Translator: AnubisTL
Night fell.
Inside the Stellaris train, the radar beeped incessantly. Countless zombies raced through the darkness in the distance.
Zzzt...
Vehicle Blades extended from both sides of the carriages, spinning at high speed. The blades crackled with electricity as they sliced through the air.
How could zombies possibly outrun a train?
In the blink of an eye, Chen Mang had steered the Stellaris to catch up with the horde. He tore through them like a tiger among sheep, or a red-hot iron plunged into snow. Countless limbs and blood splattered across the night sky in an instant.
It was a one-sided slaughter.
Occasionally, a zombie's claws would scrape against the train's armor, leaving not even a white mark.
Chen Mang retracted the Windfire Wheels and deployed the Spider Legs. This wheel accessory ensured his train wouldn't get stuck on zombie corpses, allowing him to rampage through the horde without restraint.
The Vehicle Blades had widened to 120 centimeters. Wherever they passed, limbs littered the ground.
The zombies could only flee for their lives, unable to inflict even a scratch on the Stellaris. But few creatures on the wasteland could outrun the Stellaris train in its current state.
These zombies certainly couldn't.
Yet... their numbers were simply too vast.
Chen Mang had lost count of how many zombies he had killed. Yet, at a glance, the number of zombies hadn't diminished. His brow furrowed as the zombie horde continued its relentless charge in a specific direction, seemingly completely ignoring him.
This reminded him of a recent message he had seen on the Train Radio.
It reported that the zombie hordes in the wasteland had become unusually violent lately. They were not only attacking trains but also frequently targeting other monsters, a rare occurrence in the past.
The anomaly before him immediately brought this message to mind.
"..."
Chen Mang narrowed his eyes slightly, his pace of slaughtering zombies unwavering. The moment he encountered the zombie horde, he had spent 500 Units of iron ore to craft a green-grade Accessory: the Powerful Magnet.
The blueprint for this accessory had dropped when he killed the Tier 3 Man-Eating Spider earlier that day.
Its effect was to collect all dropped items from monsters killed by the train or its crew within a certain range into the carriages.
He hadn't bothered crafting it until now, as it hadn't been immediately necessary.
But now, this accessory finally had a purpose. After spending 2,000 Units of iron ore to instantly upgrade the Powerful Magnet to Tier 5, he gained another corresponding overpowered effect.
Powerful Magnet (Tier 5 Overpowered Effect): All items dropped by monsters within range after their death are automatically collected into the carriage.
Furthermore, the range has expanded from a 100-meter radius centered on the train to a 500-meter radius.
"..."
Chen Mang's lips twitched slightly as he stared at the Powerful Magnet's overpowered effect. This might be the most overpowered effect he'd encountered among all the train components so far.
The original accessory merely allowed him to quickly collect loot in inconvenient environments like zombie hordes, where stopping the train was impractical.
The new overpowered effect, however, completely disregarded logic. It sucked up all dropped items from monsters killed by anyone within its range directly into the carriage.
How unreasonable.
He loved it.
A U-shaped magnet composed of several glowing lines materialized on the top of the train's engine. After a few seconds, the lines dispersed, leaving behind a dark, suitcase-sized U-shaped magnet embedded in the engine's roof.
Once he connected it to the generator through the circuit system and activated it...
In the night.
The U-shaped magnet continuously emitted waves of light, drawing any loose objects into the train carriages as it passed.
He didn't bother to check his loot, instead focusing on driving the train through the zombie horde. He wasn't sure if this horde was the same one that had been attacking him for days, but who cared? They were all zombies anyway.
The train's primary control system was mind-based.
This consciousness-based system allowed the train conductor to merge his consciousness with the train, controlling its movements with his thoughts. However, there were also mechanical manual controls, such as a throttle and control lever, not just as a backup.
Only upon death would a train conductor lose the ability to control the train with his mind.
These manual controls served two purposes: to assist with precise maneuvers and to provide the conductor with a tactile driving experience, allowing him to feel the immediate feedback from the train's systems.
About half an hour later...
The zombie tide had dissipated, leaving only a few hundred scattered zombies. In the city ruins, these few hundred zombies would be a disaster for the survivors hiding there. But before the Stellaris train, they were no more threatening than ants.
Yet...
"Hmm?"
Chen Mang, seated at the control panel, frowned slightly as he watched the zombies outside. They had suddenly stopped their relentless charge, halting their pursuit of the train.
He glanced back.
Behind him lay a long, crimson path composed of countless severed limbs and black blood.
The zombies had abruptly stopped, dropping to their knees like fanatical cultists and vomiting incessantly. Gouts of Flesh sprayed across the ground, creating a gruesome and nauseating scene.
They seemed utterly oblivious to the threat posed by his train.
At that moment, Chen Mang finally noticed the wasteland before him was covered in a thick layer of blood-red, viscous matter. He could make out numerous limbs—human, zombie wolf, man-eating spider, and even goblin.
After all, that green, slender arm was enough to tell that its owner must have been a goblin.
"This situation isn't looking good."
Though he didn't know what had happened, Chen Mang felt uneasy. He still knew too little about this world. It was best to leave now and return to the Doomsday Abyss to develop further. The outside world was too dangerous.
Just then—
Boom! Boom!
The ground suddenly began to tremble. The zombies kneeling on the ground started to roar incessantly. Then, a Tier 2 zombie standing on the crimson, viscous substance opened its maw wide, and a powerful suction force emanated from its mouth.
The crimson, viscous substance covering the ground was sucked into its mouth like a crimson tornado.
The Tier 2 zombie's body rapidly swelled in size, quickly growing to a towering ten meters tall. After all the flesh and viscous matter had been devoured, it let out a furious roar:
"Roar!!"
The ten-meter-tall zombie glared down at the Stellaris train with bloodshot eyes, its gaze filled with brutality and bloodlust. Its gaze pierced through the train's windows, locking onto Chen Mang, who sat at the control panel.
(End of the Chapter)
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