The King of Black Fog

"Ding Dong~"

"Dear passengers, welcome back to the train. The train is now traveling from the past to the present and is expected to arrive at the station in one hour. Please complete your exchanges within the designated time."

By the third repeat of the announcement, Li Changzhou was fully awake.

The abrupt end of the mission caught him off guard.

Still, it was manageable, akin to eating a bowl of sweet tofu pudding—hard to stomach, but not a big deal.

He had less time to cultivate his skills, but as long as he had a train ticket, he could have as much of that as he wanted.

Across the table by the window, Yang Qinglan lifted her head from the crook of her arm, and a deep red peony petal from her pinned-up black hair fell, landing in the bend of her arm.

"Why did the mission end so suddenly?" she asked, pinching the petal, looking at Li Changzhou.

"Qian Xia and the others were worried about us, so they killed Li Xinghua," Li Changzhou answered.

"Hmm—" Li Qianxia moaned from the bed, sat up stretching lazily, and then frighteningly drooped her head down, looking drowsily unawakened.

"Did you learn the 'Fire God Map'?" Yang Qinglan inquired, delicately sniffing the petal as if verifying its authenticity.

"I didn't," Li Changzhou said, his expression somber.

Yang Qinglan's gaze met his: "You didn't? Then why did you let the mission end?"

She didn't receive a prompt, but she could guess—it must be related to Li Changzhou himself, the mission three (Li Changzhou inherits warlords).

"Beauty and the peony vie in vibrance," Li Changzhou said, looking at the flower and the beauty before him.

With such leisure to say these words, he obviously had learned it.

Yang Qinglan's slender and pale fingers flicked, sending the peony petal onto Li Changzhou's face; he exaggeratedly turned his cheek as if struck by a slap.

"Hmm~~" Li Qianxia lay back down, wrapping herself in the soft, comfortable blanket.

The three of them were in the train compartment.

"Dear passengers, especially those who are taking the train for the first time, next up, I, the world's number one beauty, Xiao Yue, will explain the rules for the return trip on the train," Xiao Yue's voice came from the announcement.

"First, on the return train, all players are brought back to the same time period,"

"Second, the return train stops at a unified station; exiting will take you back to your real-world boarding station,"

"Third, upon the train's arrival and return to the waiting hall, all skills and items will be unlocked,"

"Lastly, this train will arrive in 58 minutes. Please settle up and make your exchanges as soon as possible."

"OVER ~"

When the announcement stopped, the two exchanged glances.

"Let's settle up," Yang Qinglan said, "and after doing so, let's go find Xiao Luo Bo and coax her into the Honey Jar World."

"Poor little radish."

Unlike the First Stage, the settlement interface in the Second Stage was on the train's menu.

A player just had to pick up any menu within the carriage, and the paper menu would turn into the player's evaluation page.

[Black Card player 'King of Black Fog' Li Changzhou's settlement report]

[Mission 1: Li Xinghua and Li Bichang giving up on deploying troops... Completion 100%, Player contribution 25%]

[Mission 2: Li Xinghua and Li Bichang alive... Completion 0%, Player contribution 0%]

[Mission 3: Li Changzhou loses his right to inherit... Completion 100%, Player contribution 100%]

[Overall evaluation: B+]

Different evaluation method from the First Stage.

Li Changzhou continued reading downwards.

[White Card player 'Main' Li Changzhou's settlement report]

[Mission 1: Li Xinghua and Li Bichang fight against Song City... Completion 0%, Player contribution 0%]

[Mission 2: Li Xinghua and Li Bichang dead... Completion 100%, Player contribution 63%]

[Mission 3: Li Changzhou in power... Completion 0%, Player contribution 0%]

[Overall evaluation: C]

Such a sorry 'Main,' 'King of Black Fog' felt pity.

[Player experiences: Helping workers, reorganizing Song City's finances, being swallowed by a giant whale, fighting with a master from the last century... Ability increase by 2]

[Attention! Attention! No Taboos!]

[...]

[Player simultaneously receives rewards for both White and Black Cards]

[Total Value earned 75 points (45+30)... Detecting two Identity Cards, please allocate—]

[Total Game Coins earned 1150 (750+400)... Detecting two Identity Cards, please allocate—]

(Allocation of value: Black Card 75 points, White Card 0)

(Allocation of Game Coins: Black Card 1150, White 0)

Just as Master Huang said, in the Second Stage, with the same evaluation, the Value received hadn't changed, but the Game Coins became ten times the previous amount.

For example, a B-grade evaluation in the First Stage gave 40 Value and only 50 Game Coins, while in the Second Stage, a B-grade evaluation still yielded 40 Value, but the Game Coins increased to 500.

Because he had been "born," he had "eaten" more, so was the welfare treatment better?

Or was it because Second Stage had higher-ranked Skills, and the exchange prices were higher?

As Li Changzhou thought over these questions that he had already considered before, he flipped the page to the exchange list below.

Depending on the different histories, experiences, and evaluations, the items on the exchange list also varied.

With prices listed from high to low, at the top of Li Changzhou's exchange list was the "Divine Fire Map."

Before he could look further, Li Qianxia on the bed suddenly sprang up as if revived.

"Yay!"

She behaved like a lunatic, to the extent that both Li Changzhou and Yang Qinglan looked up, first exchanging a glance, and then both turned to Li Qianxia.

"All of big brother's Value and Game Coins belong to me now, hehe! Triggered 'Jade Leaf,' share the exchange list, hehe~! Big brother is working for me, hehehehe!" Li Qianxia sat up on the bed, holding a menu from the bedside table.

Li Changzhou and Yang Qinglan glanced at each other again and simultaneously smiled a little.

"Does 'birth' also affect the evaluation?" Since Li Changzhou was labeled 'No Taboos,' he subconsciously thought he was an exception.