Translator: AnubisTL
After exiting the Goblin Ruins Map, Chen Mang wasted no time. He immediately activated his Civilization Token on the Sha River Plains, eager to use it and shorten the cooldown time.
The next moment—
A colossal portal materialized before him, its edges black and its center swirling with starlike patterns. Towering over thirty meters high, it was nearly tall enough for a heavy truck to drive through standing upright.
Whoosh...
With a blare of its horn, the Stellaris train surged into the massive portal, vanishing into an utterly dark void where neither light nor sound could penetrate. It felt as if they had entered the depths of outer space—eerily silent and desolate.
As the portal behind them slowly closed, the resource detection radar began to frantically beep. No underground mines registered; instead, all the mines were open-pit, and there were over a hundred of them.
"Holy crap..."
Chen Mang stared at the radar screen, his mouth slowly widening in awe as he counted the hundred-plus red dots representing mines. He was utterly shocked—he had never seen so many mines in one place before.
It felt like a kitten falling into a fishmonger's cage or a mouse in a barn—an inexhaustible bounty!
"..."
Chen Mang turned to the control panel screen, reading the lines of text that appeared:
[Goblin's Tomb]
[Time remaining: 47:59:38.]
He only had 48 hours in this place.
Taking a deep breath, he swiftly turned on the headlight, illuminating the surroundings. Without hesitation, he pushed the control lever forward, accelerating the train. With such limited time, he needed to maximize his gains by finding higher-tier iron ore, like Tier 3.
The area was currently dense with Tier 2 ore, but if Tier 2 deposits were this abundant, Tier 3 deposits couldn't be far behind.
The train residents were already working at peak efficiency, but discovering Tier 3 iron mines would increase production tenfold.
Three minutes later, two adjacent Tier 3 iron mines appeared on the resource detection radar. He immediately brought the train to a halt.
A message echoed in the minds of all train residents:
["Everyone will work continuously for the next 48 hours, starting now. Cola, food, and water will be provided without limit and free of charge."
"No sleep for the next 48 hours.]
Immediately, a large group of train residents rushed out, pickaxes in hand, their faces alight with excitement as they headed toward the Mining Area.
"Sigh."
Chen Mang gazed out the window and sighed wistfully. He'd almost said, "Three cigarettes for everyone"—those things were great for staying alert. But tobacco was a non-renewable resource, and the train didn't have much left. Distributing three cigarettes to each resident would nearly deplete their reserves.
Though they could collect plenty of tobacco on every trip to the City, it was still a finite resource. Every cigarette smoked was one less they had.
I wonder if there's a Cigarette Production Line somewhere, Chen Mang thought. They already have a Beer Production Line, so why not cigarettes?
They only had 48 hours to stay here.
What's the point of sleeping? Chen Mang decided. There's no time for that. Even with unlimited cola, we'll be utterly exhausted after the first dozen hours of digging. But... we'll grit our teeth and mine as much as we can.
Meat wasn't an everyday luxury, so when they had the chance, they devoured it without hesitation. Who could think about saving it for later when there was meat to eat?
If...
If he left the train residents in this space with ample food and water, then returned to retrieve them later, would that work?
The space seemed safe enough. His target acquisition radar hadn't detected any monsters.
But deep down, he suspected it wouldn't work.
"Huh?"
Doba, still lost in thought after seeing the goblin murals, didn't rush out the moment the train doors opened. Instead, he disembarked with the crowd, his spirits somewhat dampened. But then he saw it.
In the distance... a pitch-black, unfathomable abyss.
Underfoot, the uneven ground was riddled with potholes. The familiar stench of decay hung in the air. And jutting out of the earth was half a pickaxe handle. After a long moment of stunned silence, he looked up at the others and muttered:
"Are we... home?"
"I don't even remember dying."
"So... we're not dead?"
"If I didn't die, how did I get back here?" Doba stood frozen in place, utterly bewildered for a long moment. Finally, he turned to look at the Stellaris train behind him and the train residents nearby, already swinging their pickaxes at the ground. It was then that the realization dawned on him.
"The human seer seems to be even more powerful than I thought."
"Can anyone just come into a place like this?"
Every time he died, he would end up in this desolate space. His fellow clansmen would fall into a deathlike slumber, but he alone remained conscious. Armed with nothing but a Tier 1 pickaxe, he would painstakingly mine this desolate zone, chipping away at the ore, one strike at a time.
He didn't even have a Tier 3 pickaxe back then, just his basic Tier 1 tool.
He had no idea how long he had been mining.
Nor did he feel any fatigue.
Each time he died, he would return to this place and continue digging. Time lost all meaning. Then, one day, a goblin train was forged.
He remembered being ecstatic.
He recklessly drove the goblin train through the silent space, excitedly sharing his joy with his slumbering clansmen, even though they couldn't hear a word he said. He didn't care.
Later, the goblin train grew stronger, even upgrading to Tier 2. Doba piloted it on mission after mission, always returning flawlessly. He was thrilled, as if the creation of this train meant the Goblin Civilization hadn't been completely extinguished.
Then, one day in the Doomsday Abyss, he encountered a human seer. The goblin train he had spent countless days crafting was utterly destroyed.
He was devastated.
In that moment, he felt as if he had truly died.
But when the human seer persuaded him to submit and promised to help rebuild the Goblin Civilization, his despair vanished. This seer was immensely powerful; with his assistance, the Goblin Civilization would surely rise again.
Moreover, the seer treated the goblins with respect, never commenting on their appearance.
It was an honor for Doba to serve such a person.
"That human seer... he's incredible," the black market merchant beside Doba murmured, his eyes wide with awe.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Doba's eyes flashed with pride before he clapped the black market merchant on the shoulder. "I know you can't handle heavy work. Just stay on the train while I take care of things. And remember, don't use your abilities recklessly, or you'll never make it back here."
In truth, the black market merchant could leave the train whenever he wished; no one could stop him. He chose to stay of his own free will.
Initially, he had remained out of loyalty to Doba, eager to rebuild the Goblin Civilization alongside him. But after hearing countless tales of the train conductor from Doba and witnessing the devastating power of the missile firsthand, the black market merchant had genuinely pledged his allegiance to Chen Mang.
Doba took a deep breath, the lingering disappointment in his mind vanishing instantly. He hoisted his pickaxe onto his shoulder, followed by a hundred goblins who roared at the top of their lungs, "Foolish humans, get the hell out of the way for the great Doba!"
Though the black market merchant hadn't fully regained his wisdom like Doba, he still possessed enough to understand the situation.
He had lost even more memories than he realized.
Yet...
The fact that he was the only goblin clansman who could still hold a somewhat coherent conversation with him filled him with a strange sense of joy.
Inside the silent space, the train residents swung their pickaxes tirelessly at the Tier 3 Iron Mine, completely absorbed in their task.
After all, mining opportunities weren't an everyday occurrence. Without ore to mine, they couldn't earn stellar coupons. And with free Cola flowing these past two days, continuously replenishing their stamina, a good night's sleep in two more days would have them fully recovered.
"Hmm?"
A middle-aged man, his mind wandering, accidentally struck the ground beside the ore vein with his pickaxe. As he prepared to swing again, the unfamiliar sensation made him pause. Instinctively, he crouched down, brushed away the loose soil, and unearthed a train token.
A flicker of astonishment crossed the man's eyes. Almost immediately, he casually bent down, scooped up the token, and clutched it tightly in his palm, which began to sweat profusely.
His eyes were filled with inner turmoil.
Life on the Stellaris was good, far better than on any other train he'd been on. But... if he could own his own train, he could live like Lord Mang.
That kind of life would be even better.
But...
Half a minute later, the middle-aged man gradually calmed down. With a long sigh, he finally clutched the train token in his hand and strode toward the guard. The moment he made his decision, the massive weight in his chest lifted, and he felt the tension drain from his body, leaving him suddenly relaxed.
In those thirty seconds, his mind had raced. He'd considered how to escape the Stellaris and build his own train from scratch, how to acquire slaves, how to compete with other trains for mines in the region, how a Tier 1 train could survive against monsters, and how to withstand the Stellaris's inevitable retaliation.
He'd thought it all through, only to arrive at one conclusion: certain death.
Moreover, if he didn't surrender the token promptly and was discovered hoarding it, the Train Rules would still condemn him to death. Though he yearned for autonomy, he ultimately admitted to himself that he lacked the ability to manage his own train.
Building a train required only a single train token.
But keeping it running was a different story.
I should just save up for a refrigerator, he thought. That would give me some peace of mind.
"A train token?" Wildcat accepted the item from the train resident and gave him a thorough once-over. "I'll report this to Brother Biao. What's your resident ID? The reward will be deposited directly into your account. You can check your stellar coupon balance on your Iris Chip."
"Resident ID 891." The middle-aged man sighed in relief, a smile spreading across his face as he recited the number.
He felt lighter now that he'd turned it in. He clearly wasn't cut out to be a boss; just the thought of it had soaked his back with sweat.
---
"Damn it!"
In the Kunlun Mountain Region, Erdan sat anxiously at the control panel of the Azure Dragon, frantically searching for Chen Mang's chat window on the train radio and typing a rapid stream of messages.
He couldn't reach Chen Mang at all.
What on earth is he doing?
Could he really be sleeping in broad daylight? Even if he were, wouldn't the AI have alerted him by now? Chen Mang couldn't possibly have set the AI to ignore all alarms, even if the world were ending, could he?
After trying for over fifteen minutes without success, Erdan finally sighed deeply, his eyes filled with helplessness and frustration. "Brother," he muttered, "I always think of you first when something good comes up. But if I can't reach you, it's not my fault."
"This is the apocalypse, brother."
"Why aren't you staying in the locomotive cabin? What the hell are you wandering around for? You didn't decide to go mining on your own with a pickaxe, did you?"
The prolonged silence could only mean one thing: Chen Mang was no longer in the locomotive cabin. As for where he was, Erdan had no idea, but he was definitely not there. Otherwise, he would have heard Erdan's shouts sthrough the train radio, his voice was already hoarse from the shouting.
Then, Erdan turned his gaze to the dark, gaping hole before him.
Yes.
Deep underground, obsessed with exploring hidden maps, he learned that all the monsters in the Kunlun Mountain Region had vanished. His first thought was that a hidden map must be about to open there; there was no other explanation for such a phenomenon.
Driven by this hunch, he immediately set out to investigate, relentlessly probing the area.
His perseverance finally paid off when he spotted an anomaly from above—a valley that seemed utterly out of place, as if it had been bombarded by overwhelming firepower. He maneuvered his train through the subterranean tunnels, determined to uncover the truth.
Sure enough, he soon encountered an impossibly tough wall of flesh—a barrier even his drill couldn't penetrate.
His experience told him that a hidden map lay beyond this grotesque barrier. Without hesitation, he began circling the fleshy wall deep underground, desperately seeking an entrance or a weak point.
Finally—
He found it: a crude hole forced through the flesh, barely wide enough for his train to pass.
He had initially planned to contact Chen Mang and explore the hidden map together, but Chen Mang remained unresponsive. Reluctantly, he decided to proceed alone.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly guided the train into the hole. After piercing through several meters of thick flesh, he successfully entered the cavern. The moment the headlight flickered on, the cavern's interior was instantly illuminated.
Two enormous worm monsters loomed before him.
A screeching roar echoed in his ears.
"Run! Run now!"
Words slowly materialized on the screen:
[Flesh Train-Exclusive Encounter: The Armory.]
He felt his breath catch almost instantly, his heart pounding violently as he frantically maneuvered the train to escape.
In one last glance before fleeing, he saw countless small flesh spiders scurrying across the cavern ceiling like mechanical nanospiders, rapidly repairing something.
As he pulled away, he noticed an equally dense swarm of spiders inside the tunnel, frantically repairing the edges of the entrance.
(End of the Chapter)
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