Chapter 53
Chapter 53: The 9th Station · Screaming Village
The next day,
Outside the Train window, a terrifying blizzard painted the entire wilderness white.
The wilderness turned into a snowfield, and countless snowfield monsters suddenly appeared, chasing the Train.
Snow wolves, snow demons, snow spirits…
Their appearance made the Train Captains, whose Trains were still at Level 2, feel a sense of crisis.
Some couldn’t upgrade and simply gave up waiting for death, some exhausted their family fortunes to barely upgrade to Level 3, some could only upgrade their wheels to barely accelerate, and others bought various acceleration devices to escape this calamity.
Even so, facing these Train Captains whose speeds were raised to the minimum threshold, the monsters gave it their all, still managing to riddle the Trains of some unlucky fellows with holes.
Not only that.
The violent blizzard caused the temperature inside and outside the Train to plummet to minus thirty degrees Celsius. Without thick clothes to keep warm, facing such a low-temperature environment, they could only curl up in spaces piled with various things and burn wood to barely get by.
But all of this had nothing to do with Ye Qiyan.
Inside the Temperature-controlled carriage that consistently maintained 22 degrees Celsius above zero,
Ye Qiyan leisurely ate shaved ice, and the monsters in the snowfield had no ability to catch up to a Train that had already upgraded to Level 4. Only Wall-E worked diligently under his command.
It climbed to the roof through the Train’s sunroof to collect ice and snow, molded them into identical blocks, and piled them into the storage carriage. Seeing that it was about to fill up, it waved its small mechanical arm and ran over to Ye Qiyan to shake it.
“Filled up? Good job, Wall-E, go charge yourself as a reward.”
Wall-E happily ran over to the charging device and received the electricity that would have been given to it anyway.
Ye Qiyan put on the wolf skin he had obtained earlier, entered the storage carriage, and shuddered at the extremely low temperature.
“Hiss, this is really cold.”
He quickly loaded the snow blocks stacked by Wall-E into the storage unit. In case there was hot weather later, these snow blocks would be valuable items; at the very worst, they could be used as water.
“It’s almost time.”
[12:30:00]
The Crossroads of Fate triggered.
The familiar choice between two appeared before Ye Qiyan.
[Crossroads of Fate triggered, please make a docking choice between the following two Platforms]
[Platform One: Goblin Fortress (Level 4 Hunting Platform)]
[Platform Two: Screaming Village (Level 5 Hunting Platform)]
“They’re both Hunting Platforms anyway. Perfect, I also want to know what differences this Hunting Platform has compared to Slaughter Station.”
“I choose Platform Two, Screaming Village.”
Whether it was a Level 4 Platform or a Level 5 Platform, it wouldn’t pose too many difficulties for Ye Qiyan right now.
In that case, he would of course choose the station that could yield higher-level rewards.
[Platform selection complete]
[Please sit tight and hold on, the ninth station arriving ahead of the Train is…]
[Screaming Village]
The Train continued moving forward. When the distorted space appeared, the endlessly extending tracks stretched straight ahead.
Passing through the void, the surrounding environment looked completely unchanged; it was still the all-encompassing blizzard covering everything.
Everything in sight was pure white.
The only difference was that amidst this white, a small black dot approaching the Train was particularly conspicuous.
Getting a bit closer, it wasn’t hard to see that it was a person.
[Current Platform: Screaming Village]
[Docking countdown: 09:59:59]
[Good luck]
[This station: Danger]
“Lord Hunter! Are you Lord Hunter?! Please stop! Save our village!”
The person anxiously approached the Train, looked at the behemoth before him, and exclaimed:
“Is this the Train that only Lord Hunter can own? I never expected to see a Train in my lifetime! God bless, the village is saved!”
The sentry didn’t trigger, meaning this wasn’t an enemy.
Ye Qiyan pressed the door-opening button, and the biting snow wind howled over. Wearing pre-prepared warm clothing, he looked up and down at the blond-haired, blue-eyed, scruffy-bearded middle-aged man in his forties before him.
The hunter this fellow spoke of should be the identity arranged for the Train Captain at this Platform, and since this fellow knew about the Train, perhaps there was a record of other Train Captains arriving at this Platform.
“I just happened to pass by here, not here to help you guys specifically. Make it clear, what happened to your village?”
Hearing Ye Qiyan speak, the middle-aged man suddenly knelt down.
“My lord! Our village has been invaded by the Blood Clan. Those damned Blood Clan members occupied the village, captured everyone to use as blood bags, and sucked blood day and night. If this goes on, everyone in the village will die in a few days! My lord! I beg you, save us!”
The Blood Clan, was this the hunting target of this station?
Ye Qiyan didn’t agree immediately, but continued to ask:
“Since your entire village was captured by the Blood Clan, how did you manage to escape?”
“It was my father. He knocked out a Blood Clan member while they were drawing blood and let me out. My father sent me out to look for Lord Hunter. He said that with this thing, Lord Hunter would come to save us!”
A box wrapped in several layers was taken out.
With trembling hands, he untied the ragged cloth on the outside and opened the box, revealing what was contained within.
A well-preserved Train Coin.
Only one?
This was a Level 5 Platform, and the reward after the hunt was just this?
No, Ye Qiyan shook his head inwardly.
This wasn’t any reward; it was just compensation brought out by the natives in these Platforms. The real harvest could only be obtained after hunting down those Blood Clan members.
And…
“I’ll accept this thing. Wait outside for a moment.”
“Yes, my lord! Thank you for your help!”
Ye Qiyan turned around, closed the door, and returned to the Train.
Since the hunting target was the Blood Clan, it was only natural to prescribe the right medicine.
The mithril weapons harvested back in the Doomsday Town were finally going to come in handy now.
Needless to say about the Sanctuary Mithril Cross, the remaining Mithril Crossbow and Mithril Ritual Sword hadn’t undergone Sublimation yet.
They were both Level 2 items, and were upgraded to Level 3 without consuming too much Mental Power.
Of course, these mithril weapons were just to make Ye Qiyan fit the identity of a hunter better. This was a Level 5 Platform, and if he really encountered a powerful Blood Clan member, the gun in his hand would be more useful.
And…
“Since it’s the Blood Clan, wouldn’t it be too much of a pity not to bring this along.”
[Enchanted · Mental Power Magazine · Great Compassion Heavy Machine Gun]
This was the true ultimate weapon.
Replacing the virus serum and putting it into the special storage unit, Ye Qiyan tidied up his equipment. Wall-E beside him gently bumped against his ankle, its large monitor-like eyes blinking.
“Alright, I know you want to go out.”
[Wall-E, initiate]
A Train Coin landed on top of Wall-E’s head. It happily crawled out from the gap in the recycling device, leaving a trail of tracks in the snow, and quickly disappeared without a trace.
Opening the Train door once more, looking at the blond middle-aged man who was still kneeling there with clenched hands making an unknown prayer, Ye Qiyan spoke:
“We should set off.”
