19: Acquire upgrade materials

Luo Chen recalled that when he encountered the giant catfish, it also started attacking him only after he moved the treasure chest. It seemed that these treasure chest guardian beasts were all subject to certain rules, only attacking when the treasure chest was touched.

Luo Chen silently noted this point.

He opened the friend's Train interface, and besides the Train Conductor of ECB08888, there was no one else.

Clicking on Qin Mengyue's chat box, Luo Chen found that her level had already reached 6.

Seeing this, Luo Chen was even more certain that she most likely knew about the region merge rewards. He quickly edited a message and sent it:

“Do you know about the region merge rewards?”

But after waiting for a while, the other party did not reply.

He had no choice but to continue browsing the chat room.

“Anyone selling metal? I'll trade wood for it.”

“I'm selling, I'm selling. Add me as a friend to contact.”

Soon, some clever people began to acquire upgrade materials, preparing to upgrade their Train again before the rewards were distributed.

Luo Chen glanced at the materials needed for the next upgrade:

“Metal: 302 / 500kg”

“Wood: 415 / 500kg”

“Sandstone: 1651kg / 150kg”

He was still short of some wood and metal. Seeing this, he quickly sent a message in the group:

“Buying wood, metal, trading with drinking water. DM if interested.”

At this moment, Qin Mengyue also replied: “I know! I see you've merged another Train.”

On the other side, Qin Mengyue's Train had already reached 5 Trains and 12 carriages. After spending over six hundred star coins to purchase three puppets, the Train's crew had also reached 9 people.

Currently, in the cockpit, she, the two newly joined Vice Train Captains, and Xu Ruyan were systematically conducting transactions through the screen. It looked a bit like a stock exchange.

After using a Train Crew Core, Xu Ruyan also gained partial control over the Train screens.

Behind them, three puppets were constantly serving tea and water, acting as assistants.

“Thank you for the reminder. But it's a bit of a pity, I lacked a fusion core, so I only merged one Train. Is what you told me before referring to this?” Luo Chen confirmed again.

“Yes! But I didn't expect it to come so quickly! Have you told anyone else about this news?” Qin Mengyue asked seemingly casually.

“No! I guess it's because the Trains stopped too close to each other at this station, and the treasure chest guardian beasts are also much stronger, which could very likely lead to the death of some reckless people,” Luo Chen stated his guess.

“What you said is very possible,” Qin Mengyue replied simply... “Look, she really knows!” Luo Chen pointed at the screen, then turned to Luo Wan Ning, saying with certainty.

After speaking, he glanced around and suddenly noticed Chen Yujun and the other women standing behind him.

“Uh? Why are you here?” he asked curiously.

“We came to see if there's anything we can help with?” Chen Yujun's voice was very steady.

“Hmm…” Luo Chen thought for a moment and then arranged for them: “How about this! You go find anything useless that can be thrown into the feeding box as upgrade materials. Let's try to upgrade the Train by one or two levels before midnight to get more rewards.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Yujun and the other women immediately turned to clean the carriages and look for usable upgrade materials.

“Should we still try to get more information from her?” Luo Wan Ning asked.

She felt that since it was now confirmed Qin Mengyue knew more information, they should take this opportunity to inquire further, just in case they needed it later.

Luo Chen shook his head. Last time, it was because the other party had a need that she incidentally revealed a piece of information. Now if he directly asked, the other party would not tell him more information.

Furthermore, this information was something most people would naturally do. Even if she didn't say it, in order to collect more resources and live better, most people would naturally band together for warmth.

Thinking this, Luo Chen slowly explained: “Even if we ask her now, she won't tell us more information. She suspects we leaked the news.”

“How can she suspect us!” Luo Wan Ning said, quite indignant.

“When under someone else's roof, one has to bow their head. Her Train has already reached Level 6, and we need to catch up quickly. Only when our strength is equal will both sides have a chance to talk.” Luo Chen sighed, there wasn't much to say about this. After all, having more information meant having more initiative.

Shaking off distracting thoughts, he continued:

“Let's not think so far ahead. Let's first collect upgrade materials to quickly raise the Train's level and strive to get more rewards. Ideally, we should aim for the top three rewards.”

“That purple core last time directly solved our water resource problem, so the value of other purple cores will definitely not be bad.”

Luo Wan Ning nodded upon hearing this.

He turned back to stare at the screen, but after waiting for a long time, no one messaged him for a trade. Luo Chen turned to Luo Wan Ning and asked: “By the way! How are your trades going?”

Luo Wan Ning shook her head helplessly. Speaking of trading, she was also very frustrated; she had searched for a long time, but no one was willing to trade.

“Currently, Train Conductors above Level 2 are collecting large quantities of upgrade materials. And those who know that upgrading is hopeless are waiting and watching, hoping for higher prices. This makes it very difficult to trade upgrade materials now.”

Luo Chen asked again. “What's the current trading price for upgrade materials?”

“It's even higher than the standard in the supply store.”

Luo Chen nodded, opened the supply store, and looked for the prices of several upgrade materials.

Currently, in the supply store, one liter of water was 5 star coins, 2.5 kg of metal was 1 star coin, and 5 kg of wood was 1 star coin.

“Then how about we trade with water? Let's offer one liter of water for 20kg of wood or 10kg of metal,” Luo Chen suggested after some thought.

As for why not buy with star coins, it was mainly because star coins had higher liquidity and broader uses; once spent, they were gone.

“Trading one liter of water for 20kg of wood isn't difficult, but trading it for 10kg of metal would be quite challenging. Among the three upgrade materials, metal is the most difficult to acquire, so most people are trading metal, followed by sandstone,” Luo Wan Ning shook her head, explaining what she had observed.

Then, she sighed and added: “The most important thing is that we don't have many containers for water, so it's hard to conduct large-scale trades with others.”

“Then let's just upgrade one level. We can try to trade sandstone with those who lack sandstone but have plenty of other materials.” Saying this, Luo Chen posted a trade request in the chat room:

“1kg sandstone for 1kg metal, or 2kg wood. DM if interested to add as a friend.”

“Train Conductor, we've already put in everything that can be put in. But there wasn't much. Also, we found a motorcycle in carriages 0-3, should we put it in the feeder?”

At this moment, Chen Yujun and the other women returned and reported.

“No, that's not necessary, I activated it with a core. You've all been busy all day, go rest early!”

“Sister Yujun, take Dongfang Shishi and her sister to find a bed, and give them the last set of bedding.” Luo Chen arranged for them, then looked at the two sisters and asked: “There are passenger carriages and bedrooms, which do you choose? But the bedrooms don't have beds.”

The Dongfang sisters looked at each other, and after an exchange of glances, said earnestly: “Brother Chen! We want the bedroom. The passenger carriage is too big, we don't dare to sleep there! And the carriage is temperature-controlled, so it won't be cold to sleep.”

“Hahaha! A bedroom is fine too!” Luo Chen laughed heartily: “Since you're with me, we must strive for a good life. When we find beds in the future, I'll immediately get them for you.”

“Alright! You go to sleep now.” Saying this, Luo Chen waved his hand, signaling for them to leave.

Dongfang Yuyao and Dongfang Shishi ultimately chose bedroom 2-1-1.

Chen Yujun took them to get a set of blankets and a set of bedding, then returned to bedroom 1-1-2 with her daughter, Chen Tianxiang.

Her daughter was still young and shouldn't stay up too late. And she hadn't slept well these past few days due to anxiety, plus she had been busy all day, so she was now both tired and sleepy.

After they left, Luo Chen checked the upgrade materials:

“Metal: 373 / 500kg”

“Wood: 445 / 500kg”

“Sandstone: 1651kg / 150kg”

He found that only a few tens of kg of upgrade materials had been added. However, not much had been collected in the previous few stations, as most of the time was spent searching for treasure chests, leading to the current shortage of upgrade materials.