Translator: AnubisTL
The Juvenile Bats were numerous and fast, but their pursuit was straightforward. Their trajectory was easy to predict, making them easy targets. In just one round of combat, dozens of 9th-tier Juvenile Bats had already been killed.
But then—
The 9th-tier Death Bat behind them suddenly let out another piercing shriek, its wings bursting into flames. It then shot toward the Stellaris at incredible speed, reaching the train's vicinity in the blink of an eye.
Its sharp claws were about to touch the carriage's outer armor.
Just then!
The Vehicle Audio System outside the train flashed red. The surface of the Audio System vibrated rapidly, and the Death Bat, about to attack the Stellaris, suddenly let out a pained shriek and quickly retreated.
Whew...
Inside the locomotive cabin, Chen Mang breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't dare waste another moment, pushing the control lever to its limit and accelerating toward his designated coordinates.
Meanwhile, the Earthworm Monster erupting from the depths of the earth had begun to spread rapidly in all directions.
As for the fleeing 9th-tier Death Bat...
The Tier 10 overpowered effect of the Vehicle Audio System emitted ultrasonic noise. The higher the Tier of the energy stone consumed, the higher the Hertz frequency of the ultrasonic noise produced.
Chen Mang had never used this effect before.
This was his first time.
But it proved surprisingly effective.
Bats use ultrasonic waves for echolocation and hunting, and are extremely sensitive to high-frequency sounds. Before the apocalypse, ultrasonic pest repellers were a common method to drive away bats.
However, those were pre-apocalypse bats. He had no idea whether it would work on the monstrous bats that emerged after the apocalypse.
This was also his first attempt, and it seemed to be working well.
He glanced at the train panel, noting that he still had 90,000 units of iron ore remaining.
The locomotive's armor was already at Tier 9.
He had just spent 7 million units of iron ore upgrading the armor of the first 14 carriages to Tier 9. Only Breeding Car 15, where Uncle Li was, remained at Tier 8 armor.
An hour later, Chen Mang successfully reached the coordinates he had set. Fourteen trains were already waiting there. He slowly maneuvered his train to land in front of them all, positioning it on a high ground at the edge of the Zombie Basin.
For now, it was still relatively safe.
No zombies or monsters attacked.
As soon as the train came to a stop, a group of train conductors rushed forward, their eyes filled with panic.
"Lord Mang, can we really survive this?"
"What should we do now, Lord Mang?"
"..."
Chen Mang remained silent, simply waving his hand to dismiss the crowd. Only after they dispersed did he step out of the locomotive cabin from the other side. Biaozi and the others followed behind him, standing on the hillside and leaning on their canes as they gazed at the Zombie Basin.
The distance was too great.
The target acquisition radar couldn't detect anything, and the naked eye couldn't make out any details.
Yet they could see a vast swarm of monsters spreading rapidly outward like ink spilled on a napkin. The number of monsters was constantly increasing, far exceeding his initial estimate of several hundred thousand.
The majority of the monsters were zombies.
But there were also all kinds of other creatures—airborne, terrestrial, and even subterranean.
Oh no, there were also underground monsters.
In the sky, he had seen an earthworm monster, fully four or five meters wide, constantly leaping out of the ground and burrowing deep beneath the surface. It moved with incredible speed, like a fish leaping from the water. It was a Tier 8 monster, and at that speed, he didn't believe any train hiding underground could outrun it.
At first, he'd said the only way to resolve this crisis was to kill all the monsters.
Now, it seemed he was wrong.
This crisis was fundamentally unsolvable. The monsters kept multiplying. All they could do was eliminate the high-Tier monsters and then coexist with the remaining ones for a long time to come.
Mining while fending off monster attacks.
This zone would become a monster paradise, just like the Kunlun Mountain Region.
He didn't know how long the zombies had been digging underground.
Perhaps the Zombie Basin in its current state was the zone's true form.
After all, there was only so much copper ore. Even if they combined all the copper ore from every train, they still couldn't kill all the monsters in this zone. If this zone survived this crisis, it would become a Hell-Tier zone, just like the Kunlun Mountain Region.
Chen Mang stood at the edge of the hillside, leaning on his cane. Messages scrolled rapidly across the train radio before him, mostly filled with panic. Some trains had barely finished sending their messages before their names faded from the list.
He paused.
He reposted the message on the public channel and pinned it:
"Hand over two-thirds of your iron ore and copper ore. I'll send you private coordinates. I'll protect you."
Then, turning to the anxious train conductors behind him, he said sternly, "Return to your trains. Stay here, and I'll protect you. Follow my orders and don't run around. When the monsters attack later, you're responsible for clearing up any stragglers. Leave the rest to me."
The trains currently held a total of 6.79 million units of copper ore. If all of it were used to craft 9th-tier cannon shells, it would yield nearly 40,000 rounds.
"Lord Mang," Erdan approached with a grim expression, his voice hoarse. "I fear many will die this time. The number of monsters is overwhelming, almost surpassing those in the Kunlun Mountain Region. In this environment, it'll be incredibly difficult for the trains to survive."
"There are no connected Yellow Zones around the Zombie Basin."
"Ahead lies the Blue Zone, and behind is the Green Zone."
"We can't advance or retreat. There's nowhere to hide."
"Even if we survive this, mining will remain a major problem. Without sufficient resource replenishment, the trains will gradually perish, even without the monsters."
"Mm."
Chen Mang nodded softly. "No problem. At the very least, I can guarantee your survival. Rest assured."
"I trust you."
Erdan's expression was complex, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, he said nothing more, simply turning and heading toward his own train. He knew Lord Mang's train could definitely withstand the eruption. The worst-case scenario would be abandoning his own Azure Dragon and joining Chen Mang's train.
But...
He didn't want to go that far.
He knew that joining Chen Mang's train and securing a management position would guarantee a better future than his own Azure Dragon train.
Yet he preferred the thrill of exploring fortuitous encounter maps.
Joining Lord Mang's train would mean giving up the chance to explore those maps, which would take away much of the fun.
The Zombie Volcano erupted from the center of the basin and rapidly spread outward.
Most trains managed to avoid the eruption, frantically fleeing toward the basin's edge, the higher ground.
Only a few unlucky trains were caught in the blast. These were either mining near the basin's center or had ventured too close out of curiosity to witness the event firsthand.
"Keep going down... keep going down..."
Deep underground, inside the locomotive cabin of a Tier 8 Mechanical Train, the man's lips were turning blue, his face deathly pale, and his eyes bloodshot. He pushed the control lever to its limit, sending the train plummeting almost vertically into the depths of the earth.
On the target acquisition radar, a 9th-tier Earthworm Monster was rapidly closing in from behind!
His "Drill" was only Tier 5, allowing him to travel at 80 kilometers per hour underground.
The monster's speed on the radar screen already showed 300 kilometers per hour and was rapidly gaining ground. In mere seconds, it would catch up.
But there was nothing he could do!
The instant the crisis erupted, his first instinct was to dive underground. But as soon as he burrowed into the earth, the giant Earthworm Monster followed, launching its own pursuit. He desperately wanted to surface, but the target acquisition radar showed the surface above was completely covered in red dots—there was no escape!
His only option was to continue descending, hoping to shake off the monster.
He had even used two murphy stones on the "Drill." He would never have resorted to such a drastic measure unless his life was on the line.
But...
It was still useless.
Seeing the 9th-tier Earthworm Monster about to catch up, a fierce glint flashed in the man's eyes. The Doomsday Cannon on the carriage began to slowly preheat and rotate. The instant the Earthworm Monster burst from the ground to strike, a 9th-tier Doomsday Cannon roared to life, firing a relentless barrage of 9th-tier shells as if they were free.
He had used a murphy stone to upgrade the Doomsday Cannon to 9th-tier!
Although his Corporate Energy Shield was only Tier 7, his offensive capabilities were far from weak. Since escape was impossible, he had no choice but to fight.
Copper ore, which he usually hoarded, was now scattered everywhere without a second thought.
Living without copper ore would be painful.
But dying with unused copper ore would be even more painful.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Deep underground, in a forgotten corner, the Tier 8 Mechanical Train was locked in a desperate struggle with the 9th-tier Earthworm Monster.
But...
The distance was too close.
On the surface, he could have kited the monster using the train's speed. At any cost, his chances of winning wouldn't have been too bad—provided the Earthworm Monster stayed on the surface for a fair duel.
But here, deep underground, the situation was different.
By the time the train's cannons could target the Earthworm Monster, the creature had already opened its blood-red maw and swallowed several carriages whole.
The Earthworm Monster was under intense attack. Its head was now a bloody pulp, with shredded flesh flying everywhere.
Yet, relying on its speed, it swallowed the entire mechanical train whole, from tail to locomotive.
Clang.
That was the sound of the energy shield shattering, followed by the sound of armor cracking, and then the terrified screams of countless survivors. Then...
BOOM!!!
A massive explosion erupted from the Earthworm Monster's belly. The creature, which had been writhing in place, digesting its meal, suddenly burst into dozens of pieces, spraying blood and debris across the confined tunnel.
This was the power of the train's self-destruct mechanism.
The Tier 8 Mechanical Train was officially erased from the Zombie Basin.
And the 9th-tier Earthworm Monster met its end here as well.
Minutes later, the tunnel began to collapse, completely burying the traces of the battle. For a long time, no one would know what had happened here, and no one would come to investigate. Perhaps many years from now, a train tunneling underground might accidentally stumble upon this place.
A train...
In reality, these trains were mobile shelters. The train conductor held the highest authority on each train and served as its spokesperson.
But the trains weren't just home to the conductor.
They also housed a vast number of survivors.
The destruction of each train often meant the death of nearly a thousand or even more survivors in this apocalypse.
"Don't fly! Don't burrow underground!"
"Don't fly! Don't burrow underground!"
These messages rapidly spread across the train radio. Soon, many trains realized that the airborne monsters prioritized attacking airborne trains, while the subterranean monsters targeted trains traveling underground.
On the surface, they only had to contend with zombies and the running monsters.
In an instant—
Across the entire Zombie Basin, all trains scattered across the surface, fleeing in all directions.
But—
People soon discovered that when there were no targets in the air or underground, the airborne and subterranean monsters would then prioritize attacking the trains on the surface.
"Which bastard told us not to fly or burrow underground?!"
"Damn it!"
In the control cabin of a Tier 7 Mechanical Train, a young man stared at the scene before him, his face pale and eyes filled with despair. Behind him, an endless zombie horde surged like a celestial curtain. Ahead, two Earthworm Monsters burst from the ground, lunging toward the train. Above, a 9th-tier Rot Hawk screeched as it extended its claws, diving down in a deadly swoop!
There was no hope of survival.
He didn't know how he could possibly live.
Originally, he only had to face the zombie horde behind him. But once all the trains emerged from the ground, he had to contend with monsters from the air, land, and earth. Not even a Divine being could withstand such an onslaught.
"Damn it all!"
Desperate, the young man opened the cover protecting the "Immediate Self-Destruct" button and pressed it without hesitation. He was about to confirm the command on the screen when—
"BOOM! BOOM!!"
Countless artillery shells rained down from afar, striking the diving 9th-tier Rot Hawk and the two Earthworm Monsters that had emerged from the ground. In an instant, as the explosions erupted, all the 9th-tier monsters were critically wounded and crashed to the ground.
The young man's movements faltered slightly as the train surged forward.
At that moment, another barrage of artillery shells rained down, obliterating the already critically wounded monsters. Only then did he notice a flying train crash heavily to the ground beside him. A forced private message crackled over the train radio.
"Stellaris": "Flee in this direction—the mountain ahead. Give me two-thirds of your copper and iron ore."
It's him!
The young man hesitated for a moment, then without hesitation ordered his subordinates to bring over the Storage Box and place it on the Heavenly Balance that was gradually solidifying before him. He then took a cigar from the balance.
"Stellaris": "Smoke this to calm your nerves."
Looking at the cigar, the man suddenly burst into laughter. He leaned out the window, gazing at the Stellaris train already on the ground, racing away from the zombie horde behind it. His eyes were filled with the relief of surviving, and his voice trembled with excitement as he shouted, "Thanks, bro!"
(End of the Chapter)
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