Translator: AnubisTL
Time passed.
The woman finished, once again resting her head gently on his chest like a docile wildcat.
He stared blankly out the window, silently vowing to avenge this humiliation. He knew he couldn't defeat the Stellaris, but once he reached the Yellow Zone...
His brother would settle the score.
No one had ever dared to insult him like this!
Just then—
The woman on his chest whispered, "There's something I forgot to tell you. You got two murphy stones today, right? Can you use them to upgrade me?"
Whew
The young man exhaled in relief. Good, at least though the woman had control over all the train's accessories, only he could upgrade them. He'd been pondering a question for some time.
If he destroyed the Train Auxiliary AI and built a new one from scratch, would the new AI have fewer permissions? He wasn't sure if it could retain its A-Rank potential.
He couldn't reach his brother through the train radio, so he had to relay messages through the old man from earlier. He dared not discuss such matters over the train radio, as the woman knew everything. His Brother's train was a higher Tier than his, and they couldn't meet in the Combat Training Space.
Just...
It seemed unlikely. AI didn't sleep. Before he could smash the Train Auxiliary AI, he figured the woman would press the self-destruct button first, unless some crisis happened to completely destroy the Train Auxiliary AI without harming him.
...
Stellaris
"A waste of time," Chen Mang muttered, shaking his head as he left the Combat Training Space. He didn't dwell on the matter. If they didn't provoke him, fine. But if they dared to, he'd see if they could withstand a barrage of 100,000 Tier 6 Shells.
Night fell.
All the train residents were asleep. Chen Mang felt drowsy too. After a quick wash, he stripped and climbed into bed.
Under a sky full of stars, the Stellaris lay sprawled across the Sha River Plains like an iron dragon.
"Roar... roar..."
Monster sounds occasionally echoed in the distance, but they were just scattered, insignificant creatures. Before they could even approach, Zhang Damei, piloting the Executioner mech and wielding her massive axe, had already slaughtered them all, not disturbing the train's residents in the slightest.
But tonight, the monsters seemed more numerous than usual.
Two lines of text gradually appeared on the control panel screen:
Ding! Detected fourteen Tier 3 zombies approaching the train.
Danger Level: Zero. No need to wake the train conductor.
No sound, just these two lines slowly appearing on the screen. This was Xiao Ai's judgment logic manifested, similar to a historical record. The next day, when the train conductor woke up and saw the record, they would know what had likely happened the previous night.
"Tier 3 zombies?"
Outside the train.
Zhang Damei, piloting the Executioner mech, glanced at the monster information President Ai had sent her. Then she looked at the dozen or so zombies charging toward the train from the darkness in the distance. Each of these creatures stood a towering four to five meters tall. Her eyes gleamed with excitement as she gripped her axe, patiently waiting.
In the night, the dozen colossal zombies rapidly closed in on the train, a truly awe-inspiring sight.
If this had been before...
She would have been paralyzed with fear and already running for her life. But after all the training she'd endured in the Combat Training Virtual Space and the countless experiences she'd shared with the train, plus piloting this mech, she felt absolutely fearless!
Finally—
When the dozen giant zombies reached the train, Zhang Damei roared and told the second team members to watch her from behind. Then, she leaped into the air alone to meet the charging horde head-on!
Boom!
When the giant axe slammed down onto the head of a zombie, the massive creature was split clean in two. Its body froze in place for a moment before slowly collapsing to either side.
A stench of putrid blood and gore immediately filled the air.
Zhang Damei didn't hesitate for a moment, her face flushed with excitement as she maneuvered her mech to charge at the remaining zombies.
Meanwhile, several more zombies had already reached the train, roaring ferociously and pounding their fists against the carriages with terrifying force. Yet their attacks proved futile, leaving not a scratch on the armor.
Thanks to the Permanent Shock Absorber, the interior of the train remained remarkably stable, with no sense of impact. The sleeping train residents remained completely unaware of the horde of zombies besieging their carriages.
...
Inside High-Tier Talent Carriage 5, Yan Yao sat on the edge of her bed, her expression complex as she gazed out the window at the zombies relentlessly pounding the train. This was her first time seeing zombies up close, and these were Tier 3 zombies, each standing four or five meters tall, their sheer size utterly awe-inspiring.
If she were outside the train, she might have already wet her pants.
But here, inside the train...
She felt completely safe, not a trace of fear, and could even examine the rotting wounds on the zombies with careful attention.
Just then—
Drip.
A raindrop landed on the glass. A muffled thunderclap followed, and the rain intensified rapidly. A howling storm swept in, even carrying faint snowflakes.
This was the first rain-snow mix of the winter.
The storm had escalated from the first raindrop to a full-blown tempest in less than a minute. Countless raindrops soaked the zombies, but they ignored the downpour, continuing their relentless assault on the train and the mech leaping through the rain.
The rain left no trace on the glass.
The battle outside remained clearly visible.
"This feels much safer and more comfortable than the safe room in my villa," Yan Yao murmured, gazing at the scene outside.
"Of course," Ji Chuchu agreed, sitting beside her on the bed and looking out the window. After a moment, she continued, "Brother Biao said that when they went to rescue you, they found a middle-aged man hanging dead in your villa's living room. His lower body had been completely devoured by monsters. Did you know him?"
"He was our family driver. He was at the villa when the apocalypse began."
"Why did he hang himself?"
"At first, I brought him into the safehouse with me. He managed to stay calm for a while, but after two months of waiting for rescue with no sign of it, he seemed to lose hope and started banging his head against the wall, trying to kill himself."
"He hit the wall with so much force that his head was covered in blood and he passed out. I thought he was dead, and worried about his body rotting, so I carried him out of the safehouse."
"Now it seems he wasn't dead then, just unconscious. When he woke up, he went to the living room and hanged himself."
Ji Chuchu paused for a moment before asking softly, "Did you really bring him into the safehouse when the apocalypse began?"
Yan Yao suddenly laughed, her eyes filled with helplessness.
"Of course not. When the apocalypse first hit, monsters were everywhere, and people were dying all around. How could I have dared to stay in a safehouse with a hulking brute? He didn't even know there was a safehouse in the basement."
"I ran in alone and locked the door behind me. I have no idea why he chose to hang himself instead of trying to escape later. Maybe he realized he couldn't escape."
Just then—
"ROAR! ROAR!!!"
A chorus of increasingly ferocious roars erupted, abruptly interrupting their conversation. Through the torrential rain, an endless tide of zombies charged toward the train, their numbers growing with each wave.
"It's a zombie horde."
Ji Chuchu gazed out the window at the zombies frantically fleeing through the torrential rain, her expression a mixture of emotions as she murmured softly, "A zombie horde."
Inside the Stellaris train, lines of text scrolled rapidly across the control panel's screen:
Beep... Zombie horde detected.
Highest-Tier zombie: Tier 6.
Most common Tier: Tier 2.
Estimated number: 40,000.
Danger level: Zero. No need to wake the train conductor.
Train Conductor has delegated authority. Vehicle blades will activate.
Three Doomsday Cannons have locked onto three Tier 6 Zombies and the remaining fourteen Tier 5 Zombies within the horde. Preparing to fire.
In the next instant—
Whirr... Whirr... Whirr!
Vehicle blades, each a full ten meters long, suddenly extended from both sides of the carriage and began spinning at high speed. The few remaining Tier 3 zombies still attacking the train outside were instantly sliced through at the ankles, their bodies slumping down a level.
As they tumbled onto the blades, the electric current running along their surfaces instantly charred them black.
Then—
Boom! Boom! Boom!!
The three Doomsday Cannons mounted at the front of the Stellaris train, each with eighteen barrels, began rotating rapidly. Cannonballs, trailing fiery plumes, streaked across the sky and slammed into the zombie horde.
The Tier 6 Zombie, once locked on, was instantly struck by dozens of cannonballs, turning into a bloody mist on the spot.
The surrounding zombies were obliterated in the same instant.
The roar of the Doomsday Cannons was barely noticeable in the rainy night, as countless clods of earth were blasted into the air, merging with the downpour.
In the blink of an eye, the high tier zombies within the zombie horde had been precisely eliminated. Nearby dropped items were continuously sucked into the refrigerator inside the carriage by the 'powerful magnet' accessory.
The entire process was precise and swift.
Minimal resources expended, maximum results achieved.
Outside the train, in the rainy night, Zhang Damei, piloting the "Executioner" mech, watched this scene with a hint of helplessness in her eyes. Just moments ago, President Ai had contacted her through her Iris Chip, ordering her to stay away from the carriage as the train prepared to activate its vehicle blades.
She had immediately charged into the zombie horde, intending to test the mech's capabilities against a Tier 5 Zombie.
But then...
In the next instant, she saw the newly added cannons on the train begin to rotate and roar to life. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of cannonballs trailing fiery plumes rained down upon the zombie horde, precisely targeting and eliminating every High-Level Zombie.
She hadn't even had a chance to strike a single blow.
The remaining zombies, though numerous, were all low-Tier creatures, hardly satisfying to kill.
But she soon had no time to dwell on such thoughts. With a furious roar, she swung her Giant Axe through the rainy night, hacking down zombies with satisfying brutality.
A massive horde of zombies was charging toward the train. Before they could even reach it, the vehicle blades sliced them into minced meat. If she didn't kill faster, there wouldn't even be any trash mobs left to slaughter.
That night—
The train radio flooded with countless messages, almost constantly refreshing.
No one knew what was happening.
A massive zombie horde had suddenly erupted from the Sha River Plains, and among them were many High-Level zombies. They attacked nearly every train. Several lower-Tier trains that had recently arrived from the surrounding White Zones met their doom that night.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
In the locomotive cabin of a Tier 4 Train, a middle-aged man with a grimace of fury desperately steered the train through the rainy night. Surrounded by the zombie horde, the train plowed through the undead blocking its path, desperately trying to break free.
He had no idea what was happening.
Weren't the Sha River Plains supposed to be the safest Green Zone around here, with hardly any monsters?
Why is there such a terrifying zombie horde?!
Just then—
A Tier 6 Zombie, towering nearly seven or eight meters tall, appeared in the midst of the horde directly in front of the train. There was no time to dodge. The man watched as the zombie leaped into the air and slammed its body onto the locomotive's head with a resounding "BOOM!"
Whether it was a punch or a stomp, he couldn't tell.
"Warning! Warning!"
"Locomotive armor integrity: 21%. External speaker integrity: 0%. Powerful magnet integrity: 0%. Headlight integrity: 0%."
The train's AI began emitting a shrill, mechanical warning in an urgent tone.
"What do we do? What do we do?"
"Damn it!"
Inside the locomotive cabin, the man looked up at the armor panel above, nearly shattered by a single blow. Rain and the darkness of night were even seeping through the cracks. The zombie's roar and the stench of decay enveloped him completely.
"Tutututu!!!"
The deafening roar of a Heavy Machine Gun pierced through the rainy night. His thugs, stationed in the rear carriages, were frantically firing the weapon, ignoring ammunition consumption as they aimed at the Tier 6 Zombie standing atop the locomotive.
But they could only use Tier 3 bullets, which couldn't penetrate the zombies' defenses!
The man's face contorted with rage as he yanked the control lever, instantly slowing the train's breakneck speed through the zombie horde. The screech of brakes echoed through the rainy night, and the Tier 6 Zombie standing on the locomotive was thrown off.
"We did it!"
Relief flooded the man's eyes, and he immediately prepared to steer the train away. But by then, the train was completely surrounded by a dense mass of zombies. Countless zombies climbed over each other like human pyramids, clinging to the carriages and pounding on the armor.
A massive pile of zombies had formed beneath the wheels.
The train was completely blocked!
It couldn't move again.
Meanwhile, a large number of zombies had already climbed over their companions and were clawing at the locomotive cabin's glass, their guttural roars echoing through the night.
Just then—
A bolt of lightning split the sky. In his despair, the man saw his own reflection in the glass: bloodshot eyes filled with terror, surrounded by the grotesque, flesh-mangled faces of the zombies that had already shattered the glass and were clawing their way into the cabin.
The closest zombie was about to grab his coat.
Death was inevitable.
"If only I'd stayed in the White Zone..."
The man sitting in the chair shakily lit his last cigarette, took a deep drag, and watched the pale blue smoke gather against the ceiling. The scent of the rainy night seeped in through the gaps in the armor plating and the shattered glass above.
In the distance, amidst the zombie horde, the unscathed Tier 6 giant zombie roared and charged toward the train at terrifying speed.
The man gave a bitter smile, gazing at the control panel and the button he had never thought he would press.
"Immediate Self-Destruct."
Just then, the locomotive cabin filled with the cold, mechanical, and emotionless electronic voice of the AI.
"It seems we must bid farewell, Train Conductor."
"You are the most remarkable train conductor I have ever known. If there is a next time..."
In the next instant—
"BOOM!!!"
The train, already buried beneath the zombie horde, erupted in a massive explosion that began at the locomotive and spread through the carriages one by one. The deafening roar of the blast echoed through the rainy night like thunder.
The zombies near the train were instantly vaporized by the explosion, flung into the air and torn to pieces.
Countless more were engulfed in flames, their charred bodies collapsing to the ground in agony, rolling in the rain and emitting the guttural roars unique to zombies.
(End of the Chapter)
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