Old Pig, though nervous inside, still put on a fierce appearance.
He had always been in charge of internal affairs, never responsible for field work.
He wasn't really suited for putting on a fierce act, but he had no choice; lacking manpower, he had to bite the bullet and step up.
...
After Chen Mang stepped out of the carriage, he immediately began searching the other carriages.
There should still be plenty of resources in the other carriages.
But before he could send the slaves to collect resources from other carriages, he needed to gather up the firearms and other dangerous items to prevent unexpected incidents.
Their carriage was the seventh.
The eighth and ninth carriages behind them were for the slaves.
He first went to those two slave carriages, which were already empty, leaving only scattered clothing fragments and sticky blood all over the floor, with many iron ores dotted like stars in the blood puddles.
The carriages were almost completely destroyed.
Only the rough outline of the carriages could be seen, with the surrounding metal ripped open by zombies into numerous holes.
These two carriages could later be left to the slaves to directly collect resources.
The good stuff was in the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth carriages at the front.
The sixth carriage was the thugs' carriage, and everyone inside was already dead. However, since there weren't many people, it didn't look as gruesome as the eighth and ninth carriages. Quite a few firearms, batons, bullets, and magazines were scattered in the blood puddles.
He wasn't afraid of the mess.
He just slightly frowned, rolled up his sleeves, and started gathering everything to temporarily stash into his train head.
...
The fifth carriage was the supplies carriage, stocked with lots of bread, steamed buns, and mineral water. Additionally, there were some vehicle accessories, such as a "Level 1 Pure Water Filter," and some steamers and spatulas.
The fourth carriage was the warehouse.
It contained various types of ores, though not in large quantities.
An ore counted as one unit, and there were probably only a few hundred, equating to a few hundred units. Besides that, there were also many pickaxes and axes for mining.
The third carriage was the combat carriage.
The three heavy machine guns were mounted on the roof of this carriage. Inside were also two "Level 1 Bullet Production Lines" for manufacturing bullets for heavy machine guns and pistols, alongside a "Pistol Production Line." By all accounts, there should have been a lot of bullets stored here, but now it was empty, with only a few bullets scattered on the ground.
Those production lines were also damaged, and two of the three heavy machine guns were broken.
The second carriage seemed to be... the senior advisor's residence carriage.
It contained seven single beds, and the living conditions were markedly better than the slave carriage, though the carriage was now in disrepair. However, there were no traces of blood or clothing debris, suggesting the Train Captain abandoned the second carriage but took his trusted lieutenants with him.
He couldn't take down the heavy machine gun by himself from the carriage roof temporarily, so he made several trips to move the smaller firearms and bullets to his adjacent train head.
At this point—
He finally had some time to carefully examine the interior of his train.
The train head was not large.
Much smaller than the carriages, three meters wide and seven meters long.
The engine occupied three meters, leaving little internal space, which was much smaller than the slave carriages. At the end of the train head was a steel door, which appeared far more defensive than the metal carriages.
This steel door could only be opened by someone with Train Captain authority.
The operation of the train was simple as well, with mind-control inside the train room—it was quite sci-fi.
The train room was approximately twelve square meters, with glass embedded at the front allowing a clear view of the outside.
Standing inside the train room, gazing through the glass at the wasteland outside, Chen Mang inexplicably felt a surge of satisfaction in his heart. Owning a train of his own in this extremely dangerous wasteland was not an easy feat.
On the train control panel.
There were many buttons, one red button labeled "Train Panel."
Upon pressing this button, a detailed panel quickly appeared on the adjacent display screen.
-
"Train Name": TBD.
"Train Level": Level 1.
"Train Accessories": Level 1 Earth Core Melting Furnace.
"Number of Carriages": None.
"Ore Units": None.
"Upgrade Conditions": Requires owning 4 carriages, completing the seven necessary vehicle accessories, and consuming 5000 units of Level 1 iron ore.
-
Next to it was another red button labeled "Train Members."
It allowed appointments for Deputy Train Captain and Train Members, assigning different privileges to each member, like "Heavy Machine Gun" usage rights.
For example.
The weapons produced on the train's production line cannot be used against the Train Captain and Deputy Train Captain.
On the train, the Train Captain held absolute authority.
Another red button on the train control panel was for "Vehicle Accessories."
Pressing this button brought up a series of "Level 1 Train" vehicle accessories that could be crafted and the required resources, clearly marking which accessories were essential for train upgrades and which were not.
There were thirteen in total.
Among them, seven vehicle accessories were mandatory to craft for the train to upgrade. The remaining six accessories were optional.
Wait...
There were fourteen.
The thirteen vehicle accessories were marked with green for the top seven, while the bottom six were marked in white.
However, at the very bottom was a vehicle accessory with a deep red name that could only be crafted by trains with a "Rare Train Order."
"Goodness..."
As Chen Mang explored various functions of the train room, glancing at that red vehicle accessory, a hint of awe flashed in his eyes.
This Rare Train Order seemed even more formidable than he had imagined.
-
"Accessory Name": Wheel Changer.
"Accessory Grade": Red.
"Accessory Level": Level 1.
"Accessory Effect": Opens up space above each carriage's wheels to accommodate two sets of wheels, allowing a maximum of three sets to be switched freely.
"Upgrade Condition": 100 units of iron ore.
-
It appeared unremarkable, but it was indeed a valuable item.
Trains could have many types of wheels, each with different effects.
But with this, he could craft three sets of wheels and switch them freely when necessary with minimal impact on speed; this would allow him to handle various dangerous environments adeptly.
Each vehicle accessory, besides the panel introduction, also had an animation demonstration.
For instance, his train was currently using "tracks," and activating the wheel changer allowed a "Wind-Fire Wheel" set to extend from the side, and when the Wind-Fire Wheel landed successfully, the tracks retracted.
This would achieve quick wheel changes with hardly any impact on speed.
Typically changing wheels.
Required stopping the train at some location and having accompanying mechanics manually change the wheels, which was time-consuming. On the wasteland, one often wouldn't have so much time.
Following that...
Chen Mang gazed at the remaining thirteen vehicle accessories that could be crafted, took a deep breath, and decided to gather all the ores, seeing how many there were. In any case, he would first need to craft a "Warehouse Carriage" to serve as a slave carriage to take these slaves away.
Then use the 'Earth Core Melting Furnace' to devour those damaged carriages.
It sounded a bit like a greedy snake.
Just then—
Chen Mang suddenly felt the birthmark on the back of his hand warm slightly. Another novice Train Captain task had been completed, just manifesting after he had studied all the train room features.