Train Survival: You're really trying to survive!

Everyone enjoyed the dinner very much. Sun Keke, in particular, hadn't had such a sumptuous summer meal in a long time.

No one drank alcohol. Su Li had said before that drinking would lead to mistakes, and no one was allowed to drink during missions. Coincidentally, no one in the team liked to drink anyway.

However, even without drinking alcohol, the lively atmosphere made everyone feel as if they had drunk very strong liquor, and they were unusually excited.

After the initial excitement subsided, Su Li tidied up the table and then, with dark circles under her eyes, sat down in the duty room.

Apart from Sun Lili, who was still unconscious, everyone else in the group was sitting on the sofa.

The meeting was chaired by Su Li. He glanced at the team members, his gaze lingering on Sun Keke's face for a moment.

Sun Keke gave Su Li a somewhat ingratiating smile. Su Li felt a pang of sadness seeing it.

Su Li had seen Sun Keke's avatar in the team icon. The system's avatar could reveal a lot.

Sofia's profile picture has a cold expression and a somewhat piercing gaze. Song Mingyu's profile picture is quite decadent, Su Li's profile picture has piercing eyes, and Ivan's profile picture is as noble as a prince who has just strolled out.

Sun Lili's profile picture is very funny, like a tongue-out emoji with various stars on it, very anime-like, while Sun Keke's profile picture is a grumpy-faced little girl.

A person's profile picture can reveal their mindset. There's even a field of study called "profile picture studies" in chat rooms.

Sun Keke's ingratiating smile now is definitely not her true nature.

"Relax a bit," Su Li said to Sun Keke. "We were able to reunite thanks to Sun Keke's help. I'm really grateful."

"Ah, um, it's nothing." Sun Keke stood up and waved her hand in a flustered manner.

[She's still a bit reserved, but she'll get used to it.] Su Li thought to herself, glancing at Ivan at the same time. She'd noticed before that Sun Keke often secretly watched Ivan. She just wondered how Ivan felt about it.

Turning his gaze away, Su Li tapped the table, a habitual gesture he made when discussing serious matters.

"For this expedition, our team has grown to six people. I personally believe that this is the limit. If we continue to recruit more people, the expedition will become a bit bloated. So the team will not be expanded any further."

"But to be honest, our team composition is a bit strange right now. We're a bit lacking in melee fighters." Su Li said, scratching his head. The entire team consisted of ranged classes on the ladies' side, with only Su Li and Ivan being the two melee fighters.

This team composition is a bit problematic; it's too fragile.

Furthermore, there's a bit too much magic damage. Su Li and Sophia, who are clearly physical damage dealers, have been turned into hybrid magic damage dealers by them. The two new members are Sun Keke, a magic support, and Sun Lili, a mage.

Using this setup in dungeons means either the enemy dies instantly or you die instantly, and you can't even handle dungeons with high magic resistance.

What's rather subtle is that their support characters possess skills that reduce physical resistance.

A magic-based team brought a physical damage buff, that's just unbelievable.

"It's okay, we're all just beginners, we can improve gradually," Su Li reassured herself.

After a pause, Su Li continued, "The second point is about this exploration. We still have one day left. Try to stay in this area and gather materials. When you encounter any Iron-level monsters while gathering materials, don't hunt them down. Save them for the beast tide. The system won't force you to fight; it will recruit the surrounding Iron-level monsters first. This will save you from facing Silver-level monsters again. I don't want to blow up the train again. It's too resource-intensive."

"Thirdly, let's arrange the accommodation. We currently have one combined dormitory room and two single rooms. Ivan will move to Mingyu's dormitory. Sun Keke, you and your sister will stay in your current dormitory. Mingyu, Sophia, and I will stay in the combined dormitory room."

Ignoring Sophia's somewhat piercing gaze, Su Li naturally transitioned to the next topic, "Finally, let's talk about Sun Lili's condition."

After speaking, Su Li looked at Song Mingyu, who nodded and took out her notebook. "I just checked on Sun Lili's condition. Sun Lili's body was enveloped in magical energy, which modified her body. It should be due to some kind of skill, and it has little to do with her coma. There is nothing wrong with her body. The reason she hasn't woken up is because of a problem in her mental realm."

"She seemed to be trapped in some kind of nightmare."

Sun Keke placed her hands on her knees, gripped her pants tightly, pursed her lips, and listened carefully to the doctor's diagnosis without saying a word.

Song Mingyu continued flipping through her medical record. "I won't go into the more technical terms. To sum it up, the main treatment for this condition is to consult a doctor specializing in dreams, who can enter the patient's dream and help them escape it. There's also a method that can only be used as a last resort: stimulating the brain to forcibly escape the dream. However, this method is not recommended unless absolutely necessary, as it has significant side effects. Even if cured, the patient will likely still be drooling."

"Yes, the protagonist enters his companion's dream to help him rediscover his original intentions—it's a classic story," Su Li commented. "Do we know any dream doctors?"

"No. Dream manipulation is very difficult to get started with; dream doctors usually have silver-level strength."

Su Li understood that advanced professions could solve the problem, but the game was still in its early stages and there were no advanced professions available.

At this moment, Sun Keke couldn't help but ask, "Are there any other ways? Also, how much longer can my sister hold on?"

"Medically, there's no good solution for now. How long can your sister hold on...? She can hold on for about another year. Her mental strain isn't too great; it seems she's quite gifted in matters of dreams and the mind."

Su Li added, "Let's resolve this as soon as possible. Even if she wakes up a year later, she won't be able to keep up with the team's growth rate. Do you have any suggestions?"

“I suggest…” Song Mingyu thought for a moment, “The one who tied the knot must untie it. What exactly turned her into this? We can try to find the right solution.”

That depends on Sun Keke. Su Li asked Sun Keke, "Tell me about the world you experienced."

“Okay.” Sun Keke began to explain without hesitation, “The world we experienced has a world energy level of 0.4 and a challenge level of 1. We call it the inner and outer worlds.”

"That world is like a collection of bustling cities pieced together. A large number of cities are piled up together, and there are skyscrapers everywhere."

"It's somewhat like the world of Dreamworms," ​​Su Li concluded.

“Those cities are modern metropolises, with many people living and working normally. They don’t look like fragments of a post-apocalyptic world at all.”

"But at night, the whole world turns into a rusty world, filled with dark monsters. These monsters can use all sorts of strange spells."

"My sister was very strange in that world. It was as if she had activated a taunt. A large number of monsters could locate us from a great distance and then start attacking us. Strangely, when those monsters attacked me, they would cause me mental shock and real wounds, but when they attacked my sister, they would merge into my sister's body."

"During the beast tide, many monsters merged into my sister's body. She eventually couldn't take it and collapsed unconscious. I used my divination skills to find a way to escape. I managed to get her back to the train at midnight and escape to the transfer station."

“In the mental realm, when attacking someone, one can merge into the enemy…” Su Li pondered for a moment, then locked onto a monster, “A black iron-level monster, most likely a Shadow Cognitive Entity!”

"So, Sun Lili's situation is actually because she has a huge dark side in her heart, which led to her being targeted and possessed by the Shadow Cognitive Entity, which used her heart to advance."

Su Li smiled slightly. "Then the problem is quite simple. The inner world of that world is very likely a kind of consciousness space. We can use the characteristics of that world to enter Sun Lili's mind from the consciousness space and help her deal with the monsters in her dreams."