140: Chapter 140 Building a Staircase for Rooftop Recreation!

Thanks to Captain Lu Gongda's dedicated craftsmanship, every carriage now had two additional staircases, one at the front and one at the back.

As a result, the rooftops soon became lively.

Looking out, one could see fishing masters showing off their skills, making it look just like a mobile fishing port.

However, most people only had green-quality fish in their hands, with the occasional blue one to be seen.

Only a very lucky few carried a catch shimmering with purple light, strutting about with an air of pride.

Purple ones are hard to catch.

Lin Xiao knew this very well.

The reason he had been able to catch several purple fish in a row earlier was entirely due to that jar of blood worms bought with pleasure tokens.

Now that the blood worms were gone, he had to use ordinary fish chunks as bait.

He found a spot with a good view, spread out a blanket, and set up his fishing rod.

But after casting for over an hour, the best fish he had caught was only blue.

Even so, that was already better than most passengers.

Lin Xiao cast his line again, the fishing line entering the water.

After waiting a moment, he suddenly flicked his wrist, then frowned.

The feel wasn't right!

Sure enough, what he pulled up wasn't a fish.

A wriggling black ball of flesh hung from the hook, its surface covered in dense tentacles that kept reaching toward his fingers.

He flicked it off expressionlessly, and the thing unhooked and fell into the sea, splashing a small ripple.

He cast again.

This time, it was a body bag.

Through the half-open zipper, a pale, skeletal hand was exposed, with a rusted ring on one of the knuckles.

He cast again.

Half a skeleton covered in barnacles and bryozoans.

He cast again.

A military boot that had been chewed until only half remained.

Lin Xiao reeled in, unhooked, and cast again with a blank expression, his movements as mechanical as a factory assembly line worker.

"Fishermen can catch anything except fish."

He had fully experienced the truth of this saying today.

After another empty cast, Lin Xiao glanced at the status countdown in the bottom right corner of his vision.

The "Fish Tide Surge" had been active for two hours.

In these two hours, he hadn't caught more than five fish.

You have to understand, he was holding a legitimate fishing rod, professional equipment exchanged from the Mystery Shop.

Lin Xiao reeled in his line with a cold face and stood up.

This wasn't his fault.

Absolutely not.

Perhaps today just wasn't a good day for fishing...

"Damn it, calling it a day!"

He put the fishing rod back into his backpack, turned around, sat back down on the spread-out blanket, and began to enjoy the scenery.

Besides the fishermen, there were quite a few people on the roof enjoying the view.

The afternoon sky had cleared up significantly; sunlight broke through the clouds and spilled onto the pink sea, casting a touch of magnificence over this eerie ocean.

The sea breeze had also calmed down, shifting from the fierce gusts of the morning to a gentle breeze that actually felt quite pleasant on the face.

It was a rare moment without a Calamity round, no zombies, no pursuit.

Passengers gathered in twos and threes on the roof, some chatting, some playing cards.

Someone had carved a deck of playing cards out of wooden boards and started a game of Fight the Landlord.

Even more hardcore, some had used materials to build a mahjong table, carved a set of mahjong tiles out of wood, and were clattering away enthusiastically.

Lin Xiao stood at the edge of the roof, watching this scene, but his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

At this moment, there was no one left in line at the dining car, so Jiang Wanwan brought Princess Xiyao up to the roof.

She scanned the area, and upon spotting the familiar figure, she immediately walked over.

"What's wrong? Didn't you catch anything?"

Jiang Wanwan came to Lin Xiao's side, followed his gaze for a moment, and then looked at his expression.

"I caught some."

"Where are the fish?"

"Threw them away..."

Jiang Wanwan was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Since you caught fish, why do you still have an expression like someone owes you money?"

Lin Xiao didn't laugh.

His gaze fell on the calm sea in the distance, his voice lowered: "The Calamity round didn't come."

Jiang Wanwan sat down beside Lin Xiao, gently hugging his arm, resting her head on his shoulder: "Isn't this rare leisure time a good thing?"

"It's too quiet," Lin Xiao said. "From morning until now, only one Train Care event has occurred, and I haven't seen a single decent Calamity Creatures."

He turned his head to look at Jiang Wanwan, "Do you know what this is called?"

Jiang Wanwan thought for a moment and replied softly: "The calm before the storm?"

Lin Xiao nodded.

Jiang Wanwan looked at his tense jawline and suddenly reached out to poke his cheek.

"You..." she sighed, her tone a mix of helplessness and heartache, "You feel empty just because there are no monsters for you to kill. You need to relax occasionally; don't keep your nerves so tightly wound all the time, it's not good!"

Lin Xiao didn't speak.

Those people playing cards and chatting in the sunshine didn't know what was hanging over their heads.

On the other side, Princess Xiyao sat alone on the edge of the blanket, hugging her knees, staring blankly at the distant sea.

Jiang Wanwan turned to the side and asked softly: "Princess Xiyao, what are you thinking about?"

Princess Xiyao didn't turn back, but her tone was noticeably dejected: "I'm wondering what the Di Peoples Kingdom looks like now."

"Honestly, I thought I had just taken a nap."

"When the titanic sank, when Mo Yuan fell into the deep sea, those scenes seem like they happened just yesterday."

"When I came out of the ice cocoon, I was still thinking about telling my Father Emperor about the new things I saw on the titanic when I got back."

"Telling him that humans have a kind of iron box that runs on its own, a kind of wooden stick that sets off fireworks, and something called a camera that can keep a person's image on paper forever..."

Her voice choked up, "But Brother Lin Xiao said that over a hundred years have passed already."

Princess Xiyao lowered her head and buried her face deep into her knees.

Jiang Wanwan immediately shifted her position, reached out to put an arm around her shoulder, and comforted her softly.

"Wanwan, Princess Princess Xiyao!"

Wen Yiran's voice came from the stairs, breaking the sorrowful atmosphere.

She came running over in a flurry, took a tray out of her backpack, and then piled it high with coconuts, corn, and maple syrup.

Tian Xiwei followed behind, taking a pile of charcoal and a homemade simple barbecue grill out of her backpack.

"We're here for a picnic!"

Wen Yiran placed the tray on the blanket, put her hands on her hips, and looked triumphant, "The scenery is so good, it would be a shame not to have some grilled corn!"

Jiang Wanwan looked at her enthusiastic appearance and couldn't help but laugh.

Wen Yiran crouched down to fiddle with the barbecue grill, looking around as she did so.

Suddenly, her gaze fixed on something.

Not far away, on the roof of another carriage, someone had already set up a bonfire and was sitting around it grilling fish.

The golden fish skin sizzled over the fire, and grease dripped down, rising in wisps of white smoke.

The aroma drifted over with the sea breeze, sneaking into Wen Yiran's nose.

She swallowed her saliva.

Then, she turned her head to look at Lin Xiao.

Blinking her eyes.

The corners of her mouth turned down.

Wen Yiran reached out, pulled at the corner of Lin Xiao's clothes with her fingers, and shook it gently.

"Brother Lin..."

That voice was soft and sticky, just like maple syrup.

"Brother Lin, I want to eat grilled fish."