My Apocalypse Train

Translator: Anubis Translations

"If we go now, we might be able to catch some survivors fleeing from the city ruins."

"No."

Chen Mang stood in the pitch-black rain, gazing into the featureless wasteland, and shook his head. "We're not getting involved in this mess. We'll rest tonight. Biaozi, keep some people on watch. We'll start mining at dawn. I don't want any hitches before the train reaches Tier 2."

Only at Tier 2 would the train have the basic qualifications to venture into the wasteland.

Before reaching that Tier, the train could only be considered in its infancy. Not only did it lack any offensive accessories, but it was also missing many critical components, such as the High Beam headlight. Currently, not a single light on the train was operational.

The Generator and Circuit System had been crafted, but there were no spare energy stones available.

Without the headlight, high-speed travel in the pitch-black rain was extremely dangerous, akin to running blindfolded. Even when he had just used the Vehicle Blade to kill those zombie wolves, he had carefully controlled the train's speed.

Despite this, he still felt slightly nervous. Relying solely on the faint moonlight to lock onto targets was precarious.

Just then—

A faint DJ beat suddenly echoed from the distance, its volume rapidly increasing. At the same time, a long, dragon-like train emerged from the dark rain, guided by twin pillars of light, speeding towards them.

"Everyone, get on the train! Prepare for battle!"

Chen Mang's expression shifted as he sprinted towards the locomotive. The thugs immediately returned to their positions, readying themselves for combat. The tarpaulins covering the heavy machine guns were lifted, and the vehicle blades on both sides of the carriages began to spin rapidly.

But...

Just as he was about to start the train, the deafening DJ music train arrived before them. Showing no intention of slowing down, it didn't collide with them but merely passed by at full speed, heading deeper into the distance!

As it passed, the train even gave three whistle blasts in greeting.

"..."

Chen Mang glared at the train disappearing into the rain, its tail lights fading until it vanished completely. The train seemed to hold no malice, or perhaps it was in a hurry to reach the city ruins.

But...

As they passed each other, he noticed the train had thirteen carriages, and each carriage's armor was identical to Master Kun's locomotive armor—clearly the Green Grade train component, "Steel Car Armor."

Just the armor alone required a staggering 13,000 units of iron ore.

Moreover, each carriage of the train was equipped with two heavy machine guns on its roof, and the locomotive boasted two particularly formidable cannons, their barrels as thick as a grown man's forearm.

This was the most powerful train he had ever seen.

It far surpassed Master Kun's train; their firepower was on entirely different Tier, leaving him even further outclassed.

To top it off, the train also boasted fully outfitted high beam headlights, audio systems, and other living amenities.

Perhaps only a train like this could boldly roar through the wasteland, blaring DJ music as it went.

His already urgent mood grew even more pressing at the sight. He needed to acquire as much iron ore as possible. He would transform his train into something like this—something that could roar through the wasteland with reckless arrogance, just like that train!

And so it was.

Despite some minor setbacks, the rest of the night passed without incident.

At dawn, all the slaves were herded out of the slave cars. After each received their portion of food, Chen Mang stood atop the train, looking down at the ragged slaves below. Old Pig and the other thugs stood before the slaves, guns in hand and faces cold. After a moment's pause, Chen Mang took a deep breath and bellowed:

"I'm Chen Mang, your new train conductor."

"These two clean, freshly washed women used to belong to Master Kun, your former train conductor. Today, whoever mines the most iron ore will get to choose one of these women!"

"The second-ranked miner gets the remaining one."

"Furthermore, the top three miners will also get warm steamed buns and pickles!"

"My only demand of you is this: mine enough iron ore for me. Whoever mines the most will earn my favor. Anyone who tries to slack off will be chopped into nine pieces!"

"Now, all of you, get into the mines!"

Perhaps Master Kun rarely rallied the slaves before, or perhaps they truly hadn't been with women in ages, but many slaves' eyes lit up. After wolfing down their food, they grabbed their pickaxes and charged into the mines!

This wasn't just about the women.

For many slaves, when survival itself was uncertain, thoughts of women were the furthest from their minds.

But...

This was Master Kun's woman—the woman of the very man who had always oppressed them. That made all the difference. This was no longer just about a woman; it carried an undercurrent of vengeance.

It was akin to ancient rebel armies storming the imperial palace and being unable to resist taking the imperial concubines. While the concubines might indeed have been beautiful, it was the thrill of overturning such a vast power imbalance that truly drove men to lose their senses.

Normally, an adult could mine one unit of iron ore per hour. However, this output wasn't fixed. The logic behind mining was:

After striking the ore a certain number of times with a pickaxe with sufficient force, a piece of iron ore would drop.

Most adults took about an hour to reach this threshold. But those with exceptional physical strength, or those who had experience swinging hammers from manual labor, could speed up the process to fifty minutes or even forty minutes per unit.

Yet swinging a pickaxe continuously was brutally exhausting. For those unaccustomed to manual labor, their arms would ache after just a few minutes, let alone an entire day.

On average, everyone's output was roughly the same.

To become the top miner, one either had to swing the pickaxe with even greater exertion or simply work longer hours.

On the train, the two women standing behind Chen Mang forced out what they hoped were seductive smiles, encouraging the slaves.

This wasn't their ideal outcome; they had hoped to become the train conductor's wives. But life rarely goes as planned. Now, their best course of action was to fulfill their duties as well as possible to avoid losing their value.

On the train, losing value was practically synonymous with losing one's life.

At least things weren't too bad now. They were serving only one man, which was far preferable to mining. The thought of spending twelve hours a day digging in the mines was unbearable and unaccustomed; they had grown accustomed to the comfortable life of being a train conductor's wife.

Standing atop the train, Chen Mang rubbed his sore throat, watching the slaves sprint toward the mine and the thugs below. He pondered silently:

I wonder if there will ever be mechanized mining components for the train. Human efficiency is just too low.

The supply of moldy bread on the train was dwindling.

To create the "Moldy Bread Slice Production Line," he needed to consume 100 slices of moldy bread. He couldn't use them all up, as he needed to save some for the production line.

He was quite curious about this.

He had acquired the moldy bread slices by seizing Master Kun's resources, which allowed him to create the production line. But where would others get the bread slices to build their own lines? Could they collect bread from the city ruins as raw material?

He didn't dwell on this.

Instead, he immediately went to Living Car No. 3 and consumed 100 slices of bread to craft the White Grade train component: the "Moldy Bread Slice Production Line."

About three meters long and one meter wide, it wasn't a particularly large assembly line.

With this—

The Stellaris train gained another essential living accessory.

The accessory's interface materialized before him.

(End of the Chapter)

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