Ye Qiyan walked along the path deeper into the forest.
He remained vigilant for any potential dangers along the way, but fortunately, nothing happened.
At the end of the path, deep within this gray-white forest, trees bearing white fruits appeared before him.
Could it be that the collection platform's items are these fruits?
Approaching a fruit tree, he used a dagger to cut the stem and plucked a fruit, bringing it to his nose to sniff.
A sweet yet slightly bitter aroma wafted over him; this type of fruit was unlike anything he had ever seen in his previous world.
Gulp.
Looking at the fruit in front of him, Ye Qiyan swallowed.
"So fragrant."
Inexplicably, Ye Qiyan felt an urge to devour these fruits.
Just as he was about to take a bite, a strong sense of crisis snapped him back to reality, and he quickly tossed the fruit away.
"!!"
"Huff, huff... What the hell?"
[Stamina: 93] [Mental Energy: 72]
Ye Qiyan broke out in a cold sweat.
His mental energy had been full just moments ago, yet within seconds of holding that fruit, it had diminished so much.
He wasn't lacking food or water, so why was he so eager to eat a fruit he hadn't even confirmed was non-toxic?
Moreover, the speed at which his mental energy decreased was terrifying, even faster than during sublimation.
This fruit was problematic!
Ye Qiyan took a few steps back, frowning at the gray-white fruit before him.
The train system's identification function could only be used back on the train, which was inconvenient.
But these fruits were clearly the collection items for this stop, and Ye Qiyan even suspected that the danger of this stop lay within them.
"Was it because I smelled the fruit that I experienced that hallucination? If I don't smell it..."
After hesitating for a moment, he decided to take the fruits back, at least to use the train's identification function to determine what they were before making a decision.
Rip—
He cut a piece of cloth from his clothes with his dagger and tied it around his face. He didn't know if it would help, but it was better than nothing.
Opening his backpack, he found it had plenty of space besides the water and food inside. Find the original chapter at g.com.
People die for wealth, birds for food. Even when facing potentially life-threatening hallucinogenic fruits, Ye Qiyan couldn't bear to leave them behind.
The forest remained as quiet as ever, except now there was a diligent fruit picker harvesting his bounty.
After filling his backpack, Ye Qiyan wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Good thing I have this dagger, otherwise it wouldn't have been easy."
He returned to the train with his backpack and eagerly took out a fruit to identify it at the control system.
[Baisen Fruit] (Level 3)
[A unique fruit of Baisen Forest, unprocessed it releases a hallucinogenic aroma, reducing mental energy. Consuming it will permanently decrease mental energy capacity.]
[Processed consumption can quickly restore mental energy and slightly increase resistance to hallucinations.]
[Processing method: Soak in cold water for five minutes]
"So that's it, no wonder I wanted to eat it so badly, it was really because of the smell. Good thing I snapped out of it."
Ye Qiyan patted his chest, breathing a sigh of relief as if he had narrowly escaped disaster.
A warning bell rang in his mind; he thought he had been cautious enough, but it wasn't enough.
He couldn't wait to throw all the fruits he brought back into the water, patiently waiting for five minutes. Watching them transform from gray-white to pure white, he eagerly picked up a Baisen Fruit, biting into it. The extremely sweet juice exploded in his mouth.
"Delicious! I've never tasted such a delicious fruit before!"
Ye Qiyan's eyes were full of joy. Compared to the Baisen Fruit, the taste of bread and crackers was unbearable.
It was hard to imagine such a sinister environment for this fruit to grow.
Dumping out the remaining items from his backpack, Ye Qiyan grabbed two guns and a dagger and set out again.
A round trip took about twenty minutes, but to fill an entire backpack would take about half an hour.
With four hours of docking time, he could only make four trips, so he couldn't waste any time.
As he stepped out of the train, Ye Qiyan suddenly remembered something and looked toward the direction of the train car.
The garbage recycling unit he installed there was at work.
"So that's what garbage recycling means."
A small, knee-high, cube-shaped robot was shuttling between the white forest and the train.
Occasionally, it brought back some leaves and other items to the recycling station.
"Doesn't seem very useful, does it?"
Ye Qiyan sighed. Since it was already built, he might as well let it be.
In the Baisen orchard, Ye Qiyan's dagger swung continuously, and the fruits from the trees were collected into his bag.
[0:32:16]
"What a pity, I wonder if I'll ever have such delicious fruits again."
In nearly three and a half hours, he had harvested over a hundred pounds of Baisen Fruit.
Ignoring spoilage, it was enough to last him quite a few days.
He didn't set out again, as the departure time was near, and he didn't want to miss the train due to greed.
Ye Qiyan organized the supplies he had on hand.
Besides the Baisen Fruit, he had seventy-nine compressed biscuits and twenty-one bottles of purchased purified water.
These supplies were enough to keep him from worrying about survival for a while.
Sitting back in his chair, Ye Qiyan ate a fruit and opened the chat room.
At this time, everyone else should have left the second platform.
As he opened the chat room, his gaze was instantly drawn to a line of numbers.
[8721/10000]
Over a thousand people had disappeared forever.
And this was only the second stop.
Moreover, the number was still decreasing.
Why?
["Does anyone have medicine? I just drank a sip of lake water, why does my stomach hurt so much?!"]
["Serves you right, drinking unboiled water, do you think you're a superhero?"]
["Damn it, those wild bulls pierced my lungs, brothers, I don't think I'll last much longer. If anyone sees my wife, tell her her husband took down a bull."]
["Go on, the wife, I'll take care of her."]
["Wuwu... the bleeding hurts so much... does anyone have medicine, I remember someone got some healing ointment before, please save me."]
["So hungry, the little bread and water from the starter pack isn't enough."]
In modern society, humans receive excellent treatment for injuries, and as long as they're not ignored, even serious injuries have a chance of being healed.
But now it's different.
Even if they muster the courage to explore off the train, a slight misstep could lead to danger.
Even if they narrowly escape, they might still be injured, and without treatment, they could only wait for death.
Not to mention many still haven't found food or water, the pressure to survive is suffocating them.