In the blink of an eye.
The entire mountain had fallen. Those lower-level trains were quickly overwhelmed by the Corpse Tide, with thousands of Zombies and monsters attacking every part of the trains. The shattering of the Energy Shields signaled the arrival of death.
"BOOM!!!"
The sounds of trains self-destructing rang out incessantly!
Among them, the few Level 9 trains stood firm amidst the Corpse Tide, swiftly picking off the Level 9 monsters. The copper ores from the surrounding trains had already been collected, but it still wasn't enough.
"Thank goodness..."
The Strong man sitting in the train cabin exhaled in relief as he watched the Zombies and monsters surrounding the train and climbing onto the Energy Shield. Though the situation was dire, as long as the copper ore held out, there was still a chance!
These lower-level monsters couldn't breach the defenses—he only needed to focus on killing the Level 9 monsters.
But just then—
Countless monsters began clinging to the Energy Shield. His Doomsday Cannon shells exploded uselessly against the lower-level monsters on the shield, wasting every shot. The gaps blasted open were instantly filled by the endless tide of creatures.
Only three out of every ten shells managed to hit a Level 9 monster.
"Dammit!"
The Middle-aged strong man's expression darkened as the Targeting Radar showed two Level 9 Zombies charging toward the train at full speed. He immediately pushed the control lever, trying to accelerate sharply and shake off the Zombies clinging to the Energy Shield.
The shield had no grip points, making it easy to fling them off.
But—
Countless Zombies and monsters were blocking the wheels, nearly immobilizing the train and making it impossible to build up speed.
In that brief moment of delay,
The two Level 9 Zombies caught up, roaring as they slammed their fists into the train's Energy Shield. The sturdy Level 8 shield cracked instantly, on the verge of shattering!
"NO!!!"
The Middle-aged strong man let out a desperate scream. He wanted to ignore everything, even the Level 9 flying monsters, and just take off to escape. But there was no time to switch to the "Bunny Cloud" wheels.
He didn't even have time to burrow underground.
The Energy Shield shattered completely.
A train's greatest advantage lay in its mobility. Once immobilized, it became little more than a steel coffin.
The Middle-aged strong man—perished.
No self-destruction.
In his final moments, his eyes remained fixed on the horizon, filled with unwillingness, hoping the Stellar Train would descend on a rainbow to rescue him. Many trains on the Train Radio had spoken of being saved by the Stellar.
But...
Until his last breath, his rainbow never came.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!"
High above Zombie Basin, the Stellar Train soared through the air, its rooftop Doomsday Cannons firing relentlessly, blasting another Carrion Hawk out of the sky. He had lost count of how many Level 9 flying monsters he'd killed by now!
Whenever he took to the skies,
Every flying monster in the vicinity seemed to mark him as their primary target.
And just then—
Chen Mang noticed a hill not far away, where about seven or eight trains were gathered. At that moment, a dark mass of Zombie monsters was already charging up the surrounding slopes under heavy fire, clearly on the verge of being overwhelmed—teetering on the edge of annihilation.
His brow furrowed slightly.
He turned the train around and charged forward, first precisely taking out a Level 9 Zombie before forcibly sending a message to the other trains.
「Dive underground.」
The trains hesitated briefly but ultimately obeyed, quickly extending their drill bits and boring into the mountainside.
Shortly after.
The Stellar Train also plunged underground. The moment it descended, the Targeting Radar detected two Level 9 Worm Monsters rapidly approaching their group of trains from beneath.
Chen Mang maneuvered the Stellar Train deep underground, intercepting and effortlessly dispatching the two Level 9 Worm Monsters.
Then, he surged back to the surface.
Once again, he sped toward the direction of the village.
For a considerable time, the underground area here would remain free from Worm Monster attacks. Taking shelter here was temporarily safe. He couldn't possibly clear all the monsters from the hillside—he didn't have that much time or ammunition.
"Why doesn't saving people give Inheritance Value?"
Inside the train's cabin.
Chen Mang glanced at the control panel screen, pursed his lips, and said nothing more. Taking in children increased Inheritance Value because it was a sacrifice for the continuation of human civilization. So, wasn't expending copper ore to save these trains also for the sake of human civilization's survival?
Several dozen minutes later.
Chen Mang had successfully reached the village.
He descended slowly, plunging deep underground once more to continue his exploration.
Soon.
He spotted the L-shaped cavern again.
Now, the cavern was completely empty—not a single monster in sight. He advanced relentlessly, drilling over 20,000 meters deep before the Level 50 Drill Bit finally broke through into the cavern space ahead.
With the ground's support gone.
The train plummeted straight down into the cavern's depths as if falling from a great height. But mid-air, he switched to Bunny Cloud wheels, suspending the train high above.
"This place…"
Chen Mang looked around, a flicker of awe flashing in his eyes. Seeing this space with his own eyes was entirely different from observing it on the Targeting Radar.
It resembled a massive heart!
The walls were covered in gory flesh.
Scattered across the ground were numerous dismembered Zombie limbs, likely torn off in the chaos of crowding.
And at the very center of this heart, a small red dot pulsed.
Just a few hundred meters ahead of the train.
It was a head…
A Zombie head roughly 50 meters wide, its eyes tightly shut, resting on the ground.
"…"
Chen Mang tilted his head toward the faintly blinking red dot on the Targeting Radar. The information displayed read:
「Monster Info: None.」
「Current Level: 9. Fully evolved level unknown.」
Just then—
The enormous Zombie head suddenly snapped its eyes open. It bounced a few times on the ground, twisting to glare directly at the Stellar Train suspended mid-air in the cavern, its gaze filled with malice. Then, it roared with a deafening bellow!
"ROAR!"
The sound was thunderous, echoing throughout the entire Zombie Basin!
Immediately after.
A powerful and violent gust of air erupted from the Zombie King's mouth, shooting straight toward the Stellar Train. Under the force of the gale, the hovering train was instantly slammed against the wall before crashing mid-air!
Fortunately, the Stellar Train, equipped with Level 9 Armor and Level 10 Permanent Shock Absorption, sustained no significant damage. However, external attachments like the Sound System and Powerful Magnet saw their durability plummet to single digits in an instant.
"Phew."
Chen Mang steadied the Stellar Train in the air once more and gazed at the enormous zombie head before suddenly breaking into a grin. As expected, this massive zombie head was the mastermind behind the Zombie Volcano.
Clearly, it was in a severely weakened state.
The zombies and monsters must have been out gathering flesh, and now, every creature in the Zombie Basin was likely charging toward this location to protect their king.
Sure enough.
The Train Radio soon crackled with Er Dan's urgent voice.
"Lord Mang! All the monsters in the Zombie Basin have suddenly retreated—they're rushing toward the deepest part of the basin!"
The next moment—
Without hesitation, Chen Mang locked onto the giant zombie head with the Doomsday Cannon and opened fire. Shells streaked through the air with terrifying force, enveloping the massive skull in a barrage of explosions.
There was no chance to fight back.
The head bounced a few times on the ground, attempting to flee, but escape was impossible. It could only let out a final, despairing roar as hundreds of shells rained down upon it.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
A deafening series of explosions followed.
It went smoother than he'd anticipated.
The zombie head had no means of counterattack—its only weapon was the violent gust of air, the same force that had created the Zombie Volcano. But it was clear it couldn't unleash that attack again, and even if it did, it would be meaningless against the Stellar Train's defenses.
Then—
Two lines of text appeared on the train's control screen.
-
[You have slain the Level 11 Ancient Boss 'Giant Zombie King.']
[+50 Reputation Points.]
-
"..."
Chen Mang watched as the giant zombie head, now reduced to chunks of flesh mid-air, along with its dropped loot, was swiftly collected into the train by the Powerful Magnet.
He chuckled softly before piloting the Stellar Train away from the scene.
When they breached the surface and soared into the sky once more, sunlight bathed the Zombie Basin, restoring a semblance of its former tranquility. With the mastermind dead, the crisis was over.
"Well... I suppose this counts as tranquility?"
Seated in the train cabin, Chen Mang lit a cigarette and gazed down at the Zombie Basin from above.
The Corpse Tide had dispersed, and the monsters had split apart, no longer organized into armies but instead scattering to claim territory.
Good news: These monsters wouldn't launch coordinated assaults on trains anymore.
Bad news: They were still alive.
The number of monsters in the Zombie Basin had multiplied over tenfold, including Level 9 creatures. Mining would now be far more challenging—though there were also more abandoned mines to exploit, given how few trains remained.
On the Train Leaderboard:
Out of 11 Level 9 trains, only 3 survived—one Flesh Train and two Mechanical Trains.
Further down, even more trains were destroyed.
Nearly sixty to seventy percent of the trains perished in this crisis. There was simply no escape—Grade 9 monsters blocked every path, whether by land, sea, or air.
He steered the train toward Er Dan's location. It was time to rest.
He hadn't slept in a long while, and it was already noon. He needed to find a place to get some shut-eye.
He was utterly exhausted.
The fatigue hadn't set in during the constant fighting, but now that he'd let his guard down, the overwhelming weariness rushed over him like a tide.
About an hour later.
Chen Mang piloted the Stellar Train and landed it back on the mountaintop. Among the trains under his protection, not a single casualty had been sustained—every train had maintained zero losses.
"Lord Mang..."
Er Dan walked up to Chen Mang, who stood at the edge of the slope, and gazed blankly into the distance, murmuring, "Is it over?"
"I suddenly feel like I've been going about things all wrong."
"I've always preferred exploring the Serendipity Maps. I have more experience with them, and I always thought that as long as I had enough parts, I could mix and match them to create more combinations to handle any crisis."
"But if all I do is mine, I can only craft the upgradeable parts for the train. There's no real future in that."
"Now, though, I realize I was mistaken."
"If I'd kept mining, I might've been able to upgrade the Tycoon Energy Shield to Level 9. Then, even without your help, Lord Mang, I might've survived this crisis without any casualties."
"You're wrong."
Chen Mang leaned on his cane at the edge of the slope, chuckling as he pulled out two cigarettes. He handed one to Er Dan and placed the other between his lips. With a snap of his fingers, Xiao Ai, standing nearby, extended a finger beneath the cigarette and conjured a tiny flame.
"Phew..."
He exhaled a long stream of smoke before stretching lazily, inhaling the scent of gunpowder and blood mingling in the air.
"The Tycoon Energy Shield is a blue-tier part. It can only be upgraded to Level 8 at most."
"To reach Level 9, you'd need Murphy Stone—and you won't find that by just mining."
"You need to explore the Serendipity Maps, but you also can't neglect mining."
"And even if you had a Level 9 Tycoon Energy Shield, how many resources would you need to keep it running constantly? How would you deal with those Grade 9 monsters?"
"Train development requires a lot of things."
"The Stellar will face many challenges ahead."
"I can't personally explore every Serendipity Map—I don't have that kind of time. And if two Serendipity Maps appear at once, it'd be a tough choice. How about joining my train as a captain? Your only responsibility would be scouting and exploring Serendipity Maps. Nothing else would concern you."
"That's impossible."
Er Dan shook his head helplessly. "Lord Mang, many Serendipity Maps require the Train Conductor to pilot the train in personally. If I join your train, I'd lose the qualification to enter them."
"No."
Chen Mang patted Er Dan's shoulder, his expression serious. "The title of captain is just a formality. You'd still be the Train Conductor of the Azure Dragon—it's just that, nominally, the Azure Dragon would become a subordinate of the Stellar. All your Slaves and such would belong to me."
"You wouldn't have to worry about iron ore, Slaves, or upgrades."
"I'd provide all the resources your train needs for upgrades."
"You just need to focus on exploring the Serendipity Map—isn't that exactly what you're good at and enjoy? You don't have to worry about the Train's development, and whatever you gain from exploring the Serendipity Map will belong to me."
"In other words,"
"an affiliated Train."
"Of course, I'm not forcing you. I'm just making this suggestion for you to consider."
As soon as he finished speaking—
"No problem!"
Er Dan nodded solemnly and earnestly, saying, "Lord Mang, I think your proposal is excellent. This way, I can continue staying with my Mom, devote myself fully to exploring the Serendipity Map, and not have to worry about the Iron Ore anymore."
"I think this kind of Train development model suits me perfectly."
(End of Chapter)