◎ Reborn Before the Extreme Cold Arrives ◎
“You mean… three days from now, a disaster will strike Spring City, and the temperature will drop to minus sixty or seventy degrees?”
“Yes.”
“…Comrade, maybe you should get another CT scan of your brain?”
“…”
In the hospital room, Jiang Qi had her head wrapped in bandages and an IV in the back of her hand, and she looked like she was about to throw up.
The nurse instructed, “You have a mild concussion, so you may feel a bit nauseous. If your symptoms worsen, call the nurse station immediately.”
Jiang Qi subconsciously wanted to nod, but feeling even worse, she could only say, “Thank you.”
After the nurse left, the room fell silent. Jiang Qi slowly exhaled, feeling a surreal sense of unreality.
She was twenty-four years old, an orphan. After graduating from college, she had worked for two years and saved over a hundred thousand yuan to put a down payment on a 60-square-meter secondhand apartment in Spring City.
Though small, it had everything she needed. She should have been living a plain but happy life in that little apartment.
But all of that was destroyed by a survival game.
Three days later, on May 10, a survival game called [Infinite Train] selected Spring City as a dungeon site, sending one hundred thousand novice players there to undergo a one-month survival challenge.
By then, the temperature in Spring City would drop from the twenties to minus sixty or seventy degrees Celsius. The hundred thousand players would frantically hoard supplies, treating the local residents as competitors and targets for their aggression, freely slaughtering and plundering. The citizens of Spring City, starved for resources, would also turn on each other.
To make matters worse, an invisible barrier surrounded the city. No one inside could get out, no one outside could get in, and all communication with the outside world was completely cut off. Rescue was impossible.
For a whole month, Spring City would descend into a living hell.
Jiang Qi was one of those struggling to survive in that hell.
By luck, she killed a player and accidentally obtained that player’s identity. Not only did she survive by using the other player’s supplies, but after the month ended, she replaced them and was summoned onto the train for the next survival challenge.
However, she was ultimately just an imposter. After completing three dungeons, the train conductor discovered her true identity, threw her off the train, and she died.
Unexpectedly, she opened her eyes again—back in Spring City, three days before everything happened.
Looking at the time, it was May 7, 18:33.
Less than three days left.
She tried to activate her player panel with her consciousness, but only a crackling sound echoed in her mind: “…Player panel damaged 67%, unable to open.”
Yes, the player panel she had taken somehow came back with her. But other than giving her a throbbing headache and foggy consciousness, it seemed useless.
It was because of this panel that she had been unable to dodge the out-of-control car earlier, ending up in the hospital.
Jiang Qi thought silently: the game’s arrival was inevitable. Even if she left Spring City, other cities would be chosen as dungeon sites one after another. Future dungeon disasters would be even more difficult, and the arriving players would be higher-level and stronger.
—Though she hadn’t witnessed it herself, her time as a disguised player had taught her many things. Once a planet was chosen as a dungeon site, escape was impossible before its value was fully exploited.
Everyone was a lamb awaiting slaughter. No place was truly safe. No one could escape.
The only option was to face it head-on.
Taking advantage of the fact that the players in Spring City this time were in their beginner phase and therefore easy to deal with, she could seize their player identities, replace them by actively joining the game, and seek opportunities in other dungeons. This was the only way to break the deadlock.
But her past life had taught her that one person could not stand alone. Even if she infiltrated that train, her identity was always at risk of being exposed.
She needed help, she needed comrades. The future of this world could not be changed by her alone.
Jiang Qi made a decision: she would report the arrival of the game!
The unfortunate part was that she had no channel to report it. Forget about influential people, she did not even know anyone in the village committee.
Should she shout about it online? Or find some hotline and persistently call?
As she anxiously weighed her options, two traffic police officers entered.
“Excuse me, can we ask you something?”
One officer was tall and slender, with a slightly handsome face. The other was sturdily built, with an honest, simple appearance. Jiang Qi’s gaze lingered on the handsome officer, and her pupils flickered—she remembered him.
After Spring City cooled down and snow blocked the roads, most people couldn’t go out, so the government organized personnel to deliver supplies.
That day, players robbed a supply truck, and this young officer was stabbed to death while protecting his colleagues.
As for why she knew about it, the incident happened right outside her residential complex, and the players who acted were hiding in her neighborhood.
They charged out ferociously, killed people, and returned triumphantly with the loot.
She witnessed everything from upstairs.
The young, handsome face was covered in blood, gradually freezing in the snow. This was the first dead person she had ever seen, and it shocked her deeply. It was then she became certain: players were all demons, and if one wasn’t strong, one would die!
Looking at the uniform on the officer, she hesitated for a moment, then said seriously: “Comrade, I have something very important to report to the authorities, but you must not leak this information.”
She did not mention the players, only the sudden severe drop in Spring City’s temperature.
Then came the initial conversation.
The two traffic officers just stared at her, exchanged a look, and the bigger guy went out to grab a doctor. “Doctor, can a concussion cause hallucinations?”
Jiang Qi: “…” She knew right away that just words alone were not enough to convince people.
How could she prove that what she was saying was true?
She could only forcibly try to activate the player panel.
“Player panel damaged 67%, unable to open.”
Jiang Qi gritted her teeth: “Open the player backpack!”
She struggled for a long time, her head increasingly throbbing with pain, and finally opened just one small slot out of the eight backpack grids… a tiny opening.
The handsome officer saw her expression worsen and called anxiously, “Comrade! Ms. Jiang!”
Just as he was going to call the doctor, Jiang Qi grabbed his arm. She opened her right hand, and a black curved blade made from insect-like armor appeared out of thin air in her palm.
She stared into his eyes: “I am not speaking nonsense. Spring City is truly about to face disaster. Report this immediately to those in authority!”
After saying this, her brain felt like it exploded, sending stabbing pain through her entire body.
“Player panel damaged 70%, 80%… detected energy material in player backpack. Repair player panel?”
Jiang Qi gritted her teeth: “Repair!”
The next moment, everything went black, and she completely fainted.
…
Late at night, Jiang Qi woke up again in a new hospital room.
The person at her bedside immediately rang a bell upon seeing her awake. Within half a minute, a group of doctors rushed in, examined her, and confirmed that her vital signs were stable, her consciousness clear, and her logic intact—she could engage in normal conversation.
Then, a well-dressed woman entered and showed Jiang Qi her ID: “Comrade Jiang, I am Li Yue from the Secretariat. May I ask you a few questions now?”
Apparently, Jiang Qi’s curved blade had drawn attention. It wasn’t extreme attention—otherwise more than just one secretary would have come—but it was enough.
She inhaled slightly: “Yes.”
Li Yue pulled out a photo, showing the curved knife. “Five hours ago, in front of Officer Liu Yi, you suddenly produced this oddly made curved knife and told him that Spring City was going to face a major drop in temperature, right?”
“Yes.”
“Could you explain in detail?”
Jiang Qi nodded: “At that time, I only mentioned a little. This matter starts with a survival game called [Infinite Train]. It is a survival game created by a higher-dimensional civilization. It selects players from some lower-dimensional worlds and designates certain worlds as dungeon zones. It then sets up various disasters in these dungeons and sends players in for survival challenges.
“Our planet has been selected as one such dungeon zone.”
Li Yue’s lips curved slightly, her eyes focused on Jiang Qi, listening attentively, her expression flawless, though internally she thought this girl might just be suffering from post-accident delusions. How could such an absurd thing exist in the world?
But the appearance of the curved blade was indeed peculiar. Liu Yi’s law enforcement recorder clearly captured the blade materializing out of thin air. Preliminary expert tests suggested the blade material was unusual, and it had been sent to a lab for analysis.
Could it be some kind of advanced magic trick?
“Spring City was the first city selected. Around 8 a.m. on May 10, the dungeon arrives. Spring City becomes isolated from the outside world, and then the players appear.”
Jiang Qi, seeing Li Yue’s expression unchanged, realized she wasn’t convinced. Feeling a bit helpless, she thought for a moment, and suddenly something appeared in her hand: a mask!
Li Yue: !
Jiang Qi put the mask on her face. The mask fit perfectly, and then her facial features began to change, gradually taking on Li Yue’s appearance.
Li Yue: !!!
Jiang Qi explained, “Every player automatically comes with this Multi-Form Mask. Using it, a player can adjust their face to match the facial features of the native inhabitants of a dungeon world, allowing them to blend in perfectly. They can even impersonate a specific local resident.
“So, you must set everything up in advance. The moment they arrive, you lock in their position and identity. Otherwise, once they blend into the crowd, it will be extremely difficult to find them.”
…
A few minutes later, Li Yue came out of the hospital room looking dazed. Someone waiting outside asked, “How is it?”
Li Yue swallowed and said, “Quick, report it. This isn’t something we can handle ourselves.”
…
Watching Li Yue leave, Jiang Qi let out a sigh of relief. Finally, someone who could make decisions would come to talk to her.
She leaned against the head of the bed, her head still aching slightly, but much better than before.
She summoned the player panel.
No—now it shouldn’t be called the player panel.
On the panel, the information read:
Name: Jiang Qi
Identity: Train Conductor
Level: Intern (0/100)
ID Number: ?
Train Number: ?
Every passenger is a potential train conductor. Those who obtain a rare opportunity will have a chance to get this admission ticket. Congratulations on unlocking the hidden mode of the player panel: Train Conductor Panel.
As a trainee, every action you take that a conductor should perform will earn you trainee experience. Work hard and become a true train conductor.
Note: The train conductor can sense the presence of other conductors within a kilometer. Before you are capable of initiating a final challenge against another conductor, hide your tracks carefully. After all, a train can only have one conductor.
Jiang Qi looked at the words and clenched her fists.
Although she didn’t know why, the player panel had returned with her after her rebirth. But now, after being shattered and repaired, it had become the Train Conductor Panel, giving her another path to develop.
Become the train conductor, and take command of an entire train!
Thinking of the conductor who had easily abandoned her on the train, Jiang Qi gritted her teeth.
Most importantly, the train conductor has many privileges, including holidays. That means she could have the chance to come back!
Of course, in the early stages, she still needed to stay low. She found a hidden button on the panel, clicked it, and the entire panel went dark. In this state, the conductor wouldn’t be able to detect her.
She looked at her backpack. The player backpack had transformed into the train conductor’s backpack. Of the eight slots, everything had been used to repair the panel, leaving it completely empty.
Backpack slots are hard to expand. In her previous life, she had gone through three dungeons without finding any materials to do so. But now, she had the train conductor’s backpack. Later, she could grab another player panel and get a player backpack. This meant her backpack slots would naturally be double those of others!
Moreover, the Infinite Train had a cruel rule: whenever a player finished a dungeon and returned to the train, the conductor had the right to designate one backpack slot from the player and take a portion as a train fee.
Higher-class compartments paid more, lower-class compartments less.
It was practically ripping the players off.
And in the future, she can place important items in the train conductor’s backpack, ensuring their absolute safety.
Thinking of all these advantages, Jiang Qi couldn’t hide her excitement.
…
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