My Apocalypse Train

Translator: AnubisTL

The autumn night wind still carried a bone-chilling chill.

After sitting on the wasteland for a long time, Chen Mang rose and walked toward the train's interior. As he stripped off his clothes, preparing to climb into bed, his peripheral vision suddenly caught a flicker on the control panel. Did the energy stone capacity display just jump?

"Hmm?"

He immediately stepped forward for a closer look. After a thorough examination, he found that the remaining capacity of the energy stone embedded in the locomotive had dropped to 61%.

"..."

Chen Mang stared at the number, his expression blank, and remained silent for a long time.

Earlier that day, the energy stone had been at 62%. The train hadn't moved an inch all day, and the Vehicle Blade hadn't been activated. How could the energy capacity have mysteriously dropped by 1%?

Thinking it over, Chen Mang realized the energy stone issue was far more serious than he'd realized. He'd simply been too busy these past few days to notice.

With the current weight of his train, a single energy stone should last for roughly 100 hours of full-speed travel.

When he'd traveled to Taiping City, the energy stone had been at 72%. The round trip had taken about 10 hours, dropping the capacity to 62%—perfectly normal.

Full-speed travel for one hour typically consumed about 1% of the energy stone's capacity.

But...

Before heading to Taiping City, Chen Mang hadn't driven the train too far. Yet after his battle with the man-eating spider, nearly 30% of the Locomotive Energy Stone's capacity had been consumed.

He'd initially assumed the Vehicle Blade was an energy black hole, since maintaining its high-speed rotation relied on energy drawn from the Locomotive Energy Stone.

He hadn't thought much deeper about it.

But today, having done nothing, the energy stone had inexplicably dropped by 1%. This was a serious problem.

Had the energy stone been damaged during the battle?

Chen Mang walked over to carefully examine the Locomotive Energy Stone embedded in the locomotive. There were no cracks or fissures. How could the energy have vanished inexplicably? After a moment's hesitation, he didn't immediately go to sleep. Instead, he activated the newly crafted Train Radio, hoping to glean some information from the network.

He quickly dressed, sat at the control panel, and gazed at a green button beside it.

Pressing the button brought up a chat room-style interface on the screen. The upper right corner displayed the number of participants: 397.

Messages flashed across the screen intermittently.

Bloodthirsty Mad Bull Train: "Has that Tier 3 Man-Eating Spider left Taiping City? There hasn't been much activity in that area lately, and zombie wolves have even started appearing."

Infinite Train: "It probably has. I haven't been to the No-Man's Wilderness lately; I've been sticking around the Mohe Hills."

Hell Train: "The Mohe Hills would be a great place for logging, but the terrain is too rough. My train can't even run on it."

Infinite Train: "Same here. I'm parked at the edge, making my slaves venture deep into the hills to chop down trees and then haul them back. It's inefficient, but what else can I do? There aren't enough trees in the No-Man's Wilderness to meet my needs. There are some in the city ruins, but until I get confirmation that the Man-Eating Spider has truly left Taiping City, I'm not going near it."

Hell Train: "I thought you had a Tier 3 cannon? Why are you so afraid of it?"

Infinite Train: "Hey, hey, hey, do you know how expensive Tier 3 cannonballs are? I'm not going to waste so many resources just to kill a Boss. The man-eating spider is a Fire Attribute Boss that only drops Fire Attribute rare resources and Fine Spider Silk, neither of which I need right now. Wouldn't it be better to save those resources for something else?"

Bloodthirsty Mad Bull Train: "Then you wasted your time upgrading that cannon in the first place. Upgrading it but not using it is just a pure waste of resources. Unlike me, I didn't upgrade mine at all."

Infinite Train: "You don't understand a thing. Having something and not using it is completely different from not having it when you need it. What if they actually catch up to me? I can still fight back. You guys will just have to wait for death."

The chat history only goes back to the creation of the "Train Radio."

Everyone's alias is their train's name.

This chat room is exclusive to train conductors.

The members of this chat room should all be from this wasteland, meaning there are at least 397 Tier 2 trains in this wasteland. This number was higher than Chen Mang had expected, considering he hadn't seen many trains since his arrival.

After carefully considering his wording, Chen Mang typed a message into the chat box:

"Stellaris: May I ask if the Locomotive Energy Stone's capacity can suddenly drop by 1% even when the train isn't running?"

He'd worried no one would reply, but the few people in the chat room were surprisingly enthusiastic and responded quickly.

"Infinite Train: 'Hmm, probably not. The energy stone in the locomotive is primarily for driving the train. All your other energy-consuming train components should be powered by the Generator. If you're having this problem, it's likely your Circuit System isn't set up correctly, and you've connected components that need constant power to the Locomotive Energy Stone.'"

"Hell Train: '+1. You probably just upgraded to a Tier 2 train, right? Check if your Target Acquisition Radar or Built-in Security System—components that need constant power—are connected to the Locomotive Energy Stone. Reroute the wiring and plug them into the Generator instead.'"

"Bloodthirsty Mad Bull Train: 'You have to build a Circuit System when you get a Tier 1 Train. When you upgrade to Tier 2, it's best to rewire everything so the Locomotive Energy Stone only powers the train's drive system, and all other train components are connected to the Generator. It's a much better setup.'"

"..."

Chen Mang stood expressionlessly behind the control panel, gazing at the circuit system connecting the Target Acquisition Radar and the Locomotive Energy Stone. He couldn't help but sigh softly.

So it really was like this.

Old Pig had seemed so out of favor before, as if he hadn't known about this.

Without hesitation, Chen Mang adjusted the circuit systems for all energy-consuming accessories—the Vehicle Blade, the Target Acquisition Radar, and more—connecting them all to the Generator.

This should solve the problem.

He shouldn't have to worry about the energy stone suddenly losing capacity anymore.

The Train Radio was truly invaluable. If no one had taught him these things, he might still be fumbling around, never figuring it out on his own.

"Stellaris Train: Thanks, brothers! The problem's solved. It really was the Target Acquisition Radar connected to the locomotive energy stone. But I have another question. Yesterday, I was in a battle that lasted less than two hours, and the energy stone dropped by nearly 30%. Is that normal?"

Only a few people seemed to be online in the chat room at the moment, and he quickly received another reply.

(End of the Chapter)

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