Train Survival: You're really trying to survive!

After putting away the items, the skill book was naturally given to Song Mingyu, while Ivan could at least learn it.

Holding the newly printed skill book, Song Mingyu ran her fingers along the cover, feeling the texture of the leather, while recalling Sophia's last two wood-elemental enchanted bullets.

The seed has sprouted... it seems to be getting some ideas.

Song Mingyu put the skill book into her inventory, intending to study it carefully after this exploration was over.

After the allocation was completed and the surrounding area was confirmed to be safe, Zuli began excavating the minerals inside the cave.

They dug for a whole day. That evening, Su Li and his group continued driving deeper into the mountains, searching for more minerals.

On the morning of the seventh day, after the outside air returned to normal, Su Li and the others got out of the car to explore.

This time, they parked the car on the mountainside of a high mountain.

According to the vehicle's radar, there is a cave around this mountain. There is a high probability that the cave contains minerals.

As usual, after stretching their bodies, Su Li and the others first checked the surrounding situation.

Located halfway up the mountain, this area contains not only a large number of rocks, but also some soil and vegetation.

What's particularly eye-catching on the snow are several linear movement tracks.

Su Li walked over and found that the movement trace was S-shaped and continuous.

Ivan looked at his brother-in-law and asked, "Is it a snake?"

“It doesn’t look like it.” Su Li squatted down, brushed aside the hard clods of mud and snow mixed together, and pointed to the cracked ground, saying, “Look closely, these are clearly plow marks made by something underground.”

"Moreover, there are some signs of subsidence in the ground around here, indicating that this is a burrowing monster." Su Li put down the clod of mud in her hand. "This monster moves like an earthworm, burrowing into the ground, and has horns on its head or back that protrude above the ground."

"How strong are they?" Sofia asked the crucial question.

"I'm not sure, there were too few traces left to make a judgment." Su Li shook her head. "Ivan, you have the blessing of the earth, how do you feel?"

"Hmm... I don't feel anything special."

With insufficient intelligence, Su Li carefully examined the traces again. "Forget it, to be on the safe side, let's retreat. These burrowing monsters are not easy for us to deal with."

Without a countermeasure, once an enemy burrows underground, it becomes very difficult to inflict effective damage.

To be on the safe side, Zurich chose to abandon the new cave and continue onward.

The train continued its journey, following the mountain route they had chosen, which led the railway straight up to the summit. This caused the train to tilt, and after Zuli and the others returned to the train, they spent some time carefully putting away their various daily necessities.

Su Li, who had been staring at the vehicle's radar, suddenly noticed that the mountain had many caves that looked like a piece of cheese, which was quite strange.

He looked out the window and saw some snake-like tracks in the distance.

"Such a vast territory... Could all the caves in these mountains have been dug by it? A lone wolf? Or is it a clan?"

Su Li wasn't sure, but either option meant the other party was not someone to be trifled with.

"Attention all units, we are very likely in the territory of a powerful monster or a monster clan. Put on your equipment, grab your weapons, and we're reversing away from here."

Continuing onward, who knows what lies ahead? It would be better to reverse the car back to the lake where we hunted the snake-bear beast last night. That's, after all, the snake-bear beast's territory; within a certain range, monsters stronger than it shouldn't appear.

Furthermore, there's a monster attack tonight. It's best to be cautious and check back on the next expedition.

The train braked suddenly and then began to slowly reverse.

Because it was downhill and the tracks had been cleared, the reverse speed was quite fast. It wasn't until the afternoon, when the sun was about to set, that they finally returned to the lakeside.

The original monster attacks started at 8 PM, but now it's unclear what time they begin in this world, though it's most likely at night.

Zurich hadn't forgotten that it would rain carbon dioxide at night.

Zurich and his team prepared goggles and oxygen masks. Each person also carried two oxygen cylinders as spares.

Ivan asked, "What about the air pressure?"

Su Li explained, "Don't worry about the air pressure. The air here is similar to that on Earth. On Earth, carbon dioxide only accounts for 0.04% of the air. Even if it were all liquefied, the resulting change in air pressure wouldn't be enough to prevent us from moving."

"Then Mingyu, bring enough fruit tea. Everyone else, bring two bottles of fruit tea, just in case."

"Be careful, especially with the monsters that attack and trigger the virus inside your body. Especially Sister Mingyu, your resistance is the lowest."

Song Mingyu nodded. "I will be careful, but my mobility is not good enough, and my spellcasting skills are not good enough. I can't concentrate when casting spells, so I hope you can help me."

"That's only right," Su Li said with a smile, not finding Song Mingyu a burden at all. She's a healer; you can't expect her to be like a warrior or archer.

Furthermore, if this were a world dominated by mental pollution, Song Mingyu would actually be the most resistant member of the team.

Su Li looked at Sophia, who was also in the ranged attack group, and asked, "Sophia, is it okay if I leave her to you?"

“Leave it to me,” Sophia nodded.

Su Li then looked at Ivan, "The attacking enemy might also have the beam breath ability of the snake-bear beast. When we fight, we should try to guide the enemy to the side and aim at the ranged group."

"Understood. By the way, brother-in-law, are we going to build a stone fortress?"

“A stone fortress…” Su Li pondered for a moment, “Forget it, let’s not do it. It won’t be of much use. If an enemy can’t break through the fortress, with our current combat strength, it’s like cutting melons and vegetables.”

"If all else fails, we'll rely on trains for defense. Trains are much sturdier than fortresses."

With everything arranged, Su Li and the others ate the secret food, but did not exercise.

The energy from the secret food can increase their survivability in battle.

Sophia polished the new bayonet she had forged that morning; her previous bayonet was unusable after being sprayed by the snake-bear beast. "I think I should learn some combat-oriented secret recipes too."

Combat-oriented secret foods are characterized by a long preparation time, a long duration of the buffs they provide, and no conflict with potions.

However, the recipe for this secret dish is extremely rare, and only four people in the United Government know it.

Unfortunately, the effects of these four people's secret food are to enhance spell damage, dark element damage, mental resistance, and spear attack effects, respectively, which are completely useless to Su Li and his team.