"Ugh, my head hurts…"
Bai Cheng sat up from the ground, rubbing her still-dizzy head. "Feels like I had a weird dream. I thought I transmigrated again."
She chuckled dryly. "Haha, as if that could— What the hell?!"
Bai Cheng leaped to her feet in shock, her back no longer aching, her legs no longer sore.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
She looked around and found herself in a vast, dimly lit indoor space.
The wall-mounted lamps cast a faint yellow glow onto a wooden table below it, on which sat a simple black backpack.
Behind her was a massive triangular screen connected to the room. It was motionless, looking more like a wall than a screen.
Beneath it was a hand-powered rail cart1 that looked utterly decrepit.
The sight of the rail tracks under the cart's wheels made Bai Cheng's pupils constrict. The dream she just had suddenly became crystal clear.
"Damn it, I actually transmigrated for real."
Since she had transmigrated once before, Bai Cheng accepted it quickly. She sighed and decided to make the best of the situation.
"Survival game? Infinite train?" She carefully inspected the room again. Aside from the so-called 'starter pack', there was nothing useful inside.
She walked over and opened the black backpack. Inside were two packs of compressed biscuits, two 500ml bottles of mineral water, a small dagger, and a box of matches containing only twenty sticks.
Bai Cheng shook the backpack skeptically, but nothing else came out.
She remembered that there was a five-day safety period, but the food here would barely last her one day.
"This initial station has nothing. Can't afford to waste time here." Without hesitation, she slung the backpack over her shoulder, grabbed the lone wooden table, and headed toward the hand-powered rail cart.
She clearly remembered that everyone had to reach Station One within the five-day safety period. Otherwise, they would face certain death.
Every second spent here was a second of her life wasted.
Stepping onto the rotting wooden steps, Bai Cheng struggled to haul the table onto the rail cart.
The cart wasn't very spacious, roughly six square meters in size.
It had a single power lever, a brake lever, and a floor made entirely of steel frames and fixtures. She could even see the wheels and tracks below through the gaps in the planks.
Despite its crude, rust-covered appearance, the cart had an ultra-modern screen at the front.
"The Infinite Train's system?" This wasn't hard for Bai Cheng to grasp, given the number of webnovels she had read.
She approached, and the screen lit up automatically.
It displayed a minimalist menu:
[Regional Channel], [Trade], [Notification], [Mail], [My Train], and [Personal Information].
"Now this feels familiar." Curious, Bai Cheng immediately started checking each one.
First, she opened [Regional Channel], and a flood of messages poured in.
"Where the hell are we!? Is this still in the country!?"
"Bro, I was taking a dump! I didn't even get to wipe! What now, air-dry it?!"
"Sigh… A paralyzed mom, an alcoholic dad, a useless younger brother, and a cheating girlfriend. Maybe ending up here is a blessing."
"Fuck! I begged my girlfriend for ages, and she finally agreed. Just as I was about to get in, you're telling me we transmigrated?!"
"Aaaah! My brand-new 'Spring Breeze Elf' just arrived, I didn't even get to use it yet!!!"
"..."
Clearly, everyone's first reaction after transmigrating was to complain. No one seemed to feel any urgency about survival.
Messages scrolled rapidly. Everyone's profile picture was their real face, and the real-name system was in full effect.
Bai Cheng checked the bottom right corner, which displayed [Regional Channel: 10,000 people]. The bottom left showed: [Remaining Daily Messages: 10].
"Guess there's a chance I might run into someone I know if I'm lucky."
She had no interest in chatting and moved on to the other options.
The [Trade] option was also region-locked, and many people had listed their items by the time Bai Cheng opened it.
[Trader: Cai Zhongfen]
[Item: One pair of overalls]
[Request: One 500ml bottle of mineral water.]
Other listings included useless things like empty compressed biscuit wrappers and hair ties. Fortunately, there were no 'original flavor' items.
Bai Cheng also spotted a few people selling tables, the same small wooden table now sitting on her rail cart.
"Huh. In a way, I guess this counts as part of the starter pack."
She then opened the [Notification] option, which displayed two clear messages:
[1. Remaining Safety Period: 5 days.]
[2. Reach and defend Station One before the Safety Period ends.]
[Reminder: If Station One falls, your train will self-destruct!]
Train self-destruction meant death. Plain and simple.
The [Mail] option was self-explanatory. It was empty, with the only additional feature being a function to add friends.
Next, Bai Cheng opened [My Train], and the screen immediately showed detailed information about her hand-powered rail cart.
[Train: Dilapidated Hand-Powered Rail Cart]
[Grade: Cannot be upgraded!]
[Armor Core: None]
[Employees: None]
[Advancement Requirements: 0/50 Refined Leather, 0/100 Fine Wood, 0/200 Iron Ingots, 0/1 Steam Engine.]
Aside from this, the screen displayed a dynamic, rotatable 3D model of the rail cart, with annotations on parts that could be installed or modified.
For example, walls, flooring, and even the power lever and brake lever could be replaced.
In the bottom right corner was an item index, which Bai Cheng guessed was for unlocking blueprints.
"These upgrade materials feels like a lot…" She pursed her lips and opened the final module: [Personal Information].
Like [My Train], this one displayed Bai Cheng's own detailed, quantified stats.
[Train Conductor: Bai Cheng]
[Rank: Locked (Earn EXP by killing monsters.)]
[Strength: 3 (Standard: 10)]
[Constitution: 4]
[Spirit: 5]
[Talent: Book of Cheng4 (Any item without an upgrade path can be strengthened through usage.)]
"What is this?" Bai Cheng stared at the last entry, baffled.
But as soon as she willed it, a weathered book with black cover and yellowed pages materialized in her hands.
"Oh ho?" A grin spread across her face. "So this is my cheat!"
Eagerly, she flipped open the Book of Cheng. The first page displayed a strange item selection interface.
"Items without upgrade paths…?" She glanced at her box of matches. "Does this count?"
Immediately, an image of the matchbox appeared in the book, followed by a line of small text:
[Replacing the upgrade target will trigger a 24 hour cooldown.]
"…??"
[Matchstick: 0/20]
Bai Cheng roughly understood that her talent strengthened items after using them a certain number of times.
But this box only has twenty matches!
Isn't this forcing me to use them all?
She hadn't even started moving, and she'd have to use up her only source of fire? Was she trying to make it harder for herself…
"Screw it!"
"If something as absurd as transmigration can happen, this talent can't be a scam!"
Without hesitation, she struck the matches one by one.
Twenty matches were lit and extinguished in quick succession, leaving the box empty.
The progress in the book was also updated to [20/20].
The next second, the matchbox in Bai Cheng's hand glimmered with white light and transformed into a white lighter.
"WTF?!"