Falsely Accused, I Started Plundering Monster Traits

"Everyone, follow me!"

The passengers hurried toward Gate Two, supporting the injured between them.

Lin Yan opened the staff door and led them down the narrow passage. The control room at the end was still lit by emergency power, and another reinforced door marked EQUIPMENT AREA stood on the far wall.

He crossed the room and tested its manual lock.

It held. No scratching or pounding came from the other side.

"Get inside."

The passengers filed into the control room.

Once everyone was inside, the student shut the heavy metal door and turned the manual lock.

The control room was larger than it had appeared from the passage. A row of consoles faced a wall of surveillance screens, while metal storage cabinets, a cramped rest area and a narrow washroom occupied the rear.

Most of the screens were still glowing. The control room and the internal camera network were running on emergency power, even though the station’s main supply and outside communications had failed.

A station employee sat at the main console with one leg stretched stiffly beneath it. Blood had soaked through the bandage around his thigh, leaving his face pale and his lips nearly gray.

He was the man who had spoken through the station speakers.

Lin Yan waited, but no notification appeared.

"System, hasn’t everyone been moved somewhere safe?"

[Secure relocation progress: 13/14.]

Lin Yan frowned and counted the people in the room.

The system was right.

"Where the hell did the last one go?"

He walked over to the console.

"You made the announcement?"

The employee nodded weakly.

"Jason. Maintenance."

"Lin Yan." He pointed at the screens. "Can you show me the public areas?"

Jason changed the display. Camera feeds from the station hall, ticket gates and platform entrances filled the wall.

Lin Yan checked them one by one.

No one was wandering through the hall. No one was hiding behind the ticket machines or pillars. The restrooms had no cameras, and several feeds covering the darker passages had already failed.

Did someone run into a restroom and lock themselves inside?

"Forget it."

Searching the entire station for one missing person was far too dangerous. Whoever it was would have to fend for themselves for now.

The objective would not reward him until the convergence was cleared anyway, and eighteen hundred points was enough to work with.

"System, open the shop, the lottery and the upgrade menu."

Three panels appeared in front of him.

[System Shop]

[Only traits may be purchased.]

[Trait Lottery]

[Only traits may be obtained.]

[Upgrade]

[Only trait slots may currently be upgraded.]

Lin Yan opened the upgrade menu first.

[Add one trait slot.]

[Cost: 1,000 points.]

His eyebrows rose.

"Only a thousand?"

[Correct.]

That was cheap enough that there was nothing to consider.

"Buy it."

[1,000 points deducted.]

[Trait slots increased: 3 → 4.]

[Current points: 800.]

A fourth outlined space appeared beside the other three.

Then the price beneath the upgrade button changed.

[Add one trait slot.]

[Cost: 10,000 points.]

Lin Yan stared at it.

"What the fuck? It was one thousand a second ago!"

[The first expansion was offered at a beginner discount.]

"That’s a tenfold increase!"

[It remains inexpensive.]

"In what universe is that inexpensive?"

[Some systems charge 100,000 points for the first meaningful upgrade.]

The system paused.

[Others would make their hosts wait until approximately Chapter Fifty.]

Lin Yan fell silent for a moment.

"What kind of garbage systems are you comparing yourself to?"

[The industry average.]

Lin Yan decided not to continue that conversation.

He opened the lottery menu.

[Basic Draw: 100 points.]

[Gray: 90%. White: 9%. Green: 1%.]

[Standard Draw: 1,000 points.]

[White: 90%. Green: 9%. Blue: 1%.]

[Advanced Draw: 10,000 points.]

[Green: 90%. Blue: 9%. Purple: 1%.]

[Elite Draw: 100,000 points.]

[Blue: 90%. Purple: 9%. Gold: 1%.]

Lin Yan stared at the probabilities.

"These odds are fucking criminal."

Only then did he notice that each of his current traits carried a thin white border.

They were all White-grade.

With eight hundred points left, the only lottery he could afford was the Basic Draw, and nine times out of ten it would give him a Gray trait worse than the ones he already possessed.

The shop was no better.

[Iron Stomach I — White — 2,000 points.]

[Steady Hands I — White — 2,500 points.]

[Pain Resistance I — White — 3,000 points.]

He could not afford the cheapest item.

Lin Yan closed both panels and looked at the empty fourth slot.

"Equip Minor Regeneration I."

[Minor Regeneration I equipped.]

A faint warmth spread through his sore palm.

[Current equipped traits:]

[Brawn I.]

[Low-Light Vision I.]

[Rough Skin I.]

[Minor Regeneration I.]

Lin Yan dismissed the panels and looked up.

Everyone in the room was staring at him.

"What are you all looking at? Go do whatever you need to do."

The student and the broad-shouldered man were standing directly in front of him, carrying a heavy metal cabinet between them.

Lin Yan frowned.

"What are you two doing? This is hardly the time to start moving furniture around."

Someone in the crowd pointed behind him.

Lin Yan looked over, but saw only the locked door.

"What?"

The young boy beside his mother spoke up.

"You’re in their way."

Lin Yan looked at the cabinet, then at the door directly behind him.

"Oh."

He immediately stepped aside.

"Sorry. Go ahead."

The student and the broad-shouldered man carried the cabinet past him and shoved it against the door.

The other passengers began moving as well. Some checked the equipment-area entrance, while others searched the cabinets and gathered the bottled water and emergency supplies stored beneath the tables.

Two passengers found a first-aid kit and brought it to Jason. One pressed fresh gauze over the blood-soaked bandage while the other wrapped another layer tightly around his thigh.

Lin Yan waited until the bleeding had slowed before turning back to him.

"What happened before our train arrived?"

Jason took a moment to steady his breathing.

The first faults had appeared around twenty minutes earlier. Lights flickered, surveillance feeds failed, and fire doors began opening and closing without commands. The humidity readings in the equipment area climbed beyond the limits of the sensors, while several workers reported hearing animal noises behind the walls.

The station manager initially treated it as a major electrical failure. By the time he ordered an evacuation, the signaling and communication systems had already begun to fail. New passengers were stopped at the entrance, and most of the staff and people already inside were evacuated, but they could no longer contact the incoming train.

Lin Yan’s train had already entered the tunnel.

"There were three of us left," Jason said. "The station manager, an electrician and me."

The faults appeared to be coming from the station distribution room, so the three of them went to inspect it.

They never reached the room.

"Something attacked us after the second fire door." Jason glanced down at his wounded thigh. "I ran. The other two didn’t make it back."

Lin Yan turned toward the surveillance screens.

"Show me the train."

Jason switched to the cameras around it.

One carriage feed showed a goblin climbing over the seats. On another, a second creature dragged something down the aisle, leaving a dark trail behind it. A platform camera caught four more figures moving through the shadows beside the train.

"Six," Jason said. "That’s how many I’ve seen so far."

There could still be more beyond the reach of the cameras.

The train had not been empty when Lin Yan left it. Anyone who had remained behind was now trapped inside with the creatures.

Lin Yan shifted his attention to the equipment-area feeds.

Two screens were black. Another was buried beneath static. The final monitor flickered between a concrete maintenance passage and a wall of wet black stone.

"Show me how to get there."

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