Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Entering the Blazing Inferno! The Exposed Legendary Secret!

Whoosh—!

Thick white steam billowed and churned in massive clouds as the train’s heavy iron wheels ground against the rails, slowly gaining forward momentum.

The enormous triangular system curtain blocking the exit vanished into white ash. Instantly, an intensely dazzling white light engulfed the steel behemoth as it cleared the boundary of the station.

Before Bai Cheng and Yu Nian could even adapt their vision to the piercing glare, they were hit by a sudden, suffocating wave of dry heat. It was intensely hot, as if the entire earth beneath the tracks was being roasted in an oven.

Bai Cheng opened her eyes, discovering that the train was now traveling over a sprawling, reddish-black mountainous plain. The surrounding land was cracked, desolate, and completely barren, featuring nothing but exposed, baked ground.

Further in the distance, several low-lying volcanoes sat on the horizon. Black smoke continuously billowed upward from their jagged craters, connecting to a dim, ash-choked sky. The peaks looked highly volatile, as if they could erupt at any given moment.

If the previous frigid snowy mountains had made the survivors feel like they were trapped in a forgotten, frozen corner of the world, then the Lava Volcano before them was a truly apocalyptic scene.

"Lava Volcano..." Bai Cheng frowned slightly.

Although the reinforced windows were tightly shut, the temperature inside the main carriage began to rapidly climb the exact moment the train entered this localized grid. Within minutes, fine beads of sweat covered both Bai Cheng and Yu Nian’s foreheads.

"This time, it won’t be some kind of environmental heat erosion mechanic again, will it?" Yu Nian complained loudly as she stripped off her thick cotton coat.

Soon, she was left wearing only a tight black sports bra on her upper body, showing absolutely no intention of putting on a regular short-sleeved shirt. Yu Nian was naturally terrified of the heat. Coupled with the massive heat signature radiating from the boiler room at the front of the train, she was already drenched in sweat.

"Damn it, it must be over forty degrees in here!"

"Carriage 2 is fused with ice elements, so it should still be cool over there," Bai Cheng suggested.

By this point, she had also changed back into her summer gear. A loose, breathable short-sleeved shirt covered her upper body, while a pair of white tights completely wrapped around her straight, long legs. For legendary apparel equipped with temperature-regulating traits, covering more surface area actually maximized the cooling effect in an environment like this.

Yu Nian didn’t need to be told twice; she immediately slipped away toward the second car to seek refuge.

Bai Cheng’s gaze, however, remained fixed on the desolate terrain outside. Spotting a strange atmospheric texture, she turned and cautiously cracked open the heavy carriage door.

The rocky, scorched scenery receded rapidly as the train accelerated, and a blast of pure heat rushed into the cabin. But what entered the car along with the wind wasn’t just hot air—it was a dense downpour of ash that closely resembled gray snowflakes.

The flakes looked exactly like the residual ash formed after paper or the station’s triangular curtain burned. A light touch was enough to instantly turn them into a fine powder that dissipated into the air.

Bai Cheng’s brow furrowed tightly. She felt a brief phantom sensation, as if all these dirty particles were being inhaled straight into her lungs. But after running a quick internal check, she confirmed that her body wasn’t suffering from any negative status anomalies.

"Could it just be a simple cosmetic environmental debuff, like air pollution?" Bai Cheng muttered skeptically.

Closing the door securely, she checked the primary console screen to confirm there were no active damage prompts before turning her attention to the detection platform.

[Current Area: Lava Volcano]

[Current Environmental Status: Ash Rain]

[Distance to Next Destination Station: 3999km]

"Ash Rain?"

Intrigued, Bai Cheng clicked the small question mark next to the status icon. Instantly, a more detailed breakdown popped up on the interface.

[System Detail: Ash Rain]

-> Mechanics: The moment the falling ash rain from the sky concludes, the latent monsters of this land will be systematically awakened. Each consecutive time the rain cycle falls, the summoned creatures will manifest with progressively stronger scaling attributes!

Bai Cheng’s eyes flashed with realization. "So, as long as the Ash Rain status is actively falling, the environment is actually completely safe?"

She looked back out at the desolate, smoking plains through the glass, silently changing her prayer.

Stop quickly! Let the rain stop right now!

If the local monsters revived in massive scaling waves like that, wouldn’t her elite employees be able to safely farm a ridiculous amount of experience points?

After surviving multiple abrupt terrain transitions, Bai Cheng had gradually begun to document a clear structural pattern in the system’s design. The more normal and hospitable an environment was, the scarcer its rare resources would be. Conversely, the more hostile and extreme the local geography, the easier it became to extract specific, high-value campaign resources.

For instance, the frigid snowy mountains yielded rich mineral deposits; the dark forest provided high-tier wood. As for this brutal Lava Volcano grid... could its primary commodity be massive chunks of raw experience points?

"I certainly hope this sector doesn’t disappoint me!"

Withdrawing her gaze from the window, Bai Cheng walked over to her workbench and retrieved her primary Destiny Weapon molding material.

The raw forge-template was shaped exactly like a massive, sweeping scythe—the classic, ominous weapon the Western Grim Reaper used to harvest souls. As visually cool and intimidating as the design was, she couldn’t help but wonder if a massive polearm would truly be practical in the tight confines of a train skirmish.

"Whatever, it doesn’t matter," Bai Cheng shrugged, shaking her head.

In the grand scheme of things, the structural type of the weapon didn’t make a massive difference to her personal combat logic. More importantly, this scythe was currently the only valid Destiny Weapon molding template she possessed in her entire inventory. There was no telling how many high-tier stations she would have to clear before stumbling across a secondary blueprint choice.

"I still need two more weapons to serve as secondary fusion materials..." Bai Cheng muttered to herself.

She pulled up her interface and withdrew her two long-sealed, signature legendary weapons: the [Blade of Certain Death] and the [Blade of Severance].

The innate characteristics of these two small daggers were incredibly potent. When paired with Bai Cheng’s newly acquired ability to instantly teleport across a 100-meter radius, the combat synergy was practically invincible.

But right now, a legendary opportunity to permanently fuse all of these weapon characteristics into a singular, upgraded entity sat right before her. She was about to forge an exclusive Destiny Weapon bound entirely to her own soul.

"I still need two more high-tier weapons to act as sacrificial catalysts. Looks like I need to level up my crafting book as quickly as possible."

Bai Cheng opened the regional exchange market and quickly traded for two standard, high-grade daggers to fill the baseline slots. However, she couldn’t initiate the forging sequence just yet; the cooldown timer on her crafting directory hadn’t fully reset.

As she locked in the blueprints for the upcoming forge, the primary navigation logs on the detection platform suddenly updated.

```

[Fixed Navigation Route Engaged: Distance to Specialized Destination Station shortened to 1000km!]

```

The train’s trajectory shifted smoothly, its speed accelerating as it hurtled along the fixed rails toward the specialized crafting hub.

Meanwhile, back inside the abandoned, vine-choked ruins of the [#3 Lava Convenience Store Station].

A stealthy silhouette slipped cautiously through the darkness of the terminal entrance. But the exact second her eyes adjusted to the interior, her pupils dilated violently, and she stood rooted to the spot, completely stunned.

The entire concourse was an absolute disaster area. Debris was scattered everywhere, and thick, defensive green vines crawled up the walls, bricking up the corridors.

"Isn’t this supposed to be a convenience store? A convenience... store?! Where the hell is it?!"

"Where is the regional boss?! Where are the shelves?! Where are the first-arrival milestone benefits?!"

There was absolutely nothing left. The station had been picked clean down to the bare concrete.

She tightly clenched her fists in a sudden fit of rage, her teeth grinding together as she hissed into the empty room, "It must have been that bitch!"

Taking a deep breath to steady her posture, she stood firmly in the center of the ruined shop floor and violently activated her tracking talent. Her brown pupils suddenly shifted, turning into a brilliant, piercing azure light as a vivid structural memory began to playback directly inside her mind.

The psychic projection materialised the original, un-blockaded appearance of the Lava Convenience Store—clean, organized, and fully stocked. From a first-person perspective, she saw herself accompanied by six other heavily geared survivors.

In the memory, her squad was currently sprinting back toward their train cars, carrying crates of purchased supplies. The moment they crossed into the secure boarding tunnel, everyone let out a massive sigh of relief, and one of her core teammates immediately spoke up. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Damn, that convenience store boss kept staring dead at us the entire time. It was so freaking creepy!"

"But thankfully, we managed to avoid triggering any of his weird station rules. Our harvest this time is massive!"

"Brother Tang, is the next regional sector on the route the volcano grid?"

...

Right then, a series of crimson system alerts tracking the launch of the [Pioneer Trial Phase Two] popped up on their train’s primary monitor. Tang Yan, who was leading the squad from the front, suffered an immediate shift in expression.

"How could the trial mission start directly inside the volcano sector? Someone managed to breach the volcano grid before our arrival!"

Tang Yan’s brow furrowed into a deep, furious scowl, his voice dropping into an absolute, certain growl. "It must be Bai Cheng. No one else has that kind of speed."

The psychic playback began to blur and fracture into static, and the dazed girl suddenly snapped back into reality, her azure vision fading back to brown.

Her eyes flickered with a volatile mixture of disbelief and pure malice. "It really is Bai Cheng..."

"It looks like she has already successfully merged her train lines. And her primary squad teammate is that Vanguard, Yu Nian... someone she seems to have known since before the transmigration?"

A heavy, toxic hint of jealousy flashed deep within the girl’s eyes. Thinking about how every single free resource and storefront benefit in this mandatory station had been systematically plundered and blockaded by the top-ranking conductor made her blood boil with fury.

"I must speed up Tang Yan’s idiotic alliance plan," she muttered, a cruel smile touching her lips.

"So what if you managed to recruit a legendary-grade employee early on, Bai Cheng? I don’t believe for a single second that your lone faction can defeat the unified might of every single Pioneer on this server!"

And within a matter of hours, a highly specific, explosive piece of leaked intel mysteriously began to spread like wildfire across every single regional chat channel:

The rank-one white-haired grinder, Bai Cheng, is officially confirmed to command a game-breaking, Legendary-grade retainer...