Translator: AnubisTL
Though the monsters were numerous, none were of high Tier.
Soon—
The battle ended.
Biaozi surveyed the corridor, now piled high with monster corpses, and turned to his team, his voice grave. "Report casualties."
"No injuries."
"No injuries."
"No—"
Not a single person was injured. This was only because the corridor was spacious. Had it been narrower, the wall of fire woven by eight Giant Wave Gatlings would have been impenetrable until their energy stones ran dry.
"Zhang Yi, collect all the monster corpses."
"Yes, sir!"
Zhang Yi, who had been itching to get started, eagerly opened the refrigerator the moment he received the order and stuffed all the monster corpses inside. This refrigerator was truly wonderful; it was his favorite thing on the Stellaris, second only to the meat sandwiches.
"Let's move on."
The rest of the journey was uneventful. All the monsters still in the corridor had charged at them earlier.
After about ten minutes of walking, the scenery finally changed. The entire route had been nothing but corridors, like a vast maze carved deep beneath the earth.
Ahead, a massive plaza came into view.
Around the plaza stood numerous cylindrical containers filled with an unknown green liquid. Each container held a submerged monkey, and many containers had already been smashed.
Clearly, the monkeys they had just encountered had escaped from those broken containers.
"Looks like some kind of biological experiment?"
Biaozi scanned the surroundings before turning his gaze to the center of the plaza. There, a glass laboratory stood, filled with screens and experimental equipment.
The laboratory was deserted.
No living humans, but plenty of dead ones.
Seven human corpses in white robes lay scattered across the floor, their blood having long since dried. A pistol lay nearby, suggesting suicide.
Take everything from the laboratory.
Receiving the command, Biaozi approached the glass laboratory and raised his giant axe for another strike.
But this time...
Instead of the sharp crack of shattering glass, a dull thud echoed through the plaza. The axe handle vibrated violently in his grip, but the laboratory's glass remained completely intact. He tried several more times, refusing to believe it, before finally giving up.
This glass is too tough to break.
However, he noticed a card reader near the laboratory entrance. Spreading his palm, he watched as his "First Layer Palm" shattered and retracted into his arm, leaving a card in his hand. This was the card Lord Mang had given him.
He pinched the card and placed it on the card reader.
Beep.
A faint sound echoed, and soon the glass walls of the laboratory shattered.
"Start loading the cargo!"
Outside the military base, inside the Stellaris train, Chen Mang watched the lines of text scrolling across the control panel screen. Biaozi and the others had returned safely, bringing back from the core laboratory a blueprint, a large quantity of experimental equipment, a chip, and a massive device resembling a printer, but many times larger.
It wouldn't even fit in a refrigerator.
Zhang Yi had carried it on his back the whole way.
This large device was their greatest prize.
The chip contained all the experimental data from the laboratory, the last words of the researchers, and the laboratory's experimental logs. After Xiao Ai absorbed all the information from the chip, she summarized it and displayed it on the screen.
Ten minutes later, the screen stopped scrolling.
"..."
Chen Mang remained silent for a long time before picking up the blueprint in his hand.
Cardiotonic Injection Production Line
Yellow-Grade Accessory Blueprint
When injured, injecting this will numb pain, induce a period of heightened mental alertness, partially heal injuries, and restore a significant amount of strength. No side effects.
Useless on the train, as better alternatives are available.
However, this effect was invaluable during field operations.
While not feeling pain is often a bad sign, usually indicating a swift death, this device could drastically reduce casualties among guards on field missions.
The sole mission of this military base was to research and manufacture this "blueprint."
Yes, the blueprint could be created. The large machine was the instrument used to produce it. Through extensive experimental data, researchers first studied how to produce the injection, then how to create a production line for it, and finally, through vast computational analysis, used the machine to generate the "Cardiotonic Injection Production Line" blueprint.
This machine was now inside the train, meaning...
After a long silence, Chen Mang turned to Xiao Ai. "Now that the machine is on the train, can we start manufacturing blueprints?"
"Yes," Xiao Ai nodded. "The machine still contains seventeen 'blank blueprints.' All the data needed to create the 'Cardiotonic Injection Production Line' has already been entered. Once we connect the circuit system to the generator to provide energy, we can produce another seventeen 'Cardiotonic Injection Production Line' blueprints."
"What I mean is, can we create other blueprints? Like, if I just think of one... hmm, a 'Lighter Production Line Blueprint'?"
"No, that's not possible. It requires a massive amount of experimental data and a large team of researchers to conduct various experiments. It might be possible in the future, but even then, researching a simple lighter accessory would be far easier than studying the Lighter Production Line Blueprint."
"Mm."
Chen Mang remained silent. For example, the Tier 1 Train could craft the White Accessory "Single Bed," but it was just a single accessory, not a "Single Bed Production Line." After a moment, he suddenly chuckled.
This harvest was truly remarkable.
The card he received from the "Ten Steps, One Kill" Train had been incredibly useful. Without it, Biaozi and the others in this laboratory wouldn't have even been able to enter.
"Second Dimension" Train had also done him a favor, bringing him to such a great place.
Both trains were truly good people. He'd offer them incense at a temple when he had the chance.
Oh, wait, the former wasn't dead yet. He'd wait until then.
Even though the instrument was currently unusable, as long as he gathered enough experimental data and found a large team of researchers, he would eventually be able to design his own accessories.
The story behind this laboratory was simple.
Long ago—or perhaps not so long ago—Biaozi had been searching among the residents for a forensic pathologist to perform autopsies on several human corpses and determine their approximate time of death.
This laboratory had been tasked with researching the blueprint for the Cardiotonic Injection Production Line.
But because it involved biological experiments...
During such experiments, it was easy to create terrifying monsters. This had happened many times before. To prevent such incidents, the military base was built underground, and heavy weaponry was deployed on the surface to contain any monstrous creations that might escape the experimental facility.
Deep within the facility, the glass laboratory at the heart of the main plaza had an extremely high Defense Rating. In case of a breach, explosives buried in the walls of the laboratory corridors would detonate, burying all the monsters deep underground.
The researchers and experimental data, however, were designed to survive within the laboratory, awaiting rescue.
Later...
Problems did indeed arise, but not within the laboratory itself. Instead, the City was struck by a devastating attack from countless monsters. The entire city became a monster playground, and all living creatures were slaughtered.
The underground laboratory, buried deep beneath the surface, escaped the carnage.
But after prolonged isolation from the outside world, the monkeys used in the experiments began to mutate, turning on the assistants and staff outside the laboratory. Trapped and with no hope of rescue, the researchers, driven to despair, chose to take their own lives.
The experimental data and instruments were preserved.
That concludes the story of this underground secret laboratory. Hidden within the AI of the experimental instruments was another AI, which Xiao Ai called the "Research AI." It possessed no human emotions, existing solely to calculate data. When the instruments were reactivated, this "Research AI" would awaken once more.
"Whew," Chen Mang exhaled, stretching his limbs before resuming control of the Stellaris train, guiding it through the air toward the next anomaly on the map.
This was the first time he had encountered humans within the ruins of the Mechanical Civilization.
He had initially assumed the Mechanical Civilization was entirely populated by robots. Now, it seemed humans had also existed, though he wondered which species had held dominance in this civilization.
It didn't seem like humans.
At least, if humans had built this city, they wouldn't have designed it this way.
Almost all the office buildings looked identical, from the streets to the skyscrapers, all painted a deep, dark black. The roads were perfectly straight and standardized, devoid of greenery or parks.
It was utterly monotonous and dull, completely at odds with human aesthetic sensibilities.
Even if the city had originally been designed as a refuge, surely they wouldn't have completely disregarded its residential aspects?
The train continued its journey.
They soon arrived at the second anomaly, located in the city center.
It was a deep pit.
The pit was about a hundred meters in diameter.
Chen Mang piloted the Stellaris train through the air, slowly descending into the pit. The walls were lined with incandescent lamps, and the pit wasn't very deep, only about a hundred meters.
At the bottom, he saw a missile standing upright on the ground.
It was seven meters long and three meters wide.
The warhead didn't seem particularly large. Beside the missile, a holographic screen flickered into existence.
"A nuclear missile capable of destroying an entire city."
"Press the red button to initiate a 10-second countdown to detonation."
"The missile will detonate after the countdown ends."
Found it. This is the mission objective for this map.
But Chen Mang's face showed no joy. Instead, he scanned the empty surroundings with a blank expression. The Deep Pit Plaza was completely deserted except for the missile and a button on a nearby pillar.
Escape?
Where to?
There's no escape route marked, and what can you possibly escape in 10 seconds?
After a moment of silence, Chen Mang ordered a squad of First Squad Members to remain and guard the plaza. He planned to check the third anomaly point for any escape routes. He was immensely grateful he had cleared the map from the start.
Otherwise, this massive weapon would have been left out in the open.
If anyone pressed that button, he'd be buried with the city.
How unjust would that be?
At least put a cover over the button! He worried that some monster might suddenly appear and accidentally trigger it. That would be disastrous. He left the squad to watch over the missile and prevent any stray entities from activating it.
He went to investigate the escape route.
The third anomaly point was far from the second, roughly 30,000 meters away as the crow flies.
The Stellaris train slowly came to a halt before a tunnel.
The entire tunnel was constructed of glass, starting at ground level and arcing downward at a 30-degree angle, plunging directly into the depths of the underground space.
This tunnel was the escape route.
From above, it stood out prominently among the rubble behind the city.
"Ultra-High-Speed Train Tunnel."
"After inserting a Tier 3 energy stone, the train will levitate in the center of the tunnel via Magnetic Levitation and escape the city at ultra-high speed, bursting through the surface."
"Currently in a damaged state, only one train can pass through."
This is the escape route within this fortuitous encounter map, a route built long ago during the city's initial construction.
In other words...
Regardless of whether he chose to clear the map from the start, only one train could ultimately pass through this tunnel. Four trains were destined to perish here.
He'd have to avoid joining Erdan on fortuitous encounter maps in the future.
He didn't want to kill his friend, and Erdan probably hadn't experienced this type of map before, or he wouldn't have so casually agreed to join him.
Moreover...
The "Ultra-High-Speed Train Tunnel" was located on the city's outskirts, far from the nuclear detonation point.
The straight-line distance was a staggering 30,000 meters.
There was no way a train could appear at the tunnel entrance, ready to depart, just 10 seconds after the nuclear bomb detonated.
There was only one solution.
That's it. Choose a sacrifice. Let the sacrifice press the nuclear launch button. The moment the countdown begins, the train enters the Tunnel to begin its escape.
Of course, if you believe in the saying "good things come in pairs," you could choose two sacrifices for good luck.
"It's huge," Chen Mang muttered in awe as he stepped out of the locomotive cabin and gazed at the underground City in the distance. He didn't know how many meters underground they were, but to excavate such a vast space and build a city within it...
This Mechanical Civilization's infrastructure capabilities are quite impressive.
"Wildcat, what do you mean by this?" Biaozi, seated inside his mech, glared down at Wildcat with a grim expression. "This isn't your time to play the hero. What are you trying to pull here? Put down your gun!"
"I said, put down your gun! Did you hear me?!"
Wildcat stood in the square, his gun barrel pressed against his own head. His eyes were red-rimmed, and his voice was hoarse as he spoke.
"Brother Biao," he said. "We both know the situation we're in."
(End of the Chapter)
📖Read [MAT] ahead on Pa.treon@AnubisTL upto c226. [+6/+14.3k]
🎁All [2] Novels can be accessed for just $6/mo.
🔥Translated [700+] Chapters and [1.42M+] Words.
[MASS RELEASE: +55 | 01AUG25] ✍REQUESTING REVIEWS🙏