The murderous intent was unmistakable!
Feeling the pulling force on the rifle barrel, Ye Qiyan pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang!!
"Roar!"
A severed hand flew through the air as the rolling shutter door burst open. Only then did he finally see clearly - the man behind the door had already swollen grotesquely, with only a human face and the arm he'd just shot off vaguely resembling his original form.
"Too late! Too late! Why didn't you come sooner! My daughter just wanted a cake! Why did you useless couriers take so long! Die!"
Stay calm—
Ye Qiyan took a deep breath and kept firing at the charging monster.
Bang bang bang—three consecutive hits.
Yet even the upgraded rifle's power couldn't penetrate the monster's hardened body.
A single punch to Ye Qiyan's chest sent him flying.
Gritting his teeth, Ye Qiyan stood up, feeling like his stomach had been turned inside out.
If not for the enhanced bulletproof vest absorbing most of the impact, that hit might have knocked him out cold.
The monster shrieked and charged again.
Bang—
Another shot.
"Useless! Your bullets don't scare me!"
The response came in the form of more gunfire.
Bang—bang—bang—
"Oh really? Why don't you look down?"
Ye Qiyan smirked as the monster instinctively lowered its head—only to see its body riddled with holes.
"Impossible!"
"Huff~"
Blowing on the smoking barrel, Ye Qiyan clutched his stomach and stood up, the Blacklight Enchanted Pistol in his hand emitting an eerie glow.
[Blacklight Enchanted Pistol] Converts stamina into armor-piercing rounds.
Ye Qiyan approached the monster, pressing the dark muzzle against its forehead before pulling the trigger.
Bang—
"Whew, no wonder there were no other monsters here—this was the big guy's territory."
After catching his breath, Ye Qiyan stepped over the monster's corpse and picked up the overturned cake from the floor, shaking his head regretfully before storing it along with three nearby Train Coins into his backpack.
"What a waste."
He fully opened the rolling shutter to reveal an unexpectedly clean interior.
"It really is a silverware shop."
Silver crossbow bolts, spearheads, and even crosses lay scattered about.
On a shelf, Ye Qiyan found a diary.
[March 1st: Ten days until my daughter's birthday. I found three coins in a broken locomotive outside town. The elders say these coins can make RUN Company couriers bring unimaginable delicacies! I'll buy my daughter a cake—eating it will surely cure her illness! After all, it's something beyond our imagination!]
[March 5th: My daughter's condition worsens... She just wants a cake. Great courier, please hurry!]
[March 9th: ...My daughter is so excited for tomorrow's cake. But courier, where are you?]
[March 11th: ...My daughter died without tasting that cake. Before dying, she asked what cake tastes like. I told her "sweet." What does sweet taste like? I don't know either. She's gone. I buried her in the backyard so she wouldn't turn into one of those zombie monsters.]
[March 15th: Hehehe... Why won't the courier come? I really want to meet it, hehe... If only there were cake...]
The diary ended here, the remaining pages torn violently with blood-red stains.
Clearly after March 15th, this man had completely lost his mind, becoming that monster.
Walking to the back door, Ye Qiyan saw a tombstone erected in the yard.
He placed the cake before it.
"This counts as completing the mission, right?"
The mission reward was the three Train Coins in his hand.
This station seemed concluded.
But one thing nagged at Ye Qiyan.
A broken locomotive outside town.
Could that belong to another conductor like himself?
Or had some conductor come to this station before, only to remain here forever?
"Could it be we're not the first survivors?"
These unanswered questions swirled in Ye Qiyan's mind.
"These silver items—could they be for fighting vampires?"
In a corner, he discovered a crossbow.
Collecting it along with the bolts, Ye Qiyan stored everything in his backpack.
"So heavy."
Taking one last look at the monster's corpse, Ye Qiyan began his return journey.
Docking countdown: [35:33]
The return trip took longer than reaching the silverware shop.
The town held more monsters than expected.
Without that extra hour from the upgrade, he might have had to fight through hordes instead of returning safely.
Zombie dogs, zombie chickens, zombie cats...
But no humanoid zombies in sight.
WALL-E hadn't returned yet, but Ye Qiyan wasn't in a hurry to leave.
With time to spare, he inventoried this station's gains:
[Mithril Crossbow Bolts] (Level 2)
[Triple damage against vampires]
[Mithril Cross] (Level 2)
[Pray—it might work?]
[Mithril Ceremonial Sword] (Level 2)
[Inflicts irreversible damage on vampires]
Besides these three, he recycled miscellaneous items at the Processing Station into 10kg of mithril.
Back in his world, this would have made him moderately wealthy.
Among the three mithril weapons, Ye Qiyan picked up the crossbow and considered before initiating sublimation.
[Stamina: 55]
[Sanctified Mithril Cross] (Level 3)
[Emits holy light in darkness, dealing massive damage to vampires/evil spirits/demons.]
As for the other two—frankly, if he couldn't shoot straight with a pistol, a crossbow would be worse. And close combat with vampires? He knew his limits.
Hanging the cross at the train's front, he checked the Trading Platform and was pleasantly surprised—someone had accepted his trade offer.
"Someone actually bought it."
Munching on a fruit while admiring the shiny Train Coins, Ye Qiyan opened the chat interface.
By now, other conductors had left their stations.
[Chat Room]
[Online: 7,825/10,000]
Another thousand permanently stayed at their third station.
Even survivors still faced survival challenges.
Food, water, medicine.
Those with these essentials remained few.
And those striving to upgrade their trains? Fewer still.
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