New Member, Black Wind Demon

Qui Xiao checked the upcoming stop listed in the update.

【This stop: Black and White Station (Single-User Station)】

【The station has a pet shop, no danger.】

Pet shop?

What kind of supplies could he get there? Cat litter, cat food, cat cans, dog food, dog leashes, dog pee pads?

He wondered if there would be any living cats or dogs.

......

The next morning at eight, the train arrived at the station.

“Pet Happy Nest…?”

What a generic name.

Qui Xiao tossed the trash bag outside, then pushed his shopping cart into the shop.

He didn’t see any cats or dogs as expected; the cat cages and dog kennels were all empty.

The shelves were also empty, as if they had been ransacked.

Qui Xiao stared in astonishment, pushing the cart.

Damn it, let’s break the shelves!

The first rule of any angler: never go home empty-handed.

At eleven fifty, just as Qui Xiao had dismantled all the shelves and thrown them into the feeding area, ready to leave, he spotted a small black dog wandering outside the pet shop entrance.

Where did this dog come from?

Qui Xiao stepped off the train.

“Here, here, here!”

He grabbed the dog by the scruff of its neck and lifted it up.

It was a male dog.

“Perfect for an experiment,” Qui Xiao thought. “Let’s see if I can bring a living creature on board voluntarily.”

The last stop had been a nightmare, with Elder Ren crying and begging to take his daughter with him. Qui Xiao wasn’t eager to test that again.

If he really brought someone on board, who knows what kind of trouble it might cause.

And so, with the small black dog in hand, Qui Xiao entered the train car.

It worked.

As soon as Black Wind Monster was placed on the ground, it scampered off, running straight into Qui Xiao’s “larder.”

“Wow, with such short legs, you sure run fast!”

With the door about to close, Qui Xiao rushed to grab the dog.

“I don’t have time to take care of you, I can barely take care of myself.”

Qui Xiao lifted Black Wind Monster, intending to toss it back out, but the doors shut automatically.

【The train is departing, please take your seats and hold on.】

It was noon.

Qui Xiao stared at the dog in his hands, the two of them locking eyes.

“You’re damn lucky, you know that?”

Black Wind Monster lolled its tongue: ha, ha, ha.

Inside the train car, the dog ran around, sniffing here and there, filled with curiosity about its new surroundings.

Qui Xiao, meanwhile, was checking the collection progress of supplies on the screen.

This trip had gathered a total of sixty-seven kilograms of metal, twenty-seven kilograms of plastic, and fourteen kilograms of wood.

Current collection progress:

【Metal: 300kg/252kg】

【Plastic: 150kg/27.2kg】

【Wood: 100kg/15.8kg】

Lots more materials were still needed to level up.

Qui Xiao opened a beef can, paired it with a bottle of soda and a piece of bread, and had lunch.

Black Wind Monster sat beside him, its tongue hanging out, panting.

Qui Xiao tore off a small piece of bread and tossed it to the dog.

“Damn, you’re black, like that Black Bear Spirit from *Journey to the West* who stole the monk’s robe.”

Looking down at the dog munching on the bread, Qui Xiao said:

“I’ll call you Black Wind Monster.”

“Woof woof woof!”

“Black Wind Monster.”

“Woof woof woof!”

......

None of the trades Qui Xiao had posted had been successful so far.

Qui Xiao was baffled and clicked into the chatroom.

Turns out, some people had reached level two and were spreading the word about the value of train coins in the chatroom.

In the chatroom:

Online: 6012.

【Brothers, let’s celebrate! Level two station stops give you an extra hour of stop time, giving you more time to collect supplies!】

【Of course, if the stop isn’t good, you can still leave at eleven!】

【Fam, don’t trade your train coins carelessly anymore. Level two unlocks the remodeling feature, and train coins are used for remodeling the train!】

【Screwed up, I traded all my two train coins yesterday!】

Qui Xiao looked at this “selfless sharer” of intelligence and sighed, shaking his head, “What a good person.”

Once everyone knew the purpose of train coins, they became reluctant to trade them.

But that was fine—he had at least managed a few trades early on, using the information advantage of being one of the first to level two.

From yesterday until now, four bottles of water had been traded successfully.

Two of them were from Xi Jian.

Where did this guy get so many train coins? That was already five by now.

Qui Xiao took out the train coins and placed them in a treasure chest.

Black Wind Monster came over to bite the chest.

“Go away, got this out of a coffin, don’t you dare bite it!”

Qui Xiao picked up the dog and tossed it aside, then stowed the chest in a cabinet at the front of the train.

All valuable items were kept in the cabinet at the front.

Upon exiting the front car, Qui Xiao was greeted with a pungent smell of urine.

Sure enough, Black Wind Monster had claimed a spot.

“Damn it!”

After cleaning up the dog’s mess, Qui Xiao saw Black Wind Monster still sitting there wide-eyed, sticking its tongue out, panting relentlessly: ha, ha, ha.

“You keep laughing! I’m dropping you off at the next stop!”

By the way, let’s check the next stop.

Hopefully, it’s some dog meat market or something, just wait for it!

【Next stop: Green Lake Station (Multi-User Station, with seven other trains stopping)】

【The station is a beautiful ancient town, no danger.】

【In the center of Green Lake, there’s a Level Two Treasure Chest, containing: 6 train coins, and one lotus seed.】

......

The next morning at eight, Qui Xiao arrived at Green Lake Station.

He activated dynamic camouflage as soon as he stepped off.

The train instantly became invisible.

Qui Xiao surveyed the area and didn’t spot any other trains.

Through the car window, he could see a lakeside pavilion about thirty meters away, but there was no treasure chest in sight.

Is the intel wrong? Impossible, the train conductor’s predictions had never been wrong before.

Just as Qui Xiao opened the car door, Black Wind Monster bolted out and splashed into the water with a loud *thud*.

“Wooooow…”

Suddenly falling into the water, Black Wind Monster panicked, its legs flailing, its mouth whining nonstop.

Who knew if dogs naturally knew how to doggy paddle, but after flailing a few times, it started swimming in the lake.

“Scram, don’t come back,” Qui Xiao muttered.

Looking down, he saw that the train was hovering about a meter above the water’s surface.

If he went down, getting back up would be a hassle.

If only he’d taken his university swimming elective seriously instead of spending all his time underwater trying to peek at senior girls’ thighs.

What a regret—too late!

......

On the surface of Green Lake, a red train suddenly appeared, suspended in midair.

An old boatman, rowing his boat, spotted the bizarre sight and rubbed his gnarled hands across his eyes.

The strangely shaped red thing was gone, replaced by a lakeside pavilion.

Inside the pavilion, there was a strangely dressed young man waving at him.

“Old man, over here! Old man!”

......