"Resources remain stagnant; after basic resource reserves are met, no one can develop further."

Bai Cheng's eyes narrowed. Combining what Tang Yan had told her earlier, she seemed to have already figured out the basic rules of this world.

"These five days of safety period are just for everyone to prepare materials to upgrade their trains."

"And the later you arrive at the station, the higher the danger you will face."

In other words, was the muscular man's strategy of desperately rushing in the channel earlier actually correct?

Regardless, reaching the station was the only task for all survivors.

Bai Cheng had already understood. She looked at the remaining kilometers on the odometer and sighed, "It seems I need to hurry up and travel."

But before that, she needed to collect enough wood.

Bai Cheng picked up her axe and prepared to get off the train.

However, as soon as her small leather shoes touched the soft grass, a rustling sound was heard.

The next second, a black shadow with bloodshot eyes suddenly crashed into her—thud!

Its curved tusks, due to their immense power, collided with the indestructible safety barrier and immediately broke off.

Then, a black wild boar's head slammed heavily into it, knocking it dizzy and sending it tumbling to the ground.

Although Bai Cheng was startled, it wasn't her first day in this world.

Her reaction was extremely quick; she immediately grabbed the stone spear from the train behind her, its tip bound with a silk stocking and a small rubber band, holding the Blade of Certain Death.

As the blade cut through the black, coarse, fur-covered skin, blood seeped out, and within moments, the wild boar in front of her completely lost its life.

"Congratulations! You have slain a Silent Night wild boar, gaining 1 experience point and 1 Employee Card!"

Bai Cheng leaned against the railcar, still feeling a lingering fear. She had completely failed to notice the wild boar's movements just now.

If it weren't for the safety barrier, she would probably have two holes in her stomach right now.

Watching the wild boar's corpse slowly turn into pus, with the viscous blood flowing towards Bai Cheng's feet, she suddenly froze.

She wasn't even three meters from the wild boar's corpse, and she was currently right next to the railcar...

"The safety barrier is shrinking!"

Bai Cheng came to a startling conclusion, which undoubtedly verified the hint given by the system.

The wild boar's corpse was right in front of her, and Bai Cheng could immediately estimate the current safe range of the train—two meters—without even needing to calculate.

This meant that even if there were many trees at night, the number of trees covered within the safe range would be greatly reduced.

"It's harder to get wood, but... it should still be enough."

Bai Cheng picked up her lantern and carefully observed her surroundings.

Although it was difficult to discern anything in the deeper darkness with the naked eye, she still felt a chill down her spine, as if countless eyes were constantly watching her from the shadows.

This was something Bai Cheng had never felt last night.

"If I leave the safety barrier now, I'm afraid I'll die without a complete corpse."

She raised an eyebrow, retracted her gaze, and began to concentrate on cutting trees.

Compared to the stone axe on the first night, which took nearly twenty minutes to cut down a tree, this time Bai Cheng, holding the silver axe, only needed two swings to cut down the thick tree in front of her.

The efficiency had increased several times, but... "The durability still hasn't decreased?" Bai Cheng was somewhat incredulous.

This meant that she probably couldn't continue to upgrade her silver axe now.

Bai Cheng didn't pay much attention, and soon the three trees within two meters of the train were easily cut down by her.

After collecting the wood, Bai Cheng prepared to move forward a certain distance and continue repeating the tree-cutting process.

"Although it's a bit troublesome, it's acceptable." She frowned. ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Although she was very sleepy, she had to complete her goal no matter what.

Perhaps the safety period would shrink again tomorrow; if she couldn't complete the task today, she would truly have no chance tomorrow.

Bai Cheng planned to use the subsequent three days of the safety period to focus on traveling, reaching First Station as quickly as possible.

"It's just uncertain whether scrap iron can really be smelted into iron ingots."

Bai Cheng chewed on a chocolate bar, her mind still pondering how to obtain iron ingots.

However, before the railcar had even advanced a hundred meters, the dim light of the lantern illuminated a mass of black, viscous substance not far ahead.

It was about half a person's height, and it was unclear what it was, but its entire body was currently occupying the tracks extending in front of the railcar.

At the same time, a message popped up on the screen in front of Bai Cheng.

"Warning! Unknown foreign object blocking the tracks, please clear it promptly!"

Bai Cheng frowned deeply. The extended tracks were outside the safety barrier, and she dared not take the risk, nor did she intend to.

"I don't believe you can climb into the barrier, young lady!"

Bai Cheng knew this was another danger arising from the increased stopping time.

But she didn't stop moving, seemingly intending to directly crash into that gooey mass.

However, just as the safety barrier collided with this black substance, the latter deformed due to the compression and began to slowly flow to both sides.

It was just very slow, indicating its extreme viscosity.

At the same time, the railcar, propelled by Bai Cheng's pedaling, felt a huge force; it only moved a few times before it seemed to be stuck in a quagmire, unable to advance another inch.

The railcar's speed was too slow; it simply couldn't push away the sticky mass in front of it.

But fortunately, it was now close to the safety barrier. Bai Cheng could only frown, stop the train, and carry her lantern to inspect it.

"What exactly is this thing?" Bai Cheng raised an eyebrow; she didn't smell any unpleasant odor.

"But the system said to clear it..."

So far, she hadn't unlocked tools like shovels, and the only method she could think of was burning it with fire.

Bai Cheng squatted down, adjusted the lighter's flame to maximum, and then pressed the switch.

Hiss! A blue flame erupted like a needle, directly piercing the black slime.

The next second, with a buzzing sound, the large mass of unknown slime in front of Bai Cheng suddenly burst into flames.

Orange-red flames immediately shot skyward, and thick smoke began to rise.

The bright firelight dispelled the surrounding darkness, also startling the beasts hidden deep in the forest, causing them to flee temporarily.

Bai Cheng's small face was also flushed by the light. She turned and returned to the railcar.

However, no kill notification appeared on the screen, which indicated that the mass was not a living creature.

"Although I don't know how this obstruction got here, its characteristic of igniting upon contact with fire probably can't stop survivors for too long, can it?"

But Bai Cheng quickly realized she was wrong.

After Bai Cheng finished cutting and collecting wood from the two surrounding trees, the unknown substance in front of the railcar was still burning.

Bai Cheng's mouth twitched. "No way...."

And looking at the fire, it had only just decreased in intensity, so it would probably burn for a while longer.

Bai Cheng sat cross-legged, glanced at the silver axe in her hand, and then immediately summoned cheng book.

"I want to change the upgrade item!"