I!"
"Just listed? Must be a night hunt. Brothers, wait for my good news!"
"RIP, dude above. Hope we see you again."
"Who the hell called me a Macho dude?! Fight me!"
[Remaining Channel Members: 9,188/10,000]
Bai Cheng froze when she saw the number in the corner. "Nearly 1,000 died on the first day?"
[Members: 9,187]
Right before her eyes, the count dropped by one more.
Her lips twitched. "…It can't be that guy, right?"
She skimmed the chat but had no intention of joining. Her trade listing had already flooded her inbox with DMs.
Zhang San: "I only have two packs of biscuits. Can we trade?"
Cai Zhongfen: "I'll trade you my autographed overalls for a piece of meat!"
…
Bai Cheng ignored all the lowballers.
If you won't trade, someone else will!
Ever considered your own problems? Maybe you're just not trying hard enough. How have you not secured food after a whole day?
Meanwhile, smarter players were already trading other supplies for biscuits to exchange for Bai Cheng's hyena meat.
Food was in high demand. With so many people, there was no way it wouldn't sell.
She browsed other trade listings for Employee Cards. Bai Cheng was just testing her luck, but to her surprise, she actually found one!
[Trader: Tang Yan]
[Item: White Employee Card (Antelope) ×1]
[Request: Wood ×200]
"Seriously, bro—" Before she could finish, a trade notification popped up.
[Trader Tang Yan has exchanged for your Spotted Hyena Meat ×5. Obtained Bottled Water ×5!]
"Huh?!" Bai Cheng was stunned. "This guy's so loaded?"
"He can't be some kind of protagonist who started with a water filter, right?!"