18: Chapter 18 upgrades to LV3, and you receive another Awakening Card reward.

Time passed slowly.

In the carriage, the girls' laughter and playful noise had long since vanished.

The carriage was very quiet. Some girls were standing, while others were sitting, their gazes all fixed on that slender figure in front of the control console.

[ Beep... Transaction successful. ]

[ You have obtained: Wood × 150. ]

[ Beep... Transaction successful. ]

[ You have obtained: Iron Block × 80. ]

[ Beep... Transaction successful. ]

[ You have obtained: Iron Block × 100. ]

The system notification sounds rang out continuously, making the girls' hearts race.

Gu Nanzhi continued her operations.

Gu Nanzhi skillfully negotiated with seven or eight "big brothers" from different Trains. She acted timid and helpless, clutching the captain's relic tightly in her hands, posing as an orphan fighting to survive—her performance was incredibly realistic.

"Brother Wang Meng, this bread is the last thing the captain left us before he passed away. We really can't go any lower... *sob*, five units of wood just won't do; we can't even repair a single complete window with that."

"Brother Li, we are just girls, we really can't move heavy iron blocks. Could you perhaps give us more fiber instead? It's lighter, and it would help us reinforce the carriage..."

For just a few units of wood, Gu Nanzhi would even pester the other party for a long time, only begrudgingly agreeing in an aggrieved tone at the end. The men on the other side of the screen felt they had gotten a great bargain and willingly handed over all their materials.

No one could have imagined that the man Gu Nanzhi kept calling "Brother Wang Meng" had traded away all his materials within half an hour for twenty sets of clothes and fifty pieces of bread. Wang Meng felt he had made a huge profit and started harboring impure thoughts about Gu Nanzhi.

Su Qingxue stood behind Gu Nanzhi, watching her skillful operations. The team's warehouse was once again overflowing with basic materials. Su Qingxue pushed up her glasses, her brows slightly furrowed.

Su Qingxue had always felt that she was the one providing strategies, excelling at calculation and planning within the team.

But now, Su Qingxue realized that Gu Nanzhi was incredibly talented when it came to manipulating human hearts.

This was a one-sided plunder.

When the quantity of wood and iron blocks in the warehouse both exceeded ten thousand, Gu Nanzhi stopped her actions.

Gu Nanzhi exhaled softly, relaxing her body.

Gu Nanzhi turned around, her small face showing signs of fatigue, yet also carrying a hint of expectation for praise.

"Classmate Fang Che..."

"I... I did my best... We should have enough materials now."

As soon as Gu Nanzhi finished speaking, the carriage instantly became lively.

"Enough? Is it really enough?!"

"Look at the warehouse, go look! Twelve thousand wood. Eight thousand iron blocks. My god..."

"How... how did she do it? This is practically emptying out everyone else's family fortune."

The girls looked at the numbers in the warehouse, and their previous skepticism vanished. Everyone looked at Gu Nanzhi, their eyes filled with a bit more wariness.

With these materials, a new debate arose in the carriage.

"All resources must be sealed and managed centrally immediately."

Su Qingxue stepped forward, habitually pushing up her glasses, "None of us know if the next stop will be an S-rank station or an A-rank station, we don't know what level of monsters we will encounter, nor do we know what kind of natural disasters we might face. These resources are our only capital for error tolerance and must never be squandered recklessly."

Su Qingxue's words made several girls who sought stability nod repeatedly.

Lin Xinyi pushed past the people in front, her eyes red, staring at Su Qingxue.

"Error tolerance? How are we any different from rats in a gutter right now?"

"We haven't worn clothes since the game started. We finally have something to cover ourselves with, yet we don't even have a place to wash up properly."

Lin Xinyi didn't look at Gu Nanzhi, speaking to herself.

"We sleep on the cold, hard floor every day, smelling the sour odor of our own sweat."

"Su Qingxue, tell me, is this the so-called rational 'living' you planned?"

Lin Xinyi's chest heaved, her voice tinged with tears.

"I want to build a bathroom."

"An independent bathroom where we can take a comfortable hot bath."

"I also want to build a bed, even if it's just the simplest wooden plank bed."

"If living just means hoarding supplies like this, and then letting ourselves rot and stink, then I would rather die right now."

Lin Xinyi's words struck a chord with many of the girls.

Everyone wanted to live with a bit of dignity.

Basic needs from peacetime were now very hard to achieve.

Someone weakly offered an opinion.

"But... upgrading the Train's defense and propulsion systems is also very important..."

"At a time like this, you're still thinking about enjoyment? Do you not want to live?"

"But I think Xinyi is right, we can't just go on like this forever..."

The atmosphere in the carriage became tense, with the girls holding different opinions.

Gu Nanzhi, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, her voice very soft.

"Sister Xinyi is right, girls should be a little kinder to themselves..."

Gu Nanzhi first comforted Lin Xinyi, then her gaze drifted imperceptibly toward Fang Che.

"But, Classmate Fang Che is so capable, he must be thinking much further ahead than any of us, right?"

"Perhaps in his view, only by making the Train stronger can he thoroughly protect all of us, so that in the future, we can always, always have comfortable hot baths..."

On the surface, Gu Nanzhi was explaining for Fang Che, but in reality, she was pushing the pressure of making the decision onto him. Gu Nanzhi's words also implied that Lin Xinyi was only concerned with the present.

Everyone's gaze fell upon Fang Che once again.

"Quiet, everyone."

Fang Che stood up from the seat in front of the control console.

"Bathing, sleeping, living like a human being—you are not wrong."

"Storing resources to cope with unknown risks—you are not wrong either."

"But you have all forgotten the most important thing."

"In this doomsday, the greatest guarantee that allows you to survive is not how many resources you have hoarded that others don't, nor is it how much more dignity you live with than others."

"It is that you are always, forever, ahead of everyone else."

"All of our advantages, from the very beginning, have stemmed from us being faster than others."

"Faster at awakening talents, faster at obtaining weapons, faster at upgrading our Train."

Fang Che raised his voice.

"To be one step ahead is to live."

"To be one step behind is to die."

"Our goal is not a small win, not a medium win, but to achieve—far in the lead—over all the other Trains in this world."

Fang Che turned around, looking at the girls in the carriage, and made his decision.

"All resources, invest them all."

"Upgrade again."

Fang Che invested all the resources Gu Nanzhi had traded for into the Train's upgrade.

[ Sufficient resources detected. Do you wish to consume Wood × 10000, Iron Block × 5000, Fiber × 5000 to upgrade the vehicle level to LV3? ]

"Yes."

The Train body suddenly vibrated, with much greater commotion than the last upgrade.

The carriage shook violently, white light lit up from the corners, and everyone instinctively closed their eyes.

[ Vehicle level upgrading... System modules reconstructing... ]

[ Vehicle level upgraded to LV3. ]

[ Durability limit significantly increased. ]

[ Defense significantly increased. ]

[ Basic manufacturing list expanded, unlocking: Intermediate Weapons, Intermediate Armor, Living Facilities... ]

[ Unlocked feature: Custom Module Construction. ]

[ Unlocked feature: Train Exclusive Defensive Turret (requires separate construction). ]

[ Achievement Level 3 reward reached: Unique Awakening Card × 1. ]

The white light dissipated, and a silver card appeared out of thin air, falling into Fang Che's palm.

Everyone's gaze was fixed on the card in Fang Che's hand.