Chapter 257: Train 444-20

Chapter 257: Train 444-20

The moment he saw the attendant appear, The Third's eyes lit up.

"Brother Zhou!!" The Third completely forgot about what had just happened in Carriage 1. He pushed through the crowd and approached the NPC.

As he did so, he reported to Zhou Yong, "The NPC who sells items has appeared!"

From several carriages away, Zhou Yong was overjoyed. "Quick! Go find her!"

While speaking, Zhou Yong cautiously glanced at Butterfly. Seeing that Butterfly seemed to be resting with his eyes closed and wasn't paying much attention to him, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Due to repeatedly making foolish mistakes recently, Butterfly's impatience with Zhou Yong had become visibly obvious and unmasked.

This made Zhou Yong extremely anxious.

As Butterfly's puppet, Zhou Yong feared nothing more than the day when Butterfly deemed him useless.

—Butterfly was not one to hold onto old feelings.

If he truly found a puppet useless, there would be no good outcome for Zhou Yong.

Zhou Yong always looked towards the other end of the carriage.

News of the NPC's appearance rapidly spread throughout the entire train, and players were surging towards that side like a tide.

At the entrance of Carriage 2, The Third used his brute strength to push to the front of the crowd.

A player nearby looked over with annoyance, about to lash out, but was held back by their companion.

"Don't," the companion mouthed silently, shaking their head and whispering something into the player's ear.

In the end, those who were pushed aside all endured the indignity and moved to the back.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please don't crowd. Form a queue and come one by one."

The smiling attendant watched the commotion coldly. Once everything settled down, she clapped her hands and dispersed the crowd within the carriage, "Passengers at the back can leave on their own. There aren't many supplies this time."

With these words, The Third immediately received a barrage of complex looks from the crowd.

The daggers thrown by their gazes did not diminish The Third's enthusiasm. The player puffed out his chest slightly, his excited gaze fixed on the trolley covered with a white cloth in front of him.

"I want to buy blankets, five of them." He held up five fingers and waved them in front of the NPC.

"No," the attendant replied with an unchanged smile, without any hesitation.

This sudden rejection left The Third confused: "What? Wh—"

"There are no towels or blankets in this batch," the attendant answered mechanically, "If you wish to purchase towels and blankets in the next batch, you need to first acquire three times the corresponding amount of food supplies."

Now, The Third was truly stunned.

"Three times??" His voice involuntarily rose several decibels, "So, if I want five blankets, how much do I have to buy?"

The attendant shook her head, "Sorry, towels and blankets are not officially for sale yet. I cannot disclose their prices for now."

The Third finally couldn't help but curse, "Damn it!"

Was this really not just playing with people?

The previously bustling carriage fell silent, and the players behind all silently observed The Third and the NPC.

The Third thought he had seized the opportunity, only to realize he had become the first to test the waters.

He licked his dry lips, "When will the next batch of winter supplies be available?"

The attendant blinked.

A voice came from beside her ear, "Tell him, in half an hour."

At that moment, Qin Fei was in the corner of Carriage 1, with the source of contamination and Lu Cheng sitting on either side of him.

The door of Carriage 1 was wide open, and Qin Fei could clearly see everything happening outside by turning his head slightly, supplemented by details provided by Lu Cheng. Everything was under Qin Fei's control.

"In half an hour."

At the entrance of the carriage, the attendant repeated Qin Fei's words.

Whether it was Qin Fei or Mi Yang pretending to be the attendant, neither knew when the real attendant would reappear, but that didn't matter.

As long as they could fool the stupid players in front of them, it was enough.

The Third took a deep breath.

Just as Mi Yang secretly contacted Qin Fei, The Third also constantly updated Zhou Yong on the situation, "Brother Zhou, what should we do now?"

Zhou Yong felt like his scalp was about to explode!

He wanted to ask Butterfly, but when he turned to look at the man with his eyes closed, he dared not disturb him.

"How about..." After much deliberation, Zhou Yong made the most conservative decision, "Ask about the prices first."

They had plenty of money and had planned to set aside some for buying towels and blankets, while using the rest to stock up on food.

Zhou Yong's plan was well-thought-out. Blankets were not something every player could have, and once the cold wave hit, if someone encountered trouble halfway, they could use their food to trade for more rule cards.

There were no rule cards left on the train; all had been divided among the players.

Inside Carriage 2, the attendant had already uncovered the trolley. Following Zhou Yong's instructions, The Third pointed to a bag of bread slices on top and asked, "How much is this?"

"Forty-five." Mi Yang repeated the price Qin Fei had set, feeling a pang of discomfort.

Earlier in Carriage No. 1, Qin Fei had already coaxed and cajoled a stewardess into revealing the prices of towels and blankets.

Towels were 80, and blankets were 100.

Excluding Qin Fei, who already had a blanket, Black Feather and Dark Fire would need a total of 13 more blankets, costing 1,300 yuan.

Qin Fei's inventory was worth about 2,500 yuan, all food items he had purchased while boosting NPC favorability.

These items, which were about to be sold, would eventually need to be bought back from the stewardess before the cold wave hit.

To earn a 1,300 yuan profit from goods worth 2,500 yuan, the selling price would have to increase by almost half.

Pushing the cart, Mi Yang looked at The Third across from him, showing no signs of hesitation on his face, but inwardly, he felt a bit uneasy.

Mainly because... the prices seemed a bit too exorbitant.

Mi Yang hid his true self behind the NPC's appearance, his thoughts wandering far away.

Every time Xiao Qin mentioned the Butterfly Guild, he always appeared indifferent, as if he didn't care at all.

But now it seemed that he still held a grudge.

Indeed, seeing that the person opposite was from the Butterfly Guild, he had priced things even higher than usual.

The Third was indeed taken aback.

When people wavered, they tended to lean towards what they knew best, and The Third was no exception.

He chose the bag of bread as a starting point because he had bought a similar bag from the stewardess yesterday.

"I clearly remember that this sliced bread cost only 20 yuan per bag yesterday," The Third said, eyes wide open.

Looking at the stewardess, he suddenly regained his composure: "Your cart..."

The Third narrowed his eyes, a hint of suspicion flashing through them.

Why did this cart look different from the one he remembered?

Mi Yang maintained his composure, repeating the excuse Qin Fei had given: "This is the special edition cart for the cold wave. The previous one was too small, limiting the amount of goods it could carry. The crew was worried about delaying everyone."

When Mi Yang stole the stewardess's appearance, he couldn't steal her cart as well.

After all, the cart wasn't an essential part of the stewardess character; it was merely a work tool she used during her shifts.

But carts all looked similar. The high-level players in Carriage No. 1 had plenty of items in their personal storage spaces, and they managed to find a suitable cart.

At first glance, it resembled the train crew's cart, but upon closer inspection, it was slightly larger.

If The Third had thought about it carefully, he might have realized that there was a famous disguise expert among the Black Feather players.

Unfortunately, Zhou Yong interrupted at this crucial moment: "How's it going?"

The Third's train of thought veered off course before it could reach any conclusions. He stopped pondering the subtle strangeness and replied, "It's going smoothly. I'm asking for prices, but everything seems to have gotten more expensive."

Zhou Yong frowned, then found it reasonable: "This must be part of the horror story's challenge. Each crisis is designed to thin out the players. The cold wave will inevitably cause casualties, and raising prices is the simplest way to make things difficult for us."

"You're right, Brother Zhou," The Third flattered. "I'll check further and see if I can get a discount for buying more."

"This bag of bread, forty-five, right? I'll take it." The Third rubbed his hands together. "How much for the other items on your cart?"

Not many members of the Butterfly Guild had boarded, but they certainly had ample funds. On one hand, they hadn't spent much money previously. On the other, several independent players and weaker teams allied with the Butterfly Guild had contributed generously.

The Third had access to around 2,000 yuan. If Mi Yang knew this, he might have grinned widely.

"Stewardess?" Seeing the stewardess ignore him, The Third tried again, offering some banknotes.

"Sell it to him for fifty," Qin Fei's voice echoed in Mi Yang's ear.

The young man in Carriage No. 1 was sitting and raising prices, determined to fleece the Butterfly Guild.

Mi Yang: "?"

Forty-five was already considered expensive, and now he wanted to raise it even more.

Would it really work?

"Tell him he's wasting too much time."

In the rear carriage, the young man sat upright, hands folded, his elegant neck slightly raised. "If he wants to buy, let him do so quickly. If not, don't waste our time. If he buys in bulk, we can prioritize giving him the blankets."

Mi Yang: "..."

Look at that, sheer audacity!

Mi Yang steeled himself and raised the price, fearing he might crash and burn at any moment.

But after hearing the reason for the price hike, The Third's expression twisted momentarily, and he gritted his teeth in agreement: "Alright."

Qin Fei's carefully crafted seller's market worked perfectly.

Under the constant threat of death, spending money to save one's life was a choice everyone would make.

Especially since the money was just props they had picked up anyway.

"I want this, this, and this." The Third pretended to choose, his eyes never leaving Mi Yang's face, clearly holding something back.

Mi Yang bent down to pick the items, while Qin Fei continued to give instructions:

"Tell him, as a friendly message, the blanket is priced at fifty, and the towel at twenty."

The young man said calmly in the guild channel.

Mi Yang had already completely given up on thinking.

He felt that being a messenger was quite good, since everything was under Xiao Qin's control, and it seemed pointless to waste his brainpower.

He lowered his voice and relayed this message to The Third.

With the exact answer, The Third felt much more at ease.

By this calculation, even if he used three hundred of the money reserved for buying blankets, there wouldn't be any major issues.

Thus, the Butterfly Guild swept all the snacks and drinks off the cart.

In the aisle, the attendant and his cart gradually faded away, still waving goodbye to their big spender before disappearing: "Thank you very much for your patronage. Wishing you a pleasant journey."

The Third grinned.

He indeed felt very happy.

Even if the gazes of other players could pierce several holes in him, he still felt very happy.

This happiness lasted until an hour later.

At that point, there was only one hour left until the cold wave, and the players were all getting anxious. Therefore, when the attendant appeared again, The Third couldn't rush forward like last time.

Together with Baiqiu, they exerted considerable effort to squeeze into the crowd.

Many players formed a large circle around the cart, layer upon layer, like a special sale counter during holidays.

Seeing the limited number of fleece blankets left on the cart, The Third suddenly became anxious.

"Didn't you say you would sell me the items first this time?" He said indignantly to the NPC.

The attendant gave him a strange look. "When did I ever promise you such a thing?"

The Third: "?"

How could this NPC deny it so quickly?

He soon realized something was amiss, but the attendant had already completely ignored him.

The NPC was busy with her work.

She took a fifty-yuan bill from a player nearby, handed over a bag of chips, and returned thirty-five yuan in change: "Here is your change. Please take it."

"W-wait a minute??" The Third watched this scene, feeling as if struck by lightning.

His lips trembled. "How much is a bag of chips?"

"Fifteen."

"And a loaf of bread?"

"Twenty-five." The attendant wore the same smile as the previous "attendant."

The Third stepped back, his lips rapidly losing color.