Translator: AnubisTL
Whoosh
Chen Mang gazed at the scene before him, his mind momentarily drifting. After a long moment, he waved his hand, gesturing for Xiao Ai and the others to let Old Pig come down and take a look. He then motioned for Doba and the others to stretch their legs as well.
Everyone, get some exercise.
It was midday, and the sky was bright. Standing here and looking up, one could see nothing but a sliver of blue sky—a narrow line of azure between the towering cliffs.
The sky was a deep blue, and the clouds were pure white.
Chen Mang sat on the locomotive of the Stellaris, a cigarette pinched between his fingers. He gazed at the three mines in the distance, a wistful smile playing on his lips. "Old Pig, do you remember this place? This is where we first made our home."
"No one else could enter the Doomsday Abyss back then. Only the Stellaris could."
"The Iron Ridge Wasteland was so dangerous back then. Zombie hordes constantly attacked the train. We were attacked countless times while digging the Tier 1 Mine. Finally, within the Doomsday Abyss, we discovered two Tier 2 Iron Ore mines."
"I remember the Stellaris only had 107 or so members back then, right?"
"I can't recall the exact number, but I remember it had just broken a hundred."
"Back then, they were still called slaves, not residents."
"Before the mining mobilization, I promised everyone that I'd slaughter the old hen we bought at the gathering and make chicken soup for everyone. I also promised to buy Ji Chuchu as a reward for the slaves who mined the most."
"But who knew..."
"In the end, the goblins mined the most."
"That's right."
Old Pig, sitting nearby, also sighed with emotion. "Even back then, I believed the Stellaris would one day become the most powerful train in the apocalypse. And in just a few short months, it's already a Tier 10 Train."
"Many of the train conductors we met at the gathering back then are probably dead by now."
"Lord Mang," Old Pig continued, "you're usually busy, so we don't get to talk much. But ever since we were still in Master Kun's slave car, I've believed you were destined for greatness. You know how to hold the pole steady, and you have a firm grip."
"Alright, alright," Chen Mang said, waving his hand with a laugh. "Let's not talk about that. I can't handle compliments. Does that old hen we bought in the Iron Ridge Wasteland still live?"
"It's still alive. We didn't kill it. We made pork stew with vermicelli for everyone."
"Let's kill it today. Call out the residents from that batch and have chicken soup together."
"Alright, I'll make arrangements!"
"Huh?"
In Cultivation Car 15, Uncle Li looked at Old Pig with a bitter expression. "Do we really have to kill that old hen? Can we swap it out? It's been laying eggs like crazy lately. It's a shame to kill it."
"..."
Old Pig looked at Uncle Li with a strange expression. "I put you in charge of cultivation, and you've developed feelings for it?"
"It's just that, Trainmaster Zhu, this old hen has been laying eggs non-stop. Anyway, what difference does it make which chicken we use for the soup?"
"Fine, but hurry up."
Then Old Pig noticed the two zombies in the other refrigerator, one above the other. His brow furrowed slightly. "What are they doing?"
"Cultivation."
"..."
Old Pig stared at Uncle Li expressionlessly. "I put you in charge of cultivation, who the hell told you to cultivate zombies? What are you planning to do with the zombie offspring? Make soup or roast them?"
"And zombies can't even reproduce!"
"Trainmaster Zhu..."
At that moment, the young man who had been following Uncle Li quickly explained, "This is Uncle Li's new research project. He's been buying Red Heart Nuts with his own money these past few days, spending all his daily stellar coupons on them. He's been feeding all the Red Heart Nuts to the zombies."
"Uncle Li is trying to build a Zombie Grinding Cage."
"If the experiment succeeds, it could be a major breakthrough. We'd have an endless supply of zombies on the train, constantly dropping rewards when killed. We might even be able to weaponize the zombies themselves."
"For example, we could attach firepower accessories to them, creating a Zombie Tyrant."
"..."
Old Pig remained silent for a moment before frowning. "This seems a bit off-topic from breeding, doesn't it? But... it does sound interesting. However, you only earn a few coins each day. I'll talk to Lord Mang about this. If he's interested, he might even provide you with Red Heart Nuts for free."
Then, turning to Uncle Li, he added with a sigh, "I don't understand what use this thing of yours has, and I don't have high hopes for its success. But it's good to be curious and experimental."
"Lord Mang likes people who are willing to tinker and experiment."
"I'll go talk to him."
"Thank you, Trainmaster Zhu! Thank you, Trainmaster Zhu!" Uncle Li grabbed the wing of an old hen he was holding out and offered it to him, grinning excitedly. "I'd be grateful if you could put in a good word for me with Lord Mang."
"Of course."
After Trainmaster Zhu left, Uncle Li couldn't help but pump his fist in the air, his face flushed with excitement.
"Uncle Li, don't get too worked up yet. You haven't even finished your research."
"Oh right, right, right. I'll go back and tinker with it some more."
"Uncle Li."
"Hmm?"
"You're amazing."
"Hmph, not bad, not bad."
At that moment—
At the bottom of the Doomsday Abyss, the original hundred-plus residents of the Stellaris sat cross-legged beside the iron ore, savoring their bowls of chicken soup, glistening with oil and containing small pieces of chicken. Their faces were filled with nostalgia as they gazed at the iron ore beside them.
"I worked the hardest back then. I was even first place on the first day. It feels like it was just yesterday."
"You're Zhang Haoping?"
"Yeah, I didn't expect anyone to remember my name."
"I'm Li Kui, second place on the first day."
"Ah, no wonder you remembered my name. Second place always remembers the first-place winner's name very well."
"Don't you remember me?"
"No, first place rarely remembers second place."
"..."
At the bottom of the Doomsday Abyss, before the dilapidated goblin train.
Chen Mang led a group of goblins to the front of the train. He pulled out three cigarettes, lit them, and stuck them in the ground. He then looked at the goblin train with a serious expression and said softly, "Doba."
"I once promised you here that I would help rebuild the Goblin Civilization."
"Today, I reaffirm that promise. As long as you remain on the Stellaris, I will definitely fulfill it."
"Yes, yes."
Doba knelt solemnly on the ground, with the other goblin clansmen kneeling behind him. "I have never doubted Lord Mang. The goblin clan will forever remain Lord Mang's most loyal subjects!"
After completing this ritual, everyone returned to the train.
Chen Mang then took out a train token and had Biaozi activate it to become the train conductor for a small experiment.
Sure enough...
When Biaozi drove the train and stopped at the disguised elevator entrance for several minutes, nothing happened. No funnel emerged to demand energy stones.
Just as he had suspected.
The interaction was likely triggered only when a train emerged from the Train Tunnel—that is, a train that had ascended via the Train Elevator—and reappeared at the elevator entrance.
Otherwise, after spending so long in the Doomsday Abyss and visiting this place countless times before, he should have triggered it long ago.
If that's the case...
The only way to enter the Train Tunnel seemed to be with a Tier 100 Drill, or perhaps there was a hidden entrance within the Mechanical City Ruins of Crisis Valley's Red Zone that had simply never been discovered.
The Stellaris once again boarded the Train Elevator and returned to the Train Tunnel.
It sped along the tunnel toward its end.
"..."
Seated in the locomotive cabin, Chen Mang watched the illusory light lines on either side of the tunnel blur past. He focused his gaze ahead. Without the Tier 100 Drill, he wouldn't have been able to enter this zone. The drill accessory was proving quite useful.
He knew why there wasn't a single train to be found underground in Crisis Valley.
At first, he'd suspected that high-Tier monsters must be lurking below. Even though his target acquisition radar hadn't detected them, it was possible they were just absent from his immediate zone. But that theory was clearly wrong now.
It wasn't because the trains in Crisis Valley lacked drill accessories either.
Almost all the trains in Crisis Valley had opted for "Train Expansion," which dramatically increased their size. This naturally amplified their overall power, allowing them to mount more potent firepower accessories and providing more internal space.
But the downside was...
The drill became useless.
The tunnels drilled by the drill were too narrow to accommodate the expanded trains. Consequently, the trains could no longer travel underground.
Considering this, "Train Expansion" might not be the right choice for him. Many of his opportunities had come thanks to his drill—a Tier 100 Drill that could break through barriers other trains couldn't, like this Train Tunnel or the flesh train fortuitous encounter map in the Kunlun Mountain Region.
This matter will have to be postponed.
Unless he can find a high-level replacement accessory for the drill.
A more powerful, larger drill.
It's only a few hundred thousand iron ore lost. He didn't use any Murphy Stone, so he can afford the loss. It's less iron ore than he'd spend watching a movie.
This journey was unusually long!
Even at full speed, it took a full hour before the constantly lit incandescent lights lining the Train Tunnel finally flickered into red warning lights again. Ahead, there was still a Train Elevator.
But this time, the Train Elevator wasn't on either side of the tunnel.
It was directly ahead.
The destination had arrived.
This was the end of the Train Tunnel. There was no road ahead. Chen Mang glanced at the control panel screen, which showed he was in an unknown zone, no longer in the Iron Ridge Wasteland.
"Hoo..."
Chen Mang took a deep breath, a slight nervousness creeping into his voice as he stopped the train at the elevator entrance. He pulled out a Tier 2 Energy Stone from his pocket and tossed it into the protruding slot, then watched the elevator doors slowly open.
Still, he drove the train into the elevator.
The elevator began its slow ascent.
He didn't know what lay beyond the elevator, where it would lead, or whether this was the beginning or the end. But he just wanted to say: this train tunnel was really long.
So many incandescent lights lined the way, he wondered how long they had been burning.
The energy stone maintaining this tunnel must be at least Tier 5!
Any lower-tier energy stone would have long since been depleted after so much time.
A single Tier 5 Energy Stone required 5 million units of iron ore to produce.
He currently had one Tier 5 Energy Stone in the train, but it was only at 19% capacity. He had been reluctant to use it. He had found this energy stone in a secret factory hidden within the snowy mountains of the Ice and Snow Paradise.
Lost in thought, he heard a ding.
The elevator stopped, and the doors slowly opened.
Before him lay a vast plaza, several times the size of a football field. There were no supporting pillars in the center, making the space appear utterly desolate. There was no trace of human presence. The walls and ceiling were pure white, and around the perimeter of the plaza stood various experimental instruments, giving it a strong sense of technological advancement.
However, a thick layer of dust had already settled on the plaza floor.
The walls weren't quite so white anymore.
Countless dried bloodstains, now a rusty brown, covered the ceiling and walls. A brutal disaster had once occurred here, claiming many lives, yet not a single corpse remained.
But the most crucial element of the plaza was a massive glass dome.
It resembled the glass-enclosed laboratory beneath the Geocore Nuke military base.
Inside this colossal glass dome stood three iron ore deposits!
Three Tier 4 Iron Ore deposits!
"Damn," Chen Mang muttered, his eyes narrowing slightly. He scanned the information displayed on his resource detection radar before slowly maneuvering the train out of the Train Elevator and into the vast plaza, which boasted a ten-meter ceiling.
The train's entry didn't feel cramped at all.
The radar indicated an estimated 30 million units of iron ore across the three deposits.
This trip was worth it.
Though he didn't know where he was, extracting all three Tier 4 Iron Ore deposits would be a massive profit, enough to upgrade his Train Armor to Tier 12!
By the time he returned to the Crisis Valley zone, he'd be able to walk around with his head held high.
But...
This place was eerie. The walls surrounding the plaza were entirely covered in radar-blocking material. His target acquisition radar and resource detection radar couldn't detect anything beyond the plaza's boundaries.
Yet, six small doors, their destinations unknown, dotted the plaza's perimeter.
In the center of the plaza stood an enormous glass dome, its surface stained with blood. This suggested someone had attempted to violently shatter it, but ultimately failed.
He wondered if a Tier 100 Drill could break through.
But for now, the most pressing matter was to determine the nature of this place and its connection to the other zones: the Doomsday Abyss, the Sky Piercing Tower, and the Secret Factory in the Ice and Snow Paradise.
Why were these locations linked by a single train tunnel?
The Stellaris slowly came to a halt.
With a hiss of escaping steam, the door of Guard Car No. 7 opened.
Biaozi, his expression grim, was the first to leap out, followed by members of the first and third teams.
The six doors surrounding the plaza were no taller than standard room doors, making it impossible for mechs to enter.
Their mission was to investigate what lay behind the six doors, determine if there were any dangers, and identify the location.
"Xiao Ai."
Chen Mang sat calmly in the control cabin, his gaze drifting toward Biaozi and the others rapidly assembling outside the train. He spoke thoughtfully, his voice barely audible. "If you let your mind wander, what do you think this place might be?"
"It looks like an experimental base."
"But do you know what I think of when I let my mind wander?"
"What?"
"I think of the Six Doors."W
"What are the Six Doors?"
"Well, how should I put it? It's like a secret agency within a national system."
"Oh, oh, that's a rather puzzling association. I'll work hard to learn."
Chen Mang remained silent.
He had already begun to suspect what this place truly was. It might indeed be a secret agency similar to the Six Doors, and the Train Tunnel was likely a secret passage for continuously transporting vast quantities of iron ore to other locations.
(End of the Chapter)
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