Chapter 2: Train Zero - Player Jiang Yang unlocks the title: Lonely in Time...

"Hello, Mr. Jiang Yang, I am your personal trial assistant. This is your first trial. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. Of course, I will provide you with absolute security during our conversation."

As if confirming Jiang Yang's thoughts, the conversation coming through the blue curtain did indeed become much quieter.

Upon opening the panel, the updated content was fully displayed. Jiang Yang thought for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "Is this a new role-playing game?"

The assistant fell silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Jiang Yang, but after verification, due to a bug in the main system, the train lines overlapped, and you were unexpectedly drawn into the trial of the Zero Train. In order to maintain the balance of the trial, you need to pass the trial as a player in order to return to the No Man's Land."

"What if it doesn't pass the trial?"

"No man's land has no need for useless things."

The assistant's tone became stiff, and her cold voice reminded Jiang Yang of the messy handwriting on the notebook, though she wasn't sure if the notebook was still there.

Jiang Yang didn't speak, his gaze sweeping back and forth across the screen several times. After a while, he suddenly asked, "What is a reserve agent?"

The young man tapped his index finger seemingly unintentionally on a gray icon in the corner of the screen that wasn't lit up.

[Player has not registered in Borderlands and is not currently eligible for final judgment.]

The trial assistant quickly understood Jiang Yang's meaning, and a hint of embarrassment crept into her mechanical voice, "Even if you are not qualified, the main system will conduct a simulated trial. This will not affect your trial ranking, and all earnings during the trial will be settled, retained, and used normally. It's just that your personal trial result will be invalid."

“It’s ineffective~” Jiang Yang chuckled softly, his head lowered, making his emotions unreadable.

"As compensation, without affecting the balance of the trial, you will be granted one opportunity to seek help during this trial... This opportunity can be used to force a request for help from other players, or it can be used to seek help from the system..."

Jiang Yang nodded in satisfaction, his fingers continuing to tap back and forth on the panel.

Only two items have been unlocked in the shop: [Special Painkiller] and [Special Coagulant].

The common currency is something called Soul Weights, and Jiang Yang currently holds 0 of them.

Then, when you click on the system's built-in warehouse, the zoom icon of the "Fool" card is squeezed into a small square, and the floating golden light on its surface makes the entire warehouse dazzling.

The card is enlarged.

[The Fool: Lucky fool, trust your intuition!]

[Whether to bind]

"What will happen if this card is bound?" Jiang Yang asked.

"Sorry, I don't have the answer to this question on my end."

Do you firmly believe in your sixth sense?

Jiang Yang wasn't very confident in his intuition.

【yes】

But could things get any worse?

[Player Jiang Yang has bound the talent-type card: The Fool]

[Player Jiang Yang unlocks personal talent: Gift of Roses]

Instructions for use 1:

Those who come into contact with the Fool's Rose

The Fool will read their memories.

The initial read time is 15 minutes.

The initial cooldown time is 12 hours.

The loading time will increase as the player's ability improves.

The cooling time is opposite.

Unused time can be accumulated.

Instructions for use 2:

The Fool can replace a character in a memory fragment.

The replaced character will not have the memory of being replaced.

The initial replacement time is 15 minutes.

The initial cooldown time is 12 hours.

The replacement duration will increase as the player's ability improves.

The cooling time is opposite.

Unused time can be accumulated.

[Player Jiang Yang unlocks the Time Travel Bottle: The Last Tear]

[Instructions for Use: Collect Tears of Regret to upgrade; more features await unlocking]

[Player Jiang Yang unlocks the title: The Lonely Traveler in Time]

"Okay, how do we get out?"

"Once you are ready, I will remove the barrier."

"Wait, what if they find out right away?" Jiang Yang asked cautiously.

"If you need assistance, you can request help from the system, and the system will make reasonable arrangements for your appearance."

Therefore, this matter is not difficult to resolve.

However, Jiang Yang felt that having been guided to use the opportunity to ask for help from the very beginning, this opportunity might...

"Thank you, I'll contact you if I need anything."

"It doesn't matter,

Just call my name in your heart when the time comes.

Enjoy your trial!

Perhaps, this is the last time...

...

Jiang Yang was speechless.

The barrier was opened, and the roar of the train suddenly burst in. Jiang Yang subconsciously rubbed his ears, which were assaulted by the noise.

When the panel is minimized, three more rows of data appear at the bottom.

Health Points: 100

SAN value: 100

[Judgment Balance: 150]

While he couldn't see it, the screen was instantly filled with comments.

[Zero Train Observation Room - Full View]

"Wow, after all this hype, the competition's finally starting..."

"Support the Hanged Man! Support the Hanged Man! Support the Hanged Man!"

"Wait, weren't there supposed to be twenty-five people in the preliminary rounds? How come there's one more?"

From the observation point of view, there are five in a row, and a total of five rows and one, with Jiang Yang's name prominently displayed on the back of the crane.

In no time, apart from the observers who had entered the single player's perspective early on, many others flocked to Jiang Yang's observation room out of curiosity.

Having lived in the sanatorium for a long time, Jiang Yang not only had an indelible smell of medicine on her, but her complexion also had a sickly pallor. Her black-rimmed glasses suppressed her bright eyes, leaving only a face that made people easily lower their guard.

It may not be stunning at first glance, but it can inexplicably evoke a sense of pity, making people unable to help but continue to pay attention.

"Wait, how come someone was pulled into the assessment competition directly during their first trial? Did they exploit a bug?"

"Does anyone have the authority to give feedback? Waaaaah, Borderlands hasn't had any new players in ages."

"Only those who survive are newcomers; those who don't are dead, okay? Tsk tsk, so pitiful, destined to be sacrificed to the heavens~"

"Doesn't anyone think this newcomer looks familiar?"

Jiang Yang heard other players talking outside the door. He vaguely heard words like "tickets" and slipped into the camper van's workshop before the blue curtain was lifted from the outside.

Sitting on the lower bunk, I replayed the announcement I heard when I first boarded the train in my mind.

Two rooms apart, the sounds from the lounge were fairly clear, but there was no sound from the train conductor.

Opening the backpack, thankfully the notebook was still there, and there was also an extra black velvet bag. Inside was a bag of metal discs marked 5/10. The 5 was in white lettering on a black background, and the 10 was in black lettering on a red background.

Jiang Yang guessed that these might be the gold coins used for consumption, but he didn't know if everyone had the same amount.

Two more people entered the lounge, and Jiang Yang didn't find a chance to leave.

When the third person came in, he didn't ring the doorbell of the lounge as we had heard before.

As the commotion crept closer, Jiang Yang tensed up completely.

Their steps stopped at the door next door, and there was an inexplicable stalemate between the two sides. Perhaps they were still struggling with their decision, and the breathing of the person who came in became heavier and heavier.

About half a minute later, the person on the other end let out a heavy sigh of relief, as if they had made up their mind.

"Ding~"

The door to the lounge opened as usual, and the man said timidly, "Hello... I'd like to buy a ticket."

Jiang Yang cautiously peeked outside. A thin layer of black mist seeped into the lounge, and her fingers twitched involuntarily, probably due to nervousness.

"Uh... hard sleeper... soft sleeper..." The man hesitated again, raising his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"Take the hard sleeper first..." He took out his money bag, slowly counting the coins inside, and handed them out one by one.

Jiang Yang counted the prices; a hard sleeper ticket should cost around 80 yuan.

He just didn't quite understand why a timid man would choose to spend so much money to upgrade his ticket in the first place.

A hand covered by a black glove handed out the ticket, and the man stuffed the money bag into his inner pocket before reaching out to take it.

A ripple spread through the black mist, and the next second, something seemed to appear in the man's trembling hand that had been hanging by his trousers. He then carefully clenched it into a ball, tucked it into his sleeve, and held it in his folded wrist.

After finishing everything, the man breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave.

The black mist did not retreat back into the lounge and close the door, and Jiang Yang's expression became serious.

A hoarse female voice came from the black mist, and then tentacles formed from the mist rapidly split in the air and attacked the man.

One needle pierced his abdomen without mercy, while the other wrapped tightly around his neck. The man was pulled into mid-air before being thrown heavily into the campervan.

Jiang Yang glanced at it once, then immediately withdrew his upper body, slumped back onto the bed, clutching his chest and breathing heavily with lingering fear, his mind racing.

The man was coughing, clutching his neck, less than two meters away from Jiang Yang outside the door.

The movement aggravated the wound on his abdomen, and large amounts of blood flowed out beneath him, seeping into Jiang Yang's room as the train shook. A pang of pity flashed through Jiang Yang's heart.

"You...broke...the...rules..." The black mist walked out of the lounge and approached the man step by step, her movements slow but extremely oppressive.

"Can I replace the train conductor?" Jiang Yang tapped his fingers rapidly, switching the panel to the talent interface.

Hearing someone speak, the man forced himself to look over, a hint of surprise in his eyes, before collapsing weakly, unnoticed by Jiang Yang.

"Due to the differences in roles, some of the player's actions will be restricted to the NPC settings, and the substitution time will be reduced by one-third," the trial assistant responded quickly.

"Ten minutes..." Jiang Yang pondered.

"Fine, I'll just consider it a trial run..." Jiang Yang decided.

Jiang Yang pressed the "Use" button next to the rose, and a fresh white rose, still with a few drops of dew, appeared out of thin air in his hand.

She jogged a few steps, squatted down, and put her arm around the man's shoulder. She placed the white rose in his palm, and the crumpled paper that he had hidden in his sleeve fell out. Jiang Yang instantly realized what the train conductor meant by the violation.

As the train conductor approached, Jiang Yang saw "it" in its entirety for the first time.

The black mist pieced together the shape of a person, above which was a face with blurred features. There were two deep holes where the eyes should have been, and the lips were covered with a thick layer of blood. The bright red color stood out against the black mist, making one feel a deep chill at first glance.

SAN value: 90

[Unlock Monster - Train Conductor of Train Zero]

Jiang Yang shook his head; he was somewhat affected.

[Huang Si's memory reading complete]

The man he saved was named Huang Si, Jiang Yang knew.

When he made this decision, the observation room became lively again.

[Train Zero Observation Room - Real-time Ranking]

(Rankings are only visible to observers)

No.1 The Hanged Man

…………

No. 21 Huang Si

…………

No. 23 Jiang Yang

[Zero Train Observation Room - Jiang Yang's Perspective]

"No way, at a time like this, do they really think they're the savior?"

"I don't understand. He must have been blind to the weight I threw at him."

"What are you arguing about with your paltry sums of money? What's wrong with saving people?"

The white rose petals in Huang Si's hand scattered and disappeared, leaving a faint rose fragrance in the air.

Next to the white rose on the panel, a group of avatars appeared. Some had names visible, while others did not. Jiang Yang guessed that this was because Huang Si had only met these people briefly from his perspective and did not know them.

Tap the [Replace] button below the train conductor's black avatar, and the panel will pop up a confirmation message again.

Before Jiang Yang could confirm, the train slowed down, the conductor stopped moving forward, his empty eyes revealing a sense of unwillingness, and then disappeared in the blink of an eye.

An announcement came over the loudspeaker: "Dear passengers, our next stop is Wutoushan Station. Passengers alighting from the train, please proceed to the middle of the carriage..."

Jiang Yang thought of what the trial assistant had said about the NPC settings, and it seemed that it wasn't just the players who needed to follow the rules.

The coagulant was just short of the target weight, and Huang Si, held in his arms, had his eyes tightly closed, only a faint breath remaining.

Jiang Yang noticed a profile picture of someone named Huang Er and muttered to himself, "I hope what you risked your life for won't harm you a second time."

Pick up the crumpled paper from the ground and unfold it; printed on it were words that...

Train Zero

【Final Station - Wutoushan Station】

Wait, Wutoushan Station!

"Dear passengers, we have arrived at Wutoushan Station. Please leave in an orderly manner to avoid congestion."

A note from the author:

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