Translator: AnubisTL
"So you've decided already?"
Chen Mang tilted his head slightly, a touch surprised. This had been his initial thought, but he hadn't yet developed a complete system. He'd actually envisioned Erdan as a "Travel Frog"—one who was rarely around but always returned with a haul of treasures.
He'd noticed that, whether due to talent or sheer luck, Erdan had a knack for discovering all sorts of fortuitous encounter maps, including the "Underwater Labyrinth," the "Sky Piercing Tower," and even the "Eternal Imprisonment" map he'd unearthed with a single pickaxe strike in the Zombie Basin. He'd also stumbled upon a Zombie Volcano.
To put it nicely, Erdan was exceptionally gifted.
To put it less kindly, he was a walking disaster, trouble following him wherever he went.
Chen Mang smiled at Erdan. "I didn't expect you to agree so quickly. This is actually beneficial for both of us. You can now focus entirely on exploring fortuitous encounter maps."
"Leave the slaves to me."
"You and your thugs can ditch the carriages altogether. Just keep the locomotive. Your thugs can bunk in the locomotive cabin's refrigerator."
"Think about it," Erdan said. "With only one locomotive, wouldn't upgrading the Zaibatsu Energy Shield require far fewer resources? We could build a small, streamlined train instead. Wouldn't that be great?"
"It's pretty good," Lord Mang grinned, a hint of anticipation in his eyes. "For some reason, a knot in my gut just vanished. From now on, I'll officially call you Lord Mang."
"I'll go back and disband the train right away, releasing all the slaves."
"No need to rush. Talk to my deputy train conductor, Old Pig, later. He knows the details better."
"Understood!"
After Erdan left, the other train conductors hesitated to approach. Biaozi and his men stood guard behind Lord Mang in their mechs, their faces impassive, ready to fend off any sneak attacks. From a distance, they shouted:
"Lord Mang, thank you for protecting us! If you ever need anything, just say the word, and we'll be there to help!"
"That's right, Lord Mang! The train over there is the one you saved earlier, the one who didn't give you any iron ore. We've already convinced him to hand over all his iron ore and copper ore. It's all in that Storage Box on the ground."
"Lord Mang, we'll take our leave now. May your journey be prosperous!"
Soon after—
The dozen or so trains began their ascent up the slope, each retreating in different directions. This crisis had nearly depleted their resources. They needed to find a safe place to mine quickly.
Chen Mang waved his hand without saying much.
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but his resources seemed to have increased significantly since before the Zombie Volcano crisis. His copper ore felt like it was multiplying faster than he could mine it. It seemed inexhaustible.
Hmm...
The main reason was that he was being frugal.
After standing still for a moment, he turned his gaze away. Though the Zombie Volcano crisis had ended, the Zombie Basin was now a wasteland. This area was no longer suitable for trains to survive. The monster population had become too dense.
He needed to upgrade to a Tier 9 Train as soon as possible and leave this zone. This area was no longer suitable for mining.
Logically, reaching Tier 9 should allow him to enter the Blue Zone. He wondered why those Tier 9 Trains were unable to leave.
Chen Mang returned to the locomotive cabin and leaned back in his chair. Gazing at the spoils of this crisis, he realized they were truly abundant. Crisis and opportunity had gone hand in hand!
First and foremost, the greatest gain was resources.
Tier 9 Armor for the entire train.
This allowed the train to traverse the zone with complete impunity. The train now held 810,000 units of iron ore, primarily depleted by the Tier 9 Armor upgrade.
Copper ore reserves stood at 5,120,000 units.
Just last night, his copper ore reserves were barely over 1 million units. After the crisis subsided, they had surged to 5,120,000 units.
This vast copper ore supply would sustain the train for a considerable period.
Secondly, there was the reward for defeating the Tier 11 Giant Zombie King, the ultimate boss of this crisis.
In theory, several Tier 9 Trains, along with some Tier 8 Trains, could have easily killed this final boss. After all, this boss was a command-type enemy with only one head and virtually no means of resistance.
All it required was successfully breaking through the zombie horde's battlefront to reach the village below, possessing a slightly higher-Tier drill to avoid spending hours drilling through 20,000 meters of rock, and having the strength to defeat or withstand Tier 9 Monsters.
Meeting these conditions...
He could easily kill the mastermind behind this crisis. It wasn't too difficult, and he happened to meet all the requirements.
Oh.
He'd also need a diviner.
Zhang Yiren.
Zhang Yiren's information and divinations, combined with his own environmental assessments, led him to suspect the boss behind this crisis was located beneath the village. As for why the village shook every night, the answer was found:
The "Heart" was vibrating.
The Heart was enormous. He wasn't sure if it belonged to the head he'd seen. It didn't seem right. It was more likely a higher-tier Giant Zombie, given the proportions were off.
After killing the Tier 11 Giant Zombie King, three items dropped.
1: Purple-grade train accessory blueprint: "Flowing Light Tail Thruster."
2: Special item: "Universal Key" *1.
3: 15 Murphy Stones.
"Ah..."
Chen Mang sighed helplessly as he looked at the 15 Murphy Stones. Are Murphy Stones really that hard to obtain? he wondered. Why do they always seem to pop up in the most unexpected places for me? Oh, he almost forgot about Mundo. He wondered if Mundo had returned yet.
And there were still 30 Murphy Stones waiting for him in the underwater labyrinth.
The purple-grade "Flowing Light Tail Thruster" accessory was perfect for Erdan's train, perfectly aligning with his vision!
Similar to a "Nitrous Tailpipe," it would accelerate the train. But its special effect was that the fewer carriages the train had and the lighter its weight, the faster it would accelerate. This made it ideal for the small, streamlined exploration train he envisioned.
In a way, he was treating Erdan's train like a destroyer in a carrier group.
In his mind, the Stellaris would be the main train, with many Subsidiary Trains executing his orders. In the early stages, he could manage everything single-handedly. But as his power grew, he would need to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
Trying to control the Stellaris himself for every mission would exhaust him.
As for the "Universal Key"...
"..."
Chen Mang's expression was slightly odd. He had never seen such a bizarre special item. He genuinely couldn't imagine which train would ever need it. It seemed completely useless!
Special Item: Universal Key
Item Effect: Unlocks any entity marked with '?'. Using it incurs a 30-second cooldown.
With this effect, Chen Mang genuinely couldn't imagine which train would ever need it.
Before a train undergoes its Class Change, one of the craftable accessories remains unnamed. After the Class Change, this accessory automatically transforms into a heavy firepower weapon accessory of the corresponding Tier. However, at the time, the accessory was labeled "Unknown Component," not "?".
In other words—
If a train were to develop normally, it would never have a use for this special item in its entire lifetime. It would be completely useless.
But...
Chen Mang happened to have a perfect use for it.
With a slightly strange expression, he looked at the "?" button on the control panel. He placed the Universal Key on the button and lightly tapped it.
The next moment!
The "?" button, which had been with his train since it reached Tier 6, began to slowly fade away as the key emitted a white glow. In its place, three large characters appeared:
Military Factory
"..."
After pressing the "Military Factory" button, Chen Mang stared at the screen on the control panel, momentarily stunned. Then, a flicker of disbelief flashed in his eyes. He looked down at the Universal Key in his hand, couldn't help but kiss it, and cursed with a laugh:
"Damn, you're really Daddy's little treasure!"
He then carefully placed the key in a drawer.
He didn't know if he would encounter any more entities marked with "?," but one thing was certain: anything marked with a question mark was bound to be a treasure!
Military Factory
Can research, craft, and purchase blueprints for various firepower or defense-related accessories.
Requirements for placement:
Requires a Train Auxiliary AI of at least Tier 10.
Each research, crafting, or purchase consumes Merit Points, which can be exchanged for monster flesh.
What does the train have the most of right now?
Monster flesh!
And even that wasn't enough. Chen Mang had discarded a lot of low-Tier monster flesh!
Without wasting another moment, Chen Mang set up the Military Factory inside Xiao Ai's research center. Then, he had Biaozi and the others carry the refrigerator and dump all the monster flesh inside into the furnace.
Only then did he take control of the Stellaris once more, returning to the hillside to retrieve the monster flesh he had discarded earlier using the powerful magnet.
He had originally planned to leave the Zombie Basin as soon as possible, but now it seemed he should do a good deed before leaving: clear the area of all the monsters for the benefit of the other trains.
Other zones didn't have nearly as many monsters.
Even the Kunlun Mountain Region, known for its high-Tier monsters, had far fewer than the zombie hordes swarming this area. Moreover, the Kunlun Mountain terrain was difficult, dominated by endless mountain ranges.
This place was a basin, shaped like a bowl.
Excellent!
What a bountiful harvest!
A mountain of dropped items awaited him in the refrigerator, further bolstering his foundation.
Meanwhile, atop the mountain...
Erdan had gathered everyone from the Azure Dragon train, standing on top of the carriages and gazing down at his 700-plus slaves. His expression was complex, tinged with a subtle mix of emotions. From this day forward, these slaves would no longer belong to the Azure Dragon but to the Stellaris.
He could finally stop worrying about the train's development and dedicate himself entirely to searching for fortuitous encounter maps.
He couldn't imagine how relaxed and happy such days would be. In the apocalypse, being able to pursue his passions felt like an extravagant luxury. With the Stellaris as his backing, he no longer had to worry about Train Upgrade resources; the Stellaris would cover everything.
Yet...
He couldn't shake the feeling that he was letting these slaves down, as if he were dissolving a company and laying off its employees.
Sigh...
After a long moment of silence, Erdan stood atop the carriage, gazing down at the assembled slaves below. His eyes were slightly red-rimmed, and his voice was hoarse as he said, "We've spent a long time together, and I believe I've treated you all better than any other train conductor would have."
"I haven't let you go hungry or cold."
"But—"
"Today, I must bid you farewell. From today on, the Azure Dragon is officially disbanded, and all of you will be incorporated into the Stellaris!"
"You are no longer part of the Azure Dragon. You now belong to the Stellaris!"
"Lord Mang is your sole master!"
"Do you all understand?!"
The slaves standing in the biting wind exchanged bewildered glances. No one spoke for a moment. Finally, a bolder slave stepped forward, cautiously raising his hand and asking, "Brother Dan, is this true?"
"Of course it's true."
Erdan sighed softly. "Life on the Stellaris won't be like it was on the Azure Dragon. You'll need to follow the rules and not..."
But just then, he thought he heard laughter. Before he could pinpoint its source, the laughter grew louder, escalating into a chorus of excited shouts from hundreds of people!
"Heaven has eyes! Heaven has eyes!"
A male slave from the Azure Dragon knelt on the ground, arms outstretched, his eyes blazing with excitement. "Finally, I'm joining the Stellaris! Fragrant bread, ice-cold Cola, and pork and cabbage stew with vermicelli—I'm coming for you!"
"Hahaha!!!"
"I never thought I'd see this day, Lord Mang! Do you remember me? From the moment I first laid eyes on you, I swore to serve you faithfully—your most loyal slave!"
Standing nearby, two women wept with joy, embracing each other tightly.
"Don't cry, don't cry. I never expected this surprise to come so suddenly."
"I heard they don't call us slaves on the Stellaris. They call us residents, and we can earn stellar coupons to buy lots of things at the Resident Store."
In the crowd, a slave from the Azure Dragon rushed over to Biaozi and the others, his voice trembling with excitement. "Do you remember me? I was the one who said I'd help you blow up Azure Dragon's Carriage No. 2! Does this count as meritorious surrender?"
"The moment I saw the Stellaris, I felt like I was destined to belong to it!"
"..."
Erdan stood expressionless on the carriage roof. He had been feeling a pang of sadness at the thought of parting ways, but seeing his slaves so overjoyed, he felt even more conflicted.
Could the Stellaris really be so much better than the Azure Dragon?
After a long pause, he sighed softly.
Alright.
It seemed Stellaris did indeed offer far superior Resident Benefits—he couldn't think of another train that could match them.
Never mind, he thought. I'll focus on exploring the fortuitous encounter map from now on.
He then jumped down from the carriage and turned to his deputy train conductor and thugs, whispering, "You've all followed me for a long time. From now on..."
"Don't worry, Brother Dan!" the deputy train conductor shouted, his excitement barely contained as he stood ramrod straight. "Even if we go to Stellaris, I'll never forget your nurturing and guidance!"
"Me neither!" the thugs chimed in, nodding enthusiastically.
"...?"
Erdan's lips twitched slightly. After a long silence, he continued in a low voice, "What I was going to say was... you'll all continue adventuring with me. You're not going to Stellaris."
"..."
"..."
The smiles on everyone's faces slowly froze.
After a long silence, the deputy train conductor tentatively spoke: "It's like this, Brother Dan..."
"Do you think there's a chance you could suddenly strip me of my position, turning me back into a slave? That way, I could legitimately board the Stellaris?"
"Forget about it."
Erdan rolled his eyes at the deputy train conductor, annoyed. "Is the Azure Dragon's treatment really that bad? From now on, the Azure Dragon will be a subsidiary of the Stellaris, dedicated to exploring fortuitous encounter maps. You'll be working with me, so you won't be going anywhere."
"However, Lord Mang said..."
"He'll distribute stellar coupons to all of you based on your merits. Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. Weren't you eyeing those young stars at the last wedding?"
"Work hard, and you'll get your chance."
(End of the Chapter)
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