23: Chapter 23 Strong Trade

Lin Feng stood up and walked to the iron bucket.

He picked up an iron mug, scooped a full mug of hot porridge, blew on the steam, and took a sip.

The texture was still like drinking sweetened mud, rough and scratchy on the throat.

But the piping hot carbohydrates slid down his esophagus into his stomach, instantly turning into a warm current that flowed to his limbs and bones.

A true sense of fullness.

Lin Feng nodded in satisfaction.

"Core area, life processing area, come line up."

As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of the core members—Su Ya, Xia Wanqiu, Xiaoya, Lu Lu, and Tong Tong—instantly turned red.

Carrying the containers they had each found, they walked to the iron bucket with trembling hands, and each received a large, steaming bowl of sweet porridge.

No one cared about the heat, nor did anyone mind the coarse texture.

They wolfed down the hot porridge, pouring it into their stomachs.

"Wuu..." Tong Tong wept as she drank; with the hot food in her stomach, she felt as if she had finally come back to life.

After finishing her porridge, Xia Wanqiu felt warm all over. With her Succubus Bloodline replenished by sufficient energy, she exuded a fatal, languid aura.

She walked over to Lin Feng, sat down against the man's thigh without hesitation, and her heart-shaped demon tail obediently wrapped around Lin Feng's ankle.

She looked up, and in her eyes as she gazed at Lin Feng, there was nothing left but blind worship and devoted attachment.

"Train Master, this is so delicious... From now on, Wan Qiu will make water for you every day, as long as you don't drive me away." She acted coyly in a soft, sweet voice.

Su Ya didn't speak; she just silently finished the last of the porridge, even licking the sides of the mug clean.

She gave Lin Feng a deep look.

After this day and night of ice and fire, she had thoroughly recognized the reality.

Lin Feng not only possessed the martial strength to instantly kill monsters, but also the terrifying means to create something from nothing and establish an ecological cycle in this desperate situation.

To follow him is to live.

To leave him is to die.

This group of female college students, possessing stunning beauty and magical talents, had their defenses completely shattered before this pot of coarse sweet porridge, becoming Lin Feng's most loyal subordinates.

"Clang, clang."

Lin Feng tapped the rim of the iron bucket with an iron spoon; only the bottom remained, coated with a layer of charred scorched rice.

He picked up the iron bucket and walked toward the blast door at the back of the carriage.

He entered the command, and the heavy steel door rose to create a ten-centimeter gap.

Cold wind mixed with a foul stench blew out; the labor area in the back half of the carriage had no armor coverage and remained like an ice cellar.

Zhang Meng and the other nineteen girls were piled in the corner like a heap of frozen corpses.

Smelling the sweet fragrance wafting through the gap, their unfocused pupils suddenly focused, and they scrambled toward the door gap.

"Food! Give me food!"

Zhang Meng's fingers reached out from the gap, grabbing frantically at the air.

Lin Feng looked coldly at these former troublemakers.

"This is your ration for today."

Lin Feng flipped his wrist and poured the pitiful amount of porridge dregs and scorched rice from the iron bucket directly onto the cold metal floor at the door gap.

"If you want to live, lick it clean."

Having dropped these words, the blast door fell mercilessly again, leaving only a tiny gap for air.

Behind the door, the sounds of tearing and swallowing like beasts fighting for food could be heard. Even the porridge dregs mixed with rust and ice shards were treated as treasures by them as they lay on the ground, licking frantically.

Dignity was completely crushed.

Class, after this dinner, was completely solidified and insurmountable.

Lin Feng turned and walked back to the Train Master's room, sitting back down in the soft leather chair.

The carriage was warm, and the girls, having eaten and drunk their fill, rested by snuggling against each other.

Su Ya even voluntarily walked behind Lin Feng, extending her fair, soft hands to massage his somewhat stiff shoulders.

Lin Feng enjoyed the service of the academic prodigy and summoned the system's virtual panel.

His gaze swept across the [world channel] on the left.

It was devastating.

"Help! Anyone give me a bite to eat, I'll trade the iron ore I have!"

"My roommate stabbed me to grab half a biscuit... The bleeding won't stop..."

"Cold, so cold, the water outside is undrinkable, my throat is rotting..."

The screen was full of despair and death.

In contrast, Lin Feng's No. 99 Armored Train could not only withstand the cold wind, but also provide clean water, hot sweet porridge, and even stunning succubi serving by his side.

It was simply a paradise on the wasteland.

Lin Feng closed the world channel indifferently and switched to the [trading post] on the right.

He now had the prototype for water purification and food production, but the starch clots could only keep him alive, and the nutrition was extremely monotonous.

To truly gain a foothold, he had to build a complete ecological chain.

He searched through the search bar of the trading post.

Suddenly, a trading message that had just been posted locked his gaze firmly.

[Seller: Wang Dachui]

[Item for sale: Miniature Nutrient Soil Cultivation Box * 1]

[Seller's description: This crappy box was opened from a supply crate! The system says it can farm, farm my ass! There's no water, and the seeds are shriveled!]

[I'm starving to death. Whoever brings a piece of bread or a sip of water can have this piece of junk!]

Looking at this message, Lin Feng curled his lips into a cold smile of certainty.

Not understanding the value of life-type abilities, he was guarding a treasure mountain without knowing it.

The virtual panel emitted a faint blue light.

Lin Feng leaned back in the Train Master's exclusive leather chair, his deep eyes fixed on that arrogant message in the trading post.

[Seller: Wang Dachui]

[Item for sale: Miniature Nutrient Soil Cultivation Box * 1]

[Demand: One liter of purified water, or two top-quality women.]

In the chat channel, the curses and pleas of other survivors rolled in like a tide.

After the announcement that water resources were completely contaminated was issued, clean water became more valuable than life itself.

As for trading women for supplies, under this collapsed order, some people had already begun to stir.

Lin Feng's lips curled into a cold mockery.

"Two women?"

In this enclosed armored train, those female college students who had awakened their talents were the foundation for him to build a miniature doomsday ecosystem.

Even the lowest-level laborers could clear roadblocks for the train.

Only a fool would trade them for a dead object.

Besides, the thing he lacked the least was clean water.

Lin Feng casually closed the noise of the world channel and opened Wang Dachui's private chat window.

[Lin Feng: I want the box, name an honest price.]

The other side replied almost instantly; one could feel the arrogance of a petty man who had achieved his goal through the screen.

[Wang Dachui: Yo, big talk. You saw the conditions just now, right? One liter of water, or two pretty women. One drop of water less, or a single hair missing, and this deal is off! Don't act like a big shot with me; whoever has this box right now is the boss!]

Lin Feng did not reply.

He couldn't even be bothered to type another word. For a profiteer who thought he held everyone's lifeline, nonsense was redundant.

He slowly stood up and stretched his limbs.

The A-grade frost magic power within his body flowed smoothly through his meridians like a gentle river.

He didn't need to grit his teeth and squeeze his stamina like Su Ya, nor did he need to endure the backlash of ice and fire like Xia Wanqiu.

He only needed a thought.

Lin Feng raised his right hand, his five fingers slightly spread.

"Crack, crack..."

The already low temperature in the carriage plummeted suddenly.

The free water molecules in the air were instantly forcibly stripped and gathered.

In less than a second, a sharp ice spike half a meter long, emitting bone-chilling cold, appeared steadily in his palm.

It was as easy as moving his own arm, effortless.

This sense of gratification from having complete control over supernatural power was very satisfying to Lin Feng.

Carrying the ice spike, he walked to the corner of the carriage, where the corpse of a Blood-Sucking Bat-Humanoid he had just killed lay.

Although the magic core had been dug out, the hideous and ugly bat head still emitted a nauseating bloody stench.

Lin Feng's eyes were indifferent as he flipped his wrist.

"Pfft!"

The ice spike easily pierced the monster's hard skull, pinning most of its head firmly to the metal floor, while dark red filthy blood mixed with ice shards splattered everywhere.

He opened the system's built-in camera function.

The frame froze: a slender, powerful hand holding an ice spike overflowing with cold, crushing the head of a hideous First-Order Magic Creature with one hand, against the background of the heavy, cold black armored bulkhead.

After taking this shot, Lin Feng turned around and walked toward the water storage bucket where Xia Wanqiu had just created purified water.

He scooped half a bowl of crystal-clear purified water with an iron mug, and a wisp of cold mist even floated on the surface of the water.

The second photo was taken.

Lin Feng sat back in the leather chair and sent these two photos directly to Wang Dachui's private chat window.

He included two brief messages.

[Lin Feng: The first picture is a First-Order Magic Creature I just slaughtered; I don't mind coming to take the junk in your hands myself.]

[Lin Feng: The second picture is purified water; I have more than enough water sources.]

[Lin Feng: Now, name a new price.]