“This much meat will be enough to eat for quite a few days.” An Bai swallowed, having gone far too long without tasting pork.
However, carrying this much meat back would be troublesome. Thinking of this, An Bai looked at the wild boar flesh essence beside him.
Each mass of wild boar flesh essence was about the size of half a volleyball. A dark-red glow emanated from its surface, and when he leaned closer, he could even smell blood.
After swallowing one mass of wild boar flesh essence whole, An Bai felt his entire body grow scorching hot, as though his abdomen were on fire.
He sprinted to the river and gulped down several mouthfuls of icy water, which eased the sensation somewhat. Having experienced this before, An Bai adapted more quickly.
After spending about twenty minutes, An Bai successively swallowed and digested all three masses of wild boar flesh essence.
【Survivor Andersen's strength has increased once again】
【Level: first tier】
【Stamina: 15→20】
【Strength: 13→22】
【Agility: 18】
【Sanity tolerance: 20】
【Intelligence: 15】
【Defense: 1→4】
“There’s even a defense stat now?” An Bai was somewhat surprised. Could it be that his previous attribute values had been too low for it to appear?
Without investigating the matter further, An Bai pulled several vines from the woods, tied the streaky pork and cylindrical timber together, and dragged them toward the train.
He dragged the two-hundred-jin load of pork with ease, feeling as if he had inexhaustible strength.
After dragging the pork into the train and placing it in a corner, An Bai swept his gaze around the interior and nodded slightly. It was not bad.
The only flaw was that the abundance of items made the train seem somewhat cramped.
【Upgrading to a third-level train requires 30 iron blocks, 10 glass, and 2 lubricating oil】
“I only have 7 iron blocks on me. The glass and lubricating oil were used up in the previous upgrade.”
An Bai opened the Bronze Shop and entered the materials section. There were still four hours until night, but the items listed there had already been sold out.
The other three sections were also completely sold out.
“Huh? I wonder how those people whose fuel ran out last night are doing now.” An Bai suddenly thought of them.
He then opened the chat channel. Since it was daytime, few people were sending messages; most had gone outside to search for resources.
Scrolling upward, he found that quite a few people had experienced nothing at all. Once their trains stopped, they simply went to sleep and waited obediently for daytime to arrive.
Some even felt that it was no big deal if the train did not move. The place where they had stopped happened to have beautiful scenery and abundant food.
“Take my advice: stop collecting energy. If you have any, exchange it for food.” The speaker's ID was Tian Niu.
“The Survival Manual clearly warns us to keep moving forward and never stop.”
“My train stopped yesterday because it lacked energy. I stayed inside honestly, and nothing happened.” Tian Niu continued.
“Nothing happened last night, but what about tonight?”
“This old man refuses to believe it. What can happen to me if I don’t move?”
“Good advice can’t save someone determined to die. Suit yourself.” There was nothing anyone could do about this stubborn old man.
It seemed that not many people knew about the ghost train yet. After skimming through nearly a thousand messages, An Bai did not find anyone discussing the extra railway tracks that appeared during night.
After roughly understanding the situation, An Bai continued chopping trees on the other side of the river. With his body further strengthened, his efficiency was astonishingly high.
No wild boars rushed out while he was chopping trees either. After about an hour, An Bai had harvested five hundred jin of timber.
He spent another hour transforming the timber into one hundred jin of coal.
An Bai had originally wanted to continue chopping, but the train was already packed to the brim and could not hold anything else.
“Calling it an early day!”
There were still two hours until night. An Bai bathed in the river, then changed into the new clothes he had exchanged from someone the day before.
He felt refreshed and invigorated!
.....
He entered the train and opened the silver treasure chest he had found during the daytime.
【Congratulations, Survivor An Bai. You have obtained three items.】
【One horn】
Description: “Effective in specific situations.”
【Special Mint chewing gum】
Description: “Sharpens the mind and relieves fatigue.”
【5 lubricating oil】
Description: “If you love her, apply more.”
To be honest, An Bai was already somewhat numb to it all. He placed the items on the table and now only wanted to get some proper rest.
An Bai lay on the bed, gazing out the window and quietly waiting for night to arrive.
As night arrived, the atmosphere in the chat channel became lively once more. Most people were discussing what they had obtained during the daytime.
An Bai, meanwhile, focused on the old man named Tian Niu, checking whether his avatar had gone black.
To An Bai’s surprise, people with a commercial eye had already begun establishing their own shops to obtain the things they needed.
The items people acquired varied widely, so the things being sold were equally diverse.
For example, someone had obtained a Bedsheet crafting scroll and changed their avatar to a bedsheet to promote their product.
Others sold floral water for repelling mosquitoes, and their businesses were exceptionally prosperous.
“Master Key crafting scroll! You provide the lock, I provide the key. Buying it is pure profit!”
There were even people selling keys.
Seeing this sentence, An Bai immediately thought of that unfortunate fellow from his first day. His ID seemed to have been M the Great.
..
“Sports shoes, sports shoes! Essential for preventing athlete’s foot and evading ferocious beasts!” An Bai began hawking his wares as well.
【Due to the excessive number of exchanges, the following regulation has been added: survivors are limited to 5 exchanges per week. Once this number is exceeded, both parties to the transaction will be charged a system maintenance fee equal to 40% of the transaction value.】
【This regulation takes effect immediately upon publication!】
“It can do this too?”
“I’m seriously sick of this. I finally saw a chance to get rich, and then this cursed system had to ruin it.”
“Good heavens! A 40% maintenance fee? Just kill me.”
【All interpretive authority belongs to the Player Trading System.】
“The behind-the-scenes operator won’t let people engage in commerce, allowing only low-frequency barter. What on earth is the reason?”
An Bai could not understand it no matter how hard he thought.
“Forget it. I’ve been defeated. Ha-ha.” A Survivor mocked himself.
“Go to sleep. You’ll feel better after sleeping.” Someone offered comfort.
“You should still join the Survival Alliance. At least that hasn’t been prohibited.”
“No! My train stopped all night yesterday, and nothing happened. Back then, I begged everyone for help, but not a single person paid attention to me.”
“Now you want me to join? Where were you earlier?”
“Ha-ha, I thought the same thing.” Tian Niu replied.
“Emperor Niu’s Dao heart is steadfast. He is a model for us all.”
The survivors without energy had clearly formed a small group of their own.
After finding no success through trading, An Bai flipped to the last page and observed the condition of the blue light point.
The blue light point was blinking slightly faster than last night, already exceeding the blinking frequency of a level-one train.
（The blue light point blinks during night and Polar Night.）
“Whether that is true will depend on what Polar Night is like.” An Bai closed the manual, and within a few breaths, he entered dreamland.
.....
By the time An Bai awoke, Polar Night was already more than halfway over.
An Bai added three days’ worth of coal to the boiler, which was close to going out, then opened the manual to understand the situation.
Sure enough, as he had expected, Tian Niu’s avatar had gone black. Several other familiar fellows’ avatars had also gone black.
✦✦✦