Old Pig arrives nervously, but leaves excitedly.
Inside the train compartment.
Chen Mang looked at the departing figure of Old Pig, shook his head with a faint smile, understanding well why Old Pig was so happy. On one hand, it was naturally hoped that the train could develop better while also providing a safe haven in this perilous apocalypse.
Moreover, it's only by considering such things that Old Pig can maximize his value, which is also his selfish desire. After all, if he completely disregarded these aspects, only fighting all day for fun, then Old Pig would hold little significance. Even if he was part of the earliest crew, his status would gradually decline over time.
He understands this quite well.
Everyone has selfish desires; if a person has none, they are likely thinking about some chaotic ideas like destroying the world.
...
Now, with only him alone in the train compartment, he picked up the pen and notebook from the table and began to jot down some thoughts.
"If you can use the train to hit people, don't waste bullets."
This was his combat summary for today.
Indeed.
He was somewhat regretful. At the time, when those people got off the train, he shouldn't have wasted bullets but rather just controlled the train to ram into them.
However, if the opponents scattered and fled back to their train, handling it would indeed be much more tricky.
With this thought, it wasn't so bad after all.
Then he took out the white vehicle accessory blueprint "Blade" from his pocket, and as he concentrated, 500 units of iron ore from Carriage No. 2 slowly turned into powder and melded into the train compartment.
Immediately after —
He felt the entire section of the train slightly tremble.
Stepping out of the train compartment, he stood on the wasteland, gazing at this very train of his.
"Hey!"
Standing on the wasteland, Chen Mang couldn't help but grin as he watched the spectacle before him. On both sides of the train head, including its three carriages, a steel blade emerged!
The position was about one meter from the ground.
Perfect to cut zombies in half at the waist.
"Blade" completely encased the entire compartment, with a thickness of around ten centimeters. The blade's edge was not yet honed and wasn't very sharp; even forcefully rubbing your hand against it wouldn't draw blood—the blade was too thick.
Nevertheless, when the train was set in motion, this "Blade" could indeed sever any carbon-based creature at the waist.
The "Blade" had a width of about 30 centimeters, which was the attack range.
-
"Accessory Name": Blade.
"Accessory Grade": White.
"Accessory Level": Level 1.
"Accessory Effect": Steel blades will be mounted on both sides of the compartment, causing damage to enemies approaching the vehicle during travel, which can be retracted at will.
"Upgrade Requirement": 100 units of iron ore.
-
"This..."
Chen Mang was slightly taken aback. He had initially intended to examine the accessory panel first before upgrading, as creating it already cost 500 units of iron ore, and upgrading would surely require more, which he currently didn't have.
Unexpectedly, upgrading to Level 2 required only 100 units of iron ore.
What was there to hesitate about?
Upgrade!
With the subsequent upgrade, the white vehicle accessory "Blade" impressively reached Level 2. The thickness of the steel blade seemed to thin slightly, and the blade seemed more noticeable, but its width had increased by a full 10 centimeters.
The width had now reached 40 centimeters.
During travel, any creature close to 40 centimeters to the compartment would fall victim to the blade.
The panel showed no significant changes except for the addition of a small line of text.
"This vehicle accessory's maximum level is Level 2; further upgrades are not possible."
"I don't believe it."
Chen Mang shook his head, his face showing a hint of expectation as he once more commanded: "Upgrade!"
However...
There was truly no change, as if it couldn't be upgraded further. Chen Mang glanced at the birthmark on the back of his hand, placing his right hand over the birthmark on his left hand and deepened his voice: "Upgrade."
Next moment —
"0-level authority detected; this vehicle accessory can continue upgrading, consuming 200 units of iron ore this time."
Immediately after!
The "Blade" started transforming further before his eyes, the blade thinning, and its width increased again by 10 centimeters, reaching 50 centimeters.
...
"Not bad."
Chen Mang couldn't help but smile. The main purpose of this upgrade was to experiment with the effect of the "Unlimited Upgrade" plug-in, which seemed fairly decent. Despite displaying 0-level authority on the panel, he didn't quite understand, but that was unimportant.
Just as Old Pig said, the white accessory "Blade" was merely a novice transition accessory.
No matter its effect, even at its fullest level, it might not be as good as some green-grade offensive vehicle accessories.
Even if it reaches Level 3, it won't be much superior to Level 1.
But—
He has no upper limit.
The effect of each upgrade to this accessory is thinner blades and wider blades. As long as he has enough iron ore, he can fully possess a "Blade" with a width of 10 meters.
Like wings, hung on both sides of the train, a push on the throttle and encountering any obstacle could directly allow takeoff.
And with no upgrade limit, it means that if he has enough iron ore, he can even strengthen the "Blade" so much that it becomes as thin as a cicada's wings, even invisible, killing in silence as he passes.
Wherever he goes, nothing grows!
No, he needs more iron ore!
Only then can he complete his grand plan!
Chen Mang withdrew his gaze from the "Blade" and looked towards his Train Captain Panel. He currently had only 700 units of iron ore and couldn't bear to upgrade the "Blade" again. This item seems hardly effective within Level 10, unable to cause a qualitative change.
A slave can acquire 1 unit of iron ore per hour, mining at full capacity for 12 hours a day could yield 12 units of iron ore.
He had 81 slaves.
The maximum iron ore obtainable in a day is approximately 972 units.
The maximum mining time is 12 hours; any more would be too exhausting. The main issue is ensuring there's ore to mine every day; accidental incidents abound in the wasteland. Currently, he only knows of one mine hole and hasn't discovered other mine techniques.
The most crucial point—
His train only comes with one initial "Energy Stone," and a single Energy Stone can only power the train at full speed for 100 hours. The train must reach Level 2 and manufacture a "Workshop" to produce Energy Stones.
It means that if not upgraded to Level 2 within 100 hours, the train will be completely out of commission.
He just calculated briefly.
If he does nothing but manufacture those necessary vehicle accessories for train upgrades, adding the iron ore consumed in the process, it would require approximately
"7100 units of iron ore, 110 units of copper ore, 100 units of wood."
Honestly, these requirements are not low, especially with a timeframe constraint.
At least, he currently doesn't know where to mine copper ore and wood.
For a novice Train Captain, it feels like a catastrophic start, and he wonders how other novice Train Captains survived this phase smoothly.