"Ahem."
As soon as Chen Mang finished speaking, Lao Zhu, who was standing nearby, unconsciously cleared his throat with a fist to his mouth.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough your mom's head off!"
Chen Mang turned to Lao Zhu and scolded him in frustration, "I want to hear honest feedback, not some flattering nonsense. Don't give hints when it's not the time for them."
"And next time, if you must hint, can you at least not use such outdated methods?"
"Do you think I'm deaf?"
Lao Zhu, feeling awkward, avoided eye contact with Lord Mang, his gaze drifting aimlessly.
"Come here!"
Chen Mang turned back to the young man, frowning as he asked, "Tell me, how did you do it? I designed so many complex forks in the maze."
"Uh..."
The young man took a deep breath before summoning the courage to speak, "This is a relatively simple topological structure of a maze. Although it looks winding and twisting, it's essentially a straight line."
"The start and end points are the two ends of this line."
"And the forks are just branches along this line."
"So..."
The young man pulled a sharp stone from his pocket and carefully traced all the routes of the maze, peeling the entire maze off the paper.
Then, holding the maze that had been peeled off the paper, he grasped both ends and gave it a slight pull.
The maze, which had just appeared incredibly complex, now faintly transformed into a straight line, with the forks he had designed branching off like limbs from the trunk of a tree.
"If you stretch this maze infinitely, you can quickly find the correct route."
"You didn't do that earlier."
"My spatial awareness is a bit stronger. I simulated it quickly in my mind. This way of presenting it is... to make it more understandable."
"..."
Chen Mang remained expressionless for a long time before finally speaking, "As a slave, you carry such a sharp stone with you?"
"Huh?"
The young man was momentarily stunned, his face turning pale as he realized he had exposed something by being too engrossed. His voice trembled uncontrollably, "I... I didn't want to be robbed anymore."
"There's a slave who takes 1 unit of iron ore from me every day, then hands it in during the settlement. He's a Level 1 slave. I didn't dare speak up."
"I... I didn't want to be robbed anymore. The amount of iron ore I dig daily determines how quickly I can be promoted. I want to rise to Level 2 soon."
"So I prepared this, planning to fight to the death if he robs me again."
Hearing this, Chen Mang frowned slightly and turned to look at Lao Zhu.
Lao Zhu, standing nearby, was cursing inwardly. Such a trivial matter—couldn't you have just talked to him privately? What are you trying to do, appeal to the emperor? Damn it!
Did you accidentally pull it out, or did you do it on purpose?
You look so young, but you're such a schemer!
Though he was cursing in his heart, his face showed unease and panic as he quickly bent over.
"Lord Mang, this is my oversight. I'll deal with this immediately."
"Alright."
Chen Mang nodded casually, "Just beat him up. Don't waste a slave. By the way, there's a drawer with the Train Rules I drafted. Take them and announce them before work starts tomorrow. From now on, follow these rules."
After handling this small incident, he leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and trying to stretch the maze infinitely in his mind. A minute later, he opened his eyes, pulled out a cigarette, and tossed it over, "I need to design a maze complex enough to trap a robot."
"At least one that can hold a robot for half an hour."
"That robot has intelligence far beyond the average person and the physical strength of an adult male. If you were to design it, what would you suggest?"
"Static maze or dynamic maze?"
"Static."
The young man hurriedly and respectfully took the cigarette, though he had no way to light it, and held it in his hand. After a few seconds of thought, he spoke, "Generally, to create a sufficiently complex maze, you'd use random algorithm software to generate irregular paths. But we don't have the conditions for that now."
"However, we can approach it in six steps."
"First, divide the maze area into different sections, say ten regions, each a separate maze. The correct line passes through each of these mazes."
"Second, each node should have at least three directions, with dead ends accounting for 60% to 70%. If possible, set up seven layers of nested paths."
"Third, if it's a 3D maze, there should be at least three layers of vertical connections."
"Fourth, use audio-visual effects for deception—mirrors, sound systems, lighting, and misleading guide lights—so that mirrored areas account for about 15%."
"Fifth, ensure a 40% repetition rate across the ten maze regions. High repetition will confuse people's memory as they test routes, making them doubt whether they've walked this path before—what's commonly known as 'ghost hitting the wall'."
"Sixth, create progressively scaled path proportions to produce distance illusions."
"With this, the number of path retreats can be guaranteed to exceed 30% of the total steps, and the necessary nodes can account for..."
"Enough."
Chen Mang interrupted the young man's explanation, stood up from his chair, and personally lit a cigarette for him before patting his shoulder and sighing, "You're a talent. Very professional."
"Lao Zhu, from now on, this kid enjoys Level 1 slave treatment on the Stellar Train."
"Find the slave who's been robbing him."
"Let him take care of it himself."
"What's your name?"
"I..."
The young man, who had been so eloquent moments ago, now looked nervous as he held the cigarette in his mouth, "Lord Mang, my name is Li Shiji."
"Good name."
Chen Mang exhaled deeply, "There are refrigerators on the train, each with 100 square meters of space. I want you to use 100 of them to create a sufficiently complex maze that meets my earlier requirements—make sure that robot can't pass through it in half an hour."
"Whatever support you need, just ask."
"We can add more refrigerators, but the maximum is around 130. Think about it tonight and report to me first thing tomorrow morning. We'll discuss it then."
"If you handle this well."
"Big reward."
"Thank you, Lord Mang. Thank you, Lord Mang."
Li Shiji's eyes sparkled with excitement and eagerness as he repeatedly bowed in gratitude.
Meanwhile, outside the train in the cave, all the slaves had finished dinner. But today, instead of returning to their spots in the train to sleep, they gathered around to watch the spectacle.
In the center of the crowd, a slave knelt on the ground, his face filled with fear. Though he wasn't tied up, he didn't dare struggle.
Surrounding him were armed thugs maintaining order.
Behind the kneeling slave, Li Shiji weighed the baton in his hand before leaning down and whispering into the slave's ear.
"Did you enjoy taking my iron ore?"
"Retribution comes when the time is right."
"Remember this."
"My name is Li Shiji."
The next moment—Li Shiji's eyes filled with rage as he swung the baton with more force than he'd ever used in mining, slamming it hard into the back of the kneeling slave. He didn't curse, just gritted his teeth.
Like a storm, he didn't stop, hitting the slave again and again.
Without holding back.
It looked like he was aiming to kill.
"Uncle Li."
In the crowd of onlookers, a young man leaned over to Uncle Li and whispered, "Look at him—he's made it so easily, and he's just a Level 3 slave who recently joined the train."
"You've been here since the beginning, right? You're a veteran, enjoying Level 1 slave treatment."
"How come you haven't made it yet?"
"Thought of a new plan?"
"Can you shut the hell up!"
Uncle Li, embarrassed and angry, turned to the young man, "Are you some kind of pressure monster? Can you stop pressuring me every day? I'm under a lot of pressure too, you know."
"Are you placing too much hope in me?"
"Well, I can't place it in myself. I'm clearly unreliable."
"Shut up! I'll think of something!"
"Of course, I've always believed in you, Uncle Li."
Inside the circle of onlookers, Biao Zi stood with his arms crossed, a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he watched the scene with a smile, "Train Conductor Zhu, I'll vouch for this—that kid definitely appealed to the emperor on purpose."
"Obviously."
Lao Zhu's face was grim, "You think I can't see that? That kid's a crafty one. I don't like him."
"Lord Mang seems to like him."
"Of course Lord Mang likes him. Even though I don't like the kid, he's got talent."
At this, Lao Zhu paused, hesitating, "That kid can stretch an incredibly complex rectangular maze into a straight line in his mind. Can you do that? I tried for a while, and my head's about to explode. Feels like there are countless lines floating in front of my eyes."
"I'm starting to hallucinate and still can't figure it out."
"I'm a fighter, Train Conductor Zhu. If I had that skill, would I have been a guerrilla contractor before?"
"Your brain's only good for being a contractor. If the money's not coming, you're clueless."
"I'm a fighter, Train Conductor Zhu."
"So what?"
Biao Zi grinned, "Fighters collecting debts—that's my expertise. There's no debt I can't collect. That's why I used to be the boss."
Lao Zhu snorted dismissively.
"Enough. You almost got killed by Hei Hao. Stop showing off. By the way, you used to be a Level 2 Train Conductor. Do you know why we'd need a massive maze to trap a robot?"
"No idea."
Biao Zi shook his head, his expression serious, "Is Lord Mang having the kid work on this?"
"Don't look at me. I really don't know. It's not that I'm not telling you, but the train I used to work on is nothing like Lord Mang's. Saying they're worlds apart is an understatement."
"But..."
"I should warn you, Lord Mang didn't tell you to beat him to death. That kid's going at it without restraint. The slave looks like he's about to die."
"Also, don't hold a grudge against this kid. Lord Mang's using him to build a maze. After that, he's useless."
"You're still the second-in-command on the train, Train Conductor Zhu. Don't make things ugly. You'll definitely lose out."
"I know that."
Lao Zhu sighed, "I'm not stupid enough to hold a grudge against him. It's just that being appealed to the emperor for the first time is frustrating. He didn't tell me but went to Lord Mang. I don't know what Lord Mang will think—maybe that I've been oppressing the slaves, making them afraid to come to me with issues."
"Don't worry. This is indeed a lapse in your duty. Exposing problems is the only way to solve them. Take it easy."
Lao Zhu didn't say more, just stepped forward and said firmly.
"That's enough."
Then he looked at the half-dead slave on the ground, "Take him inside the train for treatment."
"Train Conductor Zhu."
Seeing Lao Zhu approach, Li Shiji immediately handed over the baton and whispered.
"Hmm."
Lao Zhu took the baton without expression, then looked at the surrounding slaves and pointed to the iron ore area not far away, "Everyone, get back to the train and sleep. If you're not tired, go over there and dig ore with Doba."
The slaves instinctively turned to look at the hundred or so goblin slaves still digging in the iron ore area and shuddered, then rushed toward the train.
Those goblins.
They're... they're insane!
In the past few days, they'd witnessed the goblins' madness. The goblins were still digging when the slaves were asleep and still digging when they woke up, as if they didn't need rest.
Like cold-blooded machines working nonstop.
Especially Doba.
He'd been topping the daily mining chart for days, unchallenged, absolutely unstoppable.
At first, they were excited about the daily mining rankings.
But after the goblins dominated the top 100 spots every day, they'd grown indifferent. It's too competitive, and it's terrifying—they're like superhumans.
Initially.
Many of them were seeing goblins for the first time and found it novel. During breaks, they'd try to greet them.
But... after being called "stupid humans" and told not to disturb the great goblins' mining, they stopped bothering.
"That Doba seems to be on a lifelong mission to prove his greatness."
As the slaves rushed toward the train, Lao Zhu stood still, watching Doba, who was digging with unwavering determination, and sighed, "Frankly, his stamina is impressive."
"Yeah, he's strong."
Biao Zi nodded, then looked at the female giant among the short goblins with a strange expression, "But that woman's also strong. She seems to have locked h
orns with these goblins, determined to fight to the death."
"I remember today she tried to talk to Doba and got scolded."
"She seemed furious and decided to fight it out, to see who's the better digger."
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