Translator: AnubisTL
"Big Brother, what's your name?"
"Chen Mang."
"Got it, Brother Mang."
After this brief exchange, they fell silent, continuing to sit cross-legged and chew their food.
Chen Mang found he couldn't eat much more. He saved two steamed buns and a bag of pickled vegetables, stuffing them into his pockets for later. His pockets bulged with the supplies.
Soon—
They weren't given much time.
At the thug's bellowed command, all the slaves formed a long, dragon-like line and filed into the mine cave.
The entrance was merely a small hole in an earthen mound, resembling an animal den and easily overlooked. But the moment one stepped inside, its peculiar nature became apparent.
The tunnel spiraled downward into the earth.
After about ten minutes of walking, they reached a three-way fork. As prearranged, Chen Mang led the slaves from Carriage Seven down the leftmost path, while the other two carriages took the remaining routes.
He strode confidently into the tunnel with the slaves from Carriage Seven and continued for what felt like half an hour before finally reaching their destination.
The scene ahead suddenly opened up dramatically.
It felt as if they had entered a vast cavern, its ceiling towering seven or eight meters high. The spacious interior was lit by the faint light of glowing moss, and the floor was dotted with black, lumpy iron ore deposits, each about a meter tall.
The iron ore formations resembled cauliflower-like lesions, their surfaces covered in bumps and nodules.
"Is this... a mine?" Chen Mang narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the iron nodules sprouting from the cavern floor. This can't be how mining works, he thought. This is nothing like what I imagined.
"Mhm," Old Pig nodded, hefting his pickaxe. "Big Brother, you know that after the Apocalypse, the world underwent subtle but unique changes—supernatural transformations. Take the train, for example. With a Train Token, you can conjure your own train from thin air."
"Resource zones like mines have also become more common."
"Mining here is different from before. No refining needed. Slaves just swing pickaxes at the iron ore. An adult male can typically extract one unit of Iron Ore per hour."
"This is a basic Tier 1 Iron Ore mine—the lowest grade."
"We're lucky. These mines are generally safe to operate, unlike some where you have to dig in magma. Those are incredibly dangerous."
"This material is the primary resource for upgrading your train."
"Check out the pickaxe's stats, Brother Mang."
Chen Mang took the pickaxe from Old Pig, hefted it, and a stat panel materialized before him.
Tool Name: Pickaxe
Tool Tier: Tier 1
Tool Effect: Can mine Tier 1 Mines.
The stat panel remained visible only to Chen Mang. However, Old Pig's explanation made it clear that anyone wielding the pickaxe could see it. This suggested that the Apocalypse had brought about significant supernatural changes to the world, which helped Chen Mang understand the situation.
"How do we obtain Train Tokens?" Chen Mang asked softly.
"There are many ways," Old Pig replied. "Any monster we kill has a chance to drop a Train Token, though the odds are slim. Higher-tier monsters have a greater chance of dropping them."
"So far, the most common Tier 1 Monster we encounter is the Zombie. A single zombie isn't strong; an adult with a sharp weapon could easily handle one. But they rarely appear alone—they usually come in zombie hordes."
"If the train gets surrounded by a zombie horde before we can break through, it could easily be trapped and destroyed."
"After carefully inspecting the train's wheels, I've confirmed they're Tier 1 Windfire Wheels. Their advantage is maintaining the fastest speed in their tier on flat terrain like the wasteland, but they're useless on rough terrain—they can only travel on smooth ground. Plus, these wheels get stuck easily on zombies. If we switched to Tier 1 Track Wheels, we'd handle such situations much better, though we'd lose some speed."
"It's all about trade-offs."
"There's also the Market. Train Conductors occasionally gather there to trade their goods, offering opportunities to buy what we need. But as slaves, we have no chance of going there."
"Those are the only two channels for now. There aren't any other options."
"Understood."
Chen Mang nodded slightly, lost in thought. Meanwhile, the slaves around him had already swung their pickaxes against the iron ore scattered across the cavern floor. No prompting was needed; each knew the drill, instinctively falling into the familiar rhythm of labor.
The slaves didn't need to be told to work; they were self-motivated.
Upgrading the train required resources, and mining those resources depended on their labor. In this world, they were the sole productive workforce, making their value self-evident.
"Hey, Brother Mang, I'm heading to the mine now," one of the slaves called out.
"Go ahead," Chen Mang replied.
Nearly a hundred slaves were crammed into the mine cave, swinging their crude iron pickaxes against the iron ore veins. The rhythmic clang of metal gradually merged into a unified din.
Yet no dust rose, and the iron ore on the ground remained unchanged.
Chen Mang scanned the mine cave before retreating to a secluded corner at the back. There, he began studying the Train Conductor Panel granted by his Birthmark.
The panel displayed three newbie Train Conductor missions. Only by completing these missions could he unlock its other functions.
The apocalypse had been raging for some time, and many people's trains had undoubtedly been upgraded to high Tiers. In this chaotic, dog-eat-dog world, lacking a sufficiently secure train meant forfeiting even basic safety.
Relying on others for survival was never a sustainable path.
Chen Mang had no desire to become a slave.
For someone starting behind like him, the Train Conductor Panel offered an invaluable advantage.
Of the three Newbie Train Conductor Missions, the latter two—recruiting followers and killing ten Zombies—seemed relatively straightforward. Only the first mission, "Acquire Your Own Train," seemed difficult.
According to Old Pig, obtaining a Train Token was no easy feat. Chen Mang would need to devise a clever strategy.
"..."
Lost in thought, Chen Mang drew the GLS Pistol from his waistband and examined it. The standard-issue handgun felt solid and heavy in his hand, its matte black finish cool to the touch.
The magazine was fully loaded with nine rounds.
(End of Chapter)
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