Chapter 95: Chapter 95: The Silent Hub and the Price of Freedom (Bonus Chapter)

A station that looked completely harmless, designed purely for replenishing supplies?

Did such a utopian sanctuary truly exist in this brutal world?!

"The convenience store owner is probably a Station BOSS who won’t attack survivors unless a specific rule is triggered," Bai Cheng analyzed silently.

As for the restriction stating that two individuals holding the [Train Conductor] title could not enter simultaneously—Yu Nian’s previous status had been dissolved during the merge. Since she no longer held the title, she was naturally exempt from the restriction.

The rule seemed explicitly designed to bottleneck organized teams of survivors who traveled in tandem.

Bai Cheng was deeply surprised by the sudden, eerie harmlessness of Station Three, while Yu Nian chose not to overthink it.

"Maybe it’s a specific catch-up mechanic prepared for survivors right after they complete a train merge?" she pouted, her thoughts drifting.

Of course, there was another, far more ominous theory that both girls were inclined to believe.

The sector was named the Lava Convenience Store Station, so what did the word ’lava’ actually imply? Heat? Scorching environments?

Could it mean that the environmental supplies at the upcoming stations would be staggeringly scarce—so scarce that the system was forcing survivors to hoard a massive volume of logistics here just to survive the next leg of the track?

Unfortunately, there was no way to confirm it.

They cast one final glance at the warning screen before retracting their gazes, stepping forward along the narrow, enclosed corridor into the deeper interior of the station.

Before they reached the main threshold, Yu Nian leaned in close, whispering a strict reminder: "Everyone, remember: absolute silence. Do not make a single sound."

Then she looked down at Bai Cheng’s feet. "Xiao Cheng, let’s take off our shoes too. Walking barefoot will make our footsteps much quieter."

After all, they were still ordinary humans. Even if they deliberately controlled their posture, their bare movements couldn’t match the naturally silent, phantom-like steps of their high-tier employees. If they accidentally tripped a sound-based trigger and enraged the convenience store owner, the resulting fallout would be incredibly troublesome.

Bai Cheng looked thoughtful for a moment, weighing the options, before nodding her agreement. "Alright."

Before crossing into the station proper, both girls removed their shoes and socks, storing them securely inside their inventory backpacks.

Stepping barefoot onto the freezing concrete deck, they carefully slipped through the entryway.

As the door glided open, they were greeted by an indoor concourse that, while not sprawling, felt reasonably spacious. The architectural layout mirrored a realistic train terminal, except the four surrounding walls were completely devoid of windows. The entire sector relied on rows of pale, buzzing overhead lamps to cast a miserable, sterile glow across the floor.

What felt truly bizarre was that while the station was exceptionally prosperous and packed with infrastructure, it was profoundly silent and utterly deserted.

Where was the shopkeeper?

Yu Nian instinctively opened her mouth to voice the question, but caught herself just in time, slapping both hands tightly over her mouth.

At this stage, verbal communication was entirely off the table. The party could only rely on sharp eye signals and subtle hand gestures to coordinate their next move.

Scanning the terminal layout, the rear wall where they had entered was completely barren—save for a single public restroom and a standard water dispenser.

To their left, sitting directly opposite their entry vector, was a row of automated facilities: localized accommodations, vending machines, a fully equipped gym, and a vacant self-service restaurant.

To their right sat a line of specialized commercial storefronts: a blueprint blind box shop, an elemental core blind box terminal, and a survival skill learning room.

Yet, without exception, every single storefront on both flanks was completely unmanned. The heavy security doors hung wide open, showcasing a dazzling, unrestricted array of premium goods displayed on racks outside the thresholds.

At the far end of the concourse, sitting dead center opposite their position, stood a modest storefront bearing the words "Lava Convenience Store." Through the transparent glass frame, a humanoid, shadowy silhouette could be faintly seen sitting behind the cash register, perfectly still.

However, due to the distance and the obstruction of the structural door frames, Bai Cheng couldn’t make out any fine details.

Yu Nian cast a sharp, inquiring look at her captain: Where should we browse first?

Bai Cheng didn’t waste time deliberating. Since they were here, they were going to audit every single square inch of the sector! As for resting, that could wait until later. Everyone only had a strict six-hour window, so they immediately filtered into the first storefront on the right: the blueprint blind box store.

The interior was tiny, measuring roughly nine square meters. Despite the ’blind box’ marketing, several common blueprints they had already unlocked—such as basic furnaces and manufacturing kilns—were hung openly along the side walls.

The actual blind box mechanic was consolidated into a single glowing terminal prompt.

[Blueprint Blind Box Price: 300 Infinite coins]

(Guaranteed to yield a structural blueprint not currently present in your personal database. Purchase Limit: 1)

[System Hint: Complete payment protocols before collecting the item. Please personally deliver the unlimited coins to the convenience store owner. Failure to comply will cause the proprietor to enter an absolute state of rage.]

Reading the text on the interface, Bai Cheng subconsciously glanced through the doorway.

Her gaze traveled across the terminal floor, locking onto the transparent glass exterior of the central convenience store. Right at that moment, the faceless shadow behind the register was staring fixedly in their direction, its gaze unblinking.

Yu Nian nudged her, signaling that a guaranteed new blueprint would be incredibly useful for their ongoing domain expansion. More importantly, after managing their recent economy, they weren’t particularly strapped for cash; they could easily absorb a 300-coin expenditure.

She turned on her heel, preparing to walk over to the convenience store to clear the invoice, but the exact second she stepped forward, Bai Cheng’s hand clamped firmly around her forearm.

Bai Cheng shook her head slowly, her expression grim. The silent command was absolute.

Though Yu Nian didn’t quite comprehend the underlying strategy, she trusted her captain implicitly and nodded, stepping back into formation.

With the first shop skipped, they glided into the adjacent terminal: the elemental core blind box shop.

The structural layout and checkout protocols here were an exact mirror of the blueprint store. However, the walls here were completely bare, devoid of any sample items, leaving only the primary purchasing prompt hovering in the air.

[Elemental Core Blind Box Price: 3,000 Infinite coins]

(Yields a random, high-grade elemental core possessing an unknown statistical attribute.)

The girls traded a quick glance, their brows furrowing deeply.

At the previous regional station, the baseline price for a random elemental core had been fixed at a manageable 1,000 unlimited coins. Here, the system had violently tripled the tariff!

A 3,000-coin price tag was a staggering, borderline extortionate sum for the current survivor pool. Even after executing their train consolidation, neither Bai Cheng nor Yu Nian could justify throwing that much liquidity at a random gamble. It was a blatant rip-off.

As for the "high-grade" classification, Bai Cheng deduced it likely referred to elemental variants possessing unique passive traits—much like the specialized ice core Leng Ningxue had traded to her previously.

They barely lingered for more than a few seconds before turning to leave, though Bai Cheng still cast a lingering, calculating look back at the glowing terminal container.

Moments later, the party arrived at the final commercial shop on the right wing: the Survival Skill Learning Room.

[Planting Technology Matrix — Price: 150 Infinite coins]

(Function: Scaling with personal proficiency levels, this passive trait systematically enhances the overall output efficiency of managed crops.)

[Breeding Technology Matrix — Price: 150 Infinite coins]

(Function: Unlocks the active ability to domesticate and manage wild beasts encountered in the wilderness.)

[Gathering Skill Matrix — Price: 150 Infinite coins]

(Function: Extends the overall durability parameters of manual tools while reducing the raw material costs required to construct them.)

The archive offered only three distinct skills, and true to the shop’s designation, they were entirely focused on upgrading a survivor’s structural utility.

Yu Nian’s eyes lit up the moment she scanned the readouts. The passive traits were incredibly practical, and the price was remarkably cheap. This was the first store where they could max out the purchases without feeling any financial pressure whatsoever.

But as she turned to Bai Cheng with a joyful, expectant expression, she found her captain already shaking her head in a cold, dismissive rejection.

Yu Nian was entirely bewildered now, her face twisting into a silent, questioning pout: We’re seriously not buying a single thing?

But Bai Cheng’s tactical calculus was flawless. These three specialized survival skills were completely redundant for her current faction build.

For large-scale agricultural cultivation, she possessed the innate racial bonuses of Lü Duo; for beast management and breeding, she had the authoritative presence of Chi Yan; and for raw gathering and manufacturing, she already commanded the broken, reality-bending force-multipliers of the [Book of Cheng] talent. Why on earth would she waste precious coins buying baseline, downgraded system skills?

Refusing to waste time explaining the logistics in a silent zone, she turned and exited the shop, leading her crew straight toward the absolute center of the station concourse: the Lava Convenience Store.

This time, standing directly outside the main glass threshold at point-blank range, she finally took in the full, unclouded profile of the entity inside.

It was a humanoid silhouette forged entirely from shifting, localized black shadows. Waves of dense energy rippled across its frame like a crackling aura of dark, burning flames. The entity was completely faceless, save for a pair of eyes that flickered like volatile, ghostly blue embers. Currently, those twin blue flames were locked dead onto Bai Cheng’s position outside the doorway.

Bai Cheng completely ignored the entity’s intimidating pressure, casually turning her head to look at Zi Yuan standing at her flank.

The purple-haired phantom assassin caught her captain’s gaze instantly. Without a shred of hesitation, Zi Yuan raised a finger and drew it sharply across her own throat in a flawless, universal execution gesture.

Then, Zi Yuan pointed a thumb confidently back at her own chest, before shifting her hand forward, pointing directly at the faceless shadow behind the register, and violently flipping her thumb straight down.

A cold, amused smile slowly carved its way onto Bai Cheng’s lips.

"Pay retail prices to acquire system gear? Please. This Young Miss is going to take it all for free!"