"So you've decided this quickly?"
Chen Mang tilted his head slightly in surprise as he looked at Er Dan. This was actually just a preliminary idea of his, not yet a complete system. His original expectation for Er Dan had been more along the lines of a "Traveling Frog."
The kind that usually isn't around.
But every time it returns, it brings back loads of good stuff.
Because he'd noticed—whether it was talent or sheer luck—Er Dan always managed to discover all sorts of Serendipity Maps. From the "Underwater Labyrinth" and "Tower of Heaven" to that time in Zombie Basin when he struck open a "Eternal Confinement Cell" Serendipity Map with a single pickaxe swing, even encountering Zombie Volcano.
Put nicely, this was extraordinary talent.
Put less nicely, the guy was a walking disaster—trouble followed him everywhere.
Then he smiled at Er Dan. "I didn't expect you to agree so quickly. Actually, this works out well for both of us. From now on, you can focus entirely on exploring Serendipity Maps."
"Leave those Slaves to me."
"Then you can just take your Thugs—you don't even need the Carriages, just the Train's engine. The Thugs can live in the refrigerator in the Train's control room."
"Think about it."
"With just an engine, wouldn't upgrading the 'Tycoon Energy Shield' require far fewer resources?"
"Build a small but elite Train."
"Sounds good, doesn't it?"
"It does sound good." Er Dan grinned, a flash of anticipation in his eyes. "For some reason, I suddenly feel like a knot inside me has loosened. From now on, I'll officially call you Lord Mang."
"I'll go disband my Train right away and dismiss all the Slaves."
"Alright, no rush. Later, you can discuss the details with my Deputy Train Conductor, Lao Zhu. He knows more about the specifics."
"No problem!"
After Er Dan left, none of the surrounding Train Conductors dared approach. Biao Zi and the others stood expressionlessly behind Lord Mang in their mechas, blocking any potential ambushes, shouting from a distance:
"Lord Mang, thank you for protecting us this time! If you ever need anything, just say the word—we'll be there to help!"
"That's right, Lord Mang! That Train over there is the one you saved earlier—the one that didn't give you Iron Ore. We've talked some sense into him. He's handed over all his Iron Ore and Copper Ore into that Storage Box on the ground."
"Then we'll take our leave, Lord Mang. Wishing you great prosperity!"
Soon—
The dozen or so Trains headed up the slope, dispersing in all directions. This crisis had nearly drained their resources dry; they needed to find a safe place to mine as soon as possible.
Chen Mang waved dismissively without saying much.
Was it just his imagination?
His resources seemed to have increased significantly compared to before the "Zombie Volcano" crisis.
His Copper Ore reserves felt endless.
Like they'd never run out.
Hmm.
Mainly because he'd been using them sparingly.
After standing there for a while, he finally withdrew his gaze. Though the "Zombie Volcano" was over, Zombie Basin was now in complete disarray. The area was no longer suitable for Trains—there were far too many monsters now.
He needed to reach Level 9 Train soon and leave this region.
This place wasn't fit for mining anymore.
However, theoretically speaking, reaching a Level 9 Train should already allow access to the Blue Zone. It's unclear why those Level 9 Trains couldn't leave.
Chen Mang returned to the train's interior.
He leaned back in his chair.
Surveying this haul—there was simply too much this time. Crisis and opportunity truly went hand in hand!
The biggest gain, first and foremost, was resources.
The entire train was now equipped with Level 9 Armor.
This meant the train could now roam this region completely unimpeded. Currently, the train still had 810,000 units of Iron Ore, though upgrading to Level 9 Armor had consumed a significant amount.
Copper Ore reserves stood at 5.12 million units.
Just last night, his Copper Ore count was barely over a million. After the crisis ended, it had skyrocketed to 5.12 million.
This much Copper Ore would sustain the train for a long time.
Next came—
The rewards from slaying the Level 11 "Giant Zombie King," the ultimate boss of this crisis.
In theory, those Level 9 Trains—and even some Level 8 ones—could have easily defeated this final boss. After all, this boss was a command-type entity with only one head, practically defenseless on its own.
As long as they could breach the Corpse Tide's frontlines, reach beneath the village, possess a high-enough-level Drill Bit (to avoid spending hours boring through 20,000 meters), and have the strength to both kill and withstand Level 9 monsters—
Meeting these conditions would have made it effortless to eliminate the mastermind behind this crisis. It wasn't particularly difficult, and coincidentally, he fulfilled all these requirements.
Oh.
They also needed a prophet.
Namely, Zhang Yiren.
It was Zhang Yiren's intel and prophecies, combined with his own environmental assessments, that led him to deduce the boss must be lurking beneath the village. As for why the village trembled every night—
The answer had been found.
It was that "heart" pulsating.
The heart was massive—whether it belonged to that head or not was unclear. It didn't seem like it, given the mismatched proportions. Likely, it belonged to an even higher-tier Giant Zombie.
After killing the Level 11 "Giant Zombie King," three items dropped:
1.
A purple-grade Vehicle Component Blueprint: "Gilded Jet Nozzle."
2.
A Special Item: "Universal Key" ×1.
3.
Fifteen Murphy Stones.
"Ah..."
Chen Mang sighed helplessly as he looked at the fifteen Murphy Stones. Were these stones really that hard to obtain? It felt like they kept popping up from the most random places for him. Oh, he'd nearly forgotten about Mundo—had he returned yet?
Not to mention the thirty Murphy Stones waiting for him in the "Underwater Labyrinth."
As for the purple-grade accessory "Gilded Jet Nozzle," it was a perfect fit for Er Dan's train, aligning seamlessly with his envisioned plan!
Similar to the "Nitrogen Tailjet," it was designed to boost train speed. But its secondary effect was that the fewer the carriages and the lighter the weight, the greater the acceleration—ideal for the compact, high-efficiency exploration train he had in mind.
In a way, he was treating Er Dan's train like a "destroyer" in an aircraft carrier fleet.
At least, that was the concept in his head.
The future Stellar Train will be the main body, with many such auxiliary trains to carry out its commands. After all, in the initial stages, all its operations were essentially single-threaded. But as its influence grows, it will inevitably need to multitask, handling many things simultaneously.
If he had to personally control the Stellar Train every time, he'd be exhausted beyond measure.
As for that "Universal Key"...
"..."
Chen Mang's expression turned slightly odd. He had never encountered such a baffling special item before. He genuinely couldn't think of any train that would need this item—it seemed utterly useless!
-
Special Item: Universal Key.
Effect: Can unlock any entity marked with a '?'. Using it once triggers a 30-second cooldown.
-
With an effect like this, he truly couldn't imagine which train would ever need it.
Before a train undergoes a profession change, one of the craftable components doesn't display its name. After the profession change, this component automatically transforms into a heavy firepower weapon part corresponding to its level. But at that time, the component was labeled as "Unknown Component," not "?".
In other words—
If a train develops normally, it would never have any use for this special item in its entire existence. It was completely pointless.
But...
He happened to have a use for it.
With a slightly peculiar expression, Chen Mang looked at the button marked with a "?" on the control panel. He placed the key against the button and lightly tapped it.
The next moment!
The "?" button, which had been with him since his train reached level 6, began to fade away after the key emitted a white glow. In its place, three large characters appeared:
Military Factory.
"..."
After pressing the "Military Factory" button, Chen Mang stared at the screen on the control panel, momentarily stunned. Then, a flicker of disbelief flashed in his eyes as he looked down at the key in his hand. He couldn't resist kissing it and chuckled, cursing under his breath.
"Damn, you're really Daddy's little treasure!"
He then carefully placed the key in a drawer.
He didn't know if he'd ever encounter another "?"-marked entity in the future, but he was certain of one thing: anything marked with a question mark was definitely something valuable!
-
Military Factory.
Can research, craft, or purchase various blueprints for firepower or defense-related accessories.
Space requirements as follows:
Train Auxiliary AI must be at least level 10 or higher.
Every research, crafting, or purchase consumes 'Merit Points,' which can be exchanged for monster flesh.
-
What did the train currently have the most of?
Flesh!
And it still wasn't enough—he had even discarded a lot of low-level monster flesh!
Without wasting another moment, Chen Mang set aside sleep and first installed the "Military Factory" inside Xiao Ai's "Armor Research and Development Center." Then, he ordered Biao Zi and the others to carry the refrigerator and dump all the monster flesh inside into the furnace.
After that, he took control of the Stellar Train again and used the "Powerful Magnet" to retrieve the discarded monster flesh from the hillside below.
Originally, he had planned to leave the "Zombie Basin" as soon as possible. But now, it seemed he'd do some good deeds before departing—clearing out all the monsters in this area for the other trains here.
Other regions didn't have nearly as many monsters.
The number of monsters in the Kunlun Mountains region couldn't compare to here. While the Kunlun Mountains had higher-level monsters, the sheer quantity was far less than the endless Corpse Tide here. Moreover, the terrain in the Kunlun Mountains was terrible, with continuous mountain ranges everywhere.
This place was a basin, shaped like a bowl.
Perfect!
This trip had been incredibly fruitful!
There were still plenty of dropped items waiting for him in the Refrigerator to check out. His foundation had just grown even stronger.
Meanwhile, atop the mountain.
Er Dan had already called everyone out of the Azure Dragon Train, standing on the carriage as he looked down at his 700-plus Slaves. For a moment, his expression was tinged with complexity. From today onward, these Slaves would no longer belong to the Azure Dragon—they would be part of the Stellar.
Finally, he wouldn't have to worry about the Train's development anymore.
He could devote himself entirely to searching for the Serendipity Map.
He couldn't even imagine how relaxing and joyful that life would be. In the apocalypse, being able to do what he loved was almost too luxurious. And now, with the Stellar as his backer, he wouldn't even have to worry about lacking resources for Train upgrades—the Stellar would handle everything.
But...
He couldn't shake the feeling that he had somehow wronged these Slaves. It was like a company going bankrupt and laying off all its employees.
"Hah..."
After a long silence, Er Dan stood atop the carriage and looked down at the crowd of Slaves, his voice hoarse and his eyes slightly red. "We've spent a long time together, and I'd like to think I've treated you better than most other Trains would have."
"I never let you go hungry, never let you freeze."
"But—"
"Today, I have to say goodbye to all of you. From now on, the Azure Dragon is officially disbanded, and everyone will be merged into the Stellar!"
"You no longer belong to the Azure Dragon—you are now under the Stellar!"
"Lord Mang is your one and only master!"
"Do you all understand?!"
The Slaves stood in the cold wind, exchanging glances. No one spoke. After a while, one brave Slave cautiously raised his hand and asked, "Egg Lord... is this for real?"
"Of course it is."
Er Dan sighed softly. "Life on the Stellar won't be like the Azure Dragon. You'll need to follow the rules, don't—"
But just then, he thought he heard laughter. Before he could even pinpoint where it was coming from, the laughter grew louder—until it erupted into the excited cheers of hundreds!
"Heaven has eyes, heaven has eyes!!!"
A male Slave from the Azure Dragon dropped to his knees, arms outstretched, his voice trembling with emotion. "We're finally fucking joining the Stellar Train! Fresh bread, ice-cold cola, pork and cabbage stew with noodles—here I come!!!"
"Hahahaha!!!"
"I can't believe this day has come! Lord Mang, do you remember me? From the moment I first saw you, I swore to serve you—I'm your most loyal Slave!"
Nearby, two women hugged each other, weeping with joy.
"Stop crying, stop crying... I never expected such a sudden blessing."
"I heard the Stellar doesn't call people Slaves—they're called Residents. And you can earn Stellar Coupons to buy all sorts of things at the Resident Store!"
From the crowd, an Azure Dragon slave anxiously ran up to Biao Zi and the others, excitedly saying, "Remember me? I was the one who said I'd help you blow up Carriage No. 2 of the Azure Dragon. Does this count as meritorious service for defection?"
"The moment I saw the Stellar Train, I felt like I was destined to belong there!"
"..."
Er Dan stood expressionless on the carriage. He had been feeling a bit sad about parting ways, but seeing his slaves so excited made him feel even worse.
Was the Stellar Train really that much better than the Azure Dragon?
After a long pause.
He sighed softly.
Fine.
It really was that much better. At least in terms of resident benefits, he didn't know any train that could compare to the Stellar.
Never mind. He wouldn't dwell on it. From now on, he'd focus on exploring the Serendipity Map. Then he jumped off the carriage and said softly to his Deputy Train Conductor and thugs nearby, "You've been with me for a long time. Next—"
"Don't worry, Egg Lord!"
The Deputy Train Conductor couldn't contain his excitement, standing ramrod straight as he shouted hoarsely, "Even if we go to the Stellar Train, we won't forget your nurturing and cultivation!"
"Us too," the thugs chimed in excitedly, nodding one after another.
"..."
The corner of Er Dan's mouth twitched slightly. After a long silence, he continued gloomily, "What I meant to say was, you'll continue adventuring with me. You're not going to the Stellar."
"..."
"..."
The smiles on everyone's faces slowly froze.
After a while, the Deputy Train Conductor tentatively said, "Well, Egg Lord..."
"Is there any chance you could suddenly strip me of my position now and demote me back to being a slave? That way I could legitimately go to the Stellar?"
"Don't even think about it."
Er Dan shot him an exasperated look. "Is the Azure Dragon's treatment that bad? From now on, the Azure Dragon will be a subsidiary train of the Stellar, specializing in exploring the Serendipity Map. You'll all be working with me—nowhere else to go."
"But Lord Mang said..."
"You'll also receive 'Stellar Coupons' based on merit. Don't think I don't know what you're after. Didn't you take a liking to those little celebrities at the last wedding?"
"Work hard, and you'll get your chance."
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