Translator: AnubisTL
Purple Accessory: Space Stasis
Effect: After activating this accessory, all living beings inside the train, including AI, are forcibly frozen for 30 minutes. During this time, they will retain no memories and their bodies will be completely immobile.
This accessory became craftable when the train reached Tier 7. Chen Mang had never used it before.
He hadn't encountered a situation where it would be useful.
But in this moment—
This accessory unleashed its true power.
The next instant!
The train surged forward again, leaving the pursuing rabbits far behind.
"Xiao Ai."
Sitting in the locomotive cabin, Chen Mang tried calling out to Xiao Ai several times, but there was no response. Even Xiao Ai had been frozen. The train could no longer cruise automatically and had to be operated manually.
Chen Mang picked up his cane and strode towards the last carriage.
Thank goodness for the cane.
Even without being at the control panel, he could still operate the train.
He didn't stop once along the way, but inwardly he was already pondering how to get a personal transport device for the train. The several hundred meters from the front to the back were tiring to run, and while that was inconvenient, it could be a critical waste of time in an emergency.
Before long, he reached the last carriage. There, four or five Red-skinned Rabbits with ferocious expressions and bloodshot eyes hung suspended in mid-air.
The scene was eerily silent.
"..."
Chen Mang tentatively poked one of the frozen rabbits with his cane. The fur was still soft, and he could feel its body heat, but there was no reaction. This was the power of Space Stasis? It felt a bit unfair.
Completely ignoring tiers.
Any living creature within the train was frozen solid!
No matter how high-tier a monster was, it was instantly replaced by a frozen statue. Even the AI was frozen. This accessory seemed like a crucial "emergency stop" mechanism, in case the AI ever truly rebelled or an uncontrollable riot broke out on the train.
Activating this accessory would reset everything.
He knew that any accessory that could appear in the train's crafting menu couldn't possibly be useless.
He didn't activate the hundred heavy machine guns mounted on the carriage ceiling. Tier 15 and Tier 16 bullets were too expensive, and he couldn't bear to buy them. They cost even more than Doomsday Cannon shells.
Instead, he immediately crafted a Tier 1 space gate on the carriage wall.
Then, he pushed each of the floating rabbit monsters through it one by one.
Yes, pushed them.
Perhaps because the monsters had been in mid-sprint when they were frozen, even after being frozen, his forceful pushes didn't send them tumbling to the opposite side. Instead, they slid horizontally.
One... two... three...
Before long, all the rabbit monsters had been pushed through the space gate.
"Phew."
Chen Meng exhaled in relief. He then stood at the junction between Carriage 15 and Carriage 16, gripping the railing of Carriage 15 tightly as he chose to forcibly dismantle the space gate in Carriage 16.
In the next instant—
The space gate in Carriage 16 shattered instantly, scattering countless fragments of white light into the air.
The most powerful monsters in the area, Tier 14 and Tier 15, were annihilated in this spatial collapse!
They died from the spatial fragmentation.
"That's a bit overpowered," Chen Mang, standing at the edge of Carriage 15, chuckled softly as he surveyed the carnage in Carriage 16. Spatial collapse attacks like this ignored monster levels or defenses—they simply sliced through everything!
In theory, with proper coordination and a bit of luck, he could even kill a Tier 100 monster using this mechanism!
Should be possible, though he wasn't sure if a Tier 100 monster's defenses could withstand such a level of spatial annihilation.
And this wasn't a unique ability. Every train had access to this method:
Space Gate + Space Stasis.
These two accessories were standard equipment for every train conductor.
The most dangerous place in the world wasn't being surrounded by monsters.
It was being trapped on another train.
Each train conductor held absolute authority over their train. Within their domain, they were absolute rulers, untouchable even by the highest authority. Venturing onto another train was essentially suicide, but fortunately, Chen Mang had never been one for such reckless trespassing.
The only regret was...
Perhaps due to the system's mechanics, these monsters were automatically recorded as having died in the disaster, not at the hands of the Stellaris. They dropped nothing.
Chen Mang shook his head, dismissing the thought, and turned toward the locomotive cabin.
This accessory was Tier 1.
He had never upgraded it before, but its stasis duration was thirty minutes, with no cooldown. However, once activated, the stasis could not be canceled. Twenty-four minutes remained until the stasis lifted.
As he passed the Resident Car, he paused to peer through the space gate.
The scene before him was eerily still.
Every resident stood frozen in place, motionless as wax figures, utterly silent and deeply unsettling.
"Hmm?"
Chen Mang frowned slightly. He noticed a resident lighting a cigarette, the flickering flame dancing around the man's lips as it burned the tobacco. But the flame seemed frozen in place.
He walked over and tentatively reached out to touch the flame.
It was a reddish-orange color.
And it had no heat.
Even flames could be frozen in place. Impressive. This would certainly prevent fires from breaking out during Space Stasis.
"..."
Chen Mang's expression turned slightly strange. He had an amusing idea he wanted to try once it was safe.
He then left the Resident Car.
As he passed Carriage 5, he slid open the door to the corridor and saw Ji Chuchu and Yan Yao sitting on the bed, deep in conversation. Both women were frozen mid-sentence, their lips slightly parted as if they had been talking just a moment ago.
He walked over and pinched their cheeks a few times.
The texture felt normal.
There was no stiffness or unnatural sensation.
But this feeling...
Hmm.
Chen Mang gripped his cane, sensing the information on the target acquisition radar. No more rabbits were chasing him. The remaining low-tier rabbits simply couldn't keep up with his train. Space Stasis had 22 minutes left.
He glanced ahead at Ji Chuchu, her red lips slightly parted, smiling and chatting with Yan Yao.
It was only natural.
Perfectly understandable.
And there was plenty of time.
He suddenly realized the accessory had another layer of meaning: a moment of stolen leisure.
Half a day was more than enough.
He gently laid Ji Chuchu down on the bed in the carriage. The entire process was eerily silent, without any resistance. It was a strange sensation, one he'd never experienced before, but it felt... good.
Twenty minutes later, he returned Ji Chuchu to her original position and wiped away the lingering traces of lipstick from her lips with a tissue before leaving the carriage.
He'd just been wondering how to spend the remaining time of Space Stasis, which he couldn't stop. Now, he had his answer.
Back in the locomotive cabin, Chen Mang, refreshed and invigorated, sat at the control panel, lit a cigarette, and gazed at the streams of information scrolling across the control panel screen.
"You have slain a Tier 15 Redskin Rabbit. You have slain..."
He had assumed that using a space gate to kill monsters wouldn't count as a kill for the Stellaris, but it apparently did.
Since no items dropped, they must have been destroyed by the space gate.
"What a waste," he sighed. Just then, the Space Stasis ended, and the train cabin returned to its usual noisy state.
"Warning! Warning! Huh? Train Conductor, what about those Tier 15 Redskin Rabbits?"
"Dead," Chen Mang replied, glancing at the screen of the target acquisition radar. He gradually slowed the train to a complete stop, and with a loud thud, it slammed onto the ground from low altitude. "First Squad Members, disembark and prepare for combat!"
"Yes, sir!"
It wasn't just those few rabbits chasing him; the entire zone's Redskin Rabbit population was after him. Those were just the highest-Tier and fastest ones that had caught up. The main force was still trailing behind.
But...
Facing the full might of the Redskin Rabbit horde, Chen Mang had no intention of running. After all, his train was Tier 14 armored. Aside from the Tier 15 Redskin Rabbits, any other Tier of monster that came at him would just be delivering themselves on a silver platter.
The rabbits in this zone clearly had a vendetta against him. He knew he wouldn't be able to establish a secure foothold here until he wiped out the entire Redskin Rabbit population.
This zone was different from others. Once you entered it, there was no way to retreat to the Blue Zone, even if you were only in a Tier 12 Train that hadn't yet upgraded to Tier 13.
By this point, his three-hour-long farce had already exploded across the train radio.
"Can someone really enter the Purple Zone without any preparation? The most important rule of the Stone Man Zone is not to kill any Red-skinned Rabbits. Didn't that guy know about that?"
"That's called confidence born of skill. I've never seen a train outrun a Tier 15 Red-skinned Rabbit head-on before! Mom, that ear-splitting sonic boom almost made my head explode! It vanished in the blink of an eye. That speed is insane!"
"But Red-skinned Rabbits are incredibly vengeful. They'll pursue you relentlessly, especially since they breed so quickly. Who knows how many Red-skinned Rabbits are in this zone? No matter how fast his train is, he'll need energy stones, right? How long will his iron ore reserves last? And he can't escape to another zone."
"It's not that bad. It depends on whether his train has been expanded. If it hasn't and still has the drill accessory, he can hide underground."
"It's been expanded. I saw that train—it's called the Stellaris, I think. It has over a dozen carriages. The expansion is quite significant. He definitely can't go underground."
"These guys are really tight-lipped," Chen Mang muttered, glancing at the train radio chatter from his control panel. He couldn't help but sigh. He hadn't just been running for the past three hours; he'd also dropped a bunch of Neon City Free Entry Tickets. By now, some train must have picked them up.
He'd expected someone to mention it on the train radio.
But not a single person had. Their silence was absolute.
He hadn't ruled out using a drill to hide underground, but he couldn't stay hidden forever. He'd come to the Purple Zone to mine higher-grade ore and seize better opportunities—to upgrade his train, travel further, not to hide underground.
Too many rabbits?
Just slaughter them.
He wanted to see how many rabbits this zone could throw at him. He had nearly twenty million copper ore waiting to be used.
After waiting for about seven or eight minutes, the last group of Tier 12 and Tier 13 Red-skinned Rabbits, the fastest ones, finally arrived, panting heavily. The Doomsday Cannon unleashed a barrage, followed by Zhang Yi piloting the Pope Mecha, wielding a massive mace and roaring as he charged forward!
"DIE!!!"
With a roar, the energy stone on the back of the Pope Mecha began to flash. Several bolts of lightning erupted from its center, spreading outward in a ten-meter radius, freezing all the Red-skinned Rabbits in place.
"Whoa."
Chen Mang was slightly surprised. This mecha actually had a skill? He hadn't known. He hadn't thoroughly examined its specifications; he had too many things to manage each day to delve into every detail.
"Not bad."
He smiled at the control panel screen. The rest was no longer his concern. These-level monsters couldn't breach the train's defenses. They were essentially safe. He'd repeat the trick when the next wave of exhausted Tier 15 Red-skinned Rabbits caught up.
The Space Stasis skill had consumed one-fifth of a Tier 4 Energy Stone, equivalent to 100,000 units of iron ore. The accessory determined its energy consumption based on the number and Tier of creatures within the carriage.
Then he turned to the refrigerator.
The loot from this batch of rabbits could all be sold in the shop. But...
"Huh?"
Chen Mang glanced at the refrigerator with a puzzled expression. It was filled with a huge pile of random items. Where did they come from? He had no memory of them. Moreover, he had used several murphy stones to upgrade the armor of the Travel Frog, yet he now had an extra one.
This thing can reproduce asexually.
Frowning, he flipped through the Train Log, checking for any bugs. While suddenly acquiring a pile of extra items was a good thing, he needed to understand what was happening. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to relax.
It was like waking up every morning before the apocalypse to find a thousand yuan on his nightstand.
It was certainly a blessing.
But it would also leave him uneasy. He wouldn't be able to sleep that night, wondering if he was actually living in the underworld, with the money being burned down to him from above.
Soon—
The answer was found.
"..."
Chen Mang silently cleared his throat, lit a cigarette, and coughed lightly before turning off the train radio.
How to put this...
After his Powerful Magnet accessory reached Tier 100, its pickup range expanded to 10,000 meters. He had spent the last three hours continuously circling this area, sucking up all the items dropped by monsters killed by others into the train.
But it seemed no one knew he'd picked it up.
After all, the item didn't display any information. Those who witnessed its sudden disappearance could only stare blankly, utterly bewildered by what had just happened.
This thing is actually pretty smart.
It didn't suck back all of my Neon City Free Entry Tickets. It knew this one was the one I'd thrown out, huh?
"Good."
Chen Mang cleared his throat before tearing his gaze away from the control panel screen. Today was Neon City's grand opening. Though his physical body remained in the locomotive cabin, his soul had already drifted into the city.
Once this batch of rabbits was dealt with, he'd have to go check out Neon City himself.
"Xiao Ai."
"Yes, Captain?"
"Have Li Shiji and Uncle Li report to the Neon City district immediately. Also, send a body there to stay permanently."
"Understood, Captain. What mission should I assign to Li Shiji?"
"Since he designs games, have him create some games within Neon City that reward stellar coupons."
"Acknowledged."
Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
The desperate apocalypse.
The silent wasteland.
The Captain of the Stellar Train was gradually growing stronger. From nearly starving to death in this world, he had become a local overlord. But being a local overlord clearly wasn't enough to satisfy Chen Mang's ambition.
He wanted to be the global overlord.
Only then would he feel truly secure.
Meanwhile, in High-Tier Talent Carriage 5:
"Chu Chu?"
Yan Yao, sitting on her bed, looked at Ji Chuchu across from her with a puzzled expression. "Why did you stop talking halfway through?"
"Huh? Oh..."
Ji Chuchu, feeling the familiar taste in her mouth and noticing the sudden disarray of the bedsheets beside her, glanced at her Iris Chip, where the time had inexplicably jumped forward by half an hour. A possibility quickly flashed through her mind. She stared at Yan Yao's confused face for a moment before breaking into a radiant smile and gazing out the window.
"Nothing, just suddenly thought Lord Mang is actually quite cute."
"Why would you say that all of a sudden?"
"I just realized he's not always so serious. He has a cute side too."
"Weren't we just discussing the newly crafted high-precision clothing?" Yan Yao asked, still puzzled. "How did we suddenly switch to Lord Mang? Did something happen?"
"Nothing."
"Alright, Chu Chu, since it's the apocalypse, let's be completely honest with each other. I've been wanting to ask you this for a while: Did you become friends with me because you genuinely liked me, or was it simply because my father had been funding your education?"
"..."
Ji Chuchu's smile faltered slightly. After a long moment, she looked at Yan Yao and shook her head with a hint of helplessness. "Yan Yao, sometimes you really leave me speechless."
"How should I put it..."
"It's better if you don't know too much about some things. It's all very complicated."
"How complicated can it be?" Yan Yao pouted. "It's just about sleeping together, right? Just because it's not the entertainment industry doesn't mean people stop sleeping together. How would humanity continue without it?"
"..."
After a long silence, Ji Chuchu continued, "It's far more complex than you think. Let me give you a few examples. Back then, the entertainment industry had its own 'Divine Couple': Wang Hai and Li Ting. You were obsessed with them for a long time, saying you longed for such pure love, remember?"
"Of course I do! They were so sweet together."
"Well, Wang Hai was at the peak of his fame, and his family was one of the Federation's biggest financial powers. Li Ting was just an ordinary university student. Guess how she managed to cling to Wang Hai so tightly? In their five years together, Li Ting had five surgeries down there."
"To ensure she stayed tight enough."
"Wang Hai's schedule was tight, leaving them little time to meet. Before each encounter, Li Ting would take a massive dose of birth control pills to ensure she wouldn't get her period that day. She also used oral medications and injections to ensure her body was in peak condition, so she could give Wang Hai the most perfect experience possible."
"That's just a small part of what Li Ting did."
"Do you still think they're sweet?"
"Huh?" Yan Yao blinked, her voice tinged with disbelief. "But I always felt Wang Hai really loved Li Ting."
"Love?" Ji Chuchu shook her head. "Wang Hai was a ruthless man. To prevent Li Ting from getting pregnant and using it to climb the social ladder, he had himself sterilized."
"Forget about love."
"You can't believe everything you hear."
"Before Li Ting made her move, she spent four years training. Four years of doing nothing but learning how to slay dragons."
"Before the apocalypse, every wealthy person was targeted by schemes."
"Including your father." Ji Chuchu paused, then shook her head. "Never mind. It's pointless to talk about it now. The apocalypse has already come."
Yan Yao thought of her own father, her gaze drifting out the window as she murmured, "Chu Chu, do you think my father is still alive? He was such a good man. Surely he's been rewarded for his kindness?"
Ji Chuchu didn't reply, simply smiled and gazed out the window at the scenery. A faint, almost imperceptible hint of mockery played on her lips.
Neon City.
The number of train conductors was steadily increasing, growing from an initial thirty to over ninety.
Uncle Li sat at a computer desk by the floor-to-ceiling window of Sun City's tallest building, typing rapidly. He glanced at the detailed accounts on the side monitor, working on a simple report.
"President Ai, isn't the new user referral bonus a bit low?"
"Refer a new user and get 500 stellar coupons. It's only attractive to low-tier trains. High-Level Trains have no interest in it."
"Hmm."
Xiao Ai nodded thoughtfully. "Lord Mang's suggestion is to offer different referral bonuses based on the train's Tier. For example, trains in the White Zone would receive 500 stellar coupons, while those in the Green Zone would get 2,000."
"Higher-Tier trains have greater spending power."
"That's already been set."
"Understood." Uncle Li nodded and continued meticulously working on the accounts. By now, Neon City had accumulated 8.78 million units of iron ore, a number that fluctuated constantly, rising and falling.
After finishing their consumption in Neon City, some train conductors would exchange their remaining stellar coupons for iron ore before leaving, showing no intention of keeping the coupons.
"President Ai, everyone seems reluctant to keep stellar coupons in their balance. This puts a lot of pressure on Neon City's iron ore reserves."
"Yes," Xiao Ai nodded again. "Lord Mang vetoed the idea of limiting how much iron ore could be withdrawn at once or requiring advance reservations. This is the apocalypse, not the pre-apocalypse. Iron ore is the lifeblood of every train."
"If they can't quickly exchange their stellar coupons for iron ore, it will cause widespread panic."
"So Lord Mang's plan is to set no barriers. Anyone who wants to withdraw iron ore can do so at any time, ensuring they can quickly convert their coupons into resources during a crisis. Initially, we'll expand rapidly and chaotically. Once we reach a certain number of users, we'll stop giving away entry tickets for free and start selling them for stellar coupons."
"At that point, Lord Mang also plans to experiment with offering interest on deposits."
"But this plan is still in its infancy. In the apocalypse, crises abound, and no one would hoard iron ore even for higher interest. Boosting the train's combat power immediately is the best way to survive. So, this plan might manifest in a different form in the future."
"Understood."
Uncle Li said no more and returned to his accounting. He was currently creating an automated spreadsheet to reduce his workload later. Since there was no need for expense reports here, simply tracking accounts wouldn't be too taxing.
Meanwhile, Li Shiji was rapidly designing on the screen beside him.
The next moment—
Chen Mang suddenly appeared before the floor-to-ceiling window. Uncle Li, Li Shiji, and the others quickly rose to their feet. "Greetings, Lord Mang."
"Mm."
Chen Mang nodded without further comment, standing by the window with his cane, gazing down at the bustling scene below. After a moment, he chuckled softly. "Don't just stand around here. Go down there, walk among them, and immerse yourself in the crowd. Only then will you truly understand what they desire."
In the crowd...
Chen Mang walked down the street, watching the train conductor exploring the area. He wasn't wearing a mask. Many people knew about the Stellaris, and some had heard the name Chen Mang, but few had seen his face.
Even if they had, what could they do? They could enter, but he couldn't?
If they insisted on making wild assumptions, what could he do?
"Lord Mang," Li Shiji, following behind Chen Mang, explained his idea. "When I was a Game Designer, I worked on many online games. The main source of revenue for those games came from in-app purchases."
"Neon City isn't an online game, but it shares many similarities."
"Of course," Li Shiji continued, "we can't make money by selling stats or cosmetics. But the biggest in-app purchase item in online games is the lottery!"
"We can set up a few Lottery Wheels."
"For just a few stellar coupons, players can have a chance to win big prizes."
"For example, a prize pool of 500 stellar coupons could have a Tier 10 Refrigerator as the grand prize. A 2,000 stellar coupon prize pool could offer a murphy stone. We can also include smaller prizes like a 10% discount coupon for a ten-pull draw or a 20% discount coupon for a hundred-pull draw. We could even guarantee a grand prize after 289 draws."
"We still have a large inventory of risk-free, high-profit goods."
"For example, the Memory Bank. All the money earned there is pure profit. We can eliminate the service of acquiring memories and focus solely on selling them."
"Excellent."
Chen Mang interrupted Li Shiji with a smile. "Let's put the Memory Bank aside for now. Not many people have the mental power required for memory implantation. But your idea for the Lottery Wheel is intriguing. Make sure to implement it."
"No problem. Should we use pseudo-random or true random? Pseudo-random would involve setting a profit-loss ratio."
"True random."
"If we're going to do this, let's do it properly. You can adjust the probabilities as you see fit."
"No problem. Lord Mang, may I also select a few items to be sold exclusively through the Lottery Wheel? The only way to obtain these items would be through the wheel itself."
"Yes, you may."
"Hmm?"
Just then, Chen Mang frowned slightly, turning his head to glance at the crowded Customs Shops lining the street. "Uncle Li, check how much profit those shops have made so far."
"1.08 million stellar coupons."
"Good heavens!"
Chen Mang was utterly bewildered. In just four or five hours, these few Customs Shops had already generated 1.08 million in profit, accounting for a tenth of the total revenue. This was absurd! He'd initially considered these shops mere side businesses.
Deep down, he'd assumed no one in the apocalypse would waste precious iron ore on such frivolous pursuits.
But it seemed things weren't going as he'd expected.
The first time so many people flocked to Customs Shops in Neon City was because everyone had little initial capital. Without them, they couldn't afford anything else. But this time, they were spending genuine, hard-earned money.
"..."
After a moment of silence, Chen Mang instructed, "Tell Old Pig to find some professional madams on the train. Those robot madams aren't very skilled. We need to hire some experienced ones."
"Yes, sir."
Though he didn't understand it, he was happy to profit from it.
"Check the accounts and see what items people are buying the most."
Uncle Li quickly flipped through the data on his tablet and reported, "The Casino has the highest revenue, reaching 21.89 million in just four hours. As per your rules, Lord Mang, the Casino doesn't gamble against customers directly; instead, it facilitates bets between customers, taking a cut of the winnings."
"The casino's commission is 3% of the winner's winnings. We're still calculating the exact net figures."
"Many train conductors have been gambling in the Casino."
"Some of them have old grudges, and things got heated. Two Tier 12 Mechanical Train conductors alone contributed 16.82 million in turnover."
"Hmm," Chen Mang nodded. The turnover seemed impressive, but in reality, not much iron ore had been exchanged for stellar coupons. After all, if you lose to me, and I lose to you, the back-and-forth inflates the turnover without necessarily reflecting actual gambling stakes.
Turnover is not the same as gambling stakes.
Turnover is the total amount wagered during a gambling session, including both winnings and losses.
Uncle Li continued, swiping through his tablet: "Next, the most popular item is the Space Pouch, followed by the Tier 10 Refrigerator, which is also selling briskly. The remaining items are all performing well."
"Many random white-grade accessory blueprints have already sold out, and we can't restock them for now."
"Also, Lord Mang, there are several new suggestions on the Suggestion Message Board you set up."
"First suggestion: Slave trading should be possible in Neon City."
"Second suggestion: The variety of goods is insufficient."
"Third suggestion: The city is unfriendly to low-tier trains, with few affordable items for them."
"..."
Chen Mang walked down the street, nodding without comment. These suggestions were all valid, but there was no way to address them.
A major function of the gathering was slave trading, but Neon City couldn't accommodate this.
Rule restrictions prevented it.
All train conductors, whether entering or leaving Neon City, could only bring their own train crew. They couldn't use another conductor's entry ticket to board that conductor's train. This meant slave trading was inherently impossible in Neon City—there was no way around it.
As for the variety of goods, he was already working on it. He had retained many white-grade accessory blueprints, hoping to draw something similar to a "Space Pouch" to diversify the selection.
Regarding the city's unfriendliness to low-tier trains, there was nothing he could do.
(End of the Chapter)
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