Train Survival: You're really trying to survive!

But we've only been gone for three years.

Su Li opened her mouth as if to say this, but stopped herself. There was no point in saying it now; the world was strange in every way.

Reef didn't quite understand why Zurich was so surprised.

Su Li explained, "You know about the huge changes that happened 10 years ago, right?"

“Of course.” Jiao showed a lingering fear. “Back then, everyone thought the end of the world was coming.”

Your world has ended; now it's post-apocalyptic.

Su Li suppressed the urge to complain and continued making up a story: "Our train was sailing at sea when it was hit by a tsunami. The train broke down and we went to the bottom of the sea for refuge. It took us a long time to get out. The seabed was pitch black, our biological clocks were messed up, and we miscalculated the time."

"I see. No wonder I haven't seen Brother Su Li all these years."

Jiao didn't know whether he truly believed it or not.

He waved to the guards, who bowed and scraped at him with a mixture of fear and obsequiousness, saying, "Sir, what are your orders?"

“These people are my former saviors. I will vouch for their identities and let them into the city.”

"Yes, sir. Hey, did you all hear that? Disperse!"

The sergeant shouted to the guards, who immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

“Brother Su Li, come with me.” Jiao smiled gently at Su Li. “We haven’t seen each other for so many years, and I have so much to say to you.”

Su Li spoke through the mental link, and the remaining people stepped out of the train. Now that they could remotely control the train cannon, they weren't too afraid of the train being hijacked by these people.

Upon seeing familiar faces, Jiao's expression faltered for a moment. Su Li and the others' faces remained unchanged. In that daze, he felt as if he had returned to ten years ago.

However, everything is no longer the same as before.

The group followed the reef into the interior of the Holy City.

Upon entering, Sun Lili immediately spoke: "The interior space here has shrunk considerably. The stability has also decreased."

[The trend was already downward back then, so it's normal for it to have worsened after 10 years.]

Su Li looked around at the buildings. It was already past midnight, and the streets were almost completely dark. Only a few streetlights were still on.

These streetlights were on every other street, and this was still the main road. Su Li looked towards the distant city, where only the lights of the patrolling guards provided illumination.

The once affluent neighborhood was spotless, with each house having a uniform garden in front of it. Now, the flowers in these gardens have been pulled up and replaced with crops.

All signs indicate that the situation here is continuing to deteriorate.

The group arrived at Jiao's house, greeted the guards at the door, and followed Jiao into the reception room.

The house on the reef was not much different from before, except that it had a more lived-in feel, and there were more servants in the house.

The servant brought over a plate of fruit-like treats, just enough for one person each.

Su Li glanced at it; it looked a bit dehydrated.

"I'm sorry, we're short on supplies right now, so this is all we can offer you." Jiao said apologetically.

“It’s alright.” Su Li looked the reef up and down, and sighed again, “Ten years have passed.”

Ivan had been by her side the whole time, so she didn't feel anything, but seeing the reef like this, Su Li finally felt the power of time.

Thinking back, I'm already over 30 years old now, if you include the time I spent learning from my teachers.

"How have you been these past few years?" Sofia asked softly.

"Haha, I've been doing quite well these past few years. Because of my good aptitude, even though the situation in Holy City is getting worse and worse, they still won't treat me poorly materially." Jiao said with a smile, "It's much better than the days I spent wandering outside."

“But apart from me, everyone else in Holy City is not doing so well.” Jiao sighed. “The space inside Holy City is constantly shrinking. In the great tsunami 10 years ago, we lost one layer of planting. In the great tsunami 3 years ago, we lost another layer of planting. Now the food supply in the city is insufficient, and we can only slowly deplete our reserves.”

"However, it will be soon. Once we successfully summon the gods, everything will be alright."

A look of piety appeared in Reef's eyes. Su Li and Sophia exchanged a glance; it seemed this child had been thoroughly brainwashed.

At the same time, Zu Li also noticed this point in time, three years ago.

"There was a tsunami three years ago?" Su Li said, feigning ignorance. "We were back on the plateau at the time and were unaware of that."

Jiao, without any suspicion, revealed the information: "It's called a tsunami, but it's nothing compared to the one 10 years ago. The tsunami 10 years ago, after the first wave, only calm for a few days, followed by tsunamis that lasted for two months. The sea was like it was going crazy, constantly causing tsunamis, which led to the deaths of many drifters."

[It seems that after I killed the evil god, it was unconscious for a few days, and then woke up in excruciating pain.]

As a veteran who had suffered from root injury, Su Li knew very well what root injury felt like.

The injured person can clearly feel something important slipping away from their insides—pain, fear, helplessness, and despair. Over time, this can truly drive a person insane.

[What happened 3 years ago?] Su Li remembered this point. The answers he could think of included his injuries worsening, or other players encountering the injured evil god and giving it a big blow.

Judging from the situation on the islands outside, the evil god in this place should still be alive.

Sophia asked, "How is the progress of the summoning of the gods going? If you can't say, you don't have to."

“There’s nothing I can’t say. Quite a few people know about it.” Jiao shook his head. “The progress of the summoning of the gods is much slower than expected. The priest said that there was a problem with the divine messenger who was assisting us, which caused the summoning of the gods to be interrupted for several years.”

"At the current pace, it will take another year."

"It seems we won't be able to gather the summoning gods this time," Su Li thought with some regret.

Summoning the Gods sounds like an event where you can get a golden treasure chest.

After getting a general understanding of the current situation, Su Li and Jiao caught up. They talked about their parents, and Su Li recounted her experiences at other marine worlds. Jiao listened with surprise, exclaiming how vast the world truly is.

"Once we successfully summon the gods, I want to go out and see the world," Jiao said longingly.

Su Li and Sophia exchanged a glance, knowing that this was a dream that Jiao could never realize.

Towards the end of the conversation, Su Li revealed another purpose: "Reef, I heard that the priest has a map of the old world. Could you give us a copy? We want to go to the place where the calamity was born, the deepest trench in the world, to take a look."

After a moment's thought, Jiao replied, "I'll go ask the priest tomorrow. It should be fine."