Translator: AnubisTL
Nothing too chaotic would happen, and no talent would be buried.
Chen Mang turned his gaze from the train back to the city ahead. Not a single light shone in the city, only a faint yellow glow emanating from an unknown source within the underground space.
The depths of the earth had been excavated to create a vast cavern.
The city stood within this space.
When a city falls into darkness, the oppressive feeling it evokes is overwhelming. The towering skyscrapers, reaching into the sky, resemble terrifying monsters poised to devour everything in their path.
After a long moment, Chen Mang said, "Let's go."
He tossed his cigarette butt onto the ground and climbed back down the ladder to the locomotive cabin, preparing to enter the city and begin his search.
There was no way out.
Clearly, if he couldn't find the Nuclear Bomb and deactivate it, he'd be trapped here indefinitely. Perhaps he could try drilling his way out. This should be beneath the Zombie Basin.
If he drilled straight up, he should theoretically be able to escape. The only question was whether the boundaries of this fortuitous encounter map could withstand a Tier 50 Drill.
The fortuitous encounter map in the Kunlun Mountain Region hadn't stopped him.
He had nothing but iron ore—over three million units of it.
He could simply upgrade his drill to Tier 100, Tier 200, or even Tier 300. He didn't believe the map's boundaries could hold him then. It was a backup plan: even if he couldn't find the Nuclear Bomb, he shouldn't be permanently trapped in this map.
The Stellaris train slowly accelerated, continuing its journey deeper into the City along the highway.
After traveling a few hundred meters, Chen Mang suddenly noticed a floating question mark in the low air above the road ahead.
It was a three-dimensional, white question mark, roughly the size of an adult man, slowly rotating in place.
A flicker of confusion crossed Chen Mang's eyes, but he quickly realized what it was. He steered the train to run over the question mark. As he approached, he noticed a small "projector" beneath it.
The question mark was being projected into the low air by this device.
The instant the train ran over the question mark, a sharp "whoosh" sound filled the air.
Two mechanical arms suddenly shot out from the road surface beneath the question mark, attaching two walkie-talkie-like devices to the outer sides of the locomotive's cabin.
Meanwhile—
A line of text appeared on the control panel screen:
"Train's energy shield reinforced. For the next ten seconds, your train's energy shield Tier will increase by one."
"..."
Chen Mang glanced at the message with a slightly strange expression, then looked at the next question mark not far down the road. So this fortuitous encounter map was originally supposed to be a power-up race?
Pick up question marks to gain different buffs, then be the first to cross the finish line?
Though the Map Light Screen didn't explicitly state this, it was clearly the intention.
But wasn't the first question mark's location a bit too far away?
The battle was already over, for crying out loud!
Next time, could you put them closer?
At this distance, the damned early deaths would have already happened!
Chen Mang ignored the remaining question marks—they were useless now. But this did serve as a reminder: in future fortuitous encounter maps with similar roads and trains lined up at the starting line, it was likely to be a power-up race.
He'd better focus on speed and grab those power-ups first.
He continued to drive the Stellaris down the highway, and within minutes they reached the city's edge.
"Get out!"
The train came to a halt again. Biaozi and the others jumped off, ready to explore the office buildings lining the street.
He'd wanted to do this during their last visit to the mechanical city, but the fortuitous encounter map had a fixed sequence, leaving him no time to explore the entire map. This map, however, had no set path or time limit. He wasn't in a hurry, so he could take his time.
There had to be good stuff hidden in these buildings.
Explore first, ask questions later.
He turned his head to look at the office buildings outside. Most were in ruins. Through the gaps in the destroyed structures, he could clearly see countless mechanical gears inside, though they were all long since still.
He'd always wondered how anyone could live in buildings filled with gears.
And what were the gears even for?
If they were meant to transmit energy, surely there were more efficient, faster, and less wasteful methods for an Advanced Civilization to do so.
He glanced at the screen.
The first-person perspective of Biaozi and the others' exploration, combined with the real-time surround sound from the train's Audio System, created an immersive experience.
"Be careful," Biaozi muttered to himself. The thought traveled through the Cluster Mind to President Ai, who then relayed it to the Iris Chips of the First Squad Members. The phrase itself was meaningless—who wouldn't be cautious in an unknown place? But it served to make everyone aware of his message, giving them a little more confidence.
As they entered the office building lobby, they were met with a scene of utter devastation. The floor was stained with faded, brownish-red bloodstains, remnants of a fierce battle long ago. Yet not a single corpse or bone fragment remained.
Biaozi cautiously knelt down and tapped the floor with his knuckle. A dull thud echoed back. As expected, the floor was a single sheet of steel, seamless and deep black. Every building in this city, inside and out, was painted in this oppressive shade, creating an overwhelming sense of dread.
"Wait!" Biaozi's expression suddenly shifted. He scanned the surroundings again. Though he'd never been here before, this place felt eerily familiar. It was the very office building from the "Resident Evil" virtual map chip.
Though there were some minor discrepancies, the overall appearance was nearly identical.
He closed his eyes, standing still as he quickly recalled the scene.
During his playthrough of Resident Evil, the final step involved crossing a cable car to the skyscraper opposite the rooftop. He had looked down upon the city from there—that city, that city...
It looked almost exactly like this one.
He didn't know if this information was useful, but he relayed it to President Ai before continuing his cautious exploration. The first-floor lobby had already been searched without finding anything unusual.
There was only a front desk.
But the desk was completely bare, devoid of even a pen or paper.
The elevator had stopped working.
Biaozi led the way, guiding a team of First Squad Members up the fire escape, floor by floor.
Outside the office building, the Stellaris train hovered above the city, nearly reaching the space's ceiling, which was only a thousand meters high.
Several Mechanical Eyes on the train's exterior began rapidly rotating.
Countless streams of data flowed across the control panel screens.
"Scanning progress 47%. Scanning progress 99%. Scanning progress 100%."
"Comparison progress 89%. Comparison progress 100%."
"Similarity: 72%."
"Train conductor."
Xiao Ai's mechanical voice echoed from the locomotive cabin: "Comparison complete. This city and the city in the Resident Evil map share a 72% similarity. The discrepancies primarily stem from differences in map completeness."
"In Resident Evil, the tall building on the left with the massive lightning rod is intact. Here, that building has collapsed."
"However, the overall urban planning structure is identical."
"In other words—"
"The city in Resident Evil is still in the midst of war, while this city has already emerged from the conflict."
"Mm."
Chen Mang nodded, unsurprised by this revelation. After all, since the Virtual Map Chip had been created, it was only natural for the map to have a prototype as a reference. Conjuring an entire city from nothing would have been far too laborious.
This much he could understand.
The only thing he didn't understand was why the city, located in an underground space, would need such large lightning rods on its skyscrapers.
Could lightning even strike here?
That would require a truly monumental oath.
Thirty minutes later—
All three guard squads returned safely after searching three office buildings. They found nothing of value. The buildings were completely empty, devoid even of computers, A4 paper, fireaxes, office desks, and chairs.
Completely empty.
The Stellaris train didn't linger any longer and continued down the city's central road toward an unknown destination.
During the earlier aerial scan, Xiao Ai had marked several points of interest. If this city possessed a Nuclear Bomb, it could only be hidden at one of these locations.
At that moment, the control panel screen displayed a simplified overhead view of the city.
Three red-marked points represented his next targets.
Fifteen minutes later.
They quickly reached the first target, located in the city's core zone, resembling a military base. With no skyscrapers nearby, it stood out dramatically from above.
The surface area wasn't very large.
The area was roughly the size of a basketball court, enclosed by a steel mesh fence.
While the surface area was limited, the underground base was significantly larger, spanning the equivalent of three or four soccer fields.
Chen Mang glanced at the dozens of red dots on the target acquisition radar. There were living beings within the underground base, but the radar couldn't provide specific information about them. He didn't know what kind of creatures they were or their Tier—only that the red dots existed.
"..."
He retrieved the Laboratory Access Card from his drawer and handed it to Xiao Ai, who stood nearby. "Take this to Biaozi. Have him lead the first team down to investigate."
"Yes, sir."
After Xiao Ai left, Chen Mang turned his attention back to the information about the fortuitous encounter map on the screen, a slight frown creasing his brow.
"A high-yield nuclear bomb is hidden within this city, powerful enough to obliterate it entirely and take those monsters down with it. But the crisis arrived too quickly; the bomb was never activated."
"This mission: activate the nuclear bomb and escape."
Chen Mang had explored numerous fortuitous encounter maps before, but they were all relatively straightforward, mostly obstacle-course-style challenges. This was the first time he'd encountered such a complex one.
There were no detailed walkthroughs or difficulty settings.
No time limit either, and the tall buildings had no air walls, allowing free exploration, though yielding little reward.
Even his expectation of a prize for being the first to cross the finish line went unfulfilled.
His first-place finish in the item race earned him no reward, as if the race had been set up arbitrarily.
In other words:
Freedom had increased, but so had the difficulty.
and escape
Escape the nuclear bomb? Or escape?
Chen Mang suddenly chuckled. While fortuitous encounter maps didn't have grades, this one was clearly more complex than any he'd encountered before. In other words, the rewards would likely be greater.
Boom!
Biaozi, piloting the mech, cleaved through the steel gate of the military base with a single axe strike, then strode confidently into the base.
On the surface, only a single exposed bungalow remained.
Roughly a hundred square meters in size, it was entirely steel-framed, appearing incredibly heavy-duty.
The interior courtyard was filled with heavy weaponry. At a glance, there were at least a...
There was only one exposed bungalow.
Roughly 100 square meters in size, the entire structure was made of steel, appearing incredibly heavy.
The interior courtyard was littered with heavy weaponry. At a glance, there were at least a hundred large-caliber "Heavy Machine Guns," their bore size comparable to train-mounted cannons. Each Heavy Machine Gun was accompanied by a box containing stacked energy stones.
These Heavy Machine Guns were energy weapons.
In addition, there were ten rocket pods, each holding forty rockets, capable of launching forty missiles simultaneously.
And in each of the four corners stood a pole-like structure topped with a steel sphere. Their purpose remained unclear.
The firepower was formidable, but all the weapons were severely damaged.
Most importantly—
Every weapon's muzzle wasn't aimed outward at the military base. Instead, they were all uniformly trained on the bungalow in the flat ground, as if fearing some terrifying monster might emerge from within.
"..."
Biaozi quickly scanned his surroundings, took a deep breath, and then, after glancing at the constant stream of information flowing from his Iris Chip, slowly approached the bungalow, gripping his Giant Axe tightly.
"No life signs detected on the surface."
"At a depth of 130 meters underground, you will encounter your first red dot. Monster name and Tier unknown."
"Lord Mang's orders: prioritize reconnaissance. If you encounter an overwhelming crisis, tear up your Train Ticket immediately."
The message from President Ai appeared on his Iris Chip.
He slowly approached the entrance of the military base's bungalow. Crimson characters were scrawled across the wall:
"Military Zone—Keep Out!"
"Danger! Danger! Keep Out!"
He stood at the main gate.
The door was large enough for his mech to pass through.
A red button labeled "Open Door" was mounted on a pillar beside the entrance. He placed his hand on it and pressed. Gears whirred to life.
The door slowly retracted into the walls on either side.
But there was another door behind it.
Before he could react, this second door also began to retract, revealing yet another door.
A minute later, all eight doors had opened. Biaozi stood at the entrance, surveying the scene. The bungalow's walls were entirely made of solid steel, three meters thick—an absurd thickness.
Inside, there was nothing but an exposed elevator shaft resembling a mine shaft and a slowly flashing red warning light in the corner.
This was the first time he had seen a light source in this city.
The floor was covered in dust, indicating the building had been abandoned for an unknown length of time.
(End of the Chapter)
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