Chapter 97: Chapter 97: Breaking the Rules! This Young Miss Wants It All for Free!

Bai Cheng had even completely overestimated the convenience store owner’s baseline defensive parameters.

When Zi Yuan’s blade struck, his shadowy form was cleanly split in two.

Judging by his structural composition, it was highly likely he was an ethereal being entirely devoid of a true physical body. Chi Yan immediately followed up the breakthrough with a burst of intense hellfire, completely incinerating his remaining corpse.

This time, the proprietor was absolutely, undeniably dead.

As the shadowy corpse burned to ashes on the grassland, it left behind a pristine crystal emitting a faint, milky white glow.

Even from a distance, Bai Cheng’s sharp eyes recognized it instantly as an Elemental Core.

She jumped lightly from the storefront rooftop, steadily catching Yu Nian as they dropped down, before approaching the convenience store owner’s incinerated remains to examine the loot.

"Why would killing a station entity drop an Elemental Core?" Bai Cheng’s brow furrowed, thoroughly puzzled. She had never encountered a mechanical drop like this before.

Moreover, this Elemental Core looked structurally no different from an ordinary node, except for the opaque, milky white glow emanating from deep within the crystal, which effectively prevented Bai Cheng from guessing its elemental attribute at a glance.

Bai Cheng picked up the crystal and then turned her attention toward her three active employees.

Among them, Lü Duo tilted her head slightly toward her captain, looking exactly like a small child eagerly waiting for praise. Bai Cheng smiled warmly at her. "Everyone worked incredibly hard."

"Miss, your subordinate will definitely strive to advance to the Battle General rank as quickly as possible!" Lü Duo promised confidently, her eyes shining.

If she had already achieved the Battle General threshold, she would have been able to systematically lock down and defeat tricky anomalies like this convenience store owner all by herself next time.

But speaking of the fight, no one could have predicted that this convenience store proprietor would possess such a troublesome mechanical kit. His incredibly high spatial speed had left even the Immortal-grade Chi Yan and the Legendary-grade Zi Yuan entirely helpless for a significant chunk of the engagement.

However, Bai Cheng had remained entirely confident in this outcome from the start. Only Yu Nian beside her looked completely delighted and borderline incredulous.

She let out a breathless exclamation, "Isn’t this guy basically a proxy avatar for the system? He can actually be killed?!"

Then she scanned the sprawling terminal floor, which had been turned into a chaotic, overgrown mess by Lü Duo’s skills, her excitement completely bubbling over.

"Does that mean... every single scrap of inventory in this entire station belongs to us now?!"

"That’s exactly what it means. Start moving the supplies," Bai Cheng said with a wide smile, adding a tactical afterthought, "But don’t be too hasty about clearing the shelves entirely. It would be even better if we could hoard the high-value stock and wait for other survivors to arrive at the terminal."

"Xiao Cheng, you know I absolutely love to work!"

The moment the words left her mouth, Yu Nian rushed into the nearest commercial shop ahead of them, beginning to frantically scavenge every single useful utility item in sight.

Chi Yan and Lü Duo also immediately got busy with the heavy hauling, leaving only Zi Yuan standing quietly by Bai Cheng’s side.

Bai Cheng unhurriedly pulled on her socks and shoes, tying them securely. Instead of heading straight into the central convenience store first, she navigated over to the glowing interface screen mounted in the nearest shop to audit the terminal logs.

"Zi Yuan, was that entity actually a living creature?" she asked curiously, tapping the display.

Zi Yuan nodded before slowly shaking her head. "Zi Yuan isn’t entirely certain either, Young Miss." She paused, analyzing her personal combat interface before adding, "But the exact moment Zi Yuan cut off his head, that innate energy that systematically makes one stronger didn’t surge within her body."

She was explicitly referring to system experience points.

At this exact moment, Bai Cheng’s gaze fell onto the terminal monitor; the display remained stuck on the default interface screen, entirely devoid of updated text. There were no warning logs about violating station protocols, nor were there any system prompts or milestone achievements tracking the eradication of the convenience store owner.

It was officially confirmed: this convenience store owner was not classified as a living monster. Killing it yielded absolutely zero baseline experience.

Bai Cheng then tapped her personal interface to examine the unique Elemental Core resting in her palm.

[Name: Carriage Elemental Core]

[Attribute: Space]

[Description: This mysterious and highly counter-intuitive spatial ability can systematically compress your carriage’s internal volume to store a vastly larger quantity of goods.]

[Evaluation: Seems a bit overkill for a simple storage box?]

Bai Cheng was slightly startled, her eyes widening. "A Space attribute core?"

And looking closely at the description parameters, it wasn’t hard to deduce that after fusing this specific Elemental Core with a locomotive, it would most likely expand the target carriage into a massive, expanded spatial inventory box. In a very real sense, it was the absolute perfect elemental choice for constructing a high-capacity faction warehouse for the train.

But just as the system evaluation noted, wasn’t using a spatial phantom’s core for a basic warehouse a bit overkill?

The convenience store owner had actively wielded the raw power of this Space core. Although his exact numerical level remained hidden, his ability to hold off the Immortal-grade Chi Yan and the Legendary-grade Zi Yuan in a strict two-on-one skirmish proved just how terrifyingly potent the attribute could be.

This was an incredibly tricky ability to lock down.

Unfortunately, Bai Cheng didn’t have her customizable Armored Core item card actively pulled up, otherwise she could have immediately checked the exact combat abilities associated with a Space-attribute installation.

"If the active skill parameters are high enough, I can seriously consider fusing it into my personal core," she silently resolved, stowing the white crystal away.

After collecting the three practical survival skill books from the pedestal in the learning room, Bai Cheng led Zi Yuan straight into the absolute central structure of the hub: the Lava Convenience Store.

The moment she stepped across the glass threshold, she noted that the architectural layout of this convenience store was largely identical to the supermarkets in her memory, though the actual floor area was slightly more compressed. Various baseline goods were neatly arranged across several rows of pristine shelves, creating a dazzling array of commodities.

Looking across the racks, the stock included all kinds of packaged foods, daily household necessities, manual tools, and even premium commodities like tobacco and alcohol.

However, reflecting its nature as a system hub, the fixed prices for the scarcer survival materials were ridiculously high. Bai Cheng deduced that if calculated based on the limited purchasing power of an average, un-merged survivor, the total volume of supplies in this shop could easily sustain dozens of active players.

But since this was classified as a multi-person station, the later the remaining survivors arrived at the terminal, the fewer supplies would be left available for purchase. Those tracking behind Bai Cheng’s fast-paced progression curve were likely in for an absolute disaster.

"Oh my god, look at all this food?!" At this moment, Yu Nian bounded into the convenience store, letting out an ecstatic squeal of pure delight. "Finally! No more endless roasted beast meat every single night!"

Though she was notoriously greedy when it came to meals, she didn’t lose her focus or start pick-and-choosing her favorite snacks to feast on right away. Instead, acting like a frantic little money-grubber, she systematically swept the packages straight into her inventory backpack, refusing to waste a single second of their six-hour window.

"Xiao Cheng, I’ll take absolute care of packing the food grid! You go sweep the daily necessities section!" Her muffled voice echoed out from between the tall shelves, followed closely by her excited naming of the items she was hoarding. "Sandwiches, potato chips, bread, biscuits, chocolate, instant noodles, ham..."

Bai Cheng offered a soft hum of agreement, immediately moving over to the adjacent household goods aisle.

The inventory here was incredibly complete, featuring plastic washbasins, clean towels, shampoo, body wash, facial cleanser, and more. There were even high-tier utility assets like rolls of toilet paper, insulated water cups, three-piece cotton bed sets, and thick duvet cores—items that Bai Cheng would have considered completely mundane back in the old world. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

But they were currently trapped inside the brutal realities of the Infinite Train world, and every single one of these common amenities was an undeniable luxury that would drastically optimize their faction’s daily comfort and survival metrics.

Bai Cheng’s inner hardcore grinder became completely electrified. "As expected... free shopping is the absolute best!"

"Thank the heavens for this incredible system gift!"

Meanwhile, high above the freezing, sub-zero mountain landscape outside, another lone locomotive was quietly rolling along the iron tracks, rapidly approaching the station gate...