Translator: AnubisTL
"This nuclear missile will detonate within 10 seconds of the button being pressed. Its power is enough to flatten the entire City!"
"How can we escape in 10 seconds?"
"Where can we even run?"
Wildcat's eyes were red, his voice hoarse as he spoke each word slowly. "The only escape route is the glass tunnel outside the city where the train was flying earlier. That's our only chance."
"The Iris Chip has already disconnected, meaning Lord Mang went there to investigate."
"That tunnel is at least 30,000 meters away. Even if we activate the missile now, the train won't be able to reach it in time."
"The Train Ticket's teleportation range is only 10,000 meters!"
"The only solution is for one person to stay here and press the button, while the rest of us head to the tunnel to prepare for escape!"
He took a deep breath, his body trembling as he choked out, "I once promised Lord Mang..."
"He saved my woman's life. I told Lord Mang that if the Stellaris ever needed someone for a suicide mission, I, Wildcat, would be the first to step forward!"
"I'm not joking!"
"I never joke!"
"Now it's my turn to step up. Brother Biao, please take care of Meijia for me."
"Don't be insane."
Brother Biao climbed out of his mech with a grim expression and walked over to Wildcat, staring him down. "When did you start making decisions for the Stellaris?"
"Huh?"
"Lord Mang hasn't even spoken. Why are you taking it upon yourself to make this decision? Where's your discipline?"
"Besides, if someone has to sacrifice themselves, couldn't we just pick any one of the 1,900 survivors? Why do you have to play the hero here?"
"It won't work," Wildcat said with a bitter smile, shaking his head. "This is a suicide mission. You think those survivors would just accept it? They're going to die anyway. Do you think they wouldn't resent us and detonate the nuclear bomb early, taking the Stellaris down with them?"
"Brother Biao, besides me, is there anyone else on the Stellaris better suited for this position?"
"..."
Biaozi was about to retort, his mouth slightly open, but he didn't know what to say. It seemed like Wildcat was truly the only one suited to stand in that position on the entire train. But...
After a moment, he shook his head.
"You haven't even had your honeymoon yet. Put down your gun first."
"Lord Mang might have another way."
"If all else fails, let... Old Pig do it."
Wildcat couldn't help but chuckle. "Brother Biao, Trainmaster Zhu is terrified of death. He wouldn't volunteer to die."
Just then—
Biaozi, with lightning-fast reflexes, lunged forward, tackled Wildcat to the ground, and snatched the gun from his grasp. Only then did he wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and kick him in anger, cursing, "Are you fucking insane? At least wait for Lord Mang to give the order before trying to play the hero, alright?"
"Brother Biao."
Wildcat, lying on the ground with reddened eyes, stared at Biaozi and said each word deliberately: "Everyone on this train knows Lord Mang saved my woman's life. They also know I promised Lord Mang that if someone had to die, it would be me."
"I'll never be able to hold my head up on the train again. Neither will Meijia."
"It's so humiliating."
"Face, face, face! Is face really that important?" Biaozi retorted angrily. "It's the apocalypse! What's face worth now?"
"It's very important to me."
"Get up first. If it comes to it, we'll just let Zhang Yi die."
"Huh?"
Zhang Yi, who had just jumped out of his mech and was standing nearby munching on a steamed bun, paused, slightly stunned. "Huh, why me?"
The next moment—
The Stellaris train had somehow appeared above the deep pit and was slowly descending onto the square. Chen Mang, leaning on his cane, stepped out of the train and looked at Wildcat lying on the ground. With a calm expression, he waved his hand at Biaozi.
"Bring Meijia down. Let her and Wildcat arm the nuclear bomb together here."
"They can become a desperate couple in death."
"Make it a double blessing."
"Yes."
Biaozi nodded solemnly and immediately strode toward the train.
"Huh?" Wildcat was slightly stunned. "Can't just one of us die?"
"Come back!"
Chen Mang glared at Biaozi's retreating back and shouted angrily, "Are you really going through with this, you son of a bitch!"
Afterward, Chen Mang pulled Wildcat to his feet and brushed the dust off his clothes. He sighed softly, his voice tinged with weariness. "I just stepped out for a cigarette and a moment of scenery, and you two put on a tragic drama?"
"You were going to die for me?"
"Didn't I tell you? The Stellaris will never fall to a point where someone needs to sacrifice themselves."
"You're more valuable alive. Stop fixating on death. Are you constantly fantasizing about how heartbroken I'd be if you died? Do you have some kind of mental illness?"
"Get up already."
"Just seeing you gives me a headache. I'm terrified that one day we'll encounter some monster, and you'll charge forward screaming about dying for Lord Mang."
"Huh?"
Wildcat mumbled awkwardly, "I was worried everyone would complain about using too many resources on my wife because of the train. I thought if I died, no one would complain about her anymore..."
"But the nuclear launch button is so far from the escape route. How would you have solved that?"
"Don't worry about this, Biaozi. Take everyone back to the carriage."
"Yes."
Chen Mang then turned to Doba and Mundo, who had just disembarked. He had already conducted an experiment while smoking: the Goblin Ticket worked perfectly within this map, with no spatial restrictions.
The Train Ticket had a range limit of only 10,000 meters.
But the Goblin Ticket had no distance limit.
The solution was simple.
All they needed to do was leave a goblin here, have him press the nuclear launch button, and then use the Goblin Ticket to return to the train. Everyone would survive.
"Doba."
Chen Mang looked at Mundo with a serious and earnest expression. "Your clansman's intelligence hasn't fully recovered. I've explained the plan to you in detail. You must convey it to him clearly and firmly!"
"Once I'm ready, I'll launch a Tier 1 Missile that will detonate above the deep pit."
"The instant you see the missile explode above the pit, press the button. Do you understand?"
The "Super-High-Speed Train Tunnel" remained unusable. Only after the nuclear missile button was pressed would the gate within the tunnel retract, allowing the train to escape from beneath the earth.
"Understood, Lord Mang!"
Doba accepted the mission with a serious expression, then pulled Mundo aside. "By order of the Goblin King, you must remain here until a missile detonates above the deep pit. Only then may you leave."
Soon, the Stellaris train had departed with everyone aboard.
Only Mundo, the goblin, remained behind, gazing up at the deep pit above. Even as his neck grew stiff, he refused to move.
This was an order from the Goblin King, a matter crucial to the goblins' revival!
He had to complete it perfectly!
"Are we leaving?"
After confirming there was nothing left to explore in the City, the Stellaris train soared over the city, its destination the "Super-High-Speed Train Tunnel" behind it. It was preparing to leave this fortuitous encounter map.
Inside Guard Car No. 7, Wildcat stared blankly at the cityscape below. After a long moment, he turned to Biaozi with a slightly embarrassed expression and whispered, "Brother Biao, did Lord Mang think I was putting on an act just now? Trying to show off? I really didn't mean it that way, I—"
"That's enough."
Biaozi shook his head, cutting Wildcat off. "Lord Mang just doesn't want you always acting like you're ready to die. If you constantly approach things with a death wish, you'll die eventually—even when you shouldn't."
"And stop overthinking things. No one has complained about your woman using the train's resources."
"There's nothing to it. Stop letting your imagination run wild."
Wildcat nodded softly. "I understand."
After a moment of silence, Biaozi spoke quietly.
"Generally speaking, someone who cares too much about what others think, even going so far as to make assumptions about them, often gets caught in a cycle of rumination. They dwell on past traumas, constantly tormenting themselves with those memories."
"That's exactly what you're doing."
"I have a solution for you. If you can't stop thinking about those painful memories, don't focus on the recent ones. Instead, dwell on the most distant, most remote painful experiences. Keep doing this."
"This way, you'll still think about those painful memories often, but because so much time has passed, their emotional impact on you will be minimal."
"Over time, the psychological damage you suffer will be minimized. Don't keep tormenting yourself."
Wildcat paused, his mind instinctively processing the advice. After a moment, he looked up at Biaozi, bewildered. "Brother Biao, you used to be a construction foreman. How do you know about this?"
"Hmph." Biaozi snorted coldly. "Don't look down on me. I led a team, after all. Monitoring the psychological well-being of my subordinates was part of my job, you know."
"..."
"Brother Biao, what if there aren't any goblins on the train?"
"Then you're screwed."
"..."
The Stellaris train had already pulled up beside the Super-High-Speed Train Tunnel and was slowly entering the glass tunnel. A Tier 3 energy stone had been inserted into the control panel.
Everything was prepared.
At this moment, the red lights lining the tunnel walls glowed steadily. Deep within the tunnel, a gate stood ready to seal it off completely.
The train wasn't suspended in mid-air; it rested on the tunnel floor.
The next moment—
The missile in the second-to-last carriage, Carriage No. 14, slowly rose into position.
Boom!
A fiery orange explosion instantly engulfed the entire carriage. With a deafening roar, the missile shot toward the deep crater above the City Two Anomaly Point and detonated with pinpoint accuracy.
Almost simultaneously, the red lights along the tunnel walls instantly turned green, and the train abruptly levitated in mid-air. A powerful surge of thrust surged through the train!
The train hurtled forward through the tunnel!
At the same moment, the gate at the tunnel's entrance retracted instantly.
Activating all the nitrogen thrusters on the train further accelerated its speed. The intense force pressed Chen Mang's body firmly against his seat. This was the first time he had experienced such velocity.
The train's display showed its current speed:
2120 km/h
Nearly Mach 2!
"Roar!"
Chen Mang grinned, unable to contain his excitement. He gripped the control stick tightly, as if determined to vent all the frustrations he'd endured since arriving in this world.
With a casual slap on the control panel, a deafening, rhythmic beat of music instantly filled every carriage of the train.
At breakneck speed, the green lights in the tunnel blurred into a continuous line, creating the illusion of time-space travel. Chen Mang could only stare into the endless depths of the tunnel and at the green lines tracing the inner walls.
He didn't know what lay at the end of the tunnel. He only wanted to savor this moment!
Mundo wasn't on the train. Instead, he stood at the entrance to the "Super High-Speed Train Tunnel." Just before departure, he had been ordered to jump off, holding a camera centered around a mechanical eye, and aimed it at the city above.
When the nuclear launch button was pressed, the hidden backup energy of the entire city seemed to activate. Every light source flickered to life, transforming the pitch-black steel city into a dazzling spectacle of neon lights, reminiscent of a modern city at dusk—a breathtaking sight.
Simultaneously, searchlights on the rooftops of skyscrapers shot beams of light into the sky, converging to form a massive, ever-changing digital display.
"9."
"8."
"7."
At the same time, a cacophony of piercing alarms screamed across Steel City. The hidden energy source of the city began to overload, causing the neon tubes in the billboards to explode one after another.
Countless fireworks, hidden from view, burst into bloom high in the sky.
The scene was so beautiful, it didn't resemble a nuclear countdown; it was more like a New Year's Eve countdown.
When the countdown reached zero, a deafening explosion erupted, as if from the depths of Hell. An endless torrent of flames gushed from the heart of steel city, and a solid wave of air, like a glass wall, rapidly surged outward.
Countless skyscrapers collapsed in its wake.
Mundo, who had remained behind, captured the scene with his camera. Just as the blast wave was about to engulf him, he tore up the Goblin Ticket in his hand.
The moment was breathtakingly beautiful.
Originally, no one would have witnessed this spectacle—like an actor performing to an empty theater. But Mundo brought the scene back to the Stellaris.
If Chen Mang had seen this, he might have retracted his assessment of this Civilization's complete lack of aesthetic sense. Perhaps all their aesthetic talent was concentrated in that final, glorious moment of death.
Inside the super speed train tunnel.
The Stellaris train was hurtling through the tunnel at breakneck speed. The tunnel behind it was collapsing continuously. When the ten-second countdown reached zero, Xiao Ai's voice filled the cabin.
"Target acquisition radar has detected zombies on the surface."
"Their location remains within the Zombie Basin, at the center of the basin."
"Dozens of trains are also parked on the surface."
Xiao Ai's report was swift, but the train's speed was even faster. In the blink of an eye, the Stellaris had already charged toward the pale-yellow light curtain at the tunnel's end, crashing straight through it.
Fueled by its momentum, the train shot through the light curtain like a cannonball, bursting onto the surface and soaring into the sky!
"Soar higher!"
Chen Mang, thoroughly exhilarated, sat in the control panel chair. He pushed the control stick to its limit, sending the train rocketing off the ground and switching to the Bunny Cloud Wheels. Gazing at the long-absent starry sky, he shouted with excitement.
In that moment, he only wanted to break free.
He wanted to reach the stars, to tell everyone that the Stellaris would one day soar through the cosmos!
He, Chen Mang, would become the greatest train conductor in the history of the star sea!
(End of the Chapter)
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