◎ What I Want Is Control of the Situation, Without Caring About Player Casualties ◎
After all the passengers had disembarked, Jiang Qi drove the empty train back to South Spring City Station. The second batch of passengers, containing a high number of players, was already waiting there. The same ticket-checking and boarding process was repeated, the same conductor announcements were made, and the train was driven forward as before.
Twenty minutes later, she delivered this batch of passengers to Jiuwan Station again, gaining 0.01 Internship Experience.
After confirming that this method really worked for farming experience, Jiang Qi quickly adjusted her strategy.
First, driving the empty train back was a huge waste of time.
Second, although the players had been drawn to the dock by supplies and were being neatly arranged, there were only so many players who could be tricked. One trip could transport over a thousand people, but after a few trips, there would probably be no one left.
So, she had the 16-car train replaced with a short train consisting of one locomotive and one or two cars. This way, only a little over a hundred people could be transported at a time.
Additionally, players at Jiuwan Station were also arranged to take the train.
As soon as her request reached the command center, it sprang into action, mobilizing a vast scheduling team, logistics team, and various persuader teams scattered throughout the city. They used all kinds of tactics to trick players into working here or gathering resources there.
Because the roads were slippery due to the snowstorm, and the government had deliberately blocked other transportation methods, taking this train line from the city’s south to north was the most convenient and efficient option for now.
As a result, more and more players came to the station and paid out of pocket to take the train.
What the players didn’t know was that they could only buy tickets for Jiang Qi’s train. Other trains on the line were not open to them—whether transporting people or goods, these trains ran tirelessly, but their tickets were completely unavailable to players.
Anyway, wave after wave of players flooded onto Jiang Qi’s train, becoming tools for her to farm experience.
Every few trips, Jiang Qi would change her appearance and voice, as well as swap out the train itself, making her presence unpredictable and ever-changing. Even though players were terrified by the conductor’s announcements every time, they didn’t suspect anything—they simply assumed that the train announcements in this dungeon were always this strict and scary.
Thus, Jiang Qi began running this back-and-forth operation between South Spring City Station and Jiuwan Station.
Check the train, open the gates, check tickets, make the conductor announcements, drive the train, let passengers disembark.
After increasing the train speed, a single trip took about fifteen minutes, resulting in roughly one and a half round trips per hour and earning 0.03 experience per hour.
At the same time, Jiang Qi could interact with the players, progressing on four ongoing tasks: [Caring for Passengers], [Make Passengers Feel Your Friendliness], [Filling Out Passenger Information], and [Refusing Unreasonable Passenger Requests].
She spent the entire day on the train.
By nightfall, three of the four tasks had accumulated enough experience, except [Make Passengers Feel Your Friendliness], which wasn’t fully completed yet. The [Driving the Train] task had earned 0.26 experience.
In addition, she unlocked the 11th task [Observing Passenger Movements in the Carriage], the 12th task [Suddenly Appearing Behind a Passenger to Startle Them], and the 13th task [Forcing Passengers Who Don’t Follow Train Rules Off the Train].
The first two seemed nonsensical, but they were skills that could be useful when fully mastered.
As for the thirteenth task, having once been someone who was thrown off a train, Jiang Qi naturally disliked it. However, when it came time for her to control this skill herself, it felt surprisingly good. Her feelings were complicated.
…
On her final arrival at Jiuwan Station, Jiang Qi slumped in the driver’s seat and let out a long sigh. The day had been exhausting.
“Comrade Jiang, there are no passengers at the moment,” said Wang Minxing, the squad leader under her command.
Jiang Qi stood up and stepped outside. The cold wind made her shiver, and her fingers were swollen from the day’s work. She rubbed her hands together.
The sound of small hail pattered on the platform’s roof, though it was still minor.
She pulled her scarf tighter and asked, “What’s the temperature now?”
“Minus thirteen degrees.”
“Can the trains run tomorrow in this weather?”
“Yes, the railway department will clear the tracks and switch to a diesel locomotive. Based on the current weather trend, the trains can continue to operate for the next two or three days.”
Jiang Qi nodded. She still had 74 trips to make. The task was daunting; internship experience was not easy to earn.
Without a whole city’s team operating behind her at any cost to assist, this would have been an impossible mission.
She arrived at the parking lot, where Dong Shengfeng was waiting beside a vehicle. Upon seeing Jiang Qi, she handed her a warm hand warmer. “Use this to warm up.”
Holding the hand warmer, Jiang Qi waved at Wang Minxing, “You all go rest. You’ve had a long day too.”
This squad had been assigned to her by the command center, a team under her command. Today, they had to assist her on the train and ensure her safety—like a top-notch squad doubling as babysitters.
Dong Shengfeng saluted Wang Minxing: “Tonight, we’re responsible for Comrade Jiang’s safety.”
Like a handover, they completed the transfer of responsibility for Jiang Qi.
On the train, Dong Shengfeng asked, “You’re letting others rest but not yourself? I heard you’ll continue driving at six tomorrow morning?”
Jiang Qi took off the conductor’s mask and revealed her face, sighing as if she had just shed a heavy burden. The warmth in the car made her sleepy, and she said drowsily, “Mm. I only have two or three days left when I can still drive the train. I need to hurry and maximize the [Driving the Train] project to full completion.”
Seeing this, Dong Shengfeng handed her a hot towel. Jiang Qi held it against her face; the warm, damp cloth felt comforting, but it made her even sleepier.
After a full half minute of silence, Dong Shengfeng was starting to think she had fallen asleep. She lowered the towel, pulled herself together, and asked, “How’s the situation at the dock?”
“What else could it be like? Once those players arrived at the dock, they found that management was extremely strict. It’s genuinely hard to hide supplies, and they really have to work. One by one, they lost their composure. Some left immediately. Others swallowed their anger and stayed to work, then secretly tried to stash some supplies into their backpacks.
“When we find suitable ones, we arrest them on charges of theft. The rest are either driven away or kept under closer watch.”
The so-called “suitable” ones were those whose identities could be taken.
Jiang Qi listened while chewing on a piece of jerky. Dong Shengfeng handed her a bowl of hot soup. Jiang Qi looked at it—what was this? It looked murky, with a faint ginger aroma and the scent of medicinal herbs.
Dong Shengfeng said, “It’s for warming and strengthening the body. Just a little boost; your small frame might collapse at any moment. Once we get to the location, there’s also medicinal food prepared for you.”
Jiang Qi: …Isn’t that a bit over the top?
Dong Shengfeng continued, “According to your plan, we intentionally exposed some flaws to those players during the day. As expected, they were observing and scouting. Just now, the intel came in: three groups are stirring, their target is the dock’s supplies. Are you sure you want them to fight each other instead of catching thieves red-handed?”
The vehicle moved steadily through the wind, snow, and hail. Jiang Qi drank half the soup, feeling warmth spread through her body.
She said, “Players taking NPC items isn’t the train conductor’s business. But if players start fighting each other, the conductor has the right—and must have the ability—to intervene.”
In her previous life on the train, there was an incident in the fourth-class carriage where players were hacking each other up violently. The train conductor arrived and immediately pinned everyone to the ground; no one could move, some were even so scared they wet themselves.
At the time, Jiang Qi was also in the fourth-class carriage, over a hundred carriages away from the incident, yet she immediately felt paralyzed, as if an invisible hand had pressed down on her from above, stopping even her breathing.
That feeling was truly like the shadow of death descending, with life and death entirely in someone else’s hands.
Later, all the players involved in that incident were severely punished.
With sheer strength, the train conductor proved to the players how terrible the consequences of breaking the rules could be.
So Jiang Qi felt that sometimes the rules on the train grant the conductor great authority and power, but conversely, the train conductor must also use their strength to enforce those rules.
A train conductor who cannot control the scene or suppress players is not a qualified train conductor.
What she wanted to trigger now was this very project.
Dong Shengfeng said, “So, you want the players to fight each other, and then you step in to manage it?”
“’Manage’ is too mild a word. I want to control the scene, regardless of player casualties.”
Dong Shengfeng clicked her tongue. “No wonder the army brought out the cannons. But that also means it’ll be dangerous on site. Do you have to be there personally?”
Looking at Jiang Qi’s small frame and considering her barely competent skills, she was very concerned.
“If I don’t go personally, how can I control the scene?” Jiang Qi said sincerely. “Yes, this is a bit risky, so I’ll need you to help build morale and protect me.”
…
The vehicle soon arrived at a warehouse near the dock, already set up as a temporary command post.
Here, Jiang Qi met a military district commander she had seen before at the command center. His surname was Zhao, so she addressed him as Commander Zhao.
She also saw someone she knew—Cui He.
Cui He nodded at her, and she returned the gesture before speaking to Commander Zhao, “Commander Zhao, thank you for your help.”
Commander Zhao waved his hand. “We see the effort and pressure you’re under, Comrade Jiang. The hardest part falls on you, and we can only assist in some parts of the operation.”
Pointing to a map on the table—a layout of Jiuwan Dock—he said: “Based on reconnaissance, three groups of players have gathered here, here, and here, each numbering from dozens to over a hundred. They’ll likely enter the dock along these three routes, aiming for the warehouse area full of supplies.
“When they enter, our forces will surround the perimeter and cut off all escape routes…”
Commander Zhao explained their operational plan in detail, while surveillance footage appeared on the screen, showing the three groups of sneaky players—not perfectly clear, but roughly enough.
Jiang Qi studied the screen, but couldn’t tell which carriage each player came from.
However, they had already gathered information on these people. One group came from Xin’an Residential Area, including Ain and Qing Mai.
Jiang Qi raised an eyebrow. “So this group is all from first-class carriages?”
Dong Shengfeng nodded, “Should be. Ain and her companions are basically all there. As for the others, I haven’t met them, but they seem familiar, likely from first-class carriages as well.
“The other two groups: one seems more imposing and well-presented, probably from the special-class carriage; the last group is more mixed, no clear style. Ain called them a ragtag bunch from the lower-class carriage.”
Jiang Qi nodded. “Once I see them in person, I will confirm visually.”
Commander Zhao continued, “Don’t worry, we’ve prepared positions at all vantage points. If anyone proves difficult, cannons can handle them. The challenge is getting the players to fight each other.”
Normally, the three groups targeting the same supplies should clash, but since each player’s backpack has limited capacity, collectively they can’t carry much, so a fight isn’t guaranteed.
Jiang Qi said, “We lure them into the same warehouse, then use flashbangs and some hidden traps. How about that?”
Commander Zhao looked at Jiang Qi. This young woman was ruthless as well. “All right, let’s do it that way. We will lure them into this warehouse.”
Jiang Qi looked at the warehouse Commander Zhao indicated on the map. It was located in a corner, with dead ends to the rear and right, suitable for forcing players inside. The surrounding roads were relatively wide, making it convenient to form an encirclement.
Commander Zhao added:, “We had planned to use this warehouse for a trap anyway. Something’s buried underground here.”
Once she learned what was buried, Jiang Qi thought, “We can give it a try.”
She added, “But just in case they don’t fight, I’ll record a line of dialogue first.”
“What did you say?”
Jiang Qi coughed twice into the voice recorder to clear her throat, then gestured for everyone to be quiet. Next, using a male voice thickened by her mask, she jabbered out a sentence.
Everyone: ?
Jiang Qi turned off the recorder and explained, “This is the universal language of those players’ home planets. The sentence basically insults people in first-class and special-class carriages—it’ll provoke them.”
In her previous life, she was the only outsider on the whole train. Most players didn’t wear their masks while on the train, so there was no empathic translation function; they communicated directly in the universal language.
Although Jiang Qi always wore her mask and could understand others, she had quietly learned some of the players’ universal language just in case her mask ever malfunctioned.
Now, that knowledge came in handy.
With this sentence, it would be even easier for them to start fighting.
Jiang Qi said, “Can we store this in the warehouse? Play it whenever we need to.”
…
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