Translator: AnubisTL
Chen Mang watched Biaozi's retreating figure, then glanced at the rapidly receding lights on either side of the train tunnel. He leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the control panel and grumbling, "Be more careful next time!"
He quickly put the matter out of his mind, instead furrowing his brow and picking up Xiao Lu, the small green creature, cradling it in his arms and examining it closely.
"The train is already Tier 12."
"Why hasn't Xiao Lu woken up yet?"
"Could it be..."
"He's not A-Rank potential? Is he S-Rank potential?"
"It's highly likely," Xiao Ai, standing nearby, said quietly. "If he's an S-Class Starry Sky Behemoth, he won't awaken until the train reaches Tier 15."
"Cub of an S-Rank Potential Cosmic Behemoth..."
Chen Mang fell silent, his expression complex as he gazed at Xiao Lu in his arms. An A-Rank potential Cosmic Behemoth cub, if it successfully reached adulthood, would become a Tier 120 Cosmic Behemoth!
What did a Tier 120 Cosmic Behemoth even mean?
His Stellaris was currently Tier 12. He considered himself invincible in the Blue Zone and even dared to venture into the Purple Zone. He felt he was on the verge of breaking free from the cosmos and venturing into the starry sea to seek out cosmic civilizations!
But...
Before a Tier 120 Cosmic Behemoth, he was as fragile as a sheet of paper. Even if he didn't get close, a mere flip of the creature's body would obliterate his train. It was an absurdly exaggerated scenario.
A Cosmic Behemoth that consumed stars was already an unimaginable level of power. Even a massive nuclear warhead detonated inside its mouth wouldn't dislodge a single speck of tartar.
And that was just an A-Rank potential Cosmic Behemoth.
The little green cub he was holding, Xiao Lu, was an S-Rank potential Cosmic Behemoth cub, an even higher tier.
If an A-Rank potential Cosmic Behemoth cub could buy up all the resources on the entire Aquablue Star, an S-Rank cub would be priceless.
"Xiao Ai."
"Yes."
"Why would an S-Class Starry Sky Behemoth cub be on this planet?"
"I don't know. But the cosmos is vast. Even events with near-zero probability are virtually guaranteed to happen eventually. Nothing that happens in the cosmos should surprise us."
"What if... what if the cub's mother finds me? Would she kill me?"
"It's possible," Xiao Ai replied. "My database doesn't have much information on Cosmic Behemoths. All the data comes from mentions on chips recovered from the previous lab, and it's incomplete."
Chen Mang didn't engage Xiao Ai further. Instead, he kept fiddling with Xiao Lu's mouth, which was pink and slightly protruding—endearingly cute.
A month passed.
Xiao Lu's size remained unchanged.
Chen Mang decided to wait until the train reached Tier 15. Then he'd see if Xiao Lu underwent any changes.
The accessory grades were: White, Green, Yellow, Blue, Purple, Red, Gold, Pink, and Seven-Colored.
The zone tiers were the same.
He was currently in the Blue Zone and preparing to enter the Purple Zone. Once he reached the Seven-Colored Zone, he should be able to break free from this planet and venture into the starry sea to explore other civilizations.
"It's a long and arduous journey," he sighed. To survive in the starry sea, the train still had a long way to go. It needed to become much stronger, and he needed more residents. Once they entered the starry sea, they'd essentially be cut off from the world, and the extreme loneliness of being alone until they discovered other life would be overwhelming.
More residents.
The train was bustling with activity, ensuring the continuation of human civilization.
He had always believed that humans maintained their sanity when alone.
But...
Prolonged solitude could also lead to mental breakdown. Before embarking on the interstellar journey, he had to ensure that the Stellaris had enough residents to Inherit Human Civilization, lest the loneliness become unbearable.
It was like a catheter—harmful, but even more harmful not to use it.
The Stellaris's speed was astonishing.
In just a few dozen minutes, it had reached the Crisis Valley Zone and resurfaced from the underground passage.
Throughout the journey, it maintained a speed of nearly 5,040 km/h—its maximum speed without activating any overpowered effects. This was despite its heavy load, consisting of 14 carriages, all with reinforced armor.
It could have gone even faster.
"Vroom, vroom, vroom"
The first layer of doors on the Stellaris's locomotive slowly opened with the sound of gears turning. The Travel Frog honked its horn in farewell before shooting out of the Stellaris like a streak of light, hurtling into the distance!
Train expansion had its advantages—Subsidiary Trains could be stored directly inside.
It was like a carrier launching fighter jets.
They parted ways.
Night had deepened, and it was already late. Almost all the residents had fallen into deep slumber. Chen Mang, feeling weary himself, prepared for bed. After checking the progress of his Dreamstone collection, he yawned, quickly washed up, and drifted into unconsciousness.
Humans have a significant flaw: they need sleep.
From a certain perspective, this means that nearly a third of a human's lifespan is spent in a state of unconsciousness.
In his hazy state, he dreamed again.
This time, it seemed to be a spring dream.
The night was deep.
All the residents were sound asleep in their dormitories.
Only in Residential District 1, beneath a pavilion, a young man sat hunched over his laptop. His eyes were bloodshot, and his fingers flew across the keyboard with such speed that it seemed like a divine being was playing with the mortal world.
Everyone else was asleep.
Only he remained awake.
He hadn't finished his quota of twenty thousand words for the day. This was the task assigned to him by Trainmaster Zhu: to write a novel to enrich the entertainment options for the train residents. He didn't need to mine; he only had to write twenty thousand words each day.
It sounded simple enough.
But...
"Still awake, huh?"
Just then, Old Pig strolled over with a chuckle, settling down under the pavilion to admire the surrounding covered corridors.
The Stellaris train had a total of eight residential districts, each personally designed and built by Lord Mang. Perhaps because Residential District 1 was the first to be designed and constructed, Lord Mang had put extra care into it.
There were lawns, artificial rock gardens, and flowing rivers.
Even covered corridors to protect from rain and wind.
He couldn't imagine what Lord Mang had been thinking—could it even rain inside a space gate?
Combined with the holographic projections within the space gate, he could look up and see the moon, clouds stained black by the night, and the distant treetops swaying gently in the night breeze.
Even the most luxurious pre-apocalypse developments couldn't boast this level of landscaping and environment.
He loved this Residential District.
He often came here for a stroll, feeling his mood lift with each visit.
Then, turning his head to the young man beside him, he smiled and asked, "How's life on the train treating you? You only need to write twenty thousand words a day and do nothing else. Must be a lot easier than your old life, right?"
"..."
The young man, his eyes bloodshot, tilted his head toward Old Pig. His voice, hoarse and trembling, asked, "Trainmaster Zhu, are there any slave positions available on our train? I'd like to apply to become a slave."
Old Pig's expression immediately darkened, his brow furrowing in displeasure.
"What nonsense is this? Do you think being a slave is easier?"
The young man remained silent, his eyes filled with despair and his voice on the verge of tears.
"Trainmaster Zhu, slaves get to rest when there's no mining work. My resident ID is 1999. I'm an old resident. Since joining the train two months ago, I haven't stopped writing for a single day. I feel like I'm... poisoned by words."
"Hmm..."
Old Pig rubbed his nose, pondering for a moment. He conceded that the young man might indeed be exhausted. But soon, he stood up, patted the young man's shoulder with a serious expression, and said, "This is the apocalypse."
"Overcome your difficulties. Taking a break is out of the question. Keep writing."
"If others can do it, why can't you?"
"Others? Who?"
"Someone, somewhere in the world."
Old Pig didn't linger. He turned and left, having originally planned to visit the Red House for some relaxation. He'd only stopped by on his way.
The two men were a deputy train conductor and a resident. Neither possessed any authority.
If Chen Mang had been present, he would have clearly seen that each time the young man typed a character, a faint ripple spread through the air. These ripples coalesced into a line, passing through the space gate and following the carriage all the way to the locomotive cabin. There, it burrowed into the Civilization Token inside a drawer.
"It feels like it's almost done..."
Uncle Li, his eyes bloodshot and surrounded by empty Cola cans, stared excitedly at the swollen-bellied zombie before him. His body trembled with a near-frenzied intensity.
Finally, success was within reach!
His first zombie cub was about to be born. Though the production rate was slow, this marked a promising start. It proved the theory was entirely feasible; all that remained was to scale it up!
The zombie with the distended belly was one of the hundreds captured from that laboratory.
The hundreds of zombies had devoured a massive amount of iron ore, their bodies now brimming with core energy. Perhaps this was why their bellies had swollen so grotesquely.
As for the young man, he had drifted into a hazy sleep, leaning against the carriage wall.
Only Uncle Li remained awake in the carriage.
And the half-dead zombie.
Bound to a copper pillar, his face contorted with despair, his eyes vacant and glazed. After enduring over a month of torture, he could only ponder one question: Why hadn't he just died cleanly at the start? Then he wouldn't have to suffer like this.
He desperately wanted to die...
Dawn broke.
Yesterday had been uneventful, Christmas Eve.
"Hah..."
Chen Mang stretched languidly, then hopped out of bed feeling refreshed. After washing up, he lit a cigarette and sat down to review the train Log—a daily ritual.
By the time he finished reading, the cigarette would be finished too, his mind completely clear.
Nothing major had happened. Only a few stray monsters had approached, easily dispatched by Biaozi and the others on patrol.
After finishing the train Log, he stubbed out his cigarette in a Cola can and slowly sipped the millet porridge Xiao Fang had left on the table. A plate of spicy pig ear sat beside it. He had no idea where the chili oil had come from; he didn't recall the train carrying such supplies.
First, he checked the resource balance on the train panel:
26.38 million units of iron ore, 2.57 million units of wood, 17.64 million units of copper ore, 2.32 million units of Red Heart Rock, and 10.29 million units of Titanium Crystal Mine.
The resources were still sufficient.
The next two days would be a time for rest. He would let the residents rest for two days, and he would rest as well, taking the opportunity to sort through the gains of the past few days.
He would inventory what needed to be inventoried and store what needed to be stored.
He glanced at the progress of the Dreamstone, now at 80%. It had increased by 2% overnight.
And...
Chen Mang looked at the calendar reminder on the train control panel screen and fell into thought. The Goblin's Tomb had already refreshed, and he could use the Civilization Token to re-enter the area and mine iron ore.
But should he go?
The area was primarily Tier 2 Ore, with very little Tier 3 Ore.
He wouldn't be able to mine much in 48 hours.
He decided to first see if he could find other mines. If he couldn't, he would go to the Goblin's Tomb. It was worth noting that he could use the resource detection radar to see the refresh times of all mined-out mines.
But...
Only the mine at the end of the train tunnel, in the cavern, didn't display a refresh time—or rather, it had no refresh time at all.
In other words, the mine wasn't naturally formed. After all, a natural formation couldn't be so densely packed. Chen Mang suspected the mine might have been created by the ten-meter-tall Monster Boss.
After all, he hadn't seen any signs of waste.
He figured the boss's food source was likely the same: eating and excreting simultaneously, allowing it to survive indefinitely underground.
Of course, these were just his wild speculations, impossible to verify.
But it didn't matter.
He pulled out the Civilization Token from his drawer, planning to revisit the Goblin's Tomb in a few days. However...
At that moment, he noticed something new about the Civilization Token—something he hadn't seen before. Golden light swirled around its surface.
"What's this...?"
Chen Mang frowned slightly, turning to the Civilization Token's information panel.
Special Item: Civilization Token
Special Effect: This token can help you rebuild a civilization. Use with caution. It's recommended to wait until your train reaches Tier 20 before using it. Whether you rebuild your own civilization or someone else's, you'll reappear at the dining table, attracting countless enemies.
In the cosmos, there are only two types of beings: hunters and prey.
After activating this token, you can enter the Goblin's Tomb, an infinitely dark space filled with abundant resource mines. Each entry lasts 48 hours, and you can enter once per month.
It was exactly the same as before.
But behind the Civilization Token, there was now a five-pointed star formed by glowing white lines.
At each vertex of the star, different words were inscribed:
"Humanities," "Culture," "Military," "Agriculture," and "System."
The Civilization Token had never changed before.
And if you focused your mind on a specific "word," corresponding branches would appear.
(End of the Chapter)
📖Read [MAT] ahead on Pa.treon@AnubisTL upto c316. [+2/+12.2k]
🎁All [2] Novels can be accessed for just $6/mo.
🔥Translated [900+] Chapters and [1.79M+] Words.
🎯For Every 1 Review, I will Upload 4 Extra Chapters0/4 reviews reached.