The Days of Being Forced to Become the Savior of a Cultivation Civilization

Zhiyue opened his mouth, about to explain, but was interrupted:

"Forget it, I'm not interested. I'll just get on the bus; it's free."

Oh, but it only goes as far as Wardwell. If you want to continue south, remember to change trains.

"Okay, thank you."

-

"That's interesting. A businessman runs a route that's free."

Zhiyue stroked his chin thoughtfully.

The three of them stepped onto the train's platform and entered the room to find a middle-aged man with a beer belly talking to another person who appeared to be a passenger.

He was taken aback when he saw the three get into the car, then smiled and said:

"Excuse me, everyone, the train needs to change its energy pool first, which may take a while. If you don't want to wait, you can take a walk outside first. We will make an announcement when the train is about to depart."

"Okay, let's go out for a walk first."

"Okay, sure."

After that, the two continued chatting:

"Oh dear, you have no idea, that boss of Hongquan..."

The three looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Where to?"

"have no idea."

"Let's go out and see what the tail of the train looks like."

-

There were almost no other buildings around the post station; the area was barren with little vegetation, likely due to the influence of the salt lake.

Detour around the back of the post station and look into the distance, a winding sand track is particularly eye-catching.

Just a short while ago, a car passed by, and the newly laid sand has now solidified into irregular, transparent crystals.

Several carriages extend from the other end of the train to the rest station, and at the very end is an identical driver's carriage.

Those extra carriages are clearly different from the passenger carriages; the most noticeable difference is that they have no windows and are completely enclosed.

"What carriages are those?"

This time, Qian Xintong is playing the role of the curious baby.

"It should be an energy-powered car or a storage car or something like that."

Zhiyue was unaware of this.

Just then, the doors of those carriages opened, and several workers in uniforms got out, each carrying a pickaxe. They walked along the sand track, and whenever they saw a particularly protruding spike, they jumped down and smashed it.

"This is incredibly slow!"

"How could it be entirely manual? It's just pre-processing near the departure point. Once the train speed and temperature rise, most of it won't require additional processing."

A trailer was unloaded, its cargo bed piled high with white debris—clearly the residue of heavy salt.

Zhiyue raised an eyebrow:

"This barge is powered by heavy salt; the owner of Hongquan is really willing to pay a high price."

Yingzi chuckled and shook her head:

"Furthermore, I just noticed that the heating devices under the vehicles are all independent spellcasting units, not cheap slaves..."

Upon hearing these two words, Yingzi paused and couldn't help but glance at Zhiyue.

He had watched Zhiyue grow up since he was a child, so he naturally knew that this kid didn't have a very good impression of this thing.

Sure enough, his eyes did darken slightly.

Zhi Yue glanced at Qian Xintong and, seeing that the latter didn't react much, couldn't help but ask:

"By the way, Xintong, I'd like to know what it's like outside the mainland."

Qian Xintong was stunned and didn't react at first:

"What... Oh, you mean slavery?"

She tilted her head and thought for a moment:

"Well... let me put it this way. I've traveled to many worlds, and I can only say that slavery is a common phenomenon, but it doesn't represent all of them."

Zhiyue shook his head:

"I thought that the developed world outside would have a way to replace slaves, but now it seems that it's not that simple."

Yingzi couldn't help but speak up:

"There's no way around it; ordinary Reversers are the cheapest and most practical industrial components or energy sources—that's an indisputable fact."

Zhiyue: "I know, this is just a very normal thing."

Qian Xintong noticed his tone was off and asked:

"I remember you're a young nobleman, right? You shouldn't be interested in this kind of thing, should you?"

Zhiyue waved his hand:

"Nothing, just annoyed."

Yingzi coughed twice:

"Ahem, in short, what I want to say is that the entire Bosha train has no trace of slavery, and its construction cost was not low."

However, this does align with my understanding of Hongquan; after all, his background is... not exactly honorable.

Upon hearing this, Zhiyue's admiration grew even stronger.

Ding ding, ding ding.

A loud announcement came from the post station; the voice was exactly the same as the receptionist who had given the three of them directions earlier:

"Attention passengers, this train, the Bosha, is about to depart. Please board within five minutes. Latecomers will not be waited for. Repeat, passengers, this train..."

"Let's go, let's go, or we'll miss the bus."

Qian Xintong interrupted their conversation and was the first to walk towards the post station.

-

*Sizzle—whoosh—*

The heating units under the train started working, and the intense heat they emitted was rapidly melting the glass at the bottom of the train.

As the surface glass liquefies, the train seems to float in a viscous river of glass, heading south, while the stations outside the window move in the opposite direction.

The three of them sat in an ordinary passenger carriage.

"To be honest, this is the first time I've ever ridden this kind of transportation."

Zhiyue stared blankly at the shifting scenery outside the window.

Qian Xintong glanced at him and smiled:

"What, young master of a noble family, you disdain riding in such a lowly thing?"

Zhiyue shook his head:

"If it were any other junior member of the Kun family, perhaps you would say the same thing, but I'm really not one of them."

The corners of his mouth turned up:

"Actually, it's because from the age of three when I became aware of things, I liked to carry a sand gourd with me and run around in the sand. I didn't need any means of transportation at all."

Hearing this, Yingzi smiled knowingly.

Zhiyue leaned back, putting his hands behind his head:

"If I hadn't brought the two of you with me, I really wouldn't have had the chance to ride the train and experience the scenery along the way."

Qian Xintong smiled speechlessly:

"That's not a much better excuse. So, the two of us have been holding you back, you prodigy, Young Master Zhiyue?"

Zhiyue joked:

"You can't say that. I found you two, so I have to take responsibility for you. There's no such thing as delaying things, haha."

Qian Xintong rolled her eyes:

"Thank you so much, Mr. Zhiyue, you're such a kind person."

Yingzi looked out the window, ignoring the two bickering and arguing:

"When I was young, I rode on them quite often. Back then, trains weren't this sturdy; they were all dilapidated, and even the propulsion was done by the brothers taking turns using magic."

Zhiyue frowned, but did not voice his doubts.

Glug glug.

Yingzi's stomach rumbled again.

"Ahem, shouldn't we go grab a bite to eat?"

The three of them went to the dining car.

Passing through the passage between the carriages, a partition comes into view, along with a man with a cold expression.

The man was wiping a cup in his hand, without even looking up.

"Same as always, eat and leave, don't linger."

"Okay, so, how do we get in?"

The man's tone was somewhat impatient:

"Did you go crazy from salt harvesting? Put your work badge here—"

He finally looked up and glanced at her, his gaze immediately drawn to Qian Xintong's striking platinum blonde hair, then to her platinum blonde dress, whose exceptional quality was immediately apparent.

What's even more frightening is that the child's eyes are as deep as an abyss, completely unlike what a four or five-year-old child should look like.

His attitude then instantly reversed 180 degrees:

"Oh, excuse me, you three. I thought you were the mirror collectors from Qianyan, since there are very few tourists on this bus... Are you here for an 'experience'?"