Among the seven necessary vehicle accessories for train upgrades, he has already crafted the "Generator" and "Circuit System," but hasn't put them to use as he lacks additional Energy Stones.
Regarding the Energy Stones on Master Kun's train, he did try to get them, but couldn't at all.
Clearly, these are not the type of components that can be disassembled.
He didn't dare to smash them with a pickaxe either; if he accidentally blew them up, he would be stuck here.
...
Among the seven necessary vehicle accessories for train upgrades, there are five more he hasn't crafted: "Pure Water Filter," "Wind-Fire Wheel," "Wagon Steel Armor," "Pickaxe Production Line," and "Axe Production Line."
He needs to upgrade the train to Level 2 quickly to avoid breakdowns halfway.
He's not lacking pure water for now, armor is too expensive, he has plenty of pickaxes retrieved from others, and he doesn't lack them for now; he can only craft a Wind-Fire Wheel to increase the train's speed.
In the capture of enemy trains, certain vehicle accessories can be removed, like the "Three-legged Cat Heavy Machine Gun," but more vehicle accessories cannot be disassembled, like armor and Wind-Fire Wheel.
Hold on—
Right at that moment.
Chen Mang suddenly thought of something; he isn't lacking pickaxes at the moment, but... with the level increase of the Pickaxe Production Line, would the mining speed of produced pickaxes be faster?
He quickly returned to the train compartment, opened the "Newcomer's Guide" on the control panel, and slid across the screen for half a day before finally finding the information he wanted in a corner.
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"Pickaxe Production Line," rated green quality, maximum level is Level 3, and with each upgrade, the pickaxes produced can mine higher-level mining sites.
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Only able to mine higher-level mining sites?
Chen Mang looked at this line of text, furrowed his brows slightly; it's not without use, at least in future Level 4 and higher mining sites, it seems like he's the only one who can mine them easily, others might obtain Level 4 pickaxes but probably won't be as easy for them.
It's just a bit different from what he thought.
A slight difference.
Wondering if Level 4 iron ore can replace Level 1 iron ore.
Quickly—
He found the information he wanted again in the Newcomer's Guide.
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10 units of Level 1 iron ore = 1 unit of Level 2 iron ore.
10 units of Level 2 iron ore = 1 unit of Level 3 iron ore.
10 units of Level 3 iron ore = 1 unit of Level 4 iron ore.
On the "Crafting Station," 10 units of Level 1 iron ore can be synthesized into 1 unit of Level 2 iron ore, or 1 unit of Level 2 iron ore can be decomposed into 10 units of Level 1 iron ore.
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This time!
Chen Mang smiled with satisfaction; it means as long as he finds a Level 4 mining site and upgrades the "Pickaxe Production Line" to Level 4, then for each unit of Level 4 iron ore he obtains, it is equivalent to acquiring 1000 units of Level 1 iron ore.
The problem becomes much simpler now.
He just needs to find a "Level 4 iron ore" to solve his current shortage of resources.
And there are basically two channels to find mining sites.
He can inquire with other Train Captains in the "Train Radio," or use the "Resource Detection Radar" to scan for nearby resource zones during transit; these two accessories are train-built components available after upgrading to Level 2.
So—
Once his train upgrades to Level 2, all existing problems will be basically resolved.
After breaking down and refining the issues, he quickly found the optimal solution.
This way, the goal becomes clearer, preventing him from wandering like a headless chicken, feeling he lacks everything without knowing priorities and what to do, stuck in place.
...
After breaking down goals and clarifying logic.
He looked at those five must-craft accessories and ultimately chose three.
"Pure Water Filter," "Wind-Fire Wheel," "Pickaxe Production Line."
The filter was placed in the No. 3 living carriage, the Pickaxe Production Line was simply placed in the No. 2 warehouse carriage; the current carriage layout is not very perfect, but... due to the lack of resources to craft additional carriages, he could only make do for now and rearrange later when he has more resources.
These three accessories consumed a total of 700 units of iron ore from him.
He is now utterly penniless; he doesn't have a single unit of iron ore left.
Producing one pickaxe consumes 10 units of iron ore.
The "Pure Water Filter" can filter all liquids, like urine and rainwater, into drinkable pure water, and its shape is quite nasty, somewhat resembling a toilet bowl; once upgraded to Level 2, it can directly produce bottled water, with each bottle consuming 1 slice of moldy bread.
The Wind-Fire Wheel has already automatically replaced his existing ordinary wheels.
It can significantly increase the speed of the train.
But the downside is also apparent; facing the Corpse Tide or some bad terrains, there's basically no way through, and the risk of overturning is high.
Thus—
To upgrade the train, he still needs two necessary accessories: "Wagon Steel Armor" and "Axe Production Line."
This "Wagon Steel Armor" is the most expensive among them, requiring a whopping 1000 units of iron ore, and the most fatal part is it applies per carriage; meaning, 1000 units of iron ore can only cover one carriage with armor.
To cover the entire train with armor, he would need more iron ore, fortunately, covering any one carriage with armor meets the train upgrade requirement.
No wonder Master Kun's train only had armor on the engine.
"So anxious..."
Inside the train compartment, Chen Mang looked out the window at the mine and sighed helplessly; those slaves are still mining in the mine, won't be out for a while, and he almost wants to personally grab a pickaxe and get to work.
He needs more slaves!
Oh, no.
He needs to change this habit in the future; according to Old Pig, it should be more passengers and survivors.
These iron ores are just not enough.
It's a pity the "Train Radio" hasn't been crafted yet, otherwise he really wants to know how other Train Captains deal with resource shortages, lacking enough information exchanges.
But suddenly he remembered something, wondering...
Whether his "Earth Core Melting Furnace" can smelt all those confiscated small pistols and bullets.
Do it as he thought.
Immediately, he stepped down from the train compartment and activated the "Earth Core Melting Furnace"; as the bloodbath opened wide, he threw in a pistol, quickly acquiring 10 units of iron ore.
"Hmm..."
Chen Mang shrugged his mouth; it's a bit less, but still fine, even small things count; then he tossed all the confiscated small pistols and over 200 bullets, receiving a total of 250 units of iron ore.
The "gls pistol" he first obtained was kept by him, and he also kept thirty or so bullets.
Although this isn't useful for him anymore, when he has an assault rifle, which is much more effective, it was the first straw he got upon arriving in this world, keeping it as a memento is quite nice.
He must quickly craft a train safe enough for himself; otherwise, if he encounters another Corpse Tide encircling him, he estimates he would have to disconnect all carriages and flee.
If the train's strength is high enough, why run away?
Slaughter them all, maybe even loot quite a few good things!