Brother, you're a girl too!
Bai Cheng's eyes widened, almost convinced that she had misread the message.
"I admit I'm pretty, but I'm not ga2— I'm not an easy girl, geez!"
Bai Cheng didn't consider herself socially awkward, but faced with such a message, she had no idea how to respond.
After a few seconds of silence, likely noticing that she hadn't replied, Lin Qiuyue sent another follow-up.
Lin Qiuyue: "You're exactly my type. I can bottom for you. How about that?"
What the hell!?
Out of politeness and fear of further pestering, Bai Cheng immediately rejected her with righteous indignation.
Bai Cheng: "Sorry, I'm not into girls, and I'm not planning on going in that direction."
Lin Qiuyue: "That's a shame. But we can still team up and help each other. As a gesture of goodwill, I'll give you an employee card first. Deal?"
Although it was phrased as a negotiation, the other party had already sent the item via mail.
Bai Cheng wanted to refuse outright, but curiosity got the better of her. She opened the mail to inspect the employee card.
The image on the front of the white card was… a rhinoceros!??
"You, the water-selling female lead, can kill a rhino? Does that make sense?!" Bai Cheng froze for a second before realizing—
"Wait, this must be that Tang Yan's card…"
Among the survivors, Lin Qiuyue was one of the lucky ones. She had leveraged that luck well, catching the protagonist's attention and earning his recruitment…
But now, she was using this rhino employee card to recruit her, meaning that Lin Qiuyue had secured a better option.
"Tch, what, is This Lady… munch munch munch Your damn trash can?!" Bai Cheng tore off a bite of grilled wolf meat, scowling.
"Don't just dump whatever you don't want on me!"
Moreover, she felt zero appreciation for her skills. They were all praising her looks…
"Ugh, I'm pissed!"
She jabbed a finger at the screen, decisively hitting [Decline].
Bai Cheng: "I already have an employee. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll reach out if I want to collaborate!" (smile)
Lin Qiuyue: (ok)
Bai Cheng: "Uh, you won't stop trading with me just because I turned you down, right?" (pitiful)
Lin Qiuyue: "Of course not. Good girl." (head pat)
"Ugh, disgusting!" Bai Cheng fired off a quick emoji in reply before closing the chat interface, unable to stomach the thought of the other party's round face3 staring creepily at the screen.
Finishing the last of her meat and gulping down half a bottle of water, she stood up. "Chopping wood and gathering supplies is what matters!"
Axe in hand, she prepared to disembark, only to see the same black, gooey mass blocking the path ahead.
Bai Cheng raised an eyebrow. "Is this thing going to block me every few meters?"
The obstacle itself wasn't the issue. The problem was that burning it took at least half an hour, a massive waste of time.
At this rate, nighttime travel would be impossible.
"Guess daylight's the only option." She ignited the slime, then focused on chopping wood.
The thirty-minute burn time was more than enough to clear every tree within the railcar's safe zone. After all, there weren't many within two meters.
She even had a few spare minutes to rest.
Of course, the Book of Cheng wouldn't allow such idleness. But with the railcar stuck behind the slime, she was seemingly trapped in a loop.
Just as she was about to relax, the familiar voice in her head chimed in.
"Welp, no exploiting bugs for me." Sighing, she grabbed her stone spear and patrolled around the train, hoping to bag a few wild beasts.
But the creatures were cunning. As long as she stayed within the safe zone, they lurked deep in the forest, refusing to attack.
Returning empty-handed didn't faze her. She treated it as a break.
After repeating this cycle for two hours, Bai Cheng finally hit her goal of 250 pieces of wood and 25 pieces of coal from burning five patches of black slime.
"Finally done." She exhaled in relief. "Hope that girl's still awake."
Instead of listing an order, she messaged Lin Qiuyue directly, who replied instantly.
Lin Qiuyue: "All set? Good job!"
The corners of Bai Cheng's lips twitched, but she forced a polite response. "Yeah. It's late, so I thought you'd be asleep."
Lin Qiuyue: "I'm a night owl. Plus, who can sleep in this environment? Besides, I promised you, didn't I?"
Before Bai Cheng could initiate the trade, the other party sent the offer first.
She accepted immediately, and finally secured enough leather for the upgrade.
Lin Qiuyue followed up with more messages, seemingly keen to continue chatting, but Bai Cheng ignored them for now. She refined all her leather into refined leather and submitted it.
[Train Advancement Requirements: 50/50 refined leather, 100/100 fine wood, 0/200 iron ingots, 0/1 steam engine.]
"Now it's just iron ingots and the steam engine. The steam engine probably requires reaching Station One, but what about the iron…?"
Bai Cheng yawned, staring at the screen. "Gotta hurry. Time's running out."
She wanted to stockpile resources before reaching Station One, but the clock wasn't on her side.
What about upgrading the employee card?
Her gaze fell on the beast-attracting powder in her storage. "Should I use it tonight?"
At that moment, another message from Lin Qiuyue popped up. This time, the notification expanded midair since Bai Cheng had closed the train menu.
Lin Qiuyue: "Need thatch? Lots of people in the channel don't know how to get it. It's for making beds."
Lin Qiuyue: "You can trade me anything except water for it."
Lin Qiuyue: "Oh, and Tang Yan. You know him, right? He said you traded a bunch of employee cards from him. Do you need more?"
Bai Cheng froze. So they really are connected.
But she was too preoccupied to entertain small talk and politely declined.
Bai Cheng: "I don't need beds. They take up space and add weight…"
Lin Qiuyue: "True. Girls like us aren't that strong anyway. And thatch only grows near beast nests. Air-drying it wastes time."
Lin Qiuyue: "What about employee cards? I have four extras. Do you want them?"
It was clear that Lin Qiuyue already had an employee.
Bai Cheng's eyebrow twitched. "You know I'm collecting them, of course I want them!"
But then again, what could a water tycoon like Lin possibly need? What did she even have to offer?
Lin Qiuyue had just replenished her wood supply, and she had traded leather for it, meaning that she had already secured those resources.
Her progress was likely on par with Bai Cheng's—no, she was probably even further ahead, closer to Station One than her.
After all, Bai Cheng had wasted most of her time chopping trees.
Despite craving the cards, Bai Cheng had nothing left to trade. Reluctantly, she declined.
Bai Cheng: "Sorry, I don't have anything left to trade."
Lin Qiuyue: "Oh, surely you can't lack everything. How about trading scrap iron for the cards?"
Bai Cheng was stunned. Was Lin Qiuyue… giving her advice?
She didn't have scrap iron, but she could trade wood for it.
Instinctively, she opened the exchange to check the conversion rates, only to see Tang Yan's bulk order, offering food in exchange for scrap iron.
Bai Cheng's pupils shrank, and she immediately understood.