The God of Controls' One-Coin Clear
The Endless Express (3)
Yoon Taeyang and Ran never left the spot where they first fell.
Landing inside an empty food storage compartment had been an unbelievable stroke of luck.
They could resupply from the surrounding storage units, and the native workers rarely came through this area.
On top of that, they occasionally picked up valuable information about the train from the laborers who snuck in here to slack off.
“Anyway, our goal for now is to keep waiting.”
“How long? The supply team’s supposed to be back soon. If they come in here, we’ll…”
“When that happens, we’ll just grab enough food and hide somewhere else.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to blend in as workers?”
“You heard them too. They’re in the middle of a full-blown ‘rat hunt.’ Who do you think those ‘rats’ are?”
Ran swallowed her words.
At this point in time, the “rats” were obviously the players.
“We just need to hide for a moment when the supply team comes through. Right after that, the ‘Monster Defense Battle’ will begin. That’s when we make our move.”
The train received its resupply and soon entered the Dragon’s Nest.
The reason supplies were delivered at this specific time was precisely to prepare for entering the Dragon’s Nest.
“The best time to apply for the subjugation mission is when the workers are the most mixed up and chaotic.”
“Since no one recognizes each other anyway, we blend in then?”
“Yeah. By then the ‘rat hunt’ craze should have died down a bit. They won’t be as on edge.”
The current moment—when the corpses of other “rats” were scattered everywhere—was actually when the workers’ vigilance was at its peak.
Normally they might have shrugged off an unfamiliar face, but right now they treated everyone with immediate suspicion.
After all, if they were wrong, they could end up executed themselves for the crime of sheltering a rat.
“What happens if we don’t catch a guardian’s eye?”
“Why? Losing confidence?”
“Of course not. But it’s important to prepare for failure.”
Obviously.
Their lives were on the line.
“If we don’t, we’ll just have to mix in with the workers we’ve gotten familiar with during the battle and slip back out.”
“Hmm.”
“The important places to remember are Sector A, the factory in front of the passenger cars, and the playground. Just match your story to the workers’ origins. If there are people from Sector A, say you came from the factory in front of the passenger cars. By the way, the area we’re in right now is the playground.”
“That’s enough?”
“Workers surprisingly don’t go to other districts much. Just say that everyone you used to work with died, so you ended up here. Something like that.”
Ran frowned, her delicate brows knitting together.
“This plan feels pretty half-baked.”
Taeyang shrugged.
With Hyeonhye and the viewers’ help, he could come up with far more sophisticated and adaptive plans, but this was the best explanation he could give Ran.
“Then I guess we absolutely have to stand out to the guardians, huh?”
“It’s better to go in thinking that way. Plan B is always worse than Plan A.”
Neither Taeyang nor Ran were lacking in combat ability, so their chances of success were quite high.
Besides, with Ran’s appearance added into the mix, she was bound to catch a lot of eyes.
Some of the male guardians might even offer her recruitment despite slightly lacking ability.
It was only natural that physically superior male players had higher survival rates.
Still, the physical gap between men and women from Changchen or Eden was far smaller than what people on Earth imagined.
That was thanks to the existence of mana as a means to overcome such differences.
“Have you experienced that too?”
“Of course I have.”
“Ha, so your avatar turned out way prettier than you actually are.”
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Taeyang and Ran stayed as quiet as mice until the train entered the Dragon’s Nest.
Of course, being quiet as mice didn’t mean they did nothing.
First, they stole food in preparation for being chased out of the storage compartment.
It was tedious, but they rotated through multiple compartments and took only small amounts that wouldn’t be noticed, stockpiling them.
They also went around looking for things that could become achievements.
For example, dealing with other “rats” or eliminating monsters that had snuck aboard.
Oh, and while the workers were all out, they even gathered materials and repaired the shattered wall in Room 8.
As a bonus, they stole a few of the workers’ blankets and cold-weather supplies while they were at it.
“Man, you really do all kinds of things.”
“They give achievements for it. No reason not to.”
“Does stealing count as an achievement?”
“This doesn’t. Why? Don’t you need it? I’ll take two then.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Ran’s face grew serious as she snatched the blanket away.
“Just what kind of ghost was that ghost that it knows so much?”
“That’s…”
Taeyang started to explain but stopped.
It wasn’t for any special reason. He was just too lazy.
The moment he told her that Dantalion was a game, the first problem would be how Ran would react.
Besides, explaining everything in a way she could accept would take far too much time.
At that moment, a massive roar erupted from the rear of the train.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble.
The floor, the walls, the ceiling.
Every part that made up the train shook violently all at once.
Taeyang lowered his center of gravity to keep his balance.
Ran simply crouched down on the spot.
“What is it?”
“The supply team’s back.”
The roar and shaking were the phenomena that occurred when the hatch at the very rear of the train opened.
Whoosh.
Frost began to form around them.
Ran jumped up in a hurry.
“Th-they’re already activating the refrigeration system here too? We need to move, f-fast…”
She was so cold that her speech was starting to slur.
Taeyang calmed her down.
“There’s no need to rush that much. They don’t use refrigeration here. This is just cold air coming in from outside because the door opened.”
“Cold air from outside? W-wasn’t this place supposed to be heated? M-my mouth is freezing.”
The world of the Endless Express had already met its end.
To be precise, it was currently experiencing an ice age.
Outside the train, the cold was so absurdly severe that a frail human without any cold-weather protection would die of hypothermia within three minutes of being dropped onto the plains.
Every section of the train had more than twelve different cold-weather countermeasures in place.
Methods like covering everything in solid steel plating, creating walls within walls, heating systems, magic, sorcery, and so on.
The wall in Room 8 that one worker had grumbled about last time was also one of those twelve countermeasures.
Of course, only the tail section where the laborers lived had twelve countermeasures. The living quarters of the privileged class had more than thirty.
Some areas were so warm that people walked around in short sleeves.
In any case, the chill that had just rushed in was the result of the tail section’s hatch opening, momentarily disabling all twelve countermeasures and letting in a brutal wave of cold.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble.
With another massive noise, the vibration finally died down.
The hatch had closed.
“Let’s get moving.”
“Okay.”
“Grab all the cold-weather gear we stole. The place we’re heading to is probably going to be even colder.”
The space Taeyang had found was inside the double wall.
That area only had about nine cold-weather measures, so it was going to be extremely cold.
Creak.
Taeyang opened the door first and checked both directions.
No one was there.
Carrying his bundle, Taeyang moved quickly with a casual expression.
Ran followed right behind him.
They had no acquaintances among the residents, and their clothes were obviously those of “rats.”
This was the most precarious moment since they had fallen onto the train.
“Turn left at the corner up ahead and keep going straight. You’ll see a wall reinforced with steel plating.”
“Wait, someone’s coming from the left. Hide for a second…”
The moment Ran whispered, Taeyang shot forward.
Thud.
Transcendental Jin-gak – Rising Dragon Fist.
Crack!
The jaw of the heavily dressed middle-aged man shattered instantly.
“Couldn’t be helped. There was nowhere to hide. Right now, speed is what matters most.”
Now Taeyang and Ran began to run.
“Turn the corner and keep going straight.”
An empty corridor came into view.
But there was no steel-reinforced wall visible on the corridor wall.
“Hyeonhye, I don’t see the steel-reinforced wall?”
“You still have a ways to go.”
Taeyang clicked his tongue.
Ran asked, “Are we tearing the wall out and going in? Do we have to put it back?”
“It’s prefabricated.”
By now the two of them were practically sprinting.
They hadn’t run into any other natives yet, but the commotion echoing from far away created far more pressure than expected.
It seemed to be getting louder and louder.
“Found it.”
Taeyang quickly began removing the steel plating from the wall.
At that moment, Ran stopped in her tracks.
“Wait.”
“Why? Are more people coming?”
Taeyang hurriedly put the steel back in place.
“No, that’s not it.”
“You scared me. What is it then?”
“Shh.”
Ran pressed a slender finger to her lips and closed her eyes.
Then she began muttering something.
It was the language of a Wind Daoist that Taeyang couldn’t understand.
Soon Ran’s eyes snapped open.
“Subjugation!”
“What?”
“Right now! I’m receiving support for the subjugation mission!”
* * *
Central sector of the laborer residential area.
Also known as the playground.
Around sixty guardians sat with pale faces.
Their armor was damaged in various places and covered in frost.
The laborers watching the guardians whispered among themselves.
It was because this wasn’t the usual appearance of the guardians they had always looked up to.
Children who had come to beg for snacks whispered among themselves.
“Did something happen?”
“They look totally drained.”
“Must have been really tough.”
“Where’s that loud-voiced captain we always see? He said he’d give us candy next time we met.”
“Really? Me too!”
A few children who couldn’t read the mood chattered away.
When the guardians looked at the children, their laborer parents quickly dragged them away.
A few laborers muttered in low voices.
“Did the supply run go badly? Fuck. Why don’t I see any boxes?”
“Maybe someone already took them?”
“I’ve been here from the start. No one took anything ahead of us.”
“…You’re lying, right? We’re about to enter the Dragon’s Nest. If we don’t get supplies now, we’re all finished.”
“Can you please keep that kind of bullshit in your head and not say it out loud?”
“You’re gonna get seriously screwed by the guardians one day. Remember the guy who got crippled last time for running his mouth?”
“But look at them. They look exactly like defeated soldiers.”
At one laborer’s words, the rest of the workers shut their mouths tight.
Defeated soldiers.
It was an unfamiliar and awkward term, but the current state of the guardians looked exactly like that.
Screeeech! Rumble rumble!
The door separating the laborer class from the privileged class opened.
Soon, a man wearing a black uniform appeared from the other side.
Another guardian unit followed behind him in perfect formation.
The guardians who had been sitting haphazardly spotted the man and hurriedly formed ranks.
The black-uniformed man with a cold, expressionless face stood before them and muttered in a low voice.
“Report.”
One of the guardians standing at the front answered.
“Third Company reporting! Total personnel fifty…”
“Wait.”
The black-uniformed man tilted his head.
“Where’s the Third Company Commander? Why are you reporting instead?”
The reporter’s face turned deathly pale.
“These bastards… I let it slide and look what happens. Where the hell is the Third Company Commander right now?”
The reporter hesitated.
A vein bulged on the black-uniformed man’s pure white forehead.
“Don’t make me say it three times. Where is the Third Company Commander right now?”
“…He has been killed in action.”
“…What about the vice commander?”
“He has been killed in action.”
The black-uniformed man closed his mouth for a moment.
Silence fell over the “playground,” the area with the highest foot traffic in the entire laborer residential zone.
He opened his mouth again.
“Report.”
“Reporting. Total personnel fifty, casualties twenty-one, current personnel twenty-nine. All casualties are fatalities. That is all.”
“Report in detail.”
“Reporting in detail!”
The longer the words coming from the reporter’s mouth grew, the deeper the black-uniformed man’s eyes sank.
At the same time, the laborers’ movements became frantic.
“The Dragon’s Nest. Goddammit. There haven’t been any subjugation records for nearly thirty years, so I thought they were almost extinct.”
One or two had been spotted occasionally, but there had never been any large-scale migration or observed nesting grounds.
The White Dragon Untara would only breathe formally if its territory was invaded, never taking any further action.
But that wasn’t the case.
They had simply avoided combat well.
No. They hadn’t even avoided it.
Those damn demonic beasts had clearly been deliberately refraining from attacking all this time.
In order to build up their forces.
“And it just had to be during my shift.”
Fucking hell.
If he could just finish this one rotation, he would get promoted.
The black-uniformed guardian ground his teeth.
Then he gave orders to the guardians lined up behind him.
“All companies under the 1st Battalion, assemble.”
“All companies under the 1st Battalion, assemble!”
The adjutant repeated the order and returned to the privileged sector.
Another adjutant asked,
“How many recruits are you planning to gather this time, sir?”
“How many did we gather last time?”
“Five hundred.”
The black-uniformed man, who had been pondering, shook his head.
“Asking again. What is the maximum number we can accommodate?”
“…At least two thousand should be possible.”
“Recruit two thousand. Pull twenty-one guardians. Pass it on.”
The adjutant hesitated.
“Battalion Commander. If you fill all the holes by recruiting from the laborers, the citizens will strongly protest.”
“Those worms have too much fat on their bellies to even hold a sword properly. Don’t you know that?”
At the irritated reply, the adjutant immediately lowered his head.
In truth, he agreed.
The citizens of the privileged class had grown too soft from peace to fulfill a guardian’s duty.
Soon the black-uniformed man’s orders were delivered to the laborers.
“Twenty-one! Twenty-one people!”
“They’re recruiting two thousand!”
“Fuck! This is it! Right now! If not now, we’ll never get inside!”
“Drop everything!”
“Mom! Where did I put my sword? You know, the one I hid back then!”
The playground quickly turned into a frenzy of madness.