“Big brother, you’re a girl!”

Bai Cheng’s eyes widened, almost thinking she had misread the message.

“I admit I’m very pretty, but I don’t... I’m not that kind of casual person, hey!”

Bai Cheng considered herself not socially anxious, but faced with such a message, she didn't know how to reply for a moment.

After waiting for a few seconds, Lin Qiuyue seemed to notice her read receipt without a reply and sent another message.

Lin Qiuyue: “You’re very much to my liking. I can be the 0, how about it?”

Are you crazy!

But out of politeness, and fear that the other party would continue to pester her, Bai Cheng immediately and righteously refused.

Bai: “Sorry, I’m not a lesbian, and I don’t have any plans in that regard for now.”

Lin: “That’s truly a ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ pity, but we can still form an alliance and help each other. As a token of sincerity, I can send you an Employee Card first, how about it?”

Although it was a consultative tone, the other party had already directly sent Bai Cheng an email.

Bai Cheng initially wanted to refuse directly, but she couldn’t resist her curiosity and clicked on the email to view the Employee Card.

On the front of that white card, the picture was clearly... a rhinoceros???

“You, a female protagonist who sells water, can kill a rhinoceros? Is this right!” Bai Cheng was obviously stunned, but after complaining, she instantly reacted.

“No, this should be the one in Tang Yan’s hands...”

Lin Qiuyue’s performance among the survivors was fortunate. She also made good use of her luck, which attracted the protagonist’s attention and led to her being recruited...

However, this rhinoceros Employee Card was used by her to recruit Bai Cheng, which clearly indicated that the other party already had a better option.

“Meow, am I... (chew chew chew) a trash can here, Miss!”

Bai Cheng gnawed on a piece of roasted wolf meat with a disgruntled expression.

“You all just throw what you don’t want at me!”

Moreover, she felt no appreciation for her abilities from these two, only constant praise for her appearance...

“Damn it, I’m angry!”

Bai Cheng raised a finger and immediately flicked it, decisively clicking ‘reject’ on the screen.

Bai: “I already have employees. I appreciate the offer, but if I need to cooperate, I’ll contact you immediately (smiley face)!”

Lin: “(OK)”

Bai: “Um... you won’t refuse to trade with me just because I rejected your confession, right? (pitiful)”

Lin: “How could that be, good girl (pat head).”

“Ugh, disgusting!” After replying with an emoji, Bai Cheng immediately closed the chat interface, afraid of seeing that big, round face staring intently at the screen again.

After eating the last bite of meat, Bai Cheng drank half a bottle of water and stood up: “Chopping trees and collecting resources are the most important things!”

She picked up her axe, ready to get off the vehicle and chop trees. However, as soon as she looked up, that dark mass appeared again in front of her on the tablet.

Bai Cheng raised an eyebrow: “They won’t block me every so often, will they?”

Blocking the road wasn't the main issue; the key was that it took at least half an hour for this thing to burn, which was too much of a time waste.

This meant it would be basically impossible to travel at night.

“Indeed, only daytime is suitable for travel.” Bai Cheng ignited the sticky substance in front of her, then focused on chopping trees.

The half-hour it took for the sticky substance to burn was completely enough for Bai Cheng to chop down all the trees within the safe range of the railcar, as there were only a few trees within a two-meter radius.

She even had a few minutes left over for rest.

Of course, cheng book would never allow such behavior, but the railcar was blocked by the sticky substance and couldn't move forward, seemingly entering a dead loop.

Just as Bai Cheng was about to sigh in relief, the voice in her mind arrived as expected.

“Alright, bugging failed.” She sighed, only able to grab her stone spear and patrol near the train, hoping she’d be lucky enough to kill a few beasts along the way.

But these fellows were very cunning; it seemed that as long as Bai Cheng didn’t leave the safety barrier, they would always lie dormant deep in the forest, not launching a rash attack.

Bai Cheng, returning empty-handed, wasn’t discouraged, treating it all as rest.

After several repetitions like this, about two hours later, Bai Cheng finally successfully chopped 250 pieces of wood, and ignited the black sticky substance a total of five times, obtaining 25 pieces of coal.

“Finally done,” Bai Cheng sighed in relief, “I hope that guy isn’t asleep yet.”

She didn’t list an order but first sent a private message to the other party. Lin Qiuyue replied almost instantly.

Lin: “Done? You worked hard!”

Bai Cheng twitched her lips, but still politely said: “Yeah, it feels very late. I thought you were already asleep.”

Lin: “I often stay up late, and how can one sleep in this environment? Besides, didn’t I promise you?”

Before Bai Cheng could initiate the trade, the other party’s message popped up first.

She decisively clicked ‘confirm’ and finally gathered enough leather for the upgrade.

The other party then sent a few more messages, seemingly intending to chat, but Bai Cheng did not reply immediately. Instead, she synthesized all her leather into refined leather and then submitted it.

“Train advancement conditions: 50/50 refined leather, 100/100 fine wood, 0/200 iron ingots, 0/1 steam engine.”

“Now only iron ingots and the steam engine are left. Obtaining the steam engine should require reaching First Station, but I don’t know about these iron ingots...”

Bai Cheng looked at the information on the screen, yawning as she pondered.

“I must hurry up, or I’m afraid time won’t be enough.”

She wanted to be as prepared as possible before reaching First Station, but the pressing time seemed to not allow her to do so.

What about upgrading the Employee Card?

Bai Cheng’s gaze fell on the bag of beast-attracting powder in her box. “Should I use it tonight?”

At this moment, Lin Qiuyue’s message popped up again.

Because Bai Cheng had closed the train interface, this message was displayed directly.

Lin: “Do you need thatch? I see many people in the channel don’t know how to get thatch; it can be used to make beds.”

Lin: “You can exchange it for any material; I don’t want fresh water, anything else is fine.”

Lin: “Oh, by the way, I heard Tang Yan... you should know him, right? He said you traded many Employee Cards from him. Do you still need them?”

Bai Cheng was startled; these two indeed had contact.

But Bai Cheng was still thinking about her own matters and had no intention of chatting with the other party, so she politely declined.

Bai: “I don’t need a bed for now. It takes up space and increases weight...”

Lin: “That’s true. Girls like us naturally have less strength, and thatch is usually only found near beast lairs. Air-drying it ourselves also wastes time.”

Lin: “What about Employee Cards? I still have four here, they’re extra and unused. Do you want them?”

These words were undoubtedly telling Bai Cheng that she already had employees.

Bai Cheng’s delicate brows slightly raised. You already know I’m collecting Employee Cards, of course I want them!

But then again, what would a girl who got rich by selling water in the early stages need? And what could she offer in return?

She had just replenished her wood, and it was exchanged for leather, which undoubtedly indicated that she had already gathered all those materials.

Her current progress was probably the same as Bai Cheng’s, no, she must have gone further, closer to First Station.

Because Bai Cheng spent most of her time chopping trees.

Although she really wanted the Employee Cards, Bai Cheng, realizing she had no materials to exchange, reluctantly chose to refuse the other party.

Bai: “Sorry, I don’t have anything left to exchange with you.”

Lin: “Oh, it’s not like I lack nothing either. How about exchanging Employee Cards for scrap metal?”

Bai Cheng was incredulous; this guy was actually giving her ideas?

Although she didn’t have scrap metal, she could still exchange it for wood.

Bai Cheng subconsciously clicked on the trade interface to check the exchange ratio between the two materials.

But what caught her eye was a trade order from Tang Yan, who was using a large amount of food to acquire scrap metal.

Bai Cheng’s pupils contracted, and she instantly realized.