"Alright."
Er Dan let out a sigh of relief and continued, "When we passed by that village, I came across a few survivors hiding there and naturally brought them back to the Train. Otherwise, in this high-level zone, they wouldn't have survived."
"But—"
"The problem arose here. That guy named Zhang Yiren—the screenwriter—told me that the village experienced tremors almost every day, usually late at night."
"As soon as I heard that, I knew something was up."
"After all, I've been to so many Serendipity Maps. Unusual occurrences like this often signal opportunities. So, I sent Thugs to thoroughly search the village. And guess what? Right in the center, there was a Level 3 Iron Ore deposit."
"Though the deposit was tiny—just within the courtyard of a civilian house—it was estimated to yield around 700,000 units of Iron Ore. It was an extremely small Level 3 deposit, even smaller than many Level 2 ones."
"But since it was Level 3, the mining time would be much shorter. So, I sent Slaves to start digging, planning to move on to other deposits afterward."
"Discovered?" Chen Mang frowned slightly. "Your Resource Detection Radar didn't pick up that Iron Ore deposit?"
"That's the issue."
Er Dan's expression turned serious. "My Resource Detection Radar showed absolutely no trace of this Level 3 Iron Ore deposit. The survivors managed to hide from the Targeting Radar by staying in capsules, but how did the Iron Ore avoid detection?"
"While the Slaves mined, I kept thinking about it."
"And as I pondered, a Serendipity Map called the Eternal Confinement Cell suddenly appeared. The entire Train was forcibly pulled in without any warning. We failed almost immediately and ended up cursed."
"Explain that part in detail. How exactly were you forcibly pulled in?"
"Mm."
After thinking carefully, Er Dan replied, "Roughly when the Level 3 Iron Ore deposit was fully mined and all the Slaves returned to the Train, a massive portal suddenly emerged from the village ground. The Train just… fell right into it, entering that Serendipity Map."
"My guess is that the small Level 3 Iron Ore deposit was the 'key' to this Serendipity Map. Once it's fully mined, the map activates."
"Though it's a strange key, I've seen stranger ones before."
"Can you still enter that map now?"
"No. But when the Level 3 Iron Ore deposit respawns, there might be another chance."
"Send me the coordinates."
"Sure."
Just as the two were about to part ways—
Chen Mang suddenly called out to Er Dan and said softly, "Hey, do you remember the names of every Slave in your Train?"
"No, why? What's up, Lord Mang?"
"Your exact words earlier were, 'One of the survivors, named Zhang Yiren, told me…' Normally, you'd just say 'survivor' or 'Slave,' not mention a name, right?"
"Oh, that."
Er Dan suddenly understood, then sighed with emotion: "Because I actually have quite a deep impression of this guy. Wasn't he the one who told me at first that he felt the village shook every night? Then, probably due to professional habit, he said some alarmist things about monsters hiding underground in the village. I found it quite interesting, almost like a movie plot, so I asked for his name."
"Are there really monsters underground?"
"Of course not. I scanned with my Targeting Radar and didn't see a single red dot."
Zombie Basin, on the wasteland.
Chen Mang stood alone on the flat ground, watching the Azure Dragon train disappear from his sight before turning to Xiao Ai: "Did you note down those coordinates?"
"Got it."
He shook his head and didn't speak further, just waved his hand: "Tell Biao Zi to bring the person to my train compartment."
Inside the train compartment.
"Big bro, big bro!"
Zhang Yiren knelt on the ground, his face full of fear, looking up at Chen Mang with a tearful voice: "The script wasn't entirely written by me alone! The director bears a lot of responsibility too!"
"We'll talk about that later."
Chen Mang waved his hand, frowning. After a pause, he spoke: "Your village shakes every night?"
"Uh, yes. Although we don't have clocks to determine the exact time, the shaking basically happens at the same point every time."
"So you think there are monsters underground?"
Seeing that Chen Mang didn't bring up the movie matter again, Zhang Yiren exhaled lightly and cautiously said: "Because if it were an earthquake, it wouldn't happen every day and at the same time. So my guess is that there's an extremely terrifying monster underground, and the shaking is just caused by its breathing rhythm."
"When the higher-up rescued me, I told him about this."
"Hmm."
Chen Mang nodded and didn't speak further, planning to check it out after the mining here was done in the next couple of days. Er Dan might not have detected anything because his Targeting Radar isn't high-level enough. If he could detect it, a sleeping monster might be an easy target.
Pretty good.
Then he stopped thinking about it and turned to Zhang Yiren, who was kneeling on the ground, with a forced smile: "Now let's talk about this movie of yours. I'm quite curious why you would make such a movie, and... what kind of plots these romance movies usually have."
"Well..."
Zhang Yiren, still kneeling, glanced up at Chen Mang before cautiously saying: "Generally speaking, the audience for romance movies is mostly female. This group tends to prefer emotional conflicts."
"Like misunderstandings that remain unresolved until death, near misses that could have been avoided, unnoticed self-sacrifice, significant efforts that seem trivial to the other person, being just one step away from..."
"Great."
Chen Mang suddenly laughed, but his eyes burned with anger: "Just hearing it makes my blood boil. Take him away and execute them all."
"Yes!"
Biao Zi, standing nearby, coldly grabbed Zhang Yiren by the collar and dragged him out of the train compartment.
"Big bro, big bro!!"
Zhang Yiren, his eyes filled with terror and legs completely giving way beneath him, screamed hoarsely: "It's really not my fault! I was just trying to make a living back then! The market chose this kind of content—I was just following the trends!"
"Fine. I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself."
"Weren't you the director of those films? I'll give you a few days. Remake one of them into something I'd enjoy watching. If I like it, you get to live."
"Understood?"
Dismissed.
After the group left, Chen Mang stretched lazily and slumped back into his chair, gazing idly out the window.
He had asked Er Dan to spare these men for two reasons. First, their previous films had genuinely pissed him off—they didn't suit his taste.
In the apocalypse, survival on the Stellar Train was paramount.
But entertainment was still necessary. Keeping a few people around to make movies for him wasn't an issue. Second, they could later produce propaganda films glorifying the Stellar Train. Perfect.
Three days later.
The Level 3 Iron Ore mine and Level 4 Crimson Heart Rock Mine had been fully depleted.
Under the cover of night.
The Stellar Train gradually accelerated. The wind was strong tonight, and its destination was the coordinates Er Dan had sent days earlier—a place Chen Mang intended to investigate.
With the tailwind, the Wind-Fire Wheels burned fiercely.
From a distance,
it looked like the wheels of a hellish motorcycle—dozens of flaming train wheels speeding across the wasteland.
In about an hour,
they arrived at their destination.
Under the moonlight, the dilapidated village ahead seemed utterly insignificant—crumbling low walls, broken doors on every house. Zombies and other trains had scoured this place countless times. That those men had hidden here for a year was nothing short of a miracle.
Whoosh!
Guard Car No. 7 opened.
Zhang Yi leaped out alone, carrying a refrigerator on his back as he rode an off-road motorcycle straight toward the village. Just before reaching it, he hurled the refrigerator into the air. Members of Squad One and Squad Three tumbled out mid-flight.
One man alone,
yet instantly, the team was at full strength.
"..."
Biao Zi, rubbing his aching head as he got up from the ground, turned to glare at Zhang Yi. "You think you're tossing a briefcase? Just set the damn refrigerator down—we can walk out ourselves. What was the point of throwing it in the air?"
"Sorry..."
Zhang Yi muttered sheepishly. "I pictured it in my head—me throwing the fridge up, you all flying out gracefully and landing smoothly. Thought it'd look cool."
"It would've been cool. But do we look like we can fly?"
Biao Zi shot him a glare before tossing his own briefcase into the air and striding into his "Executioner" mech. "Squad One, arrow formation. No stragglers."
"Squad Three, provide fire support from the rear."
To this day, Squad Three had no close-combat mechs—only the Third Squad Leader's "Leech," a fire-support type.
With that,
the group began meticulously combing through the village under the cover of darkness.
"Rumble..."
Chen Mang frowned, staring at the control panel screen. Just moments ago, he too had felt the vibrations Zhang Yiren mentioned. Yet the Targeting Radar showed nothing nearby.
His Targeting Radar was at level 20.
Monsters within 20,000 meters could be clearly detected, meaning any creatures underground would have to be deeper than that.
How was this possible?
This was only a yellow zone—the highest monster level here couldn't exceed level 9. And so far, he hadn't even encountered a level 9 Zombie. The strongest he'd seen was level 8. Even if there was a level 9 Zombie, a single one shouldn't be capable of causing such massive disturbances from 20,000 meters underground.
Tonight, the sky was clear for miles.
The words "night" and "clear sky" didn't usually belong together.
But...
He looked up at the night sky, searching for a better description. There wasn't a single star in sight, yet the darkness wasn't oppressive. Not a single cloud drifted overhead, and he could even see the outlines of distant clouds with his naked eye—crisp and vivid.
Tonight, the wind was fierce.
Not the kind of gentle night breeze that soothed the soul, but a howling gale that lashed straight at it.
Just then—
Biao Zi's voice echoed through the Train's interior.
"Report, Lord Mang—no signs of activity."
"No resources either. Everything of value in this village has already been looted."
"Return to the Train."
"Understood."
Since the village showed no signs of life, Chen Mang decided to head straight underground to investigate.
One of the overclocked effects of the Resource Detection Radar was its ability to display the respawn timer of depleted Mines. But his radar couldn't even detect that level 3 Iron Ore deposit, let alone its refresh time.
"Vrrrrrm—"
The Train plunged into the earth.
The level 50 Drill Bit cut through the ground like a red-hot rod through butter, melting its way effortlessly. Behind it, a long tunnel stretched out, freshly carved.
The tunnel wasn't stable.
It could collapse at any moment.
Chen Mang steered the Train straight down beneath the village. They had only descended 200 meters—barely a scratch for the Train, which had just started moving—when suddenly—
Beep! Beep-beep-beep!!
A shrill alarm blared through the Train's cabin!
He had never heard an alarm this urgent or piercing.
On the Targeting Radar, thousands of red dots suddenly appeared—20,200 meters underground, to be exact. There, a massive cavern resembling a limestone cave stretched out, packed with countless Zombies.
"..."
Chen Mang's expression darkened as the Train continued its descent.
Yet, he couldn't even see the edges of the cavern.
The deeper they went,
the more red dots flooded the Targeting Radar. Level 7 and 8 Zombies were everywhere, and even level 9 Zombies weren't rare. The entire edge of the radar was nearly dyed red, the dots so densely packed there was no space between them.
Only after descending another 1,000 meters
did he finally spot the cavern's bottom edge on the screen. That meant the underground cavern was a staggering 800 meters tall—and its length and width were still unknown. A colossal space, teeming with Zombies.
And it wasn't just Zombies. There were all kinds of monsters he had never seen before.
He began navigating the Train parallel to the cavern, trying to map its full extent.
But...
After traveling roughly over ten thousand meters, he finally saw the end of the cave's extension. The cave began to ascend continuously toward the surface, with countless Zombies forming a human ladder in this vertical underground tunnel.
Several Level 9 Zombies stood at the very top of the human ladder, tirelessly excavating this vertical tunnel.
The structure of the entire cave was "L"-shaped.
Moreover, the top of the "L" was still extending upward, now only less than a hundred meters from the surface!
The uppermost part of this vertical tunnel was shockingly the very core of the "Zombie Basin"!
Precisely the spot where he had emerged from the "Geocentric Nuclear Bomb" in the Serendipity Map.