"..."
Inside the train cabin, Chen Mang stood before the control panel, picking up the telescope and looking into the distance. There wasn’t a hint of movent; it was so quiet. Over the past few days in the wasteland, he had grown accustod to this.
Although it did feel a little strange...
After all, when he was in Master Kun’s slave carriage, he saw those thugs always being very vigilant, including during the train’s stopovers. Even without a large-scale monster threat like a Corpse Tide, scattered monsters were still present.
He hadn’t seen a single monster in these four days.
It was incredibly quiet.
The observation window at the train’s head provided a 180-degree view, only showing movents ahead and on both sides.
Chen Mang stood on the control panel and opened the sunroof at the top of the train’s head to look back toward the train again, still quietly and without any movent.
After doing all this.
He finally breathed a long sigh of relief, hoping nothing would happen today, and then looked at the resource count on the "Train Panel."
units of iron ore.
This was all he had accumulated over the past four days. After today, he could upgrade the train to level 2. Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
anwhile—
A lot of noise was already coming from outside the train. The slaves were waking up and were being handed pickaxes by the thugs one by one as they headed towards the mines. Over these few days, Old Pig had already arranged the basic procedures, so these matters no longer needed his involvent.
...
All the slaves had entered the mines.
Chen Mang began his breakfast as well. Old Pig had brought over steaming buns and preserved vegetables, which were the best food available on the train.
"Sigh."
He looked at the preserved vegetables in his hand and sighed softly. Though pickled vegetables with buns tasted alright, eating them every day was still unbearable, and he wanted to change the flavor a bit. However, speaking of this, he still didn’t know how these preserved vegetables were obtained.
Whether there was a corresponding production line after upgrading the train to level 2 or they were collected from the ruins of cities.
At the ti, he had seized quite a few packs of pickled vegetables from Master Kun’s train. There were still over 80 packs left. Once this batch of pickled vegetables was finished, there would be nothing to pair them with.
If only he could have so Lao Gan Ma chili sauce or at paste, that would be great, and better yet, a cigarette. It had been days since he had a smoke.
While chewing on the buns in his hand, Chen Mang was lost in thought.
The ti was slowly ticking away.
...
"Pig Train Captain."
Outside the train, Biaozi found Old Pig and, licking his lips, tentatively said, "I heard you used to be the Deputy Train Captain?"
"What’s it about?"
Old Pig glanced at Biaozi, then continued writing sothing in his small notebook while standing on the wasteland.
"Nothing."
Biaozi scratched his head. He had specifically instructed Heiwa not to tell anyone that he once was a Train Captain. Old Pig, having been a Deputy Train Captain, was a bonus point, but Biaozi’s past as a Train Captain was a detractor.
Although he had accepted his fate that being a Train Captain wasn’t just about luck and obtaining a "Train Order."
But Master Mang had faith in this sort of thing.
Just like in a peaceful society, when soone who used to be a boss becos a regular worker, there will naturally be a lot of unwanted thoughts arising from the stark contrast.
If Master Mang ever thought he wanted to beco a Train Captain again, his life on the "Fixed Star" train wouldn’t be very comfortable, perhaps with his head and stomach sleeping separately, and such.
"It’s just sothing I’d like to report to Pig Train Captain."
Biaozi chuckled awkwardly and whispered, "That, the nearest city ruin, ’Taiping City,’ although many have searched it these days, I know there’s a tobacco and alcohol shop in the suburbs of Taiping City."
"That tobacco and alcohol shop used to frequently smuggle cigarettes, and there’s a hidden compartnt in the shop. It’s full of cigarettes and surely hasn’t been searched yet."
"I noticed that Master Mang seems to be craving cigarettes these days. How about we... take a trip to Taiping City?"
"Hmm?"
Old Pig was montarily hesitant. Biaozi telling him this was clearly trying to curry favor. If he reported this to Master Mang and got hold of several cartons of cigarettes, he would surely be credited.
It’s just...
"The train is still at level 1 right now. Let’s talk about it after upgrading to level 2. The most important task now is to get the train to level 2."
"But I’ll keep this in mind."
"If we find it by then, I’ll let Master Mang know that this spot was provided by you."
"Hehe."
Biaozi chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, "Alright, Pig Train Captain, I won’t disturb you anymore. I’ll continue patrolling."
He could only gripe inwardly, though the Pig Train Captain appeared harmless, acting like a lapdog in front of Master Mang, soone who survived Doomsday for so long and even served as a Deputy Train Captain, could not be a simple person.
If not trying to please him, who knows, he might face trouble later on.
Being a Train Captain might just require sufficient luck, but being a Deputy Train Captain truly needed skills and capability. Of course, becoming a Train Captain needed just a bit of luck, but to be a competent Train Captain, the difficulty was directly heightened.
Not to ntion anything else.
Just like him, surviving until now through Doomsday, he wouldn’t call himself a decent person.
...
A year ago, Doomsday[TRANSLATION: ZH-CN Abby Hayes] hit.
As order crumbled instantly, two groups of people gradually ford.
One group was the Train Captains in the wasteland, and the other was the survivors in the cities.
These survivors gathered either as lone wolves or gangs, finding sufficiently safe spots within the city, like large infrastructures such as "bunkers," and scoured for resources daily, rely scraping by.
Of course, once these people were captured onto the train, their titles shifted from survivors to slaves.
After Doomsday, all firearms malfunctioned; when faced with monsters, these people hardly resisted, mostly focusing on hiding.
Level 1 monsters are the basest, like level 1 zombies.
Only level 1 monsters can be killed using ordinary ans, like firefighting axes, while level 2, 3 monsters can only be effectively hard by weapons crafted on the train’s production line or "Train Accessories."
To put it more bluntly.
This world only has two kinds of people.
Train Captains or Slaves.
...
In the blink of an eye.
Night fell, and the slaves gradually returned from the mines, like diligent worker ants returning to their nests.
"Excellent!"
Inside the train cabin, Chen Mang sat on the control panel, looking at the resource count on the "Train Panel," and smiled with satisfaction.
After this batch of iron ore was stacked in Warehouse No. 2.
The iron ore count finally reached 6012 units.
"Heaven."
Chen Mang clasped his hands together, slightly raised his head, took a deep breath to suppress his inner excitent, and murmured, "You really do listen to prayers, we truly made it through another peaceful day today."
"In that case..."
"Can you bless with a peaceful mining operation here for the next seven days?"
"You’re the best."
"Tomorrow I’ll offer you so incense sticks."
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