[The train is about to depart, may you live forever]
"Where am I?"
Thump, thump...
Ye Qiyan woke up inside a train carriage, rubbing his aching head as he opened his eyes.
"A train carriage?"
Ye Qiyan couldn't recall what happened yesterday. His last memory was staying up late watching anime when darkness suddenly swallowed his vision, leaving a gap in his memory.
"Did I die from overworking and get sent to hell?"
Just then, the voice from earlier sounded again.
[All survivors have awakened.]
[Distributing basic train regulations now.][1. Never abandon your own train!]
[2. Every 24 hours after departure, all trains will arrive at new stations]
[3. Upon arrival, trains may dock for three hours. Passengers may choose whether to disembark]
[4. Collect resources to upgrade your train. Each upgrade unlocks new module options]
[5. Do not leave the train before arriving at stations]
[6. Survive.]
[Rules complete]
[Please, abide by them strictly!]
[The first station will arrive in one hour. Prepare accordingly]
The lengthy announcement made Ye Qiyan pinch his cheek reflexively.
"Ouch, so this really isn't a dream?"
As the headache gradually faded, he struggled to stand from the cold floor and surveyed his surroundings. Just as he'd seen upon waking, this was indeed a train carriage. Through the windows on both sides, endless wilderness streamed past.
The only notable feature in the carriage was an oval-shaped device at the front, above which floated a luminous screen boldly displaying "Train Control System."
Without hesitation, Ye Qiyan approached and touched it.
[Train System at your service]
[Current options: Conductor Info, Train Details, Chatroom, Trading Platform]
"Chatroom?"
[Current occupants: 10000/10000]
["Who are you people? Let me go! I'm rich! My sugar daddy's loaded! Get me out of here!"]
["Where are my meds? Where are my meds!"]
["Honey? Honey where are you? It's Xiaowen!"]
["What the hell is happening? Did I get isekai'd?"]
["HAHAHA! Perfect! No more dealing with my boss tomorrow!"]
Messages flooded past until one particular line caught Ye Qiyan's eye.
["Pfft, what terrible actors. You think I'm stupid? This must be some new reality show - first they did space, now trains? So unoriginal. I'm getting off right now. Bet you won't dare hurt me!"]
["Dude calm down! What show could kidnap ten thousand people?!"]
["Let him try, might be real."]
["Idiot number two spotted above."]
Within a minute, that user disappeared, and the chatroom count changed from 10000 to 9999.
Did he die?
Ye Qiyan shook his head and stopped thinking about it.
Closing the chatroom, he swiped to Train Details.
[Level 1 Train]
[Carriages: None]
[Speed: 20 km/h]
[Workbench: Level 1 (Can recycle/disassemble resource items)]
[Frame: Level 1]
[Wheels: Level 1]
[Base: Level 1]
[Upgrade requirements: 100kg wood, 150kg metal, 50 mechanical parts]
Speed?
If the rules stated arrival times were fixed at 24-hour intervals, what did train speed matter?
But what puzzled him more - if ten thousand people meant ten thousand trains arriving simultaneously, how enormous must the station be to accommodate them?
Noticing something peculiar, Ye Qiyan instinctively looked through the window at the seemingly endless wilderness outside.
"Could it be... if you're too slow, something might catch up?"
Continuing his inspection, he opened the personal info screen.
[Conductor Name: Ye Qiyan]
[ID: E-3-1102]
[Owned Train: Level 1]
[Sanity: 100 (Below 80: Mental fatigue. Below 50: Self-doubt. Below 20: Loss of reason. Below 10: Madness. Below 1: ???)]
[Stamina: 100 (Recovers through eating/resting. At 0: Extreme lethargy)]
[Abilities: None]
[Talent: Sublimation]
[Train Modules: None]
"Talent? What's this?"
[Sublimation: Can expend stamina or sanity to evolve/upgrade any existence. No category, level, or condition restrictions.]
He hurriedly searched the chatroom for ["talent"] but found no mentions.
If most people had similar talents, someone would've inevitably blabbed about it in chat. The absence suggested talent holders were rare - perhaps extremely so.
Ye Qiyan pondered - why did he have this? His cheat ability?
Come to think of it, he'd always been slightly different back home - like when near-broken computers suddenly ran AAA games after he touched them, or regular cars achieving sports car speeds.
Friends joked he pleased machine spirits, but Ye Qiyan dismissed those as coincidences.
Yet this talent description seemed to confirm it wasn't coincidence at all.
"Sublimate anything? How?"
Walking to the carriage's workbench, he saw a water bottle, bread loaf, and small knife placed there - likely standard starter gear for everyone.
[Shoddy Dagger] Level 1
"Sublimate."
Ye Qiyan mentally commanded.
An invisible force instantly enveloped the crude knife.
His stamina dropped from 100 to 90.
[Enchanted Sharp Dagger] Level 2
"It worked!"
The dagger now gleamed coldly in his hand, filling Ye Qiyan's eyes with excitement.
"This talent actually works! And the stamina cost isn't bad at all."
Swinging the dagger produced sharp whistles through air - clearly its quality had improved dramatically.
Hard to imagine this originated from such shoddy materials.
"Wait, if that's the case..."
Ye Qiyan suddenly looked around the carriage.
More precisely, at the train itself.
"Could I sublimate the entire train?"
The description said "any existence," which should include the train.
Taking a deep breath, eyes sparkling with curiosity, Ye Qiyan approached the control panel.
As if guided by instinct, he placed his hand on the oval device.
"Sublimate."