◎ Taming Wolf Sai, Cold Adaptation, Clearing the [Home Field] Project ◎
Wolf Sai’s breathing froze. He was familiar with this kind of gaze—he often looked at weak players and NPCs the same way, as if they were nothing but trash.
But he had never imagined that one day, such a gaze would fall on him.
At this moment, being looked at like this gave him the chilling sense of being targeted at the top of the food chain, leaving him unable to even think about resisting.
Jiang Qi clicked her tongue, seemingly a little impatient. She aimed her gun again, about to shoot, and under her gaze, Wolf Sai found himself completely frozen once more.
The extreme fear gripped Wolf Sai’s heart. He shouted loudly, “I’ll listen to you! I’ll follow you! I’ll do whatever you say!”
When he shouted this, besides terror, there was a vague sense of grievance and anger he could hardly describe.
Is this how recruiters usually behave?
He was still someone of significance. If the other party wanted him to join, shouldn’t they persuade him, let him refuse, offer benefits again, and go through a few rounds of negotiation?
Yet here, they threatened his life immediately, holding nothing back!
Even when he had recruited others, he had never been this forceful.
Jiang Qi looked at him calmly for a moment, seemingly unsurprised by his choice, as if no matter what Wolf Sai chose, it would make no difference to her. “Very well. You will be grateful for your choice.”
Wolf Sai felt as if he had been granted amnesty, gasping for air as if someone had ripped the spine out of him, lying on the ground in humiliation and shame, which eventually turned into confusion. “You… who are you?”
They were all on the same train. How could this person be so overwhelmingly strong?
Jiang Qi didn’t answer. “Your next task is to seize the abilities of the other players locked here. You’ll be released when the task is complete.”
Having said this, she turned and left.
Dong Shengfeng silently dragged out the red-haired player’s corpse, then silently brought in another portion of food and water, dutifully playing the role of a subordinate player.
The cell door closed again.
Wolf Sai looked at the best meal he had had in days, his eyes flashing with humiliation and unwillingness.
Everything else was meaningless; only life was real…
As long as he could survive, dignity didn’t matter at all…
A real man endures temporary humiliation…
He tried to convince himself for a while, licked his chapped lips, and crawled over to eat.
…
Back in the lounge, Dong Shengfeng took off her helmet and asked in puzzlement, “Why did you let him live? Just so he could go take someone else’s talent?”
Jiang Qi removed her mask and placed the metal sphere into a specially designed box. “First, Wolf Sai wasn’t a target for acquiring a player panel. Second, he doesn’t know I’m the train conductor. Third, he hasn’t done anything extreme to harm the natives, so killing him wasn’t necessary. Besides, his abilities are genuinely strong; keeping him around might come in handy for something else.”
“What if he pretends to submit but later takes revenge?”
“Don’t worry. I don’t have complete control over him yet, but as long as I’m here, he can’t make a move. He’s smart—once he’s submitted, he won’t recklessly risk being killed by me.”
Jiang Qi handed her the box. “Send this for research, along with the footage from the cell earlier.”
Among those who had already become players, a few were specialized researchers. With their player identities, studying these players’ abilities would be far more efficient.
Dong Shengfeng took the box, looked at her, and said with admiration, “You’re becoming more and more authoritative. That Wolf Sai’s face went pale from fear just now.”
Jiang Qi removed her contact lenses and felt slightly embarrassed. “Half of it was acting, the other half was the combined effect of [Intimidate a Passenger] and [Being Addressed as Train Conductor].”
The first gave her the ability to intimidate passengers; the second, once maxed, gave her high-level, overwhelming deterrent power against players, the effect and duration depending on the power difference between the two sides.
So this project is actually quite valuable.
It just strained her eyes when activated. Right now, her eyes were already red and sore.
Dong Shengfeng looked puzzled. “Acting? Then why were you so ruthless just now? If he hadn’t dodged that bullet…”
“That’s just his fate,” Jiang Qi said casually. “It turns out he’s quite adept at surviving desperate situations.”
No wonder he had the potential to grow into a train conductor. Maybe that’s a kind of luck—people with it seem to succeed more easily. Who knows, maybe he’ll even cause that Cunning Snake some trouble later.
Dong Shengfeng: “…”
She watched her seemingly unconcerned demeanor, thinking that keeping Wolf Sai alive was just a small move, whether he lived or died didn’t matter. Perhaps the cold, ruthless image she had shown was not entirely an act.
Maybe it was a projection of her true self—though she hadn’t realized it yet.
Jiang Qi added, “Alright, send it. Research it quickly. If it’s useful for our people, great; if not, we’ll think of something else.”
She reapplied her long false nails.
“You’re…”
“I’m taking a page from Wolf Sai’s method—seeing if I can extract an ability for myself.”
A train conductor’s identity can’t acquire abilities, so she would try with a player identity.
Jiang Qi changed into Sando’s vest and selected from the other imprisoned players, choosing one with scale-like skin.
It was a skin-based ability, so it should be similar.
She entered the cell and, after a lot of effort, knocked the person down. But throughout the process, she couldn’t sense a chance to acquire the scaled skin.
Even after psyching herself up and enduring nausea to bite the person, it had no effect at all.
“Ugh, ugh, ugh!” Jiang Qi spat.
This is not a job for an ordinary person.
The doctor responsible for her health grimaced and handed her a cup of mouthwash. “You actually bit them. Aren’t you afraid the player might carry some virus?”
Jiang Qi gargled several times, still tasting blood. Her stomach felt awful, and she was exhausted. “How would I know if it doesn’t work unless I try? How did Wolf Sai do it? Was it because he was in Shadow Wolf form?”
Or maybe she simply didn’t have Wolf Sai’s luck.
The person who successfully stole others’ abilities in her past life—could it have been Wolf Sai? He wouldn’t have been the only one to succeed, right?
Knock, knock, knock—someone came to the door. She looked up: it was her cold adaptation instructor. “Instructor Wang!”
Instructor Wang was a thirty-something woman with a heroic presence, previously a military instructor—a rare female instructor. Seeing her, Jiang Qi instinctively shrank back, as if seeing a strict homeroom teacher from school.
Instructor Wang smiled. “Xiao Jiang, although the leader said you have great freedom and shouldn’t be restrained, some things others can do, but some things only you can do.
“According to your schedule, by the 20th you must have gone out as a player. There are less than five days left. If you don’t adapt to the cold, your body won’t recover in time. Don’t you agree?”
Despite smiling, Instructor Wang made Jiang Qi slightly nervous. She scratched her head and laughed awkwardly, “I know, I’ll go to class.”
The doctor looked sympathetic but asked, “Um, Team Leader Jiang, can I draw some blood? If cold adaptation makes you ill, it could affect the Qi substance. Just in case…”
Jiang Qi calmly held out her hand. “Sure, draw it.”
“This time we may need more. Dr. Xue is trying to extract Qi substance, so we need extra samples.”
“It’s fine, go ahead.”
Actually, it wasn’t that much—only 40 at a time. After all, Jiang Qi’s workload was huge, and no one dared let her lose too much blood at once.
Jiang Qi watched her blood flow into the blood bags. In her vision, the bright red blood faintly glimmered with a purple aura.
The strangest thing was that she felt nothing while the blood was in her body, but once it left, she felt as if this portion of blood had come to life. She could even sense it.
It was as if this blood carried a mark that belonged to her.
Was this the change brought by the Qi substance?
Watching the doctor carefully place the two blood bags into the warming box, Jiang Qi’s gaze followed them. Even after the box was closed, her sensing did not stop.
It was an extraordinarily strange and peculiar sensation, yet she did not reject it; on the contrary, she found it quite pleasant.
Instructor Wang had observed the whole process. Seeing Jiang Qi dazed, she said, “Rest for a while. We’ll resume class in an hour.”
Jiang Qi snapped out of it and rolled up her sleeves. “No need to rest. Let’s start now. We’ve already delayed long enough.”
…
Ten minutes later, Jiang Qi, dressed in thin clothing, stood shivering in a room at minus ten degrees.
Instructor Wang said, “The outdoor temperature is now minus seventy-two degrees. For humans, that’s an extreme low. Exposed skin can be frostbitten within minutes. Without proper insulation, hypothermia can become life-threatening. Frostbite leading to amputation and emergency rescues is already common, and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases are breaking out on a large scale.”
“You missed the first week when the temperature dropped—the best time to acclimate to the cold. Facing extreme cold suddenly now will definitely be unbearable. We’ll start helping you adapt from minus ten degrees.”
Jiang Qi tried to control her shivering: “I… understand…”
Instructor Wang: “…”
“All right, let’s get moving and adjust our breathing…”
Jiang Qi tried to straighten her body, pretending she was an ice block. As long as she told herself she wasn’t cold, she really wasn’t.
Fortunately, once the training began, her body gradually warmed up.
…
Over the next two days, Jiang Qi spent most of her day on cold training, rapidly advancing from minus ten to minus twenty, thirty, and forty degrees. The training even included being buried in snow, swimming in icy water, and endurance exercises in freezing wind and mist—a complete 360-degree torture routine.
Sometimes, she felt like a freeze-dried salted fish in a cold storage, her brain completely frozen.
Fortunately, having the two panels was somewhat helpful, and the herbal tonics might not have been in vain.
However, Jiang Qi felt that the main reason was the Qi substance subtly improving her body.
Overall, her physique had become much stronger, her recovery faster. After all that suffering, she only had a fever for one night, and after taking medicine, she recovered almost entirely the next day.
Seeing this, Instructor Wang became more confident and bold in training her.
When not in class, Jiang Qi went to observe Wolf Sai seizing other players’ talent abilities.
Of course, she did so under the identity of “Sando.”
Once again, Wolf Sai defeated a player and snapped off two vampire fangs.
Returning to human form, Wolf Sai sat on the ground, panting heavily. Jiang Qi picked up the two teeth and examined them closely in her hand.
After detaching from the body, the bloodstains on the teeth gradually disappeared, revealing their original pale color, like a cold jade. They resembled vampire fangs from movies—long and sharp.
She released her grip, and the two teeth didn’t fall but hovered in midair, slowly rotating, surrounded by a halo.
Like other talent abilities, once removed from the body, they return to their original state.
Wolf Sai coldly watched her take the fruits of his labor and licked his teeth, seemingly wanting to pounce and bite her neck.
He suddenly asked, “What about that person? Why hasn’t he come the past two days?”
Jiang Qi replied, “You mean ‘Master’? He’s busy. Such a small matter doesn’t require his personal attention.”
Referring to her main account with a male pronoun ensured the empathic translation function wouldn’t reveal anything.
Wolf Sai was unconvinced. He fought and bled every day—how could this be a small matter!
He asked again, “Do you know where he went?”
“Roughly.”
“And under him, where would I rank?”
Jiang Qi finally tore her gaze away from the fangs and glanced at him, saying arrogantly, “Of course, I’m his most trusted aide, a top-notch right hand. Why do you ask?”
Wolf Sai sneered, inspecting Jiang Qi’s ghostly makeup: just this? Top-notch aide? She’s flattering herself!
But then he reconsidered. Even if she wasn’t truly a top aide, she at least had the man’s trust.
And compared to himself—someone with incredible power and countless contributions who couldn’t even earn a single glance from that person—this realization made his blood boil.
He pressed further. “How should I address him? I can’t keep calling him ‘that person,’ can I?”
“You can call him Lord Yi.” She provided a player-language title.
“Yi? Yi Nation?” Wolf Sai’s mind raced. The Yi Nation was the strongest on their planet. If someone used that as a title… could he actually be from that country?
He tried to identify powerful players from Yi Nation but quickly gave up. Yi Nation is the strongest and has the largest population, making up almost a third of the planet’s inhabitants. As a result, about a third of the people on the train probably come from Yi Nation. This makes it impossible to identify any particular targets.
Seeing him make the association, Jiang Qi smiled faintly.
Creating a false identity and making it real allowed players to believe there really was a mysterious figure on the train. This also conveniently gave Jiang Qi a main account for situations where she needed to display her full strength.
Jiang Qi placed the fangs in a box and said, “Rest for today. Only three players remain. Tomorrow we’ll finish them all at once, and then you’ll be free.”
She started to leave.
Wolf Sai asked, “Will you really let me go?”
“Otherwise, would we keep you here for free food?”
Wolf Sai: “…”
Wolf Sai: “Lord Yi said I should follow him, didn’t he?”
“Yes, when we need you, we’ll call you.”
Wolf Sai: “…” So not only was he low-ranking, he was also just a disposable member to be summoned and dismissed at will!
Damn it!
…
After leaving the cell, Jiang Qi handed the box containing the fangs to the person beside her. “Send this for research.”
Dong Shengfeng had gone off to survive as a player, so the person following Jiang Qi was temporarily replaced. He took the box and said, “The research department just sent news. The previous abilities, like the metal skin, are basically confirmed usable. Team Leader Jiang, do you want to choose one?”
Jiang Qi shook her head. “None of those abilities are what I want. You can allocate them to whoever fits best.”
Those who gain the talents could later return as opponents, giving her a chance to train her [Demonic Eye] and [Contempt] skills—it’s cost-effective.
“By the way, be careful when accepting an ability. If you lose control even briefly, you could harm yourself or others… but never mind, the research team surely understands this better than I do.”
“I’ll convey your words.”
Jiang Qi tidied up and prepared to head out. Today, she was going to train on the [Home Field] project.
At eleven o’clock, there was a temporary security point; at 11:30, the supply distribution square; at noon, the hospital; at 12:30, … and at 4 p.m., the North City funeral home, Dong Shengfeng mentioned.
Twelve consecutive player conflicts in total. In each conflict, some players were on their side. It was their instigation and provocation that created these conflicts, allowing Jiang Qi to gain experience.
And Jiang Qi needed twelve different “skins” for this. Fortunately, logistics had already prepared the character models for her. She just needed to follow the data, shape the train conductor mask to match the appearance, and put on the corresponding clothing.
Sitting on the vehicle, the acting coach beside her held a stack of materials and explained: “The first character is a young female police officer. Your voice should be high; when looking at people, maintain direct eye contact, exuding justice without being overbearing. Your movements should be clean and precise…”
“The second character is a middle-aged male community worker. Your voice needs to be lower, your speech slower, more conversational. Call people ‘sister’ or ‘brother,’ for instance. Your movements shouldn’t be rushed; you need patience…”
“The third character is a doctor. You must embody the doctor’s demeanor: wearing a white coat with pens and a stethoscope in the pocket, holding a patient chart. Seeing a patient in discomfort, your instinct is to check their condition first. You must master basic examination techniques…”
Jiang Qi listened, learned, and then practiced the lines given to her, working on speech pace, tone, accent, and emotion. These were the basic lines; she would need to improvise during actual performance.
For the past half month, every time she went out under a false identity, she had to learn from the coach. Her acting had improved significantly. Now, with a new role, she could quickly get into character and perform convincingly.
However, the coach noted a problem: her acting was somewhat stereotyped.
She tended to portray characters in a rigid, archetypal way. If she added details, she would inadvertently reveal her own personality, traits unique to herself.
For safety, it was better to stick to archetypes. That’s why her main persona, “Lord Yi,” and her everyday persona, “Sando,” had vastly different personalities, to avoid confusion.
While Jiang Qi practiced, Instructor Wang sat nearby, keeping a close eye on her as this was also outdoor cold-adaptation training. She monitored Jiang Qi’s state and checked the results of the past two days’ training. Seeing Jiang Qi working so diligently, she quietly admired her effort.
…
Not long after, they arrived at the first location.
Looking out from the vehicle, the world was a vast white expanse. Buildings along the streets were encased in solid ice, and roads were thick with ice. Only specially modified sleds and vehicles could travel.
A true frozen world, exuding a bone-chilling cold. The air was filled with frost, reducing visibility. Nobody would venture out unless necessary.
Looking at the houses, many had white clothes hanging, many were empty, giving the appearance of near-abandonment. In reality, the occupants had been moved to hidden heated shelters.
Jiang Qi wasn’t wearing her life-saving heated suit, just regular cold-weather gear. Instructor Wang patted her shoulder. She nodded, took a deep breath, and stepped out quickly.
The cold wind hit her face like knives. Even in thick clothing, she shivered uncontrollably. Each breath felt like her airways were being cut, oxygen thin, her heartbeat racing.
Someone was waiting to escort her, helping her change into the character outfit. When she came out again, she embodied a female police officer, dressed in official cold-weather gear, wearing an oxygen mask, and thick studded boots.
Fully equipped, she led her team toward the temporary security point.
The point was set up to prevent incidents in the area—a public safety and assistance location, stocked with firearms and supplies.
At that moment, a group of players was trying to forcibly take over.
Jiang Qi drew her gun and fired into the air. “Stop! Everyone stop!”
…
[Ding! You successfully settled a dispute among players… Home Field… Gained 0.001 Internship Experience.]
…
Second conflict: [Ding! You successfully…]
Third: [Ding!… Conductor’s Contempt…]
Fourth: [Ding! You triggered…]
…
Jiang Qi rushed from place to place, barely having time to breathe.
By 4 p.m., she arrived punctually at the funeral home.
In extreme cold, darkness fell quickly. Approaching the funeral home, she saw funeral vehicles converging—some slow-moving modified vehicles, some human-powered carts, some wooden planks being pushed and pulled.
Each vehicle carried one or more corpses.
These were real deceased people. No matter how well Spring City prepared for the cold, people still died every day. Normally, those sent to the crematorium were mostly frozen meat, but today, to allow players to witness real deaths, half the city’s deceased had been brought here.
Among them were also some players’ bodies. After all, it was important to let people see that players’ remains were cremated the same as anyone else’s.
And today, the North City funeral home had indeed recruited many players to work.
Jiang Qi’s role was that of a social worker. She supported a cart, struggling to push it, carrying several player corpses.
Instructor Wang was beside her and said quietly, “Keep your breathing steady. Do not breathe through your mouth. Your throat will not be able to take it.”
Jiang Qi closed her mouth and covered her nose and mouth with a scarf, trying to slow her breathing. But she felt increasingly short of oxygen. Her lungs hurt as if they were about to burst. Snow grains lashed her face like needles, and even the gaps in her bones ached from the cold.
This damned weather is practically killing people.
She looked at the others pushing carts around her and felt genuine admiration. Most of them had been arranged by the government, physically strong and more resistant to the cold, but in order to play the role of ordinary citizens, they were not wearing any high-tech clothing.
They were not acting for just a day or two. Every single day they had to run all over the city, busy with all kinds of work.
In addition, some of them were real relatives. Sending a loved one off on their final journey was no easy thing either.
When they reached the entrance of the funeral home, some players came over to lend a hand.
Quite a few players were also clearing snow and ice outside the funeral home. All heavy manual labor. They were wearing official cold-weather gear and received decent meals in return.
There were plenty of players now willing to come out and work just for these supplies and a full meal.
Jiang Qi glanced over their heads. They came from all kinds of carriages, even special-class ones. She even saw a player whose fingers had been frozen and ruined.
It seemed that players were really not doing very well.
She also spotted a familiar face, Ain from 606.
This person had been caught together with the others at the warehouse that day. After being locked up for a few days, she was released. Compared to back then, she had lost a lot of weight and looked lifeless.
Jiang Qi withdrew her gaze.
After lining up for a while, they finally entered the main hall. The hall was filled with sobbing at varying pitches, the atmosphere heavy and oppressive. The funeral home manager hurried over. “These bodies all have no family coming for them?”
Jiang Qi brushed the ice chips off her clothes and rubbed her swollen, frozen hands as she answered, “Yes. They all died on the streets. Their identities are unknown.”
“Unknown identities again?” the manager muttered as he registered them. “Something is really cursed about Spring City. One strange thing after another. Piles upon piles of people with unknown identities. Could it be that these people brought the disaster with them?”
The players who heard this stiffened slightly, exchanged looks, and then continued pretending to be busy.
Half a month had passed. The NPCs in this dungeon had accepted the reality that Spring City was completely sealed off and unable to contact the outside world. After that, they began investigating why this had happened.
Under these circumstances, players with unknown identities naturally became the prime suspects. So when players started disappearing one after another, no one found it surprising. They had obviously been taken away by the NPCs.
The players in the hall secretly felt relieved. Fortunately, they had been willing to spend effort and train coins to fabricate fake identities that could withstand investigation, disguising themselves as NPCs convincingly. Otherwise, they would have been taken away too.
Compared to those players who had been taken away, whose fates and whereabouts were unknown and who might even be suffering torture somewhere, working for NPCs to make a living now did not seem especially shameful.
There was no choice. The NPCs in this dungeon were simply too powerful.
While pouring ginger soup for the people entering the hall, Ain listened to the low murmurs among the players.
“I heard the reason the NPCs in this dungeon are so hard to deal with is because they’re working with an incredibly strong player.”
“NPCs can work with players?”
“What cooperation? That player must have disguised themselves as some big shot among the NPCs. On one hand, they know everything about players. On the other, they can command the NPCs at will. They’re benefiting from both sides.”
“Then why would that player help the NPCs?”
“Help? Maybe not. At most, they’re using the NPCs’ authority and manpower to keep us players completely suppressed, and then get rid of the powerful players who refuse to obey. Think about it. Kill off the top ones, press us mediocre ones so hard we can’t lift our heads. Wouldn’t that make the people under that guy’s command far ahead of everyone else?”
“So powerful? I almost want to join them.”
“Tch. Do you think they’d even look at you? I heard they’ve gathered a lot of players under them. You know Wolf Sai? He’s been gone for half a month. Either he was killed, or he was subdued. Compared to someone like Wolf Sai, who are we? In the future, the train will probably be under that person’s complete control. We should just keep our heads down and survive.”
“Absolute control is an exaggeration. There are still plenty of strong players out there. They’re just not as high-profile.”
Ain listened silently, recalling the scene of being captured at the warehouse that day, still shaken with lingering fear.
After they were taken away, they were detained separately. She and Qing Mai, who were not particularly capable, not the masterminds behind stealing supplies, and who had fabricated identities that could withstand investigation, were released after a few days. But those powerful players like Wolf Sai had vanished without a trace.
Back then, many people from their first-class carriage team, including the leader and Mi Fei, had also gone missing since that incident.
She was truly frightened now, no longer daring to harbor any schemes. If there was work, she worked. If there was none, she kept her head down and survived on government relief rations, only hoping to endure the month.
Being able to leave alive would be the best possible outcome. She no longer dared to hope for any gains from this dungeon.
…
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