“The situation has become rather delicate. Let’s work together!”
After An Bai sat down beside the Strange Man, the Strange Man quietly said to him,
“How long until the third bell ring?” An Bai asked.
“I’m not entirely sure, but I guess the third bell ring won’t sound until the Polar Night is almost over,” the Strange Man replied.
An Bai checked the time. There was still an hour and a half until the Polar Night ended.
A lot could be done in an hour and a half.
“All right, let’s work together!” After thinking it over briefly, An Bai agreed.
“Brother Andersen, you’re refreshingly straightforward!” The Strange Man was clearly excited and gripped An Bai’s hand tightly.
“Brother Strange Man, what are you planning to do next? Are you going to keep waiting here?” An Bai sent the Strange Man a message through the manual.
“Why don’t we go outside and talk first? We only need to return to this building before the third bell ring sounds,” the Strange Man replied.
.....
Thus, An Bai and the Strange Man stood up, left the building, and headed toward the train.
It was deep into the night, and the moon had long since hidden behind the dark clouds. Without the building’s lights, this place would have been pitch-black.
“Brother Strange Man, which number were you to arrive?” An Bai asked as they walked.
“Second. The first was that long-haired freak,” the Strange Man answered.
“That long-haired freak is no simple person! The old woman actually didn’t charge him a ticket price! She only made him lift his hair.” An Bai sighed in amazement.
“He’s definitely no simple person!” The Strange Man wholeheartedly agreed.
He had been the second to arrive and had tried to strike up a conversation with the long-haired freak, only to be frightened away by the killing intent in his eyes.
“We should return to our respective trains and make some preparations first. Those people aren’t kindhearted,” An Bai said.
“Brother Andersen is right. Anyone who could arrive at the platform on the very night the system announced its existence is no ordinary person.”
As they spoke, An Bai and the Strange Man arrived at the place where the trains were parked.
At this moment, the doors of all five trains were open. The two jumped down onto the railway tracks and walked toward their respective trains.
An Bai put his iron pickaxe and the giant python’s teeth into the train, leaving only a common grade iron axe in his hand.
Then he replenished his water and restored his stamina.
The Strange Man, meanwhile, entered his train and took out a stone sword.
The two walked out of their carriages at the same time and exchanged a tacit glance.
Soon, the Strange Man turned and walked toward the train where the long-haired freak was staying. Seeing this, An Bai hurriedly tried to stop him.
“You can’t approach a train that isn’t yours. An invisible wall is blocking it.”
“Really?”
The Strange Man was somewhat doubtful, but when he continued forward another fifty meters, he was indeed stopped by an invisible wall.
“This is a protective measure for survivors, designed to stop others from entering their trains and stealing things,” An Bai explained.
The Strange Man pondered this, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
“Let’s go back up for now. It wouldn’t be good if those people misunderstood us.” Seeing him remain where he was, An Bai reminded him.
While they were talking, the couple also left the building and headed toward the parked trains.
By a very “coincidental” turn of events, the two groups met on the way.
This was An Bai’s first time observing the couple up close.
The man had delicate features, but stood a full 1.82 meters tall, making him slightly taller than An Bai.
The woman, meanwhile, looked delicate and pitiful, and was only 1.6 meters tall.
An Bai and the Strange Man had intended to ignore the two, but the man reached out and stopped them.
“What do you want?” An Bai stopped walking and slightly furrowed his brows.
“Brother, could you give us a hand?” The man got straight to the point.
“I’m sure you heard it inside the platform building as well: my girlfriend’s ticket price is five iron blocks, but we simply don’t have that many.”
“So I wanted to ask whether you have any spare iron blocks.”
The man scratched the back of his head, doing his best to make his expression appear sincere.
The Strange Man and An Bai exchanged a glance. Both of them had spare iron blocks, which were stored in their train carriages and visible to outsiders through the glass.
“What are you planning to offer in exchange?” An Bai asked.
Upon hearing this, the man’s expression became somewhat unnatural, as if he had an embarrassing secret.
After letting out a soft sigh, he said, “There’s only two days’ worth of food and water left in our trains. Coal and tools aren’t for sale, so...”
The moment An Bai saw his hesitant expression, he knew that this was another man hoping to get something for nothing.
He was just about to refuse when the Strange Man reached out to stop him.
The Strange Man winked at An Bai, signaling that he would handle the conversation.
“Ha-ha, brother, we do have iron blocks, and we’d certainly be happy to see your girlfriend successfully leave this place.”
“But we don’t want to be taken advantage of either!” At this point, the Strange Man gave an awkward, foolish-looking chuckle.
The man’s expression turned somewhat dejected. Earlier, he had even considered snatching An Bai’s iron blocks.
After all, An Bai looked rather weak, but who would have thought he was allied with that rough man?
Although the Strange Man looked simple and honest, he stood a full 1.9 meters tall. No one would underestimate this seemingly honest fellow.
Moreover, the two men in front of him were carrying weapons.
The man’s expression shifted repeatedly, and he kept glancing at his girlfriend as if weighing the pros and cons.
The Strange Man and An Bai simply watched the two people before them in silence.
The girl standing nearby felt somewhat embarrassed under their gaze, so she could only look up stupidly at her boyfriend.
“If you have nothing to offer in exchange, I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do.” After waiting for a while, the Strange Man spoke.
The man was instantly jolted awake by these words. He seemed to have made up his mind, and his eyes became resolute.
He looked at his girlfriend and saw her staring blankly at him. A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
She was still so absentminded. The man reached out and rubbed her head.
He then looked at the two men and said in an extremely serious tone, “I’ve decided. I’ll offer everything in my girlfriend’s train as payment!”
The girl standing beside him widened her eyes, seemingly unable to believe that he had said this.
“Since we happened to reunite here, we might as well live together from now on. So everything in my girlfriend’s train will be exchanged for iron blocks.”
“Chen Xixi, don’t be afraid. I won’t abandon you.” The man looked at the lovely girl on the verge of tears and comforted her.
After hearing this, the Strange Man glanced at An Bai. An Bai looked at him at the same time and nodded.
Seeing this, the Strange Man cleared his throat and said to the couple before him, “All right, then. Let’s first go see what’s in your girlfriend’s train. I’ll calculate the value based on the market price.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely give you the full five iron blocks!”
In the end, the Strange Man exchanged six iron blocks for twenty-six pounds of coal, one day’s worth of food and water, and some miscellaneous daily necessities.
“Thank you both. We’ll go pay the ticket price now and won’t take up any more of your time.”
With that, the couple left.
The raised platform at the edge of the railway tracks......
“Sigh!” An Bai let out a soft sigh.
“What is it? Are you jealous, Brother Andersen?” the Strange Man teased.
“I’m not particularly jealous. It was just a minor interlude,” An Bai said.
“Brother Andersen, you’re still too young. I’m not optimistic about how things will develop between those two,” the Strange Man said.
“What makes you say that?”
“A man’s intuition, I suppose! It’s hard to explain.” The Strange Man laughed it off.
“You mean you can’t explain it? You just don’t want to!” An Bai rolled his eyes.
“In any case, as someone who’s been through it, let me offer you some advice, Brother Andersen: love requires both sides to give to each other.
“Especially in a Survival World like this, falling for a girl who becomes a burden to you would be a disaster!”
✦✦✦