Translator: AnubisTL
Chen Mang's eyebrows twitched slightly. He felt he had already figured out the correct way to use the accessory—truly, he was a genius.
Just then, Xiao Ai's voice came through his ear: "Train Conductor, the residents seem to have dug up something strange while mining. Do you want to take a look?"
"Go."
Chen Mang replied decisively, immediately slipping the exoskeleton armor beneath his sweater before stepping out of the locomotive cabin and heading toward the iron ore mine beside the train.
The guards had already cordoned off a section of the mine.
The other residents continued working, but this particular area, like Old Pig's receding hairline, was conspicuously empty.
"Lord Mang," the guards said in unison, standing ramrod straight and gazing at Chen Mang with respectful expressions.
Chen Mang walked into the crowd and saw a copper gate lying flat on the ground, its surface smooth and unblemished. An electronic lock was embedded in the gate, creating an incongruous combination of ancient metal and modern technology.
"Lord Mang," Zhang Damei reported, stepping forward. "A resident unearthed this while mining. There seems to be an invisible barrier around the gate; pickaxes bounce off it without leaving a scratch."
Chen Mang, leaning on his cane, remotely activated the train's resource detection radar and target acquisition radar. Neither scan revealed anything beneath the copper gate—the ground appeared identical to the surrounding terrain, showing no red dots or any anomalies.
He took a pickaxe from a nearby guard, walked to the copper gate, and swung it down at the ground.
Clang.
The sound was metallic, as if striking metal. No dirt flew into the air. Though his eyes clearly saw the pickaxe strike the ground, the impact felt nothing like hitting soil.
A faint numbness spread through his arm.
He returned the pickaxe to the guard, crouched down, and examined the now-cleaned copper gate. Experience told him this was a fortuitous encounter map, similar to the encounter map exclusive for flesh train he'd encountered in the Kunlun Mountain zone.
But...
His brow furrowed slightly as he gazed at the combination lock on the copper gate.
The lock consisted of ten digits, from 0 to 9.
Next to the lock was a "Confirm Open" button. Clearly, the copper gate would only open upon entering the correct combination. Yet no one knew the code, and there were no clues nearby.
"..."
After a moment's thought, Chen Mang said, "Zhang Damei, have all residents suspend mining operations and return to the train."
"Understood."
Today marked the first day of mining for the 1,900 newly joined survivors. Having fully grasped the train's promotion system, they had been eager to work hard, hoping to quickly advance their Resident Benefits and earn the right to acquire stellar coupons. But their mining efforts were abruptly halted shortly after they began.
Chen Mang steered the train underground, heading toward the subterranean area beneath the copper gate.
As expected.
Upon reaching the copper gate's underground zone, the drill struck an invisible barrier. Though the display showed ordinary soil ahead, the Tier 50 drill sparked violently against the obstruction, leaving not even a scratch.
After circling the area, Chen Mang discovered that the fortuitous encounter encased by the invisible barrier was surprisingly small—roughly the size of four refrigerators stacked together.
This wasn't the internal space of the refrigerators.
It was literally the size of four refrigerators stacked together, about the size of a grave pit. If this was a fortuitous encounter map, it was the smallest he had ever encountered. Not only could the train not enter, but only two or three people could squeeze inside—and only sideways at that.
Since the shortcut was blocked, cracking the code was the only way forward.
"Old Pig, find someone brave among the 1,900 survivors to input the code I'll give you. Whether it opens or not, they'll immediately receive First-Class Resident Status," Chen Mang ordered, stopping the train about a kilometer from the copper gate.
He had a hunch.
With no password hints, the copper gate's coordinates might be the code itself.
After all, there were no other numerical clues, and the gate's plain surface offered no clues for decryption.
Having a large group of people did have its advantages.
Among 1,900 survivors, there was bound to be someone fearless enough to take the risk.
Soon, a burly man with a Mechanical Eye pinned to his chest leaped off the train and strode confidently toward the copper gate a kilometer away.
Chen Mang sat in the locomotive cabin, watching the man's first-person view on the screen.
The moment the coordinates were entered and confirmed, the man turned to flee without hesitation. But there was no explosion, no sound at all. Only after receiving further orders did he steel his courage and approach the gate again.
A line of text appeared on the copper gate:
Incorrect password. Two attempts remaining.
"..."
"Meeting!"
Chen Mang frowned and immediately summoned Li Shiji, Old Pig, Biaozi, and the others to the locomotive cabin to crack the code. Though he didn't know what lay below, this was undoubtedly an opportunity, and since they had seen it, it was his.
To miss out on this would be a terrible waste.
Once everyone had gathered, Chen Mang scanned their faces before displaying a detailed image of the copper gate on the screen. "This is the copper gate. We have two attempts left to enter the password. Any ideas? Speak up."
His gaze lingered on Li Shiji for an extra second.
He held high expectations for Li Shiji, hoping he might discern something.
Sensing Lord Mang's intense gaze, Li Shiji felt a cold sweat creep down his back. His eyes remained fixed on the copper gate on the screen, but the more he stared, the less he understood.
Think fast, think fast!
He was just a game designer, fond of mazes and possessing a stronger spatial sense than most. But that was all.
He wasn't God.
How could he possibly decipher a password with no clues whatsoever?
Worse still, they didn't even know how many digits the password was. Even a six-digit code could have a million different combinations.
Moreover, since we don't even know how many digits the password has, it's like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Just then—
Li Shiji's eyes suddenly lit up. "Could it be the coordinates of the copper gate?"
"Already tried that," Chen Mang said, shaking his head. "We used the coordinates for our first attempt, but it was wrong."
The light in Li Shiji's eyes dimmed, and he began to fidget nervously, staring intently at the copper gate on the screen.
"I think..." Biaozi hesitated before sharing his theory. "Look at this copper gate. It probably represents history, while the Combination Lock represents modern technology. These are clearly two extremes."
"And since the Combination Lock is above the copper gate, could the password be the two-digit number '09'?"
"It perfectly embodies the two extremes."
"That makes sense." Old Pig glanced at Biaozi with surprise before offering his own guess.
"Lord Mang, I think Biaozi's theory has merit. As far as I can tell, there are no clues on the copper gate itself. The only clue is that it's located in the exact center of the Tier 3 Iron Mine."
"The zone grades, from lowest to highest, are White, Green, and Yellow."
"The Zombie Basin is a Yellow Zone, which corresponds to '3'."
"And it's in the middle of the Tier 3 Iron Mine."
"So the password might be '3' or '33'."
After pondering for a moment, Chen Mang acknowledged the validity of both arguments. Finally, he turned his gaze to Xiao Ai, who was sitting in the corner. "What are your thoughts?"
Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the locomotive cabin.
"Old Pig and Biaozi both make excellent points. However, I might offer a different perspective. This Tier 3 Iron Mine isn't newly refreshed; it's been refreshed multiple times already."
"In other words, during previous refreshes, many trains have already mined this iron ore and undoubtedly discovered the copper gate."
"They would have certainly tried to open it."
"Yet so far..."
"No train has shared this information on the train radio. Assuming they weren't simply unwilling to share, there's only one possibility: entering the wrong code three times results in catastrophic consequences."
"It could even lead to the destruction of the entire train."
"Of course, this is a rather pessimistic hypothesis. My guess is that the code might represent the exact year and month when the apocalypse began."
"..."
After listening to everyone's opinions, Chen Mang remained silent for a long time before finally picking up the walkie-talkie. "Enter the code 33."
From the first-person perspective, we could see the burly man's hand trembling slightly as he carefully tapped '3' twice before pressing the 'Confirm Open' button.
Almost immediately, another line of text appeared on the copper gate.
"Incorrect password. One attempt remaining."
Password 33 was also incorrect.
Chen Mang remained silent, his brow furrowed as he stared intently at the image of the copper gate on the screen. After a long pause, he spoke again: "Enter no password. Just press the 'Confirm Open' button directly."
On the other side of the screen, the burly man was visibly trembling like a leaf, but he forced himself to remain calm and pressed the 'Confirm Open' button.
In the next moment—
A faint white light suddenly emanated from the copper gate, and the indicator light on the Combination Lock turned green. The gate slowly began to open.
Correct password. Opened.
Chen Mang smiled and immediately steered the train toward the copper gate. His gamble had paid off. Without any clues or hints, it was impossible for anyone to guess the password.
Since guessing the password was impossible, the copper gate's existence would be meaningless.
He had always believed one thing:
After the apocalypse descended, nothing that appeared in this world could be without purpose. There couldn't be a copper gate that couldn't be opened. Therefore, there was only one possible answer.
The Combination Lock was merely a distraction.
Opening the copper gate was remarkably simple: just press the "Confirm Open" button.
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
The moment the copper gate swung open, a chorus of incredulous voices erupted from the locomotive cabin, including Xiao Ai's mechanical-electronic tone. None of them had imagined that the copper gate's password was... no password at all?
What had they been guessing for all this time?
"A fool beats a master," Biaozi said with a complex expression. "If we'd sent Zhang Er, he wouldn't have needed three tries—he'd have opened it in one. Who the hell would have thought you could just press 'Confirm Open' without entering any password and it would actually work?"
"Ahem."
Old Pig cleared his throat before reminding him, "Just a reminder, Lord Mang opened that Combination Lock."
Realizing his mistake, Biaozi's face paled slightly. He hastily explained, "Lord Mang, I didn't mean it like that! I meant... I meant..."
Li Shiji cut in, his face full of admiration.
"The first realm is seeing mountains as mountains and water as water."
"The second realm is seeing mountains as not mountains and water as not water."
"The third realm is seeing mountains as still mountains and water as still water."
"Although both Zhang Er and Lord Mang see mountains as mountains and water as water, Zhang Er remains in the first realm, while you, Lord Mang, have reached the third!"
"Lord Mang, you're incredible!"
"Exactly!" Biaozi exclaimed, relieved. "That's precisely what I meant, Lord Mang."
Chen Mang paid little attention to this trivial matter. He simply stopped the train near the iron ore mine, hopped down, and strode toward the copper gate. As he passed the burly man, he smiled with satisfaction.
"Good work, Old Pig. See to it that his resident benefits are upgraded."
"No problem," Old Pig nodded eagerly, then waved for the burly man to return to his carriage. He remembered this man well.
His resident ID was 1998, making him one of the 1,900 survivors. Formerly in charge of Funeral Affairs, he was a ruthless character. To demonstrate his ferocity, he had once smashed his head against a steel table, leaving himself bloodied and battered.
Looking back, it was indeed quite ruthless.
To achieve First-Class Resident Status so quickly made him the fastest-promoted survivor among the 1,900.
Chen Mang then turned his gaze to the base of the copper gate.
The interior space was small, roughly the size of a tomb, and contained no explosives. This meant that even three consecutive incorrect attempts wouldn't trigger an explosion.
At worst, they would lose the chance to try again, and the train would be barred from further attempts.
As for why no one mentioned this on the train radio...
It was simply because such opportunities were never discussed publicly. Even if someone couldn't obtain it themselves, they wouldn't want to reveal its existence, lest someone else succeed.
Failing to obtain it oneself was painful enough.
But witnessing someone else succeed would be even more agonizing.
Inside lay two objects:
A blueprint and a voucher.
"Lord Mang, I'll go," Biaozi, standing nearby, immediately leaped into the pit, stuffed the items into his chest, took a running start, and scaled the wall in three steps, climbing out of the tomb-like pit.
The entire process was executed with remarkable fluidity.
Biaozi's three-step wall climb was executed with remarkable fluidity.
"..."
Old Pig curled his lip at the sight. The pit was over two meters deep; if he jumped down, climbing back out would be a real challenge. That showoff is at it again, he thought. When I have some free time, I'll have to hit the Combat Training Virtual Space and work on my skills.
Though he was a desk worker, improving his physical fitness could never hurt.
"Here you go, Lord Mang," Biaozi said smoothly as he climbed out of the tomb, handing over the two items from his pocket.
(End of the Chapter)
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