"What’s this?"

Bai Cheng stopped in her tracks, casting a puzzled look at the blueprint before her.

The design was unlike anything she had seen before. It was not only circular, but also covered in intricate grids.

Even without checking its details, she could tell at a glance that this was something extraordinary.

It felt like pulling a guaranteed rare item after countless gacha rolls.

"A special blueprint?" Yu Nian couldn’t help but ask curiously.

Bai Cheng glanced at it but found no useful information. After tucking it away, the group ascended the stairs to the next floor.

The second floor was just as dimly lit, but it was no longer empty. A narrow hallway stretched before them, lined with countless doors on either side.

Unlike the first floor, a palm-sized screen was embedded in the wall near the staircase, displaying some information.

Bai Cheng and Yu Nian stepped forward to take a closer look.

[Station Introduction: Snow Mountain Castle has been abandoned for years, contaminated by countless unknown objects. Clean them up, and you may receive rewards, but you will face danger along the way.]

[Current Cleanup Progress: 8%]

[Reminder: If cleanup progress remains below 50%, the station will struggle to operate, preventing normal departures.]

[Remaining Time Until Departure: 5h 28m / 4h 17m]

"So we’re being forced to open blind boxes, huh?" Yu Nian immediately understood, then blinked in surprise. "Wait, Little Cheng, why do you have an extra hour compared to me?"

Bai Cheng rolled her eyes. "Looks like that throne earlier was one of the contaminating items."

And destroying it had given them a reward at that time.

The task was simple, but they would have to search the entire castle to complete it.

After a moment of thought, Bai Cheng said, "We don’t know how big this station is, and time is limited. Nian Nian, let’s split up."

She then turned to Zi Yuan. "I’ll have my employee go with you. You’ll be safe."

Yu Nian hesitated but eventually nodded. "Alright."

"You take the odd-numbered floors, I’ll take the even-numbered ones. Let’s make this quick."

"Got it."

With that, Yu Nian and Zi Yuan headed upstairs, while Bai Cheng and Chi Yan entered the second-floor corridor.

As for why she didn’t send Chi Yan with Yu Nian, Bai Cheng was worried that his rough appearance might scare her.

Saving time was one thing, but more importantly, she didn’t want Yu Nian to leave the station empty-handed. She needed resources too.

The air reeked of a moldy smell. The dark, rotting wooden doors lining the hallway hid unknown dangers behind them.

Bai Cheng sighed. "Well, this is truly a blind box. Chi Yan."

She took a step back.

Chi Yan stepped forward and smashed the dilapidated door with a single punch before entering first.

"Young Lady, there is no danger ahead."

Only then did Bai Cheng step inside. The glow from Chi Yan’s flames illuminated the room, showing a classic bedroom with a large bed, a deep red carpet, and a bronze vanity mirror.

But nothing immediately stood out as contaminated.

Just to be safe, she ordered, "Chi Yan, destroy everything."

A wave of flames surged, sweeping through the room. Suddenly, the wardrobe shattered, and two wraiths lunged out.

But they were no match for Chi Yan, who obliterated them in an instant.

With his Elite Rank strength, he was overpowered even for the second station, which was why Bai Cheng wasn’t worried at all.

Then, the wall lamps flickered to life, dispelling the darkness.

Bai Cheng spotted several green crystals scattered on the nightstand and couldn’t help but ask: "What’s this?"

She picked up three egg-sized, translucent orbs. They were cool to the touch, like oversized marbles.

"Young Lady, these are... magic crystals," Chi Yan said, sounding surprised.

Bai Cheng gave him a questioning look, and he explained further.

"They only drop from killing magical beasts above the Common Rank. Absorbing their energy can make you stronger."

Bai Cheng suddenly realized that they were something like EXP books.

"These are great. Too bad there are only three."

Aside from that, the room had nothing else of value. However, there was a large window in the room, which immediately caught Bai Cheng’s attention.

Back at the first station, the walls had blocked her view. Now, she might finally get a glimpse of the terrain ahead.

She opened the window.

A howling blizzard roared inside, the frigid wind instantly dropping the room’s temperature. Bai Cheng shivered violently and slammed the window shut before she could even see outside.

"What the hell?!"

Then it hit her. "Swamp Mine Station, then Muddy Swamp... and now Snow Mountain Castle Station."

Clearly, she was in for a winter wonderland.

"I hate winter..."

After clearing every room on the second floor, Bai Cheng and Chi Yan found no more magic crystals, not even another blueprint.

"’Danger and rewards’, my ass. More like 80% danger!"

Grumbling, she stepped back into the hallway—

And the wall lamps suddenly lit up all at once.

At the far end, under an orange-red glow, stood a treasure chest about half her height.

"A surprise reward!" Bai Cheng’s eyes lit up.

Unlike the chests she found in the wild, this one was larger, almost the size of a storage crate and bore no markings or grade indicators.

When she opened it, she discovered that it was a spatial treasure chest with five storage slots.

Each slot could hold 20 units, giving her a total of 100 copper ore, all of which she stuffed into her backpack.

The reward was underwhelming, but at least smelting the ore would unlock crafting products of the Bronze Age.

Returning to the stairwell, the screen now showed:

[Cleanup Progress: 49%]

Bai Cheng’s duo hadn’t seen Yu Nian and Zi Yuan until now on the third floor, which meant that they must have been ahead.

The fourth floor wasn’t another dark hallway but another vast hall.

A large screen at the far end cast a pale glow, illuminating the strange structure at the center.

It was a hemisphere wrapped in irregular black metal strips, converging at the top to hold a diamond-shaped crystal that was emitting a brown light.

Around it lay four piles of what looked like garbage. They were twisted branches wrapped around unknown objects, shrouded in black mist and flickering with green light.

The moment Chi Yan stepped into the hall, the black mist surged, and four bizarre green creatures materialized, their eyes burning red as they lunged at him. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The outcome was predictable. They were completely annihilated.

The four piles of garbage were incinerated, and the central crystal clattered to the ground.

Then, a new message appeared on the nearby screen:

[Congratulations! You have obtained a Train Armor Core!]