Yu Xi had barely stepped through the door when Yu Zhenzhen pounced on her.
“Mom! Mom! Mom~~” If she had a tail, it would probably be wagging so hard it could lift her off the ground.
“Maternal attachnt is a condition,” Xi Yuan comnted lazily, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. “It’s only been a few days. Is this really necessary?”
Yu Zhenzhen shot him a glare. “Oh, shut up. Like you wouldn’t want to hug her too. You were just too slow.”
Xi Yuan: …
Yu Xi pinched Yu Zhenzhen’s cheek. “Stop rolling your eyes. You’re about to roll them right out of your head.”
“I’m just allergic to fake coolness—” Yu Zhenzhen muttered, rubbing her cheek, but before she could finish her sentence, she was grabbed by the back of her collar and lifted aside.
Xi Yuan, having shoved her out of the way, bent down and hugged Yu Xi tightly. “You’re finally here. I was worried sick!”
“…” Yu Zhenzhen huffed, then turned to hug Lin Wu instead. As she did, she taunted Xi Yuan, “Co on, keep going! Hug our dear Wu-ge too!”
Lin Wu: …
Yu Xi: …
Standing at the stairway, Ya Tong rubbed her temples at the scene unfolding before her. One by one, these people had lived for so many years and yet were still this childish.
She walked over to the dining table, where she set down seven or eight steaming hot dishes along with various cold drinks, then called Yu Xi and Lin Wu over. “Wash your hands and eat.”
Yu Xi stepped forward and saw a spread of pan-seared lamb chops, borscht, creamy mushroom chicken rice, salt and pepper shrimp, roasted potatoes, and salmon salad—all dishes Ya Tong was known for.
“You made all of this?” Yu Xi asked, hugging Ya Tong briefly, only to have her hair ruffled in return.
“Yeah, Ya Tong-jie was busy all afternoon. I helped too,” Yu Zhenzhen added as she placed tiramisu and coconut mango sago on the table. “The villa’s water tank is filled with stored water from my space, and the water used for cooking cos from lted tal ice, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
Yu Xi nodded.
The source of Fran City’s infection was still unknown, so everyone was being extra cautious with their water use.
Lin Wu, before teaming up with them, had been surviving solely on nutrient solutions for convenience—one vial could sustain him for three days, so he had barely eaten any real food.
The dinner he had with Yu Xi in the treehouse last night was his first proper al in this station. Breakfast had been his second. Now, this was his third, and each al was getting better than the last.
The five of them closed the doors and windows, leaving only two floor lamps on as they gathered around the dining table for dinner and conversation.
It turned out that Lin Wu wasn’t the only one who had been relying on nutrient solutions. Before Ya Tong and Yu Zhenzhen had reunited, they had done the sa for convenience—just a quick sip, and they wouldn’t need food for days.
Previously, Lin Wu had given each of them 20 vials, and Yu Xi had left a whole box of them with Xi Yuan, who had taken 10. Upon hearing this, Yu Xi took out another 40 vials, dividing them between Ya Tong and Yu Zhenzhen to store in their inventories.
As for tal ice, the miraculous water source, Yu Xi had given Lin Wu, Ya Tong, and Yu Zhenzhen five bottles each before. Now, she brought out 15 more, letting them each take five more bottles.
Xi Yuan, lacking a personal storage space, only kept one bottle on hand—but that was more than enough in case of an ergency.
As dinner was wrapping up, Yu Xi brought up Lin Wu’s replication skill. Intrigued, Yu Zhenzhen imdiately pulled out her electric baton. “Try copying this!” she urged, eager to see if it would work.
Lin Wu was currently most in need of defense points, so that was his priority.
Under the group’s expectant gazes, he activated his replication skill.
A minute passed.
The electric baton still stood alone on the table.
Lin Wu had already tried multiple tis, but eventually, he sighed. “I can’t replicate it. And I’m not even getting an error ssage.”
“What about your replication count? Did it decrease?” Yu Xi asked, worried that he might have wasted a use.
“No, I still have two left.”
“Alright,” Yu Xi nodded, then pulled out the Treehouse. “Try this one.”
A mont later, the table remained unchanged.
Lin Wu spoke up. “This ti, I did get a ssage. It says that the target is a super-tier item, and if successfully replicated, it would only be usable three tis before disappearing. Since that’s not worth it, I canceled the replication.”
That made sense.
The true value of the treehouse lay in its unlimited use. It provided high defense and could be deployed anyti, anywhere. If the copies had limited uses, it would be far less practical. There was no need to waste a replication attempt on it.
Finally, Lin Wu turned his attention to replicating Ya Tong’s defense card.
This card was brand new, with 2,500 defense points stored inside. If the replication succeeded, Lin Wu would have a substantial reserve of defense points for a long ti.
This ti, after just a few seconds, a flash of light flickered across the table.
An identical defense card appeared beside the original.
“It worked!” Yu Zhenzhen was thrilled. “Does it have the sa number of points?”
Lin Wu nodded with a smile. “Exactly the sa.”
“That’s great!”
Ya Tong put away the defense card and summarized, “So, the treehouse is a super-tier item—it can be replicated, but with limitations. Defense cards are just standard skill cards, so they can be fully copied. As for Zhenzhen’s electric baton, it must be beyond even super-tier items, which is why there wasn’t even a notification. Truly worthy of being the ultimate defense exploit.”
**
After dinner, everyone helped clean up the table and dishes.
Ordo Town had now been fully cleared, and the outer defensive walls were in place. Any civilians wanting to enter had to undergo screening and quarantine before receiving an entry permit.
Every day, military patrols road the town. If a new infection erged, the entire district would be locked down imdiately, and the infected person would be removed.
Xi Yuan ntioned that the base had gathered a team of researchers and was investing considerable resources into studying the parasitic fungi that infected both humans and animals, hoping to find a way to suppress it. So far, their progress wasn’t great, though they had made so breakthroughs in detection thods.
For now, the town remained relatively safe.
The treehouse was excellent, but it was small and had no separate rooms—cramped and inconvenient for five people.
With more than thirty days left at this station, everyone agreed that staying in the villa for now was the better option. They decided to take turns keeping watch at night, as usual.
Since they had worked hard on missions earlier, everyone had secured a train ticket and gathered plenty of items. Now that the hidden station was confird, they could afford to lay low and take their ti. anwhile, they could also observe the town’s NPCs, following Yu Xi’s idea to see if there were any clues leading to a final station.
Yu Zhenzhen was skeptical. “Do you really think there’s a final station? This world is called the Endless Train, isn’t it? If it’s endless, then how could there be a final stop?”
Yu Xi replied, “Most of the infinite-world stories you’ve read still have an ending, right? Even if the stations and instances seem endless, at so point, there has to be a final mont.”
Lin Wu furrowed his brows and analyzed, “No matter what kind of disasters or strange events occur at each station, everything revolves around train tickets and the station itself. Our goal is to board the train before the ti limit runs out and move on to the next stop. The key elents are the train and the stations. And as long as there’s a train, there must be a final stop. It’s just that this world’s ‘final station’ might not appear in the way we traditionally expect.”
Leaning against the side, Xi Yuan said, “So, your point is that a final station must exist, but it won’t be what we imagine it to be?”
“Exactly.” Lin Wu nodded at him.
Ya Tong believed there had to be a final stop. “The problem is, even the person with the most easter egg fragnts among us only has three. If we could recover all our lost mories, we might find so clues.”
Yu Zhenzhen nodded. “Then instead of slacking, we should keep taking on missions. We can split into groups to save ti. Let’s decide tomorrow’s teams now—I’m teaming up with my mom.”
**
As they discussed their plans in the living room, they instinctively began pulling out snacks and drinks from their inventories, setting them on the coffee table while they chatted. No one felt sleepy.
Eventually, Ya Tong put an end to their impromptu tea party. “Yu Xi and Lin Wu have been on the move since early morning. They need to get proper rest tonight.”
Xi Yuan’s villa had no bedrooms on the first floor, only on the second. The house also had front and back entrances.
Since his return from quarantine, he hadn’t had ti to reinforce the villa, and most of the original furnishings had been cleared out by the military. He had spent the past few nights sleeping on the couch in the living room.
Ya Tong and Yu Zhenzhen had only arrived this morning after being pulled into quarantine imdiately upon reaching the town. They hadn’t slept in the villa yet, either.
So, for now, the upstairs rooms were completely empty. The group worked together, setting up makeshift sleeping areas using tents, waterproof mats, and blankets.
That night, Xi Yuan took the first night watch, letting the other four get a good rest.
Yu Xi slept between Yu Zhenzhen and Ya Tong and had one of her most peaceful nights of sleep in a long ti.
**
When she woke up the next morning, Yu Zhenzhen and Ya Tong had already gotten up. After a quick wash in the bathroom, she stepped downstairs and was imdiately greeted by the sll of buttered bread and fried eggs.
She assud Ya Tong was cooking breakfast, but to her surprise, the person standing in the kitchen was Xi Yuan.
He was spreading butter on sliced bread and frying it in a pan. Hearing her footsteps, he turned and gave her a smile. “Good morning, Xiao Xi.”
At the dining table, Lin Wu and the others looked over. “Good morning, co eat.”
**
With their team now gathered, doing missions felt much safer.
They worked thodically, always heading out in pairs. One person would complete their mission with help from their partner, and then they would switch roles for the next mission.
Each group included at least one person with high defensive capability.
Yu Zhenzhen was essentially an unbreakable shield, while Lin Wu and Ya Tong both had plenty of defense points. They had all partnered with Yu Xi multiple tis. The only exception was Xi Yuan, who was also an offense-focused fighter. He had only been paired with Yu Xi once or twice, which he repeatedly protested, but to no avail.
Their efforts earned them plenty of useful items. Lin Wu and Yu Xi even managed to secure another train ticket. However, no easter egg fragnts had dropped.
As the countdown neared its final days, new outbreaks of fungal infections erupted in several surrounding refugee zones.
So were contained in ti.
Others failed completely, turning entire camps into dead zones.
Many fleeing civilians rushed to other refugee camps, and among them were hidden infected individuals, spreading the contamination further.
When the countdown reached eight days, another heavy rainstorm fell. After days of rain, the residents of Ordo Town began to notice alarming changes in the local plants.
The terrifying fungi and mycelium had begun growing from tree trunks. The fungal species had mutated once again.
Although the plants themselves didn’t explode, the fine, thread-like mycelium detached and drifted through the air. Carried by the wind, it beca airborne, infiltrating human bodies and lying dormant before triggering new infections days later—creating yet another wave of disease.
Ordo Town’s situation deteriorated rapidly. The military burned down nearly all the vegetation in the town, but by the ti they realized the plants had mutated, the spores had already spread through the air, silently embedding themselves in people’s bodies.
There were too many civilians. It was impossible to screen and identify all latent infections.
Yu Xi’s group had remained extrely cautious, always wearing protective suits and masks whenever they stepped outside.
When the rain fell again, Yu Xi deployed the glass treehouse between two large trees in the villa’s backyard. For the remaining eight days, the five of them stopped taking on missions altogether.
They kept their eyes on their phones, constantly feeling that this station was teetering on the edge of full collapse.
The treehouse was small, but it was completely safe. It had water and electricity, covering all their basic needs. On top of that, Yu Zhenzhen kept her shield activated at all tis, adding an extra layer of protection outside the treehouse.
Ya Tong, still fond of cooking, continued making prepared als for the group, storing them in their inventory so they could eat anyti.
In the mornings, Yu Xi often led them in physical training. In the afternoons, she would take out a deck of cards and snacks, and they would sit together playing gas.
But in the final two or three days of the countdown, even those small distractions beca impossible.
Ordo Town had completely fallen into chaos.
Those who had been unknowingly infected by the mutated plants had finally succumbed. At first, the military managed to contain the outbreak, but as more soldiers beca infected and their numbers dwindled, control slipped from their grasp.
From the glass treehouse, they could see the entire town burning, black smoke rising into the sky. The streets were filled with people fighting over supplies and infected wanderers spreading the contagion further.
At night, cries for help and wails of despair echoed across the sky.
But there was nothing they could do.
This was a massive outbreak, spreading far too quickly. No matter how capable the five of them were, it was impossible to stop.
In the end, the military made the decision to retreat entirely into the underground base. But to enter, survivors had to undergo extensive screening, and there would be no further rescue operations.
Anyone who wanted to survive had to reach the base on their own and pass the inspection. Only then would they be allowed inside.
The military gave a three-day deadline.
Once the deadline passed, the base would be completely sealed from the inside. Survivors would rely on the air filtration system and remain underground indefinitely.
By the ti the countdown reached zero, Ordo Town was completely deserted.
The only people still moving through the town were travelers.
Wearing their protective suits and with Yu Zhenzhen’s shield activated, they packed up the treehouse and made their way toward the hidden station.
**
{Please present your ticket.}
{Checking ticket, please wait…}
{Ticket verified. Please note the remaining station count.}
{Reminder: Combat is strictly prohibited inside the train.}
…
Departure ti: 18:00
Previous station: Fran City
Next stop: Not yet selected
Detected teammates. Please select the next destination.
Yu Xi: Jing Shan Hospital (A-rank), Devourer’s Domain (A-rank), Light Academy (A-rank), Dream Town (S-rank)
Lin Wu: Jing Shan Hospital (A-rank), Devourer’s Domain (A-rank), Light Academy (A-rank), Dream Town (S-rank)
Ya Tong: Jing Shan Hospital (A-rank), Devourer’s Domain (A-rank), Light Academy (A-rank), Dream Town (S-rank)
Yu Zhenzhen: Jing Shan Hospital (A-rank), Devourer’s Domain (A-rank), Light Academy (A-rank), Dream Town (S-rank)
Xi Yuan: Jing Shan Hospital (A-rank), Devourer’s Domain (A-rank), Light Academy (A-rank), Dream Town (S-rank)
After looking at their screens, the five of them froze.
This was the first ti their available station choices were completely identical.
That ant they had four options this ti.
Which one should they choose?
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