"Antelope… What kind of person would even choose this as their first employee?"
Bai Cheng stared at the employee card in her hand. If not for the sake of upgrading, she would've tossed it aside in disgust.
This thing wasn't even worth a single strand of a hyena's fur.
A useless employee card, and you to dared to ask for 200 wood? Damn old geezer!
You better pray I never get a chance to settle this!
After tossing the card into a box, Bai Cheng swallowed a chocolate bar and picked up her last pack of compressed biscuits to eat.
The physical exertion at night was no less than during the day. Estimating the time since her last meal and the gnawing hunger in her stomach, she guessed that it was already midnight.
The chat in the channel had slowed to a trickle. It was so sparse that Bai Cheng could read the messages without even pausing.
Since most people couldn't progress at night, they had likely chosen to sleep early.
Thanks to her habit of staying up late, Bai Cheng only felt slightly drowsy and could still push through.
She remembered clearly that the spawn rate of treasure chests increased at night.
The reason she hadn't encountered any yet was because she had wasted most of her time staying in one place instead of pushing the rail cart forward.
Since she planned to progress at night, Bai Cheng was determined to keep going, even though exhaustion weighed heavily on her.
Treating her meal as a short break, she resumed pushing the rail cart forward.
This time, it wasn't just for treasure chests, but also to cover the distance.
"Chocolate can be found in treasure chests, which means that food is one of the possible drops."
Bai Cheng scanned the pitch-black surroundings, muttering to herself.
"Hopefully, this lady's luck will hold out…"
"Wait, why did I say 'this lady' just now?"
Whether it was her imagination or her physical condition, Bai Cheng couldn't shake the feeling that she was acting more like a girl.
"I like girls, I like girls, I like girls!"
She repeated the words to herself as she pushed the rail cart.
[Distance to next station: 460 km]
Bai Cheng wasn't sure how long she had been pushing, but a faint white glow soon appeared in the distance, like a fallen star.
This confirmed her suspicion:
Treasure chests glow at night too!
Otherwise, what was the point of increasing the spawn rate if they were impossible to spot?
Of course, the chest's faint glow could still be blocked by tree trunks.
Bai Cheng had no idea if she had missed any earlier, but this one was now in her sights. Luckily, it wasn't far from the rail cart.
"Right at the edge of the safe zone!"
It was practically a free chest.
Instead of opening it immediately, Bai Cheng decided to press forward while she still had energy.
She knew full well that after a full day of exhaustion, she wouldn't last the entire night.
Right now, she was running purely on the adrenaline of finding the chest.
Before she knew it, she had traveled quite a distance, her pace slowing as fatigue set in.
Glancing back at the two white treasure chests behind her, she then checked the odometer:
[Distance to next station: 453 km]
"No… gotta keep going…" Gritting her teeth, she forced herself onward.
Since the journey was mind-numbingly dull, Bai Cheng kept the channel chat open on her screen.
She didn't participate, but watching the sparse conversations of other survivors helped her pass the time.
Then she noticed something. The message count in the bottom right corner had reset from 9 back to 10.
It most likely refreshed at midnight, meaning that it was past midnight.
This time, Bai Cheng didn't make it far before stopping, because a green treasure chest had spawned not far ahead!
Excitement surged through her. Her luck was on its peak tonight.
However, the bad news was that the chest was around thirty meters away from the rail cart.
With danger lurking everywhere at night, Bai Cheng wasn't keen on taking risks.
But facing a green chest, she couldn't just leave it either.
"Life's more important… but let's gamble first."
She lit a campfire, tossed in some extra wood from nearby branches, then sat down on the rail cart and opened the two white chests she had collected earlier.
[Opened Common Treasure Chest ×2: Obtained Solar-Powered Lantern ×1; Scrap Metal ×2, Wood ×2!]
"That's it?" Bai Cheng shook the empty chests in disbelief. "Aaawweeesome. Not even pretending anymore."
The combined loot from two white chests wasn't even worth half of a green one. The gap was ridiculous.
"Maybe my luck's just trash?" She scowled.
The white chests looked almost identical to the wooden crates she could craft, just smaller, and they couldn't be dismantled.
"Go to hell!"
Fuming, she hurled both empty chests into the nearby campfire.
The flames crackled violently, devouring them instantly.
Picking up the lantern, she pressed the switch, but it didn't light up.
There was nothing special about it. It just had a small solar panel on top.
Losing interest, she placed it at the back of the rail cart to charge during the day.
"Please don't despawn…" Bai Cheng whispered, staring at the distant green chest like a prayer.
Then, she sprawled out on the rail cart.
The sky was her blanket, the earth her bed.
The temperature was comfortable. There was no wind, and no risk of catching a cold.
As for the beasts lurking in the dark, she ignored them entirely.
Slowly, her breathing steadied, and she fell into a deep sleep.
When the first light of dawn pierced the darkness, the surroundings began to shift. The sun rose, and the temperature climbed, no longer as pleasant as the night.
The glare stung her eyes, but Bai Cheng only twitched, rolled over, and kept sleeping.
However, because of the abrupt day-night transition and the unfamiliar environment, even though she was very exhausted yesterday, she couldn't sleep until noon.
Not only did she wake up sweating, a pressing need in her lower abdomen had also made itself known. Add in the muscle soreness from overexertion despite never exercising, and her entire body screamed in protest.
Bai Cheng tried to move and immediately winced. "Agh… hurts like hell…"
She sat up slowly, moving like a half-paralyzed old woman.
The first thing she did was to look back at the treasure chest.
The glowing green treasure chest was still sitting peacefully on the grass, undisturbed. She saw no threats around the completely unobstructed plains.
"The terrain is back to normal… and the chest is still here!"
She grinned, relieved that she had camped by the treasure chest overnight.
Ignoring the private message notification on her screen, she immediately scrambled toward the green chest—
Only to freeze after one step, frowning at the pressure on her lower abdomen.
"Never mind… bathroom break first."
She walked behind a small tree.
Then, a scream echoed.
"AHH! Forgot to squat, dammit!!"