Translator: AnubisTL
"Alright, alright, let's get to work," Old Pig said, patting Biaozi on the shoulder with a sigh. "I've got things to take care of. Lord Mang said we can only stay here for 48 hours, so move!"
"Go on," Biaozi replied.
He glanced at Zhang Damei in the distance, already hacking relentlessly at the ground with her axe, searching for buried resources. He sighed softly, secretly resolving that after these next few days...
He would force himself to eat forty slices of bread every day!
He'd stuff them down his throat if he had to!
Ten slices of bread yielded only one unit of iron ore, and each meat sandwich required one unit. He planned to combine this with the Combat Training Virtual Space to accelerate his comprehensive physical fitness to 13.5 as quickly as possible. He was eager to pilot a mech soon.
But...
The long-term gains in physical fitness from eating bread were painfully slow. It had been over ten days since he obtained the Iris Chip, and he'd spent all that time mining on the tallest mountain in the northern Sha River Plains.
Yet his comprehensive physical fitness had only improved from 12.1 to 12.2.
The improvement was barely noticeable.
At this rate, how long would it take to raise his comprehensive physical fitness to 13.5? The single decimal place displayed only masked the hidden digits. He had no way of knowing if he'd improved from 12.19 to 12.2, or from 12.1 to 12.2.
I can only...
Biaozi clenched his teeth, his gaze burning with envy as he watched Zhang Damei piloting her mech in the distance. I can only eat more bread slices. A hundred fucking slices!
He wasn't even sure if eating more bread would help.
After all, this was the apocalypse.
Individual strength was always negligible. Even with a comprehensive physical fitness of 20.0, a single burst from a heavy machine gun would turn you into a bloody mist. Hadn't he seen Zhang Damei, with her tough physique, fall to his Gatling fire in the arena?
No matter how high your physical fitness, bare-handed against a Tier 2 monster, you were useless.
The only real advantage of increased physical fitness was the ability to wield heavy single-soldier weapons that demanded it—like... mechs.
Chen Mang summoned Old Pig, gave him a few instructions, then recorded the coordinates of their location on the control panel screen before slowly pushing the control lever, guiding the Stellaris deeper into the black mist.
As the train departed, visibility in the mine instantly plummeted, leaving only the dim light of dozens of flashlights. Watching the Stellaris disappear into the mist, the train residents abandoned their work, their faces etched with panic as they peppered each other with anxious questions.
"Where did Lord Mang go?"
"Brother Biao, what's Lord Mang up to? Is he coming back?"
"Did something happen?"
The initial excitement had completely vanished, replaced by anxiety and unease.
Earlier, their enthusiasm had stemmed from the free Cola they'd enjoyed for the past few days, the abundance of Tier 2 and Tier 3 Ore to mine for more stellar coupons, the security of knowing the Tier 3 Ore would strengthen the Stellaris, and the thrill of exploring an unknown place.
But as the Stellaris disappeared into the mist, those emotions curdled into apprehension.
None of them knew where they were.
In this place devoid of moon and sky, plunged into absolute darkness, gazing upward revealed only the fathomless void. While the Stellaris train had been stationed here, they had felt relatively secure. But the moment it departed, panic seized them.
What if a monster appeared? They would be trapped, awaiting their deaths, with nowhere to flee.
"Quiet!" Biaozi said, his face icy as he held a megaphone. "Pay attention to the notification from President Ai in the upper left corner. Lord Mang has ventured deeper to scout ahead. There are no monsters in this space, so your safety is guaranteed."
"Even if danger arises, we'll hold the line until Lord Mang returns."
"Everyone, get back to mining. Just like before. Stay calm."
"Is Tier 3 the highest-grade ore here?" Chen Mang murmured, gazing at the resource detection radar on the control panel in the desolate, darkness-shrouded space. While the two Tier 3 Iron Mines were already excellent, they still weren't the Tier 3 "Red Heart Rock" deposit deep beneath the Iron Ridge Wasteland.
The Tier 3 ore deposit was small and quickly exhausted in just over an hour, yielding 180,000 units of Red Heart Rock.
In contrast, the two Tier 3 iron mines held vast reserves, estimated at several million units of iron ore—enough to sustain mining operations for 48 hours.
He had already been gone for ten minutes.
As he traveled, the resource detection radar beeped incessantly, revealing abundant Tier 1 and Tier 2 ores, with occasional Tier 3 deposits. Yet, he had yet to encounter a single Tier 4 deposit.
"Doba," he called out, turning to the goblin at his side. Doba was the only companion he had brought, as the goblin served as their guide in this region.
"You know this place well. Are there any Tier 4 ores here?"
Doba shook his head earnestly. "My memories are fragmented. I didn't witness the fall of the Goblin Civilization—I didn't live long enough to see it. I died before that happened."
"Most of my memories are lost; only fragments remain."
"I only remember that ever since I can remember, I've reappeared in this space after each death. Scattered items are buried beneath the ground. After digging up a train token and a pickaxe, I started building the goblin train."
"I don't know exactly how large this place is."
"I've never encountered any Tier 4 Ore here, so I don't know if it exists."
Chen Mang nodded silently, his brow furrowing slightly as he continued driving deeper into the darkness. He had long since lost contact with Biaozi and the others, but the death of any crew member would immediately appear on his train roster, allowing him to rush back in case of an emergency.
So, the highest-grade ore in this space might only be Tier 3?
Just then—
"Hmm?"
In the distance, he spotted the wreckage of a train, its seven carriages severely dilapidated and abandoned. Chen Mang slowly brought the Stellaris to a halt before it, then hopped out with Doba and Xiao Ai to examine the wreckage more closely.
The carriages were completely empty.
The locomotive cabin was completely empty, devoid of wreckage, scattered resources, or food. As they approached, a thick, putrid stench filled the air.
The train appeared to be of a lower tier, likely a Tier 2 or Tier 3 model.
Its only peculiar feature was that the wheels weren't Windfire Wheels or spider legs, but rather goblin corpses. Four goblin skeletons supported each carriage. Despite the unknown passage of time, dozens of these skeletal figures still stood rooted in place, bearing the weight of the train on their shoulders.
The sight resembled the human centipede.
"Wh-what is this?" Doba stammered, momentarily stunned by the scene. Then, a long-buried memory resurfaced, and he erupted in a ferocious roar of rage: "Those beasts! Those damned beasts actually went through with it!"
"What's wrong?" Chen Mang frowned, examining the eerie, dilapidated goblin train. "Do you recognize these strange wheels? They couldn't possibly be made from goblin merchants, could they?"
This was the first time Chen Mang had ever seen humanoid wheels. While he knew of many specialized wheel types, such as spider legs, using goblins as wheels seemed particularly bizarre. He had once fleetingly considered using goblin merchants for this purpose, given their impressive load-bearing capacity, strong legs, and remarkable endurance.
But it had only been a passing thought. Even when lightly loaded, goblin merchants could only reach speeds of 150 kilometers per hour, significantly slower than other wheel types.
The only potential advantage might have been fuel efficiency: ten slices of bread and a bottle of Cola per hundred kilometers.
"No," Doba said, taking a deep breath. His eyes were reddened, his body tense, and his voice trembled slightly. "These wheels are made from black market merchants."
"Before I died, I remember the Goblin Thinktank proposing a plan to build a train using black market merchants as wheels. This would grant the train the merchants' ability to teleport randomly, allowing it to infiltrate enemy territory undetected—a ghostly train that vanished without a trace."
"But—"
"When a black market merchant teleports randomly while carrying a heavy load, the load doesn't come with them; only the merchant teleports. The only way to make this work is to embed the merchants directly into the train—an utterly cruel act."
"Especially since each black market merchant teleports randomly, making it impossible to coordinate their destinations. Add to that the numerous unresolved technical challenges and the fact that nearly all goblins opposed subjecting their own kin to such barbarity."
"Most importantly, black market merchants are considered blessed by the goblin race. This plan would violate our ancestral traditions!"
"As a result, the plan was shelved indefinitely."
"Yet after my death, they somehow overcame all the obstacles and created this train with black market merchants as its wheels. Unlike us, these merchants possess minimal natural strength. Imagine the agony of bearing the weight of such a massive train on their shoulders, crushed half to death and then kept alive through artificial means—a fate crueler than anything our enemies would inflict!"
A flicker of awe crossed Chen Mang's eyes as he gazed at the wrecked goblin train before him. Though somewhat inhumane, he had to admit the concept was brilliant: a train capable of random teleportation could indeed become a phantom train, shrouding enemies in a terrifying haze of dread.
Yet...
How would they resupply ammunition during a major battle? What if the train teleported straight into the heart of an enemy army? A host of glaring problems arose, including the seemingly insurmountable challenge of coordinating the teleportation of all goblin merchants to a single point. He couldn't conceive of a solution.
Sure enough, the moment war erupted, a swarm of "genius" ideas would surface.
Chen Mang sighed softly, acknowledging that humans were no different. The instant conflict ignited, countless "masterminds" would emerge, churning out black technology after black technology.
"Train Conductor," Doba pleaded, his eyes bloodshot. "I want to bury our fallen here. They sacrificed too much."
"Then bury them," Chen Mang replied, watching Doba begin digging graves. He glanced back at the goblin train but decided against having the Geothermal Core Furnace devour the wreckage. A discarded Tier 2 or 3 goblin train wouldn't yield much iron ore, even when smelted.
Especially since Doba was still sobbing uncontrollably.
If Chen Mang devoured the train right in front of the families of the deceased, it would be as if digging up their graves and scattering their ashes to the wind. This would make managing the crew even more challenging in the future.
The goblin remains had likely been there for quite some time. With just a few light taps from Doba's pickaxe, the skeletal frames crumbled into a heap of bones. However, the skeletal arm on the train's side had completely fused with the metal, making it nearly impossible to remove without forcibly prying it loose.
Chen Mang leaned on his cane, unconsciously rubbing the smooth ruby at its tip. He gazed into the pitch-black depths ahead, lost in silent contemplation.
Soon, Doba had tossed all the goblin remains into the pit, piled a small mound of earth over them, and approached Chen Mang with reddened eyes. Lowering his head, he rasped, "It's a pity. If they had met someone like you, Master, they might not have met such a tragic end."
"Mm."
Chen Mang nodded without further comment. He led Doba and Xiao Ai back into the locomotive cabin, and the train resumed its journey into the dark abyss.
Thirty minutes later...
Bang!
The Stellaris train crashed heavily into a wall. Its rapidly spinning drill bit pressed against the surface, grinding away furiously. But after five full minutes, the wall remained completely unscathed.
Chen Mang, seated in the locomotive cabin, stared at the towering earthen barrier before him. He had reached the edge of this space. The wall loomed impossibly high; even after ascending to an altitude of 5,500 meters, he couldn't see over its crest.
The situation underground was no different.
His drill had already been upgraded to Tier 50, powerful enough to bore through even the walls of the flesh train map. Yet against this barrier, it seemed utterly ineffective.
This was the end of the line.
He slowly retracted the drill, abandoning further attempts. Judging by the wall's resistance, even upgrading the drill to Tier 100 likely wouldn't make a dent. He realized he might have developed a bad habit.
In the past, Chen Mang would have simply detoured or given up when encountering barriers like the Area Barrier. But now, with his Tier 50 Drill, he felt compelled to drill through anything he saw, just in case it worked.
"Time to head back," he muttered, shaking his head and turning away from the wall. It was clearly the edge of the map, and even if he managed to breach it from the inside—a daunting task—he doubted any good would come of it.
Instead of retracing his steps, he drove parallel to the wall along its edge.
An hour later, the Stellaris returned to Biaozi and the others. As the headlight flickered on, the surroundings finally lit up. The anxious train residents breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Along the way, they hadn't seen another goblin train besides the wrecked one, but they did come across numerous scattered goblin corpses strewn across the ground.
(End of the Chapter)
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