◎ Bringing Warmth to the Passengers ◎
3:00 p.m., May 10.
Seven hours had passed since the arrival of the dungeon. After completing a comprehensive physical examination at the command center, Jiang Qi prepared to depart once again.
Zhang Zhengtian asked, “Xiao Jiang, are you sure you want to leave?”
Jiang Qi nodded. “Both [See Through Disguise] and [Passenger Offering] were triggered during my interactions with players. If I want to trigger more skills, I have to be in close contact with them.”
“We can arrange various opportunities for you to get close to players right here at the Command Center.”
“It’s not the same,” Jiang Qi replied. “I want to live in the same environment as them. I might discover things differently that way.”
Zhang Zhengtian stopped trying to persuade her and personally escorted her to the car. “Stay safe and watch your health. Your physical well-being is of the utmost importance right now.”
Jiang Qi acknowledged this.
The car left the command center and dropped her off at a hospital, where she transferred to a bus and finally returned to her residential complex.
Standing at the entrance, she could already feel a biting chill. A drizzling rain had begun to fall; every drop was icy, mixed with traces of sleet.
Holding her umbrella, she walked quickly into the complex.
She reached Building 5, pressed the elevator button, and went up to the 6th floor. This was an apartment building with over a dozen units per floor sharing a single corridor. At that moment, the hallway was cluttered with belongings as people busily moved items in and out, cleaning and organizing.
With a single glance, Jiang Qi saw several people whose “true forms” were revealed as if under a magic mirror. Seat assignments hovered over their heads—they were clearly players who had just moved in.
In front of Room 605, Dong Shengfeng was sweeping the floor. Seeing Jiang Qi, she immediately waved. “Xiao Qi, you’re finally back!”
Everyone in the corridor looked over.
Jiang Qi walked over and said helplessly, “Don’t even get me started. The doctor gave me so many lab slips and drew several vials of blood. That’s why I was delayed so long.”
“How were the results?”
“They said I’m a bit anemic and prescribed a bunch of blood-replenishing supplements.”
Jiang Qi held up a large bag of medicine for Dong Shengfeng to see—and for the surrounding players to notice as well. Her blood had been drawn for research at the command center and would continue to be drawn in the future. This would inevitably affect her physical state, and her diet would need to focus on blood recovery. It was better to simply establish the “fact” that she suffered from anemia.
Jiang Qi shook the rainwater off her umbrella and hung it on the shoe rack by the door. “Spring City is so weird today. The temperature dropped out of nowhere. Do we have enough food at home?”
“Should be fine, I bought a lot of stuff,” Dong Shengfeng said, introducing a neighbor. “This is our new neighbor, Ain. It was so crowded at the supermarket earlier that I didn’t know what to buy; she gave me a lot of great suggestions.”
Jiang Qi looked at Ain, who was stepping out of Room 606, and nodded with a smile. “Thank you for the help.”
Ain didn’t seem to be in high spirits. She glanced at Jiang Qi. The current Jiang Qi was in her original appearance—peaceful temperament, innocent eyes. Ain naturally didn’t associate her with the fierce youth from the supermarket.
Ain managed a small smile. “Just helping each other out. Chen Jing helped me at the supermarket, too.”
To prevent players from using “true name” curses or similar methods, they used aliases. Dong Shengfeng went by Chen Jing, and Jiang Qi went by Jiang Xiaoqi.
Jiang Qi glanced at Ain’s bare neck. Without that blood-drop pendant, the tag [First Class Carriage, Car 11, Seat 21] hung clearly over Ain’s head, no different from the others.
After the brief exchange, Ain went back to work. Another girl was cleaning inside 606, also sporting a bright [First Class Carriage, Car 11, Seat 22] tag.
Jiang Qi didn’t linger and stepped inside the apartment. Dong Shengfeng followed and closed the door.
Jiang Qi took off her coat and changed into thicker loungewear. She gestured toward the door and whispered, “How did they end up living next door?”
Dong Shengfeng pointed to her neck. “As soon as she realized it was gone, she called for backup. The girl she’s living with was the first to arrive, then a few more came. They seemed to suspect I took it, so they asked where I lived. I told them that because of the road closures, I could only stay at your place.”
As soon as she said that, they rented the place next door.
“Not just next door. Rooms 601, 602, and 612 are all occupied by Ain’s acquaintances. She seems to have a wide network,” Dong Shengfeng said, pouring a cup of hot water for Jiang Qi. “I tested it—they don’t have the ability to eavesdrop through walls. As long as we don’t speak too loudly, they won’t hear us. For now, we’re on speaking terms, so we can play the part of good neighbors and get close to them. But if you think it’s inappropriate, we can move.”
“No need to move. This is fine.”
Jiang Qi took a sip of water, recalling what she had seen on her way in. “The people in 601 and 602 are First Class passengers. I haven’t seen the ones in 612 yet, but I doubt they’re exceptions. We’ve essentially infiltrated the First Class circle. This isn’t a bad thing. In fact, these First Class players can help me perform a few small tests.”
Dong Shengfeng raised an eyebrow. “For example?”
…
Next door, in 606, they were also talking about Jiang Qi and Dong Shengfeng.
Ain’s companion, Qing Mai, remarked, “It seems those two next door aren’t players. That girl, Xiao Qi—her aura perfectly matches the scent inside 605. Plus, she really does have a faint smell of blood on her; she probably actually just had blood drawn. No matter how realistically a player acts, they wouldn’t go to those lengths for such a minor detail.”
She finally concluded: “They’re just ordinary NPCs. Your pendant wasn’t taken by that Dong Shengfeng.”
Ain touched her bare neck. “I thought so too, but I can’t remember who took it.”
“It might have been a player fishing in troubled waters, or an NPC who got greedy during the chaos,” Qing Mai suggested. “After all, your chain is the color of gold, and gold is very valuable in this dungeon world.”
Ain felt depressed. She had hoped to use the pendant to hide her identity so she could act alone and gain better experience; she hadn’t expected to lose it on the very first day.
Qing Mai comforted her, “We’re all living on this floor now, so we can look out for each other. Just be more careful from now on.”
“I suppose that’s all I can do.”
Qing Mai suddenly asked, “By the way, what did the person who attacked you in the supermarket look like?”
Ain shook her head. “The face was likely a fake, but I’ll never forget those eyes—like a hungry wolf’s. And their weapon was strange—jet black, very dark. It felt icy cold against my waist and gave me a sense of extreme danger. That person is either from the First Class carriage or a ‘lone wolf’ hiding their strength in the Lower Class.”
As they spoke, a knock sounded at the door. The two stopped talking and opened it to find Dong Shengfeng’s grinning face. “Um, do you guys have any Thirteen-Spice powder? Could I borrow a bit? I’m making dumplings, and they won’t taste right without it.”
…
Room 605.
Jiang Qi, the one referred to as the “lone wolf,” sat at the table. She pulled out her Zerg Carapace Blade; the pitch-black blade emitted a chilling, eerie glow. With a light flick, it cut through the air with a strange whistling sound.
She had obtained this blade in the Zerg Nest dungeon. It cut through iron like butter and possessed both ice and low-level poison attributes. For a newcomer, this was already a formidable weapon.
She placed the knife on the table and took out another item: a Haste Ring that increased attack speed.
This had been taken from the “Three-Headed Snake” trio.
When she was undergoing her physical exam at the command center, Zhang Zhengtian had ordered his men to strip everything useful from the captured players and send the items to her.
Aside from the Three-Headed Snake and the supermarket thief, seven other players had been caught. All of them had attacked residents immediately upon arrival, behaving like brainless thugs.
People like that were a menace to society and held no value for observation, so they had been rounded up in minutes.
Out of the eleven people, she had taken one item from each.
Now, those eleven items were arranged neatly before her, alongside a blood-drop pendant—all of them categorized as [Passenger Offerings].
She opened the Train Conductor Panel to take a look:
Name: Jiang Qi
Identity: Train Conductor
Level: Intern (2.012//100)
The skill [Passenger Offering] likely only granted a cumulative 1 point of experience; she would need to discover new skills.
The door opened, and Dong Shengfeng returned with a small bottle of Thirteen-Spice. “I had to ask several families before I finally borrowed some.”
As soon as she closed the door, she lowered her voice. “None of those players had any reaction.”
“That means they can’t detect my actions, nor can they sense these player-owned items in front of me.” Jiang Qi waved her hand, storing the items on the table.
Dong Shengfeng sat down across from her. “You can put all these into your backpack?”
Jiang Qi nodded. “Probably because they are all ‘Passenger Offerings,’ they can be stored in the same slot.”
“Well, that’s convenient.” Dong Shengfeng took out the minced meat she bought at the supermarket, dumped it into a large basin, and began adding seasonings.
Jiang Qi: “…”
“You’re actually making dumplings?”
“Why wouldn’t I? If I said I’m making them, I’m making them. If we’re going to act, we have to do it right. We need that ‘everyday life’ vibe and attention to detail. I’ll send some dumplings to those players later—it’s called building rapport and fostering friendship.”
Jiang Qi looked at Dong Shengfeng’s beaming face and went silent.
She was so stressed she felt like pulling her hair out, yet this woman could laugh so happily.
Fine. Since she was the Intern Train Conductor, she would just have to shoulder the pressure herself.
She pulled out a notebook and spread it out on the table to study.
Dong Shengfeng asked, “What’s this?”
“A list of things a train conductor needs to do.”
Dong Shengfeng craned her neck to take a look. There were items like “arranging the tasks of the attendants during shift work,” “handling emergencies during service,” and “correcting and filling out ticket data, mastering passenger flow and trends.”
It was indeed the work of a real-life train conductor, but: “Isn’t this all a bit too… proper? The train conductor we’re going to be facing is the kind of guy who demands ‘offerings’ and favors from passengers. I think we should be looking into more underhanded ways to dig for info.”
Jiang Qi was somewhat speechless, but she had to admit she had a point.
She said, “Later on, the neighborhood property management will come by to register tenant information. Since I’m a legitimate homeowner, they’ll temporarily assign that task to me. That’ll give me an excuse to register the players’ info and see if I can trigger any skills. Anyway, I’ll try everything and see what sticks.”
Dong Shengfeng pushed a pile of dumpling wrappers toward her. “Here, then try making and delivering some dumplings now. Maybe you’ll trigger a ‘Showing Warmth to Passengers’ skill?”
Jiang Qi looked at the wrapper reluctantly. “I don’t know how to fold them.”
“It’s simple, I’ll teach you.”
…
An hour later, the first batch of dumplings was ready, and Jiang Qi went out to deliver them.
It wasn’t even 5:00 p.m. yet, but the sky was already turning dark. The temperature had plummeted, and a rustling sound echoed in the wind—tiny, grain-sized ice pellets were starting to fall.
Despite wearing several layers of clothes, Jiang Qi still shivered the moment she stepped out.
She knocked on the door of Room 606.
Ain came to the door. Jiang Qi handed over a bowl of dumplings. “We made a lot of dumplings, please have a taste.”
Ain was slightly surprised and couldn’t help but label Jiang Qi as a “Friendly NPC.” She reached out and took them. “Oh, thanks.”
[Ding! You have delivered ‘Heartfelt Dumplings’ to a passenger. Caring for passengers is within a train conductor’s scope of duty. Congratulations, you have begun to comprehend the responsibilities of a train conductor and gained 0.001 Internship Experience.]
[Ding! A passenger feels that you are very friendly. Being kind and approachable is a bonus for a train conductor. Congratulations, you have gained 0.001 Internship Experience.]
Jiang Qi: “…”
Give me a break!
…
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