"A nuclear lighter?!"
Bai Cheng was stunned, then her face lit up.
Not only was there a massive difference before and after the upgrade, but most importantly, Book of Cheng actually granted her one distributable attribute point!
The lighter itself still looked the same. It was entirely made of metal, with no visible energy source inside.
However, the faint white glow it once emitted had now turned gold, marking its extraordinary nature.
"Does this mean that as long as I keep upgrading simple items, I can get at least one free attribute point every day?" Bai Cheng immediately made plans.
Book of Cheng only had a 24-hour cooldown for switching the upgrade items, meaning that she could still choose one more item to upgrade today.
By this time tomorrow, it should be maxed out, right?
She then opened her personal information. Back at the initial station, she had only glanced at them briefly without paying much attention.
[Train Conductor: Bai Cheng]
[Level: None]
[Strength: 3 (Standard: 10)]
[Constitution: 4]
[Spirit: 5]
[Talent: Book of Cheng]
But now, she realized that her initial attributes of 3/4/5 are a whopping 18 points short of a healthy adult male's baseline!
Of course, almost no one could start with fully maxed stats.
But for Bai Cheng, the gap between her and an average person was still enormous.
"This body is just a pretty vase. It's completely useless aside from looks…" she couldn't help but mock herself.
Thanks to the distributable attribute point, a faint [+1] symbol flickered at the end of each stat on the screen.
A simple tap would allocate the point.
"This world really feels like a game." But Bai Cheng knew that if she died here, there would be no resurrection coins for her.
"Strength, Constitution, Spirit… If this is a game, they'd be Attack, HP, and MP, right?"
She already had a plan for allocating her point.
She needed strength to survive, and since her Strength was even lower than her Constitution, she decided to balance the two.
As for Spirit, she would worry about that later.
With a tap, her Strength increased by 1.
Immediately, she felt a slight enhancement in her body. Her physical strength had grown.
Pushing the rail cart again, Bai Cheng resumed her journey.
Although she was stronger now, she only lasted half an hour before exhaustion hit, leaving her panting.
"Growl…" Her stomach growled furiously.
She had just woken up before transmigrating and hadn't eaten yet. Now, her body was at its limit.
"Not only is my body weak, but I'm also a meal behind everyone else…" she grumbled helplessly.
If only I hadn't 'exercised'
…
Despite her resource shortage, there was nothing she could do about it.
Sitting on the table, she first took out the Book of Cheng and set the small dagger as her next upgrade target.
Bai Cheng guessed that basic tools would level up quickly, meaning that she could soon gain another attribute point.
[Blunt Dagger: 0/20]
The survival knife's usage condition wasn't just swinging it in the air as she had imagined. She had to actually cut things with it.
Since she still needed to eat, she set the knife aside for now.
Next, she tore open a pack of compressed biscuits, cracked open a bottle of water, and opened the regional chat to spy on other survivors' progress while eating.
"What's your environment like after leaving the initial station? I'm in a grassland. There's no resources, but the scenery is nice!"
"Same here, just plains. Doesn't seem dangerous."
"Me too, but scenery is useless! Without food and water, we won't even last the five-day safety period. We're all screwed!"
"Idiots! The rail cart moves at 10 km/h. Push for ten hours a day, and you'll reach Station One in five days. Stop chatting and start pushing!"
"By the way, be careful of treasure chests on the roadside. They have guardian beasts… I got the chest but got badly hurt. If anyone has antibiotics or healing meds, I can trade resources…"
"..."
Instantly, Bai Cheng's screen flooded with private messages from strangers.
She thought they were fans defending their idol, but instead—
"Miss Bai Cheng, are you selling your socks? I'll trade water for them!"
"Hey gorgeous, got any 'original flavor'[Covering mouth and laughing emoji]"
"Mama!"
Bai Cheng: "..."
This was the downside of the real-name system, especially when her face alone is enough to make people stand up straight just by looking.
She wasn't a troll, but since daily messages were free, she might as well use them.
Most importantly, she wanted to see if her bestie was in the same chat channel.
As for the DMs, she ignored them all.
Just as she was about to close the chat, she noticed that the total user count in the bottom corner had already decreased.
[Regional Chat: 9,923/10,000]
"It hasn't even been that long… this many people already died?" She was stunned.
This world was far more brutal than she had imagined.
After finishing a pack of compressed biscuits and half a bottle of water, Bai Cheng patted her stomach contentedly.
"Fully recharged—time to work!"
Her chat lurking hadn't been fruitless. She confirmed two key pieces of information.
First of all, everyone's starting environment was either grasslands or hills, with low danger but extremely scarce resources.
Secondly… treasure chests might appear on the roadside!
As for the guy urging everyone to rush to Station One, his profile showed that he is a bodybuilder.
Bai Cheng had no such stamina.
Even if she pushed nonstop, how would she solve the food and water shortages along the way?
And with nothing but a hand-powered rail cart, how could she defend Station One against unknown dangers?
With the Book of Cheng on her side, she stuck to her original plan of developing steadily along the way.
Soon, she gathered ten branches from a small grove, converting them into ten pieces of wood.
Six were turned into planks, which she laid over the rail cart's steel frame, giving it a fresh new look.
Next, she successfully built a workbench, triggering a notification:
[Congratulations! You've unlocked Stone Axe, Stone Pickaxe, Stone Spear, Simple Wooden Bed, Basic Wooden Crate…]
All of them are basic tools and survival gear. Nothing unfamiliar to Bai Cheng, who had played survival games before.
She browsed further and found items like wooden sticks, torches, tables, and chairs.
"To get rich, start by chopping trees!"
[Stone Axe: Wood ×1, Stone ×1]
Without hesitation, she crafted a stone axe with her available resources.
[Name: Stone Axe]
[Rarity: White]
[Durability: 10]
[Evaluation: Is this even a tool?]
With one stone and three wood left, she also made a stone pickaxe, using the same materials as the stone axe.
Then, axe in hand, Bai Cheng stepped off the cart and headed straight for the nearby grove.
The trees weren't thick. They were only about the width of a bowl. Although she had no survival skills, she figured that chopping wood couldn't be that hard.
Thunk!
The dull stone blade struck the trunk, leaving a notch while sending a painful shock through her palms.
Gritting her teeth, she swung again and again.
Soon, the tree toppled and instantly disassembled into a pile of wood.
[Stone Axe Durability -1]